Music has always been a huge part of my life.  We didn't really have a television growing up but either at home, at my grandmother's and even when we were at the barn doing farm work, music was always playing.

To give you a picture of the impact on music in my life and the diversity, know that my special ringtone for my dad is The Bristol Stomp and for my mom it is the William Tell Overture.  I dated a drummer in a punk band and later a guitarist and one of my brothers is a drum corps instructor.  I've taken belly dance classes and loved going to clubs of all kinds.  So you can see, my mental musical file is rather full of all sorts of juicy bits.

Bearing all this in mind, you can see how important it is for me to have just the right music for a particular road trip and since I have no ipod doc in my car and since I cannot haul around every cd I own (or my laptop for that matter), I often make a special mix to bring along because one can more easily sit in traffic if there is a good song playing.

Back in March of this year, some of my closest friends got together to celebrate 4 birthdays in the group that are close together.  Much driving was about to ensue so the perfect mix was a requirement.  We like a wide range of music styles so this mix was going to be tricky to meet the tastes of the group.  I was pretty pleased with the end result - leave a comment and tell me what you think!

Big Birthday Weekend Mix 2013
1. Fast and Beautiful by Dope Stars
2. When You Sleep by My Bloody Valentine
3. All The Things She Said - by t.A.T.u
4. I Remember by Deadmau5 & Kaskade
5. Walk Into the Sun by Dirty Vegas
6. 6 Underground by Sneaker Pimps
7. Bitter Sweet Symphony by The Verve
8. Son's Gonna Rise by Citizen Cope
9. Extraordinary by Liz Phair
10. Save a Horse (Ride a Cowboy) by Big & Rich
11. Feva for the Flava by Hot Action Cop
12. Bring the Noise by Public Enemy & Anthrax
13. Blow me One Last Kiss by Pink

PS - the numbers on the cake should read 118 - which is the total combined ages of those having the birthdays! That cake was pretty tasty!

Several years ago, I was on my way to a child's birthday party and my gift was an almost 3 foot tall stuffed penguin.  I had tossed it into the passenger seat but quickly discovered that anytime (for any reason) that I hit the brakes, the darn thing would go flying all over the car. At the next stop light, I grabbed the toy and using the seat belt, strapped it in.

It didn't take long for me to notice that the top of the penguin's head stuck up enough over the base of the window that other drivers around me could see and were straining their necks to see what I had in the front seat of my car!  The reactions were hilarious.  Thoroughly enjoying myself, I went out later after the party and bought one for myself and strapped him in (for safety).

In rapid succession more penguins joined the pack until there were 10 of them going along for the ride - and not just any stuffed penguin could make the cut - they had to look somewhat real - nothing cartoony and no clothes (exception being my Pier 1 penguin - what a cute hat!)!! My friends and family got a real kick out of them and soon they became our keyword for denoting the sharing of confidences (what is said in front of the penguins - STAYS in front of the penguins  - kind of like Vegas, only plushier).  (For the friends and family who professed distain of my fuzzy companions, I say 'they are my whimsy'!)

Last spring while I was shopping for my new Ford Focus, I set up a twitter account (@The10Penguins) for the penguins as a sort of social media experiment.  Believe it or not, Ford's Service department actually started following them!  They don't tweet much anymore, but it was interesting once again to gage the reactions of people to the stuffed seat warmers!

The Penguins came along when I bought my new Focus and (space permitting) have been my road buddies on most of my adventures.  Here they are in all their backseat glory!

My road trip vehicle of choice?  The Ford Focus but my second choice is the Ford Mustang!