Free Music Madness: Paste Magazine's Bonaroo Sampler!

Sweeeet...  We might not have made it to Bonaroo earlier this month, but we can still get in on Paste Magazine's sampler album!  Perhaps neededless to say, I'm most excited about the free She & Him download, but the other artists are pretty cool too.  See below for a full track listing!

Track Listing

• 1. The Steep Canyon Rangers - Turn Up The Bottle
• 2. She & Him - Thieves
• 3. Local Natives - World News
• 4. Here We Go Magic - Collector
• 5. The Gaslight Anthem - American Slang
• 6. Galactic - Heart of Steel (featuring Irma Thomas)
• 7. Dr. Dog - Stranger
• 8. Blitzen Trapper - Heaven And Earth
• 9. Dave Rawlings Machine - Ruby

Music anyone?? Free-and-Legal Downloads from Matisyahu, Sara Watkins, and Laura Veirs...

I know your iPod has been missing me, so let's skip the formalities and head straight for the music.  ;P 

Today we're checking out some awesome new free Daytrotter downloads... keep in mind that you have to register with the site to get access to this music, but it's well worth the one-time hassle!

I'm sure all of you remember Nickelcreek, right?  Well don't get too excited, because no, unfortunately I'm not about to tell you that they've gotten back together... but free downloads from solo Sara Watkins are pretty fabulous too!  You can pick up five live tracks from her, and if you like bluegrass, pop, or just pretty music in general, you'll be really glad you did.

For a complete change of pace, after that hop over and download four live tracks from Hasidic reggae rapper Matisyahu...  he has a certain addictive quality I've never been able to resist, and these downloads showcase both his talent and charm nicely.

Lastly, veering back to strong female vocalists, this one with an indie vibe, you can pick up four free live downloads from Laura Viers as well.  In a fun bit of trivia, she was apparently 8 months pregnant when she recorded these tracks... I think the baby more or less rolled out to the beat, singing along as she came.  :P

Have fun with those, and let me know if you come across any new favorites!  I'll be bringing some more goodies your way in the next few days.  :)

Really Fun Freebie! EOS Shave Cream sample... hurry!

Oooh I can't help but be psyched by this one... I adore EOS for both their organic lip balm and their shave cream, and currently they're offering free samples of the latter!  Their paraben-free shave cream is packed with natural, ultra-moisturizing ingredients, and since a bottle is currently sitting in my shower I'm very qualified to tell you that it's awesome, and really works beautifully!  Quick go sign up!  You can always pass the sample on to me.  :P

Noteworthy Free Stuff on iTunes... Cherryholmes MP3 and lots of TV!

This week on iTunes my favorite is the free Discovery Download,  from Cherryholmes, a family of Grammy-nominated bluegrass musicians.  Check it out! 

You'll also find a ton of free kids' TV programming...  Including Hannah Montana, Suite Life, Bakugan, iCarly, SpongeBob and quite a few others. 

There are also free episodes of Man vs Food, Cake Boss, Glen Martin DDS, and others, for those of us without little folks at our houses.  :)

I don't know about you, but I'm counting down to the weekend over here!!

Awesome New Deal Site "Jasmere"... aka, Organic Free-Trade Coffee Anyone??

When it comes to deal sites, Jasmere is one of the newest and coolest kids on the block, and if you're a fan of organic, free-trade coffee, you need to head over and meet her TODAY.

If you've heard me rave about Groupon then you'll figure out pretty quick what Jasmere is about... only with the added perk that the more people commit to buying that day's deal, the lower the price goes for everybody!  Jasmere focuses on online retailers, and so far I've seen them feature everything from Vive Sana Organic Sunscreen (oh yea, you better bet I bought that one... and yes, it's amazing stuff), to natural body products, to organic linens, to leather phone and laptop cases, and lots more!  Pretty much any "specialty online retailer" might be featured from day to day, but so far I'm loving all the organic/natural products I've seen.

Today's deal is for a sampler set (3 lbs of coffee total, but 6 types) of free-trade, organic coffee, from Grounds for Change.  It looks delicious.  The sampler includes:

• Mexico Chiapas
• Peru Cafe Feminino
• Guatemala Forestal
• Agate Pass Blend
• Solstice Blend
• Equinox Blend

There's a decaf sampler too but I'm a caffeine girl myself so if you're interested in that one you'll just need to hop over there for more info.  :P

Right now it's going for $18 (normal retail $40).  And if more people buy, the final price might be even less than that!  Even if coffee's not so much your thing, you might still want to sign up for Jasmere's daily alerts... odds are there will be something up your ally soon enough!

Life... the newly-married, hectic-grad-school, where-did-all-these-boxes-come-from way. :)

I can tell you, it's been a busy month.  Let's see... for one thing, I got married.  (Who, me?  Not ME!  Oh wait, totally me...)  The wedding was AWESOME!  Being married is AWESOMER.  I'll probably come up with some wedding-themed posts soon (not sure I"m ready for marriage-themed posts lol) but for now here's a picture to tide y'all over. Cue the 'Awwwwwww!'

O yea, my husband's a hottie.

Along those same lines, this month A Guy moved into my apartment (eek! hold on half a sec... circle-circle-dot-dot, now-I've-got-my-cootie-shot... ok now we're good).  It's kind of a stretch to call it "my" apartment, since I had only moved in myself two weeks before he did, but however you look at it we've been fairly busy trying to figure out how to live together.  Let me tell you, for being not very old or very well-off, we both seem to have accumulated a lot of STUFF.  And it all has to fit into this place somehow, hopefully without too much duplication or clutter.  So there's been a good deal of box-crushing/recycling and trips to the Goodwill Donation Center happening lately... and a ZILLION rides up and down the elevator laden with said stuff in the process.

Other events this month:  I finished my first semester of grad school (hurrah!) and started my second semester (ugh).  It's a summer mini-mester too, which means HEADACHES!!  And a lot of frantic highlighting as I try to plow through the assigned reading each night.  Presumably I'll make it through in one piece, but at the moment I'm not optimistic. 

OH!  And then LOST ended!  My obsession for the past two years, simply (poof!) gone.  With so much going on, I've barely even had time to process the finale... hopefully I'll be able to think it through and get a quick post together about it soon, just to provide myself with a sense of closure even if the rest of the world has already "moved on," haha!  But that means I just have to ask... are y'all filling the void with other shows, or has the space Lost used to fill simply dissipated into the surrounding busyness?  At the rate my life has been going lately it's kind of the latter for me, but there are lots of shows that have caught my eye so I'll be sure to keep the rest of the web posted on my discoveries when I finally have a moment to catch up on some of those.

So yea, to summarize... married! Mostly settled in with my new permanent roommate!  Surviving hectic grad school!  Mourning the lack of Lost!

What have the rest of you been up to lately?  Were the Lost withdrawals bad??  Have I missed any amazing web phenomenons lately, like a new type of twitter or a brand new way to Rick Roll?  Or has life mostly proceeded in a quiet and orderly fashion in my absence?  Do tell... I've missed my blog community greatly.  :)