http://www.brendanandnikkiburke.blogspot.com/A few months back, Nikki’s husband, Brendan, posted his own “
Life’s Little Soundtrack.” Got a serious kick out of that post because I so totally have one of those. I definitely have experiences in my life that have been highlighted, if not defined, by the tunes of the time. Haven’t you? So since I’m sure the anticipation is killing you, here is my own adaptation of Life’s Little Soundtrack….
1. Christmas 1987. Playing the board game “Fun City” with my sister and eating endless amounts of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. The song in the background? Tiffany’s “I think We’re Alone Now”. Life didn’t get much better than that.
2. For a few years, I spent a couple of weeks in the summer with my cousin Shannon in Utah. Even though we were 2 years apart, she was definitely my best friend growing up. This was me at 13 trying to be as cool as she was at 15. And while she taught me everything I know about eyeliner and Girbaud jeans, Def Leopard’s “Pour Some Sugar on Me” was rocking out in the background.
3. This one isn’t a single song, this little moment on the soundtrack is an entire album. Erasure’s “Pop Hits” CD was what I listened to every morning getting ready for school the second semester of my sophomore year of high school. “There once was a time had you hear by my side, You said I wasn’t your kind only here for the ride. Oh L’amour…” Oh yeah.
4. May 1995, standing in a CD store on Queensway in London with my cousin Shannon, watching all of the passersby in their Doc Marten boots and Spice Girl-esque attire. The little shop had ear phones that played a few of the hits from that time and this one was the reason we stopped in to listen almost every day on our way around the town. Take That’s “Back for good”.
5. How about a burgundy Camero, your high school best friend, Becky, and a little Goo Goo Dolls “Name” on your way to institute at the MCC. Oh, those were the days. And while the topics discussed will not be brought out of the archives and retold here, the song still brings back the memories of those early college days and cruising around in the camero.
6. There’s nothing quite like being able to actually live for 3 months in the tallest existing residence in Nauvoo, Illinois. A home built in 1843 and sported turn of the century wall paper on the fabled 3rd floor. The scene from my window looked something like this: prairie grass, snow covered flats, and the occasional red brick house off in the distance. It just LOOKED quiet. What more could you ask for with a picture that serene? Oh, I don’t know, how about a little Collective Soul and “The World I know.”
7. When I lived in London, I had 11 roommates. And by roommates, I mean we all slept in the same room, all the while sharing 3 showers. We also shared 3 toilets with 14 others and had 1 classroom. The experience changed my life on MANY levels, but the one thing it didn’t change was my need for occasional solitude. On Sunday nights, while everyone else was in the one classroom attending a fireside, one could find me sitting outside on the 2 foot wide balcony taking in the yellow harvest moon and listening to my favorite band at the time: U2. The song I chose to accompany me on my balcony retreat? The song “Bad”.
8. Sleek silver “designer” architectural scale: $12. Sassy orange satin asian style dress from D.I.: $6. Set of 120 rendering markers by Prismacolor: $300. Getting K. Sholz (your intense space planning teacher) to actually start grooving out in front of the class to the song “Rollin” by the Young MC: Priceless.
9. Spring Semester 1999 was full of adventure. The apartment fish war, a trip to Lake Powell, trying to reproduce a plaster relief the size of a parking stall from the 3-D lab on campus, having said plaster relief being driven over by the next door neighbor despite it’s obvious size, working at a 72 hour kit booth in Provo Towne Center Mall, wishing I had signed up for the Irish dance class INSTEAD of being talked into a boring design lecture class with my roommate, and doing drive by’s in Jamie’s white jeep. Of course there is no way one can drive around in a jeep trying to go, what we would call, unnoticed without blaring a little “Livin La Vida Loca” by Ricky Martin. And yes, the seat belts were definitely on…. Oh, the memories.
10. Graduation from BYU April 2002. After packing up all of my belongings and sending it home to Arizona in a Uhaul with my dad, my mom and I loaded the last little bit into the white 1993 Accord and drove home. Had a lot of time on that drive to think about life and, most predominantly, my imminent future. To keep us company (and to the utter toleration of my mom) Puddle of Mud’s “Blurry” provided the backdrop to the long stretches of distant blue-gray mountains and straw colored grass that eventually turned into the familiar sand and sage brush of the Arizona desert.
11. In March of 2003, my friend Mona and I planned a little European vacay. On the last leg of our adventure, we ended up on a train from Rome to Brindisi, Italy. The thing is, we were just trying to get to Greece. Knowing that we had no idea what time the ferry left, or how much it was going to cost, or even where to buy the tickets (as the Italians couldn’t have cared less about offering any sort of helpful information on the subject), all we could do was sit back, put up our feet, and take in the scenery. Out came the CD player and with it the song “Con Te Partiro” by Sarah Brightman and Andrea Boccelli. That song always makes me feel like I’ve got a gelato in one hand, a camera in the other and I’m passing an old European cathedral…..
12. September of 2004. Final destination: Nashville, Tennessee for a 4 day install on a design technology school that I had designed. (Anyone who has ever worked in my profession knows EXACTLY what the word “install” entails.) After getting through security with 2 mannequin heads in her carryon, Annie (my work buddy) showed up to help me with the fancification of the aforementioned school. Even before we had stayed up for 19 hours straight (buying, making, placing, arranging, hanging, and rigging), we were singing along with this particular country music gem: Rascal Flatts “I Melt”. Hey, you can’t be that close to the Grand Ole Opry and not pretend that you may be the next to take the stage, glittery belt buckle and all.
13. And of course, there are those songs where recognition hits after the first couple of notes and you involuntarily reach for the volume control. You know the kind I’m speaking of, you all have them. Where rocking out in your car not only feels totally natural, but it’s just the right thing to do. My rock out song from 2008 is “Viva La Vida” by Coldplay. And if I’m lucky, I’ll catch it on the radio, if not, this is a song I listen to with my iPod earphones because the CD player in my car is broken and I’m too cheap to have it fixed. So if you thought you looked nerdy rocking out to your favorite song in the car, just think, it could be worse. You could be the geek rocking out in her car with EARPHONES. Sweet.
14. This last one is a very recent addition…. Let’s just say 10 fabulous single ladies, hours of laughter, an outrageous smattering of desserts, an iPod complete with remote, a couple of church references, and a 10 part karaoke sing along to Wilson Phillips “Hold On.” What more could you ask for on a Saturday night. Ok, well, I can think of just a FEW things…. But until then, let the good times roll. Or rock, as the case may be….
http://www.brendanandnikkiburke.blogspot.com/
www.abundantlivingcoach.com/goal-sm.jpg 
In May I went to Kauai with a bunch of friends. And by a bunch of friends, I mean, there ended up being 18 of us in a house together. Let’s just say having the 5 bedrooms and 5 bathrooms helped. The house was amazing… brazilian cherry wood floors everywhere and a 2.5 minute walk to the beach. Oh, and did I mention that it was free?
This is the view from the house we stayed in. 
Also, there had been some talk that week of people going sky diving. I have a brother who had a roommate years ago who died sky diving, so it has always made me a little nervous, but on Saturday morning, my friend Dale came into our room and said that there were people going and was anyone in. I told him that I was in and he said, “great, they’re leaving in about 15 minutes.” All the way there I wasn’t really nervous about it. Kind of excited, actually. There were about 9 of us going, but only 4 people in the plane at a time (2 jumpers and 2 jump instructors). 2 of the girls went first and then Suzanne and I went next. Still, I wasn’t really nervous until we were in the plane in the air and Suzanne asked her jump instructor how high up we were.. He said we were at 2,000 feet. I’m sitting there thinking that we were just about there until she then asked him how far we were going and he said 10,000 feet. I threw up a little bit in my mouth, it’s true. When my jump instructor opened the door and I looked out, I thought, “Hmmm. Maybe I was a bit too hasty in my decision this morning. Maybe I’ll just head back down with the pilot.” (Although considering the plane and everything, jumping was probably just as safe as trying to get back to land in that tiny thing.) While I was sitting on the edge of the plane over the open sky below (later having watched the video of me, my jump instructor is high-fiving all around the plane at this point) I kept looking down and my jump instructor kept pulling my head back so that I jumped correctly. He did this a couple of times and the next thing I knew, we were falling through the sky. People have asked if it was hard to jump. Let me just set the record straight. I didn’t jump. My jump instructor did and I just happened to be attached to him. It was the craziest experience. I always thought my stomach would jump into my throat (and perhaps it’s because you’ve just jumped out of a plane at 10,000 feet) but I didn’t feel my stomach at all. Just felt like I was on the freeway with my head out of the window… And laughing all the way. Amazing. Loved it. After he pulled the chute (which is when I fully relaxed) we just sat sailing at a comfortable 10 miles an hour over the gorgeous blue water and green backdrop of Waimea Canyon. I can’t believe people would sky dive anywhere else. It was SPECTACULAR. We did a few twirls in the air and eventually landed on the grassy patch by the ocean. So great, so fun.
