Tiger Suit by KT Tunstall- CD Review

If you liked the hit singles of "Suddenly I See," "Other Side of the World" and "Hold On," then you're going to love KT Tunstall's newest work entitled Tiger Suit.  I was recently granted the opportunity to review the complete album for my readers and I'm more than anxious to share my opinions with you all.

It has been 3 years since the multi-platinum artist's last release, but the wait does not disappoint, in my opinion.  The Scottish born singer-songwriter-guitarist has shaken things up a bit in this new release, as far as style goes.  Tiger Suit (which refers to a recurring childhood dream of KT's) embraces organic and electronic sound into a style that Tunstall has personally labeled "Nature Techno."

Not only is her musical style more unique this time around, but the artist has poured more emotion and soul into the lyrics of every song.  All eleven tracks of the album continue to showcase her powerful, smokey voice, of which I am a big coveter fan.  I've had a rather difficult time choosing a favorite on the tracklist, because I have honestly enjoyed ALL of them.  But if I had to choose, I'd only be able to narrow it down to three: ""Fade Like a Shadow," "Difficulty" or "Push That Knot Away."  "Fade Like a Shadow" has already become a favorite of many KT listeners, as well, which explains why this single has already grabbed a spot in the Top 20 radio charts.

All in all, this girl is ridiculously talented and Tiger Suit proves that once again.  I have no doubt that this new release will continue to skyrocket its way to the top of the Billboard charts.

A cd was provided to me at no cost by One2One Network in order to facilitate my review. 

I was not required to provide a positive review, only an honest one. 

The viewpoints expressed in this review are my own.

Racing For a Cure

This past weekend, I joined about 20,000 other walkers/runners in the 19th annual Greater Nashville Race for the Cure.  This annual benefit is sponsored by the Susan G. Komen Foundation and is a nationwide event that occurs throughout the year in various cities. 

To say it was an honor to be among thousands of breast cancer survivors and supporters is quite the understatement.  It was an incredible thing to see an entire community come together for a single goal: to create a world without breast cancer.  The atmosphere of the event was beautiful, inspiring, motivating, convicting, encouraging... to say the very least.  I'm already looking forward to next year's race and planning to get a mob of friends to join me. 

Here are several pictures from our wonderful day:

Our mighty Fight4Julie team.

Team shirts.

A sea of survivors and race participants.

This is "Julie," a breast cancer survivor in whose honor our team proudly participated.

And the race begins...

Go, team, go!

That would be me snacking on ice cream less than a mile into the 5K.  
That's how I roll...

Running and walking for a cure.

Each breast cancer survivor received a beautiful pink rose at the finish line.

We did it!

Hop, hop, hoppin' around...

It's Friday and I'm doing the blog hoppin' thing today! 

If you're visiting from one of these blog hops, WELCOME!  

Click here and here to enter my two current giveaways...

Joy & Number 8

8. Have a family day at the zoo.

(From Fifteen Things in Fifteen Months)

The Klapper family was recently invited by a friend to enjoy a fall day at the zoo together.  Due to a conflicting work schedule, our fearless leader wasn't able to join us this particular time.  Which I guess means we didn't technically have a true family day at the zoo together.  But since we were invited as non-paying guests from a season pass holder, I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to take my children plus check another "thing" off the list.

We definitely chose an impeccable day for the visit, as far as the weather goes.  But we had one member of our clan who didn't understand how perfect the situation was...

Enter this  pouty pants.

The kid seriously cried for the whole. first. hour.  No joke.  I was about to pack up and jet out of there until this bright idea hit me...

 

A carousel ride plus a picnic lunch did the trick.  Everything was hunky-dory from that point on and we were able to enjoy our time together at the zoo.

Don't you love how Mr. Meerkat posed for the photo opp?  
What a celebrity!

It isn't at all obvious that this was sister's FAVORITE part of the whole day.

Two monkeys...

Two more monkeys...

A trip to the zoo on a gorgeous fall day with my children and great friends brought me JOY.



And what about you?  I'd love to hear your comments about something simple that has brought you joy this week...

Something for Pregnant Mothers to Consider

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of CryoCell International. All opinions are 100% mine.

At almost any given time, I seem to know of at least one woman around me who is expecting a baby. Being pregnant is such an incredible journey that includes many joys, fears, and lots of important decisions.  And by important decisions, I'm not exactly referring to choices that include whether to paint the new princess's room pink or purple.  I mean, BIG decisions... like will I breastfeed or bottlefeed?  Work or stay at home?  Epidural or natural?  And then another one that's becoming more of a reality for women these days:  Will we bank the baby's cord blood or not?

As modern medicine continues to advance, more and more miraculous benefits are being found from saving a child's cord blood at birth.  U-Cord blood stem cells are known to treat over 75 diseases and have been used in over 12,000 transplants worldwide.

Cryo-Cell is the industry's family cord bank leader with more quality accreditations than any private cord blood bank.  The company has been involved in the umbilical cord blood preservation business for almost 20 years now and has achieved a number of successful cord blood transplants for diseases including leukemia, anemia and lymphoma.

There is so much to consider when planning for the arrival of a new baby.  In these trying economic times it can be especially difficult to weigh all available choices and still balance the family budget. Because they believe nothing is more important than protecting your baby’s future, Cryo-Cell is helping families like yours ease their financial burden.  Clients may participate in the U-Cord service for as little as $57 per month while interest-free financing options are available to those who qualify with Care Credit.

If you are an expecting mother who desires to save their baby's stem cells at birth, please consider using Cryo-Cell.  To view the benefits of using Cryo-Cell versus other cord bank services, take a few moments to visit their website at www.comparecordbloodbanks.com.