S is for Singing...as in we love ourselves some music!

My friend Becky, the same one who had the idea for the topic for my A to Z, had a wonderful topic for the letter 'M', however, I already had an 'M'...I've moved it to 'S'. Here's what she said would be a good topic:

"Music you really have liked throughout the last 15 years and ones you think you would want to share with Lila. Everytime I listen to my U2 I think of you. Maybe you could share a few songs that happened during certain times in your life and what challenges you overcame at that time, or what the song meant to you...Or your first song you and Chris both liked, as well as Lila's first song."

And, here are my thoughts...

I can chart my life by music. I didn't realize how nostalgic this made me until I got old enough to have life moments worth remembering. Benny Goodman, Cliff Richards and "The Grease" soundtrack remind of weekends at my grandparents house. "Dreams" by Fleetwood Mac reminds me of the moment I realized I loved this boy in high school; that song also reminds me of the huge fight we had that damaged our friendship. If I want to remember significant high school moments I just pop in the "Boomerang" soundtrack or listen to a little NKOTB or Ace of Base. Yesterday I was just talking about slow dancing to "November Rain". I can chart every moment of my college career by song; DC Talk and Jars of Clay, "The Reality Bites" soundtrack, Oasis, Tim McGraw, "Dare to Care" concerts and Mazzy Starr. I remember sitting in the living room of a house I shared with friends talking and listening to Sheryl Crow's, "If It Makes You Happy"...I remember this moment like it was yesterday...my cat Winnie is at my feet and the smell of a cake we just baked is wafting from the blue walled kitchen. I knew that Chris and I would get along just fine when we spent a night listening to music and talking about our memories we pretty much went through our own personal catalogs of music and events. I knew that our relationship was perfect, when we bought tickets for the opening U2 show in Chicago.

The thing is I think that every single moment of life is wonderful and marvelous. I think that they should not be forgotten.

It just makes sense that I would chart our lives with Lila in the same manner. For my personal baby-shower I made the following compilation for each guest. I wanted a list of songs that I enjoyed that were all about raising and loving little girls. We also had U2's "Vertigo Tour" DVD playing in the background.

Baby Girl CD

Sugar, Sugar The Archies                      

Gracie Ben Folds Five                 

She's Gotta Way Billy Joel                             

Where You Lead I Will Follow Carole King and Louise Gaffin                   

Never Grow Old The Cranberries                              

It Won't Be Like This for Long  Darius Rucker                  

Sweet Child O' Mine Guns and Roses                              

Amazing Janelle                

Intelligentactile 101 Jesca Hoop                       

Little Miss Magic Jimmy Buffet                   

There Goes My Life Kenny Chesney                              

Time of Your Life Little Steven                     

In My Daughter's Eyes Martina McBride                            

Seven Years Norah Jones                     

Songbird Oasis                   

Little Wonders Rob Thomas                     

Pretty Dress Rosie Thomas                  

My Little Girl Tim McGraw                    

Original of the Species U2                        

My Darling Wilco     

The other day I came home from being away for the whole weekend, Chris and Lila were just vegging on the couch watching the waving PS3 screensaver listening to Pink Floyd. One time in the not to distant past, Chris came home and we were watching the videos and dancing around to:

"Dog Days" by Florence + the Machine

"1, 2, 3, 4" by Fiest

For the most part, however, on her own Lila has pretty chees-tastic taste...I can only assume that all 2 year-olds are like this and would prefer:

Elmo and India Arie singing the ABCs

"10 Little Numbers"...and, if you sing it "10 Little Indians" she will freak!

Chris and I are both lovers of music and from an early age we have instilled that love into our daughter.
At 7-months she would hum along to:

"From Where I'm Standing" by Schulyer Fisk in the movie I Am Reed Fish

Music she likes and will seek out
Pop music, every kid goes through this phase and I can jam out to Justin Bieber, "High School Musical" and Selena Gomez right along with her..."I love you like a love song, baby"...try getting that out of your head.
The first song she every sang the words to was:

"Rhythm of Love" by The Plain White Ts...we just call this the Ba-Ba Song

The thing is our musical taste have seeped into her everyday thoughts. I know that my kiddo will have no choice but to like U2 and Coldplay and Michael Jackson, just as I know that I have no choice about liking Elvis and Abba and Michael Jackson. This is the kind of music that I grew up with and I have wonderful memories associated with every song. I hope that when Lila Jane turns 35 she can say the same.

For more about my life in music, check out my 30 Day Song Challenge.

"Music & Me"
Michael Jackson

We've been together for such a long time now
Music, music and me
Don't care whether all our songs rhyme
Now music, music and me

Only know wherever I go
We're as close as two friends can be
There have been others
But never two lovers
Like music, music and me

Grab a song and come along
You can sing your melody
In your mind you will find
A world of sweet harmony

Birds of a feather we'll fly together
Now music, music and me
Music and me

55 Books in a Year: Book #2 Fifth Avenue, 5 AM, Audrey Hepburn, Breakfast at Tiffany's and the Dawn of the Modern Woman

I'd make an excellent Mid-Century woman.  I enjoy making meatloaf and deviled eggs and jell-o molds.  I passionately watch The Dick Van Dyke Show, Ozzie and Harriett and Mad Men, longing for the times when women made cakes from scratch, cigarettes were smoked in front of children, people drank at every occasion (I love a good mixed drink in a perfectly shaped glass poured over perfectly shaped ice) and couples slept in separate beds, sometimes separate rooms. I understand that even Mad Men is a stylized version of this era, but I can't help it, I love the dresses, the food, the struggles and the imperfections of this time in American history.

Fifth Avenue, 5 AM by Sam Wasson encompasses that era with equal parts nostalgia and grit. It is the story of Audrey Hepburn and her reluctance to be the poster girl for Modern American women, her desire to be a mother, her failed relationships and, in the end, her willingness to accept herself in her imperfections. Audrey Hepburn is the reason why women wear little black dresses, but Holly Golightly (the heroine of Breakfast and Tiffany's) is the prototype of the modern female. Holly is the perfect combination of sex and femininity and, Wasson will tell you, she was the perfect bridge between June Cleaver and Marilyn Monroe.

Wasson deftly weaves touch tones of America into this tale. He describes how Hepburn helped revolutionize the fashion industry, making designer clothing appeal to the average working class woman. He talks about class, a smidgelette about race, fashion, the film industry, the music industry (where would the movie be without Mancini's "Moon River"?), gender, sexuality and Truman Capote (yes, Mr. Capote belongs in a class all his very own) and gives us enough information to know that he's in love with all of it and, yet, wants us to love it for ourselves not because he says so. 

Everytime I picked up the book and began reading I was propelled back to a time of dualities; on one hand America's need to look and be picture perfect and, on the other hand, a nation who wanted to show it's true, unglossy, promiscuous self. I gotta tell you I love both sides. I also love that Wasson makes sure that his readers understand that it is Breakfast's at Tiffany's (the film more than the movie) that signifies our break from trying to be the perfect Land of Liberty.

I didn't realize I would identify with Audrey Hepburn so much. Her struggle to balance her personal desires to be a good wife and mother, with those of her husband and those of one of the first modern career women kept me reading just to see how she was going to succeed through /in-spite of it all.

Read this book (doesn't the title just make you want to?). Be prepared to laugh and cry (OK, I didn't cry, but I did gasp a few times at the glorious story). Be prepared to hum "Moon River" in the shower. Be prepared to yearn for cigarettes and martinis and a time when everything was new and America was a blushing debutante. 

4 Stars   

Wasson interrupts my flow of reading a little too much with all of his topic headings. Oh, and I also didn't like that he didn't have nice things to say about George Pippard. Who doesn't like Hannibal?

Crushes I've Had On Male Characters from Songs...

I was out blog surfing one day and come across this fun little post (Crushes I've Had On Female Characters from Songs) and thought I'd give you my own list of male characters that have made me swoon...now, mind you some of these characters I started crushing on when I was a kid, so be prepared for a crazy ride. After reading through my list, I can see why I never dated in high school.

The Dan Fogelberg from “Same Old Lang Syne" by Dan Fogelberg

Why: He's a sentimental kind of guy who, even after becoming famous, still pines for the one that got away.

Clincher Lyric: “Just for a moment I was back in school/And felt that old familiar pain/And as I turned to make my way back home/the now turned into rain." I love a good bit of nostalgia and this is definitely it.

Why It Wouldn’t Work Out: He's already deeply in love with someone else, obviously, and one day she will leave that architect and where will I be?

Daniel from “Daniel" by Elton John

Why: He's a war hero who is probably misunderstood. 

Clincher Lyric: “Daniel, you're a star in the face of the sky". If a brother can look up to someone that much, he must be some kind of awesome.

Why It Wouldn’t Work Out: War heroes have BIG scars and this war hero got injured to boot, not sure he'd really be thinking of me at all, besides he's in Spain.

Jesse from “Jesse's Girl" by Rick Springfield

Why: He's attractive, but humble. He's sincere, yet self-deprecating. He listens. He's unlike every other boy. 

Clincher Lyric: “Jesse is a friend/Yeah, I know he's been a good friend of mine." Geez, even guys like him.

Why It Wouldn’t Work Out: Um, he's taken, by someone pretty awesome, it would seem.

The spoon playing man from “Spoonman" by Soundgarden

Why: He's a Gen-Xer who loves everyone and everything and is probably good with his hands, which means he probably gives great massages...and, builds things.

Clincher Lyric: “Feel the rhythm with your hands". I also feel that Spoonman can sing and is quite talented at all things right-brained.

Why It Wouldn’t Work Out: He's a Gen-Xer who plays spoons for a living...spoons for Pete's sake.

The young quarterback from “All Kinds of Time" by Fountains of Wayne

Why: He is a jock who thinks. Sigh.

Clincher Lyric: “He thinks of his mother/He thinks of his bride-to-be/He thinks of his father/His two younger brothers/Gathered around the widescreen TV.

Why It Wouldn’t Work Out: He actually plays sports, I can barely sit through a whole sporting event...unless it's baseball.

Not quite my type...

Sue, Bad Leroy Brown, any guy from an Eminem song                                               They fight way too much, go to prison, get their children taken away and still come out swinging...not cool.

Any guy from a Beyonce song                                                                                Either they're crazy possessive, too mushy and in my business or jerks.      

Who are your song crushes?                                                                                                

"A Way Back When" Saturday...

Gotta raise the kiddo right you know!

What are your favorite shows from way back when?

50 Books in a Year: Book #44 Final Friends Book Three: The Graduation

Here are somethings I noticed/remembered/liked/disliked about Book Three: The Graduation (the link is to Goodreads).

From the back

The last day of school has arrived at Tabb High. Michael Olson is convinced that Alice's death, nine months before, was murder rather than suicide and is just concluding his investigations. Will he survive this day?

Let's see...
Noticed
1] Pike really does go out of his way to make Jessica likeable in this one.
2] Ummm...how could anyone not notice where he was going with Claire's boyfriend...???
3] The second I started this book I knew exactly what happened to Alice, I remember every detail from this book especially the ending on the boat.

Remembered
1] Jessica and Michael and the sex in the shower...except for my 13 year old brain, really did think this scene lasted longer than 3 lines...hurrrmphf
2] I guess the Jessica of Book 3 is the Jessica I always remembered.
3] I'm still wondering if Polly killed her *spoiler* old grandmother, or was it old aunt...hmm...can't remember that part.

Liked
1] Michael, always have always will
2] This book is full of surprise and action and murder and lots of mystery.
3] That Clark was strange, but innocent.

Disliked
1] That Polly really does get away with a lot.
2] The stereotypes about homosexuals, black people, Hispanic people, sports players, cheerleaders, druggies et cetera that are thrown around carelessly.
3] That it took me until Book 3 to remember everything.

My next bit of nostalgia will be The Emily books by LM Montgomery...

50 Books in a Year: Book #43 Final Friends Book Two: The Dance

Yes, I'm sticking
with the old covers!

Here are somethings I noticed/remembered/liked/disliked about Book Two: The Dance (the link is to Goodreads).

From the back

For Jessica Hart and Michael Olsen, the homecoming dance will end just like the party--in horror. The murderer will walk through another wall.

Let's see...
Noticed
1] Again this book isn't really about the murder as it is about getting to know the characters more and then there's this horrible accident.
2] Bubba is not a good best friend.
3] Parts of the book are a little racist...hmm...

Remembered
1] That Clark wasn't the killer, so the ending of this book *spoiler* where he finds his yearbook and figures out where he goes to school didn't really surprise me, I also don't remember being surprised the first time around, which tells me that I knew Clark wasn't the killer then.
2] Jessica and Michael almost kiss/kiss, however you want to look at it.
3] The girls in this book series are really weak...all of them.

Liked
1] Michael, always have always will
2] Strangely, that these books really aren't very suspenseful. I like the fact that we get to know all of these characters BEFORE something bad happens...we like the characters more.
3] All the sub plots that in some way tie in to the murder of Alice.

Disliked
1] Jessica...how could I have ever thought of her as a role-model...this realization has made me kind of sad.
2] *spoiler* there's a girl that has sex, gets pregnant and her male counterpart pays for her abortion...this whole subplot seems to be taken pretty lightly and it seems that she is sadder that people find out than she is about the whole experience itself, I would have liked this portrayed a little more realistically and, frankly, more in-depth or not at all.
3] The accident and how I couldn't remember how it happened or how Maria acted so harshly

Book Three soon to follow...

50 Books in a Year: Book #42 Final Friends Book One: The Party

This is the cover of the series
when I read it.
The cover has changed several times.

OK, so when I was a kid I loved myself some Christopher Pike, I mean loved...I also loved Joan Lowery Nixon, RL Stine (before Goosebumps, I was a little too old when Goosebumps started up) and Lois Duncan (don't watch any of the books about her movies they're pure buckets of poo). I guess I just liked teenagers involved in suspenseful situations.

All this reminiscing concludes with this book series by Christopher Pike called Final Friends. I've own Books Two and Three of this series forever and it wasn't until I was with my sister as a used book store that I found Book One. After I got home, here are somethings I noticed/remembered/liked/disliked about Book One: The Party (the link is to Goodreads).

From the back
Jessica Hart and her best friends invited dozens of people to their "get to know each other" party. But some people came who weren't invited. And the evening ended in horror. Most figured it was a suicide. They figured wrong. 

Let's see...
Noticed
1] I didn't realize that the character who dies, Alice, I'm not giving anything away if I say her name, doesn't die until the end (like the last 10ish pages) of the book. The rest of the book is filled with typical teenage novel fodder...it feels like fodder now, it felt like plot when I read it back in 1988.
2] Teenagers in the 80s had sex and partied.
3] Parts of the book are a little racist.

Remembered
1] The main character Michael, he was the prototype for which I based all my future book crushes. He's dependable, smart, doesn't take no for an answer and, of course, crushing on a girl that does not deserve him.
2] Alice, she's a very memorable character. I just didn't realize how much I liked her or how much I was sad when she died.
3] How it happens, but not who killed her.

Liked
1] Michael, always have always will
2] Reading about 1988 as if I'd traveled back in time...
3] The feeling of nostalgia I got while reading...1988 was a good year, I was 12.

Disliked
1] Jessica, the girl Michael likes, when I was younger she seemed genuinely conflicted, but this time around she just seemed like a conniving cheerleader who bemoaned the fact that she was popular, well-liked and single.
2] That I couldn't remember who the flipping killer is!
3] That the book is really about relationships and school and everyday life not about a murder mystery

Book Two soon to follow...

PS. For an independent read one of my students was reading a trilogy of books called Until the End, the cover looked interesting and when I noticed it was by Christopher Pike I asked her what it was about, she said something along the lines of "It's about this girl who is friends with this guy and there's a guy in a motorcycle and they go to a party and a girl dies, I'm only on the first one..." and I looked again, sure enough they've repackaged Final Friends, I wonder if they've updated the setting?

Oh, the joys of high school...

What I would be doing if it were Thursday 1992...

Homework and a little 90210..."Hello, Brandon!"

Six Word Saturday #19

My life in six words
Memory Lane with the Tiny Tot!

I spent the better part of Saturday reorganzing the tiny tot's room. This meant mostly going through her clothing and packing up things she could no longer fit. It took the better part of yesterday because I spent the better part of yesterday in a nostalgic cloud thinking about when she wore this outfit or had this shirt...sigh, memories.

Want to play along? All that's necessary to participate is to describe your life (or something) in a phrase using just six words. For more information, try clicking here. Feel free to explain or not explain. Add an image, a video, a song, nothing. The full list and linky can be found here. And, here's where I found it.

50 Books in a Year: Book #34 A Visit from the Goon Squad

Every Summer I spend a great deal of time feeling nostalgic. When I was 11, I distinctly remember walking to the playground up the road, sitting on a swing and feeling nostalgic that I would never be able to do that in the same way again once I entered junior high. I remember lamenting the loss of youth when I turned double digits ("I'll never be one digit again" I wailed to my mother who didn't understand why I was crying in my birthday cake) and don't even get me started on what I did on my 30th birthday or how I recovered the loss on my 31st birthday. I'm all about remember the past with that breezy voice and far off glance of a woman way closer to deaths' door than I actually am.

I find that at 35, two years into being a married parent of an almost two year old (if you can't do the math, you may read here), getting ready to start my 13th (lucky number, no!?) year of teaching, having lived in a town, by choice, almost as long as I lived in my hometown I have many things to be nostalgic about...enter A Visit from the Goon Squad  by Jennifer Egan, a book that for lack of a better word is all about nostalgia...whiney, tragic, beautiful and mesmerzing nostalgia.

This book is a set of short stories (Jennifer Egan will say otherwise) that weave in and out of a group of lives. While reading don't make the mistake of forgetting a character because he/she will pop back up when you least expect it. I thought I'd write a little about each one. Overall this book rocked my socks off and I suggest it to anyone who has a tender heart for the past...not, that you want to relive it, but that you know while it's happening that it's shaping you into the person you are today.

I already posted most of these comments on the discussion board for the book at Goodreads.

Chapter 1: Found Objects
I couldn't help, after reading about this book, thinking that it was very similiar to The Imperfectionist, in that it was going to be stories about people living their lives, lives that take unexpected turns and twist, but always manage to survive, lives that are all somehow connected. So, I was hesitate as that book made me feel soooooo melancholy from the get-go with the story about that workholic man and the sad reason behind it. In books like this the first story really does set the tone. I like that this story, a story about a klepto and her one night stand, with its details about the bathtub, and her feelings and the therapists made me laugh, made me feel ashamed, made me feel for the boy whose precious note was stolen, made me want to take a long bath and made me want to read on to learn more, while that was a real story it was darned upbeat and honest!

Chapter 2: The Gold Cure
I knew I was going to like Bennie, as messed up as he is/was, when he lets his son try his medicine, noting how much it cost him, but also noting that he's eating it without coffee and is curious about what that's like. Sure he can't communicate with his children as well as he'd like (what parent can all of the time, if you are that person tell me how you do it) and he's lived a pretty rock and roll life, but he does regret and that makes him human enough for me to like him (although I found out later, I like his ex-wife more!)
    
Chapter 3: Ask Me If I Care
This is my second favorite chapter, I love a good story about unrequited love! I like Rhea best and even years later when she and Jocelynn visit Lou I like her more, you can tell she's going to be ok, by the end of this chapter. Love her!      

Chapter 4: Safari
This chapter is beautiful. I don't want to ruin the feeling I have about it, by talking about it...so bittersweet. I love how simple actions and words have effects on us for years and shape who we are.      

Chapter 5: You (Plural)
Lou is icky and he will die being an icky man having learned nothing even after the death of his son...sadness, as I liked Rolph. Jocelynn will be fine, now that she's seen Lou. You can tell it was touch and go before that...I like that she looks at Lou and realizes that she let this weak man affect her so much and for no reason. I like that Rhea is a mom and a good one living a normal life in Seattle...this would seem like failure to Lou but you can tell that he is in awe of her and has always been. I like that Jocelynn recognizes that Rhea was really only 'pretending'. In the end everyone heals...maybe even Lou...a little.      

Chapter 6: X's and O's
This story just made me depressed. With every detail I thought of Scotty as being more pathetic than before. In some weird way he reminds me of a Hemingway Hero and is reminicent of the old man in The Old Man and the Sea...just keeps doing what he knows he should be doing, the one great fish, the failure, but the ultimate triumph...although he has nothing to show for it, but the carcass of his crumpled, used jacket.      

Chapter 7: A to B
I love this story because I love Stephanie...she's sneaking around trying to plan this perfect lie and it just keeps getting screwed up and I love that she trust her a husband (a man that shouldn't be trusted) so much that she notices that Kathy and Bennie have something that brushes it off. It's jules that draws attention to the fact that they are both hiding something and Stephanie's reaction to that, the fact that she's sneaking around, but really that means nothing in the light of Bennies' affair, is so real as to be painful and we know that after she has her moment in the grass with crazy Noreen watching everything, she has to go back into the house, confess (like she said she was going to) and break it, as we know she does after reading chapter 2...we know she breaks it in such a way that Bennie is left impotent and we could see that coming with the harsh way she treats bosco after he calls her old. This woman with the tattoo and spiky brown hair may think she's different than those blondies, but she really isn't.      

Chapter 8: Selling the General
Frankly, even after reading it to the end, I can't tell if I supposed to like Kitty and Dolly. Was Kitty being brave or stupid? Did she truly have a death wish? And, while what she did saved Kitty, Dolly took the hush money and let the general go on doing what we now know he truly is doing...that makes me not like Dolly. Then she does unconditionally love her unplanned daughter so much that you can't help but like her and Lulu reminds me of Rory Gilmore (way more responsible, almost too responsible, than her parent). I like that Lulu gets the wind knocked out of her sails on this trip and learns to love her mother as her mother, not the woman is purposely made her life miserable. hmm...and as I write this maybe I liked this chapter more than I realized, although it's just silly...I mean really what dim-wit would put huge containers of HOT oil above everyone...really? who would go off to a war-torn country with an out of work actress for PR for the regime purposes? I do think that it's true that people will pretend to be somewhere that they perceive as desirable while totally dissing the event and person in charge!      

Chapter 9: Forty-Minute Lunch
Um...interesting. At first it was fun to read the footnotes, then it got tedious, but I felt compelled to read all of them. I found the footnotes more interesting than the story itself (I enjoy snarky and informative footnotes...like those in An Abundance of Katherines by John Green), as I dislike interviews written in this manner (I suppose that's why I'm not a SPIN mag fan!). I'm glad this chapter was written in this way, as it tells us what kind of writer Jules is/was and that he really is a darkly humourous character who will be able to pull off Bosco's comeback!

Chapter 10: Out of Body
Powerful! I didn't really like this chapter as I could see where it was going to end, and still had/wanted to read on, as I didn't want to take for granted what I thought was going to be happening...I didn't mind that Rob died, when I didn't know him, but getting to see a glimpse of him and understanding the Drew and Rob and Sasha dynamic more made me quite sad.      

Chapter 11: Goodbye, My Love
I hate when I can feel something slipping out of my grasp and can't find the words or the actions to save it. This what I felt about Ted the whole time. He didn't go to Naples to find Sasha, he went there to find himself, too bad he didn't find the courage to bring that self back with him to The States. It was also nice to finally see exactly what Sasha was doing in Italy.

Chapter 12: Great Rock and Roll Pauses
I got it from the get go...and, didn't want to like it (as the whole world did), but loved it...this is how I think and act (in mind maps and clusters) and appreciate that Egan not only got the voice of a tween, but let us into the lives of the others so wonderfully, beautiful! I especially like the part where she ask her father about rob, kids can be so insensitive sometimes because we don't realize until much later that our parents had lives before us and it's those lives that shaped them and, in essence, made us...I like how drew handles it...we know his pain in answering even if she doesn't. Wow!      

Chapter 13: Pure Language
I can think of better ways to end such a true to life book. The futuristic element was a little distracting. I like that we get to see Lulu again and she is kick butt and I like that Scotty isn't left as pathetic as I thought he would be. I wish it wasn't the end...

5 Stars

A really great post about it...with a map! (See I told  you Rosie was cool!). I will also be using this post again to demonstrate how authors should talk to their readers...the people who make or break their careers...but that is another day.

And, if you are really all that interested Goodreads chose it as their inaugural book club book so there are tons of discussions about it, somebody even put the chapters in chronological order!

Here's to the Nights...

So, I've been feeling a little nostalgic, I always get this way in the Summer...more on that later...for now, listen to this song that reminds me of summer and makes me miss college, heck it makes me miss high school too! Enjoy!