30 Day Song Challenge: Day One

Ok, so I've noticed that many blogs use 30 day challenges to talk about things that interest them (you know who I'm talking about Ashley--I'm especially loving the 30 pieces of clothes for 30 days...wow! and I'm not sure I'm ready to do the 30 days of truth, powerful stuff). I've also seen 30 Day photo challenge, 30 Days of Giving etc. and I thought, I wonder what challenges are out there that relate to my reading oriented blog, but can still tell you a little bit about me and I found this one (songs, after all, are words). So, every Wednesday will be devoted to...The 30 Day Song Challenge

Day One: Your Favorite Song
           Asking me to tell you my favorite song is tantamount to asking me to tell you my favorite book. The question gets asked and like 100 float in my head immediately vying for the coveted #1 spot. But, because this is a challenge, I'm not going to do my usual cop-out of making a list of favorites in no particular order, which means this post is taking about 30 minutes longer than expected, and I may be late for school! Today I have chosen *drum roll, please* Original of the Species by U2.
          It is, literally, the first song I thought of when I found out I was pregnant. I love it because I read somewhere that Bono wrote it for his eldest daughter (which I am the eldest of three...so, I loved this song before I knew I was going to have a daughter), I've also read that Bono wrote it for The Edge's only daughter (which makes it relate even more). I don't really care which of these stories is true. This song just strikes at the core of me, the foundation of who I am--woman/mother/girl/daughter/wife. I hear it and I laugh and cry because I am the girl in the song, my daughter is the girl in the song and I feel like every girl needs to know what this song is and what it is about; the perfection that is them. It is my favorite because I am a girl and this is one of those powerful 'girl love yourself' songs. I know all the words. My husband, some friends of ours, and I went to see U2 in Chicago (please note my blogger profile pic is from said concert). When the beginning chords started, it was a moment that felt like it was just my husband and I and we were singing along, at the time I was pregnant and was due in less than a month. I will never forget this, a perfect moment, holding hands with my husband and feeling, no, realizing, that my life had changed forever and nothing else mattered but this tiny little girl that hadn't been born yet.
          I hope that my daughter feels even 1/2 of the power of this song. I sing it to her at night...it's her lullaby.

Feel free to join in by commenting below (I really do love comments, on fb or here), or doing this challenge on your own blog. And, thanks Ashley for inspiring me, again.

The 30 Day Song Challenge

Day 01 – Your favorite song
Day 02 – Your least favorite song
Day 03 – A song that makes you happy
Day 04 – A song that makes you sad
Day 05 – A song that reminds you of someone
Day 06 – A song that reminds of you of somewhere
Day 07 – A song that reminds you of a certain event
Day 08 – A song that you know all the words to
Day 09 – A song that you can dance to
Day 10 – A song that makes you fall asleep
Day 11 – A song from your favorite band
Day 12 – A song from a band you hate
Day 13 – A song that is a guilty pleasure
Day 14 – A song that no one would expect you to love
Day 15 – A song that describes you
Day 16 – A song that you used to love but now hate
Day 17 – A song that you hear often on the radio
Day 18 – A song that you wish you heard on the radio
Day 19 – A song from your favorite album
Day 20 – A song that you listen to when you’re angry
Day 21 – A song that you listen to when you’re happy
Day 22 – A song that you listen to when you’re sad
Day 23 – A song that you want to play at your wedding
Day 24 – A song that you want to play at your funeral
Day 25 – A song that makes you laugh
Day 26 – A song that you can play on an instrument
Day 27 – A song that you wish you could play
Day 28 – A song that makes you feel guilty
Day 29 – A song from your childhood
Day 30 – Your favorite song at this time last year

50 Books in a Year: #1 Grace is for Sinners

          So, thanks to my friend Julie (thanks Julie!) I've been reading all about this 50 books in a year challenge and thought to myself, "Self...a) you really need to read more and b) you missed posting on Monday (and you're trying to post every day but MAJOR holidays). Why not dedicate Mondays to 50 books in a year?" So, now, while I can't sleep I will post for Monday, so when I wake up for Tuesday, I can post again.
          The first book I would like to talk about, is, ironically enough, a book I started reading yesterday (on Monday) called Grace is for Sinners by a little tiny sniplet of a girl Serena Woods. My sister first turned me on to the book over the summer and my friend Kathy bought it for me for Christmas. Frankly, I'm a little curious about it because my sisters and I went to high school with this girl--then Serena Walker. Actually, I've been on many an adventure with this girl (getting stranded in Perryville, MO when her car broke down, spending whole weekends at her house at a time in the summer...I remember this because we had to go visit her, not the other way around--you'll see why if you read the book, and finding a love of Ozzy Osbourne through her obvious love for him). I also remember getting totally out of touch with her and hardly knowing her by my senior year, and then hearing about her and feeling guilty about not talking to her or only chit-chatting with her when I saw her at the mall. I am guilty of hearing about what was going on with her and instead of trying to find and talk to her, I just let those rumors spread and thanked the Lord it wasn't me.
          While reading yesterday, I couldn't help but think about a) all the things that go on in someone's life that we are totally unaware of, because we listen to the rumor-mill not the actual person b) people only let us know what they want to let us know--I knew about her early life, not the life she must have been living right under my nose while we were in high school and going to the same church and c) I like that this girl is brave enough to talk about a subject that has stopped me from going to church and made it a hard time for me to see that there are good die-hard Christians. So, I'm going to finish this book during the week and then I'm going to pass it on...and, on...and, on...unless, of course, you don't want to wait and just want to buy one for yourself.
          It's not everyday that Christians meet other Christians who understand you can be a real person, I like that Serena is trying to get the message across that grace is the reason why we are here in the first place and it is grace that saves us not the amount of times we go to church, not what we wear to church or what we've done in our lives. We don't save ourselves, actually it seems that we do the best to destroy ourselves. I also love that this book is chock full of scripture, my mother has always said, and I believe it, that if you can't find it in the Bible than it's just your personal beliefs not something God wants you to do.
          So, feel free to join me on Mondays to talk about your book as you read 50 this year. I've been reading whole blogs dedicated to this project, not sure if I have time to go all out like that, but I can do Monday, hope you can too, how else am I going to find good books to read?!

Off to bed...ish...

PS. these are not going to be reviews, per se...I'd rather talk about how these books are shaping me and you decide if that makes it a good book or not.

"Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend, inside a dog it's too dark to read." ~Groucho Marx

This is it. My first ever official blog post and what is it that I want to talk about, well it's books, of course. The other day I was thinking about the first book I ever chose to read on my own, Strawberry Girl by Lois Lenski, not about the storyline as I don't really remember it...there's a girl, she picks strawberries, there's some sort of turmoil everything turns out happy in the end...but about how I felt reading it quietly to myself on the bottom bunk of our bed. In an apartment full of noise, there were, after all, three girls, reading alone in the semi-darkness of a room lit up only by the sunlight coming in from the corner of the shade was the way I survived and it is the way that I've survived up to this day...reading a good book...do you remember your first read?