Sometimes Music Helps

The past few weeks I've been waking up 4 out of 5 days with a headache. Yesterday was one of those days. So, I kept hitting the snooze button. Before I knew it the clock read 7 AM, and I realized it was Monday. We had 30 minutes to get ready, and of course my six year old was having none of that. Finally leaving our drive 45 minutes later it was a given that we were going to be late. Thankfully, we made it through the doors of her school with two minutes to spare, and she wasn't counted as tardy. The office lady buzzed us in, and told me not to worry she could go on in. As I headed back out to try and make it to work my car jerked in the parking lot. It's been doing this a lot lately because my transmission is on the fritz. It's only a matter of time before it goes out, but I don't have the money to get it fixed. Anywho, it jerked pretty hard so I turned it off for a few minutes, and then turned it back on. It turned over without issue, and I thanked God for the little gift. Asking if I could just get another month or two before it leaves me on the side of the road because it'll be cooler by then. When I finally made it to work, I loaded up on coffee, and started with my routine. Digging through the papers, compiling separate piles, and filing before my day actually got started. An alert on my phone went off about the bills that were due today, and the anxiety set in. "Here we go," I thought.

On my lunch break I had to make my way to the bank. As I was driving my phone automatically connected to the bluetooth adapter I use to listen to music, or answer calls while driving. Right as I made it into town, this song started playing on it's own, and it's as if the universe knew I needed to hear it. I smiled. I'm talking, ear to ear. I turned the volume up, and I started singing along. And I just had this moment of pure bliss. Uninterrupted, happiness. If there's any artist out there that can make me feel like things aren't so bad, and that it's okay to take deep breaths it would be this guy. All of his work is pretty damn magical in my eyes. My day instantly started to feel better if that makes sense? I felt like anyone could keep piling onto the crap pile, and it still wouldn't phase me. They did; it didn't. My smile was still there. The rest of his (and his other bands) albums played in the background, and I just sat on this cloud. I felt productive. I felt content. I felt like life wasn't all that stressful.

Isn't it amazing how music can do that for you? Obviously, this doesn't work all of the time or with every artist we listen to. But how cool is it to find those gems every once in awhile that really move you? The ones whose lyrics speak to you, and their voice's give you goosebumps. There are a handful of bands, or artists that can turn off the world for me. Brian  Fallon is one of them. And on the days I've really needed it music has helped. It has been a life line. It has been a soundtrack. It can take me back, or allow me to look ahead. And yesterday I was so grateful to have that. To be able to feel that relief. To just smile and enjoy my day. 

Wordless Wednesday

GoodReads

I love books. I remember always riding the bus to and from school with my nose practically glued to one. They were my adventures. They were my escapes. They offered up excitement for a girl growing up in a small town. Some of my first crushes even came out of the pages of my first Sweet Valley High book. Nowadays, we adults call them "book boyfriends". :) Then, when I was in Jr. High I had a wonderful librarian that nurtured that side of me from my very first visit/tour of our school library. She would always recommend new books to me, and allowed me to check out more at a time than was normally allowed. If there was ever a time when I needed to just be alone, to finish up a good book, she allowed me to do so before the doors were officially opened. Recently, this wonderful librarian passed away, and in her obituary there were a few lines that expressed how much she loved that job. Interacting with the kids, and helping them explore the adventure of reading. Looking back I wish I had gone back before she retired and told her just how grateful I was for her generosity. So, that's why I felt like I should write a bit more about my love for books right now. Why I should never stop reading, even if it's just a newspaper or blog posts, and hopefully work on passing this love along to my daughter.

The genres I'm currently interested in are more along the lines of "New Adult", "Romance", and a tad of the good ole' "Erotic" smut. What can I say, I'm a hopeless romantic that likes some kinky shit thrown in every once in awhile? Anyway, one of my favorite authors is Gayle Forman and she's ignited this wanderlust in me that I can't shake. I've always had this want to see other places, and explore other cultures. But her stories are always so well crafted, and set in various countries that she usually leaves me wishing I could buy a plane ticket to whatever country her most recent novel is set in and experience it first hand. Another lovely author that gets me hooked from paragraph one would be Colleen Hoover. Her most recent work was so captivating. It was a book about a pretty important issue, and something I've experienced myself. It wasn't glorified or vilified, but there was such understanding in it that I basically cried like a baby after reading her personal inspiration for the story. Obviously, there are a few other hiddens gems by authors who are less well known in the book world. Likewise there are some that people rave about, and once I finally get a chance to read them I'm left wonder what all the fuss was about? Still, I love to read. I love to explore the different stories that take place within the pages. 

Now, I haven't done a book review on here in awhile. That's not to say I haven't actually written some. My favorite website that has all things book related would be *GoodReads, and I'm usually consistently active on there. I think that's mainly because I'm always reading something, or on the hunt for something else to read. Anyway, if you're not familiar with the website it's actually really great at discovering recommendations based on the books that you've already read or liked. You're also able to join book clubs, or friend other users that have common book interests.  If you want to make it interesting you can even add those that have zero in common in order to broaden your reading material options. Another great feature is that a lot of authors interact with readers through this platform as well. They give reviews, hold Q&A's, and even do giveaways. But what I think I enjoy the most is getting to read reviews before purchasing a book. The flip side to this is that you're also able to leave your own reviews for others to see, update your progress, and rate the book once you're finished.The website just received a new makeover too which offers an easier to navigate live feed, and it's also really tied in with Amazon Kindle. If you're not on the whole Kindle bandwagon don't fret because it offers up other options like Barnes & Noble, and a variety of other book publishing companies. Anywho, if you have an account definitely add me! If you don't, and you're an avid reader you should definitely check it out! 

Recently I discovered a pretty cool feature that allows me to embed the reviews I post there right onto this blog of mine. I know that's been an option since forever, but only recently did I actually look into how it really works. Now that I've gotten it figured out I just might post some of these reviews from time to time. So many plans, I know! I'm currently working on that Q&A with the little, and I've started to draft some more writing prompts from the Trent Shelton quotes so it'll all come along eventually. Fingers crossed. Until the next post! 

*This is not a sponsored post. I just really enjoy GoodReads and thought to pass it along.