Freestyle Friday 4-13-12

Happy Friday!  Guess what?!

You can now find this blog at www.jeanniereid.com.  Just wanted to make life easier and grab my own name before anyone else.  I'm weird like that.  Don't worry, it will still work with the old address for awhile...now onto to the freestylin'!


The picture of those cool journals above are from a great website called Gadanke where you can buy cutey-cute handmade journals for different events and seasons of life.  LOVE!

Rachel Held Evans, a writer and speaker, has just written a book she calls the Biblical Womanhood Project.  Not sure if I agree with everything she did here, but it's pretty interesting - check it out!

I smiled as I read this blog post about living in a LOUD house and longing for the stillness...

My neighborhood book club just started reading this book - Some Assembly Required by Anne Lamott -- and it's already a riot.  It's a journal of her first year as a grandma.  Everything this chick writes is superb, and she's the owner of some of my all-time favorite quotes like...

“You will lose someone you can’t live without,and your heart will be badly broken, and the bad news is that you never completely get over the loss of your beloved. But this is also the good news. They live forever in your broken heart that doesn’t seal back up. And you come through. It’s like having a broken leg that never heals perfectly—that still hurts when the weather gets cold, but you learn to dance with the limp.”  

“You can safely assume you've created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do.” 

"Laughter is carbonated holiness."  Amen and Amen.

And lastly....if you have ever loved country music, you must read Jen Hatmaker's latest post...you'll be boot-scootin' before you know it.

 

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Freestyle Friday 4-6-12

Welcome to Freestyle Friday!

This is my melting pot of everything that's been on my brain for awhile, so buckle your seatbelts.

BOOKS FIRST!

I got a kick out of this book by Ben Clanton.  It's a fun look at elections and breaks that fourth wall by directly engaging your little reader. (like Don't Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late and The Monster at the End of This Book - literary gems!!)

This is just a picture of a happy little bookshelf I'd like to have someday.  *sigh*

Isn't it beautiful? 

Can you read the has been read/will be read ....?

Sweetness.

My little tribe just got done with a road trip (more on that later) where I proceeded to devour this book in a day. A few hours, more accurately.  It's a young adult novel, but I'd read it before recommending it - some pretty heavy stuff.  I loved the style of the novel as it switches between two narrators throughout.  Completely suspenseful and impossible to put down!

What would it look like if babies wrote poetry?  Here's an example from the hilarious book, To What Miserable Wretches Have I Been Born?

Sometimes I look at you and I am filled
with love and admiration

Sometimes I look at you and I'm like,
"Really?"

You can preview more on the link above, but be ready to spit your Diet Coke on the computer screen.  Hilarious.  I think I found my new baby shower gift.

MUSIC

I only have one thing for you in this category today -- the lovely Miss Christy Nockles.  She came out with a new album this week!  Don't miss it!  My favorite song is the first track...

And isn't that a gorgeous album cover?  I'm sure she sketched it herself, totally.

AND ALL THE REST

Have you met Jennie Allen?  She one of the leading Bible teachers for a new generation.  Check out her blog, book, and Bible studies -- you will be hearing more from her in the future, for sure!

Take your kids over to www.jellytelly.com.  Or just go there yourself for a good time. 

Freestyle Friday 3-16-12

Have you ever made a promise to a child you knew you might not be able to keep?  Guilty!  Maybe that's one of the reasons I love this website - www.makeareadingpromise.com, based on the book by Alice Ozma. 

Alice's father promised to read to her EVERY night for 1,000 nights straight.  From 9 years old to 18 years old, He. Did. It.  Sometimes over the phone, very late, but he did it.  Get the book, check out the website, be inspired.
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Have you heard of Jen Hatmaker?  She's a great writer and someone I want to have a Coke with.  Check out her blog and her book trailer.  It's on my list to read next!

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Speaking of books, I stumbled onto this website from a friend - www.redeemedreader.com.  They offer great book reviews of all kid's literature, so you don't have to read everything! :)  (Does that mean I don't have an excuse now?)

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And just for fun - this hilarious website from someone "in the trenches" - www.whendidigetlikethis.com I love how one of her blog posts was entitled:

Let whatever you do today be enough....

Freestyle Friday 3-9-12

It's new!

It's funky and fresh like D.J. Jazzy Jeff!
If you're old enough to know who that is, I salute you.

It's FREESTYLE FRIDAY!  I'm starting a new feature where every Friday I serve up a few smokin' links that have caught my attention over the week.

What to expect?  Mmm, a little bit of everything! Here we go...

~ This short article helped me realize that the One Essential Habit Of Every Effective Leader isn't as mysterious as I think it is.  Very freeing!

~ For those of you who like to blog yourself, this is a really helpful link on Finding Your Blog's Unique Voice or any writing in general.

~ Sometimes I am just plain sick of Housework.  It feels like shoveling the sidewalk while it's still snowing!  This encouraged me.

~ And this is just a hilarious video about trying to be fluent in our native tongue, English.  Brian Regan kills me again.

Let me know what you think of Freestyle Friday! 

And thanks for reading.  I'm having fun and I hope you are, too.