Let's Start at the Very Beginning

  Nothing quite sets the tone for a book, like the beginning. An opening phrase that just grabs your attention and makes you want to immediately read the first couple of chapters is a thing of power. It is like that moment when you first step into a coffee shop and smell scent of coffee beans and hot milk. That moment when you step outside on a summer afternoon into the bright hot sunshine after being in the dim cool indoors. It is a prequel to what the book could be like, what imagery the author can conjecture with words whether it be humorous or imaginative. Admittedly, many very wonderful books have extremely boring first lines or in the case of some classic authors very boring beginning chapters! My love of amazing beginnings comes, like many of reading peculiarities, from my father. I remember way back as wee little thing, him quoting the first lines of "Tale of Two Cities" too us to prove how powerful words can be in setting the tone.
  All that being said, I still 'collect' good beginnings. These are by top five favorite of all time, not any sort of order though. Some being favorites since being said wee little thing and some as recently as last year. I hope you get the same enjoyment from them as I do!

1. "In the beginning, was the Word, and Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it." John 1:1-5
2. "There once was boy named Eustace Clarence Scrubb and he almost deserved it." The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis
3. "It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife."  Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
4. "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way- in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on it being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only."A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
5. "There is only one beginning. There is only one place and one moment where the world, life, and time itself began. There is only one Story. It began in the dark. It has many middles and many ends. You and I could chase it for lifetimes and only make it longer by our living. It is too sprawling for these pages and too big for this mouth."The Drowned Vault by N.D. Wilson

In other news...

My tshirt collection is growing... This shirt was too awesome not to get though. Princess Bride and The Incredibles mashup???

Whose Opinion Matters?

I, like everyone else who has friends, family, and coworkers, find that I constantly get forceful advice about how I should lead my life. Often times the advice is contradictory to advice/demands I got from someone else.
"You should move out- why is a grown women living with her family?"
"You should stay at home as long as you can, what a wonderful way to be close to your family."
"Why aren't you married?"
"You should get a real job."
"Are you going to do something with your life?"
"You should marry him."
"Oh don't even think of marrying that guy, I don't like him."
I know they are all well meaning, and are trying to help me; because they care, but sometimes hearing peoples opinions expressed forcefully really frustrates me. Why is my job not good enough if I am paid well, enjoy it and have a good position? What if the man I marries, annoys you and a lot of people, but is the man, God has for me?

Which, ultimately gets me to my point- in my life, I would love to be able to please all the people I care about. I would also love if they are thrilled about my decisions. But in the end the one whose opinion matters most? Is God. If I am following his will, well I'm sorry if you don't like my husband, I'm sorry if you don't like what I'm doing with my life. But what matters to him is more important to me. Which, I really hope everyone understands from feeling the same way about their life; because I really hope that they are putting him first.

Books-tool or weapon?

I love to read.
Shocking, I know. Anyone that has been around me long enough or has managed to read my blog or even seen my ever-growing personal collection of books would be able to figure that out.
At times I have loved books for their escapism, others for the imagination or learning I have gotten from reading those wonderful pages. One of my biggest quandaries when it comes to books are those lovely little age-catagories.
When I was a teenager (ok, even before that...) I was an advanced reader. I got the point at the old age of nine that I got quite tired of the 'Boxcar Children' and the fun but cliche plot lines of the 'Mandy' mysteries, so I began exploring more. Well, it is a fact that should be well-known, that a lot of teen or young adult books are fluff, and fluff is so annoying. Yes, I had my classics, and I loved my Jane Austen and Charles Dickens, but occasionally you want an adventure of mystery that isn't completely bogged down with romance or even worse adult topics.
Now that I am older there seems to be so many more authors that can write a pretty awesome book that is both challenging and age-appropriate, and I have to wonder- is there more or am I just a better book finder? What I do think is important though is keeping on top of what book are available and even what ones are popular in the young adult section. I do this for several reasons.
1) I want to eventually write in this age group.
2) I work with this age group and like to know what they are reading.
3) I actually enjoy reading these books. :-)
Many people would argue that you don't need to read the books to know whether or not they are appropriate for young people to read, and to a certain extent that is true. I would not hand my 12 year old brother the Twilight books and expect him to not only enjoy them, but be at the appropriate age to understand the flaws with the books. But having read the Twilight series, I can from a experience stand-point argue why I think they are inappropriate for younger age-groups and what I find wrong with them, rather than have just a basic understanding of what the books are about (said arguments are a whole other post!). So not only am I able to find the 'bad' but sometimes I stumble across books that should be better known and are really really good, and in turn I am able to recommend, praise and even loan them out so that others are able to experience them.
Those books make it worth every time I've read a dud, or rolled my eyes through multiple cliches, or suffered through yet another adventure that devolved into another kitschy romance. That and the excitement I get to experience in others after they read the book and can share in both the ideas and story that captured my attention in the first place.
I think that being able to recommend and proof-read books as an adult is a very important job. What our young friends, younger siblings or even kids is very important and can help them grow as a person and we should care what they are setting before their eyes. As a Christian I am especially cautious about watching out for language or inappropriate romantic developments in a book that I will allow my siblings or friends to read.
I am so thankful though for all the wonderful authors out there that have well-written books that have imagination, a plot-line and characters that are interesting and well-developed. My library looks much the better for them, even though my pocketbook may not!

I am dreadfully behind in both reading and in reviewing the new books, but I saw this book and suddenly wanted to add to my very long and constantly growing list of books I want to read. 

Being a bit of a fangirl of the Doctor (no matter which of the three 'editions' pictured on this cover), I was only stopped by the lack of funds that were in my bank account and also that huge stack of books waiting to still be read. But someday...

The Delightfulness of Allergies

      Growing up I suffered struggled and was otherwise annoyed by many pesky little allergies, nothing ever serious or life threatening, but enough to make certain parts of the year or certain meals a bit harder to be positive about than others (of course the parts of the year include Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter, because having allergies in only one season would be far too mundane for me!) 

But the one thing I swore up and down to never become allergic too... like I had any control over it... was wheat; because I love love love anything to do with bread. I also said even if I DID find out I had such a heinous allergy- that I would continue eating it ANYWAY! No itsy-bitsy side effect would stop me from consuming the deliciousness of baked good and pasta.

So of course I found out I was Gluten Intolerant.

And I couldn't have been happier.

By the point I found out I was Gluten Intolerant, I was ready to skip eating anything if it made the horribleness my health had become to just stop. At that point I had started having migraines every day for weeks and had barely eaten anything in the same amount of time. 

So when a most wonderful lady who has Celiac pointed out the obvious signs, I was overjoyed. Giving up wheat hasn't been all fun, and it certainly can be very hard at times, but there are so many positive things about it. I no longer find it hard to have my daily servings of fruit and vegetables. I no longer have to worry about pounds gained by all the junk food I consumed. 

And besides it could be worse.

I could have been allergic to something in ice cream.

I REFUSE to give up ice cream! 

Well, after a long break I am back and boy do I have a bunch of posts stored up! These past couple of months have been pretty crazy!

1) I started my final year of college! (Yayayayayaya!)
2) Bible quiz started and I am once again a JR High quiz coach; which is both so much fun and sooo exhausting.
3) I had a really rough patch with one of my friends and with God's help we worked it all out.
4) Thanksgiving!
5) Christmas!

I will try to write some more about all those items in their own posts but this is more of a compressive where I've been hiding explanatory post. :-)