Good things come in small packages...and at the exact right time

The other day I wrote about the new books I bought at Barnes and Nobel. Sidenote-- I finished The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo...Amazing. But today I want to grace you with some of my musical loves. Some of them are pretty new to me, but I've found that my music taste is changing a little bit.

I still love John Mayer, Needtobreathe, Taylor Swift, Dave Matthews Band, and all the music from the 80s. For Christmas this year, my mom got me a 4-disc packet of nothing but Christmas songs. One of the songs I really loved was by Ella Fitzgerald. I loved her bluesy sound.

Yesterday while I was watching Oprah, I heard Joss Stone for the first time. Basically I was blown away. She is bluesy and soulful. So I used iTunes free listening to help me decide what songs I liked.

"Killing Time" by Joss Stone is amazing. Her voice is right on. So this morning at work, I opened my Pandora station and typed her in. All day it has been a wonderful mix of bluesy, soulful sounds. I have been so impressed. Everyone should have a listen to the Joss Stone station on Pandora.

Some songs I am into right now: (Some of these may be a little surprising)

"Killing Time" - Joss Stone
"Stay with You" - John Legend
"Down by the Water" - The Decemberists
"Valley of Tomorrow" - Needtobreathe, the Live Horses album
"Shelter" - Ray LaMontague
"Right Above It" - Lil Wayne and Drake
"I Don't Want To Be" - Gavin DeGraw (Stripped Version)
"Damn" - Novel

Mostly bluesy, soulful, sweetness...with a little bit of rap. What can I say. I love it all. Sidenote -- Taylor Swift's new cd "Speak Now" is amazing, and it has basically been in my car's cd player since I got it.

Have a listen. I hope you enjoy it. Feel free to tell me what you are listening to right now. Until next time...

1/11/11: A Day of Firsts

I've never really been one of those people who are superstitious, but yesterday was a pretty strange day.

My good friend Abby had a birthday yesterday, and we decided to go eat lunch to celebrate. I've always thought of Abby as a pretty normal person, someone I can talk to and count on. But apparently, she is much more than that.

We sat down for lunch at a little cafe. We had just ordered our food when this strange man and his "colleagues" sat down at the table next to ours. He leaned over and commented on it being someone's birthday (hense, the gifts).

He then proceeded to go into a long drawn-out monologue on how Abby was the perfect number, 3. Or was it a 7. This crazy gray-haired man with a short cut "all business in the front" and flowing gray ponytail "party in the back" was a numerologist. Just a little scary to say the least.

The entire time we were there he talked to us. He was in awe of Abby and her being a 3 and the day being a 7 and that equals 10, which is really a 1, which is the ultimate perfection. Seriously--he really said all of this.

He gave us folders and hand-outs with notes and pictures. He asked us hypothectical questions and gave us "real-life" senarios to work through. All the while, we were just trying to enjoy our meal of patty melts and fries.

Evidently, this man is a regular to this cafe. He and his posse of crystal-wearing numerological enthusiasts go to the cafe all the time to use the free Wi-Fi. The poor guy who works behind the counter said people have complained about how this man never leaves them alone.

It was one of those situations where you want to tell them to back off, but you don't because you are scared they will find you and kill you. Sounds extreme, but you didn't see what I saw. If I had been in a situation safe enough to snap a photo, I would have so you could be aware of this crazy character.

Keep your eyes peeled. Nobody knows what other people are doing. And I don't want to sound paranoid, but it was pretty strange. I felt pretty weird about it all day yesterday. Oh well, just one more story for the books. Until next time...

Barnes and Nobel smells divine.

For those of you who don't know me, I am one of those bookish people. I should say I have turned into a bookish person since I started grad school. I have alway liked to read, but there is always a time in our lives where reading isn't "cool" so we pretend not to like it.

Well I am over that phase and have been for a while. Now I like reading history (U.S. History from FDR to the present), literature (but really only Jane Austen), fiction, non-fiction (biographies) and the occasional romance novel and classic children's books.

The history thing is a pretty recent development. Since I am working on a historical piece for my thesis, I feel like I need to be up on U.S. History and current affairs. Jane Austen has always been a favorite, but I really fell in love with her work during high school (and after the most recent Pride & Prejudice movie).

I love getting lost in the stories and getting to know the characters. Plus it can be relaxing.

I made a little trip to Barnes and Nobel yesterday after work. 1.) I had a gift card I wanted to look into using and 2.) I wanted to skip the horrid traffic that goes back to Conway every single day. Sidenote---I love the way that place smells. Coffee and books, two of my favorite things.

I didn't go with anything in mind, but I ran across a lot of books I am interested in reading.

Committed by Elizabeth Gilbert is the sequal to Eat, Pray, Love. I loved Eat, Pray, Love, and Committed picks up where it left off. Gilbert has a unique voice. It feels like she is talking to you when you read her work. I relate to that because that is how I like to write.

Inside of a Dog: What Dogs See, Smell, & Know by Alexandra Horowitz almost came home in my B&N bag. Not sure why I backed out on it, but I will probably go back and get it. She writes about how dogs are. If you have a pet you probably spend at least a small amount of time wondering what they are thinking. I know I do.

I have a black lab named Kate. I wonder all the time what she thinks when we are doing something. She has these looks that I call her "Wow, they are so stupid" and "Really?!" and "Would you just leave me alone, dang!"

I would love to get Horowitz insight into a dog's mind. Maybe see if it is anything like what I have come up with over the years. I mean she is like trained in that field, whereas, I just like to wonder about it for fun.

But I ended up leaving with Little Bee by Chris Cleave and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson. I have heard a lot about Larsson's series and absolutely nothing about Cleave's book.

I read the first chapters of each last night, and all I have thought about today was:

1. I can't wait to keep reading Larsson's book.
2. What has happened to Little Bee?

So we shall see. I will keep you posted on how I like the books. I feel like one will win out on the other. And to be honest, I feel like Larsson will win over Cleave...just because the main character is a journalist and there is some sort of mystery happening. Until next time...

Sleep is good when you get it.

For Christmas this year I got the new iPhone 4. It does a lot of cool stuff, however, I ran into a tiny mishap that could have led to a huge upset.

Apparently iPhone 4's alarm has been on the fritz since the New Year. But me being the little naive person that I can be at times thought my new iPhone would be just fine. Wrong.

I went to bed Sunday night with the intention of waking up at 5:30 A.M. to start my morning routine so I would make it to work on time. I set two alarms since a horrible incident in college where I slept through a test..ekk!

My nightstand alarm went off twice Monday morning, but my phone alarm is the one that makes me get up. So after the second alarm went off, I guess I turned it off because I thought I would rely on the new phone.

Guess who wasn't up at 5:30 A.M. Monday morning? This girl. I hate the feeling of being rushed and stressed early in the morning (or really any time).

By the time I got up, showered, got dressed, fixed my face and hair and ate breakfast, I was already 15 minutes later than normal. Once I got outside to start my car, I was delayed even longer due to winter frost on the windshield. It was terrible.

So long story short. I didn't get much sleep last night because I was so worried about not waking up today. I probably slept 3 hours maybe. I feel terrible. Sometimes when I don't get enough sleep I feel sick and gross...which is exactly how I feel this lovely January morning.

Lack of sleep does not put you in a good mood when you have to battle Little Rock morning traffic. On the upside, my alarm did go off this morning. Thanks to a little advice from an good old friend. Hopefully I will sleep better tonight. Until next time...

Ushering in the New Year

Well Christmas is over, and New Year's has passed. So basically I'm back to the ole grind. Nothing much exciting has happened. But I thought I should touch base.

I started back to work today, and let me just say, it is such a slow day. School starts back on the 18th. And that is one thing I am not looking forward to, but it will start whether I am ready or not.

I've got some big decisions to make here in the next few weeks. I don't really want to get into detail, but I will tell you how it goes after I have decided what to do.

Things to do in 2011:

1. Make the decision.
2. Make all A's.
3. Find a new church.
4. Make time for one fun thing each week.
5. Be less stressed overall.

I feel like other things will come up as the year progresses, but I just want to figure somethings out and continue to grow and change as a person. 2011 is my year for something enchanting and magically to happen. I'm not sure what area in my life that something will be, but I can just feel it.

Hope everyone had a Happy Holidays and exciting New Year's experiences. I feel like this is shaping up to be Ashten's Year-of-Change! So let's see how that works out. I'll keep you posted. Until next time...