Music

As most all of you probably know, I am a HUGE fan of music - I listen to it no matter what I'm doing - reading, writing, working, writing blog posts, pretty much anything.

Lately, I've been listening to a lot of Christian contemporary music. For the longest time - I listened to only country music - and sometimes a little bit of pop/rock. I haven't been listening to that stuff in a while.

Well - I was reading over old posts, and noticed that I made a list of my top ten favorite songs. And most of them WEREN'T Christian songs.
Wow.

I thought that I'd make a new list of my favorite songs. Yes, my favorite CHRISTIAN songs, that give God the glory - not Taylor Swift, or the Jonas Brothers or Demi Lovato.

1. Me and Jesus by Stellar Kart
2. East to West by Casting Crowns
3. Save A Place For Me by Matthew West
4. I'm Still Yours by Kutless
5. By Your Side by Tenth Avenue North
6. Never Give Up On Me by Josh Bates
7. City On Our Knees by Toby Mac
8. What Faith Can Do by Kutless
9. We Shine by Stellar Kart
10. Enough by Barlow Girl

If you click on the songs, it'll take you to a youtube video of the song.

Todd & Christy: The College Years by Robin Jones Gunn

ABOUT THE BOOKS:

The love story of Christy and Todd begins anew....

Beloved heroine Christy Miller, along with her friends Todd and Katie, is now in college enjoying new freedoms, taking on new responsibilities, and facing new struggles. With life-changing decisions in front of her, Christy turns to God for strength and guidance—especially when it comes to her romance with Todd. Although their courtship began many years ago, it's only now as adults that they can explore a future together. Is theirs truly a forever relationship?

Until Tomorrow
After nearly a year of studying in Switzerland, Christy welcomes the arrival of Todd and Katie for a whirlwind tour of Europe, all the while looking for assurances of Todd's feelings for her.

As You Wish
Christy's back in Southern California for her junior year of college, eager to spend more quality time with Todd—but several unexpected events lead Christy to question their future together.

I Promise
Engaged at last, Christy and Todd discover some differences between them that might make married life more complicated than they thought. Will they ever make it down the aisle?

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Robin Jones Gunn has a passion for communicating God's love to young hearts. She began writing story books for toddlers when her children were little. Her husband, Ross, has been a youth minister for over twenty years. While on a camping trip with teens from their youth group, Robin found some of the girls hiding away in their tent reading a stack of novels they'd brought with them from the library.

Curious as to what could keep these girls away from the sun, surf and guys, Robin borrowed three of their books. As she read them, her heart broke. They were not the kinds of stories these girls should be reading! After the camping trip Robin went to her Bible bookstore and bought every book she could find that she thought would be interesting for the girls and have a good influence on them. The teens read all the books in a week and asked for more. "There aren't any more," Robin told them. "That was all I could find." The teens challenged Robin by saying, "Then you write some for us. We'll even tell you what to write!"

She has now written over 50 books, including THE CHRISTY MILLER SERIES, which has sold more than one million copies. A storyteller at heart, she is also a popular speaker and an active youth worker. Robin lives with her family in Oregon.

MY THOUGHTS:
I had not, and probably will not, read the FIRST Christy Miller series. I have read a few of the books - so I knew the characters well enough, to jump back into the story, in the college years and still understand what was happening. Though, I think that even if you haven't read ANY of the books about ANY of the characters, you would've been able to jump right in and read.
I really liked this series. The first book was the one that I didn't enjoy as much as the other two. It seemed more boring, I guess. It was mostly traveling, but it was still a good book.
Robin Jones Gunn has a way of writing, that makes you want to keep reading until the end, to know exactly what is going to happen, when.
The characters are VERY believable, living a life that is also very believable. They're in college, with those hard choices that come with being in college.
All in all, this series is good, and I would recommend it to anyone who has or hasn't read anything about these characters in the past.

**I received this book free, by Baker Publishing, in exchange for my review**

Childhood and Teen Crushes

My mom did a 'thing' over on her blog, talking about her early childhood and teen crushes, who happened to just be famous people.

I thought that it sounded like a ton of fun - so I thought that I would come over and do it on my blog, as well.

I can't remember my first TV crush from when I was little - to be truthful, it was so long ago - that my brain doesn't even want to go back that far.

1. I think that my first BIG TV/Music crush, came when I was about 13. I can remember that it was in September of 2007 that I started to like this band. Nick Jonas was definitely my first big TV/Music crush. I remember that this is one of the first pictures I had ever seen of him - and I thought that he was incredibly cute. (Now, well, not so much! :P)
2. Not long after I started liking Nick Jonas, I stopped thinking he was the cutest in that band. Yeah, I'm not crazy. I started 'crushing' on Kevin Jonas. Again, I don't think that he is that cute anymore. :P
Is it sad that they are the only two that I can really think of that I had MASSIVE crushes on?! I am pathetic, aren't I?

Funny, that neither of those guys, are even cute to me anymore. :P Especially now, that Kevin Jonas is married. Haha.

Beautiful in Christ

Um, okay, so I pretty much FAIL at keeping this blog up and running. I haven't posted in such a long time.

My family has been pretty busy lately - I haven't had time to post anything, or really had anything fun to post.

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The blog I have with friends - Beautiful in Christ, is really seeming to take off. We have been posting very regularly for almost 5 months - and have a great group of teen girls helping with the writing.
If you don't know about Beautiful in Christ - or have never been to the blog... we post devotionals, recipes, reviews, Bible verses, great songs, quotes, that sort-of thing.

We have a great schedule lined up for the next couple of months - including extra fun posts, and some guest writers (that aren't usually writing for us).
Kylie and I are really enjoying making up the schedules, thinking of fun things to do and getting people to write for the blog.

Kylie - she is a great writer, awesome Christian girl, whom I couldn't think of a better friend to have. She and I talk almost every day - about anything and everything - and we giggle a lot. A lot.

Suzanna - it's kind-of a weird situation how I met Suzanna. When I had my old blog - 01charger, back at homeschoolblogger.com - she didn't have a blog, but somehow came across mine. She emailed me - and we started talking from there.Now, I feel really close to her - and she's an awesome friend.

Ashley - I met Ashley back at Homeschoolbogger, as well. She and I have been friends for a couple of years now. She is a ton of fun to talk to - and a GREAT friend to have. :)

Natalie - I met Natalie, through Samantha (who used to write for Beautiful in Christ), but I also met her from homeschoolblogger. She and I have met twice now - once when I was in NY, and once when she came down to spend a weekend with me. She is so much fun to hang out with and just fun altogether.

I thank the Lord for these wonderful friends that He has blessed me with. To be truthful, I don't have very many friends that live around here - so I know that these girls are my friends for a reason.
I don't know WHAT I would do without them!
Love you all!

*if you click on their names, it'll take you to their bio on the Beautiful in Christ blog.

1. What's your favorite time of the day, and why?

Definitely evening. Like anywhere from 9 o'clock to 11:30. I like to stay up late, and read. It's always fun to be up...and than sleep in...if I can get away with sleeping in! :P

2. If health wasn't an issue, what food could you live off of?

Oh, definitely kettle cooked barbeque potato chips!

3. If you could have one wish granted (besides wishing for more wishes), what would it be?

Probably being about to meet up with my two online 'best friends'! They are awesome girls - Suzanna and Kylie - and I love them both dearly. It's just too bad that they live far away from PA!

4. What's one thing that you get teased about a lot?

For HAVING an obsession with the Jonas Brothers. (That having is past-tense, btw.)

5. If you could choose one movie, book, or TV show to spend your life in, which would you pick? What type of character would you be?

I like so many different kinds of TV shows, that I would LOVE to be in any of the ones that I enjoy watching. But I think that my favorite show, is Full House. And i think that I would like to be either Becky (Jesse's wife), or DJ.

6. If you could have one talent that you don't already have, what would it be?

Um, this one is really hard. I don't know - I think that it would be neat to be able to play the drums. Call me weird..

7.If money were no object, where would you go on vacation?

I would probably go to somewhere WARM! IN the WINTER! :P

8. If you were an awesome singer, which genre would you sing?

Um, probably Christian Contemporary/Rocky (not really rock, but harder than Christian Contemporary), or possibly country.

9. If you could have a $10,000 shopping spree to one store, what would it be?

I think Amazon.com :P You can buy EVERYTHING there.

10. If you could live in any point in time, when would it be?

The 1800s..

11. If every outfit in your wardrobe had to be one color, what would it be?

Brown.

12. If you were one of the seven dwarves, which one would you be?

(Doc, Grumpy, Sneezy, Sleepy, Bashful, Happy, or Dopey)
Sleepy! :D

13. What's the last album you listened to?

"It is Well" by Kutless. (I'm wearing Kutless T-shirt, right now, because I bought one at the concert last night! )

14. What's something we'd be surprised to know about you?

Um...I can listen to almost any kind-of music, except for rap, and screamo.

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Also, if you want to see pictures from my Casting Crowns concert - they are on facebook -so if you're my friend, you can see them there. :)

~Ash