So That Happened - Jon Cryer

Title: So That Happened: A Memoir

Author: Jon Cryer 

Genre: Memoir
Rating: 3/5- Good. Read it, have a good time and move on. Or not.

Book Source: Library
Recommended if you like: Memoirs, Humor and Comedy, Celebrity Memoirs, Television Memoirs

 
What Its About: 
Jon Cryer has had, in his life, multiple personas... Too Gen Xers, he is best known as "Duckie", Molly Ringwald's lovable and love-stricken buddy in Pretty in Pink. Too the younger set, he is better known as Alan Harper, Charlie Sheen's silly brother on the popular sitcom Two and A Half Men. And, at one time, he was even known as Matthew Broderick, who clearly he is not. But, as a common understudy choice on Broadway, it was easy for Cryer to be mistaken for his fellow actor and performer.

Cryer recounts his life so far and his rise to fame in this hysterical memoir, sharing entertaining anecdotes and, somewhat, random (but really interesting) information - such as the real story behind a very popular 1970's song which, frankly, was written with false information.

The Bottom Line:
A great read!

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Tuesday Tunes - 06/28/16

A good lyric is like a great book...

Paint Me A Birmingham
Tracy Lawrence, Artist
Buck Moore and Gary Duffy, Writer




He was sitting' there, his brush in hand
Painting' waves as they danced, upon the sand
With every stroke, he brought to life
The deep blue of the ocean, against the morning' sky
I asked him if he only painted ocean scenes
He said for twenty dollars, I'll paint you anything


Could you Paint Me A Birmingham
Make it look just the way I planned
A little house on the edge of town
Porch going' all the way around
Put her there in the front yard swing
Cotton dress make it, early spring
For a while she'll be, mine again
If you can Paint Me A Birmingham


He looked at me, with knowing eyes
Then took a canvas from a bag there by his side
Picked up a brush, and said to me
Son just where in this picture would you like to be
And I said if there's any way you can
Could you paint me back into her arms again?


Could you Paint Me A Birmingham
Make it look just the way I planned
A little house on the edge of town
Porch going' all the way around
Put her there in the front yard swing
Cotton dress make it, early spring
For a while she'll be, mine again
If you can Paint Me A Birmingham


Paint Me A Birmingham
Make it look just the way I planned
A little house on the edge of town
Porch going' all the way around
Put her there in the front yard swing
Cotton dress make it, early spring
For a while she'll be, mine again
If you can Paint Me A Birmingham


Oh paint me a Birmingham

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Mondays - 06/27/16

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is a place to meet up and share what you have been and plan on reading over the week. Recently taken over, this meme is managed by my Kathryn at the Book Date.

My week:

A busy, crazy week preparing for this weekend's arrival of students for my first summer program. And I have to work on Sunday, which is not typical. Enjoyed an early release on Friday and wandering around Boston practicing photography.



Current reads:
• A Little History of the World - E. H. Gombrich
• The Ultimate Field Guide to Photography - National Geographic
• Torment Saint, the life of Elliott Smith - William Todd Schultz

• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (still rereading) - J.K. Rowling

Finished reads:

• Last Days of California - Mary Miller
• The Absolute Beginners Guide to Taking Great Photos - Jim Miotke
• So That Happened - Jon Cryer
• Wildflower - Drew Barrymore

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A Walk to Beautiful - Wayne

Title:  Walk to Beautiful: The Power of Love and a Homeless Kid Who Found the Way

Author: Jimmy Wayne

Genre: Memoir
Rating: 4/5- Great. Push it on your friends and family.

Book Source: Purchased - e-book
 
Recommended if you like: Memoirs, county music, children's success stories

 
What Its About:  
Country artist Jimmy Wayne was not born into the business, not by a long shot. Wayne grew up with an absent father, a mother who barely cared for his sister and him, and more often than not found himself with neither, sleeping on the streets or with friends or random family. At a key turning point in his life, the age of just thirteen, Wayne's mother left him at a bus station hundreds of miles from home to continue traveling with her boyfriend, who was in trouble with the law. Wayne found his way to the home of Russell and Bea Costner, an older, God-fearing couple, who took Wayne in and set him on the right path: school, work, a future.

Wayne found himself drawn to music to help himself deal with the chaos and sadness that is his childhood. He learned how to play guitar. He started writing songs.  Eventually, he found his way into the Nashville music scene, leading eventually to hits and success. This memoir chronicles these years of his life...and more.

At the height of his career and success, Wayne made a life-changing decision. During a slow summer, between gigs traveling with the likes of Brad Paisley, Wayne up and decided to walk 1,700 miles across America (from Nashville to Pheonix) to bring attention to the plight of homeless and foster children and how even one person could make a difference.

The Bottom Line: 
A really great read. Wayne is an amazing person and has experienced an amazing story.

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Tuesday Tunes - 06/21/16

A good lyric is like a great book...

Taylor the Latte Boy 
Kristen Chenowith, Artist
Marcy Heisler, Writer







There's a boy who works at Starbucks
Who is very inspirational
He is very inspirational because of many things


I come in at 8:11, and he smiles and says, "How are you?"
When he smiles and says, "How are you?"
I could swear my heart grows wings


So today at 8:11, I decided I should meet him
I decided I should meet him in a proper, formal way


So today at 8:11, when he smiled and said, "How are you?"
I said, "Fine and my name's Kristin"
And he softly answered, "Hey"
And I said, "My name's Kristin, and thank you for the extra foam"


And he said his name was Taylor
Which provides the inspiration for this poem


Taylor, the latte boy
Bring me java, bring me joy
Oh Taylor, the latte boy
I love him, I love him, I love him


So I'd like to get my nerve up to recite my poem musical
He would like the fact it's musical because he plays guitar
So today at 8:11, Taylor told me he was playing
In a band down in the village in the basement of a bar


As he smoothly flipped the lever, to prepare my double latte
But for me he made it triple, and he didn't think I knew
But I saw him flip the lever and for me he made it triple
And I knew that triple latte meant that Taylor loved me too


I said, "What time are you playing? And thank you for the extra skim"
He said keep the 3.55, because this triple latte was on him


Taylor, the latte boy
Bring me java, bring me joy
Oh Taylor, the latte boy
I love him, I love him, I love him


I used to be the kind of girl
Who'd run when love rushed toward her
But finally a voice whispered, "Love can be yours
If you step up to the counter and order"


Taylor, the latte boy
Bring me java, bring me joy
Oh Taylor, the latte boy
I love him, I love him, I love him


So many years my heart has waited
Who'd have thought that love could be so caffeinated?


Taylor, the latte boy
I love him, I love him, I love him
I love him, I love him, I love him

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Wildflower - Barrymore

Title: Wildflower

Author: Drew Barrymore

Genre: Celebrity memoir

Rating: 3/5- Good. Read it, have a good time and move on. Or not.

Book Source: Library

Recommended if you like: Memoirs, Celebrity memoirs, stories about maturing

 
What Its About: 
This collection of essays offers a different view of Barrymore's life than 1991's Little Girl Lost. Barrymore has grow up and focused her life and talents on much bigger goals than partying, daily sobriety and growing up.

Offering stories that vary from childhood foolishness, like rescuing her jeep from an impound lot by driving it through the gate, to holding her father's hand while he died and learning to forgive, Barrymore has had one crazy, interesting and ever-evolving life.

The Bottom Line:
Entertaining.

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Tuesday Tunes - 06/14/16

A good lyric is like a great book...

June Is Bustin' Out All Over
Carousel Cast, Various, Artist
Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, Writers

Nettie

March went out like a lion

Awakin' up the water in the bay;

Then April cried and stepped aside,

And along came pretty little May!

May was full of promises

But she didn't keep 'em quickly enough for some

And the crowd of doubtin' Thomases

Was predictin' that the summer'd never come

Men

But it's comin' by dawn,

We can feel it come,

You can feel it in your heart

You can see it in the ground

Girls

You can see it in the trees

You can smell it in the breeze

All

Look around! Look around! Look around!

Nettie

June is bustin' out all over

All over the meadow and the hill!

Buds're bustin' outa bushes

And the rompin' river pushes

Ev'ry little wheel that wheels beside the mill!

June is bustin' out all over

The feelin' is gettin' so intense,

That the young Virginia creepers

Hev been huggin' the bejeepers

Outa all the mornin' glories on the fence!

Because it's June...

All

June, June, June

Just because it's June, June, June!

Nettie

Fresh and alive and gay and young

June is a love song, sweetly song

All

June is bustin' out all over!

The saplin's are bustin' out with sap!

Love hes found my brother, Junior,

And my sister's even loonier!

And my Ma is gettin' kittenish with Pap!

June in bustin' out all over

Nettie

To ladies and men are payin' court.

Lotsa ships are kept at anchor

Jest because the captains hanker

Fer the comfort they ken only get in port!

All

Because it's June... June, June, June

Just because it's June, June, June!

Nettie

June makes the bay look bright and new

Sails gleamin' bright on sunlit blue

All

June is bustin' out all over

The ocean is full of Jacks and Jills,

With the little tail a-swishing'

Ev'ry lady fish is wishin'

That a male would come

And grab 'er by the gills!

Nettie

June is bustin' out all over!

The sheep aren't sleepin' anymore!

All the rams that chase ewe-sheep

All determined there'll be new sheep

and the ewe-sheep aren't even keepin' score!

All

On acounta it's June! June, June, June

Just because it's June, June, June!

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Monday Mailbox - 06/13/16

Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came in their mailbox during the last week. Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists.

What better to do while on vacation than buy books?!

My awesome vacation week started with the annual town library's book sale last Saturday. But this year I was smart! I finally updated my Goodreads.com account to show which books l own, so I didn't bring home any doubles...as I have for several years now.

The sale was fabulous, as always!

A couple of these are books I started but need to finish.

So many great choices!

Sometimes its OK to buy a couple you already read, right?

More for my growing collection...

Now I just have to get these updated on Goodreads too!

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Mondays - 06/13/16

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is a place to meet up and share what you have been and plan on reading over the week. Recently taken over, this meme is managed by my Kathryn at the Book Date.

My week:

A restful, though productive week of vacation! Got a lot of things accomplished this week and even got to enjoy a day of traipsing through the New Hampshire wilderness, which was actually fun.






Current reads:
• The Bucolic Plague - Josh Kilmer-Purcell
• The Ultimate Field Guide to Photography - National Geographic
• Torment Saint, the life of Elliott Smith - William Todd Schultz
• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (still rereading) - J.K. Rowling

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Sunday Salon - 06/12/16

The Sunday Salon is now a Facebook group.

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by

Kimba @ Caffeinated Book Reviewer.

Life:

A wonderful vacation week of rest and relaxation, much overdue...after jumping from one job to another in August of last year without time off and having no time to breathe since then.

It was a VERY productive week around the house. I was able to get a bunch of home/life related things done that I have been putting off for months. As well, hubby was off so we went yard-saling, book buying (more about this later this week), and even took a trip up to New Hampshire to enjoy the wilderness. We visited the Flume in Franconia Notch/White Mountains (about a two hour ride). I'm not much of an outdoors woman, but hubby loves it.  The weather was perfect, cool and windy (read: few bugs), and it was a really, really nice day.

I even took my camera along to try, again, to get some decent shots (I am a TERRIBLE photographer - I DO NOT have "the eye")...oh, you think I'm over (or under) estimating:

I FORGOT MY CAMERA BATTERY!

I had taken it out to charge it. I put it back in my bag (with my extra battery) when we left...but never put it back in the camera. It sat in the car the whole time, while I lugged my useless camera around.  I am a seriously BAD photographer! Ha, ha!!

But thankfully, I did have my phone with me, so all was not lost:

It was seriously gorgeous out there!

I tried to get some pictures of the surprisingly tame chipmunks (I kid you not, I almost stepped directly on one), but they were all blurry (the pictures, not the chipmunks - HA). Oh well, still learning I guess.



Blogging:

Along with my valiant efforts at home (we cleaned the basement, well half the basement...again), I was also able to get a fair amount of blog work done as well. I finally updated my blog template, as the one I was using was giving me trouble. I had changed it briefly, but the color scheme messed things up worse. So I finally sat down and found something new that cleaned this mess up. Then, I updated pages, prepared posts, etc., etc.

Hopefully it is more enjoyable for everyone. It was certainly about time!!

Have a great week everyone.

Shannon
 

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Mondays - 06/06/16

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is a place to meet up and share what you have been and plan on reading over the week. Recently taken over, this meme is managed by my Kathryn at the Book Date.

My week:

Last week was busy, with the deadline for our summer program at work and other need-do things like faculty contracts going out. Along with the holiday on Monday and the freebie day off Friday, it was a crazy race to get everything caught up and ready for my student helper to fill in. My student helper who, in addition, just trained to do some parts of my job. I am hoping all goes well this week while I am way, or I may never get the chance to go on vacation again, HA!

Current reads:
• Houseboat Chronicles, Notes From a Life in Shield Country - Jake MacDonald
• The Ultimate Field Guide to Photography - National Geographic
• Torment Saint, the life of Elliott Smith - William Todd Schultz

• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (still rereading) - J.K. Rowling

Finished reads:

• Last Days of California - Mary Miller
• The Absolute Beginners Guide to Taking Great Photos - Jim Miotke
• So That Happened - Jon Cryer
• Wildflower - Drew Barrymore

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Pictures

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Sunday Salon - 06/05/16

The Sunday Salon is now a Facebook group.

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by

Kimba @ Caffeinated Book Reviewer.

Life:

It's a dreary, rainy day here in the Boston area...and that is kind of nice actually. 

I've got the TiVo frozen and am enjoying the sounds of the rain coming down and the kitties sleeping around me. Hubby and I are on vacation this week, which was extended by a day for me on Friday due to a freebie staff appreciation day. A thank you for our extra effort during the merger, which took place Thursday. Yep, folks, I now work for Berklee School of Music. Exciting.

I'm already struggling with not worrying about work... I was able to hire the gal who helped out last year, so I know everything will be fine. But I'm still having to refocus my thoughts often...and it's still just the weekend, so nothing has happened yet! Ugh, get control Shannon!

Friday and Saturday were actually quite productive as cleaning and laundry got done early so I could just sit back and just enjoy. I also finally updated months of back log in tracking finances in Quicken and set up new accounts as hubby and I recently changed banks. Hubby also did his share, so the lawn is even mowed!

I also broke out my camera again, in the hopes of getting out this week. It's looking to be a fairly wet once though, so who knows!? But at least I am reading up again and playing with it. The blogger Gallo Organico does a summer photo scavenger hunt, so maybe I'll toss in this summer...hmmm....


Blog:

Saturday was also the annual library book sale, and once again I did some fair damage. I actually came home with a full box...and hubby didn't threaten divorce. So he's a #keeper!

The problem with buying a bunch of great books is you just want to read them all. Now. Every. Single. One. Right now!  But realistically I can't possibly. But I can dream.

Have a great week everyone!!

Shannon

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