A Few of My Favorite Things {Vol. 2}

Good evening, my friends! Life has been insanely beautiful and crazy lately. Tell me how you've been. Seriously; comment below! I would love to hear from you, my faithful followers (you know who you are) and would also love to see some new faces!

It is high time for another favorite things post, so here you go!

Clark Terry

I have recently rediscovered my passion for jazz and the artist at the forefront of my binge-listening is legend Clark Terry. My first exposure to his music was on an episode of "Little Bill" (anyone watch that growing up? Lemme hear ya!). Mr. Terry still plays and teaches and is just awesome. Go to Spotify (Here's the link to my Clark Terry Playlist ). Give him a listen; you won't regret it.

Source

I just bought a gorgeous blue leather jacket at Goodwill and I absolutely adore it! It looks really similar to the one above, except it's a really India-inky blue (and, admittedly, not quite as cool) with a front zipper.

Pacifica's Natural Mineral Coconut Eye Shadow in Ethereal

This amazing shadow came in this month's Ipsy Glam Bag. It's a lovely taupe-y color in the package, but shows up on my fair skin as more of a shimmery pearl and I love it! I also use it as a cheek highlighter. 

Today, I paired it with Rimmel Eyeliner (upper lid and lower waterline) and Cailyn Cosmetics Eye Shadow  in the crease

 (The $15 Cailyn Eye Shadow came in last month's Ipsy bag that I pay $10/month to get). 

This specific eye shadow comes in a palette of other colors; I suppose mine is a sample. You can purchase it HERE

Natalie Yco

(Pronounced like Eco)

For the past three weeks or so, I've been doing Natalie Yco's GymRa workouts on YouTube. Gals, she's amazing! Her workouts are serious burners and she's so encouraging. In the middle of the Kickboxing/Jump Rope workout, she said,

"I can't see you, but I hope you're not slacking off.

Because, if you slack off in your workout, you're probably slacking off in life."

That burned almost as much as the workout itself!

Dashing Dish
by Katie Farrell
 Katie Farrell is one of the contributing bloggers at
 Overcomer Outreach 
 and since my Mom is also one of the other ladies writing for the site, she sent her a copy of her amazing cookbook. These recipes are fantastic! I made a double batch of her Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies (the third time since we got the book earlier this month) and they are soooooo delicious! I made her Santa Fe Stuffed Peppers for breakfast, too. I'm telling you, we use her recipes all the time and you will too! Hop on over to Amazon and purchase your copy HERE

And there you are. What are some of your favorite things? A writer you discovered lately? A new song? An eyeliner? Let me know in the comments below. Have a beautiful evening everyone! 

Using Your Gifts to Glorify the Lord and Bless Your Family

Oftentimes, when people find that I am a home-educated young lady living at home, they stiffen up a bit and remark, "If you're spending all your time at home, then aren't you wasting your talents?" If you're a young lady who has decided to live at home under the protection of your Father until the day he hands you in marriage to the love of your life, maybe you've had this reaction before as well. Sometimes, people on the "outside" have a hard time seeing things from your perspective. Firstly, let me note that I don't say "outsider" in a derogatory manner at all. What I mean by the phrase is someone with a different view point than yours. For example, if you live in the country and step out onto your back porch and see the mountains in all their glory, it would be difficult for someone, who has grown up in the city and never traveled, to imagine the view you get. Have I clarified myself? Good. 

"For What are the Voices of Birds" by Eleanor Fortescue Brickdale

If you have talents (e.g.; cooking, sewing, writing or playing music, singing, managing taxes, wrangling alligators, etc.) it's a common assumption that since you "spend all your time at home", you're locked in a dungeon of uselessness. This is the opposite of the truth! The years that you have at home can be some of the most talent-useful years of your life! The people that make these seemingly-ignorant comments are operating on the assumption that all you do is sit on the couch in your PJs, do schoolwork and change diapers. Coming from that angle, it would be easy to justify their questions. 

One of my goals in living at home is to be a blessing to my family. To come under the headship of my Father and further his vision as is Biblically accurate. It is my JoY (see my Mom's blog) to serve my family and that is actually where I have the most opportunity to use my gifts and talents! And I must stop to clarify again; often, the word serve is associated with bad or unpleasant things. I beg to differ! When I get the opportunity to do as Jesus did and spend my time and talents to bless those around me, I'm content and happy. 

Art by Jessie Wilcox Smith

Now, on to practicality beyond sentiment :) The point of this post is not to say "thou must not use thy talents outside thine dwelling place"! This is merely a suggestion that your talents, whatever they may be, were given to you by God to reflect Him and to bless those around you. If God has given you a talent for music, be it playing an instrument, singing or writing new music (or all of the above), I believe that your musical skills are far from being "wasted" on your family! Teaching your little sister how to play the piano or scoring your brother's short film is anything but wasting your talents. And I'm certainly not decreeing that you shouldn't play in the band at church or offer to teach the young children in your community how to sing or play.

 If you are a Christian, the ultimate goal of your life is to give glory to God and lead others to Him. When we, as gifted young ladies, use the talents that He has bestowed upon us to bless Him and others, that is fulfilling one aspect of the way He designed us! Jesus knew that He had a limited time on Earth, yet even with that in mind, He served others without self-focus. He could have been off preaching to the masses when he took the time to bless the little children (Matthew 19:13-15). And I think that following Jesus' example is an excellent idea!

Blessings,
McKenna

The Care and Keeping of your Stringed Instrument (Applies to Violin, Viola and Cello)

I have been blessed with some wonderful new music students this week so I made up this checklist for the two who are taking Violin. So, I thought it would be a good idea to share it with others. It's a nice checklist for beginners to keep in their case as a reminder because it seems like a lot to do when you first start. If you are a music teacher, feel free to pass this on to your students. And if you're interested, I can email the original printable document to you (it's 2 pages). Just email me at missmckennaray@gmail.com :)

The Care and Keeping of Your Stringed Instrument

Applies to Violin, Viola and Cello

By McKenna

cherishingmyrole.blogspot.com

Playing Preparation

When you're getting ready to play your Stringed Instrument, be sure to follow the steps below to ensure the safety of your instrument. Remember, a Stringed Instrument is delicate and must be taken care of properly so that it doesn't break or crack. Naming your instrument is never frowned upon. Here are a few things to remember.

1. When you get out your case, be careful that you don't bang it around. Place it gently on a flat surface (like a bench or table), lid facing up, then carefully open the case.
2. Take the bow out of its holder and tighten the screw at the end (twist it to the right or away from you) until it's firm but there's still a slight dip in the wooden or carbon-fiber backbone. Don't forget the rosin!
3.  If playing a Viola or a Violin, take it out of its cozy little nest in the case, attach the shoulder-rest to the belly of the body below the chin-rest with the side that dips down on the right*.
4. The final step before you're ready to play is to tune your Stringed Instrument. There are 2 ways to do this**. You can tune your Stringed Instrument to a piano or use an automatic tuner; that's up to you.

Quick Note Regarding Tuning

For Viola and Cello, the tuning pattern is: D-G-C-A, meaning, that's the order in which you tune each string. The order of strings from Left-Right when you're holding it properly is C-G-D-A***, but this is not the order in which you tune the strings...it's weird, I know. You may use the fine-tuners most of the time for tuning; twisting the screw to the left lowers the sound of the string and twisting it to the right makes the sound higher. Very occasionally, you will need to let out your fine-tuners and use the big tuning pegs to do some close tuning.

 

For Violin, the tuning pattern is: A-D-G-E, meaning, that's the order in which you tune each string. The order of strings from Left-Right when you're holding the Stringed Instrument properly is G-D-A-E****, but this is not the order in which you tune the strings...it's weird, I know. You may use the fine-tuners most of the time for tuning; twisting the screw to the left lowers the sound of the string and twisting it to the right makes the sound higher. Very occasionally, you will need to let out your fine-tuners and use the big tuning pegs to do some close tuning.

 

 

 5.  Congratulations! You're all ready to play. Go for it!

*If you're not sure how you should put the shoulder-rest on, just place it on your left shoulder and the side that dips down to your collar bone (the small side) goes on the right of the belly.

**I'm sure there are more ways to tune your Stringed Instrument but those are the two ways I know of. I suppose you could tune by ear if you had perfect pitch!

 

***The notes on the piano, in reference to the strings for Viola is: The first C below Middle-C, the first G below Middle-C, the first D above Middle-C and the first A above Middle-C

The notes on the piano, in reference to the strings for Cello is: Exactly like Viola above, except an octave lower on every note :)

****The notes on the piano, in reference to the strings is: the first G below Middle-C, the first D above Middle-C, the first A above Middle-C and the second E above Middle-C :)

After You're Finished

There are a few things to do after you're finished with the fun of playing your Stringed Instrument. Be sure to follow these steps. They're almost more important than the steps you took before you played. It keeps your Stringed Instrument safe for storing so it doesn't break or crack or sweat or any number of horrible things!

1. After you're finished playing, place your bow somewhere safe and, if playing Viola or Violin, take the shoulder-rest off your belly...I mean, your Stringed Instrument's belly.* Place it either in the top pocket of the case or upside-down in the small part of the nest where the neck of your Stringed Instrument rests; there should be room there.
2. Next, carefully place your Stringed Instrument in its little nest in the case. Just look how cozy it is! Be sure to secure the velcro over the neck so it doesn't slide around.
3. Don't forget to take a soft, dry cloth and clean the rosin residue off the strings. This is important because it keeps your strings clean so they last longer.
4. Finally, loosen the hair on your bow by twisting the screw to the left (or towards you) and put it back in its holder in the lid of your case. Now all that's left is to zip or buckle up your case and store it in a place where it's not too hot or too cold so it stays comfy.
5. Be consistent in your practice! They say "Practice makes perfect." Well, that's not true. As my Mamma puts it, "Perfect practice makes perfect." Put another way, you can always practice without learning anything. Banging your hands around on the piano can count as practice, but not perfect practice :)

*Well, that was embarrassing...