TSM is Moving!

Hey guys!

It's a new year, so it's time for a new start. And by new start, I mean new blog. That's right, The Strange Musician is moving to a new site.

I'm going to take just a moment to explain why I've done this. For one, the name. The new blog is under just my name, rather than the name of a Grimm fairy tale. This makes me feel like it's a chance to be more "me," and not always be known as "a weird person who likes music." Secondly, it's a bit of a chance to really change the design and make it more able to grow with me. This design is a bit Disney Princess, let's be honest. Don't get me wrong. I love Disney. But I am graduating this year, and while I hope to live in a castle and play with cute woodland creatures at college, I'm not really a Disney princess. Lastly, sometimes it's just nice to sort of start over.

I'm not deleting this blog anytime soon, and all of my old posts are already on the new blog, so you can reread all of your favorites. Just make sure to change any of your bookmarks and subscriptions to www.byshannonleigh.blogspot.com.

See ya there!

On a Break

Hey, guys.

Unfortunately, I need to take a break from blogging at the moment. Between school, band, college applications, and just living my life, it's getting harder and harder to keep posting. And for the sake of my mental health, I need to back away from that pressure. I'm sorry to disappoint any of you, and I hope that you understand.

Hopefully, The Strange Musician will be back relatively soon with new posts and maybe even updates to the website.

Stay tuned, my friends.

September Sneak Peak

Hello to all of you who are still sticking around! Summer is drawing to a close, and I must say it has been a busy one. I'm back at school for my senior year (although I still can't believe it), and the business continues.

Autumn is my favorite season for many reasons, and I'm anxiously awaiting the days of colored leaves and sweater weather and hot drinks. And as an added bonus, I have several new posts planned that will start going up soon!

BOOKS

As we all know, summer is almost over. And that means it's almost time to start discussing and reviewing the Summer Book Club books! I'll be honest, even I haven't finished all of them since my library doesn't have them all. Regardless, I'll be sure to let you know what I thought of the books I did finish, and if you've read the others, you're perfectly welcome to discuss them in the Book Club forum tab!

LIFESTYLE

For many of us, fall means back to school. To me, that means waking up early, doing homework, and submitting college applications for next year. But thankfully, it also means shopping for new clothes, organization items, and stationary. You can expect to catch a glimpse of the things I've bought (or DIY'ed) to get my room and my backpack organized this year!

BEAUTY

Fall and winter fashion are definitely my favorites, and I'll practically live in a sweater and a pair of boots once the weather gets cold enough! I'm hoping to share with you a few of my favorite outfits that might hopefully help you through the transition into cooler weather. Also, I've been trying some new beauty and skincare products out over the summer, and I'm looking forward to giving you a review of those soon!

MUSIC

At least for me and my hometown, the return of autumn also means the return of marching band. While this certainly keeps me pretty busy with rehearsals, football games, and competitions, it also gives me some fun new things to write about and share with you!

I hope you're as excited about fall as much as I am! What are you looking forward to most? Let me know in comments!

Guest Post: My Escape

Hey guys! My name is Isabelle and I am Shannon’s friend from school. I have known Shannon for five, almost six years now. We have been in band together for a while, since seventh grade actually. I am a flute player and as of last year, a drum major. I am also the author of the blog Major Treblemaker. If you like my guest post (and even if you don’t) please check it out here! :)

Have you ever wanted to escape? Just pick up and leave life behind you? Whether it is for a short time, indefinitely, or forever, everyone has. Whether it is from excessive stress, exhausting drama, or an overwhelming situation, everyone has wanted to at least once, maybe more.  Now, I’m not advocating for running away from your problems forever, but sometimes taking a little break is necessary for staying sane. Some days it is necessary and completely okay to get in your car, get on the interstate, and drive, or set up a hammock in the woods and read a good book, or take a long nap and ignore your responsibilities for a couple hours. 

My personal favorite is reading. When I crave an escape from reality, I set up a lawn chair, grab some ice water, sunscreen, and my swimsuit and get some sun while devouring a book. There is something about immersing yourself into a story—losing yourself in the words on page after page—that makes life a little more tolerable, at least for a little while. There is something about driving by yourself at night on a seemingly endless road with the radio blasting that completely revives and rejuvenates a defeated spirit. 

Escaping isn’t always what it sounds like. It doesn’t have to be jetting off to a tropical island or moving to a new state or country. Escaping can be something as little as sitting in a warm, scented bubble bath. 

The common underlying factor is time to take a deep breath and unwind. Wherever you find that is your escape. Breaks are healthy and breaks are necessary to prevent a stress overload. Take a deep breath and relax, because you’ve earned it!

Kisses,

Isabelle <3

http://majortreblemaker.blogspot.com/

Follow me on social media and please check out my blog. Have a great day! :)

Book Club Picks!

Hey, guys!

Voting has closed on the summer book club options, and we have 7 books to read! I'll post the results below, and if you want more information on the books we've chosen, you can look back at my last two posts (here and here) or you can check out my shelf on Goodreads (here).

Just in case you haven't noticed it already, I've added a forum page specifically for the book club discussion. Feel free to go ahead and start conversations about the books in that forum, although it may be a few weeks before I have any real discussion questions or topics ready to go. If you've already read any of these books, that's awesome! You can go ahead and talk about them, just please be careful with spoilers and warn people of them or don't post them at all. We don't want the fun to be ruined for those of us that haven't read these books yet.

I will admit that I've had a bit of trouble finding some of these books because some of them are such new releases. If you can't find a book or can't afford to purchase them, don't feel obligated to read every single one. With the online forum style discussion, you can choose which conversations to participate in. That said, I encourage you to participate in as many as you can, and encourage your friends to do the same!

Also, if your favorite didn't get picked-- don't worry. I've become really interested in all of these, and they're definitely all on my to-read list now, so reviews on the rest of the list will be coming eventually! In the meantime, you can go ahead and read them with me, and we can always discuss them later.

Without further ado, the 2016 summer book club picks are: 




















Forget Tomorrow by Pintip Dunn

It Wasn't Always Like This by Joy Preble

The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson

The Square Root of Summer 

by Harriet Reuter Hapgood

Storm and Silence by Robert Thier

We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

And the number 1 pick, with 85% of the votes:

Everything, Everything

By Nicola Yoon