Abstract: The recent advent of x-ray free-electron lasers (XFELs) enables researchers to watch matter move on the natural time and length scales of electronic and atomic motion. Not only are freeze-frame snapshots with sub-femtosecond exposure times possible, these accelerator-based x-ray laser sources provide coherent radiation of sufficient intensity to perform nonlinear spectroscopy with x-rays. Within this context I will discuss two recent projects from our group, the realization of super-resolution stimulated x-ray Raman spectroscopy and attosecond-pump/attosecond-probe spectroscopy of liquid water, and some opportunities for future studies to understand x-ray interactions with matter.