Quarterly Update

Well, lookie here... almost three months to the day. Do I know myself well, or what?

Nope. This wasn't planned. The blog bug just caught me all of a sudden and BANG! Here I am.

So, what's been going on the past three months?

Preschool.

Hmm. That's about it.

I joined NaNoWriMo this year, and so far I'm pulling an EPIC FAIL on that. Okay, well not as epic as some, who have not written a single word. As of today, I stand at just over 5,000 words. Better than a big fat goose egg, I suppose. However, I'm should have over 28k at this point. The month is not over yet and next week is Turkey Break, WOO HOO. Hey, ya never know. I might be super inspired and hack out a gajillion words between now and Nov. 30th! Stay tuned...

On the vaycay front, The Hubba Bubba and I just got back from a fab time in Charlotte, NC. We visited our favorite old haunts, and found some new favs as well. There's a fantastic new place called Mez, which includes a restaurant, bar, and movie theater all in one spot. They even let you get drinks and food and take them into the wonderfully cushy theater. Seats are also assigned so you don't have to move down at the last minute when some moron decides to come in during the opening credits and can't find a seat. Pfft Aren't those people SO annoying!?

We also stayed at THE Ritz-Carlton and it was UHMAYZING!

TVs in the mirror, people. Yeah. You read that correctly.

TV

IN

MIRROR

How can this be, you ask?

Like this:




Okay, I'll be the first to admit I'm a huge NERD when it comes to anything to do with my most beloved man-made creation. But this TV is IN THE MIRROR. It looks like I've got Michael Scott's body from The Office! How cool is that?

Don't even get me started on the bed there, either. It was soooo amazing. When I sell my first manuscript, I am totally buying the "Sleep Experience" which can be purchased and lusted over right here

All of these items can be purchased for me for ANY holiday celebration and/or birthday, and/or any UN-Birthday as well. I celebrate any occasion that includes me receiving a gift. Is that selfish? Perhaps. But this is the SLEEP EXPERIENCE. Trust me, anyone who has slept at the Ritz-Carlton will agree and understand perfectly.

Plans Out the Window

It's that time of year again.

School time.

There are a lot of gaps in my blog for a reason. It was this time last year that I was gearing up to teach my first year in the 3s class. Boy, that could fill an entire book. Probably, I hope, at some point it will. Sure, I wish I had blogged more about it, kept notes and whatnot. Seriously though, like most traumatic experiences there needs to be a time of healing, a period to let my brain rest and recover. Examination and reflection can come later.

Let's just say I learned a great deal and I hope this year will be easier.

So far, it's going better. We have a huge list of things to do, but not nearly as much as last year. Knowing what to expect and how to plan has put my mind at ease. I feel a lot more in control heading into this year, which helps more than I can say. I hate not knowing what to expect, it puts me in a tizzy.

One setback we've had was that we were asked to paint the room this year. It's a mixed blessing. It will look fantastic and I'm glad it's getting done. In order to accomplish this a lot of things had to be set back. The book has been shifted to the back burner once again. It's frustrating to say the least. Shouldn't I be diligent enough to come straight home and work until all hours on the book? I feel like I should. That's what a good writer would do, isn't it? I have not achieved self-discipline yet. It's my personal project. I don't know if I will ever achieve it, but aren't we all an ongoing project of self-discovery and change?

It seems like there should be more to say, but honestly I'm just knackered. Maybe I will remember to write again tomorrow. If not, see you again in another three months or so!

Same Page

I caught up on my dear friend Kelli's blog today and discovered we are in a very similar place in our lives. Both feeling like girls who want to be Women (note the capital 'W' there).  She mentioned she would be able to get way more done by waking up at 5 a.m. and I concur. How great would it be to have that quiet time in the morning to write and exercise, to nurse a delicious cup of hot coffee and make a wholesome breakfast to treat my body properly?  

Like Kelli, I've been questioning my role as Woman and Wife lately. I want desperately to be a good Wife to my husband, but have no idea how to go about doing so.  Am I supposed to be a June Cleaver type with the vacuum and the pearls? Have everything sparkling, and a gourmet meal on the table promptly at 5? Is that normal or completely insane? Is Martha Stewart really happy?

Not to mention, how do I find the balance between Wife and Woman? What about my dreams as Writer?  How can I fit all of these personas into one 24 hour day?  Is 5 a.m. the answer to it all?

I called Kelli after I read her blog and we made a pact. We're going to encourage each other to pull off this 5 a.m. plan. The problem is, we both like sleeping in WAY too much. And on rainy mornings like today, it's so much more fulfilling to roll over and snuggle my body up against my warm, softly snoring husband, to feel my little dog cuddle up against my chest and sigh that deep sigh which can only come from a creature who is perfectly content. 

Aren't those the moments most worth it?  

Spring Break Week

Went to NYC for the weekend as a vacation/early birthday celebration for moi.  It was great. I really miss the city. It was gushing rain when we arrived, but cleared up pretty quick to nothing more than a dreary overcast sky. That's okay, just made the lights in Times Square seem even more cheery than usual. 

The hubby and I  stayed at the Hotel Mela, just off Broadway on 44th. 

This was what our room looked like: 

Nice, huh?  We thought so. 

It was a wonderful weekend of becoming reacquainted with the city and some old haunts.

 Neither of us had been back since we'd gotten married, so it was a kind of a special trip. We met up with some good friends, and enjoyed some really good food. 

Went on a hunt for chicken pakoras (kind of the Indian version of spicy chicken fingers?) but never did find any. Strange, since every other Indian restaurant we've been to had them and they're the hubby's favorite. Maybe if we'd gone down to Curry Row?  

We ended up downtown around City Hall and Pace University, where I spent the first two semesters of my college career. It was nice to be back after so long. Couldn't believe it's been 8 years since I lived in Maria's Tower... weird. 

It was good research though, just walking around that area got my blood pumping for Sidney. I found the Agency's office here at the corner of Front Street, right across from the Brooklyn Bridge, just as I'd imagined!

I know it doesn't look like much, but I really felt like I was in the story at that moment. There's a hotel at the end of the block I'd like to stay at for a weekend and do nothing but hack out the story.  I'll have to look into that...

It was really hard coming back home after that. Mentally, and quite literally. Our flight was delayed 5 hours. Not to mention, I was well into my annual Birthday Sinus Infection so I was blowing my nose every 2 minutes and the final descent on the plane made me feel like my brain was about to explode in the same manner as that Keri Russell character in Mission Impossible: III. 

I survived, and we made it home safely.  

The book I've been reading this week is Christopher Moore's latest:  Fool. Of course, it's bloody brilliant. What more can I say? His muse is a drunken tart. I'm jealous.

Wednesday, April 8, was my B-day!  It was nice and relaxing. Having my birthday comes with the perk of usually falling during Spring Break, so that's pretty awesome. Every now and then it falls on Easter Sunday.  By the way, in case you're wondering, Easter is determined every year to be the first Sunday, after the first full moon, after the Equinox. Thanks, Google! 

I'll save the tangent about Christian holidays based on Pagan tradition for later.  

I went out to breakfast with my gal pal, then hung out at Target picking out new bed stuff with gift cards I'd been saving up, so now we have matching shams and everything! I actually feel like it's worth the time to make the bed now. Love it.

Hubby brought me flowers home from work and made me a fancy pasta dinner that we enjoyed with a bottle of wine.  Afterward we put on the latest version of The Day the Earth Stood Still and I passed out after the first ten minutes. Then, I woke up for the last ten minutes and didn't seem to miss much. 

Went out to Ted's Montana Grill for lunch and introduced the girly friends to the delight of buffalo burgers. The buffalo chili is my favorite there, but I also love the meatloaf, and beer can chicken. Not to mention, the onion rings are ridiculously huge and delicious!

Friday was pizza with another pal whom I used to work with at the library. We had a blast catching up on our literary and television gossip. 

The weekend was spent lazing around catching up on laundry and yard work. I planted a tomato (bush? plant?) and some jalapeno seedlings. Hope they survive the awful Georgia red clay! We'll see what happens...

As far as the front garden goes; my double knockouts are insane, the gardenias are sprouting up nicely but can't keep up with the knockouts, the lilies are reproducing like crazy, and the hyacinths have doubled as well. I haven't done anything to them, they've just gone nuts, it's great!

Well, that's about it for Spring Break week. Got a good amount of writing done, but not as much as planned. It's coming along steadily though. Even if it's not going fast, it's going steady, which is more than I can say for just about anything else I've worked on. I'm taking the Tortoise approach, instead of that of the Hare. Hey, whatever gets the job done, right?

Hey, I Remembered to Blog!

Summary of my day:

Kids sucked.

Heroes sucked.

Castle is a relief, but it probably won't last long because I like it and it's a smart show. Smart shows just don't seem to make it these days. What a shame. I miss Pushing Daisies.

Went to library this afternoon and wrote 1,687 words on the Sidney sequel. Yay!

Good Gravy

Has it seriously been so long since I've posted?

It figures.

I fizzled out on this just like everything else. This blog is like a fresh soda that's been opened and promptly forgotten. Sigh.

So, I guess I could sit here and try to list all of the things that have been going on since August 2008, but that would be painfully boring and frankly, I'd rather not dredge it all up. Let it suffice to say that I've been wrapped up in all things pre-school, dealing with 16 little rugrats who can get the most spectacular blank look in their eyes when you ask them to do anything at all. 

There's no telling what's going on in those miniature brains of theirs when their eyes glass over that way, but I have to say, wherever they slip off to looks like a much better place than I end up when I get to the end of the school day and realize I've said "Be Quiet" more times than any human ever should have to say it in a stretch of 5 hours.  It should be added into the rules of the Geneva Convention as a method of torture, similar to water-boarding.

While the school year has been truly maddening and exhausting, I have actually made some progress on my writing. The whole plot is out there on notecards and I've gotten to my familiar speed bump of: Now that I know what happens, I'm bored and want to move on to something else. Only, the story hasn't been written out yet.  So, now that I'm aware of this, and I know that it's a problem, perhaps I can do something about it.  That something would be to actually write the whole thing. Yeah. 

I can't even keep up with a blog. How the hell am I supposed to finish an entire novel? Good gravy...