Funny way to start your Friday

I found this hilarious Hobbit music video a few days ago and thought it would be the perfect thing to post on this beautiful Friday morning. Enjoy!

Hectic days are here again...

Work has been crazy this week! Two grants are due tomorrow and we have about 6 media events coming up in the next couple of weeks. Of course, all the events need to be planned and then executed, and there is a lot of preparation work for a couple of them. But you know, I'd rather be busy and hectic than bored. I've worked at boring jobs before, and one thing I can say about this one is that it is absolutely not boring! Yesterday was funny, getting paid to spend 5 hours sitting behind a table at a mall is odd, but I'm not going to complain! Actually, I got to know the ladies from the major volunteer organization in our town (because their table was beside mine) and we had a nice time people watching and chatting about everything. Oh, and there's this absolutely adorable meteorologist from one of our local news stations that I've been admiring for some time now, and he was at the mall representing his station, so at least there was a good view. I tried to get up the courage to talk to him, but I just couldn't. There was a time, not too many years ago, when I would have been able to saunter right up to him and say something clever and cute. Where did that girl go? I want her back! And that's what I'm going to work on next, getting that confidence back. I have lots of confidence in myself as a professional, as a writer, and in my various talents, but I have no confidence when it comes to my physical attributes. So that's my big project for however long it takes. Wish me luck!

I worked on the outline for After the Storm yesterday and today. I'm about halfway through the character profile for Elisabeth, the heroine of the story. As it is a romance, there will be a love interest. His name is Bryan and all I know about him so far is that he used to own a nice house, before the hurricane wiped it away. Not much to go on, I know, but the rest will come to me while I'm doing the profile, or while I'm writing the story. It never ceases to amaze me how stories take on a life of their own. For example, I found out halfway through Summer's Blossom that Craig (the male lead in that story) had a sister. And it was revealed only at the end of the story that he had a brother who lived in another town! So I had to go back and add in parts about the brother and sister to make it right. Strange, huh? Stephen King talks about this in his book, "Misery." He says when you're writing it's like a hole opens up in the page and the story plays out like a film before your eyes. Of course, when I read it's like that too. I don't really think of words as "just words" in a story, I see the story in my mind while I'm reading and writing. And, as I said, it amazes me everytime.

Okay, enough of that rambling. Sometimes I just get off on a totally different subject. But if you've visited this blog before, you know that already!

Finally updating

Well, if you look at the sidebar, you will see what the first item of big news is... I'm participating in a new writing challenge in June, July, and August. It's with some of the awesome people at the NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) forums. I will attempt to write 100,000 words in the summer months. If we don't have a hurricane, I am confident I can do this. It's not quite NaNoWriMo pace, a little slower. Which is very good. I don't think I could keep up that pace for more than one month. So anyway, I'll be updating the progress bar on this blog throughout the challenge. I think I can fit 1 full novel and part of another into the time frame, so I'm going to start After the Storm and perhaps go back to Deadly Council for the end of the challenge. Since I'm already into chapter 3 of Deadly Council, it should be perfect for the remaining words after I finish After the Storm. Well, the remaining words won't quite finish Deadly Council, but that's okay. I'll finish it before NaNoWriMo in November, because I'm planning to do the second in the Deadlines series this year for NaNo, so I need to finish the first before then. I just have to figure out who actually committed the murder...

In other news... I'm going to take a writing class and a photography class this summer. My alma mater offers enrichment classes, and since I miss school so much, I've decided to take a couple of classes. I'm going to take several photography classes in the next couple of years, because it's something I really enjoy and I want to learn how to really do it right. I think I'm also going to take a few art classes, like drawing and painting, because these are things I've always wanted to do and just haven't ever taken the time to learn. I sort of feel an intense need to express myself in all sorts of creative ways.

Oh, and the weekend. I worked all weekend, but it wasn't unpleasant at all. In fact, it was fun. A sci-fi, fantasy, anime and gaming convention in our town decided to make us their charity, so this weekend, I attended the convention as the representative of my organization. I had never been to a sci-fi convention before, so it was quite an experience. I met a lot of interesting people and had some really great conversations. And they raised a nice amount of money for us, which is good, since we are rushing headlong into another hurricane season. (God forbid we get another storm) So anyway, the weekend was fun.

So today was pretty normal. I had my final doc appointment and he officially cleared me for normal ankle activity. Yay! I knew it would be okay because I haven't had any pain or discomfort for a few weeks now. But it's still nice to know for sure.

Tomorrow I get to spend 5 hours at a local mall, talking to people about food safety and making sure they know how to get in touch with us in case there is another hurricane and they need food assistance. Luckily, I have my new little friend (the iPod) to keep me company. I bought a case today so I can carry it around easily. Speaking of my little friend... iTunes is going to destroy my finances. There is no end to the incredible music you can find, and I'm going to have a blast "discovering" new bands. Maybe I can introduce Rhea to some new music instead of the other way around!

Lunchtime quickie

Another quickie post while I have a few minutes for lunch. I wanted to share something really cool. I bought a new toy over the weekend! This isn't a picture of my toy, but mine looks just like it. I got this picture from the iTunes site, but my toy came from Best Buy. It holds 15,000 songs. I've put 640 songs and 5 audiobooks on it so far and it barely registers on the "percent full" bar! I got the hookups to play it in my car, and an alarm clock/stereo that it docks in for home. I love making it shuffle songs, because you never know what song is coming up. I love new toys! And when it's time for my next business trip (Chicago in August) I can download TV shows and watch them on the plane! I'm looking forward to testing that out. My coworkers think I'm crazy for spending so much money, but it's worth it because my commute every day is so long and changing CDs while driving can be very dangerous! Plus, it's something I've wanted for a long time.

I'll post more later, especially about my weekend and some new and exciting news regarding my writing and other creative pursuits! And some serious political commentary (just kidding!)

Quickie

Just a quick post to say I'm not dead or anything. I don't have time for details of why I haven't posted, but I'll do a long post tonight about everything that's been happening. It's been a busy few days and a lot is going on, so I'm just trying to catch my breath now!

More on this tonight...

Plans!

I'm going to a movie tonight with Rhea. That means I won't be writing much (here or on my current writing project) but I wanted to say one little thing first.

I got this book, called The Soul Catcher. It's a guided journal that helps you write about yourself honestly and openly. It's been really interesting to answer the questions and to look at myself in a different way. I wanted to start working on it now because I'm a few months away from an age milestone (shudder... 30... shudder) and I think it's important to take stock of your life at crucial intervals to see what has happened and what you want to happen in the future. One extremely important goal I wanted to reach before I turned 30 was publication. And while I've been published in newspapers and magazines (local ones, anyway) I want to have a book published, or accepted for publication by the time I turn 30. Good luck with that, right? But it's something I have to attempt.

Feeling better

Yesterday I stayed home from work. I had a migraine, and it was a really bad one. Light... sound... even the hum of my air conditioner hurt my head. I think the stress of the last couple of months finally got to me. With the exception of yesterday, I've been writing again. It's been great. I'm starting to feel the muse again... she's back and she's ready to inspire! I love this part, when things are going well, when the story is writing itself. I'm really just along for the ride.

Today was a busy day at work, catching up with things I could have done yesterday if I hadn't been home sick. Tomorrow will be even worse, because I'm going to be out of the office for a few hours on Friday for a big meeting, so I have to get ready for that tomorrow, and finish some projects that are supposed to be done by Friday. Sometimes I look at my "to do" list and just sigh. I'm tired just thinking about it. I got some multivitamins today. Hopefully they will help me have more energy. I've been so tired lately. Tired all the time. That's not like me, I usually have a lot of energy. So hopefully the vitamins will work. And I've decided I need to start eating better, so I bought some healthy snacks and am not going to eat fast food for lunch anymore. That should help with the energy thing too. I've started doing yoga again, and in a few more weeks I can do more active exercise. I can already walk on the treadmill, but I want to get back to the cardio I was doing before I broke my ankle. It was really working.

I can't believe it's 9 p.m. and I'm exhausted. I guess it's time for bed. More tomorrow....

Lost in the mail

Sometimes things just get lost in the mail. It's a sad fact of life. I tried to send something to someone over a month ago, and I got an email from them saying it hadn't arrived. So now what? I'm not sure. There's a particular post office in my area that tends to lose things for me. I don't know why. It's not the first time, nor will it be the last. I guess with so many letters, packages, and other things going in and out of the place, it's logical that some things will get lost. I just wish it hadn't been this particular thing. Because I'm sure the recipient will not believe it was lost in the mail.

another successful event

We had our largest food drive of the year yesterday, and it looks like it was very successful. We may have even reached our goal of 200,000 pounds of food, making it the largest one-day food drive in our 25 year history. We have a lot of other events coming up in the next couple of months, but at least the fundraiser and the food drive are both finished, and were both successful. Exhausting, but successful.

Today is Mother's Day, of course, and I spent time with my mom, which is always good. She really is more like a friend than a mom now that I'm an adult. The gift I got her didn't arrive when it was supposed to be delivered, so last night I had to do some last minute shopping so that she would have something to unwrap. I ended up getting her the second season of her favorite TV show on DVD (got her the first season for Christmas) and she liked it a lot. The hand-made African wind chimes that I ordered from the hunger site were nicer, but oh well. I'll give them to her when they come in. (she loves wind chimes and her favorite ones were broken in the last hurricane because we forgot to bring them inside)

Anyway, I'm going to write a bit before going to bed. Not sure which project I'm going to tackle, but I feel an intense need to do something on one of them. I always feel unsettled when I go several days without writing. I'm sure that's why I feel unsettled right now.

Get a little action

So Mission: Impossible III was actually quite good. Of course, I enjoyed the other two, so it makes sense that I would like the third. And since it was directed by the guy who created Alias, it was very actiony and fun to watch.

It was a nice evening. I'm tired now, but wanted to post this before going to bed. I was driving home after dropping Rhea off at her house. I opened the sunroof, rolled down the windows, and blasted the soundtrack to Wicked all the way home. Well not all the way home....on the Interstate so that my loud music wouldn't bother anyone. Anyway, while I was singing my little heart out at the top of my lungs, I realized again how much I miss being on stage. So I'm going to go back to my original plan to audition for some of the local plays. It's great to be in an area with so many community theaters. There are a lot of choices. Unfortunately, I broke my ankle right around audition season this year and now all the plays are opening. But that's okay, some of them have summer shows and all of them do fall shows, so there are other opportunities this year. I prefer musicals, of course, but I just want to get back on stage, so at this point I'll take anything! And I'm finally going to join the writer's group here. They meet one Tuesday a month and I couldn't do the meetings in the months leading up to my fundraiser because we have our meetings on Tuesdays, but now that's over for awhile so I can go to the writer's group meetings. yay! I'm also thinking of taking a writing class. It starts at the end of May, so I need to decide pretty quickly.

Still debating on the grad school thing... I'm just not sure I'm ready for that...

Okay, it's time for bed. This post will self destruct in five seconds....

*boom*

Slacker

I was doing so well with the daily posts, but this week I've slacked off. I've just been so tired lately, and when I get home from work I just crash. I've been spending my evenings lying in bed, staring at the TV, because that's the only thing I can do with the energy I have. I think I haven't recovered from the weekend yet. (I'm not as young as I used to be, and weekends without any down time really take a toll)

I thought of another cool idea for a novel, so I'm going to start working on notes and maybe an outline. But there are three others waiting to be written before it, so I've got to work on those first. I envy people who can work on more than one project at a time. If I try that, I start confusing the characters and end up with crossover books, where the heroine of my mystery series ends up in one of my inspirational novels! She really doesn't belong there, lol. When she says "God I love men," she's not praying! So it's the first Deadlines book, the next Faithgirls book, the young adult novel (that remains untitled at this time) and then this new idea. I'm going to need a new system to organize these things or they are going to take over my life!

I'm going to a movie with Rhea tonight. I think we're going to see MI:3. Looking forward to the mindless explosions and the cute (albeit psycho) Tom Cruise. It should be fun.

Kind Blogroll

3 for 365
:::::::::::: wife mom maniac ::::::::::::
[Gluten Free] Goddess
A Camera is My Weapon of Choice
A CHELSEA MORNING
A Child of God
A Gaggle of Girls
A Hole in the Fence
A Mom's Love
a painter's kitchen
A Question of Degree
A Spiritual Journey Through Life
A Stitch in Time...
Adventures in Japan
Almost Somewhat Positive
Anali's First Amendment
Ardent Peace
Art Journey with a Quilty Voice
artbynaomi
Artist by Nature Blog
Be Alive Believe Be You
Birchsprite
Blog con Queso
Bloggy Gossip
boom's blog
Boutique Café
Boutique Mom
Bunny Goes Zen
Butterfly Mama
Callaloo Soup
carbon press
Case-Notes from the Artsy Asylum
Celebrity Baby Blog
Chock Late
Chollyson
Chookooloonks
Christina’s Shoebox
Chronicles of Me
ClockWorkChris Returns 2007
Coasting Richly
Coffee Mom
Colloquium
CorgiFeathers
Coriolis (French)
Courage my love
Crazy Dust In My Coffee
created
Crooked Pigtails
Curves with Attitude
Daily Stitches
Daisy the Curly Cat
Dallas Miao'd
Dirka Dirka
Don't Take the Repeats
Dreamer Girl
East of Oregon
Echo from the Green Hills
El Gigante Verdoso
Empty Nest
Faith, Hope and Love
Family Living; Hatfield Style
Fancy and Fun
Fina'Drea
Finding My UU Soul
Foodie's Hope
for better, for worse, for life
From My View
Fruit Inspection
FUNCHILDE
Glorious Uniqueness
Gratitude Practices
gurushabad
Gypsy Girl's Guide
Happy SAHM
happyluau
HB Live
hello, self
Homekeeper at Heart
House of Tanilan
How to Be a Bongga Mom
i get you.
I Still See A Spark In You
Ignore the Crazy
imagined-community
It's Always a Production
Jabbering in my Jammies
Jayne says...
jen lemen
Join me for a coffee
jouissance
Journey Mama
JustTug
Kaffee Klatsch
kerrianne.org
kOoKy kAy
Lady M
life as beck's mommy
LilBitchmore
Lisa's Chaos
Living In My Mind
many halves of eternity
maremagnum
Margaret's Wanderings...
Marriage in Process
MeeAugraphie
Miss Woolly Knits
misszoot.com
MOM - Not Otherwise Specified
Mom's Crazy - Xeeks
mommamandysmilieu.com
Moogies World
Moving J-wards
Much More Than A Mom
Mummified Times Five
musings:mamahood&more
My Life Is Calling
My Oh-So COLORfull Life
Nitoy's Calvert School Journal
Old Runner, New Goals
Ole-Talk
On Bright Street
On My Way Over the Rainbow
Orchids and Violets
Organized Chaos
Orlando Muslim Mama
Our Deer Baby
Our Life Together...
Owlhaven
Ozarks sew n' sews
P o n d P e r s p e c t i v e
PatchScrap
Pearls of Wisdom
Pluck the Petal
Polliwog's Pond
Prairie Flower Musings
Preservation of the Blogging Arts Society
Quasi Fictional
Quasi Italiana!
Queenheroical
Red Nose
Rocks In My Dryer
Ruler of the Elves
Running On Empty
SAHMbles ...
Sarah's Scribbles
Schnozzfest
Shh-Speak up
Simple Gifts
Simply Sassy
Skittles' Place
Soliloquy
Sound Bites
Spin a Song of Sixpence and Other Crafty Nonsense
Square
STILL wednesday's child
Sunday
Sunday School Rebel
Sundries Sublime
Sword Girl
Tears-n-Tantrums
technicolor fairytale
The Anonymous Family: Misadventures in Alaska
The Art of Meditation.
The Bluebird of Happiness Comes to Tea
The Challenge of Life
The Clock is Ticking
The Flexible Organizer
The House of Kent
The Incredible Edible Megs
The Journey
The Modern Woman's Divorce Guide
The Northern Southerner
The Quirky World of Jessi
The Silent "I"
The Silent K
The Sun-Flower Family
The Wooden Porch
This Eclectic Life
thru my lens lightly
Toddler Planet
Tumbled Words
Unplug Your Kids
Upside Up
v. it's all about the dave
Violet Metamorphosis
Water Owl's Movements
WATERMARK
Wherever Ewe Go, There Ewe Are
white paint and ribbons
Women at Rest
Woulda Coulda Shoulda
Write From Karen
Writer's Edge Blog
wunder strays
www.GenreCookShop.com
zena musings

What a weekend!

I spent the weekend away from home, which is why I haven't posted. It was a great weekend, though. My friend Zach graduated from college on Saturday, and I wouldn't have missed it for the world. It was such a special moment for him, because he's been in school so long, and has worked so hard. I'm so proud of him!

So he had this little graduation party at his house after the ceremony, and guess who I ran into there? My ex husband. How strange is that? Well, not so strange since I knew they were friends and sort of thought I might run into him. But here's the funny thing. I wasn't uncomfortable and it wasn't strange at all. I think I've changed a lot since all that happened. I'm much more confident, much more comfortable with who I am than I was then. I'm proud of my accomplishments and I know that everything that happened needed to happen to get me where I am today, which is a really great place. We talked for quite a long time and I came to remember why we were friends. I moved past the anger a long time ago, and I don't have feelings for him anymore, but it was nice to talk like we used to.

I spent the weekend with Chris, which is always great. He's in a relationship right now and it's always great to see his eyes light up when he talks about that special someone. We decided to start looking into going to Paris and London near the end of this year. It would be the birthday trip to end all birthday trips! I did some research today and the airfare is actually quite cheap, so I really believe we can swing it. It's something I've always wanted to do, and I want to do it soon. So that's something to look forward to! Imagine the pictures I'll bring back from there!

physical therapy

So physical therapy is an interesting experience. I had my first appointment today. The doc said I would only have to go for a few weeks, so I decided to go ahead and do it. My physical therapist is very nice and I enjoyed working with her. I had this terrifying image of it being some really gorgeous man of about 30. If it had been, I wouldn't have been able to do anything but drool on his shoes, lol. But it turned out to be a young woman who is very good at what she does. We did some exercises and she told me I could return to yoga, which is something I've really wanted to do. She said to be careful, though.

Oh, here's something funny. After testing my strength and the range of motion in my ankle, she determined that the limp is all in my head. After favoring that leg for several weeks, I've gotten into a habit of favoring it, so I basically have to learn how to walk again! Crazy.

I have two appointments next week (at 7 a.m... ugh!) and then we will determine if I need to continue. While I do really like my physical therapist, I hope I don't have to continue. I'd like my life to return to normal as soon as possible.

SO ANGRY

I've never been this mad before. My new car isn't even two months old and someone scratched it today. There's a scratch about two feet long in the back passenger door now, that appeared sometime today, either at the doctor's office or at the university (where I went to get info about grad school) I think it happened at the university. And I think they did it on purpose. So that begs the question. Why do people destroy other people's property for no reason? Why do people feel the need to screw up other people's things? I was so proud of that car, it was so pretty and shiny and perfect. But now there's a scratch. At certain angles you can't see it, but I know it's there. Every time I think about it I just angry again.

So this is just a note to anyone out there who gets pleasure in messing up other people's things. It sucks. It's not cool, not funny, and not acceptable.

A few days off

So the fundraiser went great. Actually, it was awesome. We made more money than we ever have with the event and everyone seemed to have a great time. My mother attended for the first time and she seemed to have fun. For some reason, it's still really important to me what my mother things about the things I do, so shen she said it was really nice and that she had fun, I really felt great about it.

I went to work yesterday to tie up some loose ends, but I'm off today and Friday to recover. I couldn't even sleep in today because I'm so used to getting up early. Sooo annoying...

My big plans for the next two days? Rest and relax!

Fundraiser Eve...

Well, tomorrow is the big day. Today was hectic but fun. We had a lot of loose ends to tie up, but I came home feeling like things were under control, which is good. I know I'm going to be up all night wondering what I forgot, but for the moment I feel pretty good about everything.

Tomorrow night it will all be over for another year. It's always so much fun doing the planning and the preparation, and then the event is great, and when it's all over, there is a moment to relax. It's great. I get Thursday and Friday off from work to rest from the event. Unfortunately, I have to go to physical therapy both days, so I won't get to go to the beach, which is what I really wanted to do. But maybe when physical therapy is over I can go home and lay in the sun. With a book. That sounds soooooo great.