Heaven

The company I work for has these online auctions a couple of times a year to support specific charities and a few years ago one of the items up for auction was a massage. Since I love massages, I decided that I would place a bid on one - and I won. The place where I had to go to get the massage was across town but I figured that since it was for a good cause, I could deal with the long drive to and from the facility, right?

Well, I got the massage the Friday before Thanksgiving. I remember this because I was annoyed that the radio stations were already playing Christmas music. So, on my drive to get the massage, I was changing the radio stations quite a bit.

On the way home, not only was I listening to the Christmas music, I was singing along to the music. That's how good the massage was. And despite the fact that I have to drive across town, I haven't been to another massage therapist since.

That was several years ago and while I don't go nearly often enough, when I called earlier in the week to schedule an appointment, she thought it would be okay for me to come to her house to get the massage.

So, I drove out to her house this morning and as I drove through the neighborhood I calculated the houses to be about the same age as the houses in my neighborhood. Then I get to her street, all of the houses but one seem to fit the rest of the neighborhood. Yep, you guessed it, her house seemed a bit out of place because it was so nice.

Anyway, I pulled up in the driveway and walked up to the front door and I absolutely loved the way it was set up. She had a little wicker seat set up for her clients to sit on while they waited. On the table was this wonderfully smelling candle burning (I forgot to check or ask what kind it was). In the window is a sign that says "QUIET Massage in session".



Then, over in the corner was a cute little fountain for the calming waterfall effect.


It's all covered and seemed so perfect for her situation. I asked if they'd added that part of the porch on and she said that it was that way when they bought it. How cool is that?

And in other news, I figured out how to email myself pictures I've taken on my cell phone. It probably costs an arm and a leg, since that's not part of my program, but you know, I'm too relaxed to care at the moment. :)

Spotlight on...Amanda Ashby

I've said it before and I'll say it again, I'm a huge fan of Amanda Ashby's. I absolutely loved her debut novel, You Had Me at Halo and have been anxiously waiting for the release of her latest book, Zombie Queen of Newbury High ever since.

I met her last summer when she made her first trip to the United States so that we could vacation together. (What? We were both in San Fransisco and it was my vacation!)

Anyway, Zombie Queen of Newbury High will be out in two days (March 5!!! I can't wait!!!). And in honor of that, Amanda has been having a party on her blog. She's had some great guests and some great giveaways and it's still going on. So, if you haven't already, stop by and say hello and who knows, maybe you'll will one of the great giveaways. :)

In the meantime, Amanda agreed to answer some questions for me and I have to say, I've read a few of her interviews lately and I've yet to read one that she didn't manage to work David Boreanaz into it...including this one. :)

With that, here she is...

Tell us about your story.
ZOMBIE QUEEN OF NEWBURY HIGH is the story of what happens when seventeen-year-old Mia Everett does a love spell on her date to help convince him not to dump her four days before prom. Instead, as these things are wont to do, instead of casting a love spell, she actually casts an ancient thing called Viral Zombaticus, or in another words, a zombie virus. Whoops. Even worse, because she was the one who did the spell, she is now the zombie queen – which isn’t a good thing – it just means that she’s at the top of the menu. And so she’s forced to work with zombie hunter hottie, Chase Miller to try and find a cure before her classmates and teachers all turn into the living dead and she gets turned into an all-you-can-eat buffet!

What's a typical day like for you?
I have two young children so the mornings are spent finding homework and getting them ready for school. Then I go for a quick jog and back home to the computer. I normally spend an hour doing essential Internet stuff like reading www.pinkisthenewblog.com before I get to work on my wip. Then I go and get the kids from school and don’t normally get back to the computer until about eight at night where I will either edit what I’ve written or catch up on any other things that need to be done. Well, in theory in anyway!!!!

How long have you been writing? How many books did you write before you sold?
I started seriously writing in 1999 and wrote about 13 completed manuscripts before finally selling my debut book YOU HAD ME AT HALO back in 2005. It then took another two years for it to hit the shelves and I spent that time working on my young adult projects. So as you can see I had a long apprenticeship but every thing I wrote helped lead me to where am I today so I can’t regret it any of it (okay, I can totally regret some of the Mills and Boons attempts I made because they were dreadful and I pity the poor editor who had to read them!)

What was it like getting "the call"? Who was the first person you told?
My call was actually an email from my agent! I was in the UK and she was in NY so it came through at about 8pm at night and basically she forwarded on the publishers offer (along with a few smiley faces and exclamation marks!). I actually went into complete and utter shock and I’m not sure how long it took before I called my husband in to show him. Then I spoke to my cps on the phone and then I started emailing my family a few hours later. I can honestly say that it was the most surreal moment of my life to have such a long held dream suddenly turned into reality!!!!

What advice would you give to aspiring writers?
Of course there are all the standard pieces of advice like write lots, read lots etc. But I was actually talking to an aspiring writer on the weekend and one thing really stood out for me – that she had never sent anything out to a publisher or an agent. Huh? That makes no sense to me because if you don’t put stuff out there, then you will never be able to achieve your goals, so really my best advice is to submit, submit, submit.

Where do you get your story ideas? What inspires you?
I wish I knew! Often I just stumble across things that resonate with me. I’ve talked a lot about how my debut book was inspired by an imaginary conversation I had with my dead father on the day of his funeral. Obviously at the time the funeral wasn’t funny, but the idea of my dad being there and commenting on it all did amuse me and that was the basis of the story. With ZOMBIE QUEEN OF NEWBURY HIGH the idea actually came about because I think the word zombie is hilarious and I used to joke about writing a sort of B-grade zombie slasher story (I Was a Killer Zombie Bride). Anyway, even though I was joking, the idea of doing a zombie book just stuck. Another thing that often happens to me is that I see a traditional storyline and then I have fun trying to twist it and turn it around to see what I can come up with.


How much of a role did contests play in your quest for publication?
Not much. After my daughter was born (eight years ago now – ack!), I entered a competition with the RWNZ (Romance Writers of New Zealand) and I actually won. Then I entered another competition and I didn’t win – which, as I soon discovered, wasn’t nearly so much fun! At that point I decided the feedback I wanted wasn’t from contest judges but from editors and agents and that’s why I concentrated more on submitting stuff than entering contests. Of course I’m not saying that it would work for everyone, but it’s definitely what I felt more comfortable with.

What do you wish you'd known before you reached where you are now - and would it have made a difference in the steps you've taken to get there?
That just because you sell a book, you don’t automatically get to meet David Boreanaz. That was a major blow to me! But all joking aside, even though my published friends had told me that it actually gets harder once you sell, I absolutely did not believe them (after all, they’re fiction writers so they make stuff up all the time, right?). Unfortunately, this time they weren’t making it up and everything about my writing has become harder since I sold. However, I really think it’s one of those things you just have to learn as you because there isn’t really anything you can do to prepare yourself for it. Darn because I’m a big fan of do-over days!

Are you a plotter or a pantser?
Panster. With a capital panster. I try to plot, I really, really do and while I do have a loose outline of what might happen, about 90% of it is up in the air until I actually get there. Even then, I more often than not have to rewrite scenes over and over again until I can finally find the right one. It’s an exhausting process but despite all my best efforts, I’ve never quite managed to change it.


What's it like to write in two different genres? How do you transition between the two?
This is where I have to confess that there is no difference at all! Though in my defense, my first book actually started life as a young adult book and the publisher asked me to turn it into women’s fiction, so I think my voice naturally lies down the younger end of the scale. Also, while I love having romance in my stories I don’t tend to ever turn up the heat. In fact half the time the poor things don’t get much more than a kiss at the end!!!



You can visit Amanda at her website - and who knows, if you send her an email, maybe she'll vacation with you next year. It worked for me. ;)

Heroes, Heroines and other Writerly Stuff

In 2006 a friend of mine was having a contest for a $250 gift card to the bookstore of your choice. Being the book whore that I am, I wanted that gift card. Bad.

How it worked was your name got thrown in the pool if you read 10 books. For every five books beyond that, your name got thrown in again for another chance to win. The contest started on June 1, 2006 and ran through the end of the year. So, from June 1 to December 31 of 2006 I read something like 85 books. (I didn't win the contest, in case you were wondering. *sigh*)

In 2007 I read 70 some-odd books for the entire year.

This year, what with school and all, I haven't had as much time to read. So, with required text books included, I've only read like 30 books this entire year. Which is so depressing. But, I have two weeks off and I'm trying to make up for lost time here, which I don't want to spend on crappy books.

So, what makes a crappy book? Well, it can differ from book to book for me but I started one the other day that goes in the "I rarely ever do this but I'm pitching this book without finishing it" pile. Why? Because there's nothing in it that I can grasp on to to believe. The hero is a country boy (he's done the city life before and didn't care for it so it's not like he doesn't know what he's missing out on - he does and he's not interested in it). The heroine is a city girl, visiting the country on her way to fame and fortune. They meet and are immediately in love with each other - just like that. There's no buildup, no nothing. They just know they want to spend the rest of their lives together. Not that they've said as much to each other. No. As far as that goes, they're standoffish. The hero has something the heroine needs but he's not willing to let her have/use it and politely tells her no. She tells him, in no uncertain terms, that she WILL have it and she's not letting up until he gives it over to her. That's where I have the biggest problem. I want to see the build up of the relationship. I want to see the chemistry take over. I want to fall in love with them. But, when one says no (politely or otherwise) and the other takes steps to manipulate what they want out of the other, that's when I'm done. If they don't respect each other - and show it - I can't get behind the pairing. Not to mention, I don't see how this story can resolve itself without one giving up their dream. How is that a happy ending? This story is part of a series (that I've read a couple of the others of) and everyone ends up in this small country town. Which means the heroine has to give up her dream of fame and fortune. Sure, she might be happy for the here and now but what about in 10 years when he's burping and farting and scratching his balls all the time? Will she still be glad she made the decision she did? Which is another thing, I have to believe that 10, 20 years down the line the couple will be happy. And I just don't see it in this story. So, after only 50 some-odd pages of reading, I'm officially done with that book, for now.

Okay, enough about that - on to the other writerly stuff.

A couple of weeks ago the romance community was having an auction on ebay to help out an author who had lost her husband and had catastrophic medical bills to contend with. So, I went to check out the items and saw this and totally had an image in my head how I could use it in my writing. You see, I've been clipping pictures of people and saving them in an envelope. But I want to use this for the visual. I can post the pictures on the board (the flowers in the corner are magnets) and then put their pictures in the album, telling their story. It arrived yesterday and I can't wait to get it all together and start telling the story.

And hopefully I'll avoid the pitfalls I can't stand in other writer's stories.

I've just shared one of my pet peeves in books. What makes you want to fling a book you're reading across the room? Inquiring minds want to know. :)

Conference

Well, I got back last evening from conference and I was exhausted. I'm finally getting my energy back this evening. And in a good news/bad news kind of thing, I also get tomorrow off to further recuperate - Tropical Storm Edouard is expected to pass over us tomorrow so the site has closed for tomorrow.

Anyway, I'm going to try to get as much as I can about conference in this post, pictures and additional details may follow in future posts though. I'll start by saying that after Atlanta, I posted a list of things I'd learned in Atlanta and I just have to say that, when you have the same roommate, some of the things continue to hold true. That's all I'm saying.

Okay, so, I left home Saturday morning, dropped the dogs off at the kennel and headed towards the airport. When I got to the parking lot to leave my car, I was told that valet parking was all that was available. They said it was the same price as me parking the car so I said fine. Wasn't crazy about leaving my keys with someone who knew I was going to be gone eight days (I had to tell them that). I wrote down my mileage (and thanked God that I'd told my neighbor that no matter what he was told - I was NOT moving last week!) and got on the bus to the airport.

You know how you send your purse through the x-ray machine? Well, any time they run it through several times, it's not a good thing. I have a metal nail file I'd forgotten to take out (remembered on the return trip though - yes they let me keep it, which surprised me) that has a sharp point to it. When they asked me what I had in my purse with a sharp point, I told them my nail file. They picked it up with two fingers (well a finger and a thumb) and carried it over to this table where they proceeded to wipe it down so they could test it for bomb components residue (I asked). When the test came up negative (big surprise there HA! although I freaked a little when the alarm on the machine went off - obviously indicating an all clear), they gingerly (two fingered again) unzipped the area I told them held the offending nail file, made a visual and then released me to go - file intact.

Caught my flight and sat next to a man who told me a story of how the last time he went home (he lives in Washington but was working in Houston), his neighbor died in his arms. I didn't know what to say to that, but of course he didn't wait for one, and instead told me - in great detail - how it all happened. Now, I won't bore you all with the details but I just want to say that, in the end, his neighbor is alive and well but apparently has medical issues.

I made it to SF and caught the shuttle bus to the B&B I stayed at the first part of the week. It's a very nice B&B and gave me a visual and lots of info on how a B&B can work. Considering one of my stories is set in a B&B, I consider that a good thing - a very good thing.

Gabrielle arrived later that evening and she and her friend, Tamara, drove me around SF, including the Golden Gate Bridge (GGB). I whipped out my camera to get a night time shot of the GGB, only to get a great shot of the back of Gabrielle's head. I'm good with a camera like that. When I tried to get a second shot of the bridge, the battery was dead. *sigh* We drove around some more and then headed back to the B&B.

I should point out that the B&B had four guests rooms and only two bathrooms. That first night there and the next morning proved to be interesting in the way of getting to actually use the bathrooms. Kind of comical in the way of doors opening and closing and peeking out to see if it was "free".

That night I had a bizarre dream that involved my co-workers and bad people. In the dream I was standing across the street from my house with the bad man chasing me. My neighbor's garage door and front door were open so I thought if I called out to him, he could save me from the bad man. Well, you know how when you try to scream out in a dream but nothing will come out? That wasn't really a problem in my dream. I mean, it was a little choked out but it was still a pretty darn loud scream of "MARTIN, HELP!!!!" I woke up with a start, then realizing that I'd actually screamed out loud, I froze, waiting to see if I'd woken Gabrielle up. I sat there for a couple of minutes and she didn't move or show any signs of having heard me. Then I realized, while she might be a heavy sleeper, the other guests of the B&B might not be so I strained to hear any activity in the rest of the house. Nothing. No one was coming to save me from the bad guys. Which, since I wasn't really in jeopardy, was okay - I'm glad I didn't wake anyone. On the other hand, what if I had really been in trouble? I would've been so screwed - and not in a good way. Just saying.

Anyway, the next morning we got up to a wonderful breakfast and headed out to see the sights. We went into town and got a week-long bus pass, which pretty much covered all methods of transportation in SF. We took a trolley down to Fisherman's Wharf and spent the afternoon (along with a good amount of money) walking around there. The camera ran out of space before long and I started deleting shots that I couldn't really tell what they were. (Seeing what I have left, I may have deleted the wrong ones. *sigh*) Oh, and we saw the Naked Cowboy. He was on one side of the street, while on the other, someone was preaching the hell, fire and brimstone speech. It was kind of interesting.

We caught a couple of buses and made our way back towards the B&B, but not before stopping by a little coffee shop around the corner, where we discovered they had internet and food. The quiche looked good to me so I had them give me one to go because I wasn't hungry at that moment. (I ended up giving it to the host at the B&B before we left because, well, turns out there isn't a microwave at the B&B, not to mention, I was never hungry in the evening when it would have been convenient to eat it. It looked really good though.)

We didn't have any issues with the bathroom that night - or the next morning for that matter. One lady and a couple had checked out but another couple and another lady had checked in. The next morning I went upstairs to take my shower and came across the new lady. I just said hello in passing on the way to the bathroom but on the way out, she stopped me. Turns out she was there for the conference as well. A nice lady from Canada. She has some sightseeing she wanted to do and it worked out well because Gabrielle was wanting to take a break from all the walking, plus she wanted to do some writing. However, the three of us took a bus to town and Heather Ann (the other guest) and I deposited Gabrielle at Borders while we went on the Victorian Homes tour. (Very nice tour, by the way. We saw the house where Mrs. Doubtfire was filmed. It was interesting to find out that all the house scenes were filmed inside that house - with the exception of the kitchen scenes, and only because the kitchen wasn't big enough to fit the camera equipment inside it and the owner wasn't willing to let their walls be knocked down. They were, however, willing to let farm animals be brought in for the party scene!) I whipped out my camera to show a picture of the Naked Cowboy to Heather Ann only to discover that my camera battery was dead - again. I purchased a disposable camera at that point and gave up on my digital for the remainder of the trip.

Afterwards, Heather Ann and I collected Gabrielle and had lunch at Lori's Diner. We left there and took a bus to Coit Tower and then worked our way down through a quaint little neighborhood and saw the wild parrots flying overhead.

The next day, Gabrielle was on a roll and wanted to do some more writing to Heather Ann and I headed out. We went first to Haight and Asbury. We spent some time there and got hit up for money and asked to sign a petition to help the homeless.

From there we went to Golden Gate Park where we walked around for what seemed like forever (we later looked at the map and discovered we hadn't seen one quarter of the park!) and ended up at the Conservatory. We walked around there for a while and then caught a bus to the GGB (by the way, if you need directions in SF, just open a city map and people will come to you and offer directions). Having been told we could catch a bus on the other side, we walked across the GGB, only to find that no one seemed to know anything about where we might catch that bus on the other side. Several calls and many attempts to stop taxis later, we found the bus and rode into Sausalito. We walked around the town (cute town, by the way) and then caught the ferry back.

We made our way back to the B&B where we all agreed we were exhausted. But, I wanted a margarita so Gabrielle went online and located a place that sounded good for a margarita. So we walked the 20 miles uphill (both ways) to the margarita place, only to discover that they didn't have the strawberry margarita I wanted - so I had water instead. Yeah, I know, how do you go from a margarita to water, I don't know - but it isn't the first time that's happened. We still had a good time though.

Wednesday we (Gabrielle and I - Heather Ann stayed at the B&B for the duration) checked out of the B&B and headed over to the hotel - first thing. And by first thing, I mean around 9:30 a.m. Unfortunately our room wasn't ready until almost 3:00 p.m. Ugh!

Anyway, once we finally got in our room, we got ready for the Literacy Signing. (You know, I'm wondering now if we did something I can't remember because we were actually late to the signing.) By this point, our third roommate, Linda Carol, had joined us. I had a plan. . . you see, I was the official stalker of the conference this year.

I headed straight over to Amanda Ashby and introduced myself as her official stalker (she'd actually known about it for months - I was just making it official at the signing). She offered me a Tim Tam and well, despite what I'd previously heard, they are the best chocolate I've ever had. Let me just say, if I hadn't already committed to stalking her, that would have done it. OMG they're so good.

I was working the signing so I hung around to the end. I don't want to bad mouth anyone but um, the clean up was handled completely differently this year and it wasn't the most organized thing I've ever seen. This may have been my last year to volunteer for that.

That was followed up by the RWAOnline Chapter party, where I beelined for (and therefore ate more) Tim Tams.

Thursday morning, Linda Carol and I took a bus up to Twin Peaks. We got back just in time for the luncheon. You know, I had never read Victoria Alexander, but I will now! OMG that woman is hysterical. A few days later I ran across someone trying to find the goody room. It sounded like a good idea to check it out again so I offered to walk with her there. I hadn't realized who it was at the time but it was Victoria Alexander. Very nice lady.

Anyway, Thursday I either did workshops or book signings - maybe both, I'd have to check. That evening, I went to the Diva Dinner. It was a lot of fun. Met a lot of fun, interesting people. :)

Friday was filled with workshops and book signings. That evening I went to a party hosted by a Houston writer. Had a lot of fun.

Saturday was more workshops and book signings - plus, I finally got my margarita! The awards ceremony was fun, followed by dessert and a visit to the bar (no drink for me though) before I went to bed to get a couple of hours sleep before I had to get up to catch the shuttle bus back to the airport (left at 4:25 a.m. - and the lines at the airport were surprising LONG! at that hour).

Went to pick up my babies before I headed home, where I promptly became a couch potato, until about an hour ago, when I started this post. :)

I took today off and, as I said, get tomorrow off as well. All in all, a good conference. :)

Countdown

In less than 24 hours I should be in San Francisco. I. Can't. Wait.

I've been spending today doing laundry and packing. I was going to get my hair cut and my eyebrows waxed but given how that's gone for me recently, maybe not. :)

I have a fear that I'm going to forget something terribly important. Like, right now, I keep thinking about packing my toothpaste. I bought a special one to take with me. By the time I'm done with this post, I guarantee I will have forgotten about packing it.

Now I'm thinking about my cell phone charger. Something else that definitely needs to go and I hope I don't forget.

Something else just came to mind and I've already forgotten what it was. Hopefully it will come back to me at some point.

A friend loaned (but said I could have if I liked it) me her luggage to take with me (unfortunate incident with the zipper on mine at Christmas). It's not quite as big as mine but I'm flying Southwest and I can check two pieces of luggage and carry on two pieces of luggage and you know what - I am. By the way, is it tacky that it doesn't all match (hers all matches and mine all matches - it's just that I'm bringing one of mine to compensate for all I'm bringing)?

The dogs have all been blissfully calm today - hardly gone out at all, which is a bit troublesome for me.

Anyway, I've printed out my boarding pass (20 minutes after I could and I ended up with number 51!!!), B&B reservation confirmation, shuttle bus confirmations, workshop schedules and the corresponding workshop printouts (for those I think I'd like to attend), phone lists - I think that's it for printing.

I'm taking my backlog (assuming I pack them) of People magazines to read on the plane so that I can, uh, pass them on to my friend when I'm done. :)

I'm (assuming it will fit in something I'm taking) packing one of those little thingies (technical name here) that you load things on, strap it down and wheel it around as if it's light as a feather (for hauling books to the post office for shipping).

Now, tell me, what am I forgetting to do and/or pack?

Oh, I remember something I was going to ask...I have a digital camera but it's not one that has a stick with it. It only holds so many pictures, period - and it's not going to be enough, I guarantee you. Should I take it and/or get disposables when I arrive?

Last call

Today is officially my last day of vacation. I'm not ready to go back to work tomorrow. I didn't get much of what I wanted to get done, done. Plus, I just don't want to be working now. I was telling someone at work that I wanted to be a stay-at-home wife, only I didn't want to have to be married to do it. And that's really how I feel about it. I want going to an office and working to be an option. But, since that's not the case, I'll go back tomorrow. *sigh*

I did my taxes today and have already received confirmation that the return as submitted has been accepted. I just have to send in a signature page (I didn't have the information from last year's tax returns because of the computer crash last summer and my not printing out the return) to complete it. Just got to buy a stamp and put it in the mail. :-)

I have a draft of my midterm complete. I heard back from my instructor and she was pretty broad and vague in her response so I'm still not certain if I'm going to be giving her what she's looking for. I tend to think that it would be good enough if we were doing this in class but given that we have two weeks to work on it I would think the bar would (and should) be raised and I'm not certain I've risen to the challenge. I still have a few more days to refine it though, and then - once it's turned in - I plan to discuss the exam, and my answers, with a good friend.

My term paper is pretty well written - in my head, that is, it still lacks the "on paper" thing that most instructors prefer. I'm still doing research though. If I didn't mention it here, I'm writing on abortion. I sent out a small little questionnaire for an optional analysis portion of the paper and got a great response to it. Several people have thrown out some interesting tidbits on the topic and that has helped with the required research aspect of the paper. One person though, sent me some information and I thought it was great information but I can't find anything to support her claim. I emailed her and she can't find it either so I can't really use it but it would have been great to include. Basically I chose this topic because I have a strong opinion about it and thought the paper would be easier for me to write for that reason but it turns out it's been a learning experience for me - due in no small part to the input from others - which, when you think about it, was the whole purpose for this exercise.

Anyway, I hope everyone had a great Easter. :-)

Nearing the end

Yesterday was another blown day. I had pretty well made up my mind that I'd do everything this weekend. I finally heard back from my instructor last night and, as with everything else, her response was pretty broad and vague but I do know what sort of page space she's looking for for each response.

Anyway, I was feeling tired pretty early and decided to listen to my body and went to bed. I'd been asleep for less than an hour and woke up with a start and a realization that my term paper is due more quickly than I'd been thinking. I've still been looking at it as weeks out that it's due but it's actually due the week after next. Gulp! I tried to go back to sleep so that I'd wake up today rested and refreshed but that wasn't working for me so I got up and started reading my research materials for the paper. I was tired enough that it wasn't really sinking in but I still couldn't sleep. So I settled on having a major anxiety attack and a fitful night of sleep, including a dream where I went to a comedy club (but didn't laugh) and had my purse stolen, which was hard to shake off when I woke up for some reason.

So the plan for today is to finish up my midterm and then give serious consideration to the term paper - all while doing laundry. Tomorrow will be spent on finishing up rough drafts and reading Acts 4 and 5 of King Lear. Any extra time will be spent on the spring cleaning which was the whole purpose of me taking the last week off.

What are your plans for the holiday weekend?

Blah, blah, blah

That's how I've been feeling the last couple of days. Not sick, more like in a funk. I'm not getting everything done on the house that I want and I'm not fully understanding my midterm assignment (I did, however, email the instructor a few minutes ago for a clarification because my grade is very important to me). But I was thinking it was more than that and I realized, I'm really not happy in my job. A week or so ago they let me work from home one day and I was soooooooo productive and in a good mood. I think if I could convince them to let me do that more frequently it would help. Guess the worse thing they can do is tell me no.

Anyway, I wanted to get out of this funk today so I went out and did some shopping and got my hair and eyebrows done. Now, some of you remember a recent trip I made to get my hair and eyebrows done. I'm pretty sure I've been since then without incident but I went to the same place today. I would say I had gotten the same person as before except what happened when she went to do my eyebrows.

Are you ready for this? She brought a "kit" over with her that had these things that she fits over your eyebrows so that she can color them to know what does not get waxed. I really should have gotten up and left then. Seriously. But I didn't because my eyebrows have really gotten out of hand (they're naturally very bushy). I also dragged a customer over whose eyebrows looked good and told the lady that I wanted my eyebrows done about the same thickness as hers (the lady suggested she give me an arch in my eyebrows - but that's another story). She didn't seem to get it though because I think she thought I wanted them shaped like this other lady's eyebrows.

So she puts the think over my eyebrow, colors it and starts waxing...the top of my eyebrow. Again, I don't think you're really supposed to do that but at this point I'm kind of stuck...again. She spends a great deal of time on the left eyebrow. She tweezes and trims the brow before giving me a mirror to be sure the first one is okay before she moves on to the other eyebrow. I can't tell the difference between the two eyebrows - it's still very thick. I tell her I want more removed. More time is spent on the left eyebrow.

I think I looked at it another time before she did a little more work and then didn't give me the opportunity to look at it before she moved on to the right eyebrow. She spent considerably less time on the right eyebrow, even though she went through all the same steps.

Finally she gives me the mirror to look at the two eyebrows. They look okay and I decide to make it be okay. I paid and left. When I got to my car I looked in the car mirror. They didn't match! By that point I was tired and just wanted to go home so I did some tweezing on the right eyebrow (followed by the left eyebrow, since I'd over tweezed the right one). Then I noticed...the left one is higher than the right one again! So it looks like I'm raising my eyebrow again! Not to mention they're jet black in color. LOL Guess I'm just one of those people that it takes longer to learn from their mistakes than others.

In any event, I bought two pairs of pants, two pairs of really cute shoes and a bra. Blahs be gone! I'm on vacation! lol

Progress

It's 3:35 here and it just now finally started raining. I woke up early today and the news said the weather would get ugly "within a couple of hours". I raced out of bed to go get gas for the lawn mower and did I something that annoys me when other people do it...I mowed my lawn at an unreasonable hour. I followed it up with spreading the fertilizer (in the backyard only).

Then, when at lunchtime there was still no storms in sight, I did the weed-eating (no edging though).

I had done a little work on the office before lunch and have done a little more so there is some progress but not exactly where I wanted to be at this time. I'm not going to take a picture of it yet because I do expect to get more progress done before the end of the day.

But hey, if nothing else, I did get the backyard done! Right?!? ;-)

Today I think I'll...

Do you ever go to bed at night and plan the next day's activities? Something like, "I'll get up and then I'll (insert whatever it is you would do)". Then you get up the next day (which given the alternative is a good start, anyway) but then nothing else goes as planned. Yeah, that's kind of how today went for me.

Well, since I posted the blog with a picture of my office (if you can call it that), the plan was to get up and work on the room until it was done or when Dancing With The Stars came on, whichever came first. That was the plan anyway.

I slept in a little later than usual but decided to walk the dogs before I started working on the office. I figured it would get me up and going and energized for the planned activities.

Here's where I should tell you that I walk the dogs separately because, well, I'm only allowed to have two dogs, according to the deed restrictions, and I have three. And, not only do I walk them separately, I walk them on different routes. But the thing is, it's getting harder and harder to get one dog out at a time because the other two are always wanting to go - even if they just got back. This morning was no different.

I went out with Brewsky first. When we left, I could hear Harley barking. I hear him every time I leave with another dog but this was a little unusual because he didn't bark as long as he usually does. I didn't think much of it though.

When I got back with Brewsky, I planned to take Harley next. At the last minute I decided to take Max at the same time. I wasn't as energized as I thought I'd be and I figured I could just get it over with that much faster if I took the two of them together. As we walked away from the house, I heard Brewsky crying out as if his feelings were hurt. As with Harley, he does this every time I leave with another dog so it wasn't unusual.

Now, remember the plan was to come back and start working on the office room. Only, I came back to see this when I got walked into the house.

That's my dining room mini-blinds. Now, I have no idea which dog did it, although I'm leaning towards Brewsky but it could just be that I didn't notice after my walk with him but that's a front window and required immediate attention. The plan was officially changed.

I went to Home Depot (followed by Lowe's since Home Depot didn't want to seem to provide any kind of service to its customers) and bought mini-blinds and lawn fertilizer. It's supposed to storm tomorrow so I thought I'd rake the yard and then fertilize the lawn. Then I remembered I'd probably need to mow before I did the fertilizing thing. No problem, right? Until I remembered I didn't have any gas for the lawn mower. And I didn't want to go to the store all grungy (I worked in the yard most of the day...I had LOTS of raking to do) and who wants to take a shower to get out and mow shortly thereafter? So I just did the raking and put up the new blinds. Meanwhile the office still looks like this:
So, that was my day. I've been meaning to change out the mini-blinds in the dining room but I hadn't planned on doing it today - yet that's what happened. I'm hoping to work on the room tomorrow, particularly since it's supposed to be too ugly outside to do anything else. But, as they say, life is what happens when you're busy making plans so, we'll just see what happens tomorrow. ;-)

Spring Break

This next week is our spring break here. And since I'm taking classes this semester, I wanted to take the week off.

And I have big plans. Ambitious plans. I plan to organize my house (and my life) - and for those of you who have been reading my blog, you know that's no small order.

On the agenda is to clean and organize my office and guest room, specifically, and the rest of my house, more generally. I thought about what Jennifer Cruisie did a few months back where she posted pictures of her room and wondered if I should do it. Posting before and after pictures, like for her, would make (read shame) me into doing it.

Anyway, a little backstory - last fall I won a desk and bookcase in an online, company-sponsored, auction. I cleaned out the room I planned to use as an office so that the furniture (which was way bigger than I'd anticipated) would go right in it - and so the friend who helped me move it would only see a clean room. Well, since we had to bring the furniture in through the garage, it was the garage that my friend commented on. She wasn't ugly about it or anything but just mentioned that I might want to clean out my garage. I didn't take offense, since she was right. So, a few weeks later when I was so irritated at my boss at work, I took a day off and really got to work on my garage. By the end of the day it was all nice and clean, and I was proud of the accomplishment. It felt good.

It wasn't until the next time I went into the office (I don't do that much because I don't have a phone line in there yet) and couldn't get to the desk or my carousel of books that I realized why the job of cleaning the garage had gone so well. Turns out, I'd just moved everything into my office. And it was a few weeks after that that I did the ransacking of my office and guest room looking for the paper I'd written on my veteran friend so that now neither my office or guest room are "pedestrian friendly". Yeah, that's a good way to put it. LOL

Anyway, the plan for the week is to get them organized and ready for actual use, as opposed to being "junk" rooms. Also during the week, I need to work on my term paper for government (I'm doing my paper on the non-controversial topic of abortion), my Shakespeare mid-term and questions for my Shakespeare portfolio, due at the end of the semester.

I won't mention that I also would like to rip down the paneling in the living room and prep and paint every wall in (and outside of) my house because I don't want anyone thinking I'm wanting to accomplish too much. But then again, I did start off by mentioning that the plan was a bit ambitious, didn't I?

So, what you do have planned for the upcoming week?

P.S. Here are pictures of the office from two different angles.

Lucy does Dallas

I'm noticing a bit of a theme - everyone is titling their posts " (name here) does Dallas", so why not me too? (And no - before you ask - if everyone else was jumping off a bridge, I wouldn't do that too. . . I don't think... ;o) )

Anyway, my stay in Dallas was a short one, not being registered and all so I'm already home. I had a lot of fun though and even have pictures this year to prove it! (I may have mentioned that I've depended on the kindness of others in years past and never saw the pictures so I made sure to take matters into my own hands this year.)


I arrived Wednesday afternoon after driving in from Houston (the drive made longer by a serious accident in Houston and my inability to navigate downtown Dallas streets, but that's a whole other story). I had called my roommate a couple of times from the road and she indicated that she was out and about in the hotel but that check-in should be a breeze for me, as she'd added my name to the reservation (it was a breeze, by the way). So I arrived and checked in, went to the room, dropped my stuff off and immediately went in search of water.


On my way up to the room, someone got on the elevator with a take-out box and someone else on the elevator asked her where she'd gotten it and she said there was food on the second floor. So when I went out in search of water, I went to the second floor first. Which is where I ran into the person I always see first at the conferences - Pamela Hathaway. She told me that Mel, Maria and The Pam were at the bar, so off I went.


Mel was walking away from the table so I went up and said hello to her. Turns out she wasn't feeling great so she was going for some water and then heading back to the room (she told me the water was on the first floor). We said our good-byes and I headed over to talk to Maria. We visited for a few minutes when Louisa showed up and the three of us visited.


Then I went over to say hello to The Pam and her first words were "How's Harley? That's what I want to know!" Gotta love a woman (man, person - anyone) who loves animals like that. I told her I had pictures on my camera that I'd show her later. We visited for 20 or 30 minutes and I headed out for the water that I'd originally left my room for, which I now knew was on the first floor (thanks Mel!).


I get my water and decide that I'll just scope out the hotel and find out where the signing was going to be later that evening. I go down one more level and see a line formed outside of this one room. One quick look confirmed that it was a line forming for the literacy signing - only two hours before the event officially started!


After a moment or two of thought, I decided to join the line - after I went up to my room to get the new Julia Quinn book I'd brought for signing (I figure I can read it while I wait too!). So I head back to my room (which, for the record, was as far away from the elevator as the hotel could get it). I grab the book and leave the water, thinking I don't want to bother with carrying two things around (doing mental eye roll here). I head back to the elevator and decide, you know, I DO want to have my water with me after all - it's a long wait before the doors open. I go back to the room, grab the water and head back out again. I'm almost to the elevator again when I remember that I want my camera, so back I go to the room. I head out once more and realize, I must've put the book down because I only have the water and camera. It only took one more visit to the room before I was good to go.


The line that had been coming straight out from the ballroom doors was now up against the wall. It hadn't grown much while I was gone but I wasn't as close as you might think, for being there an hour and a half early. Everyone around me had stacks of books for signing - 90% of which were Sherilyn Kenyon books. I didn't get a lot of reading done because everyone was visiting. I met some really neat people in line (which I have each year that I've waited in lines) and it was kind of fun.


The crowds started coming more regularly and they roped off the area so that the line would go in a maze sort of thing (if you know what I mean) and the hotel staff was working furiously to keep up with the incoming crowd. Below is a picture (what I could get of it) of the line that was already in place an hour before the event started.

The event started a few minutes late because some of the authors were late but all-in-all, it was all good. More details to come tomorrow. . .