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Showing posts with the label friends

NaNoWriMo update!

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We are just over a week into NaNoWriMo! I'm behind in my word count goal, but feeling really good about the progression of my story. My friends Scott and Hannah came over this morning and we closed ourselves into the bungalow at my condo complex and wrote for a few hours. Marc was kind enough to watch the baby while I wrote (and also while I threw a Jamberry party later this afternoon). It was so good to get some solid writing time in. I've really been struggling with finding time to sit down the write, between work and hanging out with the baby, especially during the week. I am going to try to get at least a little more writing in on weekdays, but I really enjoyed being able to get caught up on the weekend.  My total word count is 5497 so far! 

A "real" vacation day

You know how people talk about all of the "rest and relaxation" that they get on vacation? That doesn't really happen to me. Marc and my vacations tend to be go go go, whether they are trips to places that we've never been before and we are trying to soak up all the sights at once, or trips back home to see family, where we are trying to make time for everyone and everything that we've missed, we don't generally do a lost of "resting" on our time off. I wanted this trip to be different. I wanted to recharge, refresh, but still have time to see a new place. That's one of the reasons we chose Whistler. It's so beautiful here, but there's not THAT much to do that we have to be running all five days we're visiting to cram it all in. After all, there's no snow on the ground, so winter sports are out of the question, and the village is pretty tiny. Today was REALLY relaxing. I woke up after a weird/bad dream around 6:00 and couldn...

Long time, no blog.

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It started with craft day at my friend Stacy's house. I didn't realize how much I had been missing a creative outlet. In high school and college, I was always MAKING something, whether it be music or magazines or writing stories. Now I work in insurance. There are rules. Things are very black and white. My brain works that way, too, so I didn't feel the effects of my creative dry spell at first. But then I spent an evening with some lovely ladies (and an even lovelier [almost] three year old) and I had SO MUCH FUN. I made Thanksgiving cards for my friends and family from scratch. I glittered pumpkins (sorry about the "craft herpes' all over your house, Tom). I had fun. When I got home, I felt good. I was doing something outside of work other than sitting at home. I was creating something. Since then, I've been crafting at home a lot... crocheting a blanket while I watch TV, Mod Podgeing literally everything, and thinking about writing more. I decided I...

I feel like a big kid journalist.

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Today was an exhausting, wonderful day. When I first met my friend Melissa on Twitter, I found somebody who shared a love of Harry Potter, writing and music. Meeting her has been one of my best social media experiences so far, because (through Twitter), I found out that the online music magazine that she writes for (and turns out, actually RUNS) wanted to hire more journalists. I applied and submit a writing sample, and was welcomed onto the team! Since then, I have had the opportunity to review new albums, interview bands and artists and do what I love... write about music. It hasn't always been easy; working a (more than) full time job in "real life" and then making time to sit at the computer after a 8-10 hour day at work to write about music. But I stuck with it and I'm so glad. Today, an e-mail interview that I did with DJ Ashba (lead guitarist for Sixx A.M. and Guns N' Roses) exploded with page hits (thanks in large part to the promotion by Ashba himse...

Project: 100 Books in 2013

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At the end of 2011, I made a resolution that nearly everybody makes: I wanted to get healthy, get in shape, and most importantly, feel more comfortable in my body. More than 60 pounds later, I consider my New Year's resolution from last year to be a smashing success. I feel fantastic and have plans to continue getting healthier and happier. Since I was able to stick to my resolution last year, I am overflowing with ideas (and confidence) to continue to improve my life overall in 2013. One of the things that I really want to work on is making time to do things that I enjoy. I've fallen into a pattern lately of getting up, rushing off to work, working hard and long and then coming home, mentally drained to watch TV and play on my phone until I fall asleep after a few short hours and then repeating the process. I hate it. So, I've made a list of things that I want to do (and not do) in 2013. One of the big ones is to spend more time reading. I love to read. It re...