weekend

Long Weekend (Pictures)

I lurve long weekends! I really, truly do! McGraw-Hill treated me to an extra two hours by letting us go at 2pm on Friday. THAT TOTALLY ROCKED! I’m trying to think if I did anything special Friday evening, and you know what, I did! First, I was able to grab a nap Friday afternoon which was much needed and very nice. Then at 5:30, I had a massage. I needed it. My body felt like it was tied in knots, my head was hurting, and my hands felt like I’d been clenching them in fists for hours at a time. Heather really did some magic, plus talking to her is always calming. I was nice and Zen when it was over.

Afterwards, I met up with some friends at Tropical Bistro. It’s kind of a resurrection of Kahiki, which was a really cool Hawaiian themed restaurant. The food was just passable, but the atmosphere was to die for. It was so cool! Well anyway, Tropical Bistro was nice. The food was okay (best egg rolls I’ve ever had, and I don’t even like egg rolls!), the atmosphere was nice but not nearly as much fun at Kahiki. I’d go back, though. Anyway, here are a few pictures:

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Dawes Arboretum…! (Pictures)

First thing— I LOVE MY NEW CAMERA! It’s amazing. One of my favorite things about SLR is that there is practically NO shutter lag. And the manual focus option–LOVE IT. Oh yeah. I had a blast today. I got a polarizing filter, and I can really see a difference in some of the photos.

Second thing–Dawes Aroboretum is so nice this time of year. I didn’t see any mushrooms (ewwww), and many of the trees were flowering. It was just slightly cool, but not too much. A pretty day, perfect for taking pictures. Aidan and I went today for some Mommy/Son bonding time and also for a photo shoot of sorts.

Check It Out!

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Happy Saturday! (Pictures)

Why today was a good day:

  1. Dreams that are good, even if they’re unhealthy.
  2. Sleeping in ’til about noon. Mmmm.
  3. A nice, long bath.
  4. Chatting with Star (selfstyled)
  5. Beautiful sunny weather!
  6. CD full of mixes of my favorite new song Believe In Me by Pleasure Center arriving in the mail.
  7. Spring at Goodale Park.
  8. Visiting the library.
  9. Dinner outside.
  10. Finishing another book (Scary Beautiful by Niki Burnham)
  11. Running into friends at Target.
  12. Postcard from The Video Professor saying they were going to credit my account $80!!!
  13. Lovely incense wafting through the loft right now.
  14. Zen-ness. Yes!

Notice #7? Of course I got pictures!

Onward!

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Happy! (Pictures)

It’s Friday! πŸ™‚ It’s Payday! I’m smiling! YAY! ♥

I had my year-end review yesterday. You know how I freak out over those, but it went really well. There were some “needs developments” but they were because I was/am new, not because I was/am BAD. Which is great because I love my job, I love what I do, I love the people I work with. She told me to keep doing what I’m doing. But I want to be even better.

So, I mentioned that the aquatic dwellers in my house have a new home. I waited for all the dust to settle before I took pictures, and this morning, the tank was crystal clear. Here it is:

I’m very happy with it. I just need to clean the dang house (we had to rearrange some furniture to accommodate the tank and stand), and I’ll be even happier!

Yes, the house is once again a fall-down mess. Chris said he’ll help clean this weekend, but he’s sick (has what Aidan had), and I know it takes about four days to cycle through the system. I’m going to get Aidan to pick up his stuff because seriously, it’s everywhere. He needs to learn to pick up everything before he goes to bed.

Parenting is HARD. The biggest challenge is trying to maintain consistency. Some nights, I’m just too tired to follow through, although that is easier than trying to establish routines. So yeah. I don’t want Aidan to grow up a spoiled hoodlum, so I do my best. I just worry that my best isn’t always good enough.

It’s raining outside now. Warm, but rainy. Welcome to Spring in Ohio.

Randomly, here is a pic of my beautiful friend Libby and me. πŸ˜€


Aren’t we cute?

I am hungry, and I think I’m going to buy a grilled ham and cheese sammich for lunch. 😑 Hey, I’ll have to go off them soon enough, so I might as well enjoy it now, huh? *sigh* That’s going to be hard, but maybe not so much. If I take my lunch every day, it will be less tempting to buy. In theory anyway.

Things to do:

· schedule an eye appointment
· refill meds
· get ahold of the Smashing Pumpkins song that talkes about being in a rage and being a rat in a cage
· set April writing goals
· pay bills
· attempt to reduce the volume of emails in my AOL inbox (I haven’t even checked my other accounts lately!)

Time to eat lunch!!! πŸ˜€

‘Til next time….

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Saturday (Pictures)

Did you know the first day of Spring is in just a few days? That’s insane! I’m so glad, though. I can’t wait ’til the weather finally breaks. Although, we’ve had quite the mild winter–no complaints there. I’m just ready to wear flip-flops and skirts and traveling and taking pictures. So ready!!

Work news:
During lunch one day, Shannon, Justin, and Patty had a “puppet show” of sorts with spoons. Hilarious. KA told me that I’m getting good at proofing the reprints. YAY because I enjoy doing it very much.

Amanda’s last day was yesterday. She was my cubemate and so awesome. I get my own cube, but I won’t get Amanda. I’ll miss her.


Amanda looks pretty.
I look like a dork. My hair is awful. πŸ™

Aidan news:
He is climbing all over me and it’s driving me crazy. There are a million places to sit in the family room, and he insists on sitting ON MY BACK. It’s not comfortable at all. He’s trying to force me to eat a Pringle. A Sour Cream and Onion Pringle for breakfast. HONESTLY. Ew. He’s also learned how to ask for every single toy he sees. Oh my.

I got him REAL underwear in hopes that it will speed up the potty-training process. I figure, if he wets himself and feels it, he’ll be less inclined to do so in the future. I know this will mean lots more laundry over the next few days to several weeks, but hopefully it will mean the end of buying diapers and Pull-ups soon. He’s getting there, but he gets lazy sometimes. Way too much, actually. So yeah.

I feel like I’m constantly running the vaccuum because Aidan is forever spilling crumbs or something all over the floor. Our family room carpet is awful, and the shampooer is broken, so I just have to live with it. *sigh*

He pronounces “butt” so funny. I keep asking him to say “butt” or “nut” or “cut” because I love the way he says those words.

I feel like all I say is “NO!” He gets into so much stuff. All the time. He climbs like whoa, nothing is safe!! He’s so destructive if he’s not being watched or monitored every second. It’s exhausting!

Writing news:
In April, I ‘m going to Spring Fling Writer’s Conference. I’ll get to meet other writers there, authors, agents, and mandywriter!!! It’s gonna be fun! πŸ˜€

I haven’t done much with my WIP. I have ideas all the time, but once I start working, I seem to lose steam. Not sure what the deal is. Well, it’s hard to focus. I’m trying to write romantic scenes, and that’s hard to do when Aidan is asking for help with something every five minutes, or when Chris is slamming things all over the house. I think I have to get away to be able to write those scenes. Also, there is so much I have to do, write, revise, change, that I feel overwhelmed by the idea of it all. I simply need to FOCUS, get in my zone, and let go.

I heard from my agent. He’s had to expand the submissions list to include Christian publishers. I’m getting discouraged because my book is on that fence: too Christian for mainstream, not Christian enough for the Christian publishers. I don’t know if Only Yours will sell. All the more reason I’m glad I have a super agent–he’s working his butt off to sell my book because he sees merit and that’s incredible to me. I always let him know how much I appreciate him.

Pictures:
It’s been a while since I’ve posted loads of pictures. I know certain people have been requesting them (ahem davidd), so here we go:

Captured!

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