Fun Fall Time

Since it is the season my boyfriend and I had a fun filled weekend of doing fall(halloween) things. We went to a local pumpkin patch, which was absolutely awesome. It's called Bauman's, and I'm sure anyone from Salem/Woodburn has been there or heard of it. If you haven't been, you should go. They really go above and beyond on their presentation. It is a little spendy, but they have lots of things you can do for the price. So we spent the day there and hung out, enjoyed the beautiful sunny weather (with a cold bite to it). Then yesterday we carved pumpkins. I just LOVE the holiday seasons. There seems to be so much to do. I hope you are all enjoying this time of year like I am!! Have a great week...

New Hobby...

So I totally decided I wanna be one of those crafty, creative people that can make things from nothing. I know, I know, a little ambitious, but hey you gotta start somewhere and why not shoot for the stars right? :) I've bought a ton of supplies and worked and worked to figure out my sewing machine, which I bought without a user manual (stupid, I know-but hey it was a good price, and it works, I just dono that I can get it to work for me). Anywho, so I'm going to recruite some help from an avid quilter. I think I'll have it all figured out after that. I think my new found interest in crafting may have something to do with the season. It's getting close to the holidays and I wanna make them less about spending tons of money and more about making things for the people I love. I think that has much more meaning in life! Wish me luck ;)

What a Chaotic Weekend

Well chaotic, but in a fun way.
The boyfriend and I went camping with my family at Detroit. Even though the weather wasn't as nice as we expected, it was fun. We spent time with my family, went fishing a little and ate some yummy food. Then we had to hurry and leave, to get ready to go see Dane Cook in Portland. I've always liked Dane Cook, but I think that it's a million times better when you see someone in person. It was amazing! Our seats got bumped up so we were six rows away from the stage which was an awesome surprise. I laughed so hard that my cheeks were sore and red! If you haven't heard of him before, you should definitely check him out. Anyway, luckily we got to relax before the rigamoroe of the daily grind got back in to full swing.
Ooh...and a little side note (just cuz I love them). CRAZY weather last week, WOW. I love thunder and lightening probably more than most people, but I've never experienced that kind of a storm on the West Coast! There was all sorts of flooding and power outages, and Tornados...(I know what you're thinking..."What, Tornados in Oregon?" That's right, there were Tornados in Oregon). Anywho, I'm glad everyone seemed to be pretty safe through all that, at least I haven't heard of anyone being hurt.
Have a great Monday & week :)

* SUMMER *

I know I haven't been on here in a while...oopsy, such is life I suppose. Anyway, I'm still working on Wolf Mask, which is coming along. Its surprising how many changes I can make and still want to keep adding things in. I'm very lucky that I have a group of people who support me and are constantly offering help or giving me a needed shove to work on my story. It's easy to be distracted with all this beautiful summer weather. It's hard enough for me to have to be at work when it's so nice out :) Speaking of summer, I cannot wait for all the summer fun...camping, swimming, hiking, bbqing and being outside late with family/friends, fishing (which I just recently learned how to do!) and the list goes on.
Anyways, I hope everyone is making time to enjoy the weather and spend time with the ones they love, I definitely am....

Wicked

I'm going to apologize in advance for offending anyone with this post, it's just my opinion so don't be too hurt though. I'm reading Wicked right now and I have to say I'm disappointed. I'm over 150 pages in so far, it's starting to get interesting, but it's been like walking through sludge to get this far. I've heard so many good things about the book, but all the wierd language bogged me down, it just didn't intrigue me. The idea of the book interests me much more than the book itself. I'm hoping that I haven't wasted my time reading it so far, but as I see it now it's not looking good. I would not recommend this book to anyone looking for a good read.

First Writer Conference

So, I went to my first writer's conference last weekend. I am an active member in Willamette Wrtiers, Salem Chapter so I'm familiar with being around other writers to some extent. I also do a critique group with a few other members of the Salem Chapter. But this conference was a lot different than I expected. It was amazing to hear someone else's story of how they were published and their process. The whole experience was a little draining, but definitely worth it. I feel like I came out of it with a better outlook and good information. I would tell anyone interested in writing to participate in their local conferences. There seem to be so many options out there for different categories of writing. Basically there's something for everyone.
One more thing, if you haven't read the Shack, I would highly advise you do. It's a great story and I haven't read anything with a good message like that in awhile. Have a great weekend...

Valentine's Day

I know it was a few weeks ago, but I didn't have a chance to vent about it. I celebrated Valentine's Day and it was sweet and thoughtful. But I'm starting to dislike the commercialized aspect. Who doesn't enjoy being spoiled or having someone buy them gifts, but when it comes down to it I've always wanted something thoughtful. And thoughtful gifts don't have to cost anything. Most guys hate this holiday anyway, I don't blame them. The thing is that I'm pretty lucky and my boyfriend does things for me all the time, so I don't need a "special holiday" to make him do something for me. The key word is MAKE. I'm thankful for the fact that he does so many things without me saying anything at all and I appreciate it that much more.
I think next year I will be boycotting Valentine's day. I'm going to skip the cards, candy, stuffed animals and whatever miscellaneous they'll be marketing. In my book, it doesn't exist :)

Chaos

This week seems to have gone by so quickly! I've still been working on my story and got a little caught up in editing and changing things in the beginning. It can be so addicting once you start and find all these things you want to change. Then this weekend will be busy too, so hopefully I can make plenty of time to finish my story. I'm going to a wedding on Sunday that I'm pretty excited about. It feels like everyone's getting engaged/married or having babies, what's that about? I'm in no hurry for those things, but definitely want them in the future. It's just wierd being surrounded by all that at once. I've never known so many people doing any one of those things. Anyway, I just wanted to post a little something since I haven't in a week. OOPSY... :) Have a great weekend!

This Weekend

I am so excited for the weekend to start! Aside from the fact that I won't be at work this weekend (which is enough reason to be thankful in itself). I have some fun things planned that I'm looking forward to with family and friends. It's Superbowl weekend so that will be a fun excuse to hang out and eat some good food.
I'm just thankful for all the wonderful people and things in my life right now. Everything seems to be falling into place.
One major thing I need to get done this weekend is the first draft of my story. It's coming along and I'm pretty optimistic I will get it done, but I have a tendency to procrastinate things. So I'll have to be sure and set some time aside for it.

Family

I've been very fortunate to grow up with a very loving family. Not only my parents and sisters, but cousins, aunts and uncles. One of my cousins, who has been like an older brother to me, joined the Army and went to Iraq. He just recently got back to the U.S. and then flew back home yesterday. Most of my family was there to meet him and then we all went to dinner. It was so nice to have everyone there again, it's been a long time since that's happened. There's nothing better than good food with good family. I'm just thankful for the wonderful family I was blessed with and being able to spend time with them.

A little side note, I wish that weekends were longer! There never seems to be enough time to do all the things I want to do... I guess that's just how life is though.

Wolf Mask-YA WIP

I'm working on a story about a privileged girl who ends up finding out she's destined for much bigger things than just shopping with her best friend. It's been a lot of fun so far, although I've needed a little pushing and prodding from a friend a long the way :) She knows who she is...Heather ;) I'm just so glad that I've decided to pursue writing more intensely. Even though it takes quite a bit of devotion, it's worth it. I can't wait till I get my first draft finished and can get started on all the editing. One thing at a time right now though.

I've been able to work on it quite a bit the past few days since I've been stuck at the hospital a lot with my sister having a baby. Which has been exciting and yet scary at the same time. I know lately I've been thinking about wanting kids in the future, it must be baby season or something. But it was definitely interesting being there through the process of her experience. I don't necessarily think that it scared me, but maybe prepared me for my future decision a little more. Its easier to be scared about the unknown and blow things out of proportion, but when you have an idea of how things might go it's less stressful.

Anyway, I should probably try and devote some time to finishing my first draft!