A Very So Cal Thanksgiving

Well here we are closing in on Christmas, and really not much has changed in terms of the pandemic. I've settled into this new normal of working from home, going braless most days, living in athleisure wear, and limited outings. No plans to travel any time soon. California just went into Purple tier a few weeks ago meaning Covid cases are up. A curfew was imposed and I think we may be on the verge of another stay home order. 

Cooking Blue Apron Meals When You Can't Cook

Anyone who knows me knows that I don't cook and that my husband is responsible for all the delicious home cooked meals and ridiculously good baked treats made in our home. My role in the kitchen is usually to assist as needed and do the dishes. I believe my mother did her best, but for whatever reasons I lack the cooking gene. I want to want to cook, but I just don't. 

The Great Outdoors || It's all We've Got Right Now + Video

About a month ago we pulled the plug on our European Vacation. International borders were closed, but even if they opened up before the end of August I'm still not comfortable taking an international flight, and what would it even be like at our destinations? Things change so quickly because of covid-19. Planning felt not only stressful, but impossible. I didn't want to spend that much on an airline ticket only to end up with a disappointing experience. One of our flights got cancelled, and there was no other flight to book that would get us to our connection in time, so we were able to get a full refund and not just a credit from Delta. This is officially the first time that I have ever gotten any money back from an Airline company. For once a cancelled flight was a good thing. England, Ireland, and Portugal will have to wait until next year...hopefully. Since Europe wasn't going to happen we turned our attention to what could happen this summer. Where can we drive to? What can we do? The great outdoors seems to be all we got right now, so we focused on national parks, which had just recently opened up again. We decided on Zion National Park for the fourth of July because, it's only 2.5 hours from Las Vegas where my parents live. A road trip felt like a lower risk trip to try to plan during this time, but even this had it's challenges. I booked this a week out, and once I did, kept checking the Zion National Park website for updates and alerts that may affect our trip. I carefully read the covid-19 policy for our hotel and checked into what was open and what was closed, but we still ran into trouble.

Charcuterie Anyone?

I wanted to share this adorable little charcuterie board we had made for us. Charcuterie. I just love that that word. And just in case you are wondering exactly what the word means and how it's pronounced: Charcuterie (pronounced "shahr-ku-tuh-ree") is the art of preparing and assembling cured meats and other meat products. It was Mj's idea to get one specially made. These types of ideas usually are. Anyway, MJ follows a guy on Instagram who does woodworking. Jay made him a really nice rack for him to hang on his wall displaying his medals. He liked it so much he wanted him to make something else.

What I've Been Doing in Quarantine

When I left work for the last time that day in March I knew we weren't going back for a while. They were very realistic with us. They said May if we were lucky, but more than likely June. Well, June is next week and we've heard nothing about when we will be going back to work. Not much is being said about non-essential non retail workplaces. Ten weeks into the stay at home orders San Diego is just now entering phase two where restaurants and retail stores can do in person shopping and dining in with social distancing precautions and extra cleaning requirements. Phase 1 was just parks and beaches. It's funny because in the initial days of this I was thinking, okay we stay home and flatten the curve and then it will be over, but it didn't take long before it hit me that Covid-19 isn't actually going anywhere. We can learn more about it, find new treatments, and eventually come up with a vaccine, but ultimately we will be living in a world in which Covid-19 is always a threat and there is nothing that will change that. As bizarre as it is to be re-opening even as people are still dying daily, I do agree that it has to happen. People have definitely lost their patience with staying indoors. It feels too soon, but the economy is dying and people need to pay their bills. We can't stay home forever.

Since we've been home....

We ordered Blue Apron three times. The first two were because the world had gone mad. The shelves were barren. We couldn't get our hands on a lot of our normal foods, and we couldn't get any grocery pick up slots. It has been so long since we last ordered, that the first delivery actually went to our old house. MJ had to drive over there and snatch it off their doorstep. The last delivery was accidental, and we couldn't have that happening every other week so I made MJ deactivate his account. Each time we ordered three meals that served four so that we could have left overs the next day. The portion sizes are plentiful. It was nice to change things up a bit, and I was actually able to enjoy cooking (even on a weekday) because I wasn't so exhausted from being at the office all day. I enjoyed everything we got. We also did quite a bit of Door Dash, Grub Hub, and Postmates, but we are back to regular programing now.

Crazy Things Are Happening

When I heard that Celebrity cruises was offering a very upgraded two-night cruise to Mexico for military and veterans I called right away. Sign us up! I called on February 29th and we were booked in for April 4th. It would be the perfect thing to do for my Birthday, and I was really looking forward to it. Even after hearing about two Princess cruise ships that were re-routed due to COVID-19, I still wasn't that worried. I'm in relatively good health, and I still hadn't grasped the enormity of what was going on. It still didn't seem like that big of a deal. I figured the odds were that I wouldn't get it at all, but if by some small chance I did, I would recover. My biggest worry was finding myself quarantined somewhere if there were concerns about people aboard having been infected.

Always Choose Hawaii

She let me hold her hand!

I had two options. I could either meal prep my food for the following week or I could book a flight to Hawaii and run away.

In January MJ mentioned that he'd be going to Oahu for work. I was open to the possibility of going along with him, but it would be very short notice. I tried to mentally process it, but couldn't do a thing until I knew it was really happening. One week he told me it would happen the following week. Then it got pushed back. I told him to let me know when he booked his flight, and not to pressure me. Many people would jump at the chance for a mostly all expenses paid trip to Hawaii under any circumstances, but maybe I'm not most people. Last minute ANYTHING makes me anxious. Packing makes me anxious. Missing work without advance notice makes me anxious. Spending hundreds of dollars spontaneously makes me anxious. I would come along, but only if the ticket prices were reasonable and I felt comfortable with my ability to pull it off.

Working on that Home Decor Thing

Setting up a brand new house is very expensive. There isn't any fixing up to do, but not to fear, there are still plenty of things to spend money on. We bought four ceiling fans, three pendant lights, and so many other things I've lost count. It never seemed to end. I think we were at Home Depot every weekend for the first six months. We kept the majority of our furniture from our old home, but we did spend money replacing a desk, bar stools, fold out couch for a spare bedroom, and a buffet. The only additional item we've purchased is a 4 tier shelf for our entry way. Our couch is about to be ten years old and we're ready for a new one, but we've had to wait because of those darn priorities. Our biggest expense was outdoor landscaping, which we were required to take care of right away. Once we got that together we prioritized getting our patio cover, and outdoor furniture so we could enjoy the backyard. We also had to buy window coverings for 29 windows. We picked up a few items here and there to decorate, but for the most part home decor as fallen to the bottom of our priority list.

Is Disneyland Just for Kids?

All the pretty lights

I think I was in middle school the first time I went to Disneyland. I went with a friend's family, and we ran from ride to ride like psychopaths. When I was a cheerleader, Disneyland was our yearly team trip, and when I graduated from high school it was our Senior year grad night. I have many fond memories of waiting in endless lines for rides, buying candy from the old time sweet shop on main street, and searching for a souvenir cheap enough for me to buy with my meager allowance. That was before California Adventure, or Max Pass, and way before the Disneyland App or Star Wars Galaxy's Edge. It cost $20.00 to get in and that felt like a lot of money to teenage me. It's hard to believe it could have ever been that impossibly low, considering the current going low rate is  $104.00 for a weekday during off peak season (like now January-March ish) for a basic, 1 day pass. It goes up from there with the addition of Park Hopper, Max Pass, and all of these other add-ons that weren't even a thought of back then. We live pretty close to Disneyland Resort Anaheim, but I never thought too much about going again. MJ had never been, and talked about planning a trip for a while, but I wasn't so sure. Disneyland is for kids. What's the point of two adults going to Disneyland? Especially, given how expensive it is now.

Fun fact: the Sleeping Beauty castle is inspired by Neuschwanstein castle in Germany. We got to see the real thing three years ago. I've also seen the real Thunder Mountain in Sedona Arizona, so now I need to see the real Matterhorn in Switzerland. Forget about Space Mountain. Not that I could ever go or anything, but the idea of being in space freaks me out.

Queen for a Date

About once or twice a year we end up renting a hotel room and having a mini getaway downtown. In year's past we've done it for a holiday party, a dinner cruise, Halloween, or a celebration with friends. We don't live that far. We can and do use Uber, but sometimes it's fun to have the option of walking "home" and getting to live that downtown lifestyle for a night when we're planning to be out really late. Downtown San Diego is such a fun place to be, so why not? We always have a great time.

Lap of Luxury

Paradise!!!

A few months ago I booked a flight on Frontier Airlines to Vegas. They are very much like Spirit in that they are less expensive, but nickel and dime you to death on...well pretty much everything. The only thing that comes free on Frontier is what they call a personal item. So, basically your purse or a backpack small enough to fit underneath the seat in front of you. This was a basic Friday to Monday trip to my parents house, and I did not want to pay any extra money so I convinced myself that for the first time ever I would travel with only a backpack. My little sister can do it. I won't need much. I'll make it work.

NOT.

No hair products, no workout wear, no dressy clothes, no extra shoes. limited toiletries. No extras. Just your standard undergarments and a different shirt for every day. It was warm in Vegas so I only wanted to bring one pair of jeans and the rest would be shorts and tanks but it absolutely would not fit. After that, I realized right then and there for sure that I would never be the kind of person who could travel with a backpack no matter how lightly I thought I was packing. I accepted that, but I still wanted to be better about over packing so I was determined not to do it when packing for our trip to Mexico.

I was a little bit worried about the weather before we left. June to mid October is rainy season in Nuevo Vallarta, and the weather app was showing thunder showers every single day. It was raining when we left the Puerto Vallarta airport, but by the time we arrived at the resort it was gone. The first thing I noticed was the humidity. So, hot and so humid. My skin felt damp and moist anytime I was outside.

My Frozen Shoulder: One Year Later

This time last year I was recovering from a Manipulation Under Anesthesia with the hopes of unsticking my shoulder. I'd been dealing with pain from a torn rotator cuff since the Summer of 2016. The pain got worse and worse until it eventually froze in August 2017. In September I was diagnosed with Adhesive Capsulitis. When I say it froze, I quite literally mean that my shoulder joint froze. At it's worst, I could barely lift my arm enough to get a razor in to shave my arm pit. I could not lift my arm fully above my head or extend the angle of shoulder open past 90 degrees. I don't think I fully realized how much I needed my shoulder to rotate on ball and socket, until I lost my ability to do so. The human body is amazing and it was especially designed that way for a reason.

I Blinked And it Was Over

Flower Fields are so trendy right now

The last two months have been pretty great. I've basically just been living living my best life.

In March my mother in law was in town for two weeks, so we did that be a tourist in your own city thing. While she was here we had the the first big gathering at our house. Lots of people showed up. I think MJ invited everyone on his Facebook friends list. I got zero pictures. Not even one! There wasn't a moment to spare. Looking back on it, the day was really a blur. I sat down a few times, but spent most of the time mingling and making sure everything was in place. I think that's just kind of what happens when you are hosting. We had stuff to prep, guests to greet, and then the entire day flew by. Our lasts guest left a little after 6ish. I think. Then we had clean up. I was so tired, I almost fell out when my mother in law told me we were going whale watching the next day.

Why I haven't Been Blogging

Do you ever feel like you've run out of things to say? Lately I've been feeling like either I've said it already or someone else is already saying it. Then I wonder, what's the point? There are 50 billion blogs on the internet. Nobody cares!!

I'm not kidding when I say that I've been documenting my life since I was 9 years old. I have an extremely heavy plastic bin of diaries and spiral bound college ruled notebooks to prove it. They are currently being stored in the overhead storage in our garage and the older I get the more I wonder about the fate of those journals after I'm gone. I should probably go ahead and burn them. So many secrets, so many emotions, so many words. Every heartbreak, internal struggle, and joy painstakingly handwritten not only to look back on and remember later, but also as a means of therapy. Writing has always been so therapeutic for me. A way to release the raw and often times jumbled thoughts in my brain and arrange them into organized rows of words that help me exercise the pain and make sense of my feelings. I always feel better after writing it out, and I've always taken such joy in writing down words I don't want to say or that don't need to be said at all.

Things We Considered Before Buying New Contruction

When we started looking at houses our priority was a decent location, price, and a list of must have's that we were really, really hoping we could get. We tried to keep that list as short as possible. The part that stressed me out the most is that we had a home we would have to sell, before we could buy something else. I wasn't hopeful that the stars would align so that we would find a buyer for our house, and get an offer accepted on a home we wanted to buy at the same time. Between house hunting, making your own house available for showings, negotiations, inspections, and funding there are a lot of variables that need to pan out in a timeline that works for the buyer of our home, the seller of the home we want, and us. People do it, but I don't know how, without selling your house, renting, then doing the home search from there. We definitely wanted a newer or updated home. We didn't have our mind set on buying new construction, but doing so did streamline the buying/selling process. We didn't have to worry about competing with other offers, or trying to time out multiple closings. Sometimes the builder negotiates with discounts or credits, but the price is the price, and it's first come first served. Once you pre-qualify, sign the contract and hand over earnest money the house is yours pending funding, and any contingencies, such as selling your current home are taken care of. We ended up moving twice anyway, but we had a closing date, and could plan for it.  Having everything new is nice, but there are a lot of things we had to consider.

'Tis the Season to be Tired Fa La La La La....

Happy Holidays! Better late then never right?

I'm currently in the middle of a Christmas break that is going way to quickly. I can feel the time slipping away, with each blissfully work free day, but I'm trying really hard not to focus on that. I don't want this break to be about what I could or should be accomplishing during this time, because dammit, all I really want to do right now is BE. Is that too much to ask?

So what have I been up to? Since I haven't updated too much on life happenings since October-ish, I'm just going to do a basic recap post. The kind that nobody likes to read.

Moving Day!!

We went to Lake Tahoe over labor day weekend, and then when we came back we moved to our little apartment in Mission Valley. I've said it before and I'll say it again. Moving is the worst. We expected to live there from September 7th until mid December, but plans changed when the builder moved up the closing date on our new home to end October. I was ready to get out of that apartment, but having to break our 3 month lease was stressful, and I was not ready to have to move again so soon. We only lived there for six weeks.

I Had a Book Launch Party

If my husband had asked me if I wanted a book launch party I would have looked at him like he was crazy. I don't like a lot of fuss. I definitely wanted a wedding, but one of the things I most worried about was being the center of attention. I'll admit, I loved every second when it happened, but I'm just not entirely comfortable it. I have a tendency to downplay myself in general. A party is the exact opposite of that, so I definitely would have said no.

I've also been very quiet about writing a book, so it's a pretty logical conclusion that I would not want to throw a party about it. My husband knows this. He did not ask, so when I walked into my own book launch party I had no idea was happening I was stunned.

Official Book Launch Day!

I've been so busy with the chaos of moving twice within the last six weeks, that launch day really snuck up on me and I haven't had too much time to think about it. Or even write a post! So this is it. The paperback has been available for the last month. The e-book was only available for pre-order, but now you can purchase and receive the e-book right away, along with the paperback.

Believe it or not I STILL have yet to see the actual paperback. I waited to pull the trigger on my order until after I moved, so a big box of books should be showing up on my doorstep tomorrow, after the official book launch. Which is kind of weird, but that's okay. It doesn't matter how many people see the paperback before I do. It takes nothing away from the excitement I feel about finally holding a physical copy in my hands.

Pros and Cons of Apartment Life

Walking Distance to Mission Bay

Moving twice isn't ideal, but we felt it was what needed to happen, to make sure the selling of our old house and the buying of our new one went smoothly. We anticipated renting for three months (and even signed a 3 month lease), so we were shocked when the builders told us that we'd be closing in October and not December. More stress! Our landlord wouldn't let us out of the lease, but the builders made a concession for us on our home price as compensation. We've been homeowners living in a 3 bedroom, plus loft,  2.5 bath, 1800 square foot house for eight years. I wasn't thrilled about losing the comforts of home that I'd grown accustomed to, but I tried to look at it as a new adventure for us. And it was! But we are really ready to get out of here. So, let's talk about the pro's and con's of apartment living as I've experienced them for the last six weeks.

Apartment Life #confessions

I'll be the first to admit that I'm spoiled. I've lived in two different places over the last thirteen years and both were brand new. Our next house is brand new. Hell, even my childhood home was brand new. We moved in when I was five. I don't recall worrying about the cleanliness of things back then, but it was definitely of some concern during my apartment living years after college. I cleaned immediately after moving in "just to be sure," and usually felt a little uncomfortable during the first few weeks. My obsessive cleanliness disorder has gotten worse and worse over time, making my transition to a 38 year old apartment really hard after living in everything is brand new land for so long.

The Big Book Cover Reveal

I get so happy when you comment that you can't wait to read my book. First of all, I'm still kind of amazed that I wrote a book that people will be able to read. But also, I think it is just so sweet that you've said it without knowing a single thing about the title or the story. I've been pretty tight lipped about it. Up to this point, it's pretty much just been me and my manuscript. My mom read it in it's infancy when it was super rough. Then, beta readers, my publisher and editor, but that's it. I wrote this thing alone and I didn't tell anyone I was doing it. In my first mention of it here on my blog I'd already been working on it for nine months. My online peeps have been hearing about it for years, but to this day, very few people in my life even know I wrote a book. It's so cute, but my husband has mentioned my book to more people than I have. Nobody at work knows. Writing this novel has been my baby, my passion, and also my secret for so long. The time has finally come to share, and I'm terrified. That was always the goal, even when I wasn't sure I could even write a book but I didn't realize how scary it would be.

The Moving Diet & Exercise Program

I don't mean to sound like a whiner, but I have to say that moving was a really really terrible experience. Something about putting every single thing I own in the entire world into 24" boxes was almost enough to send me over the edge. I felt so overwhelmed. My husband has more experience with moving and living in limbo. I have to give him a lot of credit for taking the lead and pulling me along. He knew what packing materials to order, and how to pack all of our glass while I stood stunned and motionless in our bedroom. Time was limited, so I knew I needed to do something, but I looked around and just didn't know where to start or how to do it. He takes everything in stride, and it didn't bother him too much, but the disarray in our house, having to decide what to put in storage for three months and what to keep, and the pressure of having to make everything disappear in three days was a lot for me to handle. We purged a lot of things from our house in preparation for selling...and still I felt so disgusted by all the stuff we had to move. It really makes me want to get get rid of everything! Burn it all!! Well that won't happen, but this experience has definitely renewed my desire to continue working towards becoming a minimalist or at least a quasi minimalist.

How We Enjoyed Lake Tahoe without a Rental Car

A few months ago I realized that Southwestern Airlines credits for flights we didn't use last November was set to expire. I didn't want to spend too much more money trying to go somewhere, nor did we really have a lot of time considering we were in the middle of trying to sell our house, but I absolutely could not let that money go to waste.

Me: Okay, where can we go? Hmmm. How 'bout Lake Tahoe? Reno isn't that far.
Him: Why? 
Me: I don't know. I think I've always wanted to go there. Seems like a cool place to visit.
Him: Okay.

He was like, cool whatever, let's go and left it up to me to plan the entire trip. I had to tinker with days and times a lot to get reasonably priced direct flights so it wouldn't take us four hours to get there. Before everything was finalized I'd made and cancelled two different hotel reservations, and still hadn't decided on what our outings would be, but I got it together the week we went. Even then, I had to re-book our shuttle, and our cruise for different times. Ugh. But it all worked out in the end, and we did it without a rental car.

Moving Sucks, Moving Twice Sucks Harder

Real estate is weird. I feel like everything happens backwards. You sell your house when you don't yet have a place to live. You buy a new home, before you've sold your old one. You pay a hefty commitment deposit and agree to buy before you've had a home inspected or even built. You choose flooring and other design elements when the necessary funding for it won't be finalized for weeks or months. Every single  detail for moving or buying a home has been set in place, yet nothing is truly final until those keys are in your hand. None of this makes any sense, whatsoever in my head. Nothing is done in the order you'd think it should be done, and yet this is how it works.

How can anyone function like this? The answer is very stressfully.

Line Edits Are Done

I was definitely a little bit nervous about line edits. I worried about what I might be asked to change, and if I was capable of making requested changes satisfactorily. Or what if the whole thing was so bad that the editor tells my publisher he should pull the plug?

Yes. My mind went there.

There are three types of editing as I understand it. Developmental editing, line editing, and copy editing. Developmental editing is a process by which an editor helps a writer along by providing feedback and possible solutions regarding big picture concepts like plot holes, character development, and structure issues. Grammar isn't really a thing at this stage, and the point is to get the story and characters in good shape. Line edits, as the name suggests, is when an editor goes line by line with an eye for dialogue, tense, tone, inconsistencies, style, flow, and word choice. Copy editing is a detailed look at spelling, grammar, and punctuation. This would be the last type of editing before publication. I was super lucky to have a very competent and knowledgeable editor who really took care of line and copy together. I edited the hell out of my manuscript on my own for years. I read and re-read it, ripped it apart, put it back together, and rearranged it, some more. By the time I went looking for a publisher it was pretty clean, but it still needed extensive editing.

Family Time Is the Best Time

I eat this pizza every year at the fair, not even kidding

I really wanted to get these pics on my blog this month...because it happened THIS MONTH. Lately, it's a big ask to get my  blog updated in the same month in which it occurs, but I've done it. Only three weeks late.

Aim high.

Physical Therapy is Super Fun

Adhesive capsulitis, also known as frozen shoulder syndrome is really weird. The tissues in my shoulder became tight and inflamed. Scar tissue and adhesions that are not supposed to be there formed making it hard to move my arm. The manipulation under anesthesia (MUA) is meant to break that tissue with aggressive movement and manipulation of my arm. It might also include a scope with tiny scissors through an incision in my shoulder, if the adhesions could not be sufficiently broken. The anesthesia team came by before hand and told me I would be given a nerve block shot prior to being put under anesthesia, but that I'd get a little something in my IV to relax me.

Bummer. I was hoping that the whole thing would happen while I was completely knocked out.

Surgery or no Surgery? That is the Question

If my doctor had asked me in November last year if I wanted shoulder surgery my answer would have been yes. Without hesitation. Yes! Put me under. Give me the knife. Just make the pain stop! I was really, really over it by then. Physically pained, and mentally exhausted by living that way for so long.

Disclaimer: I have no recollection of this photo being taken due to drugs

Despite all efforts, to rehab my torn rotator cuff in physical therapy I was still in a lot of pain, and had been for a year. Just to recap. Summer of 2016 I felt a twinge of pain in my shoulder when I did push-ups. By November of that year, the twinge of pain during exercise morphed into an excruciating stab of pain every time I reached for something above my head or to my right. By January 2017 I was in with my primary doctor, who suggested exercises (which I did faithfully) and a follow up appointment if it got worse. I went back to my primary in March. I was referred to Orthopedics, X-rayed and MRI'd. Diagnosis: 7 mm tear of the rotator cuff. I had my first physical therapy appointment in April. I was really committed to physical therapy three times per day. There was some improvement, but I was still in pain doing most of the exercises, up until my very last PT appointment in June before leaving the country for six weeks.

One Year and Nine Months Later...

Oh my. It's been a long time. A lot of things happened this month, and when a lot of things happen the old blog tends to take a back seat.

The biggest and most exciting news is that my long lost husband is home. For good. Not just a visit. The first set of large black containers showed up on May 12th. There would be two more separate sets of box deliveries before he finally arrived on May 26. It would be pretty fair to say he's been quite the distraction ever since. A good distraction. I went from living alone for one year and nine months to rarely being home alone, and I like it.

I'm Publishing My Book

My original manuscript

I wrote a very detailed post about five different ways to get a book published, but never got around to telling you how I'm planning to get my book published.

I learned I'd need a query letter and that I'd need to research agencies to query. This query letter would be sent to literary agents requesting representation for my manuscript. They either want just the query letter or the query letter plus the first one to three chapters, or the query letter plus the first ten pages. Some may also want a synopsis so I had to be prepared for that also. Each query letter has to be tailored according to specific agency submission guidelines, and the idea is that you keep sending queries until someone requests the full manuscript. It's also important not to burn through all submission options in one go. Test the waters and await possible feedback, or lack thereof.  Depending on that, I would need to consider tweaking the query letter or halting submissions altogether to revise my manuscript. It can take a really long time to hear back from an agent at each step, and some of them have rules about whether or not they allow submission of the full manuscript to any other agents while they are reviewing it. So you can imagine how long this could take, and how delicate the process. If I got an agent, there could be more revisions. Then, said agent would try to sell my book to a publisher. If it sold there could be additional revisions after that. If I was lucky.

Novel Update & Why It Took So Long to Finish

My last novel update post was in 2016 when I was taking my first ever writing class, and learning a lot of information that inspired me to make a whole lot of changes to my manuscript.

So what's been going on with my manuscript since then? First, here's a little recap on my novel writing journey.

When You Spend Your Birthday Alone

Birthday Spoils

 I'm an April Fool's baby, and this year I spent my birthday alone. When I say alone, I do mean alone, as in the only person I spoke to in person was the barista at Starbucks and she really wasn't all that friendly. You got your free coffee now go away.  She didn't actually say it, but that was the general impression. Good thing I don't rely on strangers for my sense of self worth.

Kinda Loopy

I loved roller coasters when I was younger.  I wanted all the loops.  All the dips.  I wanted to scream at the top of my lungs with my arms in the air. The more extreme the better. Disneyland was cute, but I preferred the thrill of Magic Mountain. I got excited just looking at the Colussus sprawling across the park. It was so pretty, and massive, and it was my favorite. These days...no. I haven't been to a major amusement park in a really long time. The last major roller coaster I rode was The Big Apple Coaster on the roof of New York, New York Hotel in Las Vegas. I only did it because my sister insisted. So much fun! I have the guts for it mentally, but not physically. We got jerked around so much I thought my neck would break. When we go to the fair, mild rides are the way to go (if at all), and only before I've eaten or else I risk being nauseated for the rest of the day.

I Don't Concern Myself With Their Age

I haven't seen my parents since Christmas, so my mom decided they would come spend her Birthday with me.

"Do you know how old Mom is?" Dad asked.

  

"I don't know.  I don't know how old you are either! Does it bother you that I don't know how old you are?  Is that weird?"

Five Ways to Get a Book Published

Writing a novel was the goal, in and of itself, so it wasn't a priority for me to know anything about the publishing industry before I started.  I wrote my fiction novel in a vacuum, but three years, and many revisions later it occurred to me to take a look to see what my options might be should I ever try to publish.  So much information! It was pretty overwhelming, but I found out what I needed to know.

Traditional publishing is pretty clear cut.  The path is as old as time, well established, and there isn't much variation on what it takes to get in or how it works.  Once you dig deeper into other publishing options is when it gets a little bit confusing.  Words like small press, indie publishing, hybrid publishing, partnership publishing, self publishing, pay to publish, and vanity publishing get thrown around and they often mean different things depending on who's talking about it.

On Breaking Up With the Scale

For a really long time I had a really unhealthy relationship with the scale.  I still do, and for that reason, I had to give it up. 

Collector of Memories

I'm so excited! And I just can't hide it!  I got a new blog design and I think I like it.  I remember when blogs had multi colored unicorn dust popping off every page, but now the trend seems to be black and white minimalist.  There seems to be a pervasive fear of color now, but I like it.  All the better to showcase words and photos, because let's face it.  That's the main reason I'm still here. The bonus is the connections I've made with other bloggers over the years.

Taking Down Larry Nassar

I hate that I have to write about this, but I can't write extensively about all the gymnasts who won gold medals at the last Olympic Games and not write about how some of those very same athletes that won gold joined forces to take down a child molester.  I don't like to see a sport that has brought me so much joy as a gymnast and a fan, do so much wrong, but the reality is that USA Gymnastics and Michigan State University failed miserably to protect it's athletes. Last week Larry Nassar former USA Gymnastics, Michigan State University, and Twistars Gymnastics team doctor was convicted of sexually abuse disguised as medical treatment of young girls over a time period spanning twenty plus years.

My Shoulder is What?

I sleep with a teddy bear.  I know it sounds weird, and I know I'm way too old for stuffed animals, but you see my shoulder is frozen.  And when I say frozen, I actually do mean frozen.  Sleeping on my stomach is not comfortable, and sleeping on my right side is not possible. I know better than to even try.  I can sleep on my left side okay as long I stuff a pillow under my armpit for support, but I spend most nights sleeping on my back.  That's how the giant teddy bear found it's way from the basket in the spare room to my bed.  I can't rest my hand on my belly when I lay down.  It's really  bizarre how it just sort of hangs there hovering above my stomach like a limp rag.  Teddy gives me another option besides leaving it stiffly at my side.  I wrap my arms around him, and generally contort him into whatever shape I need to get comfortable.

Life By the Numbers: That Kind of Year

2017 IN NUMBERS

0 arm workouts.

1 time eating Panera Bread, and it was so good.  I had to fly all the way to Dover to do this.  Not like they aren't all over the place where I live or anything.

1 pair designer jeans purchased.  I got lucky and found Seven jeans for $50 on a mess of a clearance rack at Macy's.

2 times eating cheese spaetzle in Germany.  I love it so.

3 flights to Las Vegas.

Why We Didn't Use AirBnB

When we went to Europe we had five hotels to book, which added up to 17 nights of hotels in the space of about a month.  Once I narrowed down my search on Trip Advisor, I was definitely stressing about how much money all of these hotels were costing us.  I felt I owed it to myself to check out AirBnB and Home Away, just to see what my options were so I created accounts and started looking.  However, I found that the search was even more exhausting over there than on Trip Advisor and that it probably wasn't going to work out because A.  I probably wouldn't be saving all that much money in the end and B.  I just wasn't comfortable taking a chance on some of the places. 

Hotel #3 NOSTOS APARTMENTS in Santorini.  This adorable kitchen.

I considered going the non hotel route but it didn't work out and this is why.

Some of the rentals have pretty rigid cancellation policies, and I only feel comfortable booking when I can cancel.  I don't even mind paying up front as long as I can get my money back if I  need to. Even the cheaper no cancellation allowed price doesn't lure me because I can't stop the what if anxiety.  How many big vacations have I had to cancel?  Zero! But still.  You never know.

Sometimes it's all Just a Little too Much

September was the worst.  

Coming home after 6 weeks abroad was fantastic. There were spiders in every corner of my kitchen. Disgusting Spiders. And you know how much I hate spiders? A lot. It's just one reason I really need my husband to come home. I'm so afraid of spiders that I took my garage door opener with me to Germany, and it's not because I drove to Germany or even to the airport.  My car was in the garage the whole time I was gone, but I knew I'd never make it through the front door of my house in the dark with my luggage through cobwebs (I knew were waiting for me) without some serious mental trauma.

I was also really thrilled to show up at the post office on Saturday afternoon to collect my mail only to be told there was no record of my mail hold.  How are they going to send me an email that my mail hold is ending soon when they never even did it in the first place? I was beyond annoyed.

The other awesome thing that welcomed me home was my dear old friend insomnia. Return to USA jet lag was not so bad. Dead tired at 7pm, deep sleep, and wide awake at 4:30am (before my alarm) was doable. I could work with that, but as the days progressed, tired at 7pm, barely any sleep, and an alarm clock that goes off at 6:30am, leaves much to be desired.  Grocery shopping. Meal prep. I missed it so much! The familiar zombie like routine of work, eat, skip the work out cause I'm too tired, and then go to bed so I can not sleep was back in full effect. I was not impressed.

What most of my weekends look like lately and I'm not mad about it

No Monday, No TGIF, No Problem

Day trip (with husband) train ride to Esslingen

My husband had to work in between the traveling to other countries, and the exploring we did together in Germany.  During the weekdays I was left to my own devices.  Before I got there, he would ask, "Well, what are you going to do all day?"  I assured him, that filling my days would not be a problem.

Cool Places to go in Germany

When we weren't gallivanting across the globe to other countries Stuttgart, Germany was our home base.  The last few times I've been to Stuttgart it was more of a stop over to somewhere else, so it was great to have more time to explore it.