1 – It’s my birthday this weekend! I am not ashamed to admit that I LOVE PRESENTS!!! I adore getting gifts. To my credit I also get a kick out of giving gifts as well. One of the neat things this year is all the birthday freebies I’m getting! So far, here is what I get to “cash in on ” during my birthday month:
A free drink from Sbux, a $10 giftcard to WorldMarket (time for me to buy that tea I wanted!), a free ice cream cone from Oberweiss, 20% off my total purchase at Hallmark, $10 off at Rainforest Cafe, and best of all – a free meal at my fav place (Cooper’s Hawk). I also just found out I get free eyebrow shaping at Ulta’s salon – I’ve never done anything to my eyebrows before, so I’m a little trepidatious (which, btw, some people say is a word while others argue it’s not), but hey – it’s free so I’ll give it a whirl.
2 – This past Wednesday, my sand v-ball team, The Java Mamas, played our final tournament game. Yes, you got that right – we live in the mid-west and just played an OUTDOOR SAND VOLLEYBALL game in the middle of freakin’ NOVEMBER. We thanked our lucky stars that we had uncommonly awesome weather this week and enjoyed an unseasonably fair evening temp in the 50’s. However, the sand was still pretty freakin’ cold. Why so late? It was originally slated for the end of October (which is still pretty late, but not horrible) but a freak wind storm caused a cancellation, followed by some schedule issues that led to another cancellation, but finally we played our game and WON! Hurrah, the Java Mamas are the champions!
Here we are posing with the 2nd place team (who are called the Beavers, and yes, their team name leads to all sorts of jokes).
3 – My NaNo word count has been at a stand still the last couple days, mainly because I got hit with a big ol’ sick stick and felt horrible – 0ut and out crawl under the covers and hide horrible. I’m starting to feel a little better today and have high hopes to make up for lost time this weekend. As the recent NaNo pep talk quoted from Robert Frost, “The best way out is always through.” That is really an unconscious motto for my life, whenever things are tough I don’t stall and dwell in misery or back out – I push through. It helps to have a wonderful husband who picks up the slack and a sweet daughter who makes cards like this:
4 – Not too long ago I mentioned I had been on a streak of good luck, one thing being the awesome Miloushka necklace I won courtesty of BirdCrafts. I promised Bird I’d post about my prize, and here I am finally getting around to it!
Here is a pic of me sporting the goods:
Yes, I have freckles. Lots and lots and lots of freckles. Part of the red hair and fair skin package I suppose. As is the little bit of sunburn I’m still sporting into November…and speaking of “goods” while I love the sweater I’m wearing (and, as the sweet cashier at Trader Joes noted in a very complimentary way, the color of it matches the necklace perfectly) upon seeing these pictures, I realized it is rather, er, low cut, as you can see in the uncropped version.
Thanks again to Bird Crafts and Miloushka Jewelry!
And, on the subject of giveaways, I’m giving away five special edition free copies of the first book in Karen Marie Moning’s DarkFever series. The contest closes Monday, so enter now! So far, only Miss Tami has entered, so if nobody else bothers, she’ll be getting all 5 copies! Also, Lil Lollipops Designs (who will be featured here soon) is hosting a necklace giveaway of her own, check it out – the prize is gorgeous!
5- So, a couple of weeks ago I saw an Article in the New York Times about a dude I went to college with, he was Algernon to my Cecily in one of my favorite plays, The Importance of Being Earnest , we were nominated for the Irene Ryan Award and the scene where Cecily describes how Algernon wooed her heart via all the letters he (that is she pretending to be him) wrote her was selected for some type of award as well, I can’t remember what; it’s been over 10 years! Funny, considering what a big deal it felt like to me at the time. Anyways, I still haven’t seen his t.v. show, but from what I hear, it’s a wee bit popular. Yes, I can admit I’m jealous of his success – not that I have aspirations to write for a t.v. show, but I wouldn’t run away screaming if the job were to be offered.
Melonie Johnson 