Weekly Random Rollup

#1. This week's been a little wonky. Here in Utah we've got this little holiday called Pioneer Day. It's basically the day the pioneers decided to settle what would come to be known as Utah. July 24th every year. And in Utah, it's like Christmas and the Fourth of July put together--except BIGGER. Which is all fine and dandy, except when it falls in the middle of the week, as with any holiday falling in the middle of the week, it throws off all the routine of the entire week.

#2. The holiday's nice, leading to a 2-day work week at the day job, and while much of the rest of Utah is off gallivanting with me, I forget that it's not a holiday anywhere else in the world and that stuff still needs to get done. But now that it's Friday, let's get us back to schedule with a general Friday, Happy Dance!

#3. The Avengers is on Netflix. Do you know what this does to my productivity? Revisions seem to be taking just a little bit longer, because I just can't pass up hanging with Iron Man and the gang! I thought I was doing pretty good since I finished watching all the available episodes of both Supernatural and Fringe in the last few weeks. 

#4. Something awesome: sharing eats with friends! The lovely Nichole Giles is visiting from Texas this week and we had a chance to get together for dinner, share some food, and just catch up in general. Thanks for making some time for me in your busy visiting schedule, Nichole!

#5. I've finally discovered the delicious properties of steamed artichokes. I've never made them before and was a bit nervous as to how to go about it, but thanks to some helpful friends and easy to follow web instructions, the family and I have found that we LOVE artichokes, especially dipped in melted butter or a yum mayo+balsamic vinegar sauce. Oh, the goodness...

All right, well hope everyone has a great weekend! 

Random Friday Five

1) I took 2 months off from blogging. It was technically 70 days as of yesterday. It was sort of an unplanned hiatus, as in, I meant to blog and then just kept forgetting. Then when I went to blog, I felt like I didn't have anything to say. So I didn't. It's all a vicious circle of rambling, I tell you.

2) I love food. And next week is Thanksgiving. Woohoo! It's my favorite holiday of the year! I mean, food, family, food, football, food, and no pretense on gift giving, major decorations, or any of that red tape. It's all about appreciating. And the food. It's a lot about the food too! What's not to love, right?

3) Speaking of football, well, more like mentioning of football ... I'm in a Fantasy Football league this season. Except I forget that's what it's called and I keep calling it Final Fantasy football. My strategy for drafting my team? Criteria #1: Do I recognize this player's name? -if yes, draft. Criteria #2: Is this player a former Ute (UofU all the way!!)? -if yes, draft. Criteria #3a: Does this player have a cool sounding name? -if yes, check picture. Criteria #3b: Does this player look like they would be a nice person in real life? -if yes, draft. Pretty scientific, right?


4) 4yo came home from preschool the other day with a crown. She'd earned the very prestigious Alphabet Crown - meaning she knows all her letters and sounds. She proceeded to wear said crown all day. To the grocery store, out to dinner, chasing the dog around. It was a big deal. It made me think that writers should get crowns too. When you get to The End - in whatever form, be it your first draft of the ms, your final revisions, even the dreaded synopsis, you should be crowned for your achievements! And not just any ol' crown. I'm talking Toddlers & Tiaras Miss Grand Supreme crown. The kind bigger than your head. I thought a gigantic sparkly crown topping the sweats and t-shirts I write in would be AWESOME. For whatever reason, she didn't seem quite as excited about the idea. Can't imagine why ...

5) I am totally NOT a Twihard, but I did brave the crowds with one of my bestie girlfriends who had tix to see Breaking Dawn Pt 2 last night. My thoughts? There were not enough SPARKLES!! For more of my thoughts, check back next week -- we have pictures!

Have a great weekend!

Random Stuff Friday

1) yesterday I thought it was Friday. Then someone was so kind (mean!) as to tell me that it was only Thursday. So that whole mix-up is probably why I just realized now, at lunchtime on actual-Friday, I hadn't written this week's blogpost yet.

2) the pitfalls of semi-routine traveling is that when you end up coming home a day early (huzzah!), you forget it's a day early and then you think you're a day ahead only to realize the actual day is one day behind what you thought. confused yet? see #1

3) so remember how last week I was telling you the excitement around Maczilla? Oh, did I forget to tell you that is what I named him? Well, silly me. Well, now I'm sitting around suffering from severe buyer's remorse. Is the buying-nice-things-for-yourself just a me or does anyone else constantly deal with this? Probably not, right?

4) in celebration of NOT getting on an airplane for the entire month of July, instead, the Aphayrath family is getting ready for another #APirateTrip! This time we're headed up to see some dear friends, Husband will get to do some salmon fishing (hopefully!), and I will get to finish up my revisions and get them to L'Agent by August!

5) but before vacation, we've got our big huge family 4th of July shindig going on tomorrow night. The kids get to parade on festively decorated scooters and bikes, AND there will be tons of fireworks, food, and family. All you need for a summer night, right? Oh, and we've been told there's a 2-shot penalty (for those of age) if you're not appropriately patriotically dressed.

All right, I'm off to take the bubs shopping for some red, white, and blue and hopefully be up to dress code!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Random Stuff Friday

1) I don't know where the rest of you are, and what the weather is like, but this year, we're having some sort of bizarro take on an Indian summer in Utah. I'm not diggin' it. We can't seem to find a good temperature for the house and I can't put away summer clothes and pull out autumn/winter clothes because there just isn't enough room for all that. *sigh*

2) In 6yo's 1st grade class, I learned they do this fabulous thing every month: Author Spotlights. Where, not only do they learn about the books an author writes, but about the author themselves. I love that her teacher does that and is helping them learn about the amazing people behind the books they love. This month they're learning about Eric Carle and really, who doesn't love THE VERY HUNGRY CATERPILLAR?

3) I have 11 books on my nightstand and 4 (I think) on my Nook that I haven't yet read. Not that I haven't read anything lately, it's just I keep re-reading the books I love and have not yet gotten around to new stuff. I feel like I'm not in the mood to be introduced to new characters right now. Like it might be just too much energy for me to become emotionally vested in their lives. Does that sound weird or am I just, yanno, a writer? ;-)

4) We've bought our treats to give away for Halloween, our decorations are up, costumes have been picked out and all we have left are pumpkins to purchase. Which leads to the question of pumpkin patch or grocery store? Husband doesn't want to go without me and baby, but I don't want to take newborn out yet. Thoughts?

5) I keep forgetting what day of the week it is. I guess that was one benefit of getting up and going to dayjob every day, right? I had to be aware of the calendar, if for no other reason, than to count the days until the weekend when I wouldn't be working, Lol!

Speaking of weekends, hope everyone has a great one!

Random Stuff Friday

1) I recently (as in, this past Monday) just moved into a new position at the day job (yay me!). More responsibility, more travel, a little more $ (we all like that!), and a lot more of me going "omg, what have I gotten myself into." So please bear with me if I seem a bit more scatterbrained than normal. Like this is possible or something, right? I'm just trying to figure out the new balance of things as they are, things to come and how all of this is going to land around me.

2) It's still September right? Like, until tomorrow? Yeah, I thought so too. So what the what is up with the stores already having CHRISTMAS stuff out? I mean, for reals? Like it's not bad enough that every store every where kicks up the carols and all that the day after Thanksgiving, but seriously? Husband hasn't even let me put up our Halloween decorations yet because "let's have a little respect for September" so I have to wait until Saturday, but big plastic Santa Claus is hanging out at Walmart with Rudolph and Frosty already? Are you kidding me? *steps off soapbox* 

3) I've been terrible at commenting on blogs recently. For this, I apologize. However, in my defense, I have been reading, I just don't always comment because, sometimes what I was going to say has already been said. Multiple times. Or, I just don't have anything pithy and insightful to add to your otherwise profound and intellectually stimulating shared thoughts.

4) Kidlets and I went (with my dear friend Christine) to the Taylor Swift concert on Wednesday night and it was a great show. We've got some cute pictures that I can't seem to find right now, so I'll have to post those next week sometime. My friend Simon (aka Christine's boyfriend) was kind enough to chauffeur us to and from the show, so we didn't have to pay for parking OR fight the crazy traffic. This is the only way to do a concert at ESA, SLC people. Just saying.

5) This weekend is IT! I've been saying it for a little while now and timing just has not worked out. But this weekend is IT. I am planting my tulips this weekend or I'm just not going to let Monday come. *thought lightbulb flash* Hmm, not letting Monday come around. Maybe I won't plant the tulips and we'll just not have Monday. I'm sure most of you wouldn't mind that right? A super extended weekend to last, oh, say a week or something?

Well, have a great weekend - however long it turns out to be.

Happy Independence Day!

Wishing everyone a happy 4th of July!

Happy 2010!

Just a quick note today to say:

I thought I'd give everyone (myself included) a few days before I put my thoughts on the new year into writing!

Have a great day/month/year!

Tricks and Treats and Nano!

Hi Everyone, I'm back now.

Thanks for all the well wishes for Grandma, she's still going through the recovery stages after surgery, but she's doing well and finally home! Just in time for Halloween.

I figured that since things are getting back to normal, I better get back on this blogging wagon and get in gear.

Especially seeing as NaNoWriMo starts tomorrow. Tonight, actually. In about 16 hours and 14 minutes from this very moment. And I'm stoked.

I've been working through my novel outline (the first time I've every planned any book out) and feel really good about this. I'm excited to see what kind of a first draft I'll be able to get together by the end of the month. This is my first year participating and I'm really really hoping I'll be able to do it.  Thanks to a great support network (you guys know who you are) I think I'm all good. Bring on the wordage.

Oh, and it's a good thing it's Halloween, we're going to need some rations to get through November.

Have a safe and Happy Halloween everyone!

XOXO!

P.S. If you're in Utah, well, at least in the Salt Lake Valley, and you (or your children) won't be eating ALL the candy that you've collected, dentists across the state are doing buybacks and swaps. Some are doing a 1 pound of candy for a dollar, others are doing 1 pound of candy for a toothbrush and toothpaste set. All the candy they collect is going to be packed and sent to the troops who are currently on active duty in the Middle East and Afghanistan. So spread the Halloween love if you can!