Weekly Random Rollup

#1. I swear I'm going to be a better blogger. Said me, for the billionth time. This is one of the things I miss most, though, the sharing of randomness of my week. So while I'll try to be better blogging during the week, I'm going to commit to this! I've even decided it needed a new snazzy name, the Weekly Random Rollup. (Okay, maybe not that snazzy...) AKA, stuff that happens that doesn't get its own post and may have been mentioned in 140 characters or less at some point during the week.

#2. I owe you guys a post on my recent travels. Mostly so I can share the beautiful stuff I saw while I was on the road traveling for #dayjobtrip. And I've recently been on the road far more than I like, but hopefully as we ease into the summer, I can spend less time on airplanes. We've already talked about how this year's summer plans include a big fat STAYcation. There's no place like home! Anywhere cool you've been recently, or are planning to go this summer?

#3. Over the last couple of months, I've been to so many awesome book signings in SLC! Nichole Giles, Sara Zarr, Margaret Stohl, Stephanie Perkins, Ally Condie, Shannon Hale, Natalie Whipple, and Elana Johnson! They are wonderful to meet and if you ever get a chance to see them live, you need to go! This is one of the (many) reasons I LOVE living in a writerly mecca!

#4. Supernatural has recently, like in the last year, become one of my fave shows. One of the reasons it took me so long to watch is because I'm totally chicken when it comes to things ghosty and haunting related, so it took weeks, WEEKS, I'm telling you, for me to make it through the first episode. But Dean Winchester was there, encouraging me to overcome my fear every step of the way. Oh, that smolder...


And now that I'm (im)patiently waiting for season 8 on Netflix, I've started watching Fringe. Which, to be honest, is like the slightly unbelievable and probably highly unreasonable scientific explanations for anything that would've happened on Supernatural. Plus, yummy Peter Bishop with his witty and sarcastic remarks definitely makes you want to believe.

#5. I cannot believe it's July already. JULY! How has this year flown by so quickly? I feel like we've seriously not done enough in the first half of the year and are going to spend the second half of the year making up for it! Does anyone else feel that way?

We're off to find things to fill the weekend! Have a great one, all!!

Never Enough Time

** I've been trying to post this for several days and very clearly, Blogger and I are not friends. If anyone has any other bloggy sites they prefer to this, I'd love to hear it!**

picture credit: CarSeatBlog.com

If you missed any of my tweets or FB posts, you'll have missed out on the fact that I spent 5 days on 5 different planes with stops in 4 time zones, 3 U.S. states, and 2 countries. It was CRAZY. I have to admit, there were a couple occassions when I woke up from a nap on a plane and couldn't remember where I was going. Ah, just another week on a #dayjobtrip.

Over the last year or so, my dayjob schedule has only grown more frantic, and the travel I've had to do more insane. And obviously if you're hanging out here with me, you know that dayjob is not my ONLY job. There's also the writing thing (well, duh), the family thing (of course), and I also sell some kick@$$ super environmentally friendly cleaning stuff on the side - because I totally have time to do that too (yeah, right!). . . If you're interested ... click here to check out my Norwex site!

To say I've got a lot on my plate is a bit of an understatement. I've got plenty of hectic-schedule to go around, what I don't (ever) have enough of, is time.

I've taken to writing wherever, whenever, however I can, though sometimes, especially after a schedule like last week, exhaustion takes over and I have to nap instead. It's hard to balance RL and writing life, and I know I'm not the only one who struggles with this.

So how do you do it? How do you solve the "never enough time" conundrum? Do you have a set time and space and a big giant DO NOT DISTURB sign at home? Have you resorted to heading over to the nearest coffee shop with some headphones to get it done?

Any and all tips are welcome, because, well, I've got several thousand words left to get on paper and L'Agent (im)patiently waiting on a finished ms. So ... uh, HELP!

A Pirate* Trip

And now, it's Thursday.

We're on the road. Have been for a few hours now. I'm not sure where we're at right at this moment, but I decided that I'm going to make an adventure out of this.

One can never be sure just how much writerly fodder you can get while on road trips and people watching and always trying to ensure you capture each and every valuable moment ... I've decided I'm live tweeting this whole trip. Well, most of it anyway.

I might skip on a few things tomorrow morning, and my blog post tomorrow will explain why.

Catch my updates on #APirateTrip on Twitter. You'll get to see just how fun it is to go on a road trip with 3 kids under 7 in a strategically Tetris-packed Honda Pilot.




*If you're wondering about the "A Pirate" part ... soften the "t" in the middle and toss a "th" at the end of that and that's how you pronounce my last name!

Quote of the Week

"The use of travel is to regulate imagination by reality, and instead of thinking how things may be, to see them as they are."

Samuel Johnson

Good Morning

After the weekend and now back to the grind of things, I think this sign says it all for me.

Two weeks ago I headed off to NJ for a work trip and was so motion sick the entire time I was out there I really thought I was going to die. When I came home, went to the doc, nope, not preggers, if that's what you're wondering, but I had a viral inner ear infection that was completely throwing my equilibrium for a loop. Top that off with a sinus infection and I am one sick puppy. Hence the Unplug week participation last week was doubly beneficial. I wasn't able to take time off from work until the end of last week, but now I'm feeling rested.

Not necessarily better, but rested, and that's good right?

Anyway, being sick in the can't-stare-at-the-computer-for-long kind of way totally hampers writerly creative juices. It sucks those words right out of you, and NOT in a good way. On the flip side, I've read a few really good books of late and can't wait to get the Recent Reads posts up to share with you guys!

Sorry to come back whining, but I promise the pity party is over and I'll be better (at least psychologically, if not physically) the rest of the week. :)

Hoping the rest of you had a great week last week and fabulous weekend - especially those around here, because the weather's finally been decent enough to start going outside again!

Have a great (hopefully stress-free) Monday everyone!

Laundry Day Value

Okay, so on this first official business day of 2010, I get to head back to work by hopping a plane for a quick 2-day trip to San Jose. *sigh* Such is the life of being a writer with a day job.

I started this post several weeks ago, thinking ahead about the many many things I'd like to accomplish in 2010, but in the last few days, I've taken a step back from that. This week's quote totally had me thinking.

The beginning of each year, I always feel like there's this pressure to set the resolutions, goals to achieve. My problem with this? Well, honestly, if you look at it, there are things to be accomplished all the time. It just all depends on how you look at it.

At this point, I could make some profound statement and try to sound all New Year smarty pants, but you know, I just spent the last 7 hours bonding with our family's laundry.

Laundry is the bane of my existence. (In case any of you missed my tweet last night . . . er, I guess it was more this morning. That's right. I'm writing another post at 2 A.M.)

Tackling the laundry got me thinking. Firstly about how many of us would totally love to have a personal laundry assistant. Then about the year to come. So maybe this could be a bit profound?

As I mentioned - 7 hours today, spent on the laundry. Time I could've spent on other things. What other things?

• Eating.
• Reading.
• Sleeping.
• Revising.
• Movie-ing (is that a word?).
• Writing.

But if I didn't take this time to get the laundry stuff figured out, it'd never get done. Which lead me to the thought that's been bouncing around my head lately: You don't make time. You take time.

I know it sounds sort of cheesy. But it's true.

Yes, I could have taken the same 7 hours and gotten boatloads of writing/revising/reading done, but there's also value in ensuring my family is happy, healthy and wearing clean, Downy fresh clothes. Right? It's all about weighing priorities, but also making sure you're taking time for you too!

So there's my profound New Year wisdom for you: Take some time for you, but making sure everyone in the family's got clean underwear is also valuable.

You have any deep thoughts to share? Lay it on me!

Cold Places and Warm Spaces

I am currently stuck at a lodge in Park City (Utah) working on some meetings. I was supposed to head out today and right now the roads are a bit precarious, so I'm hanging out hoping things clear up a bit before I head back home.
In case you were wondering, it's cold (like, it's pretty and sunny outside now - a balmy 7 degrees). And snowy. But there are worse places to be stranded - just check out this view from my balcony:

It's definitely some inspiring surrounding and it actually got me thinking about my "writing space."

I don't have one. My writing space is basically wherever I happen to be sitting with my laptop, notebook and pen. And it has to be warm. Cold fingers don't type so well. I'm working on a warm writing space though. It has been added to our list of "Things To Do to Make Our House More Awesome." In the meantime, my writing space mobile.

Do you have a certain writing space that helps you keep on track, keeps you from quitting? Somewhere you go to hide? A room, a corner, a basement or maybe a cave? What do you keep around to make it "your" space and help you stay focused?

Tuesday: Travel

I'm on the road again this week (Baltimore, MD), traveling with work. Work travel is a good thing and a bad thing, I think. Some of my buddies tell me I travel a lot.

Honestly, I don't travel as much as some of the people I work with, but it is enough for my kidlets to notice how often I'm gone. That part makes me sad, but sometimes you have a sacrifice a little for the experiences you gain out of it. Aside from the interesting people I finally get to meet for the day job, people I spend hours / days / weeks working with via phone & email, I've also had the opportunity to go to some really interesting places.

Over the course of the last 10 months I've been everywhere from California to New Jersey, Puerto Rico to Mexico. And from all these places, I've been able to gain some insight into the way things work in the regions, find inspirations in the locales. Everywhere I go I take my camera with me, you just never know when you'll need to snap a picture of something to take home as a reminder of somewhere inspiring.

With that in mind, I've decided that when I get home from this trip, I'm starting a new little snapshot book, of sorts. One that will contain all the random locations that I want to use eventually. A Settings Diary if you will. I'm hoping this will also help me with learning how to outline and finding another way to organize my thoughts.

My experience traveling with the day job has allowed me an opportunity to visit many places I wouldn't otherwise go and find inspirations where I would never have known it was.

Recent Reads: A Modern Faerie Tale

Wow, it only took until August, but FINALLY I've reached the quarter-way mark! I'm not sure about this whole reading 100 books thing anymore, but dang it, I am TRYING!

Anyway, I’ve heard so much great stuff about the A Modern Faerie Tale series and apparently my new "thing" is Faery and all things related so I picked these up for my recent trips out of town. I'm not sure if this is a trilogy or if these are the first three in a longer series, but here's my take:

Book: Tithe by Holly Black
Book Count: 25


The first book in the series introduces us to Kaye, a girl who is not your average teenager. She's been raised as a roadie for her mother's various bands, grew up with invisible faeries as best friends, and when a strange attack brings Kaye and her mother back to her childhood home, she comes face to face with who and what she really is.

It definitely lived up to the dark and edgy reviews I had read. There were a few slow parts, but I liked the story overall. It wasn't exactly what I expected, but not in a bad way. My biggest complaint: there wasn't enough. When the story was over, I felt like there wasn't enough development, or, I don't know. What was there was good, but I just wanted more.



Book Title: Valiant by Holly Black
Book Count: 26

Which leads us into why I picked this one up! :) But Valiant isn't about Kaye and Ellen and Corny and Roiben. This book introduces us to Val and her gang of misfits, taking us into a whole different realm of Faery-land as mortals and fey alike struggle to survive as faeries are being murdered.

I actual liked this book better than Tithe. The characters felt more developed and real all within the span of a book the same size. And as it were, it isn't an actual sequel to Tithe, but merely the second book in the series (trilogy?), one can read this book without having read the others and still be okay.


Book Title: Ironside by Holly Black
Book Count: 27

This was actually the sequel to Tithe. This story follows more closely Kaye and Roiben's relationship and pulls in characters from Valiant as well. Ironside was definitely a place where Kaye did more growing up, continuing from Tithe. There was more at stake for her here and therefore more for her to consider in her actions. It pushed to the forefront that there isn't always one right answer and not everything can be clearly answered in black or white.

Overall, these books were very remniscent of the Melissa Marr Wicked Lovely series. They switch their focus, the second book in both series focusing on different characters with cameo appearances from characters we've already met.

Although I enjoyed these books enough, if I had to make a recommendation on Faerie stories, I'd go with Wicked Lovely. For me, the character development and and perspective shifts worked better for me and overall, I just enjoyed the stories more.

Planes, Trains and Automobiles

Another Friday and another trip home. This time, instead of a non-stop between where I am and where I wanna be, I have to connect. LAX, one of the most traveler spiteful airports in the whole freakin' world!

So I am writing this before Friday to let you know that this post will probably be nothing more than me rambling about how when I get home I will be too tired to fully function and will probably just take a nap. A long one. But only if I get home to find the house in a state similar to how I left it and not as though a hurrican has rushed through it.

We'll see. Wish me luck on getting that nap in before I gotta go pick up the kidlets.

Catch ya later!

Wordless Wednesday

Uh, yeah. I think the title of this post speaks for itself.

It is my second full day in Mexico today and I'm always more tired after my second night in a new place. Traveling with work always leaves me a little fried. Spent last night huddled in corner reading and fell asleep way too early - now I'm tired from too much rest! So I'm off to spend the day training, in meetings and then a late dinner at a great (so I've heard anyway) seafood restaurant.

Hoping that good food and good drinks will cure the fried-brain-itis I am suffering from. At least it will take some of the pain away, right?

For everyone else, happy new wordages!

Bad Mojo & Big Problems

A while back my friend Elana over at Mindless Musings posted about finding the problem in your

novel. Not the problem with it, mind you, she meant the over-arching plot arc, the main-conflict-save-the-world-from-a-meteor sort of issue. Since I read that post it got me thinking.

And thinking.

And thinking.

And . . . yup . . . thinking.

Well, last week we went on a road trip to visit my in-laws in a small town in Central California. My husband's from a small town and it's a nice quiet place to do absolutely nothing (or to write if the mood strikes). My husband has a car that he absolutely adores, but its pretty old. We bought it for almost nothing and he loves to tinker with it. So the primary intent of the trip was for him and his brother to really fix it up.

The car is old EVERYONE doubted we'd be able to make it safely the 763 miles from our doorstep to Small-town, California, but we did. Just slower and with a much more Zen attitude.

Something that's a must if you're doing a long road trip with 2 kids under 5. Safe and sound in CA we just hung out-though I did go see HP 6 (so good!).

The way home, the part NO ONE made any comments about was where we ran into our "problem." I'm pretty superstitious, but more along the lines of gut feelings. When we got to Vegas, I saw a delayed text message come in from my brother: Did your car die yet? Seriously? Like why would you ask something like that? What kind of bad mojo are you trying to spread?!?

We made it past Mesquite and in a (really nice) Rest Area 13 miles out of Cedar City, our car just couldn't make it any further. Luckily, my dad was on his way back for CA also and was just driving into Vegas, so with info from the DH, I asked him to pick up some things for us. Lucky for us, the Rest Area the car gods decided we needed to hang out at was fully equipped with mowed grass, pavilion covered picnic tables, real flushing toilets (clean bathroom!) and vending machines. Oh, yeah, and, most importantly, COLD A/C!

While we waited for my dad to meet us with the necessary goods, (sounds sort of like a drug deal, didn't that?) I played with the kids and we ate a lovely vending machine lunch. 4-yo P loved it. After our lunch, we broke out some of the kids' travel toys and they played while I dug out my notebook and wrote.

And thanks to the bad mojo, I think I have figured out what's going on in my new project. So thanks to some quality Rest Area time where my biggest problem wasn't, at that moment, my biggest problem, I've found my Big Problem in the writing project. Now we just gotta figure out what the Big Problem in the car project is. Will keep ya posted!

P.S. Clearly we (finally) made it home, but here are some times according to Google how long the trip should have taken us // and our actuals:

Home to our destination in CA = 763 miles, 11 hours & 31 minutes // actual: 763 miles, 14 hours & 18 minutes

CA to home = 765 miles, 11 hours & 28 minutes // actual: 765 miles, 20 hours & 4 minutes

It's a good thing we decided our approach to all problems on this trip was contained in one little three-letter word: ZEN

Dark

Hi All,

Blog will be dark for a few days (yet again, I know). Am visiting family in bright sunny small town central California. They have internet, but it is so slow. If I have time to camp out at a Starbucks, I'll post but if not, will check in when back home on Monday.

Hope everyone has an awesome rest of the week and to all my fellow Utahns, have a great holiday weekend!

I'm Going Home Tomorrow

It's Wednesday. Late Wednesday. And normally this would be a Work In Progress Wednesday, but I haven't exactly had much time to "Work in Progress" ... Just work. Not nearly as fun.

I am actually writing this and going to post in real time. As I begin typing, it is 10:37 PM Eastern Standard Time and I am sitting in my hotel room in Baltimore watching a re-run of NCIS that is not really a re-run to me because I haven't seen this episode before.

It was the second day of a big meeting for work and I'm headed home tomorrow. I'm pretty excited to get home, but I'm on a super early flight. Like, 7:15 AM. I know that doesn't sound really early, but the hotel is about an hour from the airport. Also, if you haven't been to Baltimore-Washington International before, the car rental place is like a 15 minute shuttle from the airport. And you never really know what the security line will be.

So basically, I have to be up at like, 3:30 AM to get ready like I'm going to work, but instead, go to the airport in time. All goes well and get home, I get to go straight into the office, real life doesn't take care of itself, yanno?

Seriously, man. Suck.

Oh, and last night I was up until 3:17 AM before falling into not a very good sleep. So should I even bother going to sleep tonight? I don't even know.

But hey, on the bright side, I'm Going Home Tomorrow!

Back! .... Temporarily At Least

Hello, World!

So today I am back. Home and in my office. Staring out at the fabulous staircase I have oh-so-missed while I was traveling with work. Who would've thought I'd ever miss the whole monkey at the zoo vibe I get because my office window overlooks the top of the staircase and people come up the stairs and just stare at me? Anyway, at one point I was in 3 timezones within 4 days. Yowza! To all those who travel extensively with work, whatever kind of work you may do, *bowing down*.

I don't normally travel much at all with work, prior to this past two weeks, I'd been on 3 trips in about 3 years. Things just culminated and suddenly I understand much more what the people I work with mean when they talk about how much they are on the road. It's tough. I missed my kids, my husband. I missed my bed, my stuff. And I missed have MY time. On a work trip with a big group, it leaves little time to hole up in your room and work on your book. There's a level of social interaction that is expected.

The expectation aside, there are some changes being made at a higher level that impact our whole team and it was a tough thing to have to accept. But hey, as I've been advised repeated ... "I serve at the discretion of my leadership" ....

Okay, that's enough whining. So I haven't had much time to write. Read. Sleep. Or pretty much anything. Even this morning, being back home, my body is still trying to figure out what timezone I'm in and if I should be hungry now or later. Seriously. So to solve that problem, I've just taken on eating all the time. Probably not the healthiest of options. But I have a week home to stabilize before I head off on another week-long trip to the East Coast. Baltimore this time.

Meanwhile, in what little writing I have been able to do, I've found some places where I definitely need some work. A while back I read a blog post by Lady Glamis: Working in Layers and I am really understanding that concept better now. That initial flow of your pen, though it may be fabulous as a first draft, that is what it is. A first draft. There are SEVERAL of these long before any project is truly ready. And each run through, another layer should be added. *Lightbulb* - Yeah, I really get it now.

In addition to that, I am still writing in my "organized-haphazardness" way what the "voices" in my head tell me. I did get to the point where it was such a hodge podge of sections, I've gone back and layed it out to match my outline. I even had to print out a calendar and make notes on it so I've got a sort of timeline when things happen and I'm not having things happen in the wrong order. My husband thinks this is totally bizarro and I've thought about it much too thoroughly, but I don't get how he can stare at a box of fishing jig-thingys for ten minutes deciding which one is the right one for his next trip. *Raises cup of coffee* to each his/her own, I guess.

This was just an update, I've not been that great about keeping up and have found myself stretched a bit thin, but over the next week, hopefully, I should be able to get back to my routine. At least until I'm thrown completely off track by my trip to Baltimore.

Ahh, well, back to the grind of it. At least I remembered my coffee this morning. Oh yes, did I forget to mention that all these trips have me back on my coffee addiction? And I have been so good since I had the baby! (E will be 1 next Friday! Eeek! Time flies...)

Have a great weekend everyone!

Work in Progress Wednesday: What Happened?!?

New words (since last update post): 0
Chapters edited (since last update post): 1

The other day I said I needed to change my #RSthrowdown goals for the week. Well, I wasn't kidding. Since then, I've written virtually no new words on my WiP and have been diligently editing away on the completed ms: JM. In fact, I've been so diligently revising/editing said completed ms that it appears I may have another couple rounds of editing to do once I really tell myself that I can't ADD anymore. Not one more sentence. Or line. Or word. When I thought JM was complete, it came in just barely over 89K words. And now? In the midst of revisions/editing round 3? Last night I was barely able to shave it down to a good even 90K. What?! How did this happen? I keep asking myself the same the question.

I think the new stuff is good. Better than what was (or clearly was not) there before. I thought I was getting close to being done. Ha! Yeah. Maybe next week.

Also, I only got the 1 chapter edited last night because I wanted to spend some time with the fam because I'll be traveling with work for the next couple of weeks and so fam time will be limited to the weekends I'm home. But I wanted to share a great moment with our 3-yo (P) @ the grocery store:

P: Can we get popsicles?
Me: If you want. But we're going to the bookstore. [said popsicles would melt with the 75 degree weather we've been have in SLC]
P: But we don't have popsicles at home.
Me: You can pick. Do you want to get popsicles and go straight home or do you want to go to the bookstore?
P: *finger pressed to lips* Hmmm. I want to go to the bookstore. We can just get popsicles next time.
Me: You are so my kid.

I did pick up a couple books at the bookstore (P wanted the uber-expensive version of The Hungry Caterpillar and nothing else, so she had to settle for a promise of taking her to get her her very own library card.).

I've heard some great things about - both YA fantasy. I'm primarily read YA contemporary fiction, but lately I've really been trying to stay openminded about the "other worlds" that are other genres. We'll see how it goes and I'll definitely give my thoughts on here. Stay tuned!

So while I'm on the road, blog posts will probably be even more sporadic than they already are - though I have been trying to be consistent a couple days a week. I'm trying to get things together so I can just get some posts scheduled, but not sure if I'll have enough time. I'll be back in the swing of things mid-May. With all the flights, maybe I'll get some good writing done.

Okay all, have a great Wednesday!

2 Cents: QueryFail/AgentFail

I got back from Puerto Rico late last night/early this morning. The flight in from Atlanta was delayed due to thunderstorms in Jacksonville. Correlation? Our pilots were flying the plane coming from Jacksonville. What was supposed to be a 15 minute delay turned into 45 minutes . . . and sometime just before 2 A.M. MST I finally walked into the house.

Puerto Rico was great, but exhausting. Work trips always are. They aren't site-seeing trips, so the most I saw of the beach was what was out my hotel room window, or through the back doors of the lobby as I was hurrying to the car each morning. If I go back, I'll have to plan an extra day. On a separate note, on the last night there, there was some weird bug in my room, buzzing and itching woke me up and that was what led to my trip to the Insta-care this morning. Diagnosis? I was allergic. To something. Puerto Rico? I hope not. The food (YUM!)? I hope not. The bug? Yeah, probably. Now I'm on a couple meds for it and the doc said it would get worse before it got better. Yay, because I look super cute with hives and a big red nose.

On the flip side, as I said, I did finish a couple books on the flight down there. I don't like to give my opinions until I've read a book through twice, so I'm working on my re-readings now and a Recent Read update will be coming soon.

In un-Puerto Rico and my own novel reading news . . . #queryfail and #agentfail are everywhere. My thoughts? #queryfail on Twitter back a few weeks ago was snarky, constructive and some-what instructional "what not to do" comments. The feedback that was posted on #agentfail based on Jessica Faust's post on the BookEnds blog didn't seem so much along those lines. I thought they weren't witty or snarky comments told in 140 characters including hashtag; most of the comments posted in response to Jessica's blog came across as outright mean and I don't think that has ever been anyone's intent, on either side. There is just frustration on both sides and no clear way to mitigate that. What's the cliche? You can't please all the people all the time? It's just the way life goes. You're going to get frustrated, you're going to get upset, you're going to throw things and need to vent. You can do this without being mean.

When it comes down to it, I will follow the next installment of #queryfail --> Query Fail 2: Queries Never Die not because agents are being snarky or mean, but because I want to make sure I don't do what I shouldn't. It isn't hard to follow instruction. Count this as constructive criticism and move on with your day. As a writer, if you took all critique to heart, why on Earth would you ever want to be published? It would just be a daily heartbreak for you and personally, I don't think that would lead to a very fulfilling life.

Just my 2 cents on the matter.

It's Warm, but I Don't Have Anything Else to Read

There's a meeting I had to go to (yes, I had to go ;P) in Puerto Rico this week. Spent S's birthday traveling - SLC to ATL to SJU. So now here I am in warm Puerto Rico! I have to say, leaving the blizzard this morning, I wasn't too sad. I do miss the girls though, and am sad that I wasn't home for the bday, but he got to go fishing all day without having to worry about me waiting for him to come home, so that probably made the day better for him anyway. Lol.

Anyway, finally landed here just after 8 P.M. and when I climbed into the taxi, it said the temperature was 81 degrees F. Yes, that's right. In SLC when I was leaving it was 26 degrees F. I know, I know, deal with it, but I can't help trying to spread my joy that here, it's warm!! I'm enjoying it enough for everyone back home. I promise.

The other thing about this trip was it really put into perspective just how fast I read. We specifically made a bookstore stop over the weekend so I didn't have to make a stop at the crappy airport bookstore. I picked up a couple and figured they'd last me at least the flight here and maybe the SJU to ATL leg on the way back and I'd just do some writing or something ATL to SLC, but nope. I'm completely finished with one and about halfway with the other. I just read way too fast. So now it looks like I may have to make a stop at the bookstore. Not looking forward to that. The selection will not be up to par and I'll end up getting something that I really shouldn't because it's an emergency purchase, not a thoughtful one. *sigh* What's girl to do??