I was Abducted by Aliens: That's my story and I am sticking to it.

Yesterday it came to my attention that I am a technology addict.  

No, seriously.  Friends and family have staged interventions over the years and if there were a twelve step program they would have tried to force me into it.  

I don't believe that I do have a problem.  Besides, it's not like I have ever hurt anyone.  And I can quit anytime I want too!

Okay so what, I have been coveting the iPad for, well since they came out.  Yesterday at dinner with one of my besties, who brought hers for no apparent reason other than to torture me (of this I am convinced) I had the opportunity to get up close and personal with one.

It was love at first site, cheesy music in the background and all.  It was so pretty and the speed and agility in which it moved (sigh) it was pure poetry in motion.  The different applications had me drooling and foaming at the mouth, or wait, was that the wine?  Anyway, after the first hour at the restaurant in which we had done no more than order drinks, I found myself suddenly thrust into a bright light.

The rest of the evening remains a mystery to me.  There was some prodding and poking.  Voices speaking to me in hushed whispers, telling me I must go and buy one.  I tried explaining that this was not a good idea.  For one the air conditioner still needs work and we had to fix the truck this week, but they were persistent. 

I heard things like; "eighteen months same as cash" and "you won't be sorry".  "Look how this can help you with work" and "tweetdeck works the same from the iPad as it does from your laptop."  I don't know if it was hours or days, but when I finally came back to myself I was sitting outside of Best Buy clutching a blue bag to my chest with a brand new iPad tucked inside.

It wasn't my fault...I swear it.  Can I help it if I was abducted by aliens and held against my will until I agreed to the terms and conditions at the bottom of the page I was FORCED to sign?  

What, you don't believe me?  Captain Kid didn't either.

Facebook: It's over

I am a tweet-a-holic.  *Gasp* *Shock*  *Whispers behind gloved hands*  

This should not be confused with Lynsay the milk-aholic baby on the eTrade commercials.  I know, I know you are all at this very moment chanting, "Tweet-a-what?"

This is not the first time I have posted about my dependence fascination with twitter.  But I can quit anytime I want to.  But why would I want to?  I have met some of the most amazing folks through this social media revolution.  Folks that I would never have crossed paths with any other way and I am pretty excited about the fact that one day I will be able to say I knew him/her/undecided back in the day.

In fact my love of twitter has become so absolute that facebook has become jealous issuing threats and demanding attention.  I just can't be the master of two mistress'.  I have tried but it is getting harder and harder until eventually one of them has been feeling neglected with the relationship eroding away to nothing. 

Being dumped is not pretty and a public end is even less so.  Friends are urging me to give facebook another chance, but I just don't have it in me.  Why should I pretend any longer?  The spark is gone.

  

It was fun while it lasted but I just out grew my relationship with facebook and I hope one day facebook understands and can live with the fact that I just want to be friends.  

Oh, wait.  No I don't.

 

Don't pout Everything Seems Marvi

Our A/C went out.

No warning, no call in advance.  It just decided to go kaput.

Normally this would not be a huge problem except it happened on Saturday night.  At 10:00 pm.

A/C goes out at 10 pm on Saturday night and Captain Kid is ready to break take things apart and wants to start working on it immediately.  There are a few problems with this scenario.  

1.  He is not an A/C guy

2.  It's 10 pm at night.  

So you know who is going to get stuck holding the flash light?  But I pointed out at least it was night time when it went out and not in the heat of the day.  The house was reasonably cool and the sun was not shining.

A few serendipitous moments before the air conditioner actually went out I was having a conversation with @muftopmommy also known as Janet F.  Not following her on twitter, go and do so now.

Anyway, we were chatting and she typed in DPESM.  I thought it was a pretty cool acronym that I was just unfamiliar with.   Nope, instead she had a finger glitch.  After another couple of tweets she came up with this DPESM = Don't pout everything seems marvy.

I thought it was brilliant. 

Sunday morning we gave in and called a service company to come out and take care of this.  A ridiculous amount of money later and we had a working air conditioner.

Fast Forward Monday.  Battery in Captain Kid's truck died.  Wouldn't be a big problem except I was the one driving it and he was not around to help me out with this problem.

Suffice it to say, today, after I was over my self imposed pity party I found a reason to apply DPESM.  

Tweeters e-Book Club

Last week in a mid day conversation with a couple of my regular twitterati we stumbled across what I perceived to be a great idea.  We decided to form a Twitter e-book club. 

I have always wanted to be a part of a book club and became very excited about the prospect of this.  After some tweeting back and forth and emails flying across the country we decided as a group we would review one book a month.  Each of us taking turns in the selection process than posting a review of said books on our individual blogs with link backs to each others blogs.

I know exactly what you are thinking....that truly is brilliant. 

Now, maybe no one will care what we think of any one book, or this could become an international success.  I will be happy either way.

The first book we are going to review is, well its a surprise and you have to come back on August 19 to see what the book is and read the review.  I can tell you this, its a young adult novel and while this is not my normal genre of preferred reading I am looking forward to stepping outside my comfort zone.

Want to know who else is going to be playing?  Okay here they are in no particular order.  If you are not following them on twitter or checking out their blogs, do it now.  I have made it easy by providing the links below.

@cynthiareese is funny and talented and a self proclaimed bad cook and even worse housekeeper you can catch up with her on twitter or at her blog Writing Romance, Southern Style 

@abbymumford is a writer in training, like me and she is pretty funny too, she promises to make you laugh even if she has to tickle you.  You can catch up with her on twitter and over at her blog called My Mumblings, an attempt to be clear and be heard.

@ElizabethRyann is a writing, smarty pants dancer and shiny hair aficionado who can be found on twitter and at her blog simply called Elizabeth Ryann.  

@PattyBlount who is a technical writer, she loves her boys, books and lots of chocolate and not necessarily in that order.  You can get a dose of her here at her blog To Tell A Compelling Story  

Karla Nellenbach is the last to make up the twitterati.  She resides in the seventh circle of hell and is a self proclaimed corporate henchman by day and a writer of all things fiction by night.  You can find her on twitter @LastWord0524 and on her blog The Last Word


Check them out and make sure you keep checking back for our reviews.

I am officially a Beta Reader

I am now officially a beta reader.  Go ahead, you can applaud.

No, there is no beta reader club.  I don't get a t-shirt or a badge or anything cool like that.  What I do get is the opportunity to read a manuscript before anyone else does.  I really am quite special aren't I?

I received the manuscript late in the evening and while I was ready for bed I wanted to immediately sit down and start in on it.  Suddenly I was nervous and lamenting to Captain Kid that maybe I had bitten off more than I could chew.  What if I really sucked at this?  What if I didn't like it?  What if I had nothing of any great significance to contribute.  Suddenly I had body parts sweating that I didn't know could sweat.

So whenever I have a question I do what I normally do.  I threw my question out to the twitterverse and waited with bated breath for the advice to roll in.  As usual my tweeps came through with some great recommendations.  

I feel so honored to have been given this opportunity to make notes regarding this work that my friend has poured her heart and soul into.  From what I can tell my job as a beta reader is to point out any inconsistencies in plot, characterization, believability and plot holes.  But I am also going to point out the parts that make me smile.  Where I laugh out loud, parts that make me cry and areas of the book that speak to me profoundly.  

I promise to keep you guys updated on my progress and on how this works out.  Keep your fingers crossed.  But before you cross them share with me your experience, if any, you may or may not have had with a beta reader. 

My Buddy Bloggers are Contesting....no it's really good

You know I like to bring you guys these contests that my twitter buddies offer, and there is another one I want to tell you about.  Elizabeth Ryann is hosting a book give away over at her blog Elizabeth Ryann.  Go over and check it out. 

I would also like to tell you that you can find her on twitter here and one of the ways you get points is by following her.  So go.  Follow.  Now.

In an aside I feel it is necessary to point out that while I am following her blog she is not following mine.  The good news is I do not hold a grudge, okay not really.  (Are you feeling guilty yet Elizabeth?)  But since I want to help her build up her following I am spending some time today speaking about it.  

Not that I believe the contest is fixed but I should mention that @Linda_Grimes and myself are both avid Elizabeth Ryann blog fans and expect to clear a large part of the loot for ourselves.  But you should still go, and try your hand at winning her contest.

I think I am starting to be inspired by my fellow bloggers that are holding contests.  @Candylandgang, her contest is still going strong and their is still time to enter for any of the great prizes so shoot on over there and check it out.  The link is here.  

And of course once again, I am going to remind you guys about @WritingAgain blog contest.  Go here to check it out.  (I should get major points for mentioning his contest again.)

So.  Go and explore and let me know what you think.

In true @Candylandgang fashion...Kelly Out!

The Hangover has set in

So vacation is over and just like after every other one, I feel a little hungover.

Too much fun and too much sun. 

So today I am officially back to the rat race and while I am rested and recharged I only wish a smidge that the vacation could have lasted for another five days.

I learned early on that I can't take a full week of vacation straight.  It is just too much time off in one stretch for me. Doesn't mean I don't feel a little sad when it's over, but I guess that is the point.  

It's like when your family comes to visit.  I love the anticipation leading up to their arrival.  But I am also happy when it's time for them to leave and I can get back to my life.  The key is for them to leave before the honeymoon phase is over and I find myself hiding in the pantry swigging vodka and pulling out my hair. (Gram could find my last nerve and than she would stand on it while singing Ethel Merman songs.)

I find that the same thing happens to me when I am in the middle of a work in progress.  I start out so strong and am totally in love with my characters and the story line, but as I get closer to tying up all those loose ends and getting to the grand finale, the honeymoon stage invariably starts to wane.  I have a harder and harder time finding that happy medium of closure.

Part of this is because I don't want to say good-bye to these fictional friends and the other is because I have been living with the story for so long that I start to second guess how it should go.

That is why outlines are so important to me. If it wasn't for them, I would not be able to find my way to end of the maze.  They keep me grounded and on track.

So now vacation is over and I am feeling the overload hangover but I have a great remedy.  A sure fire way to get rid of those vacation ending blues.  I'm gonna go write.  Tell, what do you do?

 

Do Something Good

Today is my last day of vacation.

I have really enjoyed the last couple of days boating, floating, cooking out and generally being a social butterfly.

Unfortunately I have not spent a lot of time working on blog updates so today I am going to tell you about a couple of buddy blogs that you should check out.

If you mosey on over to Candyland's blog you are going to read about her contest, "I Heart Joy Like BR80."  She is over in Candyland raising money for an organization called Joy 2 the world.  You can check out their site by clicking here.  They work on empowering women and children through micro loans. 

Candy is a big believer in doing something good.  In fact that was one of the things that first attracted me to her blog.  She likes to give back and she has inspired me to do so as well, thanks Candy.  So go over and check it out.  Also if you are not following her on twitter you should be and I am offering up a quick link to make it easy, just click this.

Moving on to another buddy blog, my friend @writingagain (<---click to find him on twitter)  AKA Simon Larter, who is sponsoring a give away on his blog.  If nothing else, just go over and follow his blog because he is too funny.  But at the same time you may as well fill out an entry and take a chance on winning something.  I will keep my fingers crossed for you.  

His blog contest is based on having too much junk, er...stuff in his house and his wife has put her foot down and declared it time for him to get rid of some of his junk, er....(did I do that again?) respected reading materials.  So, stop what you are doing and go here to find his blog, Constant Revision.

Both of these contest are very different but worth checking out.  

I will be back tomorrow kicking some major blog butt.  Until then, if you know about a contest going on right now on one of your friends blogs drop me a comment so I can check it out.  

Boating and Birthdays

Well today is the big day.


I am officially another year older.  Well if you want to get technical, it's not for another couple of hours, but I am selfish and want the whole day to be set aside in my honor.  In fact I am still waiting for this day to be declared a national holiday.  I wonder who I need to talk to, in order to make that happen?


Captain Kid is making me a special cake today.  It is a surprise.  I like that.  All I do know is it will have chocolate.  Because any cake for me has to have chocolate, because a birthday is not a true birthday without it.  (Right now Patty and Cynthia are shaking their heads in agreement.)

Up early we are getting ready to head out on the water.  I am a water girl.  I love the ocean and everything about it.  And I really like the fact that my birthday falls in the summer.  This way I get to spend my day doing the things I love the most.  


Another tradition for my birthday is to check out the year ahead according to my horoscope.  Here is what I learned about the upcoming year.  In a nutshell; I am fabulous.  Of course I already knew that but here is what it really said.


The sun in harmonious aspect to the moon in your Solar Return chart is a pleasant aspect (whew, I am so relieved), suggesting that your domestic and career needs are not in competition with one another this year.  Your inner needs tend to be mirrored by external events and vice versa (I love how vice versa sounds, don't you?).  You are likely to be on top (of course) of your game this year for the most part, and positive connections with others can be made fairly easily.  A comfortable level of personal popularity (I swear it said this) helps keep conflict to a minimum.  With the ability to handle your emotions successfully (this is new, believe me) there will be less stress on both your mind and body.  Your self confidence and positive attitude will reward you (about time).


Well, with all that in mind we are heading out for our day of fun and frivolity and I hope you all have a great weekend too.  Now let's skip all the Happy Birthday comments below and tell me what you want your horoscopes to say about you for the next year.


P.S. Birthday wishes are still welcome.


P.P.S. I also love presents.


P.P.P.S And money is my favorite.  Just saying....

Best Advice to Writers Blogfest

Last month I was invited to join a blogfest by Carrie Bailey who is known as @peevishpenman on twitter.  You can find the blogfest rules here.  If you are not following her on twitter, go and do so now.  I would like to thank Carrie for the invitation and the opportunity to participate and would encourage all of you to go and check out all of the great writers who are taking part in this blogfest today.  So without further ado I give you my entry...

From One Wannabe Writer to Another

A few years ago I was invited to attend an event being put together to celebrate successful women.  

At this particular conference a key note speaker was asked to share the best advice she had received from a mentor.  She responded with this; "Never take advice from anyone you wouldn't want to trade places with."  She went on to explain you wouldn't take marital advice from a divorce' (unless it's what not to do) or health advice from someone who obviously does not take care of their own health.  She was not being critical, just pointing out that you needed to know where to go to get your answers.

After that I started to research how my favorite authors approach their vocation. I think writing is more of a vocation than a career because the really good ones are "called" to do it. 

I should really prologue this by saying:

1.  I am not a new writer, I have been writing since I learned how to put pen to paper.  That doesn't mean you should listen to me. 

2.  I have never had a full book published. 

3.  I don't write because I have a burning desire to be published.  I write because I have a burning desire to write.

That being said, let me share what I have learned.  Now you are probably expecting me to talk about punctuation or word usage right?  Or maybe you think I am going to talk about revising and the pursuit of it.  How about writing what you know, or staying on point. 

While all of those are great tips, the best piece of advise I have ever received regarding writing is actually quite simple.

Write. 

Everyday.  

Even when you don't feel like it.  All of the rest of it will come to you.  The punctuation will be learned, corrections can be made on the fly and you will figure out what your point is and learn to stay on it.  

As you do this you will start to recognize your "voice", your attention to detail will grow and become second nature, and what feels good and what doesn't will come easier.  

The best part of this advice, the very best part, you are learning all of this as you do the thing you had set out to do to begin with. 

Write.

Dan Stark is no Joshua Lyman

Tonight my husband and I had a lively conversation regarding Bradley Whitford.  Don't know who he is?  Shame on you.  He is only responsible for one of the greatest characters ever portrayed on TV.  

Have you ever watched a show and been so taken with a character that the actor became a favorite.  Not because you liked the actor who played the character, but because you loved the character.  (To be honest I had never seen Mr. Whitford in anything before The West Wing.)

One of my all time favorite TV shows was the West Wing.  I fell in love with Josh Lyman.  I loved everything about this character from his cocky arrogance to his know-it-all political savvy mind.  

I loved how when it came to his job he was unflappable, but when it came to his personal life he was the most insecure man on the planet.  After seven seasons we had to say good-bye to Josh as this show went off the air.  

Just recently a new show came on Fox called "The Good Guys."  Bradley Whitford is playing a has-been, washed up detective who also happens to be a drunk.  This show is Keystone cops meet Starsky and Hutch.  

I have seen the first six shows and while I am not in love with Detective Stark (your not supposed to be), I have a hard time reconciling this version of Mr.  Whitford with the one that was my Joshua Lyman.  I miss him.  I wish I could bring him back.  I know I can't but a girl can dream.  

In all fairness Mr. Whitford is doing a great job at portraying this character, but I don't believe he will ever capture my heart the way he did when portrayed Joshua Lyman.  

Thank goodness for DVD's and syndication.  Now if you will excuse me I need to go and watch some "West Wing."  Okay so I just turn the TV on and leave the volume on mute so I can just stare at him, but it still fills a need.
 
So tell me, who is that one character on TV you don't want to live without?

It's all about who you celebrate with

So this week I have a birthday coming up.

I am going to be 41.  I look at that number and I ask myself, "where did the time go?"

It seems as if it were only yesterday, I was so excited about turning sixteen.  What a milestone that one would be, I can remember thinking.  I could not wait for that day to arrive. 

The next major birthday that I looked forward to was my twenty-first.  By this time I was already overseas, stationed on the island of Okinawa.  This birthday was a milestone for more than just the fact that I was now 21.  This was also the night that I met my future husband.  

Of course I still had the luxury of thinking thirty was old.  But back then I am pretty sure I thought twenty five was old.

Turning thirty was the one I had a hard time with.  To this day I am not sure why.  It seemed to signal the end of the carefree days that I associated with my twenties.  The party years so to speak.

When forty came, I was ready.  I was no longer fixated with the idea of getting older, just getting.

This week another birthday will come and go.  My husband and I will take the day off.  He will take me to my favorite restaurant for lunch and we will have calamari, oysters and a couple of blue moon beers.  After, we will spend the rest of the afternoon lazing around the pool.

The day will end with me blowing out two tacky candles on the most amazing cake my husband makes for me.  How lucky am I?  

So how did you spend your last birthday and who did you spend it with?  

Missing our weekend getaways

Normally this time of year the weekends are all about relaxing.  Me and Captain Kid spend almost every weekend that he is not on call out on our boat.

We start out early in order to see the water at it's calmest.  Sometimes it can be rough in the mornings but for the most part we always find the this time of day, before all of the boating traffic to be the smoothest.

We always have breakfast right after we get across the bay.  We will drop anchor somewhere, hopefully near a school of dolphins and eat.  I make my version of the egg McMuffin because we are both a big fan of those and maybe a bowl of fruit. After breakfast we take a ride.

After a couple of hours we will head to what we consider our spot on Doughnut Island (so called because of its round shape and the fact that is has absolutely  nothing on it.  No trees, no grass, nothing.  Just sand.  I am sure from the air it looks like a great big doughnut).  Sometimes we will dock at the Fort but normally it is getting too crowded by this time and we are sure to see the whole gang at the Island.

Once we have anchored, we unload all of the necessities which is no less than two beach chairs, a cooler, an umbrella, our floats and my beach bag (which weighs a ton because of all of the goodies I bring).  We are usually the first ones to arrive and setting up takes no time at all.

Over the next few hours others will come.  They will bring kids, families, dogs, friends, floats, food, games, grilles, coolers, umbrellas and suntan lotion.  We play in the water. We play games.  We cook.  We play our radio's too loud.   You don't see people talking on cell phones out here.  There are no computers, unless you count my kindle for reading and even that doesn't always come out of the bag.  We socialize and we break bread. 

This year that has changed due to the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.  The inter coastal waterways have been declared unsafe and boaters are cautioned to go out at their own risk.  We have decided to heed these warnings and wait until cleanup has been completed before we venture out once more. 

This time away from boating has brought it into perspective how important it is to take time just for me.  I really miss it, but want the Gulf to recover and prosper once again, so I can wait.  So tell me, how are you and your loved ones spending your down time this summer?

I GOT NOTHING

To all my faithful readers:

I have failed you today.  (My head is hanging low.)

No, really.  I have FAILED you.

I normally get my blog posts written the night before. 

This post should have been written last night.

Was it?

Heck no.  

In fact if you notice I am desperately trying to make these one sentence paragraphs stretch out so it looks as if I really do have something to say when what I really have is...that's right, nothing.  

When it comes to my WIP I don't run out of things to write about.  They aren't all good things and I know no one is going to read it, so maybe that makes it easier.  Wow, I think I just had an epiphany.  Nah, just really trying to take up more space here today.

Blogging, on the other hand is a much harder beast to tame.  I think I am on a roll and do some good stuff and then my brain just takes a vacation.  I will visit other blogs to see what they are saying in the hopes that something sparks.  Anything sparks.  But last night I got nothing.  

I spent some time trying to find a way, any way, that this could somehow be my husbands fault.  Yeah, I couldn't make that work either and believe me I tried.  Maybe I should head over to Linda's Blog Visiting Reality and see if she can give me an excuse.  She is a genius with that.

In closing I hope you all have a great weekend and that while I did take up your time if you stopped by to read this dismal post, I promise to get better by Monday.  Okay, I promise to try to get better by Monday.  No, no, I promise to get better by Monday.  What?  It's not like you guys can do anything if I don't.  Right?

So tell me where does you divine inspiration come from and how to you keep from wearing the Dunce cap? 

The Time the Paramedic Got me out of My Jordache

Have you ever heard the expression "can't chew gum and cross the street at the same time"?  Well I am pretty sure that phrase was coined because of me.  When I was thirteen I was hit by a car as I crossed the street.  I know, I know.  Pretty dumb.  

I am pretty sure it hurt, but I don't remember the pain.  My BFF was with me and she kept me pretty calm and stabilized.

When the paramedics arrived I was impressed by the sirens and flashing lights.  Did I mention I was in shock?  Well I was.  I even joked with Paramedic #1, "Aw, you shouldn't have.  You didn't have to do all this for me."  He did find me humorous.

We traded quips back and forth for a few moments.  "Kelly are you doing okay?" "Sure, you should see the other guy." 

"Can you feel this."  was answered only by my screams.  I still hear them in my dreams at night.  Okay, so I really don't but that sounded more dramatic.

I kept trying out my comedy act until I heard Paramedic #1 ask Paramedic #2 for scissors at which point I shot into a sitting position.  Well it was more of a grunt and shove than a shot, but you get the picture.  It seems my shock filled brain immediately understood that Paramedic #1 was going to use those scissors for no good.  Plus I was wearing my one and only pair of designer jeans.  The jordache jeans that I had coveted for almost a year that had been a gift the Christmas before.

Paramedic #2 kindly explained that due to the swelling of my leg they would need to cut the jeans off.  This sent me into a state of agitation as I tried to convince both of them that I could indeed remove my jeans the old fashioned way.  (Did I mention I had sustained three breaks to my right leg and one was a compound?)

Paramedic #2 tried to soothe me as Paramedic #1 worked his black magic with those scissors the whole time promising me that he would not cut any more than he had to.  I remember I was just about to give him a piece of my mind when I looked down and caught a glimpse of the newly revealed broken leg, at which time I promptly fainted.

To this day this is still one of my most traumatic experiences and it had nothing to do with the broken leg and everything to do with the ruined jeans. Whatever, so I'm a girl.  Big surprise. 

The Force is Strong With Me.

I need some help.

Can someone, anyone, explain to me why it is that grown men feel the need to revert to their inner ten year old when they can't find things?

I love my husband.  And I would not trade him for anything.  Really, I wouldn't. But why is it when he can't find something he stops looking after fifteen seconds and comes to me for divine inspiration?  It usually involves tracking down something that I am completely unfamiliar with.  Things like the following:

1.  Something I have never heard of,

2.  Something that has only EVER been in his office.  (Said office being off limits to me without his express written consent. For which I am eternally grateful to not have to navigate through that colossal mess.)

3.  Something that even had I picked it up would never have wanted for myself.

4.  Something that he really could live without.

That being said, why is it when he comes to me and asks me if I have seen said item I feel the need to immediately get up and look for it? I am normally working this blind since I am usually unfamiliar with the item in questions anyway. 

Of course I always get up and help search.  And the search usually ends after I have found whatever it is we are looking for.  Why it is me that always has to find it, I don't know.  But in our house that does seem to be the end result each and every time.

When I polled a couple of adult males (they were all over the age of 35) they explained that it had to do with the lady parts and something called a uterine tracking device.  Amazing, I was unaware.

When I asked Captain Kid about it, he just smiled and said, "The force is strong with you."  I always knew I had a superpower, now it appears I can channel Luke Skywalker as well.  Good information to have. 

So tell me, is the force strong with you?

My Most Rewarding Writing Day Yet

Have you ever had a day so perfect that it made you sad it was over?

That is how Saturday was for me. 

We spent all of last week getting ready for our 4th of July party on Sunday and I had no expectation for Saturday whatsoever.  We were up early to get the grocery shopping done.  

A little bit of trivia about me you might not have known.  I hate shopping.  I mean, I abhor it.  Any excuse I can find to get out of grocery shopping and I am all over that.

So on Saturday we were up early and all chores were done by ten.  We were so proud of ourselves that we decided to celebrate in true weekend tradition.  We would be lazy for the rest of the day.  Two blow up floats later, a couple of cold drinks, a magazine for Captain Kid and a book for me and we were in full laze mode.

The sky was so clear and blue it almost hurt to look away from it.  Their was no humidity to speak of (we live in Florida people!) AND we had a light breeze.

As I leisurely floated back and forth I found my mind sifting through the archives that is the filing cabinet in my head revisiting a story I had conceived about ten years ago but was never able to make work.  For whatever reason, on Saturday all of the loose ends neatly tied themselves and I rushed from the pool to the house in order to grab my laptop so I could get some of the ideas down.

I parked myself under an umbrella and didn't surface for about four hours.  I missed the best sun of the day, oh well.  I never did finish my book, I can always read next weekend.  My soda had completely watered itself down, I didn't need the sugar anyway, but I was so happy I couldn't stand it.  My glorious lazy day ended up being one of the most rewarding writing days I had in a while. 

Just thought I would share.  So tell me about your most recent rewarding writing day.  Oh and say that ten times super fast.

You Never Forget Your First Time

Growing up as a child of the 80's I spent equal time in church AND at the skating rink.

Roller skating was my refuge in a sea of battling parents and chaotic home life.

I can still remember my first time.  I stepped out onto that scuffed floor in those perky white skates with the hot pink wheels and matching pom poms.  My ankles wobbled as those wheels started spinning and I did a couple of wave moves from arm to arm as I tried to stay upright.

Very quickly I mastered this.  I was a different person when I was skating.  I could move through the masses with ease.  I was the Jimmie Johnson of the local roller skating world. 

Many years later I was invited to a friends birthday party, she thought it would be great to go old school and have a skating party.  Very nostalgic.  We convinced ourselves that skating must be something like riding a bike, once you learned how to do it you never forgot.  

Let me clarify.  WE HAD NO IDEA WHAT THE HELL WE WERE THINKING?  In theory I remembered how to skate.  In actuality, not so much.  But we were game.  We laced up those skates and got up with every intention of getting our butts out on the floor and showing our moves.  

Well we showed some moves all right.  Unfortunately, the only one I mastered that day was falling.  But as I had done many years before I kept getting up and trying again.  Eventually I was able to stand up without my feet shooting out from underneath me.  

After five hours of trying and failing, trying and failing, trying and finally declaring a truce with the skate devil we packed it in.

Lesson Learned:  Roller skating is nothing like riding a bike.

I know....I am brilliant.  So share your roller skating story, you know you want to.

Independence Day...how do you assert yours?

Today is the first day of July and we are on the countdown to the 4th.  Guess what?  Were gonna have a party.

Normally this time of year we spend the day boating with a bunch of our buds.  Unfortunately this year that will not be possible because of the oil spill in the Gulf.

I am saddened by that, but not because we can't go boating.  My sadness stems more from the actual oil spill in the Gulf.  The marine life that is being compromised on a daily basis.   The species that may face extinction due to this calamity.  

But this Sunday, while we won't be forgetting this, we are going to turn our attention to entertaining about twenty of our closest friends.  From noon until six we will be hanging in our back yard.  There will be a seriously competitive game of water volleyball and I am sure that my team will rein supreme.

The menu is going to be completely American.  Hamburgers, hot dogs, turkey burgers, pasta salad, fruit salad, baked beans, potato chips with lots of watermelon and whatever Captain Kid decides to make for dessert.

There will be wine, beer and a couple of pitchers of mango margarita's.  A party isn't a party without a pitcher of my special mango margarita's and since I am feeling particularly patriotic, and the watermelons are fantastically sweet right now I may even dazzle my guests with a pitcher of watermelon margarita's. 

After, I will have plenty of great stories to share with you guys and I can't tell you how grateful I am for that.  As you know I have been feeling the pressure to come up with some new topics.  

This party is so going to be my saving grace. Stay tuned...we got some good stories coming.  But in the meantime...tell me how you are going to spend yours?