A Quest for Converse

This week's theme at the Archives is "Mundane Adventures." Yesterday, L.T. Host relayed the perilous tale of driving in the rain on San Diego freeways. My adventure was just two weekends ago, during one of my best friends weddings (in which I was the matron of honor - by the way, my speech went very well!).

The bride had ordered a pair of purple Converse from the online store to wear at the reception. Her groom and the groomsmen we wearing green Converse, and she wanted purple to go with the wedding colors. When they arrived, she realized they were just a bit too big so she sent them back and requested a rush order. However, the people at Converse must not have understood that she REALLY meant it. The following Tuesday just wasn't going to cut it. So this is the adventure we found ourselves in, less than 24 hours before "I Do" ...

'Twas the night before the wedding, and all through Orange County, not a purple Converse shoe was in a size 7, not even a knock-off. The bride and her bridemaids rushed from Target to Wal-Mart, the only stores still open at 11pm, to find the elusive purple shoes. One was too faded, another just too hideous. We were glued to our phones and Yelp apps searching for the nearest shoe stores, calling when one looked promising.

And lo! A glimmer of hope! There was a Converse store a mere two miles from our hotel that didn't have purple, but they had some new ivory ones with gold trim. The salesperson promised that they would be perfect (she was a bride-to-be too). Our bride was elated - gold would go well (she was wearing tall sparkly gold heels for the ceremony, after all). We ended our pursuit for the evening.

After just a few hours of sleep, we awoke on the big day! The pouring rain outside wouldn't dampen our happiness and excitement for our friend. The hair stylist and make-up artist arrived a little after 7am to make us look picture-perfect. Myself and another bridesmaid got prepped first, and then we offered to get the shoes even though we still had clips in our hair and make-up undone.

The store was in an outdoor mall. The wind and rain whipped and swirled around us, flipping my brand-new umbrella inside out and mussing our hair. Water soaked through our shoes and pants. After a few wrong turns, we found the store and were presented with the golden Converse.

Our faces fell.

These shoes would not do. They were not the "classic" Converse our bride desired. And to be honest, I thought they were ugly. After confirming with the bride, we began a new quest in the store. Surely we could find something suitable in these many racks of Converse shoes.

In the clearance aisle, in the corner of the store, I found them. A classic Converse shoe with shimmering silver stripes in size 7. They looked like wedding shoes. We snapped a picture and texted it to the bride (which I don't have, but these are the shoes - much prettier in person!).

And she said yes! She was ecstatic!

Our quest complete, we returned to our hotel room and ventured through the hairspray fog (seriously, we had to leave the air conditioning on to filter the air!) and handed the shoes to the bride. They fit perfectly. The stylist fixed our hair and our Cinderella was the bell of the ball in her sparkly Converse shoes.

Mission accomplished.

Have you had any mundane adventures lately?

In the End, We're All Fruit

One of my best friends is getting married this weekend. I'm the matron of honor (why does that have to sound so...matronly?), which means I will be giving a speech. Naturally, I'm totally stressed out. I've never given a wedding speech before and I want it to be special and meaningful.

One of my favorite movie wedding speeches is from "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" and ties perfectly with this week's theme: FRUIT. Take a look:

I love the message in this speech. We're a different fruits living in the same fruit bowl. We all have our own unique favors and textures, contributing something different to the whole salad. If I were a fruit, I'd be a strawberry. I don't have thick skin. I try to be sweet, but sometimes you catch me when I'm tart and you just have to give me some more time. I love the summer. And I go well with chocolate (really, what fruit doesn't?).

Just a few more days for this fruit to figure out her matron of honor speech. I doubt it'll be as clever as Gus Portokalis, but I hope it will be just like a strawberry: short and sweet.

Something I Can't Live Without

To be honest, the first thing I thought of when presented with this week's theme "Something I can't live without" was cheese.

Yes, cheese. The wonder food.

It's so scrummy (scrumptious and yummy). Second thing I thought of was the Hubs (I'm so ashamed I didn't think of him first).

But after some more thought (and a slice of cheese), the one thing I can't live without is water and sunlight (OK, two things). When I say water and sunlight, it's not for the obvious reasons, like a plant needs it to do it's thing with the chlorophyll or something. I need water and sunlight for my sanity.

I've lived in San Diego my whole life. The sea and the sun are part of me. Just the idea of living in the middle of dry land makes me claustrophobic. Trapped. Suffocated.

The sun has an amazing power over my mood. What's funny is that I love a gray, rainy day too (probably because of the water!) but I can only take a few days of it before I have to feel the sun's warmth. My happiest day is on some tropical beach with the Hubs, snorkeling in the warm water and then lounging in the sun. Preferably with a plate of cheese and fruit.

Two very basic things, but two things I must have to survive. What can't you live without?

Recipes Are There For A Reason

This week's theme is household disasters! While mine isn't as exciting and dramatic as L.T. Host's glass-exploding-catching-the-kitchen-on-fire adventure, it is by far the WORST food I have ever made. And it was only about a month ago (I'm going to say it was a rookie mistake).

This year at Christmas, I asked for recipe books so I could make delicious soups. My sister-in-law got me a really fancy book from William Sonoma, plus the best ladle they had to offer (it's so shiny!). I was ready to make some kick-ass soup.

One Sunday, I flipped through the book and found "Beef Stew with Orange Zest and Red Wine." I had beef. I had red wine. Heck, I even had fresh oranges. I set to work.

Season the beef with flour, salt and pepper - Done

Cook the beef in olive oil - Done

Remove zest from orange - Done

Saute onions - Done

Stir in garlic, orange zest, thyme (don't have that - skip) and fennel seeds (skip) - Done

Add wine and reduce by half - Uh, how far down is half again?

Stir in broth and canned tomatoes - Hm, no tomatoes. And I don't have chicken broth, only beef. Oh well - black beans are a similar to tomatoes in consistency, right? They've got some juice in the can. I'll just add that. And I'll use beef broth. Beef broth, beef stew - it only makes sense.

Bring to a boil and simmer for 2.5 hours - What? I'm hungry now! I'll simmer it for an hour, what's the difference?

Turn up heat. Waits for it to boil.

Hm, there's not a lot of liquid in here.

Adds more broth. Covers and lets it simmer.


Waits...


My "stew" slowly turned into a paste. A black, lumpy paste. But hey, I used most of the ingredients. And beef and beans go naturally together. When I couldn't wait anymore, I tasted my creation. And I gagged.

My paste had an overwhelming flavor of orange zest and beans, with chewy beef lumps. I tried another bite just to be sure. I mean, I made this from scratch. I wasn't going to just throw it away. I had Hubs taste it too - he figured it couldn't taste as bad as it looked. Well, it tasted EXACTLY as bad as it looked.

The lesson? FOLLOW THE RECIPE. At least with the main ingredients. In fact, it's probably better to read all of the ingredients before starting. Also, beans and tomatoes are NOT the same.

What cooking disasters have you had lately?

Rituals: Cleaning

This week's theme is ... RITUALS. This could be anything - morning rituals, how you eat a burrito, the most efficient way you drive home. We all have them, usually without realizing.

The ritual I'm going to share with you today is: cleaning.

So exciting, I know! I had a very hard time coming up with the ritual to share (even though this week's theme was my idea ... yeah, that was so smart of me). But cleaning is something everyone has to do, and I'll bet we all go about it differently. Some people set a day every week to clean. Some people hide things in closets or shove piles of stuff along the walls until the sheer lack of floor space FORCES them to clean (this is me a lot of times).  Some people pick up as they go because they can't stand a messy house (I envy these people!). Some people hire a cleaning person (I envy these people too!).

My husband and I have agreed that he does the dishes and I do the laundry. I absolutely hate doing the dishes, and he hates doing laundry so it worked out great. Except I'm a big slacker and we tend to have overflowing laundry bins and run out of clean pants. But as far as rituals go, here's what we do when it's time to really get down to clean:

1. Start with the easy stuff - Generally, hubs works on the dishes while I start a load of laundry. I know some people work on the hard stuff first, but for cleaning the hard stuff (steam cleaning the floors, wiping down counters, etc.) is usually buried under piles of stuff.
2. We stick together - Working together makes it not such a lonely task. And we can make sure one of us doesn't find his/her way to the couch or computer.
3. We blast the Pandora music - Everything is better when you're rocking out.
4. We take a burrito break - Cleaning really works up an appetite, and generally the solution for a hungry hungry housekeeper is a California burrito from our local Mexican food joint.
5. We tackle one area at a time - It's more satisfying to get one room nice and clean than working on every room at once, thus only making it slightly cleaner everywhere. This is easier said than done because I get distracted easy.
6. We reward ourselves with a movie - Hubs tends to fizzle long before I do, and he often tries to get me to take a break and watch a movie. So I usually say that once we're finished, the movie can be our reward.

Do you do it differently? It's a rare day that we actually clean our place from top to bottom, and we generally only get a little bit done. Perhaps just getting rid of all our junk would help!

Sorry again that this post is a bit late. I hope you all had a fabulous Valentine's Day (our at-home fondue was super delicious!).

Dreams Come True

"No matter how your heart is grieving, if you keep on believing, the dream that you wish will come true." - Cinderella

This week's theme is A Dream Come True. A dream really is a wish your heart makes. But as we all know, you can't just wish your dreams into reality. Which makes them that much sweeter when you achieve them.

I was going to say that my dream that came true was my promotion at work. While that was an awesome and amazing thing, I don't think it qualifies as a "dream" because I still have room to grow in my career. It doesn't feel like I'm living a dream - yet.

So after some thought, I'm going to use a dream that happened more than a year ago but sometimes I still can't believe it actually happened (I know I've mentioned it before). This place that I live in, the one with the WALLS and the TWO BATHROOMS and the FIREPLACE and many other amazing things, it belongs to Hubs and me!!

No one else!

And when we bought our condo, so many others dreams came true with it. Picking out new carpet and taping those little paint cards on the wall to figure out what color to paint. AND THE WASHER/DRYER! No more community laundry where people steal your clothes and you try not to think about their underwear tumbling in that same machine. (I am a bit of a germaphobe. Please don't ask me to house sit so I have to sleep in your bed - no offense!)

The dream that came true for me was buying a condo and turning it into a home.

And even though we will eventually buy a house with a yard and get a dog (a future dream), I'm not in a hurry. I can see us living here for a solid few years. And considering that a couple of years ago I thought home ownership was so far out of reach, I'm living the dream right now.

What dreams (even small ones) have you achieved?

P.S. - A very small dream will be coming true soon! Ever since my birthday in September, I've been dying to go to Disneyland but the Pirates ride was closed and then I wanted everything to be back to normal after Christmas. So now we finally get to go!! Yay!!

A 2012 Wish List

Hello! It's nice to see you in this shiny new year, full of magic and possibilities. Even though our adult years seem to run together (and I often have to think really hard to remember how old I am), each year is unique. So here is my list of things that I wish would happen in 2012 (in no particular order):

• Meet my new niece in June. - It's not necessarily a wish as much as a thing-I'm-really-excited-about. I have seven nephews, guys. SEVEN. This is the first niece and oh how I'm going to spoil her with princess outfits and sparkly ponies and girly stuff!! (She'll probably be a tomboy - which is OK too but not quite as fun for me.)
• Finish that novel I started a year ago. - Writing is hard, guys. But worth it. But also hard. I'm going to do it though! And when I do, I can start on the shiny idea that I put on hold because I was determined to finish that first idea.
• Finish replacing the grout in the kitchen. - I won't say how long our kitchen tile has been without grout (*cough cough* ... since May .... *COUGH*) but it's finally time we do something about it. It was cracked, so Hubs and I used a grinder to remove the defective grout. Now those spaces are filled with crumbs and I don't want to look at them but I've been too lazy to fix it. NOT ANYMORE.
• A career change for Hubs. - The economy was not very kind to Hubs when it took a nose dive. Because of that, he's been doing a job that really doesn't suit him for a long time. But this year it's going to change. (Fingers crossed for us, guys. This is a biggie.)
• Save for our dream vacation. - Hubs and I really, really want to visit Australia. Preferably before we have kids. But have you SEEN the cost of plane tickets to Australia? Yikes-a-rino. So we need to save, save, save! (Or make a ton more money - I'd really prefer this option.)
• Read as much as possible. - I have a ZILLION books. That is a real number, guys (999999999---------------98, 999999999---------------99, a zillion!). 2011 had so many good books that I never would have heard about if I wasn't part of this community. About 90% of the books I have are ones I haven't had time to read yet. But I just finished A Million Suns by Beth Revis (sequel to Across the Universe) last night in the wee hours. OH MY, it's awesomesauce. For reals. Go read it now so I have someone to talk to about it.
•  Get rich. - I figured while I was at it, I might as well throw this in. It can't hurt to dream.

Here's to an awesome 2012! I'm partial to even-numbered years. And heck yeah, the Olympics are this summer!

Am I Worthy ... ?

Whenever something great happens to me, there's always that niggling thought. Am I worthy?

Well this week, I got a promotion at work. WAAAAAHOOOOOOO!!!! It's been in the works for about five months now. I'm so so so so so so so so happy that it finally went through. But I still can't help but wonder, do I deserve this? Am I really smart or skilled enough to be paid for what I do all day? What if one day they realize I'm not worth it and they just get rid of me?

I guess it comes down to the notion that I still don't feel like an official adult. For one, I still get scared of the dark sometimes. Or wake up from a nightmare and can't fall back asleep because...

A ZOMBIE IS COMING TO EAT ME ANY SECOND NOW IT WILL BE HERE AAAHHHHH.

Just last night I dreamt that a tsunami was coming and my plan was to dive head first into the 50-foot wave and try to swim. Yeah, smart move.

I also feel like there's still so much that I don't know about the world. Maybe other people just pretend to know what they're talking about. Maybe no one knows as much as they act like they know. Maybe everyone else is just as clueless as I feel sometimes.

I guess it comes down to that when I was a kid, being an adult seemed so different than what it's actually like. I'm 27, and I still feel like the kid I was in high school. Unsure of herself, afraid of what other people think, constantly checking to make sure I don't have food in my teeth or pantylines showing, wondering if my breath stinks or if I should exercise more.

Adults always seemed to know what to do. They were so responsible and busy and made so much money. But now that I've been an adult for almost 10 years, I now realize that no matter how old you are, those insecurities never truly go away.

Do you still feel like a naive kid trying to wear big girl/boy pants? Or do you feel totally worthy of your adult title, ready to tackle any day with a cup of coffee and a detailed plan of attack? Or maybe, being insecure and humble is the way we should go through life so that we can appreciate every day?

What has happened in your life to make you question whether you're worthy?

The Final Stretch

Tomorrow is November 30, which means I have a little more than 24 hours (OK, 29 hours to be exact) to add 3.5k to my WiP in order to reach my 15k goal for this month. Isn't that sad? Also, I have a work event tomorrow night so I will be lucky if I get 1k in after that.

YIPES!

I'm also smack dab in the "dreaded middle" and it is a bit dreadful. Then I look at all of the other people doing NaNoWriMo and achieving their 50k goals and I feel a bit ashamed how I'm struggling to reach just 15k. Stupid day job and super long commute, and my own lazy butt! But then I remember that I've been working on this since February. I am a very SLOW writer, and I've written more than a third of this WiP in the last few weeks alone. Plus it's my very first WiP ever so it's bound to be tougher.

Maybe I can be proud of the progress I've made this month. Even though I've heard this a million times, I shouldn't compare myself to other writers. Maybe I'm more like the turtle than the hare, but didn't the turtle win the race? Not that the hares out there can't win the race sometimes too. (Maybe I should've chosen a different metaphor?)

Anyway, sorry for the slightly whiney post today. I really liked L.T. Host's post yesterday about what you guys want to read about on this blog. And it's nice to meet some of the lurkers out there too. You like us, you REALLY like us! *throws candy*

What do you do when you find yourself agonizing over other people's successes? Or finishing their first draft (yay Adam!) or getting an agent or being in the "groove" and hammering out 10k in a day? Is the answer chocolate? (Please say it's chocolate.)


I better get back to it if I'm going to reach my goal. Good luck if you're working on a (fake) NaNo project too!

By the way, either next week or the week after I am going to have a guest on my post. She is self-pubbing her book and is doing a blog tour. I can't wait!

Unicorns Are So Distracting

I'm sitting in a meadow, admiring the beauty and meandering through the wildflowers. It's a familiar meadow, comfortable. If I just keep strolling along, I'll reach the other side. That's my plan. It's a promise I made to myself. I just need to focus and not get distracted. And then...

Ohmygoshohmygosh!! A sparkly unicorn!!

It promises me adventure and candy-coated dreams. It says we'll fly off to an enchanted land, just the two of us. We'll see a world I can only imagine, it says. It entices me with a shake of it's head and a wink. And a swish of that flowing, shiny tail.

So shiny.

But I can't, not when I made a promise to stay in my familiar meadow. I dream of seeing the other side someday. It's something I set my mind to and I can't stray now, not when I've gotten this far already.

Or can I?

My meadow is my current WiP - familiar and comfortable. I've thought about so many possible plot turns, the major steps along the way. I want to see the other side of the meadow. But that unicorn - it's just so tempting. It's this shiny idea that's been sneaking into my thoughts. It's so distracting and so exciting and how I just want to hop on it's back and ride to that magical new land.

*flails* What do I do? I'm afraid of leaving this story - one that I love - and not ever coming back. I could write a few pages of the new idea. But will that satisfy? Will I want to keep going deeper until I can't find my way back to my old WiP?

Worst of all, this happens right in the middle of NaNo month when I made a pledge to write 50 pages this month. And now all I can think of is this shiny idea, and my old WiP has lost a bit of its luster in comparison.

How do you handle a shiny new idea with bad timing? Seriously, it's so inconsiderate.

My Oh My, Your Scene is So Big

If you've been anywhere in the blogosphere or Twitter today, you'll know that it's the start of NaNoWriMo!

Last week I pledged to add 50 pages to my WiP this month. I realize this is a small goal compared to a 50k novel that the regular Nano-ers are doing. But considering this is my first one, I thought I'd start out with a modest goal so that I have a good chance of reaching it and hopefully blowing it out of the water.

On each week's posts this month, I will give you a word count update. Today I will start at writing at the 20,624 word mark. I hope to reach at least 36k by November 30. I'm sure I will learn some lessons along the way. This is still my first novel, after all.

Which brings me to what I'd like to discuss this week: writing the big scenes.

Last week, I came to a pivotal moment in my WiP. It's the moment my MC's world comes crashing down around her (it's actually where I'm going to pick up writing after I finish this blog post!). Here is what went through my mind:

1. (Weeks prior) How should she find out? Who should tell her? How? When? ...
2. *thinking, thinking, thinking* *weeks pass*
3. OK, I should just start writing and see what comes out.
4. *thinking thinking thinking* *puts it off* *slowly writes scene leading up to BIG SCENE*
5. (Last week) *starts writing BIG SCENE*
6. Hm, she ends up at this location with this person. OK, I'll go with this for now.
7. Oh dude! Look who just walked in! (Yes, I frequently surprise myself)
8. OK, so what should they say to each other?
9. *thinking, thinking, thinking*
10. *writes some awkward dialogue* (awkward for the characters - not awkward writing, I hope)
11. *BIG REVELATION* - dun dun DUUUUUNNN!
12. Yes! She finally knows! *dances in chair*
13. Aww, poor MC *sad face*
14. How should MC handle this news? Scream? Cry? Laugh? Go on a shooting rampage?
15. *writes MC's inner torment* *re-reads scene*
16. *thinks writing stinks*
17. Dang it! This scene is MUY IMPORTANTE. It has to smack the reader in the face!
18. *fidgets* *adds a sentence or two*
19. *whines to self*
20. Should I come back to it later?
21. No, no, no. I should make it GREAT the first time through. Don't be so LAZY.
22. *stares at screen*
23. Think like a best-selling author - what would THEY do?
24. *squirms some more*
25. That's enough for today. *closes WiP*

So that's where I am now. About to embark on step 26 and make this BIG SCENE and BIG BRILLIANT SCENE. Or, make it a solid scene and move on. (More likely the latter)

There's always the editing process, right?

Good luck with your NaNoWriMo endeavors!

My NaNoWriMo Pledge

I should be scolded. I've been a bad, bad writer. You see, I have a horrible, dirty confession:

I've only worked on my WiP maybe three times in the last month.

Dun dun DUUUUUN! And even when I sat down to write, I put in MAYBE 500 words - if that. Well, it all stops here. No more excuses. No more "But Hubs wants to watch a show with me" or "My Spidey senses are tingling and I need to go save someone." Because seriously, they can take care of themselves. I have no muscle to save them from whatever predicament they're in anyway.

So, you are all my witnesses. I PLEDGE to work on my WiP as often as possible during NaNoWriMo next month. Should I be so bold as to set a goal? There's no way I can write a full novel. I'm still working on my first one ever, and I have the day job.

Should I say 50 pages? Or about 15,000 words? That's a lot for me, guys. SOME people *cough, cough, L.T. Host - cough* can write 15k in a couple days. But I move at a slower pace. Yes, this feels about right. That means I'll have to put in 3,750 words a week. Once I wrote about that much in a single day!

Woo! I feel better already. I really enjoy writing. I do. Life just gets in the way sometimes. And then I get lazy. It happens to everyone. But I love my story and my characters. I want them to be more than just thoughts in my head. I want other people to read about them and give them life.

So who's with me? What are you pledging to do during NaNoWriMo? Let's all stick together and be each other's cheering squad. Without my fellow writers, I'd probably still be saying "yeah, maybe I'll write a novel - someday."

<3

Harry Potter to the Rescue

I don't really have much to say today. I had a long and stressful day, and I'm winding down with a California burrito and I lit all of my Halloween candles. Even though it's really hot in my house. But the ambiance is perfect.

One great thing to come out of today is that I ran across a video that reignites my passion for Harry Potter. Which is appropriate because Halloween is so close. It almost makes me want to confront a troll on Halloween night with nothing but a wand and wingardium leviosa as my best spell. ALMOST.

Anyway, this is what I'd like to share with you today (grab the tissues) ...

*sniff, sniff* So much love right now. I can't wait to be swept up by something as much as I was by this magical world. I hope that something does, but it's hard to imagine.

What made you happy today?

(By the way, guess what we're going to be for Halloween??)

Dreams You Don't Tell People

I have a secret ....

SHH, don't tell anybody! But I've always harbored this foolish desire to be in a rock band and sing in front of a huge crowd. Just to see what it feels like. (And, of course, I want to sound awesome and look fabulous and have everyone screaming for me.)

This may be quite shocking for those who know me as the quiet, timid introvert that I usually am. Talking in front of a group, even a small one, fills my stomach with butterflies. The only place I'm even a tiny bit brave is with the written word.

I've never had a singing lesson, and the most practice I have with playing an instrument is Guitar Hero. But we all have these crazy dreams, right? We know we'll never get there, but we still have a tiny glimmer of hope that somehow we'll have our chance. These are the dreams you indulge while behind closed doors and deny having around others. Because we're serious people. Practical. Logical.

There's no real point to this post, to be honest. I just wanted to say that I'm a dreamer, and I hope that you're a dreamer too. These foolish desires fill us with hope. Make us feel young no matter how old we get.

So go ahead, put on a tutu and twirl around like you're in Swan Lake. Do a somersault on your bed and pretend you're an Olympic gymnast. It's okay, we all do it.

Dream on, my friends.

*This post was inspired by watching "Dirty Dancing" :)

Milestones Are Like Kidney Stones - Hard to Pass, And Then Sweet Relief

Before I had my own place with Hubs, I used to dream of the day when we could go pick out paint colors and furniture and wall art and our own dish soap. The waiting was almost painful. I wanted a place to call my own. A place where my parents weren't the masters, but Hubs and I were. We used to talk about it so often and it felt like forever until we'd reach that day.

Thankfully, that day came a little over three years ago when we got our first apartment about a month before our wedding (I know, we lived in sin!). We didn't have anywhere to sit besides the floor or the bed until we borrowed a folding table from my parents. Then we got to test drive all of the reclining couches and kitchen tables until we found the perfect ones. We lovingly picked out new towels and sheets and yes, dish soap. It was awesome. And it's still awesome.

Then last October, we closed escrow on our very own place. A place that we OWN. Those countertops over there, they're OURS. Same with those walls and the fireplace. And we have two bathrooms! You can't even believe how excited I was to have two bathrooms. No longer do I have to do the potty dance waiting for my turn (though I've never used our second shower). And a hallway! And don't even get me started about the washer and dryer. AMAZING.

I'm really glad I still appreciate how wonderful it is to have our own space. To reach an accomplishment that we ached for all through early adulthood (yes, I lived at home during my 5 years in college). It makes it that much sweeter that I had to work so hard for it.

No matter where you are in your life, there's always that next goal. To move from our amazing but modest condo into a house with a yard. To get a dog. To get a book deal. To have children. To watch them grow into adulthood. To retire. To travel to all those far away places that are so exotic yet so beautiful and mysterious and exciting.

Why am I telling you all of this? Well, today was my dad's last day at his job. He finally reached that elusive milestone of retirement! A day that all of us hope to reach, that we DREAM about even though we may not even be close. Heck, I dream about it and I have at least 30 years to go. *sigh*

Today, I dedicate my post to my dad. After working for more than 35 years in a physically demanding job, he finally made it! And now he gets sweet, sweet freedom. Congratulations, Daddy!! You're the BEST!

What milestone are you working on?

Imaginary Friends

Do you remember that movie "Drop Dead Fred"? A little girl has an imaginary friend who gets her into all kinds of trouble. Her mother gets mad and pretends to tape him inside a jack-in-the-box. Then when the little girl grows up, she lets him out of the box and he's still the crazy imaginary friend she thought she made up. But now she's an adult and doesn't think it's funny anymore. Plus, Fred is a a perv.

Yeah, that movie was weird. But it's one of those '90s movies that I watched and would probably watch again on a lazy Sunday. [Spoiler alert - sorry, I'm sure you were dying to see this movie.] Can you believe they kiss at the end? Totally creeps me out.

Anyway.

I never had an imaginary friend as a kid. Probably because I had an older brother and sister to play with. (OK, so my friend David and I pretended in sixth grade that we had miniature dragons that we carried around on our shoulders. But that's beside the point. And actually, we got the idea out of a book about a kid with a pet dragon. So you see, it was cool. Totally.) The strange thing is, I feel like I have imaginary friends now.

I was writing on Saturday morning and I'm at the point in my WiP when the tension is really starting to build. I found myself getting all excited and anxious about what I'm planning to have happen to these people. These people who don't exist except in my own head. Kind of like imaginary friends.

I think this is an amazing thing that we do when we write fiction. People and places can come to life just by imagining their world and giving them a story. They become real to us. We bring them to life and can evoke real emotion in us. I truly care about them.

Right now, my imaginary friends are getting into a bit of trouble. I THINK I know how things are going to turn out, but not exactly. They've taken on a life of their own. Again, that's why pantsing is so fun :).

What's going on with your imaginary friends?