Happy Birthday Brother

Today is my brother's 13th birthday. It's almost impossible for me to believe that he is 13. My brother and I have an interesting realtionship. Since he was 7 he's made it his mission to destroy me (in a funny albeit annoying manner). Now that he's in his teens, I'm not sure I'll make through his teen years. Can't wait to see how I get through the next five years, until he makes it adulthood.

Spoilers

I love spoilers of all sorts. I love movie spoilers, television spoilers, and book spoilers. Reading spoilers, especially movie spoilers allows me to understand movie references without having to sit through the actual movie. Thanks to movie spoilers I've saved money and time while still being able to read the entire story.

Lists

Today I was very productive. My secret: a list. I am the queen of lists. When I was in school I'd have lists on my computer, in my day planner, and on a dry erase board. I love the feeling of crossing things off my list. In this phase in my life where I'm post-education and pre-full-time employment I forgot about how productive I was with lists. Having a chore or assignment on my list makes me accountable, I have to get it done. Because I put it on my list, I went to the bank and signed up at a new gym. And now, near the end of my day it feels really good to have everything crossed off my life.

Time

As the holiday season starts I'm always hit with the idea of how there is never enough time. With less than a month before Christmas I need to shop, bake, clean, and all the other everyday chores/jobs. More than that, I've known for a while that my dreams and aspirations are too much for one lifetime. There are so many things I want to be: lawyer, writer, wife, mother, teacher, loyal friend, consultant living London, diplomat, actress, singer, bed and breakfast owner... the list goes on. The hardest part is realizing that I won't be able to make all those dreams come true, there isn't enough time.

Indiana Jones

This afternoon I decided to waste a couple hours watching part of an Indiana Jones marathon on tv. While I watched I thought of the millions of things I should be doing including cleaning and doing laundry (the hamper is overflowing). But on rainy Saturday afternoons watching tv is just more enticing. I haven't seen Indiana Jones in a while and I've never seen the beginning of Raiders of the Lost Ark, just my luck I always start watching in the middle. Something that struck me while watching was the type of hero Indiana Jones is. In one scene he is fighting with a henchman. When the tables turn and the henchman is about to be killed Indiana tries to help him. It's something to be said about the PG, PG-13 heroes,  they can turn the other cheek and try to save someone who seconds earlier tried to kill them.

Christmas Season

Today marks one month until Christmas. While many were out taking advantage of Black Friday deals I was home with my family decorating the outside of our house. It's a couple day process, getting our house fully decorated. We make sure that there are so many lights and decorations planes flying overhead could see it. This year we added a new feature, a candy cane house made from our old playhouse. Once the house is fully decorated I will post pictures and you will see what a couple afternoons of work, dozens strands of light, ten plastic figures and two rolls of white and red duct tape gives you.

Happy thanksgiving

See above. Boom this counts as a post.

My Uncle

Today marks the 21st anniversary of my Uncle Peter's death. Uncle Peter was my godfather, which always made me feel a special connection to him. I was very young when he died so I don't remember much about him. I do remember he smelled like cigarette smoke and peppermint candies. Today, the smell of smoke does not bother me. I actually find the smell to be almost pleasant since it reminds me of my uncle. Even though he wasn't physically a part of my life, he's always been in my life. He has stayed alive through stories. My dad and his family will talk about their childhood and include stories about Peter. One of my brothers was given the middle name Peter in memory of the uncle he never met. I've considered carrying on this tradition if I had a son and honor my uncle and godfather. Especially with Thanksgiving tomorrow, I would ask everyone to remember those loved ones that aren't with you. Remember funny stories, some characteristic that always struck you, anything to keep the memory of that person alive.

Sister Time

Brace yourself world, my sisters and I are reuniting for Thanksgiving. We haven't been together in over a month, which may seem like a short period of time, but especially in my semi-employment has felt a lot longer. The next couple days will be full of television watching and baking for Thanksgiving but hopefully we'll still have some laughs. We won't do anything spectacular, just normal boring stuff. Best news is that the three of us girls out number our two brothers and can reign supreme again (it was weird when both my sisters were away at college and I was outnumbered for the first time in my life).

New Favorite Show

Thanks to Netflix I have discovered my new favorite show: Burn Notice. The show revolves around Michael, a newly fired spy. In his new life, Michael makes a living using his skills as a spy to help protect people in Miami from drug lords and crime bosses. The show has a great humor to it. Michael and his friends (former spies) deal with life threatening situations like a regular person would shopping for groceries. Another interesting part of the show is how they de-glamorize espionage with voice overs. Best thing about this show, is that I'm still in the middle of season 1 and have several more seasons I can watch back to back.

My Kindle

For my last birthday my parents bought me a kindle. I love it. Admittedly, in the last couple months I haven't read much on it (coming from my desire to be the writer not the reader). I've found several benefits to having a kindle. The obvious benefits are what Amazon advertises, it's light weight, stores lots of books, and you can get hours of reading done on the long lasting battery. But today as I looked through the library on my kindle I realized the best reason of all: anonymity of what I'm reading. I have a vast selection in my library. Some books are not ones I would want to be caught reading on the train (ie novels written based on the Castle television show). With my kindle I can (and have) read these Castle books in public w/o having to take off the dust jacket in fear of being judged for my book choice.

Boredom is my Muse

Today I got about six pages of writing done in about 30 minutes. The reason I got so much done was because I was sitting behind a desk bored out of my mind. Being bored at work has always been a source of inspiration for me. Especially when my job includes sitting and waiting I have free time, writing becomes the only way for me to stay sane.

10 Things I Learned from My Siblings

I am the oldest of five children. The youngest of my siblings is 16 years younger than me making for quite an age difference. Over the past 20+ years of having siblings I've learned a lot. Here is a list of the top 10 lessons.

1. Personal Boundaries don't exist
2. Silence must be investigated (especially when little boys are involved)
3. Chase is the best game ever invented
4. Meaningful conversations can take place in person, over the phone, on facebook, or on skype
5. You can have an entire conversation of movie/tv quotes and the Simpsons impersonations
6. Even though we're raised by the same parents, siblings can be completely different people
7. After making your sisters act out the 5th play you've written and directed, they become hostile
8. Don't ever video tape the plays you wrote, directed and made your sisters act out
9. It doesn't matter if your little brother is half your size, he still thinks he can beat you up or at least flip you over his head
10. When your sisters insist you read Harry Potter listen to them, when they insist you read Twilight ignore them

My Dream Thanksgiving Menu

It is exactly one week until Thanksgiving. The day once a year when I overindulge with turkey and cranberry sauce. Last night my mom was finalizing the menu (we are planning to have over 20 people at our house so planning is essential). As she went over all the food I began to think about what I would serve. Below is a list of my mom's menu and what my menu would be if I was hosting.

Mom                                                Mine

Turkey                                              Turkey

Mashed Potatoes                             Mashed Potatoes(My sister would kill me if I didn’t serve this)

Rolls                                                 Rolls

Stuffing                                             Stuffing

Cranberry Sauce                               Cranberry Sauce (the only thing I look forward to)

Green bean Casserole                      Plain Green beans

Yams                                                 Hell No

Squash                                              See Above

Carrots                                              No, one type of vegetable is more than enough

Corn                                                   I’m opposed to starches that masquerade as vegetables

                                                           Pizza (for those in my family who don’t like Turkey)

Five Superfluous Things I Can't Live Without

I borrowed this concept from my friend's blog. These are all things that are inessential for living but that I'm pretty sure I would be unable to live without.

1. My smartphone. I've only had it a year but the thought of not being able to check facebook continuously gives me hives.
2. Cable. Now I have more channels to flip through when I'm bored and nothing is on.
3. Pens and Notebooks. Ideas must be written down whenever I want to.
4. Water bottle. Doesn't matter what the bottle is made of as long as it hold water.
5. Hair band. There are a lot of times when my long hair needs to pulled away from my face.

Christmas Card

Last night my sisters and I watched one of our favorite movies, Christmas Card. Watching the movie together was interesting considering we used Skype to we could watch it together. The importance of watching the movie together stems from our need to make jokes throughout the movie. We comment on the bad dialogue, the attractiveness of the male lead, and the unintentional stupidity of my female lead's mother. My sisters and I are the only ones who actually find humor in movie, the rest of our family can't understand our fascination in the movie. If you were to ask me an inside joke that my sisters and I have I would say without hesitation the Christmas Card is it.

Escaping in Writing

I love to write adventure stories because I am a huge wimp in real life. Maybe it's because I have an over active imagination but a lot scares me. When I was a kid, my parents pitched a small tent in our living room for me and my sisters to "camp out" in. I remember being scared of bears attacking me b/c even though I was in my living room, in the middle of the suburbs, I imagined I was in the middle of a bear infested forest. When I write, I like to create strong, fearless characters. People who, unlike me, would investigate a thump in the middle of the night. When I write, I like to imagine I would act like my character if my imagination didn't always get the better of me.

Destination List

If I had endless resources and the right travel companion and a year to travel here's a list of the places I'd go and the things I'd do

1. Ireland--aimlessly drive through the entire country, picking up all the sights and culture each county could offer me
2. London--since it's my favorite city in the entire world I'd have to at least stop here to ride the London Eye, walk down the Thames River, and catch a West End show
3. Mont St. Michel, France--tour the town, take a bunch of pictures
4. Salzburg, Austria--take a "Sound of Music" tour (this technically doesn't exist, but with endless resources I'd hire the cast to show me where they filmed and maybe sing a couple songs)
5. Rome, Italy--toss a coin in the Trevi fountain, gain 50 pounds from the food and then walk it off by climbing the Spanish steps
6. Greece--swim in the water off the coast of Greece
7. Germany-visit Neuschwanstein Castle
8. Moscow-take picture in front of St. Basil's Cathedral (always loved how it looks)
9. New Zealand--take the Lord of the Rings tour because I'm a nerd
10. Hawaii-Relax on the beach, take a nature walk, and tour the memorial at Pearl Harbor

Shoes

I have another confession for this week: I love shoes. I am that stereotypical girl who owns dozens of pairs of shoes. I try to remain organized, I have a hanging shoe rack on my closet door, and three containers of shoes under my bed. My boots, which I can't fit in either place, are piled in the back of my closet and I have pairs of shoes that I wear regularly laying by my desk. Of my shoes, I love high heels. The lowest heel I own is 2 1/2 inches but most of my heels range in the 3-4 inch range (this annoys my mom b/c even barefoot I tower over her). I love my high heels, there are times I crave wearing them and will wear a pair around my house. Recently, I discovered Nine West and have bought four pairs of their shoes. My present for becoming a licensed attorney was a pair of peep toe Nine West shoes covered in lace. I love them.

Nerdy Me

I am a big nerd. My room is the best testament to this statement. I have a Doctor Who (Bristish Sci-Fi show)poster on my wall. I have an R2-D2 cookie jar on a shelf. A complete collection of plush M&M's dressed as Star Wars characters (It was a big deal about seven years ago). I also have a Star Wars: A New Hope Poster in my closet (to complete my joke that I'm a closet Star Wars fan). I have at least three sci-fiction novels on my bookcase, though I could have more I never counted. I also have a Wonder Woman costume in my closet from Halloween a couple years ago when my sisters and I went as Comic book heroes.

Getting Licensed

Today I got my license to practice law in Illinois. For those who aren't familiar with the process of becoming an attorney, in order to become an attorney law school graduates must first pass the bar and then in one large ceremony all new candidates are sworn in together. Originally, I thought that my post today would be all about becoming an official lawyer but on my way to the ceremony I realized that I would be blogging about my "adventure" to get to the ceremony itself.

On the way to the ceremony my dad's car broke down. It was scary how fast the car died, never have I gone from no problem to car won't move. With some help from strangers we were able to push the car off the expressway ramp and parked it on the side street. This was a new experience for me, I've never pushed a car while in neutral and never in a skirt suit and 2 inch heels. Once the car was parked we faced our new challenge, we were only 5 minutes into our hour long ride and now stuck without a car. We walked a couple blocks (luckily I had sensible heels on, at least by my standards) and hailed down a taxi (again lucky since we were in a neighborhood with few taxis driving around). My mom, sister, and I took the cab into the city, while my dad walked a mile to get back to our house and pick up my mom's car. While driving in the cab, my blood pressure rose higher than when I took the bar exam. Thanks to the extremely reckless driving of our taxi driver he made our hour long drive into a 1/2 hour drive. I luckily got to the ceremony with some time to spare so that I could sign my oath and get seats. Better still, my dad was able to drive as fast as he could and thanks to my connections w/ security at the convention center (thanks Katie! Love you so much) my dad was able to park right next to the entrance so he  could sneak into the ceremony and see me swear in.

Overall, today will be a day I won't forget anytime soon. Not because of my bad luck but for my good luck. Yes, there was one horrible, blood boiling experience but there was so much that went good.

My Love for Bad Movies

Ok, I have a confession to make...I love bad, cheesy, C-rated movies. On the top of my list is Leap Year, starring Amy Adams and Matthew Goode. The movie is everything a C-rated romantic comedy is supposed to be, cheesy, predictable, and cliche. But I can't help but love it. Perhaps my love for the movie comes from the fact that I would watch Amy Adams read the phonebook. Or it could be that Matthew Goode is incredibly sexy with his blue eyes and Irish brogue. But I think the main reason for my love of the movie is the setting. 95% of the movie takes place in Ireland. The breathtaking scenes of greenery, mountains, and crumbling castles are even more gorgeous than the two stars. I watch the movie and wish that I could take a road trip through Ireland. I can't be the only one who loves C-rated movies, please share your favorite "bad movie".

Books that Changed my Life

Here are five books which changed my life

1. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen--this is one of my favorite books, absolutely love it. If I were to ever have a daughter I'd name her Jane Elizabeth after the Bennet sisters.
2. Murder of Roger Ackroyd, Agatha Christie--most surprising ending I've ever read in a mystery series.
3. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee--read it in grade school, first time I ever liked a book someone told me to read
4. Little Women, Louisa May Alcott--favorite book from childhood. I hated that Beth died, but loved the Jo's strong character
5. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, J.K. Rowling--the book that introduced me to the series. For ten years I craved each new book.

Death of Hollywood's Imagination

MGM Studios just bought the rights to Where's Waldo. The studio plans to make a family action/adventure movie based on the book. That being said, I'm calling this time of death with Hollywood's imagination and creativity. The Hollywood which brought us Casablanca, It's a Wonderful Life, and Citizen Kane is now officially dead. Major Hollywood studios rarely make original movies, opting instead for remakes and movies based on video games, comic books, books, and now puzzles.

Development of My Not So Normal Life 3

I'm in the initial processes of writing MNSNL 3. This stage includes researching places Lily & Co. will travel on missions and general plot points and development. I decided to work on the last book in the series because of my momentum of getting MNSNL 2 ready for publication. I never thought there would be a MNSNL 3. I had intended to finish off the short series with book 2. Then in editing, I discovered a new twist that needed to be explored and character development that could not be noted in an epilogue. The downside to writing MNSNL 3 is the realization that characters will have to die. As of right now, I've decided on three characters who will not live to see the end of the book series. The idea of killing off these characters makes me sad (when I made my final decision about one character I had to hold back tears). I struggled with the idea about more deaths. I hate the idea of even fictional people dying. But, the one thing I wanted when I wrote MNSNL was at least a little reality (or at least as much as one could include in a story where a 12 year old is recruited to be a spy). And the reality is that in the dangerous life Lily leads, people die. The worst part about the characters who will die is that they were meant to make it to the end of the series. I've killed characters in the novels I've written, but those characters were always meant to die. They're deaths were inevitable, like J.K. Rowling killing James and Lily Potter. These new deaths are more akin to that of Lupin's death in Harry Potter; the death the author didn't plan on but realized had to happen.

Television Lied

As my friends and family are well aware of, I love television. As a pre-teen I would disobey my parent's rules about no tv after dinner and sneak away to watch Dark Angel, Dawson's Creek, and any other prime time show I could manage watching without getting caught. When I got into high school, my parents let me do homework and watch tv at the same time. I was in advanced classes and in the top quarter of my class, so as long as I got the work done it didn't matter whether I did it in front of the tv. In those formidable years, I soaked up images and ideas about what adulthood would be like. Ten years ago, adults had all the answers. They had great apartments, great jobs, and glamorous social lives. And as naive as it sounds, when I was a teenager, I thought that by the time I hit 25 I'd be living in a downtown apartment, with a fancy job, and have a certain piece of jewelry on my left ring finger. Why would I have such high expectations? Because that's what tv showed me. The characters on Friends lived across the street from Central Park in big apartments. The young doctors of ER had amazing jobs. And everyone on tv had a local bar/club/coffee shop where they would hang out for hours on end to flirt and talk. Adult life seemed so glamorous and carefree. Now that I've reached adulthood, all I can say is that those shows lied. Adulthood is not glamorous or carefree. It's filled with job searches, uncertainty, and lots of bills. I wish that characters like Liz Lemon from 30 Rock, were around when I was growing up. Liz Lemon is a mess. Her life is not glamorous or carefree. And if not Liz Lemon, where was Jim Halpert, Pam Beasley, Michael Scott, and Dwight Schrute ten years ago? The average, sometimes disgruntled, characters from The Office who work in an unglamorous job, so that they can live in the unglamorous Scranton (no offense to Scranton, PA but it's no NYC). Hell, where was Meredith Grey who's weekly voice overs remind us that just because you're a surgeon and dating McDreamy you can't still be seriously flawed? I wish that these average, flawed, unglamorous characters had been around ten years ago. If I would have grown up with these characters I might not have had such unrealistic notions of adulthood.

My Problem with NaNoWriMo

It is November, which to thousands (including my sister and friends) means that it is time to attempt to write a 50,000 novel in one month (that's 1,667 words a day). My sister has participated in NaNoWriMo four times now. My sister suggested that I participate in NaNoWriMo this year. I considered it but in the end, decided that NaNoWriMo is not for me. While I applaud those writers who take on the almost impossible task, I realized that I don't want to be one of them. I've worked on deadlines before. In the six months prior to law school I spent almost all my free time (and a lot of work time) wrote the last three books of a four book series I started in college. The deadline pushed me to finish, but since then little has gotten done with the books. I have three books still written in composition notebooks. In three years since I finished, I haven't edited the books to make them acceptable for an audience. And because I have done nothing in three years no one has read my books, not even my sisters. This is my problem with NaNoWriMo, it forces you to get the rough draft out but little after that. For me, getting the steps after the rough draft are the worst and when I need the incentives/support.

That being said here is some unsolicited advice to NaNoWriMo writers this semester: try your hardest to finish what you start. Even if you don't hit the 50,000 word mark persevere and get it done. Do whatever you can so that you can share your book.

Ten Things My Friends Have Taught Me

Below is a list of ten things that my friends have taught me.

 

1. Red wine (especially Merlot) is superior to white wine.

2. Dinner should always end with desert

3.School friends don't have to disappear over the summer

4.Passports need to have stamps in them

5.Drag Bingo is the BEST way to spend a Monday evening

6.I'm never alone (in a good way)

7. I don't have to hide my weird, crazy, nerdy, neurotic side

8. Even my wildest dreams aren't impossible

9. You should take as many study breaks as possible

10. A few close friends is better than dozens of fair weather friends

One of the Best Compliments Ever

My sister is editing my book. I chose her because she doesn't charge and is super meticulous. Since she is a bookworm, I take a lot of her comments to heart. For instance, in my first book, I changed part of Lily's character after my sister told me she couldn't relate to Lily. It is because I take Katie's opinion so seriously that I was touched by a recent comment she made. She told me that she was so engrossed in my book that she lost track of time at her job. It may sound stupid, but I was very proud of myself for writing something that would draw in a reader.

NaBloPoMo

Today kicks off the first day of National Blog Posting Month. I plan to use this motivation to keep up on my blog post. Since I last posted I found out that I passed the bar exam and started applying for attorney jobs. As any one who is looking for employment in this tough economy can attest, the process is exhausting and painful. Along with the job application process, my revisions for My Not So Normal Life continue. Right now, I'm on schedule for my Christmas release, so fingers crossed I will make the deadline. I will keep everyone posted on how I do on the job front and the book release.