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Posts Tagged ‘NaBloPoMo’

I have a good excuse

November 29th, 2011 1 comment

I almost made it through NaBloPoMo without missing a day. Almost. I missed yesterday. However, I have a good excuse.

Sunday night, my husband and I hit the road from Texas to Tennessee. I had intended to write about our trip on Monday, since it was 13.5 hours long and surely it would make for a semi-interesting post. We drove from 8:30 pm to 10 am the next morning, successfully running behind the mad Thanksgiving day traffic for the last 12 hours of the drive.

After that many hours on the road, though, my muse was sleeping. Writing just wasn’t going to happen. So I figured I would get some sleep, then write when I got up.

Instead, I slept a lot longer than I meant to, and I hit the floor running. We had invited friends over for the evening, and our house was void of any food other than a couple cans of soup. So it was shower, grocery store, home, and cook.

It was a great choice to have friends over, though. We had SO  much fun just eating frozen pizza and decorating little liquor bottles into Christmas ornaments. It wasn’t until they headed home that I realized I’d missed posting the entire day.

Oh well, I decided. It was okay to miss a day writing about life just to live it for awhile.

Happy moments

November 17th, 2011 1 comment

What has been the happiest moment of your life thus far? -Nablopomo Prompt

Life is made up of moments. Happy moments. Sad moments. Indifferent moments. Moments you wish you could get back and change. Moments you wish you could relive over and over and over again.

Picking a happiest moment is HARD, so I am totally cheating. Thought I’d talk about some of my happiest moments — plural — instead. (In no particular order!!)

My Wedding Day — OF COURSE! It fell together so perfectly. There were hiccups, but those just make the day even more special. Those are the ones we laugh about today. We smile about the light rain the fell ever so briefly after the ceremony. We tear up remembering those who couldn’t be there with us (specifically my husband’s Mom). And over all — one of my happiest days of my life. (OK, its THE happiest day!)

Graduation — August 15, 2003. I graduated from Texas A&M University. A dream come true!!!! I am an Aggie and I have the diploma on the wall to show I’m not just a fan. I am alumni!

State winner — Freshmen year. Winning 2nd place in state competition for Headline Writing. SO SURREAL. TOO COOL!

Engagement — Dang seagulls! Distracted me while my now-husband got down on  one knee. AND SO MANY PEOPLE KNEW! How on earth did everyone keep such a secret!? AHHHH! And I didn’t say,”Yes.” No. I said, “Of course.”

It’s that moment its all just perfect — Its a fleeting moment I remember from high school. When our half-time performance just CLICKED. It felt great. You knew it WAS great. And it ended with a standing ovation from a crowd that usually couldn’t care less about the band. Oh what a RUSH!

It’s a boy! Then it’s a girl! –  My nephew and my niece are soooo lights in my world. I look forward to having my own kids, but until this… I’ll just try to spoil these two as much as possible!

Just some average day — When I take a day to set all my worries aside. Maybe its a day I can go for a drive in the sunshine, with the windows down. Or maybe its a day on the couch watching the rain fall. It matters none. Sometimes the most average day can be one of the happiest.

 

Categories: about-me, NaBloPoMo Tags: ,

Pen vs. Computer

November 4th, 2011 3 comments

NaBloPoMo 2011I had an epiphany tonight. I’m calling it an epiphany because it was just this calming fleeting moment in time. I was writing a friend a short little, “This is what I am doing” email. As I hit send, I thought, “I am a photographer and a writer.” That was it. That was my epiphany.

See, I’ve had others say I’m a photographer. I’ve had others say I’m a writer. But I, myself, have always said, “I’m trying to get into writing.” or “I’m trying to get into photography.” I actually had someone get almost mad at me one day and go, “There is no try. You ARE.”

And. I guess. Tonight it hit me. Really hit me. I am. And so with that, I embrace that I am a glutton for punishment. Because on top of NaNoWriMo this month. On top of finishing and preparing to start another Project 365. I am ALSO participating in NaBloPoMo — aka National Blog Posting Month. A blog post every day for the month of November.

Yes. I am crazy. But I am a writer. And I am a photographer. And these things are important to me.

So, upon having a total case of blog-block tonight, I made my way over to the NaBloPoMo homebase and looked for today’s writing prompt.

Friday, November 4, 2011
When you are writing, do you prefer to use a pen or a computer?

Ah. I will never give up my spiral notebook and pen. I prefer to write on the computer in general. Its just faster. But, I have to have my notebook and pen to jot notes. I think if I were still in college, I’d STILL lug a backpack of spirals over a laptop to lectures.

I heard that many schools don’t even bother to teach penmanship any more. I heard cursive writing is a thing of the past. And this makes me so sad to hear. I love getting cards in the mail. I still love handwritten letters. You need to know how to fill out a paper application for some jobs! And… dang it, sometime you just need to write a check.

Yes! I STILL WRITE CHECKS. (Oh okay, I only write them for my rent payment and to make donations at church. But still! I write them!)

I still get little hearts in my eyes at gel pens at the store. And Sharpies… Sharpies are just FUN. I wish my handwriting were better — I always have — but its not bad. And your handwriting is as much a part of who you are as is your eye color. I don’t want to see that fact just go away with laptops and smart phones.

I do prefer to write on the computer — but I will always ALWAYS love pens and paper.

Categories: writing Tags: , ,

Starting my day

October 5th, 2010 3 comments

Breakfast. They say its the most important meal of the day.

I have gone through phases in life, though, in which I just skipped that important meal. In high school, I went through a carb-breakfast phase. I found popcorn or potato chips or Frito’s to be perfectly acceptable forms of breakfast. In college, I would be a good two to three hours into my day before I would stop at a snack shop for a bagel or something.

Today, though, I can’t have a good day without getting up and having breakfast. I’ve embraced that important meal.

Every day (except days when I have to go pick up my husband from the bus — those are usually get up, throw on a baseball cap and run out of the door still rubbing sleep out of my eyes), I get up and head straight to the kitchen.

Coffee is hit or miss. Some days I can’t imagine not brewing a pot of coffee. Sometimes, though, that depends on if I get up way earlier than I know my husband wants to get up. We have a coffee grinder, and I hate to wake him by using it on those mornings. Other days, I wrinkle my nose at the coffee pot and reach for either a glass of milk or juice. Sometimes I’m feeling especially rebellious and I’ll reach for a Dr. Pepper.

Then, its generally one of three breakfast options:

– eggs. I grew up hating eggs, but in the last year I’ve started going through a dozen eggs every couple of weeks. Fried or scrambled or sometimes boiled. I’ve found a pleasure in this breakfast item. Scrambled is usually combined with ham or cheese and some salsa. You have to put a splash of milk in your scrambled eggs to really fluff them up.  Fried is over easy. However, I’ve definitely found the quality of egg to be key in this. I hate when the yolk breaks while I’m frying it. The whole point of fried eggs is the buttery, gooey yolk! Fried eggs must always be accompanied by toast with jelly.

– cereal. Who doesn’t love a big bowl of cereal in the morning? What takes you back to childhood faster!? Special K, Cheerios or Total are usually the three brands in our pantry. Occasionally I’ll sneak in some Cinnamon Toast Crunch, though. I always put in way too much milk, but I don’t care. I don’t want dry cereal! I want to be able to drink the milk after, or perhaps use it in my freshly brewed cup of coffee. Seriously, the milk that was used over cinnamon cereal is the best thing ever in a cup of coffee.

–PB&J.  I blame my parents for this one. They’ve been on a peanut butter and jelly for breakfast kick for awhile now, and I totally understand why. Its a wonderful comfort food as you start your day! I alternate between toasting my bread or leaving it soft and squishy. My husband hates my other addition I make to PB&J at times: breakfast meat. He says its gross. I ignore him and do it any way. It’s my one thing I eat that most people probably do find gross, but I say, “Don’t knock it until you try it!”

Oh, sure, some days I sway from these breakfast choices. Pop Tarts find their way into my pantry sometimes. Oatmeal as well. But most of the time, you’ll find me devouring any of these three items within fifteen minutes of rolling out of bed.

So I ask: What’s your favorite breakfast choices?

*Topic idea from NaBloPoMo today.

So long, month seven

July 30th, 2010 No comments

It’s the last day of July, and I, for one, can’t see it end fast enough. This has not been a good month for anyone, as I’ve talked about in previous posts, and its not totally over just yet. We have to get through today before we can breathe a sigh of relief as this month to passes. But, I am definitely going into August with optimism.

Times like July has been can either get you down or motivate you to make things better. I’m opting for the latter of the two.

It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.
– Henry David Thoreau

I see opportunities everywhere I look, and I see Aug. 1 as a chance to turn over a new leaf and pursue those opportunities with even MORE vigor. Take the positive changes I’ve had happen in July and build upon them. I refuse to focus on the negative aspects. I acknowledge them, and I work towards fixing them. But I won’t focus on them. I plan to turn those negatives into a positive force to push forward.

Tonight, I sat and did a brainstorming exercise. I plan to participate, for the first time, in NaBloPoMo in August to jump start a good habit of posting daily. I listed out 50 blog ideas. Then I kept going. I’m up to 54 with atleast two of them holding the potential to be a recurring weekly theme. I’m excited! But I want to open up the comments to anyone with blog ideas… any topics that others would be interested in seeing me explore? I welcome suggestions, and I welcome August. Here’s to making it a far better month than the one before.

Categories: blogging Tags: , ,