Monday, December 31, 2012

Resolutions and Good Reads...

It's that time again when you're supposed to look back and evaluate your progress on last year's New Year resolutions. I didn't make any resolutions last year. I don't remember why I didn't, except that at the time I was a bit overwhelmed with the change in my position at work. Making my to-do list longer wasn't exactly a priority.  Still, there's something to be said for writing down your goals. I didn't accomplish as much creatively last year as I would have liked. Maybe if I had written down my goals I would have been more diligent about the pursuit.

And so...
2013 New Year's Resolutions
  1. Keep a healthy balance in life - work is work, home is home, family comes first. 
  2. Eating right and daily exercise needs to become a bigger priority.
  3. Take time to be creative daily - writing, quilting, singing, drawing.
  4. Read at least two novels each month.
  5. Write at least one blog post per month.
***Addendum... I was just reminded by my friend and critique partner that I forgot a goal:
     6.  Have an extended lunch with my friend and critique partner at least once a month.

As is the tradition of the final blogpost of the year, here is my 2012 Good Reads List:
  • DAYS OF BLOOD AND STARLIGHT, Laini Taylor
  • THE GOLDEN COMPASS, Philip Pullman
  • SUPERNATURALLY, Kiersten White
  • FLIGHT, Alyssa Rose Ivy
  • HUSH, HUSH, Becca Fitzpatrick
  • THE CRIMSON CROWN, Cinda Williams Chima
  • BLEAKER, Aimee Walker
  • THIRD GRADE ANGELS, Jerry Spinelli
  • A MOUSE CALLED WOLF, Dick King-Smith
  • DEAD END IN NORVELT, Jack Gantos
  • BITTERBLUE, Kristin Cashore
  • CITY OF LOST SOULS, Cassandra Clare
  • THE CAROUSEL GHOST, Andrea Pellecshi
  • THE ELEVENTH PLAGUE, by Jeff Hirsch
  • EAT, PRAY, LOVE, by Elizabeth Gilbert
  • THE SCORPIO RACES, Maggie Stiefvater
  • DAUGHTER OF SMOKE AND BONE, Laini Taylor
  • THE BOY PROJECT, Kami Kinard
  • THE GOOSE GIRL, Shannon Hale
  • LEGEND, Marie Lu
  • CINDER, Marissa Meyer
  • FIRE, Kristin Cashore

  Happy New Year! May 2013 be a year of blessings and successes!

Sunday, December 16, 2012

5 SIGNS YOU SHOULD PROBABLY GO TO BED...


1. You can't find your keys. You search and search, but to no avail. You finally decide to stop and have a glass of ice water and mentally retrace your steps. That's when you find your keys - in the freezer next to the ice.

2. The cake you baked is not the rectangular shape it's supposed to be. It tilts to the side and looks more like a triangle than a rectangle. It's not until after the cake cools that you realize the oven rack is crooked. 

3. You make yourself a sunny-side-up egg with toast for breakfast. You skip the salt and pull out the small pepper grinder for flavor. It's not until you take the first bite that you realize it wasn't the pepper grinder, but cinnamon. 

4. You dress in your best black sparkles to accompany a program at church. Your pants are strangely dragging the ground, and you're tripping on them. They've never fit like that before. It's not until you are in the ladies room that you realize you've put them on backwards. 

5. You are accompanying the Christmas program in your best black sparkles. Your mind wanders and begins to make mental lists of all the things that must be accomplished before the day is done. You accidentally turn three pages instead of one, and you become completely, totally, ridiculously, no way to hide it lost in the music. It takes two pages of this nonsense to find your place again. In the middle of a performance. Just you. And the poor soloist. 

6. Your husband takes you out to dinner after the Christmas performance. You're still wearing the black sparkles. The meal is very good, but you find yourself falling asleep after the last bite. You can't keep your eyes open, or follow the conversation, or even pretend to care. 

7. You realize you've posted six signs, now seven, but your title says five.  

This is exhausted Nora. What's your story?