I Have the Best Boss

We had our semi-annual staff retreat today and we accomplished a lot in a short amount of time, then we were all given gift cards and told to leave for the day, no more working.  So at noon, my carpooling buddy and I left and I took my gift card and just spent the past two hours splurging on boots and jeans.  I needed the jeans, I did not need the boots.  I love having money to burn...and that was part of the deal of the gift card, she told us we had to spend it on ourselves.  So now I'm at Barnes N Noble...my favorite place to be when I'm alone.  When I'm done here, I'm going back out shopping a little more, spending gift cards from my husband's family (thanks guys!).  So today is like my Christmas morning, since us adults typically don't have much going on as far as gifts under the tree.  They wouldn't fit next to Jane's and Abby's.  They were spoiled this year.

Also, I ran 5 miles last night, randomly.  I forced myself to go out for the run but didn't have a set amount of miles in mind, and for me, 5 miles is definitely a rare (and far) distance.  The furthest I've ever run is 6 miles, one time, there's a blog post about it in my history here but I'm too disorganized to go find it.  I don't think I've run over 4.5 miles more than a few times ever, like, in my life.  So I'm really impressed with the fact that I can just randomly decide while I'm running that I want to go further, and that I am capable of running for that long and that far without stopping to walk.  I never thought I'd be able to do that.  It's awesome.

Afterward (since the girls were already in bed and the husband was almost ready for bed), I curled up on the couch with tea and a new book.  It was a great night.

Now I'll finish up my lunch and head back out for more shopping :)

Damn, I love the holidays.

Busy busy busy

I feel like I've used that title before.  Eh, oh well.  It's true again.  But it's a really good busy.  For one thing, I have been keeping up with all my various must-be-dones for Christmas.  I've still been writing the book, I'm totally caught up with jewelry (what an awesome feeling for this time of year), we've had Christmas cookies two weeks in a row, lights are up outside, the house isn't in total disarray, etc.  I've been listening to audiobooks and podcasts through a lot of these chores/tasks, which is definitely a big reason why I'm not resentful of how much I have to do.  I have actually enjoyed cleaning.

One of the audiobooks I'm listening to is Unbroken.  I finally started reading it after finishing Goldfinch so many weeks (months?) ago.  I've heard so many good things.  People have told me it's a quick read, I'd get through it so fast.  And after starting it in the hard cover...then dragging through to the point where I felt like I was forcing myself to keep going, I found it on my kindle.  I thought, having it more available, I'd get into it more and get to a part of the book where I'd feel like I couldn't put it down.  That didn't happen.  I finally broke down and found it on Audible.  I've been listening to it for over a week, reading it for over a month, and I have to say...I really hate it.  The writing is just awful.  I really don't get what the big deal surrounding this book is all about.  I mean...the story of this guy is definitely honorable, I'm not saying anything against the recounting of this man's hardships, and all of the hardships of the POWs in World War II, but the author's annoying attempt to sound clever sentence after sentence is making me want to rip my hair out.  So that's my rant for this book...I've been wanting to get that out for a while now.

So I need to start running more often.  I'm still going on at least one weekend run, but I need to fit a couple more weeknights in...and I've been slacking.  Holiday cookies, egg nog, candy canes, and cereal mix aren't really helping me fit into my jeans either.  I probably need to go have another cup of egg nog now.

Good night :)

Happy Holidays!

I've still been working on my NaNoWriMo book...I have about 20-25,000 more words to write before I can wrap up the full story but I'm feeling good about it.  With work and jewelry, right now has been busy...but between the week of Christmas and New Years and for a few days after New Years, I will have a lot more time.  I'm off work from 12/24 at noon until January 5th.  I have a few things to finish for jewelry but I will be done this weekend and almost completely caught up.

All in all, I'm feeling pretty excellent right now.  It's the holiday season, I'm finishing up a book, I'm caught up on jewelry (and I was even in the newspaper for my jewelry!!) I'm exercising (not as much as I should be, but enough that I don't feel too guilty), I'm thoroughly enjoying all aspects of my life.  It's a great feeling.

With the New Year coming up, I've been considering ideas for resolutions.  I want to try writing more short stories next year so my plan is to do a short story one month, then try to get it published the next month.  So January, March, May, July, September, November would all be writing months and then February, April, June, August, October and December would all be try to get published months.  And then generally editing one of my two manuscripts (probably the one I wrote a couple of years ago), while also looking into sending out queries for that book.  That's my writing resolution.

My jewelry resolution will be to get the things added to my shop that I want on there, like the white copper charms and other varieties of white copper keychains.  I seriously love working in white copper...and the firing of it so far has been 100% successful, which makes it my new favorite metal clay.  Plus it looks just like silver after it has been fired, so I can sell it as a much more affordable alternative.

For health/exercise, I want to do more yoga (a resolution that keeps getting renewed), mediate more (another renewal), eat more vegetables and less crap.

For family I want to do bedtime stories every night (we're bad with this right now) and work on more fun learning activities for both girls after school and on weekends.  At least something every day.

That's probably good, right?  I love resolutions.

Happy Friday :)

NaNoWriMo Winner!!!!! :)

Yay!!! I did it!!! I finished my 50,016th word at Barnes n Noble yesterday afternoon during one of my regular writing times.  I was glad the month started on a Saturday and ended on a Sunday...kind of perfect for writing (especially for those of us with M-F jobs and children).  I'm so happy with what I've accomplished this month and though I know I have at least 30,000 more to go before I've completed the full novel, I feel totally confident that I will have my second full manuscript complete before the end of the year (that's my goal).

Thanks for keeping me accountable!