Archive for June, 2008

June 30, 2008

Imagine A World

Sometimes, when there’s too much to do and not enough time to do it, the brain goes to interesting places. I think it’s the body’s way of keeping you sane, preventing total meltdown. I don’t mean this in an emotional way. For instance, today at work, it felt like just when we got a second to catch our breath, another group of people were coming in, another load of dishes needed to be washed, another pot of coffee brewed, another spill to clean, another jug of milk to fill… I mean, it was one of those days when I looked, and it was 2:40 and I hadn’t taken my 15 minute break and I left at 3pm so there it went. That’s the type of madness I’m talking about.

Oddly enough, you start to think about strange things. Things completely unrelated to anything, really, just your brain processing information around habitual actions. Steam milk- what would be my first reaction if I opened my eyes and couldn’t see anything? Brew coffee-  how much caffeine is necessary to actually put someone into shock? Make sandwich- can a decision in the present change the future if a person goes back in time to first change the past? *blinks* That one is related to a story and it still makes my head spin a little bit.

Anyway, Lisa (*waves!!!*), one of my awesome co-workers and a total sweetie, managed to bring us Cafe peeps a little ‘trivia of the day’ I suppose you could call it. The question was: if you could create an animal to live on the earth, what would it be?

Now at first, I thought she meant, like an all new species. But what she really meant, was an animal that could interact with human society, ie. a gossip squirrel and ninja mouse. I totally love the squirrel concept, mostly because I can totally see it knocking on the window first thing in the morning, with a little nut in its hands, going: You won’t believe what I just heard…

So of course, Deni, my cafe compadre, and I, had to put in our two cents. Here were our creations.

Scenario 1:

Smart dolphins who wear bowties and reading glasses and are transported through portable water tubs. Imagine this- I’m in the editing office. He’s sitting across from me, in his little tub full of water. He’s got the reading glasses perched on his nose.

Well, Miss Santiago, he says, I think this is impressive work. Unfortunately, your use of adverbs is excessive. Careful with speaking in passive voice. He shifts. Water splashes onto the floor. He looks down. The glasses slide down his bottlenose. I sit, uncomfortable in my seat. Uh… I say. Let me get those for you. I slide them  back up his nose. I’m obliged.

Is that the first sign of serious cabin fever? Not only imagining crazy, new animals, but also setting up real life scenarios for them? ;) Might be.

Scenario 2:

 my favorite singing octopus

Octopus’ (octopuses?), classically trained to sing opera in several languages (including latin, italian, and french). Because they’re considered relatively large creatures, they would totally further the plus size movement for women and encourage chubby little girls (yea, you know I’m going back to my own childhood here) to follow their dreams.

We are so sick. ;)

On the plus side, I ironed out a few issues in my futuristic W.I.P. The chapter was stagnant because I had no main goal. I’ve got a better idea where I’m headed. So hopefully I’ll kick out something awesome. I already started it and I’m excited about the direction it’s headed. It’s definitely much more in the moment.

Happy Monday!

June 29, 2008

BLT sandwiches are love.

BLT sandwiches are love.

Question of the day: How many Monster energy drinks does it take to crash a healthy, 130 lbs. 20 yr old male?

June 27, 2008

Testing, testing

FINALLY! My Twitter post works! Woohoo! Blog/Twitter connection perfected. Thank you WordPress Plugins. Next up: phone/Twitter connection!*

June 27, 2008

I thought I had it all figured out…

The perfect way to get my crazy random thoughts onto my blog daily, AS THEY COME TO ME.

It’s called Twitter. I have NO clue how to use it but if I could get it to work, I’d have the answer to all of my blogging problems.

Why do I get myself into these things?

June 26, 2008

The Thing About Wifi Is…

… it’s not always very reliable. Which is why (despite my best efforts) I could not make my way online last night. I spent the day doing nothing but lounging by the pool. It was our first day of full on sun and heat! It’s been rain and thunderstorms all week long so you know how psyched I was to wake up to sunshine. I think I may have actually yelped and jumped out of bed. But really, can you blame me?  ^_^

I did however make one major mishap. Forgot sunscreen. I brought some tanning oil stuff but the sun was really beaming. So I am now sporting some sunburn. *sigh* I know. I want to slap myself.

In the end, yesterday was a good time. I felt exhausted and sore after a day of swimming. Plus the sunburn made me majorly sleepy. Hubby rented HotRod with Andy Sandberg from SNL and we laughed a good bit before we both passed out.

The meal of the night was Lasagna with garlic bread and spinach salad. The lighting, as usual is terrible, due to my camera phone. But… it plated nicely so I took the picture anyway. ;)

 I don’t think I realized how much I missed cooking real meals until this week. I think I’ll set up a weekly food chart when I get home so I can cook large meals that last us the week rather than quick 10 minute meals composed of mostly grilled veggies and some sort of meat. Eating real homecooked food was a nice treat.

We’re headed home tomorrow morning. I’ve got my handy dandy laptop and my notebook so I can do edits (which I just got back today, last round I believe!) and I can work on that new opening for my YA fantasy. By tomorrow evening I’ll be back home. *sigh* What a week!

I hope you all have a wonderful Thursday and if I don’t see you tomorrow, start your weekend off with a bang!

June 24, 2008

Finding My Balance

Funny, the things that strike inspiration in us.

Today began like many other days have on this vacation. I woke up semi-late (10am), worked out at the gym, showered, and prepared for a massage appointment CBear set up for us. 1 hour Swedish Massage= heaven. I must have been much more tense than I realized because when the lady pressed into my shoulders and the back of my neck, it just about knocked me out. I was practically limp the entire time she worked. Which is awesome. I felt rubbery and fabulous when it was over. This weird tick I’ve had in my eye the past week disappeared for a few hours and I’m pretty certain it has to do with my stress levels getting too high. *makes mental note* No more letting myself get that way. It’s not cute to talk to someone and have them think you’re hitting on them cause you keep winking. ^_^

After the massage we hit the supermarket for a few last minute things and wouldn’t you know, they had a power surge that kept us in line for a good 30 minutes. It would have made me cranky except they passed out cookies and the lady behind me was really sweet and we talked for a while about a slew of weird, unrelated things. Then, when she finally decided it was time to head out (it was her parents’ anniversary and she had only wanted flowers), hubby and I followed suit and hit up Walmart instead. Good thing. We paid half what we would have at the supermarket.

Anyway, on the ride home, I was struck by a sudden little voice in my head. It spoke to me and created a very familiar picture. I stared out the window at the never ending expanse of greenery and mountains and listened. Well… I’ll be damned. It was my YA fantasy story talking to me. And it was re-narrating the first chapter.

Now, I’ve been working on editing that bad boy for a while and having some serious trouble with it. Mostly because I did wayyy too much telling and when I tried to cut it down it sounded stilted and forced. So I’ve given it some breathing room. There are times when a trial separation does wonders. This would be one of those times.

I’m taking my notebook, going by the pool, and going to give this rewritten opening a shot, see what happens. Who knows? I did spend about twenty minutes at Borders yesterday reading through first pages of a bunch of fantasy novels. Maybe something stuck?! Ha ha. That’d be nice. Or maybe it’s just the no pressure atmosphere up here that’s helped open up the creative floodgates. Either way, I’m not complaining. ;)

I had some really great video to show you guys. Did a little tour of our place. Unfortunately, I have NO clue how to upload it. I took it on my phone, sent it to my album and now it won’t play. :( Gah. BUT… here are a few pictures you might like. This will give you a good idea just how peaceful this place is.

It’s originally a ski village. Obviously, in the summer, they get a different kind of crowd. More families, kids, bikers (here on a convention of sorts, ha ha). There’s huge hills and ginormous green trees.

This is right on the property. The Conway Trolley goes by our window in the mornings at about 11:30am. Close enough so that we can see the people inside. I’ll try and take a photo of them tomorrow. :)

That’s the park down the street from our building. I love the huge wooden moose. Down the main stretch of highway there are Moose Crossing signs. As a girl from a decent sized city, I love stuff like that. I tried to get a photo of the outdoor pool but there were lots of parents and kids and I didn’t want to look all creepy stalkerish. So I’ll wait until it’s a little more dead in there. Ha ha. Just in case.

So yea. All in all, pretty good stuff.

What are you all up to this Tuesday? Being good, I hope.

June 22, 2008

There's a WHAT-?

An outlet mall. *tries to breathe* That’s right, you heard me. An outlet mall. All of the big names at amazing discount prices. Old Navy, Eddie Bauer, Aeropostale, Claire’s, The Gap, ZALES! Everything you can possibly imagine! I managed to buy this AMAZING dress:

The picture doesn’t do it justice. It’s absolutely stunning. It’s snug around the waist in all the right ways so that my boobs look Marilyn Monroe fabulous and my hips (which I usually hate because they’re so wide) look just right in the a-line silhouette of the skirt. All I need are strappy sandals and to dye my hair F-me blonde. :) Ha ha. I mean… umm… I didn’t say that.

I also got two jeans from the Old Navy outlet for $22! 2 for the price of 1! SWEET! All in all, I spent about eighty bucks in total today for a shirt, a dress, and two pairs of jeans! Not bad, if you ask me. I’m psyched!

There’s still half the mall to scour which we plan to do tomorrow. It was raining buckets today and we decided to go see The Love Guru as a way to stay inside. I love Mike Meyers. The movie was very Austin Powers (the original, 1st one). Justin Timberlake stole the show.

*hilarious french accent* I will make you some Quebec Pizza. Poptarts with the ketchup. She is good.

Priceless. Ha ha.

When we got home I made a fanciful dinner of garlic shrimp in white wine and linguine. Garlic bread side. Hubby and I are going to be STINKY. ;)

Don’t judge it by the picture. I took it on my camera phone. I know it’s no Top Chef, but it tasted delicious. :)

Hope you’re all having a great Sunday!

June 20, 2008

Blogging Live From NH!

Hey Bloggers!

It’s 11:36pm and I’m coming to you live from Bartlett, New Hampshire! I’m exhausted. The drive was five and a half hours long and we didn’t leave until 4pm due to my obsessive cleaning habits. Ha ha. I hate coming home to a dirty house. It ruins the entire vacation experience. So I spent all of today cleaning. I scrubbed the bathroom, made up my bed, finished packing, folded and put away laundry, did dishes, and made arrangements for El Gato to be taken care of and fed while I’m gone.

The drive wasn’t as bad as you’d imagine. Vermont/New Hampshire scenery is gorgeous. Green fields, mountains, trees, little lakes and bridges and an occassional horse pasture (which I *squeed* at like a six year old) ^_^. Hubby and I stopped at a rest stop for milkshakes and jammed to the endless array of random musical goodness coming from my mp3 player.

We finally got to the actual resort at about 10pm. I’ve been unpacking the suitcases and making the place livable. I like to have all my stuff in the drawers and the closet for easy access. Living out of suitcases is a miserable experience. I know… I’ve done it. It totally helps that the place is gorgeous. We have a studio room, which looks something like this:

It has a gas fireplace, one of those neat pull down beds that I’ve only ever seen on Who Framed Roger Rabbit, a full kitchen and a jaccuzzi tub in the bathroom! I absolutely plan to make a few fancy anniverary dinners, including shrimp scampi, lasagna, traditional spanish rice and beans and fried chicken, and maybe a vegetarian lo mein. :) The rest of the days we’re going to hit up the local restaurant. I’m particularly looking forward to breakfast there tomorrow! Eggs, bacon, coffee! YAY! An entire week in this place! Can you believe it? I’m beyond psyched.

This place is chock full of things to do. Tennis, pool tables, arcades, indoor/outdoor pools, water tubing, hiking, etc. So it’ll be a busy week. Plus, we plan to workout every day. Think I’ll lose a pound or two? *snorts* Chyea, ok. Not while I’m eating the way I plan to eat. Ha ha.

I’ll be posting pictures from day to day. There’s free wi-fi but the connection is a bit weak so forgive me if I end up posting late.

Happy Friday to all! See you throughout the week!

June 19, 2008

My Hubby The Hero

Try and picture this:

I was at work, going about my business, making lattes and iced coffees for a hectic, hungry crowd. The cafe was quickly becoming a disaster area, with chocolate, frappuccino mix, coffee, and other miscellaneous food objects scattered or broken into crumbs all over the counters. Yea, not a pretty sight. When it gets busy, there just isn’t enough time to clean up after yourself. I made a mental note to get back to it. Meanwhile, the girl at the register is sliding marked cups my way. One. Two. Three. Oy.

Anyway, amidst this madness, one of my managers comes up to the swinging cafe doors and smiles. There’s a man next to him that I don’t recognize.

“Here she is,” my manager says.

I angle the milk pitcher so the steam wand can make the milk more foamy. The strange man smiles. I stare at them both, not quite sure what’s going on.

He’s holding these:

“Are those flowers?”, I ask. (Thank you, Captain Obvious).

Of course, I can tell from the grin on one of my favorite people’s face (YES, YOU LISA… ha ha, if you’re reading ^_^ ) that this is a really great thing that’s happening here. It takes a few seconds for it to register, but when it finally does, OMG. *melts*

It’s hubby and I’s fourth wedding anniversary. Four years. Holy moly. I remember JUST having an anniversary and asking you guys for suggestions on what to do! Time sure does fly, doesn’t it?

This year, I got him a gift he’s actually been wanting for a while, which was nice. He almost never asks for anything so he’s impossible to shop for. I wrapped it up and got him a card that sings “You’re Still The One” by Shania Twain. Good stuff.

He hasn’t dropped not ONE hint about what he’s gotten me, though he’s vaguely mentioned needing wrapping paper. *squee!* But the flowers were so unexpected that I kind of fell in love with him all over again. They totally made my day. :)

And just to prove what a bubblegum romantic he is, the card that came with the flowers read simply: Happy Anniversary My Love.

*sighs* Happiness.

I have a lot I have to get done today to prepare to go off on our trip tomorrow. I’m headed to a time share in New Hampshire to celebrate and get some much needed R&R. I plan to swim, jog, sleep late, cook hearty, complex meals that take more than 20 minutes to prepare, go to the movies, read a great book (or 3), and write!!!!! I’m bringing Sony Vaio with me on this trip and hopefully he’ll prove handy dandy.

So I have to clean house, pack, put together a few lists of things to do tomorrow to avoid the classic Home Alone departure scene (aka chickens with their heads cut off), and I have to get it all done tonight. -_- That’s what I get for procrastinating.

June 18, 2008

Let The Rain Fall Down

Another day of downpours and thunder, although today seems to be more of a touch and go. Rainy one minute, calm the next. I feel like I’m in Florida. ;) (wishful thinking)

I spent the day at work where I came across a young woman straight out of a sitcom. I swear I’ve never seen someone more stereotypical in my entire life. She WAS Suzanne Summers character in Three’s Company.

Remember Chrissy?

I kid you not. This girl had long, blonde hair and she wore it kind of big, lots of volume and waves. It was in a messy side ponytail and I swear to goodness, she actually twirled her hair while she ordered her sandwich. I just blinked and stared at her because I kept telling myself it wasn’t real. It had to be some twisted figment of my character driven imagination, right? Ha ha. But, she gave me a blank look, blinked her own lashes, and pouted a bit. I nearly laughed out loud. I couldn’t have written her better if she HAD come from my imagination.

*happy sigh* It’s days like this I love my job. The things I see are enough to inspire characters for the rest of my life.

Speaking of which… some of my pre-existing characters are giving me major grief and facing the possibility of extinction if they don’t cooperate. *shrugs* Just saying.

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