Vacations

Here in Utah, we're starting to get glimpses of spring, and many of us are looking forward to vacations. I feel especially lucky this year because I get to travel quite a bit starting next month.



1. First, we are going to Maui, Hawaii. This is where my husband and I went on our honeymoon many moons ago and we're looking forward to bringing our boys. I'm not sure how things will work out (we're going with my husband's family--8 adults and 7 kids) but I'd love to scuba dive if at all possible. If not, snorkeling is fun too.

2. Then, with summer comes weddings and I have two big ones coming up in June. First, my cousin is getting hitched in Carlsbad, NM. I've never been there and I hear great things about the Carlsbad Caverns. We'll be driving from Denver and stopping in one of my favorite places, Santa Fe, en route.

3. Next, my dad is getting married the very next weekend. The only thing is, they can't decide exactly where (Texoma? Kansas? Texas?), so I'm on hold.

4. Come July, my mom, husband, 3 boys, and I are all heading up to Alaska. I've been lucky enough to go a few times, but my sons and Mom haven't been, so I'm looking forward to showing the beautiful state to them.

5. After a quick trip to Idaho with some friends from Colorado, I'll head to Nashville, Tennessee for the RWA National Conference. I'm really excited because I've never been there.






I haven't organized my book tour quite yet, but since Lifted comes out June 8, I'm sure I'll have some little side trips wedged in there, too. So! Enough about me! Do you have any fun travel plans coming up? If so, we'd love to hear about them. And if not, what are some of your favorite vacation destinations?

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Tell Me 'Bout It

Following in the footsteps of my fellow Teen Fiction Café patron, Amanda Ashby, here’s the thing about me and current events- I’m not really all that up on them. Oh sure I saw a brief clip of Britney lip synching in a black bikini, heard something about OJ getting cuffed, did a little happy dance when Ricky Gervais (genius creator of my fave TV show “The Office”) won an Emmy for the equally brilliant “Extras” (even though I didn’t actually watch the Emmys), but for the most part, well, I’m working. And when I’m working, the only current events are my own.

Like Saturday, when I helped my husband load a refrigerator onto a rented truck, only to sit in traffic forever (welcome to California!), so I could get home, do a quick change, and follow my BFF to four different parties (just another Saturday night for her- totally exhausting for me), making for a bleary eyed Sunday morning when we had to wrangle said fridge out of the truck and into the house.

Oh yeah, and last week I went here---

Donated Saving Zoë to the local library in memory of a dear friend (as I do with all of my books)

And had an overall, amazing time!

But now I hear that Michael Douglas learned how to operate a backhoe and spent time at Costco (a first for him!) while researching his latest movie role- and apparently he is now a big fan of both earth shoveling and big box shopping!

Oh, I can feel the lure of celebrity news pulling me in!

What about you- how do you keep up with current events (or celebrity scandal masquerading as current events!) -?

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Fun Health

I'm jumping in here a day late (sorry!) but I've been in a remote Alaskan lodge and its surrounding lakes and rivers for the past week and am just now getting back to a computer. So if you don't mind, I'm going to take you back to last week's subject of Health for a spell and then we can get back to what Lauren, Jen, and Erica are discussing this week.

When I was in Alaska, I got to hang out with a beautiful lady named Judy, who lives in Achorage. We went kayacking and she told me about how she and about 30 of her girlfriends have something active planned for every single day of the year. They do miss days from time to time, but there's always something going on so no one has the excuse (or luxury) of saying "there's nothing to do." They go mountain biking, cross country skiing, downhill skiing, boating, snow mobiling, running, walking, hiking, climbing, etc, etc.

I'm going to be honest with you. I'm in an exercise rut. I bought a punch card at a new gym that's only 10 minutes away (that's very close because I live in the country), and I've only been able to go to power yoga twice. I have three little boys, and finding someone to take all three is nearly impossible. Not to mention I'm totally behind on my writing and I'm planning a writers' conference for October, and time is getting away from me.

So I asked Judy if she was this physically active when her two boys were little. She said no, and that my time would come. That made me feel better. So I'm going to do whatever exercise I can (like jumping on the trampoline with my boys), when I can (like when the baby's sleeping and the laundry's drying), and enjoy my kids and my writing. Because another important part of health is being happy. :)

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