Friday Cele's - Love the Small Things

Ahhh, it's Friday, let's partay! The weekend is upon us!  VikLit always puts on a great Friday celebration!

This weeks cele's are:

• I have a friend who is going on a World Mission Trip starting in January. She needs to raise a ton of money to make her trip successful. She will be visiting 11 countries in 11 months. And to raise this money she is selling various items. I have purchased several bracelets from her, mostly recently some awesome Mudlove Bands and some flat Threads of Hope. LOVE THEM!
  
• How about an embarrassing cele - Yesterday I sent an email to my husband: "How about we stop and get dinner before going home." About a half hour later I receive: "Sorry but I'm going to have dinner with my wife and kid. But thanks for the invite." Ummm... I ended up not sending my original email to husband but a male co-worker instead. I was dying laughing - cause I laugh at my stupidity often. I told him what had happened and he replied with: "Well let me know where you guys decide to go, my wife and I might join you if it's better than what she's cooking." Thank goodness he has a great sense of humor.
• Tomorrow is my Urban Adventures Race!! I will be biking about 30 miles and doing 28 obstacles consisting of white water rafting, zipline, battleboarding, hockey, etc. So excited!

That's it! So what have you been up to lately? Any stupid things you've done lately?

If you want any bracelets or t-shirts, etc... you can contact Angela Mills via:
blog: angelamills.theworldrace.org
email: PracticeBoldLove@gmail.com
twitter: @HopefulAngela
instagram: practiceboldlove - she has tons of pictures of the things she is fundraising there!!

Have a great weekend everyone!!

Whats Up Wednesday

What's Up Wednesday is a weekly meme geared toward readers and writers, allowing us to touch base with blog friends and let them know what's up. It's hosted by the lovely Erin and Jaime.

What I'm reading
Unwholly by Neal Shusterman - on Monday I posted a 30 question survey over on my co-blog, Cover Girls, detailing which books and authors I love in various categories, and which books I dislike as well. I didn't hold back. Check it out here and find out why I'm excited to be reading Unwholly finally. To see what my 'partner in crime' Jax likes, dislikes, etc on her 30 question survey - check it out here!

What I'm Writing
I written a few of the stanza-type poems I was telling you about last week. I like writing poems once I get into the rhythm of it all. That's the problem with stanza's, like all poems, they need to have a beat to them, with stanzas, it depends on how many lines you have and there is a certain rhythm to the verse's. I love the challenge.

What Else I've Been Up To
Besides my trainer trying to kill me Monday, I'm preparing for my Urban Adventures bike race this Saturday. It's not just a bike race but also obsticle course challenges. Last my husband and I biked around 30 miles and tackled 25 out of the 28 challenges along the way. This year and girlfriend and I are gonna take on this challenge. Biking no less then 25 miles we will also do white water rafting, zip line, water polo, hockey, running in firemen gear, playing cops and robbers, racing through the farmers market and finding food on our list for the needy, etc. It's a blast and we also get to enjoy the beautiful of South Bend and hangout at Notre Dame.

What Inspires Me Right Now
Movies - anything apocalyptic, horror, make me almost pee my pants. I just love movies!!

What's Up on your Wednesday? Having a good one? I hope so!!

Express Yourself - Writer Woes & Yays

Express Yourself is a weekly Meme hosted by my friend Jackie and myself. We do this every week to learn more about our fellow bloggers and so far we have met some very talented and wonderful people!

July 22-26 questions is: What is the most frustrating/satisfying thing about being a writer? Not a writer, then pertain this question to whatever you'd like.

I think the most frustrating part is the first draft. Getting all of my thoughts out coherently is a difficult thing for me. I've got so much going on in my head (not all of it good, I might add) which makes me crazy! The most satisfying is getting that first draft done. Now making changes and corrections which I find relaxing and enjoyable!

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Today, over at Cover Girls, I am posting a 30 Day Book Challenge. However instead of posting 30 straight days, Jackie and I decided to post ALL 30 question in one survey. You wanna know some answers to some hard and challenging book and author questions? Maybe you're interested in my most hated book, or loved book, or favorite character. What book to movie(s) suck? Stop by and visit me at Cover Girls. Jackie is posting her answers on Wednesday, which I am looking forward too since we didn't share them with each other!!

Have a great Monday!

Celebrate Your Week

Ahhh, it's Friday! The weekend is upon us!  VikLit always puts on a great Friday celebration!

This week I'm celebrating... a couple weeks worth of stuff since I haven't posted my cele's in a while... sorry about that. 

• Watched the movie The Heat with a co-worker and friend. Her and I died laughing the whole time. (I'm writing this from beyond the grave ;D) Melissa McCarthy was nonstop from the get-go.




Mike Wazowski
#love #bffs


• Watched Monsters University with the fam. It was really cute and the kids really enjoyed themselves, especially my 15 and 13 yr olds. I think they were excited the most because they have been awaiting a sequel for 12 years!

• Having a great summer so far. Mom takes the kids for a couple days during the work week, giving the hubby some quite time to do his homework, and us some time to go out and do things as adults.




Straight up chillin'


• The hubby bought these fantastic lawn chairs so I can tan in style. (My youngest stole mine)




A little help from your friend.
#sisters #love #trust


• We discovered this awesome park just minutes from our house that we never knew was there! With two play grounds and a huge splash pad! Score!
• Tonight is one of those nights when mom is taking the kids so we might hit up our city's fair and go for a helicopter ride. It's on our bucket list!!
• Sunday the Plain White T's are playing a free concert at our outdoor mall!! Woot! I'm at least taking my old kids cause my daughter loves them!!

Hope everyone has an awesome weekend!! Stay cool!!

What's Up Wednesday - A Day Late

What's Up Wednesday is a weekly meme geared toward readers and writers, allowing us to touch base with blog friends and let them know what's up. It's hosted by the lovely Erin and Jaime.

Like I explained yesterday, I haven't blogged due to blogger issues so that's why today's post is a day late. I'm catching up! Woohoo!

What I'm ReadingThe Loners by Thomas Lex

What I'm Writing
Since I'm still not feeling any desire to work on my WIP's I thought I would write a couple of stanza-type poems (I posted one yesterday in my Express Yourself post). Maybe they will inspire me and you never know... I might put a couple in my WIP's.

What Else I've Been Up To
Trying to stay cool in these 90's+ temps when I'm supposed to be riding my bike to get prepared for my bike race next Saturday but instead I'm working on my 4 minute cardo workouts my trainer told me to do:
Mummies
Mountain Climbers
Burpees
& Step Ups
20 seconds of each as fast as I can with 5 seconds of pause in between each one equals 4 mins of instense training... I literally need my inhailer when I'm done and it only takes 4 mins out of my day. ANYBODY can give up 4 mins.

What Inspires Me Right Now
Music:
Macklemore's Same Love
Miley's We Can't Stop
Bubble Butt by Major Lazer ft/Bruno Mars, 2 Chainz & Tyga
Blurred Lines by Robin Thicke ft/T.I. & Pharrell
Cruise by Florida Georgia Line ft/Nelly

Two Weeks of Express Yourself

Express Yourself is a weekly Meme hosted by my friend Jackie and myself. We do this every week to learn more about our fellow bloggers and so far we have met some very talented and wonderful people!

Due to Blogger problems I missed blogging last week, so this week I am posting last weeks question and this weeks question.

Last weeks Q: Whether watching a movie at the theater or at home, what's your go-to snack?

At the theater I usually get nachos and an ICEE

At home it's whatever tempts me. But usually it's just a drink.

This weeks Q: What is the biggest challenge you face socially?

I think the biggest challenge I face is not letting society or social media change who I am as a person. It's easy to get wrapped up in all the hoopla, gossiping, and social stigmas that thrive in this world. I try to avoid that and make my own decisions based on what I believe not what others want me to believe. And I try to instill these values on my kids.

Something I wrote and posted on FB yesterday:

"Left-winged or right-winged… sometimes I like to ride in the middle.
Lesbian, gay, bi, straight or undecided… you’re fine by me.
Sitting in a pew doesn’t define Church to me; I have it in my heart.
Black, white, brown, yellow, red… it doesn’t matter – they’re all beautiful on skin as they are on canvass.
If you need to label me, I’m a free-thinker. I know who I am."

Disclaimer: The above is only based on MY feelings... this does not represent all "free-thinkers" or how a free-thinker should be.

It's nice to be back to blogging again!

You all have a wonderful Wednesday... tomorrow I will blog my What's up Wednesday for this week... a little behind.

IWSG - Are We Friends

IWSG is brought to us by our local blogging friend Alex. Its a month meme that brings us insecure folks together and gives us a chance to let our freak flags fly and air out the smells of insecurity.

My insecurity I want to talk about this month is...

Are we friends?

That is the question I’m asking you. (The only blogger I don't worry about is Jackie. She's a part of both worlds!)

I follow tons of blogs I read weekly and maybe half of those I read daily. And a few dozen, I mention daily and a couple dozen I call friends.

Let’s see if I can explain this as fluently as possible… I try not to throw the term “friends” around lightly in my everyday life (I have my reasons) but in the blogging world it seems kind of “weird” to use the term friends to those who do not blog. Just like talking to non-writers about writing.

But I DO consider you friends. There I said.

And those outside of the blogging biosphere think I’m crazy calling for you friends. “Oh, you mean your virtual blogging folks?” *pursed face*

See, to them, you guys are SIMS characters or something similar. Like, I turn my computer on, play with you, turn my computer off, and it ends there. But it doesn’t. I take what I’ve read and think about it/you throughout my day(s).

     In a convo about movies I say, “My friend Suzi saw that! She said it was really good!”

     When talking about Juicing with a couple I know. They said they threw away their left over pulp. I shared with them what they could do with it from Mark's and Jackie's posts. “Oh my friend has this great page for this type of stuff!”

     I will share a funny post from Mina or a funny convo from Facebook we had.

     “Oh my gosh! My friend Jaybird posted the funniest thing about being at the store and…”

     “Sheena-kay likes skirts over… and she lives in Jamaica so she knows all about hot weather and clothes, I'm sure.”

     “DL is your age mom and he…”

     “Lexa doesn’t wear dresses anymore cause she used to work…”

     “Laura is so lucky, she is going on holiday to Spain and…” (My mistake was using the word holiday. I used it cause that's the word Laura used. Here we say vacation. But where I work, I'm used to talking to our sister-company in Ireland and they say holiday all the time. So for me it's not a big deal.)

     “Morgan totally agrees and anyone who calls me cool knows…” (I've only used this line once and it was to win my arguement against the Hubby.)

     “Bushman says to grow tomatoes in their own greenhouse you need too…”

I can’t help it, you guys just come up in my conversations. You are more a part of my everyday life then most of the people I hang out with. I “see” you more – almost every day.

But most conversations tend to lead to:

"Her/his name is Jaybird/Bushman?" *sigh*

"How do you know someone in Jamaica/Egypt/Germany/England/Hawaii/Australia?" *sigh*

"You know someone married to a Gold Medalist?!" *sigh*

"Wow, so you know someone who has a book out there?" *sigh*

And my answer usually begins, "Well technically I don't KNOW them, know them..." My point here is, they missed the info I was giving them and concentrated on the silly stuff.

And I know even more about you than I do people I work with or hang out with. Not necessarily linked to the people above…

• I know that someone’s son shares his name with a president.
• Someone’s son is on a trip in another country.
• Another has three daughters all starting with F’s and wants a pant-less summer.
• Another has 4 “ankle biters”.
• Some don’t want kids. Some do but it hasn’t happened yet. Some can’t.
• He has two dogs, chickens, a duck, and endless amount of yard work but also works 10hr days.
• She lives in Germany but would love to move back to the states and start a ranch!
• He takes care of his loving wife and still has enough time for his blogging community and his wife loves to help him.
• Even dragon’s, who are tough as nails, get sick and need a community to lean on. 

The list can go on and on.

So my question is: Are we friends? Should I be insecure about calling you friends like I’m insecure about my writing? Or should I just ignore my “non-virtual”friends and family critics and continue calling you my friends?

So what I'm really asking is, do I need a life; cause I really feel like I have one. I just like to talk about you.


************************************************************************************What's Up Wednesday is hosted by the lovely Erin and Jaime.

What I'm Reading
Triangles by Kimberly Ann Miller. It was gifted to me by my soultwin Jackie!

What I'm Writing
This blog post currently... nothing else at the moment *sad face*

What Else I've Been Up To
Started with my Personal Trainer yesterday... I want to die today.

What Inspires Me Right Now
Still anything outside and in the sun. Besides that - you guys.

Hope everyone has a great Wednesday!

Express Yourself - My Week, Whats Yours

Express Yourself is a weekly Meme hosted by my friend Jackie and myself. We do this every week to learn more about our fellow bloggers and so far we have met some very talented and wonderful people!

This weeks Q: What are your plans for the 4th if you celebrate, if not, what do you have planned this week then?

Our July 4th plans entail:

• A Tincaps (Class A minor league - affliated with the San Diego Padres [for you baseball fans]) baseball game Thursday, July 4th and then hanging out at the field for the city's fireworks display.
• Friday, July 5th we are heading to my parents lake cottage to party with family, let off fireworks, eat some good grub and soak up some rays.
• On Saturday, July 6th we are heading to the in-laws lake cottage. Every year they host this huge party consisting of a band, bounce house, water pool (other than the lake) cornhole, food and all the party essentials.

Main objectives: Eat, drink, and be merry! - Oh and tan!

What are you doing this week?