Friday, February 17, 2012

Friday Five (12)

I've decided to make the theme of this Friday Five "girls from my online book club" because they have seriously filled my week with joy and excitement!

1. Julie, Andrea, and I are currently in Savannah for the Savannah Book Festival, Mardi Gras (WOOOO! Book Nerds gone crazy!), and the beach. Julie's uncle owns a resort down here and is letting us stay in a 3 bedroom condo dirt cheap. This place is AMAZING so I've included a few photos. Another thing worth mentioning is on the drive in, we saw Barbie Beach!

 Yes, someone made a Barbie diorama in their front yard somewhere in Georgia




2. I've known Andrea online for a few years and I'm SO happy we finally got to meet. She is so cool and she knits! I don't think I've talked about it much on here, but I've been desperately wanting to knit or crochet and have been trying to teach myself via YouTube videos but it's so much better having a real live person to instruct you and she's a fantastic teacher. Look what I learned how to do last night!


3. Some of my friends did a Valentine's gift exchange and my good friend Jennie drew my name. She sent me The Hunger Games illustrated movie companion and my mom told me there's ANOTHER box from her waiting at home. I'm excited to be in Savannah this weekend, but I'm a bit anxious to get home because I LOVE fun mail!

4. The same friends set up a Secret Sister thing through Elfster and over the next few months we'll be sending out draw random little things like notes, candy, or whatever else tickles our fancy just to let them know somebody is thinking of them. I love this idea because sometimes all you need is an unexpected surprise in the mail to make your day a little brighter.

5. The lovely and uber talented Smash is presenting at an awards show in her town and Chita Rivera will be in attendance. To be honest, I'm not up on my Broadway stars but I was informed by various people this is BIG and I'm so excited for her and I've seen her dress. You guys, this girl is going to look absolutely fantastic. Which, if you know her, is not unusual.

I hope you all have a great weekend!


Friday, February 10, 2012

Friday Five (11)

1. It's looking like a very good possibility that we WILL be moving in next month! The insulation goes in on Monday and Tuesday they'll begin putting up the drywall. Once the drywall is up they said it should be 45 days until completed. I can't begin to explain how excited this all makes me!

2. I got a "C" on my Accounting test! I know that's nothing to some of you but the homework for this test killed me AND my husband so I was pretty damn happy to know I passed.

3. I'm almost done with my re-read of The Hunger Games and it's killing me just as much as it did the first time. I got a co-worker to read it and finished sometime last weekend so I'm excited to see him today at work and see what he thought. I DID hear that he already went out and bought Catching Fire.

4. I've been sent the first 5 chapters of a friend's manuscript to beta and when I started to read it the other night, I had to stop after only a few pages because HOLY CREEPY BATMAN! I try to avoid reading stuff like that before bed (which is when I started looking at it) because I will have crazy/scary dreams. I'm fragile like that.

5. Last week I posted the poster for the movie I worked on, The Blue of the Sky. Well this week I bring you the FINISHED teaser trailer. I really hope you enjoy it and let me know what you think!



Blue of the Sky - Teaser/Trailer from Stephen DeVries on Vimeo.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

I can't wait to be ALIENATED!

I am SO happy to say that a girl in my online writing group, Melissa Landers, has signed a SECOND mulit-book deal (her first was a Romance trilogy as Macy Beckett), this time with Disney-Hyperion!!



Melissa Landers's ALIENATED, in which a high school valedictorian takes in an extraterrestrial exchange student in order to receive a college scholarship, prompting a national controversy that spins out of control, only to find herself falling for her mysterious alien friend, to Laura Schreiber at Disney-Hyperion, in a very nice deal, in a pre-empt, in a two-book deal, by Nicole Resciniti at The Seymour Agency (World).

Melissa has worked relentlessly on Alienated, formerly Outworlders, and I think the coolest part about all this (besides having Disney-Hyperion backing you) is that this was her 2009 NaNoWriMo project!

Congratulations Melissa! This totally gives me something to look forward to in 2013 and I know this is just the beginning of your long, fabulous career!


You can meet Melissa here, here, and here and follow her here.

Friday, February 3, 2012

Friday Five (10)

1. Remember that short film I got to help with back in August? Well it's getting SO CLOSE to being a finished product and it is beyond exciting. Yes, this is going to be a little bit of a plug, but that's ok because I really do think it's awesome. You should follow us on Twitter or feel free to check out my friend Stephen's blog update about the current status. I also get to FINALLY share the final one-sheet for it. Ready?

Here you are!


I feel like Geppetto because all I can think is "it's a real movie!"

2. Tonight is my monthly Magic City Lit Night and I'm looking forward to hanging out with such wonderful people. What I like about this dinner is that it's the perfect balance of writing talk and life talk. Feel free to check out the blogs of my dinner pals: Anne, Natalie, Harley, and Jodi.

3. Our house is REALLY moving along and I can't help but be amazed at how far the progress gets every couple of days. As of yesterday we have shingles, windows, piles of brick, and the house is wrapped.With the warm weather we've been having, I would be surprised if we were able to move in next month!


4. Blogger is starting to irk me. I really want to have in-line comments on my blog but it's not giving it to me as an option. I've looked through my settings and whatnot, but can't seem to find a place to "turn it on." Any ideas? Was it just a Beta test?

5. I'm going to Savannah in a few weeks and I'm so excited! It's a beautiful place and I can't wait to experience it WITHOUT my face melting off!

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Small Victories

I MADE IT! You probably had no idea that I was trying to cut out soda for the month of January, but I was. January has come and gone now and I can officially say that I succeeded.

It was NOT easy at first. The first week was pretty much hell if you want to know the truth. I had bad caffeine headaches, cravings for Sonic's Cherry Coke (with actual cherries!) like you would not believe, and my surliness may have shown a bit.



I'm SO happy I did it. The decision was a spur of the moment one and it made it easier to go along with when a friend said he was going soda-free for January. I figured I had quit once before, why not try again?

Now it's February 1st and after doing the math at one soda a day (approximately 180 cals) for 31 days, I have saved myself from around 5,580 unnecessary calories and my skin looks better. I'm taking it a step further and am going to try for a second month.

Happy February everyone!