Year of living dangerous/ Year of stupidity

So many things happened this week. One of which was I watched part of Shonda Rhime’s Ted talk about her year of saying yes. And I thought about that a lot. About saying yes to things, conquering my fear and doing things anyways.

My sister, niece & her family were here for a week. They went to Santa Cruz (my happy place!), San Francisco (I haven’t been in sooo long!). And I worked. The green eyed monster reared its ugly head. Which led me to some ugly truths.

I don’t do what I want to because at some point my fear outweighed my desire. I became paralyzed by it. I didn’t work on Thursday, and I did mostly the things I wanted to do as it was my birthday. I turned 48.

Friday, I went to pick up Ray from my brother’s house. My sister and her family were over there and she had shaved the back of her head and done a few blue streaks. My sister, who is a SENIOR CITIZEN, has been having courage all over the place. She just decided to go back to college. She shaved the back of her head and got blue streaks. She’s AMAZING.

I long for my amaze-ball self to come shining through again, too.

I don’t know if it was all things leading up to the moment, or if I was just so sleep deprived from trying to stay up and visit and still being on my regular schedule. But I had my niece L (my brother’’s daughter) shave the back of my head and give me a reverse bob. She keeps calling it some anime cut, but I just call it hot flash heaven! I was going to finish getting the tips pink, but it hasn’t happened yet because Easter.

Then yesterday, Saturday, I did a few things. Scheduled a trip to Stanford’s Pow Wow in May. Because its something I want to do and it is doable.     Came home, took a nap. Napped some more. Went to go pick up a few things and get gas.

Drove away from the pump with the nozzle still in the car.

Just so you know, apparently it happens more than you might think. They had a little form to fill out, along with costs broken out. It can be anywhere from $13 plus tax to $400.

HOLY CRAPOLA

Suddenly, it no longer felt like being fearless, conquering my fear. Suddenly, it felt like I made one bad decision after another. Exhaustion? Perhaps. Mid Life crisis gone wrong? I felt horrible, humiliated. Too old for this crap.

So I did the only thing I could. I came home and called the friend who would make me laugh about it. I think she may have wet her pants she laughed so hard. But she got me to laugh too.

And suddenly it’s just a scene in the life of. Not the plot, not a plot twist. Just a scene. I can work around that. It doesn’t have to turn my year of living dangerously into the year of stupid mistakes.

I just got the first one out of the way really really quick.

Sides of the Story

The Princeling and I spent the week up in Sacramento~ he was out of school, and since I work up there it made for a much shorter commute. I also got to stay with one of my besties and visit 🙂

On Tuesday, we went to Chick-Fill-A, as I had never been to one before.

Towards the end of our dinner out, it became obvious that someone else really liked chicken sandwiches: Fox 40 News came in to do a story on Justin Bieber being in the restaurant earlier in the day. We didn’t go there beacause of that or get goofy and try to insert ourselves into the story (I hate that), but it was interesting to watch.

The Princeling watched carefully.  When the camera woman was taking other shots, and Dennis Shanahan, the reporter, obviously had some down time, my little Prince came up with “I wonder what it’s like to be a reporter?”

I looked over, and Mr. Shanahan was not interviewing people nor talking with the camera woman. “Go ask.”

I figured he would get the “It’s great” spiel and a pat on the head. What the Princeling received, however, was a conversation about what it’s really like to be a reporter.There’s down time, but you get to meet a lot of people. And yes, there are news vans, but… and on and on.

No, my Princeling does not want to be a reporter. But he was able to interact with a professional in a way that made me proud. He learned something new, and it gave him a deeper appreciation of the news shows. Mr. Shanahan’s taking the time to speak patiently with The Princeling for those few minutes was unexpected and greatly appreciated. I have officially switch news casts, as I want to hear from a team that cares about the people around them.

Mr. Shanahan’s report is here: http://fox40.com/2016/03/15/justin-bieber-spotted-around-sacramento-before-sold-out-concert/    or you click here

The family in Chick-Fill-A towards the 1 minute mark?

Hi!

 

We had lots more fun up in Sacramento, including a trip to the capitol which… well, that post will come later in the week. There’s lots to talk about my lovelies… Till then!

 

Cover Reveal Day

Cover reveal day is an awesome event for any author. I’m glad that I get to be a part of the reveal of this goregous cover for Shannon Wendtland’s new novel, Heliodor.

 

 

 

Blurb:

Malfric sees through the eyes of the dead – literally reliving their last moments as if they were his own. This ability is highly sought and highly priced, which is why the unscrupulous Captain Finch hires him to find the murderer of a nobleman and the whereabouts of a valuable artifact.

Quantex, the able-bodied first mate of Captain Finch, quickly becomes Malfric’s foil as he demonstrates uncommon intelligence during the investigation. Together the two uncover several clues that lead them to the killer, the artifact, and the frayed end of a mysterious plot that begins to unravel the moment Malfric takes it in hand and gives it a good yank.

Available March 22, 2016

 

Congrats, Shannon! It looks like  an awesome read!