Back to Civilization

I just got back from visiting my great aunt in Ohio and it's so nice to see so many cars around.  I could never live in the country.

Anyway, the reason I went up there was to see the old houses and places where my grandma and her family lived and grew up.  It was really cool seeing the houses that my great grandparents grew up in, considering how I'm used to the military life, and haven't been in just one house my whole life.  And to still be living in that same area like my great aunt is?  Wow.

You'd also think that being out in the country is a pretty safe place to be.  Well, we were checking out my aunt's old house, which is way back in the woods.  So we were looking at it when all of a sudden, a shot rang out.  I thought, oh my gosh, this is it.  Accidental death in the woods.  Great.  We eventually realized it was the neighbors having a target practice, and not even in our direction, but omg.  I was SCARED.  Now, my great aunt and her daughter-in-law didn't flinch a bit the six times the shotgun was fired while we were there.  Ugh, I could never live in the country.

Tonight at work, we're having a Halloween themed bookfair.  I haven't dressed up for Halloween since I was twelve.  Wait.  That's a lie.  In college I dressed up twice with my dear friend Meredith.  Since we both have red hair, we always did a twin thing - first, Siamese twins, and then Annie and Hallie from the Lindsay Lohan version of The Parent Trap.  I'm thinking of ideas were I get to wear things that I wouldn't normally wear to work, like sweats or jeans.  Honestly, I would really love to be a character from High School Musical or Giselle from Enchanted, but they only make those costumes for kids.

So that's been my week.  Time to get back to the old, but thankfully busy, Northern Virginia scene.

In-Store Playlist

I feel like such a B&N dork.  My current favorite playlist on iTunes to listen to while writing?  My Leona Lewis/Carla Bruni list, both of whom came from the B&N in-store music.

Leona has an amazing voice and her songs are catchy.  They also lean more towards the ballad/moderate speed, so I'm not encouraged to jump up and dance around.  Plus she's British, which always puts someone ahead in my POV.

Carla is the new wife of the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, but before that, she was a singer/songwriter.  Her newest album definitely reflects her new love, with songs like "La Amoureuse," and there's such a cute, folksy French sound to it.

Both albums are quite relaxing and again, not distracting, which is probably the point of a bookstore's music playlist anyway.

5 Things on a Wednesday

1) I asked for today off from work because my mom and I were supposed to go to the book signing of a family friend, but it got postponed, so instead, I'm bored.  I wonder if I'll ever have a book signing?

2) Luckily, I'll hopefully be able to finally watch Sunday's Desperate Housewives over at the neighbors' house.  They have DVR - but we will have it soon too!!

3) I am totally obsessed with The Hills right now.  I'm watching the older episodes on MTV.com and the new episodes as they air.  Why are their fake lives so fascinating?  And why do Audrina's expressions always look so vacant?

4) I LOVE Someday My Prince Will Come!  The author, Jerramy Fine, is a wannabe princess, Anglophile, and DG, so we're basically the same person.  I should start wearing my princess tiara everyday...

5) I have a crush. :)  I think OhMyHeart might be excited for this.

Do you have to have a kid to get published?

This is a genuine (okay, partly sarcastic) question I've been asking myself lately.

I've taken to reading a lot of author blogs recently, particularly ones by writers who are about to get their first books published in the upcoming year or two.  The trend that I've noticed?  They all seem to have a child under two!

As someone who believes that step is about ten years away from her, I seriously hope that this isn't the case.

I really don't see how it happens.  From what I understand, babies are a lot of work.  So when would a new mother even have the time to write a 50K word novel?

This is all kind of random nonsense, but I really hope that I get published before I have children.  And before I get married.  Then I can keep my last name on the cover. :)

I want to be Giselle!

I really want to be Giselle from Enchanted for Halloween.  Unfortunately, they only make her wedding dress as a costume, not this pretty blue-green one!  And adult sized Disney princess costumes aren't as cool as the little girl ones.

In other Giselle news, someone else told me that I act and look just like her - yay!

Café Writing

So I played at being JK Rowling yesterday.

I had to go to B&N anyway to pick up a special order and put in some scheduling requests, so I brought my laptop along to get some outlining done.

I actually got work done!

There are far too many distractions at home or when I was at school, but while working at the B&N cafe, I was actually productive, even with people around.  I guess it helped that they weren't interacting with me.  I don't want to go too often though, since I work there and don't need the other employees thinking I have no life.  But it was fun sitting there, typing and brainstorming away with my cup of chai.

Though I suppose for the full JKR experience, I should have used napkins to write on and not had the typical American Starbucks throwaway cup.  Oh well.