So Thankful

This has been an incredibly difficult week, but it’s also shown me how blessed we really are.

I’m thankful for smart friends with connections. Without the guidance of Fei Fei, I’m not sure where we’d be. I’m thankful for top-notch doctors and game plans with hope.

I’m thankful for friends who don’t mind doing airport runs for us. Trevor picked up Mark at midnight last night so I could sleep a bit and Drew dropped off Andy at an ungodly hour Monday morning.

I’m thankful for job flexibility to work from home. It helped to hide out on the most stressful days. I’m thankful for amazing coworkers who took work off my plate this week, offered to give up their scheduled time off if I needed to be out and let me vent my frustrations without complaint.

I’m thankful for video-chatting, because it made Mark’s time away that much easier for me. And I’m thankful for the kitties, because they were often fun topics on said video chats.

I’m thankful that I can tell my Mom with less than a week notice that she’s on Thanksgiving-hosting duty and she doesn’t bat an eye. I’m thankful that, in lieu of getting to make the desserts I had planned, there’s a fantastic Italian pastry shop around the corner that’s just as good as homemade.

I’m thankful that while Mark was out in Colorado, things went smoothly at home. I’ve always ended up with some drama when he goes away on business – it was a relief for everything to go fine.

I’m thankful that even though Mark’s family can’t be with us for Thanksgiving, they’re going to be with people that love them.

I’m thankful for all the friends and family members who have offered their support over the last week and a half. You’re all incredible people.

I hope you’re all spending the day surrounded by loved ones.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Apart, Together

Early Sunday morning, I dropped Mark off at the airport. He doesn’t fly home until Wednesday. I realize that four days is nothing to a lot of people, but it’s the longest we’ve been apart in years. And the stress of everything really isn’t helping.

So, we’ve been chatting via Google Plus when we can.

It’s quite entertaining. We discovered the mustache feature tonight. I’m pretty sure this is the only picture I will ever have of my husband with a mustache. It’s sort of hilarious.

And it makes me feel like I’m sort of there. Even though I’m all the way over here.

It’s been a rough week.

I haven’t been doing much writing the past week – here, for NaNo or anything else. I’ve been too distracted. It’s been a bad week.

Monday evening, my mother-in-law called from Colorado, where she and my father-in-law were visiting friends. She said there were some things that seems off about my father-in-law – like not being able to add up the lunch bill.

Things got worse, and they took him to the local ER that night. Tuesday, we found out he has a brain tumor. Wednesday, the doctors there did a biopsy and determined the tumor was inoperable. Thursday, he was transferred to University of Colorado Hospital which is more equipped to handle the situation.

The prognosis really isn’t looking good.

It’s heartbreaking. It’s stressful. It’s hard to deal with.

My husband and his brother are both flying out there to be with him Mom this weekend.

Please keep them all in your prayers.

A NaNoWriMo Update

This morning, I wrote my 25,00th word. I’m officially at the halfway mark for NaNoWriMo.

I’m thrilled.

And see that cool widget thing to the left? It’s officially showing my word count so you can come back here anytime and see how I’m doing.

I think I’m loving my story more than when I started, too. It’s morphed, slightly, into more of a love story. I think it was supposed to be a love story all along but I was fighting it. Now that I’m rolling with it, things are fabulous.

I’m on a 2,000-words-a-day pace that’s been working well. I’m roughly 5,000 words ahead of minimum pace right now. At this rate, I’ll finish about a week early – which is perfect because I should be writing my 50,000th word the day before Thanksgiving.

In other news, Mark and I went bowling last night – our first time in probably two years. I bowled a 138 and totally kicked his butt.

It must be the weekend of accomplishments!

Writing Buddies

NaNoWriMo is going pretty well so far. I’ve got about 12,000 words down now and I’m hoping to bang out a few thousand more tonight, making me solidly ahead of minimum pace to hit 50,000 by the end of the month.

I’ve been meaning to make it to more in-person write ins, but my schedule hasn’t worked out. Instead, Kali’s been my writing buddy.

It’s good motivation to keep writing when you have a kitty sitting on your arm. Who would want to make that cuteness move?

Tomie dePaola

Usually when I look through the lists of book signings in the area, I skip right over the children’s events. I couldn’t possible skip this one, though.

Tomie dePaola, author of Strega Nona, was doing a signing in Princeton tonight. I love Strega Nona. My friend Kristen came too, which was awesome. It was nice not to be the only one without kids in tow!

Tomie was great with the kids. He taught them how Italians blow kisses and talked about how he came up with Strega Nona.

And then he signed copies of Strega Nona’s gift, his new Christmas book. My inner 5-year-old was cheering when it was my turn.

So, this is now living on my bookshelf:

Love, love, love!

October Reads

Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins. This is the companion novel to Anna and the French Kiss, which I loved. I didn’t identify with Lola as much as I did with Anna, but I still devoured this book. It’s an adorable, innocent love story.

Bloody Valentine by Melissa de la Cruz. I read a lot of the Blue Bloods series very quickly and sort of burned myself out on the story so I wasn’t sure home much I’d like diving back in. This was three short stories instead of a full length novel and I thought it worked really well. It was just enough time with each character to “catch up” and get you ready for the next book.

The Dark Glamour by Gabriella Pierce. This was the sequel to 666 Park Avenue, and a little on the disappointing side. I don’t feel like much happened in it at all – and found the main characters to be quite annoying.

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman. Even though this was a children’s book, I thought it was brilliant. It’s a little dark for younger children – the family is all murdered in the first few pages – but the main character’s antics of being raised in the graveyard are adorable.

Area 51: An Uncensored History of America’s Top Secret Military Base by Annie Jacobsen. I love a good government conspiracy so I absolutely adored this book. The history of this place is fascinating – evoking both awe and unease.

Messenger by Lois Lowry. This is the third book in The Giver trilogy. I didn’t like the story of this one as much, but loved that you got to see what happened to the characters in the first two.

A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness. The librarian described this as a mix of Twilight and The DaVinci Code, which I think it a really good way to put it. There’s a lot of history and mystery mixed in to the vampire/witch love story. It had a lot going on – more than I felt was necessary in one book.

Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly. Andi, the main character, is depressed and suicidal which made the book darker than I was expecting. It was a fun adventure, though.

My Standard Nov. 1 Apology

It’s November 1st. NaNoWriMo kicked off at midnight.

I’ll be writing 50,000 words this month.

Blogging during NaNo is always a bit hit-or-miss. If I seem to drop off the face of the Earth, it’s simply because I’m wrapped up in the novel. I promise, I’ll be back in December!