

and Blue and White Life for the Who's Awesome and Sunshine Awards:
It requires me to name ten things that make me happy. So I'll use my super stickies for that:

THANK YOU SO MUCH GUYS!!!!
Make you own stickies: HERE!
(formerly real style real people)


and Blue and White Life for the Who's Awesome and Sunshine Awards:
It requires me to name ten things that make me happy. So I'll use my super stickies for that:

And that first walk when the streets and sidewalks are a giant blank white canvas (this picture is missing a dog, though) :
Then there's sledding:
Building a snowman:
Making a snow angel:
Checking out all the cool icicle formations:
What's that you say?*****P.S. the winner of The Secret Year book is passion4fashion! Email me with your address!
***P.P.S. Yeah, New Orlean Saints!

Despite being over the age of ten, I admit to laughing uncontrollably at some of your antics and stupid potty humor. And sometimes, I'm the only one cracking up in the room.
Where are your parents? Or any other flippin' adults for that matter? Yeah, I know there are no parents in Charlie Brown either, but the Peanuts gang just don't annoy me as much as you do. Call it nostalgia or whatever you like. Just go get a damn parent before I put you over my knee myself!
First, what the heck are you? Second, what kind of horrible directions do you have that make it so flippin' hard to figure out the whole Bakugan game thing my son is trying to play? So you throw the card down and say "ability card activate" or some stupid stuff, and then what?
And why'd you have to go and get McDonald's and their Happy Meals involved? And then create books with tiny boring writing that drones on and on about your stupid New Vestroia planet? HUH?

You were my favorite cartoon growing up. Who knew you were so violent? You're right up there with Roadrunner and Wile E. Coyote!



Or Lady GaGa's peacock number:
If you choose neither, you must walk the plank, matey! ARGHHH!!
(photo credit: starpulse.com and glamourvanity.com)
p.s. Did anyone see Lady GaGa's "wire" dress on the red carpet at the Grammy's last night?
(can you believe this picture from failblog.org?)
And since my friends have threatened (:D) to invite us to an indoor waterpark in two weeks and we're going to Florida in March, I've decided I've complained enough already.
About ten years ago I used to do the Leslie Sansone Walk Away the Pounds tapes and loved them.
In the exercise section at Target the other day, I saw her newer DVD's and decided to take the plunge again. Oh and I also bought a set of free weights too!
This is the one I chose, and have vowed to do it three times a week:
You know why I like Leslie so much?
First, because the moves are so basic (marching in place, leg kicks, side to side, knee lifts) anyone can keep up.
Second, because she makes you feel comfortable and tells you it's okay to just march in place if you feel tired during a new move. As long as you keep moving.
Thank you for giving me that permission, Leslie!
Wish me luck as I walk away my belly fat--LOL!!!!
HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!
But in the winter, I need something more substantial on my lips. I'm a chapstick whore as it is.
It's slim so it acts as a liner too.
So the Brooklyn shade (above) was perfect for me.




I don't think I had one with my alien/zombie DON'T TELL A SOUL novel, and I don't think you absolutely have to have one. But I think it definitely helps to hook a reader in.
So it got me thinking about novels I've read and whether the beginnings hooked me in.I remember lying in the snow, a small red spot of warm growing cold, surrounded by wolves. They were licking me, biting me, worrying at my body, pressing in.
*****
The beginning of The Book Thief (by Markus Zukas):
First the colors. Then the humans. That's usually how I see things. Or at least, how I try.
Here is a small fact. You are going to die.
*****
From The Hunger Games (By Suzanne Collins):
When I wake up, the other side of the bed is cold. My fingers stretch out, seeking Prim's warmth but finding only the rough canvas cover of the mattress. She must have had bad dreams and climbed in with our mother. Of course, she did. This is the day of the reaping.
*****
And how about the beginning of a classic, Like Pride and Prejudice (by Jane Austen):
It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.
All of these books definitely hooked me in. Was it because of those beginning lines? Good question.
What are your thoughts as a reader/writer?