The Twilight Saga is finally over…for me anyway!

Last night as I read the last few words in Breaking Dawn, the final book in the Twilight Series, I breathed out a sigh of relief. I had never wanted to read the books, and had successfully avoided them for close to 5 years, until I just got too curious.

In December I read the first book in about 3 days, and was really excited about reading the next three. I enjoyed how easy and entertaining the books were. I was very charmed by most of book two, but by the middle of book three I got a little…bored. I started to think that I would never finish the books and by that point all I wanted to know was how it all would end.

I can’t say that I didn’t enjoy the series at all, especially considering I read the final book, all 750 pages of it, in about 5 days. But I don’t think you’re missing much if you never read the Twilight Series. So i’ll say the series is different, entertaining, a very fun read…but loooooooooong!

So read if you must but, I bet you have already read them!

Letter Writing Month

I have always been fascinated with and romanced by letter writing. The first pen-pal I remember, I met the summer that I turned 8. I met a young French girl about my age while on vacation with my family in Washington D.C. Elinore and I wrote letters a few times back and forth, I was always very enchanted by her writing, she wrote of traveling and riding horses, and of course we both wrote of seeing each other again when we were older.  When I made it to France a few years ago, I of course thought of Elinore but no longer had a way to get in touch with her, but I will always have her letters.

Over the years I spent time writing letters to friends and family that moved away, but until college nothing met the enchantment of Elinore’s. During my sophomore year in college while I was at the University of North Texas and my friend (and future husband) was at Baylor, we decided to writer letters. Even though we had e-mail and instant messenger, cell phones and frequent lunch dates, we were both quite committed to letter writing. We wrote mostly because of our love for words…at least at first. A box in our house holds over 100 letters that Brian and I have written to one another, its a really beautiful keepsake of how we have grown over the years.

This month is Letter Writing Month. So I am posting a challenge: Write a letter. Just one. And send it in the mail.

So far this month I have written 4 letters: to my grandmother, an aunt, and 2 children that I know. In each of my letters I challenged the recipient to write a letter to somebody else. So now I am challenging you, get out some notebook paper, or stationary that you never use and write a letter, I think its a 15 minutes well spent.

Some Austin Music Fun

I have been in Austin about 5 months now and have been enjoying it much more than I even expected. A lot of why we live in Austin and the reason a lot of people move to Austin is because of the growing and vibrant music scene. Brian not only plays live music around Austin, but also has a studio in south Austin.

Last night after a yummy dinner of stuffed acorn squash, we went to our friend David’s apartment for drinks. A lot of the people that were there are local musicians and so I thought it might be fun to write a little about each of them.

Brian Douglas Phillips
Of course I’d start with him, we are married so its okay that I put him first. I can never say enough good things about Brian and his music.  You can check him out at www.thebrianshow.com, Brian is playing at the Central Market in Plano Texas from 12-3 on Saturday December 12th.

David Ramirez
Last night’s host, banana bread recipient and musician. David has been here in Austin for close to a year now and has become a good friend (even playing at our Wedding). Unfortunately I have only heard David play live a handful of times, but I have never been disappointed. His most recent album American Soil quickly has become one of my favorites, and my kids are always requesting to hear the song “Good to be Bad.” You can find him at www.davidramirezmusic.com, his next show is at City Tavern in Dallas on December 23rd.

Jaimee Harris
Jaimee has also become a fast friend since moving to Austin. She is so much fun and cracks me up always having a great story to tell. I enjoy her music so much and her live show is not to be missed! You can find her at www.myspace.com/jaimeeharrismusic. She is playing at The Pearl Cup in Dallas on Dec. 10th.

Twilight Hotel
I met Dave Quanbury, half of the band Twilight Hotel, for the first time last night. I had a great time talking with him about Canada, Austin and Music. I couldn’t wait to google his band as soon as I had the chance. I am really excited about learning more about their music but so far I am quite impressed. You can check them out at www.twilighthotel.ca their next show in Austin is on December 21st at Botticelli’s, I hope to be there…so maybe I’ll see you!

Paul Banks
I did not have much time to talk with Paul, but I have heard great things. You can check him out at www.paulbanksmusic.com. His next show is in Fort Worth at Lola’s Stockyard on December 12th.

I think there were more…but I didn’t have a chance to meet everyone. Check these great musicians out, its great to support anything local. Check their websites they all have upcoming Austin shows too!

Americana Zombies.

We had such a great time on Saturday night, making our own fun wherever we went. Happy Halloween!

blog by blog.

I own an entire shelf worth of books about writing, which has led some to ask if I am a writer, or at the very least if I aspire to be one.  In the past I would always answer yes, I am a writer. Which is not totally true unless you count writing down a few things, being overly self-deprocating and then deleting it all, as writing. But if that combined with reading countless books “on writing” is what you call writing, then yes, I am a writer.

Tonight, after having spent about 3 months without a computer of my own, I was very excited to get back in to my writing groove. I stopped by the Mac store on my way home from work to grab my computer, then raced home, poured a glass of wine, and prepared myself to write a New York Times bestseller. I then realized that  while my computer was being fixed they had to remove my old (and already erased) hard drive in order to give me a new one, leaving me without Microsoft office or word. So I got up, went to my shelves, grabbed two books about writing and got in bed.

As I scanned the worn pages of Anne Lamott’s bestseller “Bird by Bird” I began to notice how well I could recite so many of the lines and move smoothly through the pages as If I was reading letters from and old boyfriend or dear friend. I began to notice a few things for the first time…one that her book is about writing, and two that you have to write (and write a lot) to be a writer. Here are a few lines that I had already highlighted:

“Do it every day for a while,” my father kept saying, “Do it as you would do scales on the piano. Do it by prearrangement with yourself. Do it as a debt of honor. And make a commitment to finishing things.”

“Don’t worry about doing it well yet…Just start getting it down.”

“…you hold an imaginary gun to your head and make yourself stay at the desk”

“Bird by bird…Just take it bird by bird.”

For obvious reasons, here I am, finally writing. Of course I’ve written before, and this may turn out to be just like the other times when I would write for a month or for a week before turning to my bookshelves again. Reading for me is much easier, it is my drug, my hideout, my getaway, my adventure…my first love. Writing is work. And so, I have decided to put away the books for a while (of course not the stories, just the books about writing), and write. I am starting this blog with hopes that it will give me some sort of accountability, some incentive that all my fans in blog world will be expecting, hoping and foaming at the mouth for a new post…and the least I can do is keep the masses from rabies. Clearly it is best for this post is ending, with the talk of rabies and all, so I’m not exactly sure what I will be posting about, and I am not promising it will be quality writing, but I have decided to just take it…

blog by blog.

or today. my first post happens today. promise.

coming soon.

first post happens tomorrow. I promise!