Friday... time for a getaway!

Instead of a friday five, I'm just going to do a short post today. I'm crazy busy getting ready to go on a trip. By the time you read this, I'll be on the road to Cali for a Memorial Day getaway with my family before baby girl arrives. Woohoo!

Yes, I am super pregnant, and yes, that is a LOOONG drive for us. But I will get through it so that I can enjoy the feel of sand between my toes, the sound of the ocean crashing on the shore, the cry of seagulls overhead... Ah... I can't wait! We are staying in a condo right on the beach. My kids are so excited, SonB (who is 2) has been saying, "Mommy, I'm so essited [excited] to go to California! I'm essited to take my shovel and bucket to the BEACH!" all week.

We'll be gone until Wednesday, so until then, I hope you all have a wonderful holiday weekend (for those in the U.S.), and a great start to your week. Catch you on the flip side!

Home Again... for now

Well, I'm baaaack! For five days. Ha ha.

Yep, I leave for Florida on Thursday. But don't despair - I'm working on lining up some awesome guest posts to fill your days with brightness while I'm gone.

In the meantime, a couple of you asked for pictures of my trip, so here's a few to give you a taste of Portland. It is so green and beautiful!

Our hotel was on an island in the middle of the Columbia River, how cool is that? (A very big island) This is Mt. Hood, and one side of the river, as we were getting off the freeway to go to our hotel.
This is Mt. St. Helen's (sorry, taken again from my car). I was obsessed with this volcano as a child, so it was fun to see it in person again. We were going to drive to it, but Son A got really upset and didn't want to. (He was afraid it would erupt.) Oh well.

The Columbia River on our drive home.

The whole place is just gorgeous! (Yep, another picture taken from the car. We couldn't stop because Son B took a lot of his naps in the car and stopping = him waking up = not good.)

I love travelling, how about you? That's something I love about books. They can take you places you've never been--real or imagined. They can be an escape from real life, or from where you are at the moment. That can be truly physically and emotionally. Writing, for me, is often the best form of escape. I can dive into the lives of my characters, into their settings and emotions, their troubles and their triumphs. When I'm feeling grumpy, my husband will often ask me if I've written anything recently. I'm surprised at how often I realize the times I'm more on edge correlate with having not written anything for a while. I'm not talking about editing, or revising--I mean WRITING. New words, new ideas, moving my characters forward. Speaking of writing, I need to go do some more.

I made it back last night in time to make it to a BBQ with my old writer's group. (Yes, I'm gigantic. And I even took off my heels for this pic. Oh well!) We don't do a big critique group like we used to anymore, but we still get together to see each other, celebrate each other's accomplishments and have a great time. Janette Rallison came late, so she wasn't in the picture, but we were so glad she was in town so we could see her, too! She's too hilarious. So, from left to right back row: Me, Erin, Ally, (Teddy, Erin's little boy), Jamie, Pam, Julie, Carla. Bottom Row: Carolyn and Stacey. I love these ladies. It is so important and fun to have friends who really understand this crazy business. Thanks for a great night ladies!

So tell me, do you have a writer's group or CP? How did you find them? We all met at a writer's conference a year ago. (Some of us knew each other before) Also, do you find writing to be an escape, or is that just me?

Have a great weekend!

From the road...

Well, we made it to Portland. Phwew. That was a LONG drive. Even split into 2 chunks. The boys did really well though, so that's a relief. I spent all afternoon and night entertaining them alone while hubby went to meetings. They are both sleeping now (thank heavens) and I'm sitting here staring at my computer. My eyes are burning, I'm exhausted, and I can hardly think straight. I should go to sleep. Instead, I'm blogging and then going to read. I would try to write, but I'm pretty sure anything that came out would be drivel. Much like this blog post.

So the moral of the story is that you should get other people to do guest posts when you're travelling and still want to do blog posts. I will keep that in mind when I leave for my even longer trip to Florida next Thursday.

Yeah, you heard my right. My whole family is going to FLORIDA (courtesy of my awesome parents). DISNEY WORLD. HARRY POTTER LAND (or whatever it's really called)! Daytona Beach! For 10 DAYS! That trip is NOT a work trip. We just get to go be together and have fun the whole time. I am SO excited (even though it will be crazy busy and murderously hot). But when you're trying to get ten people's schedules to coincide, scheduling can be tricky, so July is when it could happen. The point is, I will make sure and line up some guest posts for that trip, because I pretty much guarantee my Internet time will be slim to none. Even though I know you're dying to read more awesome, rambling posts such as this one.

What does this have to do with writing? Um, nothing. Sorry. Just keeping you posted on my whereabouts, because I know ya'll were dying to make sure we were here safe and sound and somewhat sane. Check, check, and check. I promise to have a meaningful post about writing soon.

In the meantime, hope you're having a great week! I'm off to read.

Tell me (because I always love to find out), what are you reading right now?

Greener pastures... or something like that

Well, I'm going to be on the road again this week. This time, my hubby is heading to Boise and then Portland for work, and since he's driving, the boys and I are tagging along for the ride (again). It's nice to be able to do that, even though it means having to take care of two young boys in a hotel room (with no car - aka no escape) during the days. It's worth it to see Daddy at night, instead of being separated for a whole week. And I also get to travel and see fun cities and do fun stuff at night.

The last (and only) time I went to Portland was when I was a teenager, probably fifteen or so. I remember it being VERY green. And gorgeous. I hope it lives up to the memories I have! I'm really excited to see it again. Anyone have suggestions of fun things we should do at night, when my hubby is done with his meetings?

So, my blogging may be a bit sporadic this week, but you never know. Wireless internet + nap time might = lots of blog posts. You'll just have to wait and see! Here's hoping to the kids doing well in the car, getting lots of reading and writing done (ha ha, we'll see), and having a fun trip!

What fun plans do you have this week?