EVERNEATH blog tour!

I am SO excited that I got to be a part of the EVERNEATH blog tour. I adore Brodi, she is so genuine, funny, talented, funny, nice... well, basically she rocks. She has worked so hard to get to this point, and I am so so happy for her. I first met her when she was requerying agents after deciding things weren't working out with her first agent. Talk about a hard decision. But obviously it was the right one, because now her book is almost here! If don't already follow her blog, you are missing out. So go rectify that RIGHT NOW. I'll wait.


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Okay, done? Good. Now, on to her book.

First of all. OH MY HECK, am I the only one drooling over that cover? I just want to stare at it. Can't wait until it's on my shelf!

Here's the synopsis (from goodreads):

Last spring, Nikki Beckett vanished, sucked into an underworld known as the Everneath, where immortals Feed on the emotions of despairing humans. Now she's returned- to her old life, her family, her friends- before being banished back to the underworld... this time forever. She has six months before the Everneath comes to claim her, six months for good-byes she can't find the words for, six months to find redemption, if it exists. Nikki longs to spend these months reconnecting with her boyfriend, Jack, the one person she loves more than anything. But there's a problem: Cole, the smoldering immortal who first enticed her to the Everneath, has followed Nikki to the mortal world. And he'll do whatever it takes to bring her back- this time as his queen. As Nikki's time grows short and her relationships begin slipping from her grasp, she's forced to make the hardest decision of her life: find a way to cheat fate and remain on the Surface with Jack or return to the Everneath and become Cole's...

So, what did I think of it? Well, here's what I wrote on Goodreads (I gave it 5 stars btw):

"I don't give stars anymore, but I absolutely had to on this one because HOLY CRIMINY it deserved it! BRODI!! I LOVED it. If this isn't on your TBR list yet, you'd better add it. Now. Couldn't put it down (which is saying a lot with a 3 week old). Dark, beautiful, hopeful, devastating, fabulous, refreshing and new. I won't say more so you can experience it for yourself in January. Way to go, Bro."

Can you get any higher of a recommendation than the fact that I had a 3 week old baby, and I stayed up until 2 am trying to finish it?? Yeah, I don't think so either. I have a total book-crush on Jack. My only complaint is that I have to wait so long to read the sequel! :)

Be sure to check back to Brodi's blog for more links as the blog tour continues, and mark your calendars for January 3rd when you can get your hot little hands on this gem.

Monday Inspiration

Here's a great quote to start off this new week:

"The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack in will." - Vince Lombardi

I have oodles of will, so I should be good to go, right? How about you?

Looking for joy along the path

I don't know about you, but there are times when I'm so focused on my goals (aka the "end results"), that I lose sight of the joy in where I'm at right now. I've made a conscious effort to find more happiness in the journey in the last few months, and it has made a big difference. I don't beat myself up as much for not getting everything done as fast as possible. I take more time to breath, to see, to listen, to feel.

As I was running with my mom and sister last weekend (6 miles, woot woot!), we came upon this beautiful sight. It was a perfect moment--a nice cool breeze, we were all feeling really good, the sun was just coming up... it was lovely. I dare say it was the best run I've ever had to this point.

Isn't the fog weaving through the river bottoms just beautiful? We thought so, too.

But not all runs are this wonderful. My sister and I ran on the same path last night and nearly every step was a struggle. She had a blister that was bleeding, I was exhausted, but we pushed through and did our 4 miles. And we were still able to find the joy in the run, even if it was harder than the previous time.

Life is like that - sometimes it's easy to see the beauty and joy in our path, other times it takes a lot more effort. With running, with trying to get published, with being a mom, with all aspects of my life, this is true.

How about you, do you find it easy or hard to find joy in your journey?

And... DONE!

Whoa. It's been an intense couple of weeks. SHH started traveling for work again (rather suddenly), so I had to start flying solo with all three kids day and night before I knew it. I had this major revision I needed to get done for my agent, I had to try and figure out how to go running without SHH there to help with the kids (his mom came over and watched them so I could go once), and yeah. Just busy, busy, busy.

I didn't get much sleep, but I did get my revision done last Thursday. YAY! That was such a big relief and weight off my chest. Of course, now I'm sick, so I may be wearing myself out a little bit, but oh well. What can you do?

That's the thing, when you want something bad enough, you make sacrifices. You endure, and fight, and keep going. Whether it be running a hard race, writing your book (or revising it as the case may be), or any other goal you have. Life doesn't get any easier, nor does time just magically appear so you can "finally get around" to that thing you've been wanting to do. For me right now, I'm trying to keep balance in my life. I am cherishing my baby girl and my boys as much as possible, because I don't want to have any regrets when they get older. So that means sacrificing sleep to pursue my goals - staying up late to write and getting up early to run (when SHH is here anyway). Normally I would keep working on a new book or some other writing project after finishing one project, but this time, I think I might take a break for a week and enjoy an extra couple hours of sleep--or time cuddling Baby Girl. :)

How about you, what do you sacrifice to meet your goals? What have you been doing these last couple of weeks?

Summer is drawing to a close...

If you wonder where I've been, here's a snapshot...

Cherishing my time with this little one. (Or trying to anyway, in between the hectic life of taking care of two young boys and my house and the revision I'm trying to work on for my agent and the half marathon I'm training for [which I signed up for in October in an apparent moment if insanity, but I'm excited to accomplish something that hard], and yeah. Oh, and SHH just found out he's going to be traveling for work again a whole bunch. Yikes. Busy much? Oh my. So if I'm still sporadic with blogging for a while, you'll know why. I am reading your blogs as much as I can, I just don't have any extra time to comment very often, so I apologize for that. But I honestly don't know how I'm going to do it all and still be the kind of mom I want to be. I'm just taking it one day at a time.

However I did sneak out for Kiersten White's signing for SUPERNATURALLY--another NY Times Bestseller! Woohoo! Congrats Kiersten, I'm so happy for you.

So what are you doing these last few weeks of summer?

Not quite back yet...

Yeah, still in survival mode over here a bit. I actually showered, got dressed, AND had make up on before 10 am today -- with all three kids here and no help. That's probably a pathetic thing to get excited about, but for me, it was a victorious moment.

As for my writing? Um, pretty much nonexistant right now. But hey, she's only 3 weeks old as of yesterday, and most people take off 6 weeks from their jobs right? So the fact that I'm getting anything done is putting me ahead of the game. Or at least that's what I'm going to tell myself.

In the meantime, I have friends with great news and fun stuff happening:

Natalie Whipple got a book deal!!! WOOHOO!!! I'm so so SO happy for her. She has worked harder than you can imagine for this moment to happen. If you haven't already, make sure to go wish her well!

My friend Stacey's book blog My Pile of Books is celebrating its blogiversary, and she's going to be doing some great giveaways, so make sure and check it out!

There's more, but baby girl just started crying, so my time is up. :)

She's here!

Wanna know why my belly got this huge?

(38 weeks, whoa BABY!)

Well, here she is!

Our beautiful daughter!

9 lbs 7 oz

22 inches

We spent a lot of time in the nursery with her because she had some complications. Luckily she was doing well enough to come home with us on time.

Curly hair like her Mama ;)

SonA and SonB both adore her.

My beautiful little firecracker.

So that's why I'll be MIA for a while. :-) Hope you are all doing great. Keep me posted on the rest of the world...