Candy and a Currant Bun

Happy Halloween!!!!

I love costumes, so naturally I love halloween. This weekend I dressed up like a beanie babie:

In honor of the holiday, I thought I'd share a collage of my favorite costumes:

Also, I kan't get over the fakt that Kim and Kris are getting divorked. Who saw that koming?

Happy Halloween!!!!

High Hopes

So this may sound crazy but next month I am attempting writing my first novel. I signed up for National Novel Writing Month, aka NaNoWriMo. It's a contest where participants aim to write an entire novel, minimum of 50,000 words, in one month. The point is to write as much as you can in one month without stressing about editing and wondering if what you are writing is any good. Water For Elephants actually started as a NaNoWriMo novel. 

I figure if people can run 26.2 miles in one day, I can write about 175 pages in one month. I'm aiming for 7 pages a day since I will have to take off a weekend for my trip to D.C. I love writing fiction and I think this is a good year for me to try this out!

So what am I going to write about? What genre will I choose? Here are a few ideas I've got cooking....what do you think?

Idea #1
Title: Betrayal and Tides 
Genre: Romance

Summary: Lonely widow Sydney Simmons escapes a town full of endless rumors and gossip and flees to the English castle where her estranged father, a retired high profile CEO of a major pharmaceuticals firm, resides. While reconnecting with her father, she meets her father's bodyguard Vince Bennet, who is not only distrustful of Sydney handling her father's estate, but is also gorgeous. When Sydney's past catches up with her and she is accused of her own husband's murder, who's body will Vince guard?


Idea #2
Title: Galahad of the 22nd Century
Genre: Science Fiction

Summary: Galahad is a typical 25 year old man living in Sandusky, Ohio at the turn of the 22nd century. As a resident of the largest city on Earth, the center of civilization, he is given the opportunity to participate in the most important vote the world have ever seen. The earth's natural resources are gone. Global warming has spun out of control, the world experiences 24 hours of daylight.  The oceans are polluted, anyone who takes a swim or surf ends up with scales. Still, Galahad cannot decide: should marijuana be legalized?




Idea #3
Title: Spermicide
Genre: Thriller

Summary: Jack Olson is devastated when he finds out that the man he grew up calling Dad is not his biological father. It is discovered that during his mother's in vitro fertilization, a mad scientist switched Jack's father's sperm with his own. Jack is angry, and he is not alone. Jack and his 2,000 half siblings, all victims of the mad scientist's sick game, plot to murder their father. But do all of Jack's siblings really want their daddy gone?


Idea #4
Title: Mage of the Dark Ember
Genre: Fantasy

Summary: Zaden is the son of a poor carpenter of the village of Valin in the Kingdom of Mabyn. When the dark witch Macadrian defies Mabynian ancient law and opens a portal to Land of the Mystics, the consequences leave Zaden an orphan, but he is also left with his father's family secret of being the sole survivors of a race of a magical-mystical hybrid humanoids. Only Zaden has the power to close the portal, but he has the help of warrior Han Qadan, his dragon Saba, conjuror Kadri, and most importantly, his father's memory. The only question is, on what side of the portal does Zaden want to remain?


Idea #5
Title: Whodunnit?
Genre: Mystery

Summary: Whodunnit?










Okay, I'm not at all serious about any of these ideas. But I am very serious about trying to write an entire novel in one month! I do have somewhat of an idea of what it's going to be about, and you will all find out what that is when it's published someday!


Even though I won't ever be writing these books, they're still my ideas and I better not see anyone steal these exciting plots!

The Gold It's in the...

Last weekend I got to see a ton a college friends at the Notre Dame vs. USC game. This was a HUGE game since USC is a big rival and it was a night game, which is something ND never has. Tailgating was great despite horrible AT&T reception, but the game was not so hot. I hate to admit, but I think I might have put some bad luck on the Irish side. I was seen sporting this pin for most of the day:

I wore this pin because my Mom left it for me on my car dashboard. I saw it as I was leaving Chicago at 7:30 am Saturday morning. She got it back in the day and I find it really confusing. Who is this rooting for? It's USC colors (well I guess the gold could be for both of them) and there is a Trojan head but there's also a shamrock. Confusing. I took it off eventually because I got weird looks. Why does my Mom have this?

I think schools were less mean spirited to each other in the past. Now it's easy to tell what school someone is supporting. Here are some of my favorite anti-Notre Dame and anti-USC pics that are not one bit confusing. I like being nice to other fans, and I love talking to them, but I also love this stuff and I definitely want to come up with something of my own one day and become a campus sensation...again.

Truth.

Lame.

Ladies, ladies, ladies. I applaud the effort but this is a false statement. If this were true, my  favorite shows: Teen Mom,  I Didn't Know I Was Pregnant,  Teen Mom 2, and 19 Kids and Counting would never exist. I also can't help but mention that most of us wouldn't be around if this were true.

Haha this is cute. I'll take it.

Fact.

LOL.

Classic.

The Grand Vizier's Garden Party

More about my trip to the University of Mississippi, also known as Ole Miss, also known as the Harvard of the South! Saturday was all about the Ole Miss/Bamba game!

I'm no rookie when it comes to tailgating. I am was, however, a newbie to The Grove.

The Grove is great because 1) You can wear cute dresses. 2) It's all about the drinking and eating, the actual game is secondary. A ton of tents had TVs set up because you can tailgate during the game (ND technically kicks you out after kickoff). 3) Best people watching EVER! You see everything from southern belles in Lily and pearls to girls who look like they are on their way to a Club Fever. It was just my kind of football Saturday.

My only complaint was that beer is prohibited in The Grove. However, you can have wine or liquor. It's crazy that you can walk around with a bottle of Jack but can't walk around with a can of Bud Light. Of course, people still do it, because it's so much fun being a rebel (pun intended)!

HOTTY TODDY!!!!

Jugband Blues

I haven't updated in so long! I just really haven't had much to say. Living with my parents for two months made me boring and reclusive. Also, I read a ton of books. But now I am back in the city and back to my old ways of wasting time and telling people about it. So let's do this.

This past weekend I was in Mississippi visiting a friend who goes to Ole Miss. It was my first time in the South (apparently Florida isn't the South?). Wow! It's a different world. I felt like I stood out like a pale, sore, short thumb. Usually I stick out because of my platinum blonde hair. Not here. Everyone was blonde! Shouldn't I love this? No. I didn't feel special. But I stuck out because I couldn't say mam without giggling, couldn't sing one lyric of any country song I heard, and wore flip flops past September (It's cowboy boot season!).

What I absolutely loved about my southern experience was the food, the weather, the kindness of strangers, and the non-hectic atmosphere. Of course I can't forget my trip to Graceland Too.

When my friend first picked me up from Memphis I asked her if Graceland was something to see. She said it was $60 a ticket so that ended my curiosity. Then she told me about Graceland Too, which was only $5. We drove 45 minutes to go walk around this guy's house who hoards Elvis paraphernalia. So worth it. We went at like 11:00 pm. I was worried it would be closed, but then I was told that Paul Mcleod, the man behind Graceland too, never sleeps. I read that he drinks 24 cans of coke a day. We actually stopped at a gas station of the way there to get a bottle for him.

I was warned that Paul Mcleod said really inappropriate things and that I would leave the house smelling. Both were true. Don't worry Mom, we had boys with us. I couldn't really understand anything Paul Mcleod was saying during the tour but at one point I started screaming because he was reaching into a bag and for some reason (basically every northerners stereotype of southerners) I thought he was going to pull out a gun or a dead animal. It was actually a microphone and he sang to me.

Paul is open about the fact that when given and ultimatum from his wife asking him to choose between his shrine to Elvis or her, he chose his shrine to Elvis. 

Me on an electric chair (aka a chair with a colander and Christmas lights attached to it, aka Jail House Rock).

What's funny is that I actually heard about this place in a book I read in college. I had the best major!

It's located in a normal residential neighborhood. Would you want to be his neighbor?