Back in the Swing of Things

Well, sort of.

My family and I went on vacation two weeks ago, to visit my husband's family in Florida over Spring Break. It was a wonderful trip (despite the flight down being delayed and very turbulent and the return flight spending half an hour in a holding pattern over Virginia.) The weather was beautiful, if a little cold in the beginning. And by cold, I mean in the sixties kind of cold. The kind of cold that has Floridians running for heavy winter coats while those of us from the North wear short-sleeved tee shirts and say, "Ahhh... it's so warm here!"

We went to Naples, which is on the west coast, along the Gulf. My husband and I spent our honeymoon there, and this was the first time in almost sixteen years we were able to go back (the Girl has spent every Spring Break with her grandparents for a few years now, but this was the first year we thought the Boy could handle such a trip.) I'd forgotten just how beautiful Naples is - and after the long, seemingly endless winter we were having up here in NJ, it was a vacation in itself just to see the brilliant colors of all the blooming flowers and trees. Everything was just so pretty and so alive - a far cry from the yet-to-bloom trees and bushes up home.


The time leading up to the trip was hectic enough, since there were four of us but everything went smoothly. As I said, the flight down was pretty rough - with the drop-the-pit-of-your-stomach kind of turbulence (apparently there was some pretty severe weather through Georgia/Northern Florida and nowhere to go but through it. It reminded me very much of a roller coaster ride.) And considering this was the Boy's first flight, he handled it beautifully. He wasn't so crazy about the landing, but everything else was okay as far as he was concerned.

All in all, it was a relaxing vacation, with time spent on the beach, at the pool, at the Naples Zoo (I got licked by a giraffe while feeding it. Gross, but in a funny way.) We did some shopping, had tea at a wonderful little tea shop, and took the kids to the Children's Museum. We watched some gorgeous sunsets. Drank some terrific wine. And slept like babies every night. It was exactly what a vacation should be.

It the Summer REALLY Almost Over?

O hai.

I know I've been MIA the last few weeks, but between revisions for Windemere and my family vacation, I've spent precious little time on anything else. I'm happy to say that after those edits (which included rewriting the entire last third of the book that required a fourteen hour writing session at one point) the rest of them should be smooth sailing. My editor was thrilled with the new ending and I'm thrilled that she's thrilled because I really don't know if I could pull off another 14 hour write-fest. Thank God for my husband, who took the kids down the shore that weekend, which gave me a writing block of three uninterrupted days. He was a godsend during this book's revisions. An absolute godsend.

And, yes - we did a family vacation - a 9 day cruise to the Caribbean to celebrate my inlaws upcoming 50th wedding anniversary. Fifty years and they haven't killed each other (or anyone else, for that matter.) It's amazing to think of being married to one person for that long. My husband and I just celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary in June and it isn't easy, that's for sure. I'd have killed me long ago, I'm such a pain in the ass to live with. :D

But this cruise was absolutely wonderful. It was my inlaws, my husband's brother, his sister, our nephew and the Boy and the Girl (4 people in one stateroom for 9 days is a bit too much togetherness, but we survived without too much incident.) We left from Port Liberty, Bayonne (I didn't even know cruise ships went out of Bayonne until this trip) and visited Bermuda, St. Maarten, Puerto Rico, and Haiti and it was probably the best vacation I've ever had. The Boy and I played on pink sand at Horseshoe Bay on Bermuda while my husband and the Girl swam with dolphins. We all went snorkeling in St. Maarten. We walked all over Old San Juan, and the hubs and I zip-lined in Haiti. A-MAY-ZING.

A few pictures that I took:

Cast-off Party on deck as we approached the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge sailing out of Bayonne, NJ

A scenic spot along the road in Bermuda

An elephant made of towels, left by our stateroom attendant one night. :D

St. Maarten, on the way back from snorkeling. No picture I took could possibly capture just how beautiful this island is

El Morro Fort - San Juan, Puerto Rico. Well, part of it, anyway.

Labadee, Haiti

Sunrise over New York City as we returned home...

Sunrise over the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge as we returned to Bayonne

But now I'm back in NJ and I returned to find Windemere's second edits in my in-box, Phyllis Diller and Neil Armstrong died, and the Republican party is still chock full o'crazy. It was nice, being cut off from all the crap that is a 24-hour news cycle (I avoid politics like the plague on this blog for the most part because you'd never get me off my soapbox otherwise. And really, who cares what I think, politically-speaking?) I left my laptop at home, my cell phone remained shut off and locked in our stateroom safe, and it was wonderful. But, as all good things must end, here I am, back in the real world. Next week, the kidlets go back to school and the summer of 2012 go down in the books as one of the best, and fastest, summers I've ever spent.

Done!

With a week to go until my deadline, Windemere is finished! YAY! And lest my editor read this and faint dead away because she thinks it's only first draft finished, I mean the polished, finished book is done. Happy dance! I'll read through it, make sure I caught any and all typos (and apologize in advance for any I might miss) and then BAM! Off it will go.

And then? Then I will take a few days off and relax now that the pressure is off. It will come back, in the form of edits, but that's okay. I can deal with that.

So, we're nearing the halfway point of the summer. Already??? I know that technically, summer only began what? Three weeks ago? But as a baseball fan, the turning point in the season is the All-Star break, which is this week, so I think of it as the halfway mark of summer as well. Although, it is hot enough to fool me into thinking it's August - what's up with this weather? It's ungodly, really.

Anyway, my plans for the remainder of the summer are really quite simple. I'm halfway through Julia Quinn's Bridgerton series. I'll hopefully get a few blog topics out of it because, quite frankly, I'm not enjoying this series as much as I thought. Mostly because it seems to me each of Quinn's heroes is more of a jerk than the last. I know of at least one blog post I want to write, and it was inspired by these less-than-heroic-heroes. For the first time since I bought my Kindle, I've made notes in Romancing Mr. Bridgerton (the one I'm reading now.) I've never made notes in a book, but this one was irritating me to the point where I had to, because when and if I review it on Goodreads, I want to make sure I don't forget what some of my beefs with it were.

We have a family vacation coming up, which I am really looking forward to - I haven't taken a real vacation ins years. We aren't the type to take a yearly family vacation, so when we do, it's really something to look forward to and I can't wait for this year's! And other than that, I'll be polishing Don't Tempt Me to get it out the door and under submission. And aside from research, I have nothing else going this summer. Go. Me.

Gotta love summer!

Spring Break

Is almost here. Yay! I'm sooo not a morning person, and having to get up to get the kids ready for school means I have to be up early. Most school years, that means by seven (I know, for some of you, the day's well under way by now. But for me, this is earlier-than-should-be-allowed-by-law early.) This year, the Boy is in kindergarten, which in my school district is run in two half-day sessions, AM and PM. He is in the PM, so he doesn't leave until about noon. My daughter is in the intermediate school (our district does K-4 in the grammar schools, 5-6 at the intermediate, 7-8 at the middle school, 9-12 at the high school. We just LOVE having as many schools open as possible...) so she doesn't have to leave the house until 8:40. Which means I get to sleep in a little later this year. Next year, when the Boy goes into first grade, I have to get up early again (wah) but for now... Sleep is mine.

But the last few months have been especially hectic, so I am really looking forward to having the next week off. The Girl is flying down to Florida with her aunt and her cousin to spend the break with her grandparents, and since the hubs is working, it'll be just me and the Boy. It should be a fun week, since I've got a few things planned for us to do. But mostly, we get to just go out and play (if Mother Nature cooperates, of course) and that's the best part of hanging out with him.

This year is going by so fast, it's hard to believe we're up to Spring Break already. Next is Memorial Day, and then summer... yikes. Where does the time go? It's April already. Wasn't it just Christmas?

Ah well, the next two days will be nuts, but then, vacation... can. not. wait. :D

Kindle vs. Nook - Which One to Choose?

I have a confession to make -

I don't own an e-reader.

There. I said it. I don't own an e-reader. Whew, I feel better now.

Okay, so that said, I'm thinking about taking the plunge and getting one. Maybe after Christmas. Trouble is, I'm a little torn between the Kindle and the Nook. My brother swears by his Kindle. I've heard others swear by the Nook. So, which to choose? Decisions, decisions.

In other news, I finished my NaNoWriMo project over the weekend, and the edits to Tiger Eyes are pretty much done (one more read through before they go off to my editor), so now... vacation! What a lovely word and I am soooo looking forward to the time off.

Oh, and have I mentioned Playing with Fire comes out this Friday? Yay! :D

And then there's Thanksgiving. Last year, I inherited the cooking duties. This year, with my mom being sick, we're having a full house. It will be noisy, there will be much food and wine, and it will be nice having the family together. I'm glad I don't have to do any traveling, as I'd much rather be home cooking than going anywhere. We'll be up early, the Macy's Parade will be on, the house will smell wonderful, and we'll all be together. That's all that matters.

What about you? What're your Turkey Day plans?

Catching Up

Wow - I just realized how much time has passed since I last posted. Holy... I didn't realize it had been that long. Sorry 'bout that. Really.

Let's see... I've been writing like crazy. Finished two first drafts and a second draft, and am now in the process of revising them. I will be working on Tiger Eyes when I finish this, akshully. The work - it neveh stops!

It's also summer, and that means kidlets at home. The Boy and the Girl go back to school a week from Tuesday (YAY!), so that will mean a little more free time, which should (in theory) mean more blog posts. I hope.

I'm also knitting two blankets.

And I just got back from almost a week at the Jersey shore with the fam and the husband's fam. It's been busy these last few weeks, and that is why my poor blog has gone so neglected. Ooops. I have no other excuse really. I've just been busy. I can't believe the summer's almost gone, school's right around the corner (YAY!), and it'll soon be time for NaNo instead. Egads...

I'll work on getting more in-depth posts up. Time to go back and revisit my list of blog topics and see what all there is for me to blog about at all.

Keep your fingers crossed.

And this time, I mean it. :D