After the Oscars

Last Tuesday I made predictions in four Oscars categories (Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress, and Best Animated Feature) and guess what...? I was right! Big congrats to Natalie Portman, Christian Bale, Melissa Leo (henceforth known at the F-bomb dropper) and Toy Story 3.

Finally, a beautiful baby dress.

Also big props to Anne Hathaway as co-host. James Franco was more than a little awkward and, as many tweeters pointed out last night, looked a little ... chemically enhanced, if you know what I mean. But as much as I loved Anne (and, previously, Hugh Jackman) I kinda wish they would go back to old school comedians again.

Beautiful and witty Princess Mia.

But in addition to being right about the above categories, winning the first annual Oscars bingo competition with Kay Cassidy and Christina Gonzales, and following all the ups and downs on Twitter, there were a few wonderful highlights from the show.

• Kirk Douglas, oldest presenter at 94 and still going strong.
• The auto-tune musical montage of Harry Potter, Twilight, and Social Network. OMG. (If you missed it, see it here.)
• Best Original Screenplay winner David Seidler (The King's Speech) saying, "My father always said to me I would be a late bloomer."
• Russell Brand and Helen Mirren (looking amazing as always) presenting for Best Foreign Language Film.
• RDJ (with Jude Law) making fun of his own not-so-illustrious past.
• The grand finale with the kids of PS22 in Staten Island singing Somewhere Over the Rainbow with all the night's winners appearing behind them. Best ending ever.
• And, last but most definitely not least, Mr. Darcy—er, Colin Firth winning for Best Actor, with self-effacing humor and dignity.

The swoon heard 'round the world.

Did you watch the show? Did you have any favorite (or least favorite—like Cate Blanchett's dress and Gwyneth Paltrow's song, wha?!?) moments to share?

Hugs,
TLC

A Wish

One thing I find myself wishing almost every day is for more time. More time to get everything done, or to get the things I need to do done better. More time to take time off of the things I have to do so I can do the things I want to do.

Here's a list of things I'd do if there were more hours in the day:

1. Sleep more. (Soooo sleepy these days!)


2. Try new recipes. I have so many great cookbooks and would love to make something new every day.


3. Learn to play the guitar and/or become better at playing the piano.


4. Become fluent in Spanish.


5. Take creative writing (or similar) classes at our local university.


6. Become an Active again in the Junior League. (I'm currently a Sustainer which is like being retired but I miss volunteering in this particular organization.)


7. Spend more time at my sons' school, helping kids read and write.


8. Read more books.


9. Write more books. (I'll be happy if I can just finish my current proposal at this point.)


10. Paint my toenails.


11. Exercise more (including taking my boys snowboarding more often).

What would YOU do if you could squeeze it into your daily schedule?

Where in the world is Dona?

Long time no hear, huh everyone! I have been fairly absentee lately (okay, longer than lately, hmmmm!)

I have been traveling a lot lately...some for work, some for non-work, but it's always been fun because one thing I really, really love is being in other cities. This is a good thing because I have been traveling every 2 weeks since last August! So, where in the world have I been?

My travelogue looks a little something like this....

August 29th, 2010 - My husband surprised me with a birthday weekend in San Francisco where my best friends from college live. We had a fun, cake-filled weekend and I really enjoyed turning the big 3-0!

This is me post one of my many b'day dinner at Michael Mina's restaurants in downtown San Francisco

Next on the list, just two weeks later was a week in Michigan and Toronto last September. I was there for work, but also got a chance to see my family and old high school friends!

This is my parents and I outside a historical hotel in Toronto enjoying an Afternoon Tea service--my favorite meal!

Two weeks after that I was asked to go to Mexico City to help hire some great candidates for Microsoft. Contrary to what people might think, the city is actually quite lovely and historical. Plus the food is amazing! My favorite dishes are tacos al pastor and chilaquiles. If you've never had either of these, I highly recommend them!

This is in Mexico City enjoying an amazing coconut ice cream!

We got a great deal to Vegas at the last minute last November, so my husband and I spent the weekend there. We had many surprises there including meeting "Chef of the Year" Joel Rubuchon!

Two weeks later, I was sent to Puerto Vallarta for work in December--interviewing Mexico students for MIcrosoft. Do I have the best job or what? One tradition in PV is the seafood! All shrimps, lobsters, crab, etc was served on giant cookie sheets...delicious!

Taking a little break from all the work :)

Next up was our real big vacation of the year. Every year we try to spend two weeks in the Caribbean. It's the most exciting two weeks for us and this past trip was no exception! We went to Barbados, St. Kitts, British Virgin Islands and Antigua. We spent the entire two weeks lazing on the beach and snorkling and diving. It was the closest to a perfect life as I can imagine!

I would definitely go back!

This is us saying good-bye to the beach...we'll be back!

The last place I visited was Minneapolis. I went for work, but also got to see my sister. We spent a great morning shopping and eating and just catching up on girl time!

This is my sis at a great little bakery...doesn't that bread look amazing?

Next week I am off (again) to San Francisco for a friend's wedding and then the week after I am off to Michigan again to speak to a sorority about my writing! I will have many pictures and more to share from my travels.

What's a place you visited that you were surprised to actually enjoy? What are some of your fave places to visit?

Have a lovely weekend!

--Dona

Boys are divas. Who knew?

Weekday mornings at the Hale household can get pretty rowdy. I'm sure this isn't news to any of you reading that have children. First there is breakfast, then last minute studying for the day's tests, then toothbrushing, then the worst part of all, getting dressed.

My oldest son has morphed into a complete diva when it comes to his clothes. I've spent hundreds of dollars on clothes to have him discard them like I'm handing him Lady Gaga's meat dress to wear. I can even take him with me to try the clothes on and let him pick what he wants. But somehow between the mall and his closet, the clothes magically change and are no longer good enough.

(Not my son but could easily pass for him when his jeans aren't clean.)

And believe me, we've tried the whole picking out the outfit the night before routine. It doesn't matter, something will envitiably be wrong with that outfit the next morning also. He loves fancy shirts and ties. And has exactly TWO pairs of jeans that he will wear. While he looks completely adorable in his Alex P. Keaton attire, it would be nice to go one day without doing laundry.

I always blamed my husband. The man has jeans from 1997 that he refuses to stop wearing because he can't find any that fit as well. So I just figured my son picked up some weird gene from him about his taste in clothes. Then MY mother reminded me about the entire year I spent in dresses. Apparently I threw a complete fit when she tried to get me to wear pants because I thought people would think I was a boy. So I spent my entire kindergarten year wearing dresses. Bummer, I guess I can't blame my husband anymore.



Did you go through any weird "stages" with clothes?


xo,
Stephanie
http://www.stephaniehale.com/

What Makes a Cover Great?

I'm so excited that I finally have the cover for my fall book for Harcourt!  It's probably my favorite of my covers so far - and it got me thinking about what makes a cover great.  

What is it that makes you want to pull a book off a shelf, or a display and give it a try?

We buzz girls have been pretty lucky when it comes to cover art -- from Tina's sweet prom dress illustration to Marley's fierce Ghost Huntress photographic images -- the covers have really popped out at readers on the shelf.   I know because I'm looking for them in every bookstore I go to!

I think the thing that is surprising is how little pull most authors have when it comes to covers for their books.  Of course, it varies by publisher, but aside from a character sketch or vague idea I've shared with my editor, the art director is usually the one who is dreaming up the image and then sharing it with sales and marketing. 

Before I sold a book, I would spend time sketching out ideas for my future covers - thinking that those might be useful someday.   They were useful in one way - they kept my mind thinking that someday there would be a cover on my books.  A self-fulfilling prophecy, in the end.

So, let's take an informal poll -- what is it that strikes you first about a cover?

1) The main image and how it relates to subject

2) The color combination

3) The title or cover blurb

4) The author's name


Are there any covers that you've really loved lately?


Hugs,

Heather
www.heatherdavisbooks.com
Wherever You Go - November 2011 Harcourt
The Clearing - HMH/Graphia
Never Cry Werewolf - HarperTeen

The Oscars are Coming...

Are you ready? The Academy Awards will be on live this Sunday at 8|5p and I will definitely be watching. Since I watched the Golden Globes and the SAG awards, I feel more prepared than usual for the Oscars. I have a good feeling who will win best actress...

Natalie Portman

...best supporting actor...

Christian Bale

...best supporting actress...

Melissa Leo

...and best animated feature film.

Toy Story 3

What do you think? Are you going to be watching? Do you have your predictions made? Do you foresee any big upsets?

Hugs,
TLC

teralynnchilds.com
@teralynnchilds

Valentine's Day Winner

Last Monday, I asked everyone to weigh in on what they thought of Valentine's Day. We got a really good response, and I thank everyone for their comments!

I used my handy-dandy random number generator that my husband created some time ago for this very purpose, and it landed on:

(librarian) Kristen!

So Kristen, if you would please contact me at admin@tinaferraro.com, I will get your $10 gift card to Amazon.com winging its way to you!

And for the record, my husband and I DID go out a couple nights' later...had a wonderful teryiaki/sushi dinner. No crowds and good service. Works for us!

Weird Movies

So as I'm sitting here trying to think of something interesting to write about, I happened to flip on the TV and "The Fifth Element" (Bruce Willis) is on. I've never watched it and I can honestly say it's one of the weirdest movies I've ever seen.



Then it got me thinking of other weird movies, ones that left me with a "Okay, so that was bizarre" feeling.


A Clockwork Orange -- I saw this in college so maybe I need to see it again to be sure, but I remember being totally weirded out by this flick. (For those of you who've read The Secret Life of a Teenage Siren, there's a reference to the cult classic in it.)



Cry-Baby -- Johnny Depp's been in his share of off-the-wall flicks (especially when teamed up with Tim Burton) but this one was just, well, strange. Kinda like Grease, only not.





Being John Malkovich -- I always wondered if this was John's idea.



The Rocky Horror Picture Show -- Let's Do The Time Warp Agaaaaaain!

The Killer Inside Me -- Pretty much explains it.



Buried -- An entire movie of a guy in a coffin? Haven't seen it myself but my friend Christina thought it was pretty darn strange.

Now, of all of these the ones I'd actually recommend are: Cry-Baby, Being John Malkovich, and The Rocky Horrow Picture Show. What weird movies would you recommend?

You outta be in pictures....

I spend a lot of time at Sam's Club. I have two growing boys that eat like every meal is going to be their last, so bulk is my friend. I was cruising through the electronics department drooling over the crystal clear flat screen TV's when I came across some digital picture frames.

I'm still kind of old school when it comes to pictures that I display in my home. All of them are just prints framed in frames. I know, right? I've been tossing around the idea of a digital picture frame for a while but was worried that it would just be something else with software and lots of cords that I would have to try and remember where I put.

(I am not being compensated by Kodak, but I wouldn't turn down a Pulse either. Just sayin')

I came across this. So cool. It's the Kodak Pulse. And I'm sure other brands beside Kodak have these, this just happens to be the one I saw and am currently drooling over. You can actually email your pictures directly to this frame and automatically upload Facebook pictures to it. Can you imagine waking up to new pictures every morning that people had emailed to you the night before? How insanely cool, right?

(I've always loved books! How cute was I?)

We sure have come along way since the days of shaking those Polaroids, huh? Yeah, I'm THAT old. How do you display your pictures?

xo,
Stephanie
http://www.stephaniehale.com/

And the Next YA Trend is...

I’m not one to follow trends. I like writing in directions that are not over-saturated and that suit the stories that I have in me to tell. Other writers want to find what’s hot and go there to add to the diversity of the trend. I say, whatever works for you (and your readers).

What’s funny to me is that trends are not easy to calculate - you just know when you’re in the middle of them. Take Dystopian YA - Scott Westerfeld had a jump on that type of story, but it took Suzanne Collins to bust it wide open. Now, it’s a whole sub-genre of YA. And we can all tell the tale of Vampire fiction, I’m sure...

So what is the next big trend in YA going to be? Well, that’s hard to say - but I have seen signs in the unpublished world that paranormals where characters can communicate with animals seem to be on more than a few minds. Whether or not it’s a trend that editors will buy is another issue.

I just want to know - where is the hard Sci-fi? Where are the mysteries? There are a lot more places for YA to go that just haven’t been widely visited yet. I’m excited to see what the future holds. Sometimes I think fiction can be like a Field of Dreams - "If you build it, they will come."

What do you think? What do you see trending now and what do you wish you could see more of?


Hugs,


Heather
www.heatherdavisbooks.com
Wherever You Go - Harcourt November 2011
The Clearing - Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Never Cry Werewolf - HarperTeen

Wild and Wacky Weather

Last week I was bundled up in scarves, mittens, long underwear, and fuzzy boots. Yesterday I wore flip-flops. To say that the weather lately has been crazy would be a total understatement.

What I want to know is when did the weather get so out of whack? I mean, I know there have always been storms and harsh winters and Indian summers and such. But isn't this just ... more?

I have come up with some theories on the source of our wild weather.

Climate Change
I dare not call it global warming because, hello, it was like negative two hundred degrees last week. But it does seem like something significant in our Climate is sure Changing. Whether humans are the main/sole/contributing cause is up for debate.

Planetary Cycles
Throughout history, Planet Earth has gone through different climate phases, without help from chlorofluorocarbons, greenhouse gases, and depleted ozone. Case in point: The Little Ice Age, a period of unusually cold and rainy weather that affected Europe and the eastern United States in the early 1800s.

Population Overload
If you've ever been at a party that started off freezing but, after a few hours of dancing and chatting and crowds of people, turned into a sweatfest you know that the human body is a high caliber furnace. Maybe all the extra billions of people swarming the planet are messing with the Earth's temperature regulation.

Mother Nature's Wrath
We humans haven't always treated her with utmost respect. Maybe she's getting a little revenge.

2012
The Mayan doomsday day is looming closer and humanity might have less than two years left until the end of the world (or the calendar restarts or whatever). Maybe this is a sign of bigger troubles to come.

Okay, those are my theories. What do you think? Have a theory of your own to share? And, more importantly, are there any solutions in sight?

Hugs,
TLC

teralynnchilds.com
@teralynnchilds

The Happy Valentine's Day Giveaway!

My husband and I do absolutely nothing on Valentine's Day. It's just another day to us. But that doesn't mean we don't celebrate. What we do is pick our own Valentine's Day every year, an off-day that works for our schedules, and when we figure the restaurants will be quieter. This became our tradition back when we were dating, and we wouldn't have it any other way.

How about you? Love Valentine's Day? Hate it? Celebrate it? Ignore it? Weigh in! One commenter will be randomly chosen for a $10 Amazon.com gift certificate.

Return next Monday, February 21st, to see the winner!

Tina

Tina Ferraro
Top Ten Uses for an Unworn Prom Dress
How to Hook a Hottie
The ABC's of Kissing Boys
www.tinaferraro.com

Fluffernutter anyone?

Okay, I have to admit I've never been brave enough to try a Fluffernutter. For those of you who aren't familar with this delicacy, it's a sandwich made of peanut butter and marshmellow creme. I'm not ordinarily an experimental foodie. I find something I like and I stick with it. I'm one of those people who doesn't mix the food on their plates. I'm not psycho about it or anything, if a pea accidentially rolls into my mashed potatoes, it will still get eaten. But as a rule, I don't mix my food.

So I'm strolling through Sam's Club the other day and I see this. I can't tell you how many years I've passed up the Dorito's in the chip aisle without picking up a bag. But this bag was different. It was the bag that the Doritos came in years ago. One look at that vintage Doritos bag and I was back in my grandparents backyard, just getting out of the pool for lunch. My favorite lunch was a tuna fish sandwich with taco-flavored Doritos smashed on top of the tuna.

It amazed me that I hadn't thought about this for decades and now I can barely think of anything else. While this combination of foods is indeed divine, I know that part of the incredibly memory is just the amazing summers I spent with my cousins at my grandparents pool.
What is your favorite food combo that makes other people turn up their nose? Do you have a food that invokes a particular good memory?

What I'm reading now....EVERYTHING by Kristan Higgans, as I am now addicted to her thanks to Tina! :)

xo,

Stephanie

http://www.stephaniehale.com/

Why YA?

An interviewer recently asked me why I thought so many adults were reading YA books these days. Well, I think there are some obvious reasons why even my mother has read The Hunger Games:

1) It's a fast growing genre, so publishers are pushing out more new titles than ever before in YA. They are more widely distributed as the sales grow.

2) YA novels have universal themes of survival, falling in love for the first time, discovering who you are. They appeal across age demographics and are often timeless stories.

3) There's exciting diversity in YA. You can find anyone from an LGBT teen to a post-apocalyptic vampire hunter cast in the main character role. There is room for every perspective, fantasy, and experience.

4) It's great for parents to keep up with what their teens are reading. Mother-daughter book clubs are springing up and YA books give these groups the opportunity to discuss subjects that might otherwise be extremely uncomfortable.

What do you think? Why is YA striking a chord across the country and the world?


Hugs,


Heather
www.heatherdavisbooks.com
Wherever You Go - Harcourt - November 2011
The Clearing - Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Never Cry Werewolf - HarperTeen

P.S. What I'm reading - Will Grayson Will Grayson by David Levithan and John Green. *Pure awesome*

I'm late, I'm late, for a very important date!

Okay...well, not that kind of date...but a deadline date. My new book, RADIATE, is due to my editor on Valentine's Day. What better date for my recent labor of love?

So, as you can imagine, I'm furiously in the blood fever of getting the book done. To have a little fun, I'll do a simple giveaway to keep the chatter going. How about a homemade "Ghost Huntress" bracelet made by yours truly? See my bracelet in the pic with my fur babies.



Just leave a comment about your favorite thing about the GHOST HUNTRESS series to enter to win. You can leave as many comments (entries) as you'd like.

And just because I'm so happy and have to share...here's a video that my sweetie put together on the big, surprise marriage proposal.



Hugs,
Marley = )

How Do You Socialize?

Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, YouTube, Blogger, FourSquare, ad nauseum. I'm sure I am not alone in the quest to find a way to manage all the online social madness. My standards are high because I want something free that has a web version and iPhone app. I've tried many things. None have been perfect.

Photo by Vironevaeh

For a while I used HootSuite, but they switched over to a premium plan for things that had been previously free. (Bad form.) Then I used TweetDeck, but their iPhone app crashed too often. I've tried Ping.fm, Selective Tweets, and even just opening each site in a separate browser tab.

Today I started using something new. Posterous. Basically, this allows me to send status updates, photos, videos, and blogs directly from my email. I can post to one, two, or all my accounts at once. It automatically generates photo slideshows if I attach multiple pictures, shortens URLs if I paste them in the body of the email, and collects all my posts and updates in a single feed.

It doesn't let me interact with anyone, but I'm excited to try it out.

What about you? What, if anything, do you use to manage your social networking? Have you found that "perfect tool" yet?

Hugs,
TLC

teralynnchilds.com
@teralynnchilds

"Stop Me Before I Volunteer Again"

A few years ago, a writer-friend gave me this adorable change purse for my birthday. It's soft and shiny, with a woman's face on it and the slogan that reads: Stop Me Before I Volunteer Again:


I laughed because she'd been nudging me to stop taking so much on. And I'd "heard" her, and half-promised to "learn to say no" to ongoing charitable projects, but the truth was, it just wasn't in my nature.

I have a busy-busy type personality, I felt I had skills to bring to the projects, and I liked knowing I was working toward a greater good in society. Whether it raising funds for the hungry, heading a committee for a gala fundraiser at my son's school, participating in a writing contest to help newer writers achieve their goals of publication...there went my hand to help.

The problem was, between my family and all those volunteer hours, I was having trouble finding enough time for my career. As many of us know, there's more to being a published author than just writing the book! And I found myself having to cut corners or say "no" to promotional opportunities because I was too busy with my off-side volunteerism.

I knew I was in over-my-head. Especially when my agent pointed it out to me. So...slow-but-surely, I started making some changes. While I found it hard to say an out-and-out "no," what I did was learn to say, "okay, but not too much."

I went from being a coordinator and frequent contest judge to an occasional judge. And I try really hard now to limit how many I'll judge. At the school fundraiser, I now volunteer for secondary role where my duties and hours are fixed. And while I still head the feed-the-hungry projects, I willingly seek and accept help from others.

Which is really working for me! I still like being associated with these projects and meeting new people and having new experiences, but I'm no longer stressing myself out. There's more time for career-related tasks--like reading my friends' books and writing this blog.

As my kids move along and my nest empties, I may ratchet up my volunteerism again. But for right now, this is feeling good.

So tell me, have you ever gotten caught up in the volunteerism cycle at work or school? Sworn you wouldn't do another thing...then accepted yet another big job? And then wished you hadn't? And how do you handle it?

Sports Snapshots

Since its' Super Bowl XLV Sunday, I decided to celebrate sports in general. Our family is into all sorts of sports, whether playing ourselves, coaching, or cheering from the sidelines. My boys ski, snowboard, wakeboard, water ski, swim, run, play soccer, play basketball, play football, do karate, and skateboard. My husband used to play tennis and now he's into triathlons. As for me, I used to play basketball and now snowboard, wakeboard, and coach soccer and basketball.

What are your favorite sports to play? What are your favorite sports to watch? And who do you want to win, the Steelers or the Packers?

Snow Daysss.....

For once the weather forecasters were actually right. Here in Illinois, we got blasted with ice, snow, extremely-high winds, more ice, and negative wind chill temperatures. It was awesome. My kids got THREE snow days. THREE!!!

(I didn't make this but I could have!)

I never got three days off in a row when I was younger. And instead of instant phone calls or faster moving tickers on the TV, we actually had to wait for someone to read our school name off the newscast. And don't even think about going to the bathroom because there was no DVR to back it up if you missed it.

(I could never live like this. Gotta have my furnace.)

Thankfully we never lost power so we filled the time with UNO tournaments, GO Fish tournaments, and lots of movie nights. We even got ahead of the game by finishing the boys Valentines a week early. Before the Arctic air moved in we played in the snow and rode our four-wheeler.

(Genius!)

There is just nothing better than being holed up with the people you love most in the world. What is your favorite way to enjoy a snow day?

xo,

Stephanie

www.stephaniehale.com

The Story Notebook

Here it is, guys - the composition notebook that is the birthplace of my new book. You'll see the cryptic title SISTERS, since I'm not sure what the real novel will end up being called just yet.

Every time I begin a new story, I purchase this exact kind of notebook and I start scribbling all my ideas in it. As the story grows, I use it for outlining the chapters and sections, for tracking my daily progress (number of words written, pages, time spent) and for making revision notes. It stays with me until the book is finally done, revised, accepted, and then the notebook joins the pile of the others that have come before it.

It's important, for me at least, to have this kind of ritual. It is one of the things that I do each time. And it's comforting to have the notebook with me wherever I'm writing. It's convenient to have it in my backpack so that I can write down any new idea that relates to the book. It's low-tech, requires no batteries, and it costs under three dollars, usually.

If you're a teen who wants to write, I'd suggest starting this habit of carrying a notebook with you. It doesn't have to be all for one novel or short story. You don't have to actually use it for the pages of the story if you don't want to. Just let it be the receptacle in which you collect your ideas and thoughts. It's not a journal, which for me means a notebook you use to record your life, this is the dreamcatcher for your writing life.

You don't have to share it. You don't have to be grammatically correct or spell anything right within its pages. It's only for you and the story.

I have some rules about my notebook. I cannot ever tear out a page from the book. I cannot use it to write down a shopping list. I cannot use it to write about real events or how I feel about them. I cannot abandon it for a new book - I use it until my novel is done.

The notebook is my ritual, but I know other writers and artists use other things. Do you have any ritual you use when starting a new story or project?

What is something you must have in place to begin your creative work?

Hugs,

Heather
www.heatherdavisbooks.com
Wherever You Go - Harcourt 11/11
The Clearing - Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Never Cry Werewolf - HarperTeen

LOLcats Rule!

I'm still busy on my book deadline, so I thought I'd throw out something fun. As you know, I have new fur babies, Madison and Boo, who are now the joy of my life. I've long been a fan of LOL cats and so I'm taking hundreds of pictures of the babies to capture all of their antics on film.

Here are a couple of pics of the babies. Why don't you take a stab at making them into LOLcats!

Picture #1 - Upside down Madison



Picture #2 - Boo strikes a pose



What can you come up with?

Hugs.
Marley = )

www.marleygibson.com
www.ghosthuntress.com

Ghosts don't hang up their sheets after Halloween!
GHOST HUNTRESS series - The Awakening, The Guidance,
The Reason, The Counseling - available now!

This Post Brought to You by the Snowpocalypse

As I write this (on Monday night) most of the central plains and the midwest are prepping for a snowpocalypse blizzard. We've bought up enough groceries to last two weeks, the cars are gassed up, the iPads, iPhones, and laptops are charged. We're lucky because we have a heat-pumping gas fireplace, gas stovetop, and gas hot water heater. When If the power goes out, we'll be bored but not frozen. I'm even charging up my Nook for bonus reading.

Blizzard by ellenmac11

I feel prepared. For those of you in the path of--as John Green calls it--the Ice Storm of Doom, are you ready? How did you prepare? For those of you who will survive the snowpocalypse miss out on this blizzard madness torture event, do you wish you were here?

Hugs,
TLC

teralynnchilds.com
@teralynnchilds