Thankful Thursday

Today I am thankful to all my friends and family who supported me throughout the last year as I wrote, submitted, edited and now published my first book.  My book came out this week and was available to purchase.  I have had so many people excited for it and jumping at the opportunity to purchase it for no other reason than that they know me and are happy for me.  I cannot tell you how wonderful it feels to know that they would support me enough to buy my book.  The most humbling part is I know that they would do the same thing for me even if the book was a total piece of junk (bonus - it isnt).  Thank you friends and I love you!

Thankful Thursday

First I am thankful for the lovely blossoms on the trees.

 Next I am thankful to be finished with a long awaited project.  This is the before picture of the kids' play set.  It looked this good a few years ago (this is an old picture from when we bought the house - the dog houses were the previous owners).  Since this picture the top vinyl roof broke and the rest of it swayed if you climbed it.

So we started a project of building our own from a kit.  It started of course with breaking down the old one.  It was messy but satisfying.  Andy insisted on starting indoors.  So for a weekend our home smelled like cedar and we walked around boards.  As he built parts he moved them to the deck and I got to see more of my floor again!  :)

 The kids loved helping.

 Its starting to come together.

 After putting the kids to bed, he and I worked long into the evening putting it all together.

 And the final product turned out great and the kids agree!

Poops and Woop Woops!

Poops:
There is a phenomena that occurs at our house.  It happens when any of our children venture into the world of unknown perils (and adventures) of a place called, "The Basement."  It is a wonderland of toys and imagination.  And most of the time we are quite happy to have such a space in our house.  Most of the time not including those times it needs cleaned.  But returning to the phenomena that occurs at our house.  When our children so much as take the first step down the stairs into "The Basement" - their minds are warped, wiped clean completely of the memory of what a toilet is, what its purpose is or how to use it.  We don't understand how this works either.  We have investigated it - spent hours down there ourselves but the phenomena only affects our children.

On a related, though side note, Ruby is potty training.  We have started her just this last Monday (a week already?)  and she is doing... blessedly fantastic!  Its almost as if she was born potty trained and we just put diapers on her instead.  She nearly never has accidents and she is just a dream with this.  I just wish the other kids (cough, cough Corilynn, cough) would find the same satisfaction in this kind of maturity as Ruby does.

Woop Woops:

I just received word from Meryton Press that they are interested in my full manuscript for my second book, Bluebells in the Mourning.  I wrote this book last fall and submitted it for publishing a few months ago.  The first step with MP is to submit the first three chapters and if they like it enough they ask for the rest of the manuscript.  I have been told by contact there that, "This is a good step as they only ask for more when there is a good possibility of giving a thumbs up for publishing."  So that deserves a few woop woops!  Raise the rooooof!  I feel confident that this book, too, will be picked up for publishing.  I think it is the better of my two books.  Last time, it was about two weeks from the time I sent them my full manuscript to when I heard a positive answer for publishing my book.  If the timing works about the same this time, I could (fingers crossed) my second book accepted for publishing just as my first book, Falling For Mr. Darcy, becomes available for purchase (May1st).  Woop woop!

NYC

Welcome to Manhattan!

I've only been to NYC once in my life and it was the same trip as I mentioned in the earlier post about going to Princeton.  When my brother graduated we went into the city for the day to tour some of the classic sights.  I fell asleep on the drive in from Pennsylvania and woke up amid the loud horns, jack hammers and tall buildings as we came across the George Washington Bridge right into the city.  I was forever imprinted with a love for that busy, crazy, chaotic city.  I don't know if Id love to live there but I really loved visiting.  It probably has something to do with growing up in a piddly little town and never really seeing such a big city before.  I love the whole "I'm one among millions and yet an individual" feel of it.

 A on the move shot of the city as we drove in.  The tall building, with the two cranes on it, being constructed is the new World Trade Center.

 Classic New York -- The Times.

 Church of Scientology - sweet.

 Times Square.  Our hotel was right here - at the Marriot Marque.  It was super fun to be in the middle of the crazy, so alive it felt like we were in the heart, part of the city.

 We attended Phantom of the Opera while there and I gotta say - loved it!

 Broadway!

 This is the view from our 31st floor hotel room.

 Charlotte and my niece, Misha, teased me for taking this photo of this couple caught in an amorous embrace in front of the NY Public Library.  I had to take it though because after all those romantic movies like "Sleepless in Seattle" and the like, NYC is a city for lovers.   I found this romantic.  Certainly, I wouldn't wish to view this scene for extended periods of time, but it was sort of sweet and very NYC-ish to me.

 A cool shot I took of the tulips in bloom in front of the NY Public Library - see the lion in the background?

 NY Public Library during the day.

 City streets are so fun and it makes me feel so small but so sophisticated at the same time.

 Here we are at a delicious Japanese restaurant for dinner.  Thanks Tomoko for introducing it to us.  Also, for teaching us how to eat (and encouraging us to try it) some raw fish.  A bite or two was enough for me, even though I actually liked the taste of the tuna.  I ordered chicken with curry.

 I believe this is the Chrysler Building - standing behind Grand Central Station.

 NY Public Library at night.

 The lion at NY Public Library

 Another very iconic NYC scene - though very sad.  I took this picture because I could not believe how many homeless people we saw, right a midst the wealth and opulence.  Its not right.

 Column view of the NY Public Library

 Charlotte in front of the library doors.  They wouldn't let us in.  It was closed, darn it.

 Empire State building lit up for Easter.

 Times Square at night.

 NYC taxi - they really are everywhere!

 We went to M&M world, where every color known to man can be found on an M&M.

 This was a crazy looking dude driving his little pink bike around Times Square and so we took a picture with him.

 View at night from our hotel room.

 Here is one of those nifty elevator car parks.  I saw ones that were 5-6 cars high.  It was super cool looking.

 The U.S.S Intrepid

 The skyline as we left - ::pout::

NYC via Princeton

Bob and his family took Charlotte and I into NYC for a day or so too.  On the route to NYC we made a quick detour to Princeton University where my brother did his masters and PhD.  It was so much fun for me because it brought back great memories of when I last visited that campus.  It was almost 13 years go when he graduated and we came out to support him.  I don't have any other connection to that university besides my brother but I remember loving walking around that campus because it had such beautiful buildings and landscaping.  Its like walking into the "old world."  Its rich history was one of my favorite things to experience when I first visited and it was nice to get to see it again.  We only spent a little while but it was super fun.

 These are the student dorms.  Ummm... cool!  Its like living in a castle.  Don't get me wrong, I am a True Blue Cougar (Go BYU!) all the way, but something about these make me revert to my pre-teen day dreams of Princesses and Princes living in castles.

 The open window in this tower is said to be the one that the professor/math genius/schizophrenic featured in the movie, "A Beautiful Mind," is said to have thrown his desk from.  It is a true story and my brother said that the man still teaches at the university.

 The rest of these pictures are of buildings I have no idea what they are used for but are beautiful and picturesque non-the-less.

 Gates into the University.

 Charlotte poses as F. Scott Fitzgerald (from Princeton) for some hopeful extra credit with her English teacher.

 My brother is pretty much a genius like Einstein.  However, with less hair.