We arrived safely (which you can surmise since I don't think one can post from beyond the grave) in N.C. yesterday evening after a very uneventful day of travel.  Kevin and Steven were kind enough to pick us up and deliver us to Dick and Dotty's house in Cary, N.C.

We arrived after dark, so we didn't get the chance to see the area until today.  After enjoying nibblies and conversation, we toddled off to bed and had a very restful night.  It's very quiet here, even compared to the relative quiet of our isolated house in Orange County (of course...isolated and Orange County being relative terms).

Dan stayed in Cary today with Dick and Dotty while I ran around Chapel Hill with Kevin enjoying lunch, shopping, antique-ing and a preview of his and Steve's gorgeous home (in almost-finished remodel stage).  It was a wonderful welcome to North Carolina.  Lovely people, fun shops and convivial company.

All of which was continued (substituting food for shops) this evening as we had a dinner together at Ruth's Chris to usher in the season.  Very festive indeed.

I did not write a lick on the novel...but I did get in 2400 words yesterday so I was caught up as of this morning.  I will figure out how to get the rest of my words in over the coming days...maybe need to carve out some time while Dan's napping or just count on a marathon writing session the few days following Christmas.  For some reason, this is harder than writing during the Thanskgiving season.

Maybe it's the traveling and the novelty...or the time change!

Anyway, tomorrow's a flea market, possible mattresss shopping, and if I am ambitious, 2400 words on the novel to catch me up again.  Enjoyed a wonderful conversation with Dick about immigration...very thought provoking indeed.  I've been reluctant to write about such a complex issue but he's given me some framework to go from...so who knows.  Maybe in March after the first draft is through, I'll tackle that hot potato.

Off to dreamland again.  Missing the West Coast.  Enjoying N.C.

 
Changing Plans 12/19/2007
 

Today was supposed to be my typical day before a trip.  I was going to do Lolowrimo (put in about 1200 words on the novel), blog, do laundry, pack, finish up my daily task list and hit the proverbial hay.

However.

Instead, Dan and I spent a genuinely lovely day.  We had breakfast together at the local Corner Bakery.  Then he had a haircut while I finished reading a fun book (Blind Submission by Debra Ginsberg).  Then we did a little retail therapy followed by lunch.

The afternoon was a bit more hectic.  I did my article for StartSmallStartNow.com (look for it in a few days) and made dinner.  Dan did the laundry while I hit the gym for a session with my personal trainer.  We had a yummy salad and then packed.  Then I did a bit o' research on Prop 92.

Now it's time to toddle off to dreamland.  I'll be catching up on my novel writing tomorrow in the friendly skies.  Posts may be sporadic as we're back in N.C. with relatives for the holidays.

Merry!  Happy!

 
 

We just finished wrapping the last of our Christmas gifts and stocking stuffers.  My eyes are pretty much crossed and I'm headed off to bed after a brief blog.  I love Christmas, but I can do without the wrapping for another 12 months!

This Christmas we're looking forward (in order of occurence) to time with the Baldridges at the annual Baldridge family party; time in North Carolina with Dan's family; and then time here in Orange County with my Mom, brother Charles and his wife, Anya.  It's going to be a bit travel intensive...so that's why I'm done wrapping on 12/6/07.

In terms of Green Pledges, check out the icon to the right.  I got started on the C3 website pledges a few months back thanks to sister-in-law Cindy.  So far I've pledged to:

-Wash most of our clothes in cold water (that was easy...already do that);

-Junk my junk mail (which entailed sending letters to folks opting out of lists;

-Break the bottled water habit (by buying and using reusable water containers...this has been quite easy)

I'd already jumped on the bandwagon with eliminating as many paper and plastic bags as possible.  I've purchased reusable bags and have them in both our cars.  Lately, I've been forgetting to take them into the store (any store...not just the grocery store) when shopping.  So it was nice to have the reminder of the pledge to encourage me to remember more often this month.

Dan's a frequent doubter about the need for some of these changes.  I ran across a great graphic today about the energy demanded for (and waste impact of) plastic and paper bags.  Check it out here and consider taking the pledge.

The trees and landfills will thank you.

 Now, my well-deserved rest awaits!

 
 

Grand total for the exercise so far?  35,609 words.  Woohoo!

So why do I feel like a failure?  Ask my shrink.  <gg>  No, seriously, the writing did not flow as well as I had forseen today.  I spent a lot of time second guessing myself, wiped out about 80 words and started a section over, then finally hit my groove right around the time Dan got home. 

Welcome to writing as work.

There were some enjoyable parts of what I wrote.  Some nice surprises and a few twists.  And I keep reminding myself that this is the first draft, not the finished product, so it's okay that I have inconsistencies with the first half of the novel.

(I'm doing a Nano-nono in continuing an existing novel...shhhh....don't tell anyone.)

I also got off to a late start, so maybe there's some residual guilt about that.  Plus there are Thanksgiving plans being made, windows were being washed, laundry demanding to be loaded, washed, dried, folded.  It's been a bit more hectic than the nano-normal day.  Once again, I thank my lucky stars (and a gracious God) for a husband who said, "Why don't we cater Thanksgiving this year?"

Caterers confirmed.  Check.
Ham ordered. Check.
Wine, beer, margaritas, sodas, water on hand.  Check.
Grocery store run?  Well that happens now. 

 
 

I had a great morning of writing.  It started off a bit dodgy with dates and facts looming again, but I found a really cool website that helps me calculate the actual days that correspond with the dates in question and it helped a lot.

Today I wrote about Lenn and his friends reading the official posting announcing the dates and details about the evacuation of "all persons of Japanese ancestry" from the military zones.  They find out that they have six days to sell, store, and pack all their belongings.  Lenn's been feeling like everything's a bit surreal, so at first the announcement is a relief just because it's tangible.  But then he realizes the enormity of what they're facing.

The next few days should be fairly easy writing.  I've got two scenes in mind (they're part of the original outline) and I've been longing to write them for a few days now.

Other than that, we've just been prepping for Turkey Day festivities.  We'll have between 16 and 21 people here (I'm hoping for 21 myself) and 14 of those folks will also be here Wednesday night.  Since I'm not cooking the bird on Thursday, I am cooking on Wednesday evening.  Mexican chicken soup, salsa, chips, margaritas and I'm thinking two-bite brownies for dessert.  Yum!