What a week.

What a crazy couple of weeks it’s been! I got word from my publisher that the manuscript for my new novel “The Dark Side of the Woods” has been accepted! YAY! I am so excited to see that story come to life. Of course, with the excitement comes a bit of anxiety as well. This book falls into the young/ new adult genre and I’m curious how it will be received.

Just following that news was a trip to Charleston, SC with some of my best friends. When I say best friends I mean lifetime, could blackmail me for eternity kind of friends. We drank rum on the beach and laughed until we cried, we shopped and dressed up for a fancy dinner at Husk, one of Charleston’s top restaurants. It was perfect and we are already making plans to go back.

I’m not usually a beach person. It had been ten years since the last time I went. I don’t get a lot of inspiration from the ocean but it quiets my mind. Sometimes that’s needed too.

And then yesterday, I had to lay my sweet tortoise shell cat, Munchkin, to rest. I’m not sure what happened to her but after she didn’t come home for dinner or breakfast, I knew. A walk in the woods confirmed my fears and I carried her home through the thorns and leaves to bury her in a corner of the backyard. I’m going to fix a sweet little garden for to rest in with a headstone, maybe plant some catnip and hang a birdhouse in the tree above her. Twelve years is a decent life for a cat but it’s never long enough.

Even though my heart is broken I have wonderful things to look forward to in the coming months and five rambunctious foster kittens who know that I need extra love right now as much as they do.

The three of us crazy ladies outside of Husk. I’m the one in the middle.

My sweet Munchkin.

A year of plenty

Since Alafair’s birthday was New Years Day and her party was on Saturday, yesterday was my first real day to reflect on what I hope the new year brings. I’m beyond excited about what lies ahead for me in my writing but I’m also looking forward to enjoying simple things. Spring will be here before we know it and I’m determined to have a small vegetable garden this year and get at least one more room in the house looking the way I would like. I can’t wait for hiking with Josh and trips to the park with Alafair and possibly our first trip to the beach in many years. I’m not a beachy person, I love looking at the ocean and looking for seashells but you can keep the crabs, jellyfish, sharks, blistering sun, seafood and rip tides. A trip every five or six years is sufficient for me, but it will be Alafair’s first trip and she is super excited. If she turns out to be a beach girl I’ll adjust.

I’m don’t usually make resolutions on the new year because I believe we should always be trying to better ourselves and setting a goal once a year seems to be a cop out for most people. If they don’t reach their goal they say “oh well I’ll try again next year” instead of “I’ll try again tomorrow”. However I did make a  resolution this year, to finally be able to do scorpion pose (picture at the bottom). I’m closer than I was last year but still very far away.  It is definitely attainable with daily practice, but I’ll get there before the year is out.

I find the new year to be an exciting time. A new year full of hopes and possibilities, challenges, joy and sometimes loss and sadness, all of it change and motion leading us ahead toward the direction of our choosing. I hope we all choose happiness and health and kindness. My wish for you is a year of plenty, plenty of food and warmth, plenty of new experiences and rest, plenty love and laughter and plenty to give to those who have less.

Carry peace with you throughout the year and don’t let the hard things of the world make you cold.