Sunday Sundries--Life Choices

Okay, can you believe it's fall already? Where has 2012 gone? I haven't made the best choices so far this year, in that I haven't gotten as much done as I'd wanted, but there have been some extenuating circumstances, as always.

All in all, it's a pretty good life. I truly believe we make our own happiness and if we don't make the effort to be happy, we will sink into the pits of depression. Here's one that I found on Pintrest that kind of hit home:

Breaks it all down. There's this as a life lesson:

:

My husband saw a picture of us in Hawaii for our anniversary in 2003 and he said, "You looked happy." Well, what's not to love? We were on a beach at sunrise:

But, it was an awakening that I really hadn't been laughing and smiling a lot recently. I vowed to focus on celebrating the moment and being grateful. Because:

I've given this feature to my characters too. It's important, because each of them has to go through some rather challenging phases to get to their happiness.They each have to learn:

You really do have to be happy with yourself. Don't depend on someone else for your happiness. But we can't be too serious, either:

This is the time of year I have to be especially careful, because my allergies and tendencies to not get enough sleep. I usually get sick this time of year. I gave this to one of my characters who is sick and worried he might lose the love of his life. He gets run down and his brother and sister-in-law come to help. He has to learn:

He also has to learn, as I had to:

You're setting yourself up for a fall if you keep trying to keep the illusion. The woman he loves has to learn, again as I did:

She goes for what she really wants. She finds out:

Finally, this is one of my all-time favorite pictures:

May we all have that life! Have a super week!

Sunday Sundries--10,000 Views Edition!

Wow--and all I've been doing is sharing fun things I've found here and there and some wild ramblings in my mind.

Thanks to all and I enjoy meeting people on The Social Media. I've been doing a little editing and back up over the past week, so let me throw some things that have made me smile your way:

I love this a lot. My husband and I were discussing science fiction novels, specifically a recent list on io9's website about the "best" books about war. I follow John Scalzi's blog Whatever and his novel Old Man's War was on the list. Robert A. Heinlein's Starship Troopers was at the top--always one of my favorite authors. Also there was Joe Halderman's Forever War, another fave and I was thrilled to get to meet Halderman and his wife at a science fiction convention years ago.

Saw this on a SF friend's page and I had to share with you:

Reading is such an important thing in my life.

Yes, please. I love writing as much as reading and I've been working hard to make my heroes flawed, real and super hot. This made me smile:

One of my heroes, Will, has the function of spider killer. If he didn't take care of the one in the bathroom, Elizabeth would have done this:

A reasonable reaction, considering the size of that sucker. Here's another thing that made me think of Elizabeth:

Here's a picture of Audrey Hepburn that reminds me of Elizabeth's sister, Mary Margaret:

And a picture of The Best Wedding Cake EVER!

Found this on Pinterest too:

Isn't that cool? As is this:

Here's a kitty after my own heart:

Love the face, he's saying "Deese are my books." I love this too:

So, my experiences as Julee J. Adams have given me a second chance that I'm very grateful for. Thank you to all for sharing my journey and have a great week!

Sunday Sundries--Geek Tech Edition

So, my laptop got a software update from my security service last week that caused a minor meltdown. While I did some research and think I know what the major maladjustment is, I am at a point in my life where I don't want to mess with it. I would much rather drop the laptop off at a place that gives a discount if I show my work badge and pick it up later when it's all better. Is that selfish of me?

I almost panicked when I saw a version of this come up on the screen:

*sigh*

Here's one I would have rather seen:

Mmmmm....cookies. But not this one:

Though that's what it felt like. While I spend most of my days talking like this:

God save me from another 80 year old with an iPhone. This is what I feel like:

Unfortunately, there are some people that can't be helped:

Most of the time, I just want to take a nap:

My girl cat loves to lay right next to me when I'm working on the laptop. I pretend it's because she really loves me.... Speaking about phones:

If only. Here's a truth:

I have to admit, I didn't know until last year that you were supposed to do this. Here's another truth:

Yes, the new iPhone 5 is supposed to be released at the end of this month. Joy.

Finally:

I'm proud to be one and most of my characters will qualify. Have most everything saved on various flash drives, but the possibility of losing some or all of what's on the laptop generates some blind panic.

Have to keep my sense of humor and I hope this brought some laughs for you all. Have a great week!

Sunday Sundries--Labor Day Late

First off, I hope everyone had a peaceful and pleasant Labor Day with family and friends. My husband and I both had to go into work, because people still need tech support and newscasts even on holidays. It was okay though, as we both got extra pay and I get an extra day off today. I have to say, I'm a card carrying union member and I remember my dad was a union member too. So many of the things we take for granted were the result of our forefathers and mothers wanting better lives for themselves and their children.

And that, my friend, is what Labor Day is all about, isn't it?

One of the bathrooms at work the other day had a messed up paper towel dispenser and I mentioned it to the maintenance guy, who turned out to be someone I'd worked with in Retail Hell over 25 years ago. He'd endured the pains of being downsized as had I. He made a disparaging remark about how he was cleaning toilets now and I hope he took my comments to heart. I tried to convince him never to be ashamed about doing honest work. When I was a store manager in a mall, I made it a point to take my turn cleaning the bathroom, sweeping the floor and taking out the trash. These are things that need to be done and no one should be "too good" to do them. Also, if the bathroom is nasty or not well supplied, it affects morale almost more than anything else.

I didn't want to bring anybody down, but these are some basic truths I needed to get down. Because:

Last year at about this time, I posted some things I'd found that described my characters. One of my main characters is Mary Margaret, a.k.a. The Virgin Mary, who is a tall, skinny, geeky gamer girl who has no idea how beautiful she is because she's spent her life in a practice room, in her garden or with her nose in a book. Here's her philosophy:

Her nickname from her dad is Princess. This is so her:

She's one of five sisters and gets her hero in the second series of books. One of her finest features is her blue eyes and I found this striking picture:

 
The first series of books is about her next oldest sister, Elizabeth or Lizzy as she's known to family. She is a no-nonsense, snarky Indiana State Trooper who meets and falls in love while out in Vegas for the oldest sister's bachelorette party. This describes her philosophy:

Here's another one, but I'm not sure if it applies to Lizzy or Mary Margaret:

These two sisters fall in love with two brothers, Will and Rob. Rob is a photographer who used to be in the music industry. I found this one to be true:

Well, not so much anymore, because of the transition to digital, but you know what I mean. His fondest memories of his father are of them working in the darkroom, developing pictures. When I was writing Rob at first, I started feeling he was almost too perfect. He was getting on my nerves, so I gave him some flaws. Two are he's an arrogant Leo, which gets on Mary Margaret's nerves and then he's dyslexic. This made me smile:

His older brother Will is a medically retired Marine who is more than a match for Elizabeth. He too has issues, but I tried to give him a sense of humor about them.

He truly is a sick puppy. Will loves that Elizabeth can cook and makes fun of his brother for going vegetarian. He has this on a T-shirt:

So, I hope this little insight into my characters and my mind was worth waiting for. I promise I'll do better next week, OK? Love to all and have a great rest of the week!

Sunday Sundries--More and More Books!

We just got back from VACATION! Didn't want to come back, but we didn't win the lottery. One of the things we did, something we always do on trips out of town, is visit the new and used bookstores in the area. Here's the truth:

 
One of the stores we stopped at was run by an older couple. I know my husband was thinking that would be us in a decade or so, if he had anything to say about it. I ran a bookstore for almost ten years in a previous lifetime and while I believe the future of print books is shaky, I know there will always be a market for books, even a secondary market.

And there are too many others who believe the same way I do.

This is so true, isn't it? It's been way too long since I seriously got involved in a book. I think a part of it is that I am writing myself now. I'm analyzing instead of reading for pleasure. Another thing is that I've got too many books calling out for my attention.

We have literally a ton of books in our basement that we can't fit on the multiple bookcases my husband has built, yet we keep buying new and used. Not to mention the over 900 books on my Kindle. I tell you, I can't even make a decision on what I want to read next and yet I want to go to the library and check some stuff out.

 

I ran a bookstore for many years and this just made me laugh. Yeah, I can read your mind and that book is over in the green book section.

I tried to keep a database of my books, because I started buying duplicates. Unfortunately, it went by the wayside a few months ago. It was up to thirteen pages, though.

Seriously. I have waaaay too many choices to read. I usually have two or three books going at the same time. And this is true:

I've got a Christina Dodd romance novel in my purse now. It took all I had to keep from pulling it out while waiting for food in a restaurant today.
I have quite a few books that I could probably get rid of, resell or donate. There's a big debate now about whether one should "re-purpose" a book that would end up in a landfill or worse. I found a copy of Danielle Steel's No Greater Love that I'm going to use for an inspiration book, putting in pictures of people who look like my characters, of areas where some of my stories look place and little drawings or doodles. But this is an amazing thing:

This is by an artist named Brian Dettmer.
Here's another--don't know the artist's name on this one, though.

These are not rare or limited edition books and you know, I'm okay with this. After all, libraries and book stores have been clearing out their stacks for decades.

This is the truth, isn't it? I love to go to other reader's homes and see what they have on their shelves.
Finally, I can't even imagine naming just one favorite book.

Have a great week, everybody!