Spring is Coming!

I know it's only middle of February, but today it got up to almost 60 degrees! Do you have any idea how warm that is compared to the frigid temps we've had here in the Windy City? I've got Spring Fever bad. I can't wait to drop the boots in the back of the closet and don a lighter coat. Autumn is my favorite season, but Spring is a very close second.

I love seeing the stark barren look of winter melt away as Mother Nature awakens once more, turning the Earth green. The colors of spring truly renew one's spirit and I for one can't wait for pleasant weather, sunny days and beautiful butterflies. ;-)

~AN

To My Valentine...

I love you more now than when we first met.

How could we have know what challenges we would face?

The hardships we'd endure...

We've faced them together and I love you for that and for so much more but especially for always making me laugh.

I love you for supporting my dreams...
for encouraging me to spread my wings and fly.

I love you for listening...
for caring and sharing your heart.

You are my Valentine on this special day...
every day
and
I love you...

~AN

Brrrr!!!

Well, the Windy City is bracing for blizzard like conditions. The snow is suspected to hit in full force tomorrow afternoon, but I just came back from looking out the window and it looks like Mother Nature is getting the party started early.

*sigh*

I said in another post that I don't mind winter and I don't...well, not for the first few weeks anyway. It's okay, I can deal with more snow, especially with so many other crazy things happening all over this planet. But, I'd still like to whine about snow days to look forward to with my kids and the fact that I'm still trying to get rid of this unimaginably tenacious cold which my son now has. Booooo!

What's a girl to do? Vacationing now is not in the plans so, I'm listening to ChillOut on the Beach and imagining I'm somewhere warm...not super hot...just warm and sunny. With a Mai Tai in my hand and my lap top on my lap. I so want a vacation.

Take a listen and I promise you feel like your on the beach somewhere fabulous too!

~AN

Love Is...

I'm still trying to get over my cold and my winter blahs. The best way to do that for me besides writing is music. Today's pick, Chrisette Michelle's ballad, Love Is You. This song is so beautiful with the piano and moving harmonies. Her voice is perfect, unique and heartfelt and the lyrics melt my heart every time I listen to the song.

Yesterday was Martin Luther King, Jr. Day and I spent the day with my kids thinking the answer to so many of our problems in this world is LOVE. Loving one another is the key to true peace and harmony in all aspects of our lives. When we get to the place when we can appreciate, disagree and still love our fellow man, we will finally have grown as a human race.

The greatest lesson I can share with my children is that...to love themselves and those around them even if it's never reciprocated. Not an easy thing to do, but Martin Luther King, Jr., and many others have shown it's not an impossible feat.

Here are the lyrics to Christette Michelle's ballad, Love Is You:

What's your definition of it?
How does it make you feel?
Tell me what you say that truly makes it real
Kings and Queens, Philosophers have tried so hard to find
Tell me what it means to you dear, nevermind

Love is kind when the world is cold
Love stays strong when the fight gets old
Love's a shoulder to lean on
Love is you
Love's like the water when the well runs dry
Quench my thirst, keep me alive
Just need once too baby
Love is you
Love is you, love is you,
Love is you, love is you

Is it possible, there is a kiss that's so divine
Or am I just a fool, is it all in my mind?
Is there something chemical
A scientist might say
Well love must be a drug
To make me feel this way

Cause love's my permission to be who I am
No inhibitions cause you understand
Freedom to breathe oh baby
Love is you
Love's like a kiss when the sun goes down
Holds me tight when no one's around
Love's what I want to hold on to
Love is you

Love is you, Love is you, Love is you,
Love is you, Love is you,
Love is you, Love is you,

Love is kind, it makes me stronger
I don't have to look no longer
You're the one I cling to
Love is you
When the chips are down
Love will stick around
I'm so glad I found
Love is you

As much as I've tried to clarify
Love's quite simple, he's just my guy
Perfect definition
Love is you
Love is you, love is you
Love is you... is you...

Winter Blues

It's snowing again and it looks so beautiful. I don't really have anything against winter, but this season just makes me feel like pulling up the covers and hibernating until spring. The bears have the right idea.

Snow makes it easy to procrastinate about EVERYTHING with my favorite excuses:
"It's too cold..."
"The roads are bad..."
"It's too cold..." ;-)

lol. It just seems easier to stay indoors with a hot toddy and veg. Writing comes easy for me in the winter. At least the cold seems to heat up my creative side. I've got lots of story ideas...maybe too many. I'm currently in between writing projects because I can't decide which one to focus on.

The one thing I don't like about winter is the propensity for colds. I'm pushing the multivitamins and vitamin C, but I'm still sneezing and coughing because those cold germies have already taken hold of my baby girl. *sigh* Where is that hot toddy?

(click the pic for an awesome hot toddy recipe!)

~AN

Resolutions for 2011!!

The holidays are over! I enjoyed them, but I wasn't sad to pack up the Christmas tree. I'm embracing 2011 with open arms. January is a special month. Most of us make resolutions for the year and look forward to a fresh start to reach or surpass goals made the following year.

Here are my top five resolutions for the New Year:

Personal:
5. Commit to working out. (This one never changes.) Winter makes it tough, but I've got workout tapes just waiting for me to push play. Why is it so hard to want to exercise???

4. I've never been a big meat eater. Shaved turkey sandwiches are pretty much the extent of my carnivore tendencies...maybe baked chicken breasts. After watching Food Inc. I don't know if I can even eat that. Great film by the way, I think I'll do a post on that soon. Anyway, my resolution is to buy and serve foods with ingredients I recognize and can pronounce. Not and easy feat, just look in your cabinet or freezer. I know fruits and veggies fit the bill, but I can't stay sane with just those foods. It's going to take some work to do this, but I'm determined!

3. Be more patient with my kids, husband and myself. I going to channel my inner Ruby (from Max & Ruby) and let things that drive me crazy, well, not drive me crazy.

Professional:
2. Submit to two new publishers.

1. Continue to build body of work for my pen name which is going really well, but somehow I've got to find time to finish the WIP's I'm working on as Angela Nichelle. There's gotta be a better balance.

There are more resolutions, but these five are the most important. I'm not going to stress myself with these goals (refer to picture above), but I am going to make every effort to achieve them. If I succeed, 2011 will be a great year indeed!

~AN

Goodbye 2010, Hello 2011!

I really can't believe how fast this year flew by. Tomorrow is New Year's Eve and I've been thinking about what the highlights of the year have been for me. The first one has gotta be my daughter sleeping through the entire night. She just turned four and I wondered if she'd ever do it consistently for long stretches of time and at the beginning of this year it finally happened!

I wondered if I'd ever say goodbye to pull-ups with her. She wasn't interested in potty training until shew as two and half! The upside...she was potty trained in like a two week time period which was amazing to me. When she was ready to learn she mastered it very quickly. I was worried she'd passed some critical timeline on mastering the potty, but she was just on her own timeline. So, no more diapers, breast-feeding, pull-ups or inconsistent sleeping for me! Yay! What a milestone in mommyhood! 2010 has been the year I've finally gotten part of my life back.

I'm so happy to see my writing career growing. I've been writing feverishly this year and I'm proud to have published one novella, one novel and contracted two other novels for 2011 under my pen name. I wish I had more time to write, but I'm grateful to have the windows of time that were non-existent before this year.

2010 has shown me that the sky is limit to what I can do as long as I believe I can do it. The old sentiment "believe in yourself," isn't new, but I think each of us reaches a moment when it really, really, clicks.

2010 was a tough year for my family, but it also held a lot of lessons learned. The hard times showed me how much my husband and I laugh to get through the rough patches. This year has shown me that no matter what is going on in your world that sucks, someone else is having a harder time of it. I'll admit knowing that didn't help me from wallowing in self-pity, but I didn't wallow for very long.

So, I say goodbye to 2010 with a little sadness (my babies are no longer babies) and welcome 2011 with open arms. May the New Year bring us all many more smiles, love, peace and joy!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!

~AN