HHHHIIIIIII!!!!
Very long time, no chat. How is everybody doing?!
I am oh so sorry for disappearing on you for the past couple of weeks; life has sure thrown me a big bowl of crazy sauce, an amazing bowl, but crazy nonetheless.
I promised you a big holding-on-to-the-seat-of-your-pants reveal, and reveal I will surely do.
But first things first.
Let me just say that it is possible to break one’s butt.
Yupp. You heard me.
Breaking Bad may be one of the gnarliest shows ever (if you’ve never seen it, I highly recommend you start watching it. Like yesterday.), but Breaking Butt? Somehow I don’t think that would be as popular.
Case in point: It sucks like a vacuum and is the biggest pain in one’s rear, pun fully intended, when someone pulls their groin muscle. That someone being yours truly. This past Sunday I was doing my thang at the gym, getting my sweat on on the elliptical while catching the first match of the women’s beach volleyball sets (shout out to my girls Misty and Kerri!) when all of a sudden I heard a lovely ‘tearing’ sound come from my bum followed by the worst pain ever. I’m not sure exactly how it happened, or why, but man oh man did it hurt!
And still does. The good thing is I don’t think it is anything serious; my uncle is one of the best chiropractors around and after telling him my symptoms and restrictions on what I could and couldn’t do due to my injury, he informed me that it was probably just a tear in my groin muscle. The not so good thing is that the only prescription to get better is lots of time, ice, and not doing anything too strenuous.
Not gonna lie; the first couple of days of being a complete lazy bum were great, besides having to walk around with bags of frozen peas in my pants and taking twenty minutes to go up the stairs of course. Speaking of bags of frozen peas and other veggies: It is a great idea to use in the place of ice packs WHEN and only WHEN said frozen bags do not have a hole in them. It’s all good until the bag starts to thaw and the pea/corn/broccoli juice begins to escape from the bag, leaving you smelling like a giant salad the rest of the day. I got a lot of writing done (hint hint), read a couple of books, and was able to get caught up on Breaking Bad (again, watch this show. SO good!).
But one can only sit and do nothing for so long before they start to get a little stir crazy, especially when its soooo gosh darn nice outside. Silly injuries are all of the worst, aren’t they? You really don’t realize how much depend on your body for doing even the simplest of things until you can’t do them (ex. walking the dog, getting dressed and even sneezing). Oh well. As someone once said, shtuff happens. The thing I can takeaway I guess is to listen to your body. It really knows its, well, shutff. Don’t push your limits too hard, and give yourself time to rest and heal.
Butt…back to my good news (pun intended…sorry, I couldn’t resist)…
One: I got a job!!! I now have a reason to visit Target (or Tarjay as I like to call it) other than the super cute and inexpensive everything. I WORK THERE!! It’s just a part-time thang to help me pay for those lovely grad school books and tuition, but it’s a great job, I work with some pretty amazing people, and for the first time in a long time, I actually look forward to going to work everyday. That makes it all worth it. Plus, I’m not hating on the employee discount, ya feel me? 🙂 Unfortunately the library assistant position at Georgia Southern University didn’t work out, they ran out of funding to keep the position open, but they said that when they are able to, I would be a prime candidate so it’s all good in the hood.
Two: I just checked off number two on my bucket list. Behind ‘Visiting Italy’, the second notch on my list was to write a book, a fiction novel to be precise. I have always thought that it would be THE coolest, THE greatest, THE most exciting and awesome and so totally amazing thing to have my very own book, something of my creation, my words and my thoughts for all to see shelved in libraries and bookstores across the country and even the world. I have always loved to write and I always thought that I could do it, but at the same time I never thought it would actually happen, you know what I mean?
To give you just an idea about what it’s about…here’s a little synopsis:
Eighteen year-old Paige Fullworth has a life anyone could ever wish for; loving family and friends, a bright future ahead of her and a strong sense of who she is and where she is going. At eighteen years old, she is about to begin the next chapter of her life, happier than she has ever been. That all changes however one fateful night after a tragic accident turns her whole world and everything that she has known upside down.
A Turn of the Paige is coming-of-age story about a young woman who learns about the power of love, never giving up and how a simple book can change the course of one’s life. After she tragically loses her parents in a car crash on the eve of her 18th birthday, Paige also loses her will to keep writing. She’s afraid to go after her dreams, to turn that page and begin the next chapter of her life without them by her side. Instead of going off to Stanford like she had planned on, she decides to stay back home and take over her parent’s bookstore, the memories of her mom and dad still very real and present there. It is here where she later stumbles upon something, a tattered copy of a hand-written book with a beautiful and heart-felt inscription scrawled inside, an inscription much like the one scrawled on the inside of the gift her parents intended to give to her right before they died. For whatever reason, fate, destiny, or pure happenstance, Paige decides that she has to find out who the intended receiver of this book is, and deliver it, as well as the endearing message, to them.
Paige sets off on an adventure to reunite the book with its rightful owner but little does she know that this adventure would soon turn into more of a journey of self-discovery. With the help of her quirky best friends, a little luck and a lot of faith, Paige not only starts to finally heal from her parent’s death, but she witnesses the power of forgiveness, love and family and rediscovers her passion for writing. Funny, heartfelt, honest and sarcastic at times, A Turn of the Paige will appeal to fans of such great authors like Emily Giffin and Meg Cabot. It will take readers, especially young adults, on an adventure, a journey right along with Paige and her friends. Readers will laugh, may even cry, but they will close the final chapter of this book wanting more. More importantly, they will be reaffirmed that they can be the writers of their own destiny.
What do ya think?
I am in the stages right now of some major editing and revisions (HUGE thanks to my right-hand peeps, Jenn and Ben and Scott who have graciously agreed to give me the nitty-gritty feedback and critiques that I need and want), and have put my feelers out for some literary representation. It’s kind of scary putting myself out there, opening myself up to criticism and reviews that might not necessarily be the greatest, but at the same time, it’s so incredibly exciting. There are so many authors that I grew up reading, following, being inspired by (Blume, Rowling, Tolken and King to name just a few) and to potentially become that author to some one else? That would absolutely be a dream come true! The publishing world is very tough, but I have faith that someone somewhere will take that chance on this project, this girl with a dream. I’m hoping anyway 😉
I will most definitely keep you updated on how things go and if I hear anything back, fingers (and toes and arms and eyes) crossed.
And finally, the last bit of great news I have to share with you: I got my froyo fo free, yo! Last night I went to TCBY with a friend and because I guessed the weight of my cup right on (10.65 ounces on the dot baby!), they gave it to moi for free-zies! The only thing better than ice cream is free ice cream. I’m feeling a little lucky again so me thinkst a repeat trip is in store for later. Who wants to come 🙂
Have a great rest of your humpday friends 🙂
Questions of the day:
Have you ever pulled your groin muscle? Any other injury that had you sidelined for a while?
Ever check off anything in your bucket list? What was it and how amazing did it feel?
Let’s just say that it may or may not involve me, a book that I in the process of writing, and putting a big, ‘ol fat check mark through number 2 on my bucket list.
This, That and the Other Thang 