This snow is driving me crazy! Being cooped up in the house, you'd think I'd be productive and, I don't know, read one of the 50 books I have sitting next to my bed or finish my SCBWI WIP Grant application or get some homework done for my web design class. The least I could do is barrow a shovel and dig my car out of the two feet of snow it is buried under.


I made some progress, but then the bucket I was using shattered (yes, shattered) and I was left with no way to clear the snow. A walk to the store also proved futile as they were out of shovels.

But it's like in school when they tell you you have to read a book and it looks like a good book by an author you've liked in the past and you actually really wanted to read that book. But just because you now HAVE to read it, you have suddenly lost all desire to read it. That has been my life for the past week.

So instead I spent my time doing things like this:


baking Valentine's Day cookies to give to friends once the snow melts.


making cream cheese brownies for a movie night that gets cancelled because of the snow only to be forced to eat all the brownies with my roommate because it's really not the brownies' fault it snowed.


starting a new fashion trend of wearing boots from my good ol' college days in Idaho that I swore I would never wear again and pairing them with the same pair of jeans from yesterday because I really don't want to bother getting another pair of jeans all slushy.


watching episode after episode with the popular Australian television drama McLeod's Daughters on Netflix and seeing how many budding stars I can spot that now sport American accents on shows like Legend of the Seeker and Fringe.

Any ideas how I can waste time tomorrow and probably Wednesday as well? We're supposed to get another six inches, so Washington might be closed down for a few more days. At least I have internet access and can check my work email at home. So I have been able to get SOME work done.

Because I'm a rather voracious reader, people are often surprised when they find out I haven't red every book ever published. No, I've never bothered with a lot of Jane Austen because I didn't much care for the ones I have read. And just because I forced my way through the Lord of the Rings Trilogy doesn't mean that I ever got around to reading The Hobbit.

And yes, I watch a lot of movies, but there just aren't enough hours in the day for me to see every one of them. Talkies have been around for almost a hundred years now. That's a lot more movies than even I can manage.

But today was the end of an era for me. I finally watched The Return of the King all the way through for the very first time. After spending years telling people I had seen the beginning and end and parts of the middle about five different times, I sat down with a couple of friends and watched everything.

My conclusion? I'm really glad we didn't go for the extended version, and I really should have re-watched the first three because I haven't seen either of those since they were in the theater.

Maybe now I'll finally get around to reading The Great Gatsby or To Kill a Mocking Bird. (Don't judge me. I'm sure there are plenty of classics I've read that you haven't.)

For a blog about writing, I sure haven't been posting a lot about it recently. Maybe that's because I'm doing a lot of it and don't want to take the time to write about it. But here is an update just for you. Yes, you.

I'm in the middle of revising my NaNoWriMo novel*. I haven't actually finished it, so I don't know if this counts as revisions. But what I have written I wrote so fast that I can't seem to go forward until I go back. But it's a fun story, and I really like the characters. It's not something I'm willing to give up just because my writing in the moment wasn't the best.

Preparations for the SCBWI WIP Grant are underway. I'm having the hardest time with my synopsis. The novel I'm applying with is complex, and I can't seem to describe it in a way to make it work for the application. I keep trying to envision what the book jacket would say, but that doesn't seem to be helping. I'll get it eventually.

My writers' groups have started up again. With the holidays, everyone was in and out of town, attending parties and doing hoards of other things that prevented us from getting together. I can't tell you how happy I am to be meeting with other writers again! It's been far too long since we've traded manuscripts, bounced ideas off each other or given book recommendations. While writing is a solitary pursuit, writers are more often than not a sociable people. We are just people who need people. Does that make us the luckiest people in the world?

I've been spending a lot of time in my ideas folders. Literally. I have a folder on my computer called "Ideas Box" and a file folder labeled "Writing Ideas". I have been reading a lot of things in both this folders and seeing what ideas need to be dumped (at least for now) and which ones I'm ready to work on again. Sometimes the best ideas are old ideas.

And if all that wasn't enough, I start tutoring again this week, and I'm registered for an art class at the community college. I get so much inspiration when I'm learning. Because I tutor a junior in high school and we mostly work on SAT prep, I'm constantly exposed to new words and concepts through our work together. And this will be the first art class I have taken since, well, grade school. Luckily, it is a graphic art class, and I've done a lot of layout and design classes, so I think it will push me just far enough outside of my comfort zone without being too overwhelming.

*I really need to come up with a better title than that. Especially since NaNoWriMo has been over for more than a month now. And most of the novel has been written after the fact.

I love old movies, and get an especially big kick out of the Thin Man series. There is something about Myrna Loy that is charming and funny all at once while William Powell pulls off that nonchalant genius better than anyone else. And the two of them together are just magic.

I had totally forgotten I've had the Manhattan Melodrama in my Netflix queue for a few years now and never got around to actually watching it. Until I watched Public Enemies last week and saw both Loy and Powell headlining in the movie along with another old favorite, Clark Gable. So up the "to-watch" list the Manhattan Melodrama went, and last night I sat down with my buddies Ben and Jerry to enjoy an old black and white.

This movie was so much better than I was expecting it to be! I laughed: "I was born at home, because I wanted to be near Mother at the time." I was intrigued by unexpected ethical and philosophical questions: "And I'm not sure, maybe ideals have ceased to exist. Maybe they're outmoded like oil lamps and horse cars. But they're mine, and I'm stuck with them." And I found myself fighting back tears: "If I can't live the way I want, then at least let me die the way I want."

I always forget how old movies have the ability to suck me in and sweep me away. I get distract by big names and mind-blowing effects. And while I'm sure the Manhattan Melodrama was a pretty big box-office draw when it first hit the silver screen, there is a simplicity about it that reminds me that sometimes less is more.

The wonderful Sydney Salter posted about first-date no-nos today, and that got me thinking about the many first dates I've been on. And how they all, somehow, seem to go horribly wrong. Horribly. (No names have been used to protect the innocent boys who had no idea what they were getting themselves into.)

Story #1

Like the time I had an allergic reaction to something I ate. My face swelled up like a balloon. I decided to tough through it and took a bunch of antihistamines to stop the swelling. We then played a game with a bunch of other kids, but it had rained that day and all of the leaves had fallen in the cool weather. I proceeded to slide down the hill, got horribly muddy and also ended up with the BIGGEST BRUISE EVER on my hip. After a quick wardrobe change, we went to a movie, but the meds I had taken earlier made me fall asleep. I'm sure I was snoring because I couldn't breath very well. My date was really nice and asked me if I wanted him to take me home. Of course my delicate emotional state made me burst into tears, which didn't help the puffy-face situation in the least.

Story #2

Another time my date ran out of gas. Yes, ran out of gas. In the middle of the road. I had to push the car across the street to the gas station. What kind of boy makes his date push the car? (A word to the wise, if a guy makes you push the car, say no to date two, no matter how cute he is. The second date didn't go much better.)

Story #3

And then there was Crazy Boy. No kidding. He was crazy. He was a friend of a friend, so even though we had only talked once before for a few minutes, I agreed to the date. His idea of a good time was to watch Star Wars on his sofa and make me a microwave burrito for dinner. This might be okay for like the sixth date. But date number one? No chance. And it gets even better. He didn't have a driver's license, so he insisted on walking me home while pushing his bike so he could ride it back to his place. He walked me up to my apartment door and got that look on his face like he really wanted to kiss me. Well, that was not going to happen, so I pushed out my hand for a warm, friendly shake. Instead, he grabbed my hand and started singing to me. Right there on my front porch for all the world to see. Thank heavens my roommate came home from her date just a minute later and I was able to escape.

Redemption

But there have also been some really good first dates as well. Memorable moments that I hold very dear to my heart. With guys who now some of my best friends. Okay, and a couple of guys I won't talk to if my life depended on it. Dating is a funny thing. Even if it all goes horribly wrong, you keep coming back for more, hoping for those perfect moments that make it all worthwhile.

I was very excited to find out Katherine Patterson was named the new National Ambassador for Young People's Literature by the Library of Congress. It's been a lot of fun following Jon Scieszka for the past two years, and now I'm excited to see where Patterson's theme "Read for Your Life" will take us in the coming two years.

I remember reading Jacob Have I Loved for the first time when I was in sixth grade. I remember crying and laughing and being able to connect with history in a way I never had before. I saw myself as Sara Louise because I had an older sister whom, like Sara Louise's sister Caroline, I thought was prettier, smarter and had more to offer the world than I ever could. And for the first time, I realized that I didn't have to be defined by my relationship with my sister. I was the one who was forcing myself to live in my sister's shadow. I could be whatever I wanted to be, and the only person who could stop me was me.

Fifteen years later, I have realized that my sister probably felt much the same way about me. Sisterhood is the most delicate of family relationships, especially when you are so close in age. (My sister is only 19 months older than me.) Now I hope our relationship is more about supporting and encouraging each other rather than comparing ones failures to the others successes.

If one book, read so many years ago, could teach me such a great lesson that still affects me today, can you imagine what Patterson will be able to accomplish in her new position?

P.S. The SCBWI WIP Grant process is upon us. If you are a member of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators or have ever considered becoming a member, now is a great time to get a writing sample together and ready for submission. I'll be applying for the Grant for a Contemporary Novel for Young Readers this year, which is a total departure for me.

I'm feeling like a bit of a poser at the moment. I usually read tons of books every year and review a lot of them. But this year, I only read about 40, and many good books that I really want to read and think I will really enjoy are still sitting on my bookshelves. So while this is a list of the best books I've read in 2009, I feel like I should have another list of the most amazing books I didn't get to this year.

This list varies a lot more than last year's list. Last year I have five YA fiction books, but this year includes a contemporary novel, a picture book and a nonfiction book as well as two YA fiction books. This is probably the only place you will ever see a combination of books like this on a best books list. Seriously. Talk about strange bedfellows.

Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson

I picked this books mostly because it is such an amazing read, but it's also because it is a part of history that rarely gets told. So often the ugly parts of history are brushed aside for prettier stories that make us feel good about our heritage. But the thing is, we can learn the most from the things we understand the least. You really get into the main character's head in this book, and it is so flawlessly researched that you don't even really see the history as you're reading it.

Into the Wild by Jon Krackaur

I read this book mostly because I saw the movie and loved it but also because I've read a couple other Krachaur books and loved them. I don't read a lot of nonfiction, and it's books like these that make me want to commit to reading more. Like with Chains, there were so many motives I didn't understand in this book, but I feel like I came away a more compassionate person with a greater appreciation for nature and what drives people to do these extreme adventures.

Big Frog Can't Fit In by Mo Willems

Seriously, what more can you ask for in a book? I honestly think this book marks a big change in the pop-up medium because it is a book with a story-line that would never that would never work in any other format. Plus, it passed the "kid test" and is by the beloved Mo Willems. This book was a treasured find from this year's National Book Festival.

Juliet, Naked by Nick Hornby

Maybe it's because I feel so connected with music that I could connect so well with this novel. Or maybe it was because the writing was so beautiful. Or maybe it was because I understood a little about what the female lead wanted in life but couldn't seem to find. But this book ripped me open and left me naked. While Chains helped me understand history, and Into the Wild helped me understand other people, this book helped me understand myself more than any other book I read this year.

Struts and Frets by Jon Skovron

I liked the idea of including this book on my list because of all the potential in it. Jon is going to be a great addition to YA lit. He has a new and fresh perspective on the genera that will allow him to incite change. But no pressure, Jon. Just write what comes to you and the evolution will happen naturally.

You can read my best of 2008 list here.

We have a connection! After a week with no internet, I am once again online. You never realize how much you do online until you can't do it anymore. From getting work done to paying bills to looking up word origins to staying connected with friends. Oh, yes, and Mafia Wars--can't forget that. A lot of my time is spent online. And because my roommate is still visiting her family, I have felt totally cut off from the world. I can go hours without talking to anyone and have watched a lot of movies in the past week just so there are some voices in the apartment.

Speaking of the apartment, I moved again. Yes, again. But I promise this will be the last time for at least a year, hopefully more. I used to love moving. It gave me the chance to purge unwanted stuff, meet new people and get a fresh perspective. But after being in six places in the past two years, I am really ready for some consistency in my life.

Wow, I never though I would say that.

It's no secret that I enjoy off-beat music, and when it comes to Christmas carols, I enjoy an array of songs. You might even say I have an eclectic taste in holiday music. Mixed into the 12 or so hours of Christmas music on my iPod, I have everything from Fall Out Boy to The King Singers, Brandi Carlile to 98 Degrees.

Here are a couple of my favorite Alternative Christmas songs:

"Winter Wonderland" by Phantom Planet
"Snowfall Music" by Carbon Leaf
"I Won't Be Home for Christmas" by Blink 182
"Oi to the World" by No Doubt
"Christmas Only Comes Once a Year" by MxPx
"All I Want for Christmas Is You" by My Chemical Romance
"Yule Shoot Your Eye Out" by Fall Out Boy
"Alone This Holiday" by The Used
"Let Me Sleep" by Pearl Jam
"Ex-Miss" by A New Found Glory

And my new favorite CD is Let It Snow Baby...Let It Reindeer by Relient K. Well, this CD has been out for a couple of years now, but I just discovered it last week and I can't stop listening to it.

What are some of your favorite holiday tunes?

This is the sight I woke up to yesterday. I thought I was back in Idaho or Utah or Illinois. But no, this really is Virginia. You can kind of almost see my car parked across the street. I didn't get home until late last night after the snow had already set in, and because I live on a hill, I knew there was no way I would be able to park in my usual space in front of the house.



But don't you worry--it proceeded to snow for 14 more hours after this picture was taken.

I had gone out around 1 p.m. to dig my car out as I was supposed to go to a friend's house last night. I had to force the front door open and then stepped into a pile of snow that came up to my knee. It took me about five minutes just to get across the street to my car, and after two hours or scrapping and shoveling, my car was even more stuck than when I first started.

I ditched the car and decided to shovel the walk. They were all sold out of shovels, so my kind neighbors let me barrow theirs. I had to shovel my way from their front porch to mine, not an easy task in 20 inches of snow. But along the way I talked to sledders and skiers and snowboarders and even one mom on foot whose 9 month-old baby was so snug in her blanketed carrier she was sound asleep.

One of the craziest things about all this snow is that it's not really that cold out. Even being outside for two hours, I wasn't cold, just very, very wet. And though my car is once against buried from sight in all the snow that fell in the evening, everything is already melting. I can hear the icicles on my roof drip, drip dripping, and underneath all that powdery white is a good inch of nothing but slush.

I feel like I'm in the middle of a Christmas song. Pick one about snow, and there you have my front yard. Can I please be dreaming of a green Christmas?

I've been trying so hard to keep my blog upbeat this past month. It is the holiday season, which means joy should fill the air. As snow blankets the country and family gathers near, I want to focus on good things--happy memories, hope for the future. But things aren't very happy this holiday season.

Ashley isn't doing well and wants to go to Heaven now. She's so tired. In so much pain. Ready to go home. You'd think I'd want her suffering to end so she could be at peace this holiday season, but I can't help but think about the pain her passing will bring. I wish that I was selfless enough to understand her desire to be done with all of this, but I'm not. And it gets even worse because I don't feel this way because I hate seeing what the thought of losing her is doing to her family--it's because I don't want to let her go, at least not yet.

I want to see her again, even though I know it wouldn't be like when I saw her this past summer. She wouldn't be laughing and having fun with her cousins. She wouldn't be able to tell me stories or help me make dinner or read me her favorite book. But I want to hold her in my arms one last time and tell her how much I love her, how grateful I am to know her, what a source of joy and love and learning she is in my life.

Yet a part of me knows I won't get that chance. I keep telling myself I was blessed to be able to do this last June when I saw her. I should be grateful for the time I've had with Ashley and the wonderful blessing her family has been in my life. But that just isn't enough. I don't know if anything will ever be enough.

And as hard as it is for me to relinquish any kind of control, this really is in God's hands. I have said my goodbyes and now I need to be at peace with that. Though my heart is braking, I need to trust that everything will be all right in the end. Things in life always seem to work out, and now I just need to have a little faith that even this will work out, too.

Because most of our family still lives in the Chicago area, there are a lot of extended family gatherings around the holidays. But when all of us kids started moving away from home, my mother began to insist on having at least one dinner--just the five of us--around Christmas.

Thus was born Christmas Adam, or the night before Christmas Eve.

It's really a no-frills holiday tradition filled with non-traditions. We eat some food, tell some jokes and make Mom wonder how all of us ended up with our dad's sense of humor. The dinner fare is always different, and sometimes we do it at my sister's house rather than my parents. Dad gets excited about the bubble lights on the tree, and Mom cries either because we're all together or because someone is missing.

Oh, yes, and we watch While You Were Sleeping. And the three of us kids spend the night together curled up on my sister's bed talking--even when we all lived together, it was always my sister's room.

P.S. I changed the title of my novel from a boring working title to a title I actually like. Thanks Melissa and Tom for the help!

The other night I was talking to my sister about all the great Christmas movies we used to watch when we were kids, like One Magic Christmas starring Mary Steenburgen. And then my friends over at the PBS Booklights blog mentioned The Lump of Coal by Lemony Snicket, a short story I read and loved a few years ago. So that got me thinking about some of my favorite holiday stories from years gone by.

You really can't go wrong with a classic, and you can't be any more classic the poem by Clement Clarke Moore "A Visit from St. Nicholas." It has been re-told everywhich way, from Tim Burton's ghoulish masterpiece to the Cajun version I was interoduced to while living in Louisiana years ago. But it is the version of the poem I had as a child that stands out in my mind more than any other.

When I was really little, we had this pop-up version of The Night before Christmas illustrated by Michael Hague. Because it was the only pop-up book we had, it would get read all year long. We read it so often I had it memorized from the time I was about four, and to this day I can still say the poem verbatim.

As mentioned above, I am a sucker for family Christmas movies. I cried like a baby the first time I saw The Family Stone on a plane trip from Salt Lake to New York, and nothing gets me laughing like While You Were Sleeping. But my very favorite Christmas movie isn't really a Christmas movie at all.

When I sit down to watch Judy Garland in Meet Me in St. Louis, I know it's Christmas. Because I have missed a few Christmases with my family, the song Esther sings to her little sister Tootie about Christmas being more about who you have loved than where you are has a special meaning to me.

One of my best memories from high school is the Christmas play I was in. It was a modern retelling of A Christmas Carol in which Scrooge was a self-centered rock star bent on driving himself to an early, lonely grave complete with the dreadlock-sporting ghost of Bob Marley and a tofu turkey for the hippy Cratchits. I really wish I could remember the name of the play, but it was too long ago and I can't find it in my old journals either. Oh well.

I didn't have a big part, but I did have this really dramatic fainting scene at the beginning when the kid who was supposed to catch me wasn't paying attention and I hit my head on the stage. I don't blame him, really. I tend to fall and hit my head a lot--I've even knocked myself out a couple of times. But getting back to the topic at hand...

I LOVE Christmas music. Seriously, I have about 12 hours worth of Christmas music on my iPod. Everything from the King Singers to Fall Out Boy. And all of that music tells a different story of Christmas, whether it's a depressing story of love lost and loneliness, or a song totally focused of the miracle of a baby born in a stable.

To me, one of the most beautiful hymns of the season is It Came Upon a Midnight Clear. That song encompasses everything meaningful about the season. It speaks of tradition and peace, past and present, hope and fulfillment. The imagery is also so moving: "Still thru the cloven skies they come / With peaceful wings unfurled."

There is something so distinct about the stories written about Christmas. This is the time of year when everyone suspends their disbelief for just a moment and believes that magic and miracles and goodness really does exist in the world. We stretch our imagination and make ourselves a little vulnerable to feeling the spirit of Christmas, no matter if we believe in Christ or not.

And new stories of Christmas are still being created every year. Snowmen at Night by Mark and Caralyn Buehner is the perfect example of this.

What are some of your favorite Christmas stories? Are they books or songs or maybe even memories? Maybe it's a story a parent read to you or something you discovered one Christmas when you were far from home. But in this season of glad tides, I hope you are able to find joy and happiness in all your Christmas stories.

No, I haven't done any flying. But along with colored lights and mistletoe, the holiday season also means music. Yesterday my Christmas bell choir had our first performance in Old Town Alexandria, and today we had a two-hour rehearsal for our big performances next week. I also lead the congregational music and the music for the women's meeting at church today. Between hefting those bass bells and waving my arms in the air all weekend, my shoulders and elbows and arms ache. I really need to work out more.

I'll try to post some pictures of the Bells at Mt. Vernon, but for now, enjoy this Christmas music from the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. I was at the concert where this was recorded a few years ago, and while a YouTube recording can't compare to the live performance, it's still beautiful. Plus, my friend Carrie was one of the dancers, my old clarinet teacher played in the orchestra and I know a couple people in the choir. Not being there for the Christmas concert this year makes me kind of miss living out west.

I love birthdays. They are a time to celebrate being alive and all of the things you have accomplished in the past year. And I'm lucky enough that my birthday falls in the middle of the holiday season when people are already thinking about new beginnings and good memories.

It's odd to think that at this time last year I was moving to a new city and starting a new job. I hadn't yet received my first rejection letter, but I hadn't gotten my SCBWI WIP letter. I was missing my old Salt Lake City writers' group, but I hadn't met me new Virginia writing friends. I was living closer to my family than I had in nine years, but I was father away from my best friend as well.

The problem with new beginnings is that it's also a time of endings. But the great thing about endings is they allow you to start fresh, set goals, do something completely different. So here is to endings that aren't really ending at all, but new beginnings in disguise.

After days of writing about all the food prep, the dinner really came together. I thought I'd post some of the recipes I used for this Thanksgiving dinner. I tend not to use any one source to create my culinary masterpieces, which as many friends can tell you wither turns out horribly wrong or somehow manages to come out wonderfully right.

My first foray into turkey making was a hit--and let me tell you, I have never felt more pressure to get something right than in preparing the main dish of a big holiday meal.

• 8 lb turkey breast
• 1 cup sea salt
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 large onion
• 2 carrot sticks
• 3 stocks green onion
• 1/4 cup pepper corns
• 1 gallon water
• 2 tsp olive oil
• 1 clove minced garlic
• 3 tsp poultry seasoning

1. Thaw turkey in fridge overnight. Remove any entrails and place in large oven bag in a deep roasting dish.
2. Boil water, salt, brown sugar, onion, carrots, green onions, pepper in a large pot for half an hour. Let cool.
3. Pour brine over turkey and chill in fridge for 24 hours.
4. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Rinse turkey well and pat dry. Place turkey in a fresh, flour-coated oven bag.
5. Mix oil, garlic and seasoning in a small bowl and coat turkey. Stuff with generous amounts of bread stuffing.
6. Roast for 3 hours. Save juices for gravy. Cool, carve and serve.

Thanksgiving was a lot of fun. We really did have a house full of good people and good food.


Because my parents were in Hawaii visiting my little brother for the holiday and my sister was with her boyfriend's family in Chicago, I was adopted by my roommate's family who came in from North Carolina and Michigan.


And of course after the food was devoured and the kitchen (almost) clean, we pulled out the books. Melinda's three-year-old niece loved Mo Willem's new pop-out book Big Frog Can't Fit In.


And the boys found plenty of books to occupy their time with as well.


The next few days were filled with more adventures, fun and movies, and yes, even some writing and chores.

So this holiday season opened up with a bang. Now I just need to get through my birthday, Christmas and the New Year. I've got a lot of fun stuff coming up and look forward to seeing my family again. I missed Christmas in Chicago last year, and I'm excited not to miss it again this year.

Happy Thanksgiving! There are too many things I'm grateful for that I haven't been able to mention, so I'll list as many of them as I can.

I'm grateful for:

• All the little things, like paperclips and pennies and four-leaf clovers.


• The books I've read. From the classics I was "forced" to read in school to the books I'm given to review, reading is a joy I never want to be without.


• My teachers. There are many teachers, both in school and out, who have taught me lessons I will never forget and encouraged me is ways they will never know.


• Talents. So many people have been given so many gifts, and my life is better for all those who have shared their talents with me.


• Time. Time to do more, be better, learn something new. Time to say "I'm sorry" or "I love you" or "Good luck today." Time to enjoy life and live it to the fullest.


• The places I have lived. I am a cheese-head by birth, a city-girl by circumstance, a Cajun by adoption and a lover by location. I have been infected with wanderlust, and I've loved every place I have been blessed enough to live.


• Chocolate and ice cream. I think sugar is a far overlooked food group. Dietitians everywhere are cringing, but chocolate and ice cream have gotten me through a lot of very trying times.


• Friends who know how to listen. This is not a talent of mine--I talk way too much--but I have been the beneficiary of wise friends who know when to close their mouths and open their ears.


• Sisters, both by birth and by choice. I have an older sister who is one of my dearest friends, even if I didn't know it until after high school. And I have three of the best sisters in the world thanks to The Scroll, a children's lit class and a little thing called love.

This list could honestly go on forever. How blessed my life is!

Speaking of blessings, the turkey is now in the oven.


We have people traveling from Michigan and North Carolina, so we're having an early dinner rather than a late lunch. We'll really have a full house with kids and friends and maybe a random stranger or two as well.


I love the holidays!

I'm incredibly grateful for those people who work to keep our nation free.

This doesn't just include people like my little brother in the Navy. It encompasses those who fight to preserve our freedom of speech, sacrifice to improve our environment and dedicate their lives to ensuring our country is better tomorrow than it was today.

You know who you are, and you have my thanks.

Ahhh! Only one more day to finish cleaning the house and cooking. I've been trying to do it a little at a time so I don't wake up tomorrow morning and realize I have nothing done. So today I made sure my gas tank is full, the floors are swept and all the Christmas decorations are up. (I don't have any Thanksgiving decor, so Christmas comes a little early.)

On the food front, I prepped that old Southern Thanksgiving favorite: macaroni and cheese.


This isn't exactly a complicated dish (just noodles, milk, butter, an egg and a few different cheeses), but I didn't want to have to worry about doing it when there is a turkey waiting for me to season and bake in the morning.

What would my life be like without the many students I have worked with?

From the kids at BSTA to the DC students I tutor to the kids I went to high school with who have never managed to grow up, I have discovered that you are never too old to learn something new from the most unexpected places.

May I meet many more of you and continue to be edified by your vast wisdom.

The food preparation has begun. Because my parents are visiting my little brother in Hawaii for Thanksgiving (it's a tough job, but they're selfless like that), I'm hosting Thanksgiving with my roommate. Two of her brothers, their families and a few friends are coming over, which means plenty of shopping and cooking.

Today I started on the turkey with a brine.


I also made that old Thanksgiving classic with a twist: cranberry sauce with a handful of blueberries and some orange zest.


This year I am making a bunch of traditional foods I have never made before, so we'll see how it all turns out.

This reminds me of one Thanksgiving up in Idaho when a couple of friends and I decided to get a fresh pumpkin and make a bunch of pumpkin-themed sides from scratch. Of course we did the traditional pumpkin pie, but we also made pumpkin bread, pumpkin butter, pumpkin cake, pumpkin roll and a couple other things. We had never made any of it before, but it was so much fun I think we convinced ourselves the food tasted better than it really did.

Good memories.