How to Date a Nerd Blog Hop and MORE

The nerdiest thing(s) about me?

Age 4: I made my mom put the alphabet up in our kitchen because I wanted to be in school.
1st grade: I took home so many bonus assignments that my teacher ran out of special packets half-way through the year.
3rd grade: A boy broke my arm because I wouldn't give a boy back a crayon he WAS NOT supposed to be using.
5th grade: My science project was SO good that my teacher "stole" my idea and used it on his daughter's project the next year.
****skipping awful, friendless, I had no idea how to be cool, middle school****
10th grade: I was the only sophomore in AP Biology
11th and 12th grade: I took all AP classes and spent my nights happily buried in homework.
College: Freshman year I skipped"open dorm" nights when the guys could visit and instead spent that time in the library. Most Saturday mornings at 8am you could find me studying there as well.

Add to your Goodreads

This week so many incredible books are releasing this week, I couldn't just mention Cassie Mae's. Below are a few of

the other books I'm salivating over.

I didn't realize until adding these covers to my blog, but they're all rather similar. Green is my favorite color, so I'm not complaining.

What books are you salivating over? 

Jumping in Shark Infested Waters or What's Up Wednesday

“What’s Up Wednesday” is a weekly meme started by Jaime Morrow and Erin Funk. From Jaime: It’s similar in some respects to the Currently… post, but it’s been whittled down to only four headings to make it quicker and more manageable on a weekly basis. You’re invited to join us if you’re looking for something to blog about, a way to let your blog friends know what’s been going on with you. If you’re participating, make sure to link your What’s Up Wednesday posts to the list on Jaime’s blog each week. That way, others can visit your post and check out what you’ve been up to.

What I'm Reading:

Non-fiction:

 Cindi Lee is my yoga hero. Her books and videos-I've yet to meet her in person-taught me that laughter in yoga is good and that playing with poses is how we learn and grow. My first successful forearm stand was through a video of hers back in 2006. So...great yogini...this book is light, yet deep, just like the practice she leads.

Audio: 

Do you remember Kit Tyler from Barbados,  the shock of Puritan Connecticut, and the sweet Quaker woman living by Blackbird Pond, and Nat? 
My paperback copy is so worn the cover fell off, yet I'd forgotten most of the story. 
Also the reader Mary Beth Hurt is amazing. (Sometimes readers get in teh way of the story for me, not so with Mary. She's one of those gems who adds to it.)


Fiction: 

SURE SIGNS OF CRAZY is a MG novel about a girl whose mother tried to drown her and did succeed in drowning her brother. She was two and doesn't remember any of it, but is worried she'll turn out crazy like her mom, so she's watching for signs. It's told from her "real" journal she hides under the bathroom counter and her "fake journal" she keeps on her nightstand. I'm only nine chapters in, but I've fallen hard for SURE SIGNS OF CRAZY.




 What I'm Writing: 
I finished my latest rounds of revisions with GG. I cut 15 K, but added back 3k in new scenes. This story struggled to come out of me. It felt a bit like Harry Potter writing his name with his blood, but I trudged on, scars and all. I've kept GG to myself (besides sharing the 1st 10 pages) but I'm finally approaching that point where I'm  ready to share. I finished the revision Monday morning and don't know what to do with myself...hence WRITING this blog post:) 
*note: since writing this post I've returned to a MG rough draft I wrote last spring. Going from first person POV present to third person POV past is a challenge, but I'm in love with this story all over again. 

What Else I've Been Up To:

Jumping into Shark Infested Waters

Well almost. For now it's just the YMCA pool. But I'm working of my front crawl and remembering how to breathe and swim at the same time. But next summer it will be open water. Along with all the other unrealistic challenging goals I've set for myself, I've added one more. I'm going to do a triathlon next spring and I was planning on a 5K Cupcake Run last Saturday to get me back into racing-that is until I broke my toe two. *crossing my fingers it heals quickly*

What Inspires Me Right Now:

• Holding my husband's book
• Biking in the early morning and feeling the beginning of fall
• Knowing that the leaves will change soon and I'll have my first "real" fall in five years
• Farmer's Market Produce
• This CES devotional by David A. Bednar:  "That We May Not Shrink" (text, video)

What are you guys up to on this lovely Wednesday?

Ketchup

Hello, hello? Is anybody still reading my blog besides IWSG Wednesdays?

I know, I've been awful.  I can blame it on the move, on my kids, on my new yoga studio, or I can just suck it up and admit that I've been having a down time. Writing has been hard. Subs have been hard.

But, I couldn't leave the blogging world. I missed you guys, and I've missed blogging.

So today I'm back with a whole lot of random. Some books I can't get enough of and should have shouted to the rooftops ages ago, new excitement at the Hall house, and one of my All-Time-Favorite Read's (yes, I needed those CAPS) sequel is out today. We HAVE to celebrate that.


Cassie Mae's FRIDAY NIGHT ALIBI. I requested this one from NetGalley and read it in two days. Hilarious and hot. FRIDAY NIGHT ALIBI is a great read. I'm still smelling oranges and thinking about Chase. And man could I handle living in Kelli's house with a pool in the basement and a window hot guys could crawl through (but I want parents that stick around too). This one will be read again. Light, funny, and clean sexy is my kind of book.

SEAN GRISWOLD'S HEAD. I know, I'm the last person on the planet to read this book, but I still had to say how impressed I am with Lindsay Leavitt. Her characters walked off the pages and into my life. Each time I get on my road bike and train for my triathlon, I think about Payton training and how wonderful a surprise it was to me that biking was a part of this story. (Remember I'm one of those crazy people who doesn't read dust jackets.) I loved this book so much I read GOING VINTAGE, as well. I'm still crushing on Oliver and his yarn ring to remember to forget. And again-all the orange. Hmm...I'm seeing a theme with my book loves.


Hall house excitement. Some of you might remember my hubbie's non-fiction (is anyone still reading after that word?) book releases October first. This week we received a box full of all these pretties.

We sure would appreciate it if you'd go and add it to your Goodreads To-Read List and share with any military families you might know:)

Last, but certainly not least, is the sequel to IMPOSSIBLE, one of my favorite books of all time. Happy release day to the lovely Nancy Werlin and her new book UNTHINKABLE. Did you guys fall for IMPOSSIBLE as hard as I did? I'll be staring out the window waiting for the UPS truck today.

Happy Friday the 13th, guys. And please tell me what you've been up to (I'm slowly catching up on blogs, but I've missed so much) and any new reads I should add to my TBR list, because UNTHINKABLE will be read in a day. Two if I want to feed my children.

IWSG: Starting Something New

The first Wednesday of every month is IWSG, a bloghop hosted by the amazing Alex J. Cavenaugh to encourage and inspire each other and a safe place to admit our writing doubts. And if I understood it, this is the 200th IWSG, so a giant happy birthday to a wonderful group!

Today I'm not starting anything new in the writing world, but still, something I've never attempted before is happening. I'm opening doors to my own yoga studio. While I've taught for over ten years, I've never considered my own studio until a friend offered me some space free for a three-month trial period. And as crazy as my life is right now, I jumped at the chance to be my own boss, do it my own way, and get people moving and breathing-yoking the mind and the body.

I'm terrified, but excited, like that feeling when I open a brand new word document and only the curser blinks back at me.

In other news:
I have my interview up with Catherine Murdock on her new release (out yesterday) Heaven Is Paved with Oreos on Sporty Girl Books. I hope you'll check it out. When I grow up I hope to be like her.