NaNoWriMo -- Day One

http://www.nanowrimo.org/

For those of you who don't know, I'm currently participating in "NaNoWriMo," or "National Novel Writing Month."  It's a worldwide writing marathon where you write a 50,000 word novel in thirty days.  I've tried it every year for the past four years, but I've never even come close.

This year, I'm determined.  I've spent the last month plotting and outlining and figuring out exactly where I'm going.  For once, I actually have a beginning middle AND end!  So here I go, off on another grand and slightly psychotic adventure. I've also signed off facebook for the entire month, and my husband has vowed to work out every day in November as well, so it should be an interesting month for us!

Care packages and well-wishes are much appreciated :)

Current word count : 3,351
Currently listening to: the Chocolat soundtrack

Paper

Brayden and I recently celebrated our one year anniversary. As you may know, it's the "paper" anniversary.  So, we spent it ordering books online from Barnes and Noble :) I simply cannot think of a better way to spend an anniversary, can you?

That night after rehearsal we were able to ACTUALLY celebrate. Bread bowl stew, just like we had a year ago (hotel room service absolutely rocks, by the way), sparkling grape juice compliments of Amaree (Thank you for the gifts! We loved them!), and the alcohol-free wine that we bought on the way to the wedding hotel and have been holding on to ever since because we never got a corkscrew.

And, of course, the traditional year-old cake, which had been sitting in my parents' freezer for a year and had been transferred to the Cluff's (while we were house-sitting) and then ours (in the new apartment, when we finally remembered to take it over there.)

We were frankly surprised at how fresh the cake tasted. It had been frozen and un-frozen and RE-frozen through the moving process and, after all, it WAS a year old. But it was delicious! I called my mom in the morning to brag about it. Turns out, the magical cake wasn't exactly a year old. Apparently our actual cake top got ruined somehow and so, loving woman that she is, Mom had another one made. Identical to the first, and picked up the day before they brought it to us. So, no, we did not have the traditional "anniversary" cake. But we thought it was, so that's all that matters :)

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

If you've never read "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society," not to fret. There's still time left. It is the perfect end-of-summer book, in this reader's humble opinion. It's written in a series of correspondences between a frustrated authoress (Juliet) and the colorful members of the above-mentioned society. Set in post-WWII England, Juliet learns through these letters how the Channel Islands were affected by the German occupation and how the members of the Society coped with it. It is a wonderfully warm and imaginative book, and it's gotten me back in the habit of writing letters (a dying art, unfortunately).

If any of you readers out there would like to join me in the noble endeavor to bring back letter-writing to our generation, I urge you to read this book. And write me a letter :)

And now, we come to the "In Other News" portion of our blogging.

IN OTHER NEWS:

Next weekend we're moving into a bigger, better apartment. It has two bedrooms and a full-sized kitchen and a REAL laundry room! No more of this shoving-the-washer-and-dryer-into-the-corner-of-the-bathroom business. And we'll have an office in the second bedroom, which is more conducive to focusing on homework and getting better grades.

And speaking of better grades, Brayden is going to need all the focus he can get. He has launched himself into the wonderful world of biology.

He's decided to become a doctor.

I'm extremely proud of him actually, and he's thrilled that his life finally has "direction." We're very happy with this decision, and we hope he is able to attend medical school somewhere in Virginia or North Carolina, so as to still stay close to both sets of parents (and the DC family. Hi Goesches!) Right now, he's leaning towards Chapel Hill, as it's one of the best med schools in the area, and has a GORGEOUS campus. It's also only thirty minutes away from the Raleigh temple! YAY!

We're both excited to start school again. This should be an excellent year.

Dear Greta

Dearest cousin Greta,

I just HAD to write and tell you about the last few weeks. (Translation : you have lovingly coerced me into updating my blog, and I have finally obliged.)

So many things have been happening this summer that I should just start at the beginning and give you the highlights:

WORK:

Brayden and I are now both working at The Natural Bridge of Virginia. He is their graphic and web designer, and I am working as a historical interpreter in the Indian village.  It is very hot and very sticky in the village, but even so you absolutely have to come see me sometime! My bosses and co-workers are all really nice, and I think it's a job I'd be glad to return to each summer.

HOME:

We're MOVING! Just across the parking lot, but our new apartment has two bedrooms and a bigger kitchen and a real laundry room! That's the thing that finally won Brayden over to the move. He gets so frustrated when I have to hang clothes to dry in our bathroom (which is our current laundry room) that he was thrilled with the idea of never seeing wet shirts hanging over the shower curtain again.


We move in on July 23rd, smack in the middle of our sojourn at the Cluff Family Proper's house. We're house/dog-sitting while they are gallivanting around London.

ANNIE GET YOUR GUN:

The Maymester show was an absolutely smashing success! I miss it already, and now I am anxiously awaiting the cast list for the summer show (Songs for a New World).

IN OTHER NEWS:

Brayden is still debating between about ten different life paths, so we honestly have NO idea where we'll be in five years (or even two years.) I'm still pursuing my writing/acting career and have recently decided that I want to put a laser tag arena in my basement.

Vacation this year was a blast. We had to run to catch a plane, we got to ride the L train (or is it "el train?" I'm never sure how to deal with slang) in Chicago and we went up the Sears Tower. I even stood out on "the ledge," which is this glass box they put up on the observation level that makes you feel like you're standing over nothing. Keep in mind that I am terrified of heights! But I'm trying to prove to Brayden that I can be an adventurous person, so I did it. And afterwords, he bought me a t-shirt as a prize :)

Cant' wait to hear from you darling. (Hope you liked the letter-like format :) Write back soon!

Much love,
Kaitlin

The Classics

Last night at dinner Brayden asked me an almost impossible question.

"If you could, which one of these men would you dance with: Fred Astaire, Danny Kaye, Robert Preston or Gene Kelly?"

We'll ignore for a moment the fact that this is entirely hypothetical. We'll ignore the fact that all of them are dead.

I have been going over pros and cons ever since. Just when I thought I'd made my choice, something else would jump out at me. Fred Astaire owned a Thoroughbred breeding farm, so the big fat chunk of my heart that's horse obsessed is screaming "PICK HIM!" But Danny Kaye owned a professional baseball team, so there's another piece of my soul. Robert Preston is just, well, brilliant, especially taking into account the fact that before he was cast in "The Music Man" on Broadway he had never so much as sung a note before. And then there's Gene Kelly, who embodies everything I want to be in theatre. He directs, acts, sings, dances, choreographs, produces, and does all his own stunts.

Honestly, I haven't made my decision yet. In the meantime, I have provided samplings of these Classic Men for your consideration.







And, because of course Gene Kelly videos are far too important to allow embedding, a link to Singing in the Rain : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7QL46cK7B8&feature=related

Lengthen Your Stride

http://www.lengthenyourstride.org/

This (see link above) is Zach.

Zach is doing big cool spiffy important things for the greater good.

Zach is saving the world one step at a time. Quite literally.

See Zach. See Zach Walk. Walk, Zach, Walk!

This is Kaitlin.

Kaitlin wishes she was doing something big and cool and spiffy and important.

Kaitlin wants to save the world too.

See Kaitlin. See Kaitlin Pout. Pout, Kaitlin, Pout!

In all seriousness, this guy is cool. He's doing something important and everyone should support him. I only wish there were more people out there like him. I wish I was one of them.

Day 19 -- No Comment

Brayden looks oh so sexy in my black and pink apron, don't you agree?