Breaking Dawn Update

So this really isn't an update on the movie, but on where I was in life last night when the movie premiered. I have been waiting for this movie to come out for many different reasons, and non of them had to do with seeing Sparkly men or adolescent teen wolves.

Last year around this time, I was cleaning my room and I came across a picture that had been taken a few months before at the Eclipse premier. Maybe I had hidden it to not be reminded what was very obvious as I looked at the newly found picture---I was fat, and not just a couple of pounds, we are talking over the wall, seam ripping chunk. I quickly hid the picture and refused to acknowledge that I had gotten that way. I mean, I have three kids, a few extra pounds was normal, right?

Needless to say it wasn't until my birthday a couple of months later that I stepped on the scale and it confirmed the sad truth. That day I dug the picture back out and it has been hanging on my mirror as a reminder that when Breaking dawn came out, I was not going to be embarrassed to take my picture...and I wasn't. Last night we took tons of pictures and I was 37 pounds less than at Eclipse.

The final movie comes out in one year. I have 15 pounds to go. I will be at that midnight showing and I will be as skinny as I was in High School!

Also when Eclipse came out I was in the midst of trying to decide what I wanted to do with my life. Being a stay at home mom was great, but I knew there was more I could do. I was already taking some classes at the local University, but no major was declared, I had no goal in mind. That has changed as well. I am officially one year away from my BA in History with a 3.96 GPA (stupid A- in Biology!). I signed up for my Senior Research Project class which will begin in January and from there it is all down hill.

Next Year at the midnight showing I will be a few weeks away from my degree and taking a much needed break right before finals.

As for my writing? At Eclipse I had Sky in hand and a three page rejection letter telling me if I just rewrote the whole thing I could maybe go somewhere. It was a challenge that I took to heart.

As of last night, Sky has been completely rewritten and is a million times better and different than I could have imagined. I finally feel confident to really send it out to agents and publishers and not have them laugh at me.

I am now five chapters into a new story which will from here on out be called Room for Two (Room) until a better title falls in place and am discovering the joy of a fresh story all over again. By the time the last movie comes out I hope to have that story in the same polished position that Sky is in.

So from one movie to the next I have lost the weight, got the brains, and found the joy. Last night I rewarded myself by having that Dr. Pepper, getting a manicure and message, hanging out with a dear friend, talking and laughing, and of course watching Vampires and Werewolves slug it out.

Next year I plan to be with the same friend at another midnight showing with a whole new set of milestones that I have overcome. Until then it is back to eating Primal, studying hard, and writing continuously...all intermixed of course with being a soccer mom extreme! The one thing that I hope won't wait until next year is another post!

Book Review: All Diets Work

I know a post on Worldcon is due and I promise one will be coming with pictures very soon. I'm still trying to come down from the awesomeness that was Renovation 2011! So, until that happenshere is a book review for you!

As you may know back in February as the scale came close to a dreaded number I never wanted to see I decided to change my lifestyle and dove full force into being primal. Today 38 pounds lighter, 100% healthier, and filled with more energy than I've had since before the kids came along, I am doing great. I still have those last stubborn 12 pounds to go, but am confident that I will be leaving them behind in 2011! In light of my new found health, when I was approached by a friend to do a blog tour for a new diet book I was more than happy to read through it and see what else was out there. Just so you know, I don't know the author, but I did get a free book as part of this review. And now for the good stuff!

The Book is called All Diets Work that's the problem by Jen Brewer. The subtext says: 25 tools to help you stop dieting and start losing weight for good.

To be honest there wasn't really anything new in this book to me. But then again, I've read a lot of diet books over the years. So here is what I thought of the advice given. Or According to Sabine.

The thing I liked about this book is that it was quick and easy to read. At only 132 pages there are no long winded diet plans or complicated workout routines to follow.The information given for the most part was good. I do beleive that lifestyle change, not diet is the only way to lose weight and keep it off in the long run. There were several ideas that were fun to read and I could see them being very helful to people. Did I agree with everything said? No, but bear in mind the more I read about grains and sugar, the more I want to steer clear of them at all costs. That is not an easy thing to do. Many people look at me and say: Pasta? I could never give up pasta. For those people, this book may be just what they need.

There are 25 tools given to help you in your goal to weight loss. The success stories in the book are fun as each one tells you which of the 25 tools they combined to make their successful weight loss plan. At the end of the book there are food diary examples and plenty of useful charts that may make the purchase worth it just for that.

So my recommendation would have to be: Go Primal, its easy, it works, and you will feel like a million dollars! If you really don't think you can give up grains (trust me, you can live without them) then buy this book, it is a great way to get started on a plan that will change your life.

Around the Corner

There are so many things coming around the next corner that I am not prepared for. I leave for Worldcon in two days. My bags are not packed, the house is not clean, my final critique is not written nicely (at least I've read the story and done the critique itself). School starts for the kiddos about 8-10 hours after I will be getting home. I need to have them all ready before I go so the first day of school won't be a train wreck. I start school a week later, I am still trying to get into one class that I MUST take or my schooling will be prolonged by another semester. I want to have more, much more, of my rough draft for ROOM finished before school starts. Taking 15 credits will not help me in the field of writing unless I have a strong start before then. So much to do and yet yesterday I spent my morning reading with Bear, watching Minchkin in her soccer tournament, and celebrating my twelfth anniversary to my wonderful husband. It was a wonderful, relaxing day. I wish I could say the same for the next two days, but I have a feeling life is going to be turned upside down. If it were just me, I could handle it, but I have to tread carefully since the kids, especially Squishie don't handle things well when mom gets into turbo mode. I guess that means no writing for the next few days. I will have a whole week of kid free mornings to work on it when I get back. For now I will sign off as Sabine Writer, and turning into my secret identity of Superwoman (if I can find her!)

Count Down to Worldcon

I can't beleive that I am 8 days away from Worldcon, my first out of state major writing convention. Last night I went "shopping" in my young and stylish mother-in-laws closet and came home with outfits for all five days, plus a dress for the Hugo awards. She also allowed me use of her extensive accessories, so I will have matching earings, necklaces, rings, and bracletts to go with all my finery. It is a relief to have that checked off my list. There is still so much to do. I have to get my business cards printed, read through the schedule and make an outline of where I want to be and when. I only have two things that are preplaned, my writers workshop and breakfast with my fabulous online writing community. It will be so fun to finally meet people who I have only known online for several years. I still have to do one more full critique for my writing workshop. I sent the first 2 and half chapters of SKY for my piece and am excited to see what complete strangers say about my story. Hopefully I will still be excited after I hear what they have to say!!
I also have to have everything ready for the kids to start school the morning after I get home. So that doesn't leave much time for writing. In fact, I've been pretty bad all week what with the cousins from Germany here (and since their plane was delayed we get them for two more days:))and M's soccer tournament (they one the first 3 games she played in, but she didn't play in semi finals due to family activities and they lost :(), and back to school shopping (done for all the kids thanks to the great sales at Park City Outlets), and the Real game (great date night especially since they won!!!!) and getting sucked into the book Shades of Milk and Honey which so far I totally recommend if you are a fane of Jane Austen fan. But the house is clean, the kids have their cousins and maybe this week another chapter will surface before I fall into complete Worldcon mode.

Writing on

On Friday, after having figured out the bathroom issues well enough for the time being, I came to another drastic halt. I had no way of knowing if she tells her family about the situation or not. Ease dictates that no one knows but her, but logic says Why on Earth would she not tell her family? I was at that lovely little intersection known as Writer's Block. I tried to write on, to not let this one thing stop me, but lets face it, if the family knows I have a whole different story than if they don't know. So I lived life this weekend instead.
On Saturday I spent the morning with Minchkin at a Shaved Ice fundraiser for her team. The results were pretty good. We now have enough to pay for five of the seven tournaments our team has planned for the year. Oh we still have to pay for gas and hotels to get to said tournaments, but the actual tournament fees are taken care of. That night D took bear to the Real Salt Lake Game and Squishy, Minchkin and I had girls night out which included Jason's Deli (thanks to free kids meal coupons from school), The Chocolate (for the girls) and Barnes and Noble of course for Italian Cream Sodas. Then it was home to watch a beloved Disney classic Summer Magic. Old Haily Mills movies are the best! So basically my mind was anywhere but on the next writing stall.
Then Sunday came.
You would think that I worried all day about this problem, but I didn't instead another rejection, and a search for agents to send Sky out to made me step back and take a big look at my first chapter of Sky. Not even just the first chapter, which is pretty good if I do say so, but the first five pages, the ones that really count, the ones that I realized I had a lot of great lines, but it was all back story. A writing no no. So I began to dissect, which I should not be wasting my time on, since it is the first 3 chapters of Sky that I will be workshopping at Worldcon in two weeks. SO now even though I came up with a good idea how to get my information across without back story so much, I am still trying to focus simply on Room and trying to wait for actual author feedback at the Worldcon Workshop. So despite all my efforts to procrastinate on Room, the point is, this week I will be Writing on. (and thanks to a writing group dead line today will be spent submerged in the Room!

What to do about the bathroom?

This week has been filled with activities. On Monday night D and I went out to celebrate his birthday. We had a wonderful, although very slow, dinner at Red Lobster and then it was off to the Sawyer Brown Concert. I'd been looking forward to this concert since 9th grade when all my friends got to go see them and my parents told me that I was too young to go a concert with just a bunch of friends. (On a whole psychological aspect, she asked if I would let Minchkin go to a concert with friends when she was in 9th grade and the answer was no way as well. Is that because I am older and wiser, or was trained that way by my own mother?) Well we got to the concert (outdoors) found our seats and promptly got poured on. Seeing as D is a weather expert of sorts we realized this downpour wasn't stopping any time to soon and ended up the evening at my favorite place--Barnes and Noble for Italian Cream Sodas and a little book browsing. SO I guess I may have to wait another 20 years to see Sawyer Brown. I told D good thing it wasn't The Killers or he would have been soaked by the end of the night!
On Tuesday the cousins from Germany came and we had dinner at our house, which meant all morning I cleaned the house, and the minute I got home from work went into chef mode preparing Macadamia Crusted Mahi Mahi and Stuffed Zucchini, two primal favorites that are sure to please any hungry family. Squishie was in 7th Heaven to have her cousins here. She and HR played all night, and language was never an issue.Funny how when we get older we learn to be embarrassed that we can't say things right. I know that I hesitate each time before speaking German, unless I am talking to one of the kids.
Last night we had a big family birthday party to celebrate 4 birthdays. The kids loved the Pinata, not something they do in Germany a lot. Food was good, family was great, and good times were had.
In the midst of all this I wrote my first chapter of a new story, one that has been plaguing me for a while. I asked my teenage niece and nephew to read it and see if they liked where I was going. The answer was yes! But the most important advice came from my sister who saw it up on the computer and had a peak. This is not my sister who is an editor mind you. She read it, liked it, and had one major question...If he is trapped in this one small place for a long time where does he go to the bathroom?..And just like that I had some major renovations to do to my location. The verdict is still out with a bunch of ideas. My major concern when I started this idea was how will he eat. That one was easy enough. I never stopped to consider the ramifications of allowing him to eat! Oh well all in a days writing quest. Do to the amount of research I am going through (not all potty related of course) I am not hitting my 1500 word goal, so my new goal is to have two chapters done by next week for writer's group and to have the bathroom dilema solved. Wish me luck!

Write On!

Eating Primal

The best thing about going primal of course is the weight loss, and with the weight loss comes two firsts I have not had in a long time. Last week we took the kids to a local waterpark and I got to wear a cute new swimsuit since my old one was too big for me. That was one bonus, but the biggest bonus was not worrying about looking like a beached whale the whole time. The level of confidence I felt walking around the park was awesome. I looked good, not eensy weensy tiny polka dot bikini good, but lets face it, unless you're Jennifer Gardner on Alis or the likes, there are not many people who can actually pull off that look. But I felt one piece modest swim suit good and that is enough for me.
Today I had another first in the sense that we went and had family pictures taken. I am not sure how they will turn out, but at least the only thing I worried about was keeping the kids clean until it was our turn for individual family pictures. I am 35 pounds less than the last family pictures and I can't wait to see these pictures unlike last time when I didn't even bother printing any of them out.
And while the weight loss is amazing side effect, and the fact that I am not tired all the time is awesome, it is the food that really makes primal great. People ask me how I can give up pasta and bread and the truth was it was hard at first, and every once and awhile I would like a bowl of Alfredo, but luckily with primal I can eat all I want so I am never starving enough to actually need it. Plus tonight we had hamburgers (sans buns) with grilled onion, mushrooms, and salsa (better than ketchup since I can get the natural stuff with no sugar or additives). It was so yummy. I don't even miss the grains, and for dessert I think there is a piece of dark chocolate calling my name. So it looks like I'll be staying primal and you won't hear any complaints from me (until I have to pass up that piece of Pumpkin Pie at Thanksgiving! I guess I have four months to figure out how to make me a primal pie!

Venting

Just a few small vents before I get back to cleaning, child rearing, working, chauffeuring, studying, and so on. So I am super proud of my husband for losing 50 pounds and everyone can notice. He looks hot, if I do say so myself. He is such an inspiration. But I've lost 35 and no one notices! Okay so my mom did, and I obviously do since all my pants now drown me, but no one else noticed on their own. I have to tell people I've lost the weight. And I do look better, and yes I still have 15 to 20 more stubborn pounds to go, but come on people I'm a girl. Can't someone notice that I look a ton better than I did in March? Oh well, I guess the important thing is that I feel good and I have a reason to go buy myself some new jeans.
Now the big vent... I've been using Evernote to do my typing at work on the ipad. I get between 1000 to 2000 words typed each day in between customers and it has been awesome. So I finally figured out where my story takes place and who my characters are (at least for now) and I type 5 pages of brilliant stuff (if I say so myself) and what happens? One wrong push of a button on Evernote and it is all gone. Bye Bye. No more. So now I hope I can remember all the clever things I wrote and go for a retry today. Oh well, at least the downstairs is clean. Until next time. WRITE ON!

Realization

While working on my story the past couple of days I have come to the realization that the super cool idea (the one that must be written) that I started with, does not belong in this story. At first that was discouraging, but then I realized that the story I am writing is in itself super fun and cool. So now I have two story ideas both fun and different. That's great, but which one do I write? They both need some major plotting since one now has a story idea, but I have no clue how to accomplish it, and the other has the super cool idea, but I don't have a story to go with it. One is light and comical which is something I want to write since we don't have enough of those just feel good YA books lately. The other is darker, more dangerous which fits in with what I have been writing and many of the stories that I have planned to write in the future. SO I think my writing goal is going to have to change for the month. I still plan on writing every day, but I think I need to take a week or so separating these two ideas, building each one up and then seeing which one really wants to be written right now. So until then I must remember to WRITE ON!

Restart

Dear Any one who actually reads this,

Life comes at you fast. Going to school full time, working part time, being a complete and total soccer mom, and trying to write takes up a lot of time and blogging falls by the side of the road. I can't promise that is going to change, but I am going to try. I have been posting my dieting success on the blog Pushing Past the Pounds so if your interested in seeing my journey go there. I am 35 pounds down on my 50 pound goal since February, so I am pretty happy with that.
As for the writing, which is the real reason to start blogging again. AND THE SKY FULL OF STARS is written and I have officially begun to send it out to agents and publishers and such. A big shout out to my awesome critique groups and my mom and sister for all their line edits. While I am learning the business side of writing, I have not given up on the fun side. I am 10,000 words into a new endeavor that is entertaining me quite thoroughly.
In fact, I need to go get my word count in for the day. I promise I'll try to restart this whole blogging business, but not at the expense of family or word counts! I guess we will see.

Until then,

Sabine