Real-life Friday night lights.

There are only a few weeks left before fall-mode begins.  I'm not particularly pleased about this.  Summer in Western Washington has been mild to say the least.  Mild is good when you compare it with deadly heat waves and floods and such.  But mild is not good when you endured another nine months of Pacific Northwest doom and gloom and just wanted to be rewarded with some nice weather and sunshine, dammit.

In a way, though, I am very much looking forward to this coming fall.  Sure, there's That One Book that's coming out on October 5th.  There will be multiple book signings and a trip to New York.  Even before that, I'll be receiving my author copies and, I predict, being a double threat singing and dancing around with them.  There might be trade reviews.   Good ones, bad ones.  Who knows!

Right now, though, the thing that I'm most excited about (because it has nothing to do with me and therefore no pressure whatsoever) is Texas Shorecrest High School Football.

Here's the truth: I became interested in high school football because I like the TV show Friday Night Lights.  It's as simple as that.  In aught-eight, Dwayne and I decided to go to some local games so I could check out what it's like in real life because when I was in school, I went to private school where there was no such thing as football unless it was flag football for P.E. class

I have to say, I'm in love.  Although . . . not with the game itself.  I mean, I watch the kids on the field doing their thang and that's fun.  But there is so much more!  The marching band.  The cheerleaders.  The dance team.  All the students milling around.  Hot chocolate. Peanut M&Ms.  Popcorn.  Bundling up in fleece blankets.  Wearing gold and green and plaid.  Homecoming.  Our team vs. the team from the other high school in our city.  It goes on and on and on.

I've already printed out the schedule and determined that we'll be able to attend five games!  (All the home games, plus an "away" game that takes place at our stadium.)  Hooray! 

Or as Tim Riggins would say,  "Texas forever."

River Hair. Show and tell!

Back in aught-four, I went into a salon with chin-length hair and came out looking something like this:

Despite my super-tiny camisole and Paris Hilton-type skirt, I felt very ugly. 

So, on that exact day, I made the decision to grow my hair out. 

Dwayne and I had been watching FIREFLY and he had quite an interest in River, played by Summer Glau:

I decided to aim for "River-length Hair."  However long it took to get there!  (Yes, I wanted to resemble my husband's fantasy TV woman.  Is that weird?  I don't know . . .)

Today, over six years later, my hair looks like this:

 
(I tried to replicate the original pic, but you'll notice that I couldn't find my red lipstick and I've since gotten rid of the belly-showing camisole.)

So I have definitely and for sure reached and exceeded River-length Hair.  (And, of course, in the years since, the actress has gone on to cut her hair to a much more manageable just-below-the-shoulder length and such.) 

I'm not really sure what to do with myself (or my hair) now.  It seems silly to just cut it off after spending six years meeting this arbitrary goal.  And yet, I find that I don't like to wear it down much.  What's the point of having all this hair if I'm just going to keep it in a bun most of the time anyway?  I'm not going to make any rash decisions, but I'm thinking Thoughts.  Yes, I am.

Karen Kincy's book launch

A few weeks ago, I attended Karen Kincy's launch for her debut novel, OTHER.  You can read all about it and check out a few pictures at my blog here.

AUTHOR EVENTS: Karen Kincy's book launch for OTHER.

So this is a few weeks overdue, but I attended Karen Kincy's book launch for her debut novel OTHER in July.  The event was fun and very informative!  Karen used the time to give us some of the inside scoop about her publishing journey, her debut novel, and other writing projects from her past and future. 

Now, I had a plan to take GREAT pictures that night because for the previous two book events I'd attended I 1) had a dead battery in my camera and 2) left my camera on my desk at home!  

Well, as it turned out, the camera gods were still frowning upon me because I dropped and totally broke my camera on the morning of Karen's signing.  I managed to get a replacement at Best Buy an hour before the event (hooray for the two-year warranty my mother-in-law had purchased!), but the battery didn't have enough charge to turn on.  Oh, well, right?  I could just use my crappy camera phone for some shots.  Except . . . a search through my purse and car revealed that I'd left my phone at home.

Luckily for me, Amazing Intern Amanda came through.  After various mishaps with her own camera phone, she managed to get some usable shots! 

Here's Karen at the table in front of some of the event attendees:

Here's me, having Karen sign my copy of OTHER:

And here's Sarah of Sarah's Random Musings and me, displaying our copies of OTHER!

Summer Reading - Guest Blog

Raíla at Books Out of the Bookshelves was kind enough to ask me to write a guest post for her Summer Reading Challenge!  My entry went up on August 5th to celebrate TWO MONTHS until Freefall's release. If you'd like to read about one of my five best days EVER, click here.  I also offered up three recommendations for great reads to check out!