My Little Pony

Picture of the Day for February 29, 2016. So, I attended/presented at a conference for mystery writers this past weekend. You would think my main souvenir from the trip would be the books I purchased, but it's actually this My Little Pony toy that my friend/co-presenter/conference roommate Diane bought for me during a quick run to McDonald's.

Diane is totally obsessed with the My Little Pony television show and here she is pictured (from yesterday) with her friend.

Best Presentation Ever

Picture of the Day for February 28, 2016. Day4 of Sleuthfest. I'm pictured here with my friend Diane just after we got done with our very well-received Hero's Journey presentation at the conference. I was so happy/relieved it went well.

Famous Author Day

Picture of the Day for February 27, 2016. Day 3 of Sluethfest. Today I had books signed by the conference's guests of honor, Valerie Plame and CJ Box. Plame is a former CIA operative who was outed in a Washington Post article which effectively ended her career with the CIA. Box is a fiction writer whose novels take place primarily in Wyoming. Box is very handsome and personable so ladies of all ages were swooning over him. Can't go wrong with a tall manly man in a cowboy hat.

Dressed Up in a $10 Dress

Picture of the Day for February 26, 2016. Day 2 of Sleuthfest. All dressed up in my $10 dress from the country store (that sells chickens) west of Bountiful, UT for tonight's banquet.

Author Bio in Sleuthfest Program

Picture of the Day for February 25, 2016. First day of Sleuthfest 2016. Picked up the program and was excited to see my picture and bio in print for the session my buddy Diane and I will be leading on Sunday. 

Holy Grail of Airline Travel

Picture of the Day for February 24, 2016. On my way to Florida. Have the entire row on my flight to myself. If you're a frequent traveler, this is what you live for.

Replacing Heather Graham

Picture of the Day for February 23, 2016. Exciting news. It turns out that the author Heather Graham won't be able to attend Sleuthfest (a conference for published and wannabe mystery writers) this year. That's not the exciting part since Heather will be missed and she always throws the greatest parties for the attendees. One year she even rented out the entire House of Blues at Downtown Disney in Orlando which made for a memorable evening.

Here's the exciting part. Heather had been scheduled to do do a workshop on Sunday, February 28 and my author buddy, Diane, was asked to replace her and Diane asked me to be a co-presenter. How cool is that? We'll be discussing Joseph Campbell and the hero's journey (think Star Wars as an example-Joseph Campbell's writings heavily influenced George Lucas when he created Star Wars). We'll be presenting it as a good framework to use to construct a narrative. 

Vitamin C Enhanced Diet Coke

Picture of the Day for February 22, 2016. I decided to try mixing a packet of vitamin C powder in Diet Coke to make the vitamin C more palatable. Didn't work. I don't recommend it.

Decorating for Holidays Simultaneously

Picture of the Day for February 21, 2016. I am prepared for ALL the late winter/early spring holidays. I have decorated for them all at once. My home decor is already weird so why not?

Turmeric

Picture of the Day for February 20, 2016. Since I can't seem to get a doctor to prescribe antibiotics for the infection in my feet and legs, Ive been researching natural antibiotics. turmeric came up as a big winner in this category. I walked into Dave's Health & Nutrition store and the very first thing I encountered was a huge display of turmeric pills and information about the health benefits of this spice. I took that as a sign and purchased a bottle. 

Adding Color

Picture of the Day for February 19, 2016. I have the world's most blah bathroom. It's white and beige. Blah...

After years of contributing to the blah-ness by having a white shower curtain and white towels and a white bath rug, I finally bought a shower curtain with a little bit of color to it! Now maybe I'll do something wild like hanging up an actual picture or two on the walls. But not yet. I have to regain my strength after this wild bit of decorating.

Motto for the Year

Picture of the Day for February 18, 2016. I decided at the end of last year my motto for 2016 would be "joy." I even kept out a Christmas ornament that has the word "joy" engraved on it as reminder of my motto. 

Oh man, so far it's been a challenge. My feet and legs still won't heal and I feel terrible all the time since I KNOW I'm dealing with an infection despite the fact I've gotten other diagnoses from the two different doctors I've seen so far. And with my new client assignments as work, it's looking like working until midnight and on the weekends will be in my future for awhile. 

I have high hopes things will get better eventually though. Maybe my motto for the year should be "optimism"!

Calendar Overload

Picture of the Day for February 17, 2016.  I'm always tinkering with my work organization system which allows me to keep track of due dates, "to do" tasks, things that are in progress and for which I'm waiting for a reply, and status updates. I was assigned a ton of new clients at work a couple of weeks ago and I thought these dollar store calendar books might help. We'll see...

I've Become a "Stasher"

Picture of the Day for February 16, 2016. I have turned into my mother. She used to find the oddest places to stash papers and objects. I had purchased a metal buffalo kachina wall hanging on eBay* and just decided to hang it on a random nail already on my pink kitchen wall above my cookbooks. Because who wouldn't want a metal buffalo kachina hanging in their pink kitchen?

OK-it's a weird purchase, but I was in a little bit of a kachina-buying frenzy last December and I love buffalo since they remind me of the years I spent working in Yellowstone.

Enjoying My Valentine's Day Present

Picture of the Day for February 15, 2016. I'm enjoying the fleece blanket the Valentine Lady (my sister Paula) gave me for Valentine's yesterday. My niece Chantal kept on asking me yesterday if she could "just" look at or hold the blanket. I knew better than to let either of those things happen.

Valentine's Day Bonanza

Picture of the Day for February 14, 2016. I love Valentine's Day dinner at my sister Paula's house where the "Valentine Lady" (that would be Paula) leaves tons of treats for everyone.

"Adulting"

Picture of the Day for February 13, 2016. In popular culture, the word adult has been turned into a verb- adulting. As in, "I'm not successfully adulting." This is true in my case when it comes to responsible home ownership. I am definitely not successfully adulting as I would rather travel than engage in much-needed home maintenance.  Except for tonight. I assembled the shop vac I ordered from Amazon so I could tackle my scary basement carpet. 

World's Tiniest Violin

Picture of the Day for February 12, 2016. You know the phrase "world's tiniest violin"? and how you use it in reference to someone who has been whining a little too much about their perceived woes? Well, there's an app for that. My niece Chantal plays it whenever her oldest daughter complains about how all hope is lost- which is often the case when you're a teenager enduring high school.

Round Dance

Picture of the Day for February 11, 2016. Saw an ad for this event. Sure would like to attend since I enjoyed the pow wow I attended on New Year's Eve.

Native American Tableau at Work

Picture of the Day for February 10, 2016. I've placed a storyteller doll next to my pow wow calendar at work. A decorating theme is starting to emerge. Wonder what else I can add?

Neighborly Concern

Picture of the Day for February 9, 2016. My neighbors found out I'm having real problems with my legs/feet (the infection won't seem to go away) and showered me with gifts to make me feel better. It certainly lifted my spirits!

Thinking Ahead

Picture of the Day for February 8, 2016. My sister Paula gave me a cool spider necklace for my birthday for me to wear next Halloween. I just found some spider web fabric on closeout that's a perfect match. I have grand plans for constructing some sort of costume. Oh, it won't actually happen, but that doesn't stop me from having grand plans.

Inappropriate Journal

Picture of the Day for February 7, 2016. This is an example of my maturity level. I saw this My Little Pony-knock off journal and I soooooo wanted to buy it and show up at a work meeting with it to take notes.

Eating at the BPOE

Picture of the Day for February 6, 2016. I joined my sister Robynne and her family for lunch today at the Ramblin Roads restaurant housed in a former Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks building. Not a very promising exterior, but the food was great!

Girl Scout Cookie Restraint

Picture of the Day for February 5, 2016.  I purchased some Girl Scout cookies from a colleague at my company's Irvine, California office a couple of days ago. Some of my other colleagues there were 100% sure the cookies wouldn't last until I made it home, but I showed self-control! I returned home to Salt Lake with the boxes intact and not a single cookie consumed. Ha!

Los Angeles Skyline

Picture of the Day for February 4, 2016. I'm working at my company's Los Angeles office today and this is the view from my guest office.

Hero's Journey

Picture of the Day for February 3, 2016. I was just invited to do a presentation at Sleuthfest 2016 with my author buddy Diane Stuckart (Ali Brandon if you want to check out her "A Black Cat Bookshop Mystery" series). We are replacing the author Heather Graham who can't attend this year. The theme of our presentation is going to be the hero's journey and how that can be a tool for writers to construct their narratives. Joseph Campbell, a writer and expert on world mythology, developed this concept.  The really short version is that all of the world's mythologies basically tell the same story- that of an individual who is compelled, through external circumstances, to leave his old life behind and go on a journey where he will meet mentors and encounter trials that will lead to a "dark night of the soul." The hero emerges from this metaphorical death with newfound wisdom and power- which he pretty much always had. The journey was merely a catalyst to reveal the latent heroic qualities. 

If all of this theory sounds daunting, just think of Luke Skywalker from Star Wars and it will all become clear.  George Lucas was heavily influenced by Joseph Campbell when he created Star Wars.

I'm very familiar with Joseph Campbell and his theories, but I figured if I'm going to be doing a presentation on him, I better read the source material. Just picked up a copy of his "hero" book today.

Work Portrait

Picture of the Day for February 2, 2016. I was recently assigned to a new client at work and was asked to provide a portrait for a contact list ASAP. Eek. Luckily I was presentable and able to take a quick photo that didn't look too much like a selfie.

Diet Coke Incident

Picture of the Day for February 1, 2016. My sister Robynne bought me a Mighty Mug for Christmas that is supposed to defy gravity and never tip over. I needed this! I actually ruined a work computer several years ago when I spilled Diet Coke all over it. When I called our IT service desk to report this, they asked me to describe what happened. I sheepishly admitted I had an unfortunate "Diet Coke incident" which totally made them crack up. Luckily I didn't get in trouble for that one.