An Awesome Week!

Its been one great week for me :)

1. My First REAL Valentine's Day!



Sad but true, I've never actually been in a relationship on Valentine's Day before. I once met a boyfriend 3 days after Valentine's Day...another time I was dumped the week BEFORE Valentine's Day...but I've never had a significant other ON Valentine's Day...until NOW!!!

Of course Phil was in Canada and I was here but that didn't stop him from making sure that he was the best first Valentine I could possibly have! He sent me some gorgeous flowers and we spent all the time we coud together on Valentine's Day thanks to the wonderful, life saving technology of Skype! Thanks baby for an awesome first Valentine's Day together! I can't wait for the next one when we'll actually BE together! Hahaha I love you!

2. Amanda, the baker!



So you know if you read my blog that I've been cooking a lot lately. Up till now its been mostly cooking and NOT baking (and he few baking projects I've tried have been terrible disasters!) but now I'm getting brave and giving baking a real try. I've had a few more disasters but the one thing that's gone great is CUPCAKES! I found an absolutely superb recipe for cupcakes and I'm obsessed! My first attempt came out beautiful and delicious (pic in my current slideshow!) but I wasn't thrilled with the frosting. It was fine but I wanted amazing. I set off (across the internet) in search of an excellent buttercream recipe and I found one with great reviews. It looked really intimidating but I decided to be brave Chef (or should I say PASTRY Chef) Amanda and give it a try. It turned out SPECTACULAR! The cupcakes, the buttercream, it was all soooo delicious I had to give 90% of them away to friends just to avoid eatting them all myself! YAY me!

3. Amanda, the college graduate!



Ten years after High School I've finally recieved my Associates Degree! Granted I still have 2 years to complete a bachelors but at least this is a solid step in the right direction! It was science and math that held me up these past 10 years and I'm SOOOO happy to be done with them!!!

4. My Sweetie turns 36!



Phil's birthday was Wednesday :) HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABY!!! XOXOXOX

5. Amanda, bargain shopper!



I got a super sweet deal on boots this week...80% Off!!! Oh Yeah! :)


Hope everyone had as awesome a week as I did!
XOXOXOX

Writing!

Its been awhile since I posted anything...I think its a product of winter, it makes me feel run down and depressed and keeps me from really wanting to do anything.

But today as I've been sitting around my house sick all day, I came up with a new book idea that I'm really excited about! One of my many goals for this new year is to actually finish writing a whole book. I would love to be a writer. Its one of my all time dreams to be a published author and if I could make a living being a writer that would be marvelous. I have no idea if that dream is even possible. For all I know I have absolutely no talent for writing. But what I do know is that I have a good mind for coming up with stories. I've been doing it my whole life. Something will trigger my imagination and suddenly I'll be coming up with a whole story to go with the single thought I just had. Unfortunately when it comes to putting those stories that are so vivid in my mind down onto the page in a formal book format, that's where I get stuck. I think its a confidence issue mostly, I don't believe I'm good enough to do it. Another problem is just plain trying to make what I see in my head come out right on the page. Maybe I should be a screenwriter instead haha, so many of my stories play in my mind more like a movie than a book, but honestly that's what makes me love books so much. If I'm reading a book and I can clearly picture it in my mind, as though it was playing in front of me on a screen, THAT is what makes me love it. That is what makes reading a pleasure. So I guess that's how I want to write.

Anyway, I'm mostly just rambling now, a place to organize my thoughts and prepare to do the thing I've been scared of and avoiding for years....actually sitting down and writing a whole book!

I have so many ideas, and I think a lot of them are very good. But they're not fully formed in my mind and for some reason I have a hard time writing that way. I need to know the story in my head front to back before I begin really writing it. This is why I abandon books I'm writing and start new projects. I go from one brainstorm to another and as pieces fall into place in my mind I'm able to write a chapter here or there, but I've never been able to just stick to one book at a time and plow through and get one fully written. Not even to complete a first draft of anything.

I'm hoping that will now change. I came up with this idea tonight and I sat down and began to brainstorm. As I did, the ideas just came floading out of me and the story planted itself on the computer screen nearly fully formed. I could see it, hear the phrases in my mind, see each scene and I laid it all out in front of me, and for the first time ever, I now have a fully completed, beginning to ending outline for a book. A road map that I can follow chapter to chapter, knowing exactly what's coming and what needs to happen next. Roughly translated this also means I have no excuses to stop after the first chapter or two. I know what's coming...now I just have to sit down and start writing it.

One of my goals this year is to finish a whole book and to start working on getting it published....I think tonight I just found that book! Off to start writing it....

XOXOXO