Crystal Jordan :: Blog

So, I’m leaving on a jet plane tomorrow for a conference in St. Louis. I’ve got some fun and amusement lined up for this week, so don’t worry. You’ll be well tended in my absence, while I’m screaming and being dangled off the side of that huge arch thing by Sela Carsen, Amanda Berry, and Jeannie Lin.

In the last six months or so, I have successfully matched M and M’s parents with dogs. And they’re totally cute, too! I may not be able to pick a good animal for myself, but I’m apparently an awesome matchmaker for others. I guess those who can, do, and those who can’t, matchmake for others.

So, two months ago I picked out Sorcha for M’s parents. Here’s her before shot hanging out on a park bench with M’s dad.

And here’s the after. Isn’t she cute? She’s a little pound dog, but she cleans up nice.

I’ve mentioned M’s puppy, Riley, before who I prodded M into going to look at about six or so months ago. Here’s her on her first day. Sorta beat up and scrawny, but still cute.

Another early shot of her.

More recent pic with her filling out a bit. She has tortured that poor platypus toy to death, and M’s had to sew on replacement parts. First, Riley ripped its head open, so M gave it a toupe, and yesterday M had to replace the bill.

Riley in her “I Love Archivists” shirt. Guess what M does for a living? You guessed it. Archivist.

The Olympics wrapped up yesterday, and of course, I was sad to see it go. I thought it was a great Games and that we really got to see some great athletes show their stuff. Plus, I liked the opening and closing ceremonies. They’re always so poignant. I like the opening ceremonies because there’s so much excitement and anticipation, all the build up is finally coming to a head. I like the closing ceremonies because everyone is relaxed and what’s happened has happened and they can all just have a good time and celebrate that they were a part of something so much bigger than one athlete or one sport or one country.

Man, I love the Olympics.

P.S. M is also sad to see it go because it’ll be another two years until the Summer Games before she can see me excited about any sport at all, and can make fun of my excitement.

You’ll be happy to know I’m still going to the gym and it’s actually not as horrifying as I thought it was going to be. The fact that the gym is in my complex so there’s no good excuse not to go helps. Outsmarting my tendency to procrastinate is always important.

Pretty soon I’ll look like this. Only, not really.

So, I’m officially past the halfway mark for my Month of No Writing. It’s going pretty well, if I do say so myself. I’ve done some remodeling on my place, cleaned some, shopped some, relaxed some, worked out some, watched some TV, read some, visited some friends.

You know, I’ve done some stuff.

I haven’t done any writing though, so I’m pretty proud of myself. I’ve gotten a few new ideas for stories, and I’m letting those percolate. I’ve done a little bit of plotting on the projects I need to work on after my month of vacation, but not as much as I thought I would.

Oh, well. I’m on vacation.

Ah, yeah, baby! My favorite time of the decade. Olympics time. The opening games are today for the Winter Olympics in Vancouver. This is the one time I watch more TV than the Mad Madam M, for which she gets obscene amounts of delight and joy. Summer Olympics, Winter Olympics, I don’t care. I’ll sit through hours of badminton and curling, just because it’s the Olympics. I’m glued to the television for two whole weeks, and I constantly check the medal counts online from work.

Check out the widget below…it’ll track the medals. I’m putting a little one in the sidebar of my blog just so it’s easy to look up. Woot!

Twice as Hot by Gena Showalter

I love Gena’s work. Heck, I love Gena, period. I got an advanced copy of this book (cuz I begged a little) because I loved the first one, Playing with Fire, so much. It’s been burning a hole in my to be read pile since the mailman delivered it, but now that I’m on vacation I can sit down and read it.

Woot!

Steamed by Katie MacAlister

It’s steampunk. It’s romance. I’m there.

Midnight Rainbow/ Diamond Bay by Linda Howard

I read Midnight Rainbow in the library, and my girl Kate Pearce told me the rest of the Kell Sabin series is pretty good, so I’m all over it.

Heartbreaker/ White Lies by Linda Howard

Hey, Kate said the whole series, so…I’m in. Plus, it’s Linda Howard. I love just about everything she writes, and since these came out right around the same time as my fave Linda Howard of all time–MacKenzie’s Mountain–I’m hoping the awesomeness rubbed off.

So, I haven’t updated on the great weight loss progress in a while, mostly because I’ve had no news. I totally plateaued about halfway, which is at 50lbs. Sure, that’s an awesome amount, but it’s still only halfway to what I need to be.

Therefore, it’s time to add something more onto the routine than just eating better. That means…dum, dum, dum…going to the gym 5 days a week. I don’t wanna. I hate working out. I hate sweating. There is only one activity worth sweating for, and the treadmill ain’t it. I’ll let you use your imagination to fill in the rest of those blanks.

I went yesterday and today, did a half an hour on the treadmill and some light weightlifting, which I’ll increase as my strength does. Let’s face it, I’m down 50lbs, but I’m still way out of shape.

Ah, well. I knew this day of doom would come. I just wish it had waited a little longer to get here.

So, in my effort to remain faithful to my vow of no writing for a month, I’m working my way through many seasons of many shows that I own on DVD. I may even resort to ordering some through Netflix.

A few selections from my current list…

• Sex and the City: This is an old favorite. It actually helped inspire the attitude for my very first heroine. Of course, I rewrote her when I realized I couldn’t pull off a fashionista–being a non-fashionable girl myself. Still, there was some really great stuff in those seasons.
• Firefly: Oh, how I love this show. Space Western. Dude. Original, beautiful, the best ensemble cast ever put together on any show I’ve ever watched. This was the show that cemented my love of Nathan Fillion.
• Alias: Smart, kick ass chick who saves the world. Need I say more?
• Supernatural: Pretty men. The apocalypse. Pretty men. Paranormal beasties. Pretty men.
• Taken: The show that made me love Dakota Fanning when she was a wee teensy kidlet. Also, and old fave an old flame hooked me into. Nostalgia gets ya every time.
• Bourne Trilogy: Okay, technically not a show on DVD, but there are three of them, so it’s kinda long. Plus, Matt Damon.
• Castle: A show I started watching because of my aforementioned love of Nathan Fillion. Totally different show than Firefly, but I still love it. And him. He’s funny and talented. Loves.

I mean this is the most sincere possible way. I needed some sunshine today like you won’t believe. It’s been a craptastic couple of days for a plethora of reasons that I won’t bother going in to, and we’ve had rain dumping down on us for weeks (which I am so glad is not snow, but still, there’s been no sun), and then today, when I needed it the very most, we got sunshine. It was only for a few minutes, but I happened to be standing outside for it and got a face full of happy light. I am lame, but I was really happy about it. Sometimes you just need a little ray of sun, ya know?