Letter M ...This is tough one...

This A-Z challenge has been pretty easy for me until now. For some reason, 'M' is giving me a run for My Money! So I'm going to write down some random 'M' words because I'm tired and pressed for time this morning....

Massachusetts--A state I've never been to, but would like to travel there one day. There are so many historical things I want to see there, so it's on my bucket list.

Melbourne--Another place on my bucket list I want to visit. At some point in my life, when I have more money than I do now, I want to take a trip to Australia and Melbourne is on my list of places to see. After Oprah went there on her last season, I really thought the town was beautiful, so that's on my list.


Melissa--I have several friends named Melissa. One who's the art teacher at my school and works with me and my partner teacher every day and one who I've known since she was about 14. She's now grown, married and a new mommy. Which I feel privileged to have had the opportunity to watch her grow into a fine woman and a great special ed. teacher. Here's my art teacher friend Melissa.

 Here's new mommy Melissa at her rehearsal dinner with her family, which I also adore. :)

Mickey--Well, the obvious is Mickey Mouse, but I also have a cousin named Mickey. I was three when he was born and I've felt like I should be his protector ever since. We used to see each other more, but we live in different towns and so our meetings have become few and far between. But I love him just the same.

And now it's off to baseball with my youngest. Hopefully it'll be warm! :)

Blog Award

I wanted to take a time out from the A-Z challenge and say a quick thank you to my new blog buddy, Lori Degman. She sent me a  Sunshine Blog award, which I thought was very sweet of her. I'm going to wait until all the A-Z posts are over before I spread the Sunshine further.
I just LOVE this A-Z challenge. I've met so many new writer people. Love making new friends.

So Thanks for thinking of me Lori! If you've never hopped over to Lori's blog, you need to check it out at Habitual Rhymer.

L is for.....LOVE

I know...lame. Don't judge me.

I'm a sucker for a good love story. There ...I said it.
Some of my favorite movies have a 'love theme'. (And I'm not talking about a hit song)
"Sleepless in Seattle' and 'You've got Mail'--I love Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks together. Both of these are sweet romantic comedies.
'While you were Sleeping,' (maybe I'm just tired...) Funny and sweet love story
'Twister'--that one mixes love with tornado chasing--two of my favorite things.

'Australia' is one of my favorite 'sweeping' love stories. I think because of the way it's shot.I love the story, the scenery...all of it..

I love to write. I love to write stories about love. Even though my technique and sentence structure still needs work and I'm sure a hundred other issues with my writing, the foundation of all of it is the story. This is where my strength lies. I've been blessed with a great imagination. Ideas about where stories could go never cease to flow out of my brain.  Maybe it's from growing up watching Days of Our Lives when I was little.

Where ever this blessing came from, I want to use it to tell stories. When I write a story, there's a lot of emotion going on. Probably, because I'm an emotional person. That's what I've been able to do with my own words. I have scenes I just LOVE because no matter how many times I read them, they make me cry.

That must be pretty good...right?

Not that everything I write is full of sob-i-licious scenes, but I tend to write with a ton of emotion. Although, I can't stand it when one of the main characters dies. That just freakin' kills me.
So I promise you...unless it just CAN'T be helped, I vow never to kill off one of my 'top tier' main characters. Friends of characters are fair game though..;)

I can also promise you that I will try to create the best love stories my brain will allow.
And hopefully, they'll be good enough for you to want to spend your hard earned money on.

K is for Karen

K is for Karen, Karan and Karyn

I have to admit, this post stumped me for a minute. Usually, I have an idea pop in my head almost immediately after I think of the letter. ‘K’ was different. It was a little tougher, but I think this post will be okay. 

I have a ton of friends named Karen. They spell it every way possible. 

I have two Karen’s that I grew up with at church. Both of them are excellent cooks. One is so talented, she enters the state fair with her cooking and quilting. The other is so talented she catered my wedding. She made a giant three layer cheesecake for our groom's cake and was in shock when she told me it took 99 eggs to make the thing.We still talk about that cheesecake monstrosity and the giant strawberry that sat on the top that was as big as my fist.

I've also taught a Karen or two as students in the 21 years I've been teaching. I have a 4-year-old Karen right now and another in 4th grade. I think it's interesting they're both Hispanic.

I know a Karen that is a fellow music teacher and also won TN teacher of the year. She got to go to Washington and get her picture made with the President. That’s a freakin’ big deal, people. For a lil’ole music teacher in the south any way..

I have another friend, Karan, who cuts my hair and my two girls’ hair. She is FABULOUS because she’s so sweet, does a good job and she’s patient with my youngest daughter who has Autism. It took a long time before my daughter allowed Karan to cut her hair at all. Sometimes, it’s still a bit of a struggle and she’s 13 now. We LOVE to go see Karan! 

Last but not least, is one of my best friends, Karyn. She teaches with me and I just love her. She was raised in the country like I was and is as loyal as they come. She’ll back you up in a heartbeat, but if you screw her over, she doesn’t forget it. She’s full of life and energy and always brightens my day. I feel lucky to be able to call her a friend.

I'm sure there are some I've forgotten about. It's late and my memory is waning. So, how many Karens, Karans, Karins, or Karyns do you know?

J is for Jamie Fraser

This is Diana Gabaldon’s character, who I think is my cousin from way back. I feel like I’m related to him because we’re so much alike except he’s like a mountainous 6’4” and I’m a shrimpy 5’4”. I can’t imagine standing next to him. I wish he were real, like so many other people who’ve read her books. As far as we’re concerned, he is real. 

He’s a Scot from the 1700’s. Who knew I’d care anything about Scotland that far back in its history, but reading her books taught me a lot about historical events like the battle of Culloden. I knew nothing of this battle before cracking ‘Outlander’ open. This series and Jamie, turned me on to historical fiction….

I’ve never been attracted to a guy with red hair before because I have red hair…but …um…yeah. I’m not sure if it’s his bright blue cat eyes or not. I had a hard time picturing what they would look like until it hit me while watching Executive Order with Halle Berry and Kurt Russell. I said, "Kurt Russell has bright blue cat eyes like Jamie!"  out loud and my husband thought I’d lost my mind. Maybe it’s Jamie’s sense of humor or his love of his wife Claire. All I know is he’s the total package. This is a picture of an actor that several people think should play Jamie. I think he'd be a good Jamie...his description matches this guy pretty well.

You need to read these books. They’re really great. Jaime is really great. He’s a hero through and through.

I is for Ireland

This is a place I feel close to even though I’ve never set foot on the ground there.  I’m not really sure how to explain it. Maybe it’s because I have red hair, green eyes and fair skin. Maybe it’s because I’m ‘as stubborn as the day is long’.  That’s a quote from my mother.

Whatever the reason, I feel drawn to the whole U.K. When I was in college, I traveled to London for a choir trip. I felt the connection there too. Like I belonged there or something.

Just browsing through pictures of Ireland for this post makes me want to hop on a plane and go stand on the cliffs and feel the wind off the ocean. It’s probably a cold biting wind, but I’d still like to feel it.

I’ve taught several songs that have an Irish or Scottish origin for all different age groups, which I love.

At some point, I want to set a story there. Maybe when I’m making money as a writer (not holding my breath there) I’ll be able to travel to all the places I write about ….you know…for research.

H is for Horses

I LOVE horses and love to ride. I rode a lot growing up, but my husband was a ‘city boy’, so no horses or land for me. Besides the fact that neither of us really knew how to take care of a lot of land. When we first got married, we did good to keep our grass mowed. We also didn’t have the money to pay the property taxes, so we ended up in a house across the street from a pasture with cows.

That works for me. I can stand on my porch and pretend to see myself riding from one end of that at least 50 acre lot to the other.  

But I miss it.

I miss sitting up on top of an animal that is allowing me to tag along as he/she runs full blast through a field or taking a leisurely stroll down a wooded trail.

I love them. I love the way they smell--not the poop smell, the way their fur smells. I’m not sure how to decsribe it, but horses smell different from any other animal I’ve ever been around.  I love the leather smell of their bridles and saddles and how the softness of their noses feel like velvet. I love their big eyes and the low sounds they make in their throat when they’re ‘talking’ to you.

I have a story I’m working on where the girl rides horses. I loved writing what all that feels like. It was not quite as good as being on the back of a horse, but it was awfully close.