Monday, June 27, 2011

Maddeningly Unhelpful Monday--Magical Mist

Trip stories continued:

While we were in New York we decided to see Niagra Falls. As you will see by the following story, a combination of several rare events combined to make it a magical experience. It all started when we bought tickets to ride The Maid of the Mist. This is a boat that takes you on a ride to see the famous horseshoe falls from the perspective of the water. The ticket lines were very long, except miraculously the one on the end where no one was standing. We went to the window. "Are you open?" we asked. "Yes," she responded. We bought tickets. Magic number one. (I know, you're blown away.) Next you have to stand in a line that gives you this view:

(See that "mist" that resembles smoke rising above my head to the right?? The boat plunges you right into the heart of that)

Next you must plastic wrap yourself in case the Mist People people decide they'd like an offering (they like their offerings pre-packaged). Yes, these suits make you want to smile funny. (Except my mother in law, who always looks beautiful).

The next magical miracle happened when we became first in line for the next boat. This meant we got to choose where we wanted to stand for our ride into the mist. Of course we chose the front so we could reenact the Kate Winslet/Leonardo DeCaprio scene from Titanic. And look what was waiting for us, etched by delinquents into the metal bow of the boat:
Yes, those are mine (my??) and my husband's initials. So. Romantic.

I just knew this ride was going to be what dreams are made of. The boat started its engines. We drove by the American Falls: beautiful. Then we kept going. "Wow, that's a lot of "mist" up ahead," I told my husband as we crept toward a cloud of whiteness. And then we were inside of it, supposedly to get a better view of the famous falls.

"I should've brought my sunglasses," my husband yelled over the roaring falls. "I can't see a thing."

I, wiping my sunglasses with my wet hands as water drips inside my plastic wrap and down my neck, responded, "I should take off my sunglasses, I can't see a thing."

"How do they film movies here?" he asked.

"Green screen or movie set, I'm guessing."

The guy next to us, interrupting our romantic moment, leaned in and yelled, "I can't see anything."

"It's mist! Very, very wet mist," I answered back.

Guy on the other side, leaned in. "Can you take our picture?"

"I thought we were alone here," I said as my husband snaps a shot of the guy with his family surrounded by smokey mist.

"Do you want a picture," the guy asked back.

"Let's wait until we're out of the mist," my husband said.


I never knew mist was so wet. I always thought of it as a gentle cloud. Except as we exited the boat I noted that no one seemed as wet as us. I'm now waiting for my magical mist powers to present themselves. With that much Niagra Falls on me, I'm sure something good seeped into my system.

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Wednesday Review-Divergent



You should read this book. It is amazing. It's not often I hand off my YA reads to my husband. But when I was finished with this one, I passed it over and told him he should read it. He did (another rarity, he normally reads super boring non-fiction or finance books, to which I say: Bleeeeeeeeck.) and he loved Divergent as well. There were some tiny complaints I had, but they were overshadowed by the things I really liked.

Here's a small summary: "In Beatrice Prior's dystopian Chicago, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue—Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is—she can't have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself."

Monday, June 20, 2011

Maddeningly Unhelpful Monday--U-Turns are Awesome

If you like to make u-turns, ask me for directions. Or if I am in charge of navigating, ask me a deep question....or a not deep question and you will be making u-turns in no time. Case in point. I met my dear friend, Julie, (for the first time) on this trip.

(Yes, I hung out with a lot of short, beautiful people on my trip. I almost put a pic with just Julie and I, but I thought after the last post, you might want to see how tall I am next to my husband.)

After forcing her to see lots of my church's history sights, we went out to dinner. I was in charge of navigation (which consisted of holding the iPhone and telling her when to turn). But then she started asking me questions and I got to see how good she was at u-turns.....it turns out she's very good at them.

A few days later, I was in charge of navigation again. (I know, they didn't learn their lesson). This time we were driving on a toll road in upstate New York. I told my husband to get off at a certain exit (the wrong exit). When we got to the toll booth, we told the man, 'We took the wrong exit.' He pointed to his left and said, 'Just make a u-turn right here' (where it said 'no u-turn' by the way) 'And we'll give you a new ticket.'

Okay, sounded easy enough. So my husband made a u-turn and pulled into the ez-pass lane, but didn't realize it until we were next to the booth with a car behind us. He was forced to go through it and then pulled off onto the side. We proceeded to have a lengthy discussion about what would happen if we went on our way. We (my mother-in-law and I) decided that we'd probably get a ticket mailed to us. We didn't want that. So, we got back in the lane where the nice man had told us to make a u-turn and said, 'Uh....we went in the ez-pass lane.' He rolled his eyes (probably thinking, 'stupid tourists'), laughed, and said, 'Why'd you do that??' 'Because we're stupid,' my husband said. After taking our license plate saying he could clear up the ez-pass issue (but more likely so he could turn it into the 'watch these people because they're probably going to accidentally blow something up' police) he pointed to the left again and said, 'Make a u-turn and pull into this lane, THIS one.'

This time as we made a u-turn, a lady was hanging out the toll booth window and pointing (that is how little trust they had in us that we'd do it right). I wish I had gotten a picture of that. It was hilarious.

So yes, if you like to make u-turns, or need some practice making them, invite me on your next road trip.

Friday, June 17, 2011

The Meeting

I'm baaaaaaack! And I have so many posts swirling around in my head as a result of my trip. Most of them have to do with me making a fool of myself so I know you'll appreciate them. :) But, lets start with the most important event: Meeting my agent!!


Isn't she hot?? But she promised me "super shortness" and I was very unimpressed. Granted, she was wearing very awesome heels. So then I forced her to take a picture with my husband so we could revel in some serious height difference. My husband said, "We're not a freak show, Kasie." I said, "Be quiet, freak, and get in that picture."

Then Michelle laughed at me because I cut off part of my husband's head (after he had just finished telling her that people cut off his head in pics a lot because he's so tall). But I excused myself by saying I meant to do it. It's artistry. (I didn't mean to do it.)

But anyway, I had the best time at dinner with Michelle. She is super nice and funny, plus she knows so much about the industry. It was fun to get my brain filled.

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Procrastination is fun!

So I'm going out of town tomorrow (for those of you who have been waiting for this opportunity to steal my valuable stash of Junior Mints.....or my children.....my big, burly, cranky brother and his wife and children will be staying at my house so you should probably wait for a better time.) and as usual I have left almost everything I need to accomplish until today. Maybe it's just my way of justifying my procrastination, but I really do work best under pressure. So, while I'm mowing the front lawn, finishing up laundry, packing (oh, buying a suitcase first), cleaning the toilets, the kitchen, the shower, the car......think of me. All this so my sister in law doesn't think I'm a huge slob. (It's a lot of work to make yourself look better than you are.)

But it's worth it. I'm off to New York to meet my agent! Wahoo! And since I have several long plane rides over the next week, one of the most important chores of the day is to pick which books I'm going to bring. So here's my TBR pile:



What should I bring my readerly friends??

Friday, June 3, 2011

The Pack Pact

As part of joining Wolfson Literary, there is some very fine print (and by very fine print, I mean non-existent) at the bottom of the contract that states if she sells your book you have to dye a strip of your hair. It's some sort of pact with the Universe made up by some of the oldie members. (Love you, Tawna and Kiersten) I tried to tell them that I had already made a pact with the Universe. I told the Universe that if my book sold, I would drink a chocolate milk shake. Before you roll your eyes, it was going to be a really big one. The potential for brain freeze was at very high levels. It would've been a huge sacrifice. I know what you're thinking. "Wow, she is so brave to even attempt that." I know, right? But alas, my team members weren't having it. I haven't felt this much peer pressure since the downing-15-packs-of-sugar incident at Denny's when I was in High School.

But, because I love my agency sistahs. And because I don't want to anger the Universe. I will be dying a strip of my hair later this afternoon. Stay tuned for a picture.

(This is in parenthesis so nobody can see it. I'm actually super excited about dying my hair. I've always planned to do it and have known since day one the color I would use. I think it's a really fun tradition and I'm happy to be part of it.)

UPDATE:

Renee!!! What's up with this "whole-head campaign"?? Are you crazy? But maybe you should start that tradition at your agency. :)

First, let it be noted that I posed in front of my bookcase, because that's what we do.

This is me a little bit mad because it wasn't exactly the color I hoped for. There's a little too much green in this blue.


This is me proving to you that while I was at the mall getting my hair dye, I got a frozen strawberry lemonade. Mmmm, it was so good.


I actually kind of love it.



I'd also like to note that my computer camera does not capture just how bright it is (it also makes things/people look whiter than they are....what? you don't believe me?) Seriously, though, people are going to stare. It's bright. (If you click on the last picture, you can see it a little better.)