Our 2nd Anniversary & the Power of the Universe

I had this dream the other night about Bad Love. Up until that point, I couldn't even tell you the last time I had thought about him let alone had a dream about him. It was very strange. We met at what I think was a cafe and he sat in front of me and told me how he wanted to make it work out. All I kept saying was, "what about Phil?" He eventually starts getting frustrated with this answer and stops talking. It's one of those heavy, awkward silences that's almost painful. I get his attention again and I go, "You know what? I don't need you anymore."

And just like that, he got up and left. Then, I woke up.

"Been around the world so many times,I'm of the air, I'm of the sky. I wonder what my feet need the ground for, no one sing lullabies no more."

Fast forward to last night when my friend Catie and I were working on editing my latest manuscript because I promised myself that this was the year I was going to publish as much as I could. It's another manuscript that I had written and worked on and off on for several years...I would just always get nervous having people read my stuff. Which is really stupid when I think about how much of my stuff is out there for people to read. Anyway, this leads to discussion of Bad Love and the dream I had.

And then...it happened. When Bad Love and I were dating, he drew a picture of the Eiffel Tower for me. I so loved it. It was beautiful and it was my favorite place-- PARIS! It was the one thing I kept from that relationship over the years. It lived in a book case and it matched two more drawings I had acquired from a thrift store of the Arc de Triomphe and Sacre Coeur. Phil came into the room holding the broken frame and apologizing that it was the strangest thing, it just toppled out of and off the bookcase, breaking into four different pieces. Every other picture that's in there is still there, including the one that was in front of the drawing. Phil also had no idea what I was talking about to Catie at that moment because we were facebook messaging.

How creepy is that? The universe is very clearly wrapping up a brief chapter of my life that I turned into an extremely long chapter by using Bad Love as an excuse to date tool bag wannabe band boys.

Today also marks the two year anniversary of when Phil and I sat in an Applebee's drinking and eating hamburgers and playing never have I ever with a napkin. We were "official" by the end of that date and I think that was really only our 3rd or 4th date overall. We pretty much met and that was it, the rest were just formalities. Two years later, having backpacked across Europe together, gone to Disney World, adopted a dog and bought a house-- I can say that we have definitely been busy :0).

We spent the day today shoveling out from the monster blizzard we had and recuperating. I actually took a nap today that how run down and tired I feel with all that's going on. I'm thankful to have a snow day tomorrow and I'm also thankful that I got to be snowed in on my anniversary with the man I love, our dopey dog and our silly cats. It was definitely one of those super awesome weekends where you didn't have much of anything to do and you just got to be with your person.

Getting to watch Molly almost somersault backwards because she got stuck in a snow drift on our deck was also pretty priceless.  

Coming January 22, 2016

In these last ten years in Boston, Lorelei Winston has achieved everything she ever wanted, and has finally left the past behind. With a fabulous apartment, a well-known fiancé, and a successful art career, the last thing on her mind is a return to her hometown. Then comes the phone call that changes everything. Lorelei's childhood friend, Cole, has killed himself, and his family asks her to return for his funeral. As Lorelei makes her way to New Jersey, Cole begins to appear to her, describing the last decade of his life. Is it all in her mind? Or is it something supernatural-- and perhaps even sinister?

 

The reason why I haven't been posting and why I still owe Disney World an entire post, is this. It comes out in two weeks. I can't tell you how I have wrote, re-wrote, questioned...all of it...so much. The end result may be a little dramatic and my main lady really does go through a lot, but I think it will be appreciated for the chick litty, dark romance that it is. 

 

That said, any book blogs want a review copy? E-mail me if you'd like a copy to review: katherine [at] katherinekb [dot] com  .

Adventures in Writing: When Miss Burton Got Her Spotlight

Miss Burton got a lot of attention this summer that I was not expecting whatsoever. It was really cool and surprising-- a lot of feelings wrapped up into one. You know?

I think this biggest was when the Home News interviewed me for this story. And sent a photographer to my home to take pictures of me. He arrived 10 minutes after I had gotten home from sweating in camp all day and had literally just changed. I thought the photograph was going to be horrendous.

I was surprised.

(c) Home News Tribune, Jason Towlen/Staff Photographer

Not my best, but still not my worst. Whew! The article is really good too. She really detailed my accomplishments thus far. You can read it HERE!

Creating Beauty

I guess when things fall apart you sort of get two options - let it destroy you or take it as a means to start something new. Since it all changed, I've been focusing on the starting something new. I've been working on and finishing most of the projects I have started and had yet to start since I now seem to have all of this free time on my hands.

This weekend was really laid back compared to my non-stop weekend last week. I read about half of Lisa Genova's Left Neglected for my book club and I started to knit a Ravenclaw scarf that I have wanted to make since forever, but never really got around to making. Next fall, hopefully when I have my English teaching job, I will totally be rocking my Harry Potter scarf to class.

I had also bought a new bed several months ago, but it's black and the furniture I inherited from my great aunt is not. And so I started messing with some of it, like the rocking chair that got ruined over the years and an old chair that I think I actually got from a garage sale:

The rocking chair was harder. I added the decal you see on the top which meant that I also had to gloss part of the chair and make it match the rest of the chair. It looks great though, I even antiqued it a little bit.

I spent yesterday gardening. I planted over 50 lilies in the front garden. They are my absolute favorite and I tried to include every kind that they had at the garden center. It's going to be beautiful when they bloom. I also added wild flowers in between them. It's going to be a sight!

Today I tried to re-teach myself self portraiture. I was never very good at it and since I haven't really kept up with drawing, I think it's going to take a lot of practice to get it right:

And then I watched endless amounts of LOST. About half way through my marathon I decided that if I was a character that I would be John Locke because he's the realist who always tries to see why people do and say what they do. He also always seems to pick the wrong person to love, with any kind of love, not just romantic usually because he always tries to see the good in people. It sort of sets him up for failure and to get burned...story of my life. 

Then, just like that the weekend is over and I'm back to work tomorrow, doing both jobs. I just have to keep believing that this upcoming year is going to be MY YEAR in every sense of the word....

I love LOST for all of the different side stories and how they all come together, even before the crash. And I absolutely love the love story of Bernard and Rose:

Life changes while you're busy making other plans...

Things happen to you in life and sometimes those things are absolutely amazing and sometimes they are the most rotten, horrible things that come your way. It can be hard, but if you're lucky you're strong enough to get through those bad things and if you're really, really lucky? Then you have friends and family that love you and are there for you when you need them.

And eventually, you overcome that bad thing that happened and you arrive on the other side of it. It's unexpected and you are shocked when you do, but you get there and it's good.

I arrived on the other side probably sometime this weekend. My friend Laura had randomly texted me Friday afternoon if I was interested in seeing Rocky Horror and if I'd want to get dinner at Old Bay in New Brunswick.

Heck yes!

Old Bay was just like I remembered it: dark, overpriced and eh, but the company was good and we laughed about old 80's commercials and TV shows over dinner. I had a drink which was called swamp water. It tasted like lime, but it was so green that it reminded me of that ecto-cooler HI-C juice boxes that we used to have growing up:

And then we headed over to The Den to catch some Rocky Horror! I didn't know much about it, had never saw it and all I did know about it was that Tim Curry played the lead in the movie version. Apparently, if you are attending your very first show, you get marked with lipstick - "V for Virgin" and they find some way to embarrass you during the show.

I got V'd and then I was embarrassed and the show was great. Midway through I realized that someone I was once good friends with was there, but because of differences of opinions we hadn't spoken for many months. Rocky Horror though fixed a friendship and thus, all was forgiven. Funny how life simple does that for you eventually.

Saturday brought book club where we got lunch at the Loving Hut in Matawan. I was a bit leery of an all vegan place, but it was really good! I got vegan won-ton soup and it was amazing. The won-tons were stuffed with mushrooms:

At book club we discussed that awful Julie Klausner book. We were all in agreement that after the introduction, it just went down hill fast and by the end of it you just wound up hating her for being dumb and gross for 100-something pages.

Afterbook club and vegans goodies, came my friend Keriann's last night out. She's moving to Colorado for work and for love, so it's not terrible, but I'm going to miss her. We grew up together and had only recently rekindled a friendship. I wish we had more time before she leaves, but she has an adventure to get to, so safe travels and good luck to her! Copious amounts of pictures were taken and there was much fist-pumping to be had:

Sunday should have brought more New Brunswick and a fundraiser, but I was so exhausted from the night before that I opted to stay home. At nearly 27 years old, my body declared that it is too old to be out until 2am after being out until 1am the night before. I was absolutely beat and wound up napping midday. I did finish the softest baby blanket in the world for a non-existent baby though. The yarn had been on sale and it was just so soft that I had to buy it and thus make it:

And! If all of this wasn't enough. I was notified today that I was officially registered and enrolled in a graduate writing program that I had literally applied to on a whim several months ago. I never thought I'd actually get it, but thank you, Miss Burton's Class because it is you that I submitted and it is you that they liked enough to admit me.

I start June 17th.

I'm amazed with how much my life has fallen apart, changed and slowly has begun to come back together.