MAY I share something funny?

May 11, 2012May 5, 201236 Comments

As I was browsing my Silliness board over on Pinterest the other day, I came to the realization that there are some incredibly creative, cheeky, and quite often inappropriate people lurking on the Internet (*gasp*). The general (and enviable) wit of some of these folks has made me snort with laughter time and again. Hopefully it’ll give you a Friday Five chuckle as well. 🙂

ONE

TWO

THREE (Couldn’t resist!)

FOUR

FIVE

So… My family and I are on the road, headed to California with all our worldly possessions. First, though, a detour to Cannon Beach, one of my very favorite cities. Can’t wait for some fun on the beach!

What are you up to this weekend?

MAY I ask something about you?

May 9, 2012May 5, 201234 Comments

What’s one thing you have not done, but really want to do? What’s holding you back?

{I really want to run a half marathon. What’s holding me back? Time. Lifestyle. Random inconveniences. I’m certain I can run 13 consecutive miles, but I’ve yet to come across an organized half marathon that’s local and works with my schedule. That’s a pitiful excuse, isn’t it? So… I’m going to sign up for the Big Sur Half Marathon! It’s being held November 18, 2012, and it runs very close to my new hometown in California. Yay!}

Gorgeous, right?

U is for Upperman

April 24, 2012April 23, 201253 Comments

Of course U is for Upperman!

Is there a better opportunity to share a little about myself? And why not use the cool Alphabet Survey I happened across on Just Everyday Me while searching for healthy banana bread recipes? Without further ado…

A is for age: *sigh* Thirty-one… I honestly never thought I’d be THIS OLD.

B is for breakfast today: Cinnamon toast and an apple.

C is for currently craving: Well, there’s banana bread in the oven and it smells amazing, so a slice of that would be pretty perfect.

D is for dinner tonight: Date night with my hubby! Dinner at a cute little bistro called The Windmill Cafe. I’m looking forward to it!

E is for favorite type of exercise: Running because it burns tons of calories, but I most enjoy doing yoga.

F is for an irrational fear: Being pinned down or enclosed in a small space. Claustrophobia… yikes.

G is for gross food: I hate celery. Also mushrooms.

H is for hometown: Western Washington is where I’ll always call home, but I’m just about ready to head to California for a military move… not too shabby.

I is for something important: My family, for sure. I love my husband and daughter more than anything.

J is for current favorite jam: Sugar-free strawberry. Wait…what? Jam, like jelly, or jam like music? In the musical sense, I’ll jam to anything twangy.

K is for kids: I have one. She’ll be five in August. She’s adorable.

L is for current location: My kitchen (waiting for the banana bread).

M is for the most recent way you spent money: Um, we ate dinner at Wendy’s last night, so that? I had a Grilled Chicken Cobb. It was delish.

N is for something you need: Internet access. A massage. Hummus. A daily shower. A daily workout. A daily dose of dark chocolate.

O is for occupation: Wife, mama, aspiring author.

P is for pet peeve: Generally, lack of manners. Specifically, cheeky misspellings of words for business names, like: Kidz Kutz.

Q is for a quote: When I saw you I fell in love, and you smiled because you knew. ~ William Shakespeare

R is for random fact about you: I’m obsessive about dental hygiene. I’m an enthusiastic brusher, and I floss at least once a day.

S is for favorite healthy snack: I made mention of hummus above… Love it with carrots and cucumbers.

T is for favorite treat: Chocolate, chocolate, chocolate, in all its forms (bars, cake, pie, ice cream, cookies), but the darker the better.

U is for something that makes you unique: Thanks to my husband’s job, I move a lot. We’ve been married nine year and during that time we’ve lived in seven homes. Next month, it’ll be eight.

V is for favorite vegetable: Carrots.

W is for today’s workout: Half hour circuit training, half hour yoga. Possibly a walk with the dogs later.

X is for X-rays you’ve had: Lots on my teeth, one on my arm when I fractured it as a child. A few ultrasounds when I was pregnant. Do those count?

Y is for yesterday’s highlight: Progress on my rewrite, dinner and laughter with my family.

Z is for your time zone: Pacific.

There you have it: All about Katy!

I totally think you should copy the Alphabet Survey, fill in your own answers, and add it to your blog. When you’re done, comment here or tweet me so I can drop by and get to know you better.

🙂

T is for Third Place (Books)

April 23, 2012April 19, 201244 Comments

There’s a very cool bookstore in Seattle called Third Place Books. They’re a general interest bookstore with over 200,000 new, used, and bargain books. Third Place Books has a commons area with several restaurants and live music Friday & Saturday nights. Plus, they hold tons of awesome author events (last summer I attended a signing with, among others, Lisa Schroeder, Mandy Hubbard, and Kimberly Derting, and this January I saw John and Hank Green’s Nerdfighters show there!). All in all, Third Place Books is fantastic, but that’s precisely why the store’s name used to perplex me. Why would any bookstore — any company — want to be third place?

I did a little research…

From Third Place Books’ website:

Sociologist Ray Oldenberg suggests that each of us needs three places: first is the home; second is the workplace or school; and beyond lies the place where people from all walks of life interact, experiencing and celebrating their commonality as well as their diversity. It is a third place. In his celebrated book, The Great Good Place, Oldenberg discusses how the cafes, pubs, town squares and other gathering places make a community stronger and bring people together. Third Place Books has something for everyone. Whether you need to study, host a community meeting, or get out of the house for the evening, we hope you will make this your third place.

Awesome, right?

So, tell me: What’s your THIRD PLACE?

S is for Sparkling Almond, Solitude, and Super-Sized

April 21, 2012April 20, 201228 Comments

Remember how my family and I are moving out of state in a few weeks? Well, tonight my husband and I are having one last hurrah with our fantastic neighbors. It’s a bittersweet event, for sure. Dinner and dancing and drinks will be a blast (thank you so, SO much, Theresa, for organizing! ♥), but I’m so sad to be moving away from these awesome people who’ve been all kinds of supportive and kind and fun. They’ll be sorely missed.

Fortunately, we’ve got lots of Sparkling Almond to ease the pain.

Switching gears completely: I’m an introvert at heart. I value quiet time, and in most cases, I’d rather be at home watching movies with my husband and daughter than out on the town. That’s not to say I don’t go out. I do, occasionally (see above!). And once I’m out, I throw down with the best of them, but still… I like my yoga pants. A lot. I like my books. I like my laptop and my DVR and my comfy couch. I like to make my own rules and spend time in own head, where it’s peaceful and quiet and serene.

And I think that’s just fine.

In other news, last weekend my husband, daughter, and I tried out a new restaurant, The Buttered Biscuit, which prides itself on “authentic gramma food.” (Hungry yet?) We didn’t think twice about our girlie ordering a cinnamon roll with a side of bacon because we were halfway through a twenty-five mile bike ride and were ready to treat ourselves. Imagine our shock when the waitress presented our four-year-old with a cinnamon roll the size of (quite literally) a dinner plate:

She did a number on it, I have to say. But in the end (after inhaling my veggie omelette with ravenous enthusiasm), I was forced to help my girlie put a dent in her breakfast confection. Let me tell you: It was AMAZING.

Two questions: Are you an introvert or an extrovert? And, what’s your favorite breakfast food?

Two Quick Things…

March 5, 2012March 4, 201220 Comments

Have you seen the awesomeness that is this clip from the The Hunger Games?

How amazing is Jennifer Lawrence? She rocks the whole subtle badass thing, which gives me complete faith that she’ll make an amazing Katniss. Only eighteen days until the big release… Cannot wait to see this movie!

Also, thanks to same recent changes with Blogger, my friend Erin Bowman has had a bit of a snafu with her Google Friend Connect (boo!). If you followed Erin via GFC and/or your blogger dashboard, her feeds got cut and you’re probably not following her any more. That’s unfortunate because she’s wonderful. She also has this crazy habit of writing savvy, thoughtful blog posts which tend to be incredibly helpful and/or inspiring. Please do click HERE if you’d like to resubscribe to her blog. (I recommend it!)

So… Tell me about your weekend? Getting excited for The Hunger Games premier?

Friday Five…

March 2, 2012March 2, 201219 Comments

It’s been so long since I’ve done a Friday Five,
I couldn’t help myself…

1. Writing Update – I’ve been deep in the throes of revising one manuscript and rewriting another. Sheesh… The writing process is HARD! And, it’s mostly the reason for the relative quiet here on my blog–revising and rewriting have sucked up all my creative energy. Plus, my husband’s been home for about a month now (yay!) and we’re still in that happy place of wanting to spend tons of family time together. So, when I’m not squinting at my computer screen and eating my weight in Ghiradelli Bittersweet Chocolate Chips, I’m hanging with my two favorite people.

2. #MarchPhotoADay – I’ve recently fallen in love with Instagram, a photography iPhone app that lets you edit your photos with all kinds of cool filters and then share them with your friends on a feed. This month I’m participating in one of Instagram’s many photo challenges: #MarchPhotoADay. I’m thinking of it as another way to stretch my creativity, and it’s super fun to see how other people interpret the prompts. Here they are:

And here’s my submission for Day 2, FRUIT:

You should definitely join in if you’re an Instagram-er! Oh, and if you want to find me there, I’m katyupperman.

3. Flawed – I was lucky enough to read this stunning contemporary YA novel by debut author Kate Avelynn early (it’s being released this July by Entangled Teen) and let me tell you, it is absolutely heart-wrenching. Like, you won’t be able to put it down because you’ll be THAT stressed about the future of the characters. If you’re a fan of books like Elizabeth Scott’s Living Dead Girl and Tabitha Suzuma’s Forbidden, you should definitely check out Flawed. (Click the cover and you’ll be redirected to Flawed‘s Goodreads page.)

Sarah O’Brien is alive because of the pact she and her brother made twelve years ago—James will protect her from their violent father if she promises to never leave him. For years, she’s watched James destroy his life to save hers. If all he asks for in return is her affection, she’ll give it freely. Until, with a tiny kiss and a broken mind, he asks for more than she can give. Sam Donavon has been James’s best friend—and the boy Sarah’s had a crush on—for as long as she can remember. As their forbidden relationship deepens, Sarah knows she’s in trouble. Quiet, serious Sam has decided he’s going to save her. Neither of them realize James is far more unstable than her father ever was, or that he’s not about to let Sarah forget her half of the pact…

4. Homeland – I know I’m a little late jumping on this bandwagon, but have you seen Showtime’s Homeland? Holy hell… The first season was AMAZING. My husband and I don’t agree on many TV shows, but we flew through this one and are already itching for more. Homeland is fast-paced, powerful, and densely layered. No character goes without garnering at least a bit of sympathy (seriously–even the terrorists have clear motivations for acting the way they do), and every single episode is a game-changer. Plus, Claire Danes is freaking fantastic. Recommend!

5. Military Ball – Last weekend my husband and I lived it up at his unit’s Military Ball. Have I mentioned how happy I am to have him home? 🙂

So… What’s on your plate for the weekend?

Happy Valentine’s Day!

February 14, 2012February 14, 201244 Comments

In honor of the Day of Love, I’m jumping in on YA Highway‘s Valentine’s Day Blog Lovefest. The parameters are as follows: The Valentine blog posts can be a love note to anything–another blogger, a book, an author, a character, a bookstore, your beta readers…anything and anyone! Since I’m sort of terrible at following directions and at narrowing things down, and since it’s February 14th, I’m going to list…

FOURTEEN (TOTALLY RANDOM) THINGS I LOVE…

1. My husband. Because he’s selfless and patient and funny and kind and the very best kind of daddy to our little girl. Plus, he’s super cute.

2. My daughter. Because she’s sweet and precocious and thoughtful and adorable and she makes me smile every day.

3. My blog, and my blog readers, and YOUR blogs. Because your visits and your comments and your posts give me the greatest sense of community.

4. Inspiration. Because it’s everywhere. On TV. In nature. In art. In the kitchen. In window shopping and people watching and daydreaming. In the support of those who love me, and in the success of those before me.

5. Yoga. Because not only is it fantastic exercise, but it makes me feel more centered and grounded and peaceful.

6. Agent Vickie. Because she’s encouraging and savvy and writes some of the most hilarious emails and editorial notes ever. And because she loves my “people” like I do.

7. The lovelies who’ve read and commented so helpfully on my writing. Heather, Jus, Ann, Christa, Amie, Alison, and Kari — What would I do without you girls?!

8. Twitter. Because every day I learn something new, and every day I interact with brilliant people, and every day I feel less alone in my writing crazies.

9. Ghiradelli Bittersweet Chocolate. Because it’s my writing fuel.

10. Books. Because they teach and entertain and transport and delight. A few of my favorites from this year so far? A Million Suns. The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight. The Disenchantments.

11. My writing/blogging friends and regular commenters. Especially Tracey, Jessica, Erin, Katharine, Alicia, Kris, Carol, Sophia, Kirsten, Caroline, Jaime, Elodie, Erin, and Rebecca (who I met through YA Highway’s Valentine’s Day blogfest last year!).

12. My family and (real-life) friends. Because they’re wildly supportive even though they don’t entirely understand this nutso writing dream of mine.

13. The Bookanista. Because they’re new friends with a mutual love for promoting amazing kidlit.

14. Pinterest. Because… I just can’t help myself. It’s simply awesome.

Who are you showing Valentine Love for today?

RTW: Chit-Chatting (Sort Of…)

January 25, 201218 Comments

Road Trip Wednesday is a ‘Blog Carnival,’ where the girls at YA Highway post a weekly writing- or reading-related question for participants to respond to on their own blogs. You can hop from destination to destination and get everybody’s unique take on the topic.

This Week’s Topic: Write a dialogue between two of your favorite YA characters…

Thanks to the rewrite I’ve been working diligently on, I lack the creative energy to do this week’s topic any justice. That said, I came across the most AWESOME image on Pinterest last night. It totally made me chuckle, and it works perfectly for this prompt because it’s a conversational mash-up of two YA stories.

Behold…

🙂

If you could hear a conversation between characters from two different YA books, who would you choose?

Brrrr….

January 23, 2012January 22, 201240 Comments

In case you haven’t heard, Western Washington has had some extreme weather lately. Long story short, we had a pretty decent snow storm Wednesday, followed by lots of frozen rain Wednesday night and all day Thursday. Thanks to a thick layer of ice coating EVERYTHING, we lost power early Thursday morning and didn’t recover it until Saturday night. We have a gas-powered fireplace and water heater so we weren’t suffering too terribly, but when you have a slight case of OCD (like me!), any deviance from the routine is cause for aggravation. Still, we made the best of our circumstances. My girlie and I did lots of bonding, I got quite a bit of reading done (mostly by Book Light), I fell in love with my WiP all over again, and I haven’t had to bother with makeup in nearly a week. 🙂 Thanks in large part to our awesome neighbors and my fantastic in-laws, we came out of Winter Storm 2012 just fine.

I bet you’re dying to see pictures…

It was fun(ish) at first…