Oh, life. How did you get so busy?

I’ve finished another round of revisions on Poppies. It’s amazing what a few months away will do for your perspective on a story. This particular revision proved to be one of the most challenging and most satisfying I’ve worked on. In case you’re wondering, I focused on amping up the tension to make the story feel more thriller-esque, and I also took a main character from creepy to super-extra-über creepy, which is always fun.

My life has been consumed by this revision over the last several weeks. My DVR is chock-full of ANTM and Project Runway All Stars, and I’m pretty sure my husband is sick to death of hearing me talk about any and everything related to Poppies. Now that I’m done with this round, I feel like a huge weight has been lifted from my shoulders. I also feel like I have all kinds of time on my hands, which is why I’m (finally) blogging.

In other news, my hubby and I visited Vancouver, BC over the weekend. I had my doubts about the idea of a getaway (see above paragraphs), but we ended up having an incredible time. Also, thanks to some ridiculous wait times at the border, I was able to get quite a bit of revising done in the car. If you haven’t visited Vancouver, I recommend it. It’s a much bigger, more diverse city than I’d realized. It’s also very clean and the food is amazing. Plus, there’s tons to do:

We went to a kickass country bar where my husband rode a bull, and subsequently banned me from posting the pictures online. Boo! (Oh, and there’s nothing like a nineteen-year-old drinking age to make you feel ancient!).

We visited–and walked across!–the Capilano Suspension Bridge. Awesome.

Okay, I admit it: I was a little scared. The bridge spanned an insane ravine and was, quite literally, suspended. It swayed a lot and by the time we made it across, I was experiencing a bit of motion sickness. Still, totally worth it!

There was a cliff walk, too, which was equally thrilling.

We got to watch the Canucks play, and win! I’ve never been to an NHL game, and I have to admit, it was surprisingly entertaining. My husband was all about teaching me the rules of the game, and we ended up sitting in a section full of very enthusiastic (read: drunk) Canadians, which made the sporting event all the more authentic.

Now that we’re home from Canada, we’re getting focused on our pending move. We’ll be leaving our beloved Pacific Northwest for the beautiful Monterey Bay sometime in May, and I’m pretty excited. The actual act of moving sucks, though, and I’m not so pumped about its finer points (packing, cleaning, driving, unpacking, settling, blah, blah, blah…). But, the Army wife in me knows it’ll be an adventure, and moving means my husband won’t be deploying for a good 18 months. I’d do pretty much anything to make that happen!

Changing gears a bit… I’ve decided to participate in April’s Blogging from A to Z Challenge (because I obviously don’t have enough going on). I feel like I’ve neglected my blog lately, and this seems like a fun way to reinvigorate it. If you’re interested in playing along (you totally should!), you can sign up HERE.

And a few more links worth checking out: This article about The Hunger Games movie. According to Hollywood vet Nina Jacobson (who acquired the rights to the trilogy), “Young people are actually really savvy about what they consume, and the success of this book is a reflection of their sophistication…” Thanks, Nina. We totally already knew that. 🙂 And this post by the brilliant Kate Hart, detailing 2011-2012 YA book deals, with infographics!

So, what’s new in your world? Will you blog A-Z in April? Are you counting down the hours till The Hunger Games?!