Well, it would seem that the calendar year is quickly coming to a close. And with that, it seems like a good time to check in on the good, ol’ 30 by 30 list. A little over 4 months in–over a third of the year gone–so how far along am I? Well, let’s see …

1. Complete the Nashville Rock and Roll ½ Marathon – The training was going well. Then not well. Thankfully I have 5 more months before the race. 🙂
2. Write 2 novels – Umm … let’s skip this one right now …
3. Read all of Jane Austen’s Books – I read Pride and Prejudice and am afraid the rest will be as painful. But I’ll keep it at it.
4. Go to an NFL game – Well, I had a ticket to go to see the Titans and Colts play last week. And then I remembered I’d be out of town for work! Whoops! Not sure if I’ll get to do this one.
5. Save $1500 toward a trip to Scotland/Ireland – Hmm … I should get started on this.
6. Finish Caleb’s fire truck cross stitch – About half way there. Gotta keep working on it.
7. Visit 3 Civil War battlefields – So far, I’ve visited the Carnton Plantation and the Carter House. Both key locations in the Battle of Franklin, November 30, 1864 I was supposed to go see Shiloh with another author friend, but that may have to wait until the weather warms up a little bit.
8. See Brandon Heath in concert – Done and done. LOVED him at the Bluebird!
9. Visit Boone Hall in South Carolina (Mount Royal Plantation) – Haven’t made my plans yet, but I think I can get a cheap plane ticket out that direction and will likely do it in the spring.
10. Donate $1000 to World Vision for Micro-loans – Working on it. Penny by penny. Nickel by nickel.
11. Get a contract for a 3-book deal – I’ve talked to my editor about my 3-book series idea. She said she likes the idea and can’t wait to see the proposal. That makes two of us. 🙂 Guess I better get on that.
12. Find a place to serve at my new church – This is always so hard. Well, I’m just trusting that the new year will bring new opportunities.
13. Take a cooking class at Whole Foods – My sweet friend Katie Bond is on board for this one. Looking for just the right opportunity.
14. Give away 20 of the books on my shelves – Done! I gave away 12 books in my Great October Book Giveaway (congrats to all you winners), and another 10 to a friend who LOVES to read. Feels great to share the love.
15. Buy flowers for a friend for no reason – Not yet.
16. Eat something with mushrooms – Someone suggested pizza because it masks the taste. Good idea!
17. See a show at TPAC – Planning to buy my tickets this week to see Les Miserables in May. Can. Not. Wait.
18. Read the Bible in a Year – Working my way through. Among other books have thoroughly appreciated the lessons in the book of Ruth.
19. Take an adult beginner dance class – Next summer, methinks.
20. Visit the Harry Potter theme park at Universal Studios in Orlando – Jess Lacy and I are making plans even now.
21. Catch up on the TV show Chuck – Not doing so well with this one yet. But I’m optimistic. Captain Awesome needs some company.
22. Volunteer at least 10 hours at a local food bank/shelter – Not yet.
23. Read a #1 New York Times Bestseller when it’s #1 – Well, I thought that I was reading Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins at the right time. But I think I was wrong. Will have to try again.
24. Go a week without eating out – I did this back in August without even thinking about it. I just looked up one day and realized that I hadn’t eaten out in 8 days. Funny how something that you think might be hard actually ends up being no test at all.
25. Host a dinner party for at least 4 friends – Yup! Katie helped me host a very fun, very yummy pajama party in honor of Heather Cadenhead’s book Inventory of Sleeping Things. Get it? Sleeping things … pajamas. So fun!
26. Write a Christmas short story – Well, considering that I’m on contract for one now, I best have it done by February 1.
27. Drop 2 dress sizes – Working on it. Right along with that 1/2 marathon.
28. Sing karaoke in public – Not yet.
29. Drink only water for 2 weeks straight – I keep forgetting about this, but it seems a wonderful idea. Note to self. Get on this.
30. Vacation on Prince Edward Island – It was AWE. SOME. So much fun! If you missed the pictures, go here.

Well, by my count that’s 5 completed. Only 1/6 of the way done. Guess I should get rocking and rolling. How are you doing on the goals you set for yourself this year?

Rumor has it that it snowed in Nashville this week. I personally saw about half of a flurry. Seriously. This was not snow. But it has been awfully chilly. Scarves and winter coats-chilly. Which has put me in the mood for Christmas!

And that means decorating! So here’s a picture of my tree (tiny though it may be) and the colorful lights adorning my back window.

And if you’re counting, I’d say that about half my ornaments are either pictures of my nieces and nephews or made by them.

What are you doing to get into the Christmas spirit?

I know it’s not Friday, but I just have to share with you all a couple videos from the good folks at the Revolve Tour. (In case you haven’t heard of it, the Revolve Tour is like the teen version of Women of Faith.)

The crack marketing staff over at Revolve, put together a 4-part video series staring Random Tyler, where he repeats things that girls have written in about Revolve events to random strangers.

Behold, Random Tyler.

Hope you got a giggle out of these, like I did. 🙂

Tonight is the night. I should be going home after work, taking a nap, donning my “Jealous of Ginny” t-shirt (yes, that’s an original!), leaving the house at 6:30, and arriving at the movie theater. Then I should be waiting in line with hundreds of other rabid Potter fans.

But you what? I’m not. For the first time since the second Harry Potter movie released when I was in college, I’m not going to the midnight showing.

Instead I’m going to go home after work today. Then … who are we kidding? I’ll probably take a nap because I’m just not as young as I used to be. And then I’m going to meet up with my friends, and we’ll be off to the Ryman Auditorium to see Needtobreathe.

If you’ve missed my recent love for Needtobreathe, I’ll spare you all the details and just say that I love their newest album The Outsiders so much that I listened to it pretty much nonstop while writing my third book.

This concert may be the only one of theirs that I ever get to go to–especially at the Ryman, so it was an easy decision to forego Harry. At least until today … when I’m just a little bit sad that I’ll be missing out on the Potter-mania.

If you’re off to see Harry tonight, enjoy! I’ll follow closely this weekend, I hope! 🙂 And if you’re off to see Needtobreathe … well, I’ll see you there. 🙂

Have you seen the new commercials for Allstate car insurance? Mayhem is played by this guy in all these differenct scenarios. He’s a tree branch dropping on a car during a storm. He’s a jogger distracting a driver.

And in this one, he’s a teenage girl. Love this commercial. (However, I have no experience with the car insurance.)

Do you twitter? If you do, then you’ve likely encountered the fail whale.

The fail whale is a symbol known round the world. It means twitter is over-extended and can’t possibly handle one more tweet–yours. It means the whole site has shut down. At least to you.

I tell you this first, to explain to you why I’ve experience my own personal fail whale. In case you haven’t noticed, my website has been inaccessible for the better part of a week. Yup. Clean shut down.

Turns out that more than a year ago I posted a certain picture on my blog. And last week the site from which I borrowed said picture decided it wasn’t okay for me to be using it. (Let this be a lesson to you, kids. Don’t borrow anything that isn’t up for being borrowed.) So they sent a letter to the server for my website, telling us to remove the picture or shut the site down.

Well, we didn’t get the letter until about 3 days later. By which time my site had already been shut down.

We finally got in touch with the right folks, took the picture down, and all is good to go. So we’re back. (You couldn’t get rid of me that easily!)

So the picture that made my whole site fail? A famous killer whale.