Monthly Archives: June 2013

I Give a Shit- This May Be The Coolest Tee-Shirt EVER!

Posted on June 14, 2013 | Leave a comment

Heather over at Spunky Real Deals is giving away a tee-shirt from The Naked Hippie that I absolutely must have. The shirt reads “I Give a Shit.”

Check it out:

I want to win this so badly!

If I don’t win it. I’m totally buying it.

You can enter here.

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The Mystery of Alan Norman McBride - My First Novel - Win it!

Posted on June 12, 2013 | Leave a comment

I started writing when I was a child. I remember at an early age, loading my mother’s electric typewriter with paper and typing out story after story. These were stories about princesses losing hats, impossible children, adventures of animals, and whatever else happened to float into my brain at the moment.

One day, my mom bought a Macintosh Plus computer. That day, my life changed. I went from spending my afternoons on the typewriter to having quality time with the computer.

Somewhere along the way, I began to write a story. That story evolved into a bigger story and finally it became a novel. I began writing it around seven years-old. I’d work on it here and there between school obligations. I took a break somewhere around the age of ten and then came back to it at age 16. Then I took yet another break and finally, at age 27, I decided to finish it, let my friend Brian edit it, and self-publish it.

That book was The Mystery of Alan Norman McBride.

The Mystery of Alan Norman McBride is about two sisters that live on the Upper West Side of Manhattan who overhear gangsters plotting to murder a millionaire, Alan Norman McBride. They take it upon themselves to warn this millionaire and stop these thugs in their tracks.

I remember having a lot of fun writing this novel as a kid. To me it represents where I came from (writing-wise) and I value the fact that I was able to complete a project over many years.

Do you want to win The Mystery of Alan Norman McBride? Enter below to win a copy!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Posted in Books, Giveaways, Novel, The Mystery of Alan Norman McBride

The 30s are the new 20s or Something

Posted on June 9, 2013 | Leave a comment

I had Ari when I was 28 years-old. I was the first one of my friends to have a baby. When I started to meet other mothers in the playground, I noticed something; they were 10 years older than me. In a funny way, I felt like a teen mom. I mean, I was in my late 20s, so I was clearly not a teenager. But yet, the parents that had kids my age were much older than I was.

Then I started to take stock of my own friends. Some of my friends started to have babies, but there were plenty of my friends who went into their 30s still unmarried with no kids. I continued to feel weird and like an anomale. Were people in their 20s not having kids anymore?

Then I thought, maybe it’s a geographic region thing. Maybe people who grew up in New York City in the 80s are waiting to get married and have kids.

Plenty of my friends are perfectly happy being single and/or in a committed relationship with no kids. They’re living life pursuing their passions or trying to figure out what they’re passionate about and do that.

Here’s another thing, even though I have kids my life is still not figured out. I’m still trying to find my way in my career. I have half a masters degree and haven’t decided what to do with myself vocationally. I know I want to write in some capacity. I’d love to be a published author someday, but I still haven’t found what I’m looking for. That’s also a U2 song.

I think the point is, there is no right path. We’re all figuring it out.

I have a friend who’s a lawyer, making a lot of money who’s still unhappy. He’s looking to change careers. To me that says something. Money isn’t everything either. You could be “successful” on paper, making a six figure salary and still not have your life figured out.

I don’t know, are the 30s the new 20s? What do you think?

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The Road to Purple Couches

Posted on June 3, 2013 | Leave a comment

Until today, my couches were white and had stains on them. I got them off of craiglist for super cheap. One day, my friend Alex was over and she said, “you know, you could totally dye these couches.”

The idea sounded intriguing, so I asked her to tell me more.
“Well, we just buy some dye and do it! A lot of dye.” She said with a laugh.

Alex is an artist, so she had a vision.

I told her I wanted purple couches.

One day, my friend Zahir and I were hanging out in the Fader garden. Alex came over to drop off a cat toy for Egreck. Suddenly a plan hatched in my head. “Okay guys, next Sunday, we’re dying the couches.”

The two of them laughed, but they realized that they were signed up this task.

Alex went to a fabric store and bought a lot of dye.

Today, here’s what happened:

Thank you team couch, Alex and Zahir for making these works of art!

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I Eat a Brownie and Rocket Writes a Story - Tad Hills is The Man!

Posted on June 2, 2013 | Leave a comment

Yesterday I went to the gym, did 3.7 miles on the elliptical machine and swam. It was 90 degrees outside, so I was proud of myself for 1. making it over there and 2. pushing myself that hard. On the way home from the gym, I noticed a bakery I’d never seen before. The thought of chocolate anything was too much to pass up, so I entered the pastry shop and was immediately intoxicated by the smell of baked goods. There was so much to choose from!

As I was pondering over whether I wanted a homemade whoopie pie, a s’more or a brownie, a man entered the shop holding a laptop. He made conversation with the barista (I can call him that because he was also serving coffee) and from their repartee I assumed this guy was the owner of the shop.

“Are you the owner?” I asked.
“No, but I come here often enough.” He replied with a smile.
“Oh, what do you do?” I asked him.

It turned out that this man was Tad Hills, a New York Times best selling children’s book author and illustrator. Only in New York, I thought to myself, would I walk into a random pastry shop and meet a famous author.

We got to talking, and he was lovely. Since he had his computer, I showed him my blog.

“I do a lot of giveaways.” I mentioned.
“Oh, well you could giveaway my book!” He said freely. “Hold on, I go get you one.”

With that Tad quickly went home (which was close by) and grabbed me a hard cover of his latest book
Rocket Writes a Story. I was in disbelief but I accepted it. What a cool guy!

“Here, I’ll sign it!” He said.

The Rocket series is based on Tad’s real life dog, Rocket.

Rocket is a Wheaton Terrier who’s sweet, mellow and loves everyone, especially children.

The book before Rocket Writes a Story is called How Rocket Learned to Read In this book, Rocket becomes interested in words and books. A little yellow bird guides him through the process of literacy.

In Rocket Writes a Story, he chooses particular words in order to create a tale of his own, guided by the yellow bird of course. There’s also an owl involved.