A year and a day.

Ok, so I'm a day late with this, but anyway. Mike and I are kind of a reverse Dr Phil-ism. The good doctor says that the only thing worse than being in a really bad relationship is being in one for a year and one day. In our case, the only thing better than being married for a year (as of Sunday the 27th) is being married for a year and one day. That was yesterday's celebration.

We had a fabulous weekend. We did a mini re-creation of our wedding weekend. A fabulous dinner at Arome restaurant, a night at the Chateau Laurier, and then brunch the next day, also at the Chateau. Granted, there was only the 6 of us (us, Mom and Dad, and SIL and husband) but it was still fantastic. We are also planning some time with the kids and we are all going to go see Toy Story 3. I can't wait!

Today's request

Today's blog is answering a request from my husband. Anyone remember that sorry excuse for a candy bar called a Big Turk? Here the link to the wiki page. It's a disgusting combination of pink-ish turkish delight covered in milk chocolate. I still see them at the grocer store but can't believe anyone eats them. Apparently part of the advertising is that it has 60% less fat than the average chocolate bar. Even so, why bother?

Had a super fun night last night too. Went to an old friend's house (pardon me, long time friend - she's not old) who I haven't seen in a long time. Her son is now almost 11 and when he was almost 2 I gave him this monstrously large (barely fit in the shopping cart) toy polar bear. He and my friend came over that year at Christmas and I gave him the bear. She tried to get him to say my name, but he was bashful and didn't spit it out. When they got home she asked him what he was going to call the bear, and it was officially named "Cora-bear." I felt so honoured. So when she told him I was going to be coming over, his first question was "like Cora-bear?" I was careful to not tell  him how big he had gotten. I used to hate that as a kid, so I didn't pass it on.

When preparation meets the moment of opportunity

It'll take me a bit to get to the point to explain the title for this blog post. I can't believe the last month has flown by so quickly. I've been busy and motivated. I took a 6 week writing workshop that really helped get my ass in gear. It's worked out very nicely that 3 other ladies from the class and I will hopefully be getting together to work on our writing. I still have one partner who helps me with my writing from a week long workshop I took quite a few years ago, but it's nice to have a group again.

I've had some fun on Facebook too. I don't normal "do" social networking, but by sheer coincidence, I've come across a couple of folks from high school (and before) and have gotten back in contact again. Talk about a walk down memory lane.

The other night I had a wonderful dinner with two friends and the conversation somehow came around to talking about Terry Fator. If you haven't seen him, or heard of him, check his first audition for America's Got Talent:   http://www.webscene.eu/video.aspx?sr=1&vid=qgGU17SGnU-9JTsV93VUWg  He is fantastic and after watching this again, I went to Youtube to watch some more clips. I'm a huge fan. I saw a clip of him on Oprah and she talked to him how he felt about being called "lucky" to have won. He basically stated that he had been working at this for 33 years. Her response was that she felt that luck was usually when preparation meets the moment of opportunity. 
 
So that's what I'm trying to do. Be prepared for my moment of opportunity. I've signed up for the Surrey International Writer's Conference. It's an annual deal for me when I am well. This year I am determined to finish my novel before the conference. What am I doing to motivate myself? Well, I've basically boxed myself in. I have booked an appointment with an editor from Tor books. They are one of the top science fiction publishers and if I am properly prepared with a good manuscript and a good pitch, maybe I'll get my opportunity. We'll see.