Friday, April 22, 2016

Celebrating the Small Things


Hello and Happy Friday, all! It's time to once again celebrate the week gone by with the Celebrate the Small Things hop. This fun hop is hosted by my buddy Lexa Cain and co-hosted by L.G Keltner at Writing Off the Edge, Tonja Drecker at Kidbits, and Katie at The Cyborg Mom. Visit Lexa's blog here to find out how join in the hop yourself and to see the list of participants.

I missed last week's hop because I was traveling to California for my nephew's wedding. The wedding is the main thing I'm celebrating this week, as it was a wonderful event and I'm so glad I got to attend. We had a fantastic time in beautiful Pacific Palisades and Santa Monica, and this was my first visit to that area. The wedding was outdoors and we couldn't have had more perfect weather. It was a treat to spend time with family and old friends in such a picturesque and happy setting.

I also got to explore Santa Monica very briefly, and there are few things I love more than the ocean!


I'm also celebrating that I finally came up with a solid, workable idea for another story in my Polar Night series. I had given up on that ever happening, and then I had a dream that provided me with just the inspiration I needed. The original story for Polar Night came from a dream, so I can't help but feel like this was meant to be. I'm super excited to start writing and of course that is always something to celebrate!

I hope everyone has a great weekend ahead. :)

28 comments:

  1. I hope you enjoyed the wedding! You've been doing some heavy duty traveling and I'm jealous and loving the pictures. I did vacation in California many moons ago and at the time we were at the Santa Monica pier the grunions were running. Everyone ran off the pier onto the sand to scoop these little fish and throw them back. My friend and I joined in. What a spectacle.

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  2. Sounds like a fun trip!

    Love the idea of dreams being the catalyst for creativity. :)

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  3. They had the wedding on the perfect day. It's been raining up north, so I think they are getting some of the wonderful wet stuff now too.

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  4. Sounds like an awesome place to visit. Bet it was nice and warm, too.

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  5. Sounds like a great trip! And yay for new Polar Day idea! :)

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  6. Yes! Another Polar book... um, Polar Noon, High Tea, Elevenses...? :-)

    Love the pictures of the ocean. Family weddings are the best, aren't they?

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  7. That's a beautiful photo of the ocean. Sounds like you had a great time at the wedding. It's so nice to be able to be with family.
    Yay for your Polar Night idea! It's amazing the ideas that can come from dreams. And how strange and intriguing that both story ideas came from dreams. Definitely sounds like it was meant to be.

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  8. I have yet to attend a beach wedding.The photos always look beautiful! So glad you had fun and hope you have a great weekend. : )

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  9. I have yet to attend a beach wedding.The photos always look beautiful! So glad you had fun and hope you have a great weekend. : )

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  10. So glad you had fun at the wedding! And now you have an idea for your next story. That will be lovely. Congratulations!

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  11. Glad you had a good time at the wedding!
    I love that you got a new story idea from a dream! Definitely go with it!

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  12. I love California and miss it often. Glad you were inspired!

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  13. Happy Friday. Congratulations on a story idea for Polar Night. Dreams are good.

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  14. Congratulations on coming up with a new idea for your series. And how I'd love to go back to California one day. It's been twenty years. Have a lovely weekend, Julie.

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  15. Yay! I love the Polar Night series. Really excited to hear that you have a new book for it in the works! And I'm so in awe that the inspiration for it came through a dream. My muse never teams up with the sandman like that, LOL. Best of luck writing! :)

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  16. I'm glad you had a good time at the wedding. That's a beautiful pic - I love the ocean, too! Yay for coming up with a new sequel idea in the Polar Night series! Woohoo! :)

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  17. Hi Julie - sounds like the wedding was a boon in more than one direction - lovely to have the opportunity to visit the Santa Monica area - see the west coast ocean ... and then have that dream - to awaken a new story in your Polar Night series ... so pleased for you - cheers Hilary

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  18. Hope you enjoyed the wedding! The ocean is amazing. Beautiful. And yay to the story idea! May it flow smoothly.

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  19. I feel a little weird admitting this, but I've never pulled an idea from a dream before. What a great place to get them though! And the ocean is amazing!!

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  20. Congrats on both counts. This week was pretty good to you. :-)

    Anna from elements of emaginette

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  21. Hope you enjoyed the wedding. Great news that you found some inspiration for a new book. I hope to be back posting for the celebration post this Friday.

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  22. I'll bet the wedding was awesome. The ocean picture is lovely. Wonderful that you found inspiration for a new story.

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  23. Inspiration for a new story? That's awesome!

    (P.S.Have you received your e-book of Alligators Overhead by C. Lee Mackenzie?)
    Writer In Transit

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  24. Congrats to your nephew! Yay for the workable idea. I hope it pans out well for you and you get many words down.

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  25. Congratulations to your nephew, Julie. Weddings are a wonderful thing. Of course, you had fun. What a beautiful place. And congratulations on your idea for another book. Bravo. Half the battle won.

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  26. Congratulations to your nephew and his wife! An outdoor wedding, how awesome! So glad the weather was good. My favorite place is the beach. It's so soothing. Can't wait for the weather to cooperate and turn warm so I can get myself out there.

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  27. California is so beautiful!

    Wow! That's great that you dreamed up a new story for Polar Nights! I always feel that dreams are a window into something special!

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  28. Hi Julie,

    What a beautiful location for your nephew's wedding. A celebration, indeed! Delighted to note you have a plan for your next story in your series.

    A lovely week ahead for you, my friend.

    Gary :)

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