Holiday Blog Tour Two Days Away

The 2011 Holiday Blog Tour begins right here on December 1st!!

I invite you to visit and read about my most memorable Christmas.

Those that leave a comment will be entered in a drawing to win your choice of EVENINGS AT THE ARGENTINE CLUB or SAY YOU'LL BE MINE.

See you on the first!!

Hugs,

Julia

Holiday Blog Tour

I'm very excited to announce that in two days will begin a Holiday Blog Tour with 24 writers ranging from established to new to up-and-coming!! I'm thrilled to start us all off on December 1st!! More information to come about prizes, etc.

Here is the line up!

Dec. 1 Julia Amante
Dec. 2 Valerie R.
Dec. 3 Radames Ortiz



Dec. 4 Deborah Grace Staley
Dec. 5 Zoraida Cordova
Dec. 6.Danielle Klenak
Dec. 7 Lupe Mendez
Dec. 8 Natasha Oliver
Dec. 9 Maria Ferrer
Dec. 10 Sidney Williams
Dec. 11 Toni Plummer
Dec. 12 Mayra Calvani
Dec. 13 Kristy Harding
Dec. 14 Thelma Reyna
Dec. 15.Sylvia Mendoza
Dec. 16 Regina Tingle
Dec. 17 Teresa Dovalpage
Dec. 18 Mirta Espinola
Dec. 19 Kim Brown
Dec. 20 Gwen Jerris
Dec. 21 Paula Altschuler
Dec. 22 Caridad Pinero
Dec. 23 Teresa Carbajal Revet
Dec. 24 Icess Fernandez Rojas

An Early Morning Swim

After a whirlwind three weeks of book signings, workshops and events, I woke up this morning thinking I didn't have to do anything but work on writing my new book.

But that wasn't completely true. I did have to do one thing - homework for a swim class. An hour of physical activity of my choice. It did not have to be swimming, but I decided yesterday that since I'd signed up for this swimming class to become a better swimmer, it made sense to actually swim rather than do another activity.

So, on my drive to the pool, the car is cutting through dense fog and I'm wondering if maybe I should have chosen another activity. But I keep driving. My plan is to work on being able to breathe from my left side without swallowing a mouthful of water each time. I've gotten pretty good at breathing to the right, but can't seem to turn my head far enough to the left to both breathe and swim.

When I get there, only one other person is crazy enough to be in the pool. Steam is coming off the surface of the water. Two twenty-year old lifeguards are sitting at their posts covered up in hoodies, working on their laptop.

I jump in the pool and start swimming, thinking this is actually pretty great, because the water is warm and I have a whole lane to myself. Normally, in class I have to share the lane with 5 or 6 other people. I make to the other side - 25 meters, and like always, I'm out of breath. So I rest for a couple of minutes and watch the other woman swim back and forth. I take off again and make it across the pool. Again, I rest. She swims. I continue to do this for about thirty minutes before I notice that this woman who is smoking me is pregnant. I'm impressed. But I notice that the life guards are gone. I'm not sure where they went, but I have this horrible thought about the pregnant woman. Is she supposed to get this much exercise? What if she suddenly goes into labor and the life guards are gone? Would I know what to do? Yes, run into the locker room, grab my phone and call 911.

Well, she didn't go into labor thank goodness, or this would be a different kind of blog tonight. Everything went smoothly and I finished my hour of swimming. Then went into the empty locker room, took a shower and went on to do my Thanksgiving shopping.

Is there a point to this blog? Not really, though I do want to say that it feels really great to follow through on plans to make heathy choices in life. It would have been easy to turn around and return home when I saw all that fog. Or to simply choose another activity or none at all. But the rest of the day has flowed great, thanks to this cold workout this morning.

Here's to making healthy choices as we prepare for Thanksgiving!!

Julia

Lateness Drives My Son Crazy

Every morning it's the same thing with my son. He hates to be late to school. Doesn't even like to be on-time. He has to get there early. I don't know where he got it from - I'm late . . . a lot. I look at the clock and see that I have fifteen minutes before I absolutely have to leave and decide that I can put a load of laundry into the washer, find a picture frame I've needed from the garage, and package up a book I've promised to send to someone. This ultimately adds a lot of stress to my life, and yes, makes me late.

Basically, I have more to do in one day than hours available to do them in, and this is why try to pack so much into every moment. But I realize it's not a great habit.

So, every morning at 8am my son starts to remind me that it's time to go. School starts at 8:40 and we live 5 minutes away, but he knows me. "Mom, let's go. It's time to go," he tells me. "8:15 we'll go," I promise. But he doesn't let up. About every minute or so he tells me again that we have to go and that we're going to be late. I start to get frustrated and try to ignore him, because if I don't focus on what I'm doing, I'm going to forget to take something I have to take with me as I walk out the door. Pretty soon it's 8:20 and he begins to pace and complain. "Jeeze, let's go. You don't need anything else. We're going to be late. Forget the coffee. Jeeze, Mom, what's wrong with you?" What's wrong with me? I've raised a spoiled, loud mouth kid, that's what's wrong with me.

But after I drop him off at school and he runs off with barely a good-bye, I get this warm feeling inside. I'm so proud of him for wanting to get to school on time, and for being so excited to get there. I know it's because he wants to hang out with friends before the bell rings, but still. What a great kid. Someday, he's going to be a fantastic asset to a company or his own business (and a bit of an annoying husband).

So today he calmly suggests that I plan to leave the house at 8am so that we will really leave at 8:15. I ask myself if he's really twelve, then unable to resist I give him a hug and tell him I'm proud of him for being so responsible. "Mom, really? I hate being late. Can we leave on time?"

"Yes," I tell him and I decide the laundry can wait and I'll buy a cup of coffee before I get to the university, and I'll mail that book tomorrow, and I don't need to hang that picture yet anyway. He got to school early and I got the the university on time and right now, I feel really good.

Wishing you all a great weekend with no stress and no craziness!

Julia