California Here we Come

We left Portland around 8:30 and finished out Oregon with lots of "Oh my word, is that not the most beautiful thing you've ever seen?" and "I love rain" and "I'm totally bringing my husband and kids here." We absolutely loved Oregon, what a georgeous place. My hair...didn't. I thought my curls would be so happy. Drunk is more like it, but I would totally wear ponytails everyday if I had to.

And thanks to Krista we now know what the barns of dirt are for--it's actually fine gravel stored in the barn-like buildings and used to dust the roads when they get icy. Makes lots of sense. We use sand in Utah, and they use gravel over here. Thank you Krista for clearing it up, we debated it far more than it deserved and will now sleep easy.

We drove, and drove, and drove today--almost 7 hours. We arrived at our signing ten minutes before it starts--Josi does not like to be late and might have an ulcer because it was cut so close. But it was a beautiful drive and well worth it. It just so happened that Classic Books in Cottonwood was having their annual 'Girls Night Out' and since we didn't end up with a presentation, we were invited to stay. We thought that sounded cool. We had no idea.

Sarah and Valaun and Kayla were wonderful, as was Terry (the owner)  and the other employees that put that night together. Dozens of women from the area came out, bought books, ate super yummy food (chocolate cupcakes with peppermint patties in the middle, uh, yeah) and chatted with us. We were there for three hours and yet it flew by. The store is darling and offers a great variety of books as well as crafts, artwork and boutique items. Super cute stuff (Josi spent $30 but it couldn't be helped) AND we left with goodie bags and hugs all around. Really, Classic knows how to throw a party and I am just thanking the lucky stars that we just happened to schedule on this particular day. If we ever have the chance to come back, we will be there in a heartbeat.

We got to our hotel around 8:30--12 hours after we left Oregon and spent some time re figuring our rental car. It seems we've both managed to ooze all over the car. We were able to repack and thus reduce our items by two boxes--much better fit. Did we mention we rented a car for this trip? Neither of us had a car that was reliable and good enough on gas to make the trip, so we rented a little Kia Sephia. Great car!

So, now we are finishing up the day and preparing for our trip to Reno first thing in the morning, and I do mean first thing. We'll be heading out at 7:00, arriving in Reno for our 11:30 signing and then heading 3 hours to Sacramento. BUT, in addition to those two signings I get to see my sister Cindy and her new baby who I have not yet met. I'm so excited!

Ought to be a great day.

Topics discussed today: Premarital sex, Sweden, trolls, national agents, good husbands, tweezers, and moss.

Along the Oregon Trail

We left Boise before the sun came up, but not before the traffic began. But it was okay because we were going OUT of Boise, not into it. We have come to realize that Eastern Oregon and Southeastern Washington look a lot like Idaho which looks a lot like Utah. There was a pretty pass in Oregon for a few miles (which had one rest stop which was closed) but then it turned to sagebrush again. I had always thought Oregon was pure trees. Not so.

For those of you that read my twitter post about the barns full of dirt, I don't think it was potatoes. It was in Oregon that we saw them, and they were seriously full of dirt. We saw about half a dozen of them, just piled up with dirt; some were in a tree area, and others a no tree area. We seriously can't figure it out. Hmmm.

And the speed limit was 65 the WHOLE way through Oregon. I kept waiting for it to go up, but instead it went DOWN to 60 when we got to Washington. Weird. Lucky for us, Dora, our GPS unit warns us when we get over 9 miles past the speed limit. We owe  her cookies for helping us avoid a ticket.

The Kennewick signing at Far West Books was awesome, thank you to those ladies that came out for that--we sold some books, chatted with the excellent staff and tried on some dresses. Anyone looking for dresses for the Whitney Award Banquet (April 24th 2010) really ought to check out the Dress Shop they have put together--they've combed catalogs for modest dresses and they were so darn cute. These are the two I'm trying to decide between. Anyone have a vote?





Then we headed toward Lake Oswego, which is apparently in the Portland area. Anyone that remembers my 'fantasy World' post from a couple months ago knows I have a dream-like-affection for Portland. It's the place I go in my head when my real life seems complex. However, I'd never actually been there.

Holy Cow.

All that 'hoping for trees' from the first trip of the day was totally rewarded. Closer we got to Portland the more trees there were, and then there is a huge city springing up on the edges of a gorgeous river. Wow. I could so live here. My fantasy world just blossomed before my eyes and I'm feeling even more regret for never having visted Mike and Alisha when they lived here. It is gorgeous.

Julie had never been to Trader Joe's, so we had to go in and get some Vanilla Meringues and Triple Ginger Cookies. If you've never been to Trader Joe's, well, I'm very sorry. You should go! They have amazing stuff you can't find anywhere else.

Cookies and merengues in hand we went to the Deseret Book store. They didn't know we were coming TODAY, but if being unprepared always ends in as great a signing as we had, we shouldn't have made any plans at all. Ryan, the manager, threw together a table and chairs, Julie whipped out her table cloth and we settled in for what should have been an hour and a half and easily stretched to 2 hours. They have recently remodeled this store to have a distribution center in it--like last week. But it's a rather brilliant idea as many people come by the distribtion center on their way to the temple which is right up the road. We had good traffic, good conversation and they gave us Utah Truffle bars on our way out the door.

We went up to see the temple, but missed our turn. As we weaved around, catching glimpses of the temple through the trees, we eventually found a little cement path that led to the temple ground. It was covered with fall leaves, wet with rain, and I could have pulled out my sleeping bag and camped there. The temple was beautiful, even if the pictures I got were so lousy I daren't include them here and included one instead from about the vantage point we had, although our view was in the dark. Very pretty.

We are now at the hotel with full tummies, tired eyes, and 7 hours of driving in the morning. We'll be at Classic Books in Cottonwood California from 4:00-5:30 tomorrow, November 11th.
Now, off to my 68 e-mails...


Topics of conversation: In-laws, free agency, Jay's Journal, eBay, barns of dirt, thrift shop finds, Lancome mascara and dead people.

Day One--Ho Idaho!

So we got to Idaho Falls around 10:30--just in time to have Breakfast/lunch with the wonderful Erin Klingler--a good freind and fellow author (look for her next book Spring 2010). Not only did we have a great meal, but she PAID for us. We are now beholden to her for life. Thanks Erin.

We had a signing at the Deseret Book in Ammon, sold some books, hung with some peeps--specifically this is my brother and sister-in-law--i.e. the other Kilpacks. They brought us a half gallon of Reeds chocolate milk, thickened with pototaoe flakes instead of sugar. So yummy. Everyone that came in afterward would look at the jug and say "Oh, Reeds? That is so good!" They also gave us a potato peeler to commemorate our trip--very fun.

So far we're making out like Bandits in Idaho!

Just as we were finishing we got a call from the Idaho Falls Seagull, apparently they had been told we were coming there. Yikes. We were able to run over and sign a few books left by a girl who's mother had taken her out of school to come. Yes, we felt horrible--especially since she'd had to go back to school before we arrived. She'd left her books, which we signed. Sorry Emily. The store employees were very nice about it.

We then started the 4 hour drive to Boise, made good time, and arrived at the Meridian Seagull half an hour early. Monday nights are not so great for book signings, but the employees were fabo and we did get to chat with a few people--one gal in particular may very well be THE reason we went to that store. Even when the sales aren't great, there is usually a purpose.


Now we are at the Super 8 where Julie's husband found us a great deal. Were in a mild panic because we have a 4 1/2 hour drive in the morning and we THINK we also cross a time zone, meaning we have to start an hour earlier than we planned--which means we might be leaving at 5:00 AM. Hmmmmm. Who planned this anyway? Oh yeah, we did.

We're looking forward to tomorrow--Kennewick at 11:00 and Lake Oswego at 5:00. Nine hours of driving.

Today's topics of discussion as we drove: Anacondas, Joseph Smith, almonds, good husbands, and Marion Jensen. Not necessarily in that order. (does that worry you, Marion? :-) It shouldn't).

And Off We Go...

The car is packed, the gas tank full, the kids off to school, and the energy high! We are officially on our way to our first stop, Idaho Falls. Just as a reminder, here are the two contests we'll be doing during the tour:

*In Person: For those people who are able to come to one of the bookstores, you'll have the chance to enter a drawing for a $40 gift card to either Olive Garden, Best Buy, or Bed, Bath and Beyond.

*On-line: Anyone that comments on a blog, facebook status, or twitter update will be automatically entered into a drawing for a $15 gift card to Amazon.com

Both contests will end when we get home; winners to be announced and contacted on Monday the 23rd.

I will be updating my twitter and facebook via cell phone throughout the tour, so if you're not subscribed to me on either of these forums and would like to be, please go to my pages at www.twitter.com or www.facebook.com

We've had people tell family members in some of the cities about the signing, other people have announced it in their wards and we just can't thank you enough for the amazing support we've been given. It's truly priceless!

Blog 2 Print 4 U~contest

One of the reasons I started my blog 3 1/2 years ago was because I wanted a record of my thoughts and stuff--ya know, in addition to inspiring the world :-)  I started out very 'instructional' but as with many things in my life it's become far more casual as time has gone on; become more like the real me, I suppose. At some point I heard that you could turn your blog into a book--very cool! I looked into it and every program seemed very complicated; most of them required downloading a program which just didn't make sense to me since I would be using it for one blog book a year or so. My hard drive space is precious, people.

So I kept looking and finally found a program that's completely online--you just upload your blog to it, set the date perimeters and BAM, it's all there. There is no charge until you publish the book. It has each post titled and dated just like the blog, it includes all the pictures and you can choose to keep comments or not. I did find that the comments for my older posts didn't come through, but after being disappointed in that for about five seconds I realized that keeping comments was going to triple the size of my book. I then decided to not include any comments at all, since it was the posts I wanted most to preserve.

Without comments my book ended up being 295 pages long--9 of those pages is a very user friendly title of contents which allows me to find specific post easily. I have a dedication page and got to choose a template for the front and back cover, to which I uploaded my own photos. The best part about it was that it was so, so, so easy. I uploaded it and then spent a total of about 2 hours going through it, but this two hours was over a 2 month time period. When I was ready to publish it I hit the 'publish' button and a week later I had my finished book. the binding is good, the pages of a good weight, the photos well rendered. I really couldn't be happier.

A few tips to get the most out of Blog 2 Print:

*Know what dates you want to use before you start the process if you're doing a date-specific book--such as 5/21/06-3/13/09. I couldn't figure out how to fix this once I put in the dates the first time. (that's not to say it can't be done, only that I lack the ability to be patient enough to figure it out)
*You can hand pick posts if you prefer.
*If you keep comments, understand they take up a lot of room due to the spacing in between each one.
*Pictures turn out great and do a good job of breaking up the pages of words, and words, and words. Upload any photos you want in the book itself before you upload your blog content.
*Realize it isn't cheap, but that said I wasn't horrified. My book cost $143 w/shipping and is 295 pages long and covered 3 years of posts. I've recently done some digital scrap booking and this price is comparable.
*Blog 2 Print works with Blogger, Typepad, or Wordpress.

AND--after I finished the book I was sent a quick survey. Upon completion I received coupon for 20 free pages but since I don't plan to publish my blog for awhile (I like big thick books) I thought I'd pass it on to someone else whose been looking for a blog-book solution. So, if you're interested, just leave a comment saying as much. In a few days I'll do a random drawing to find the winner. The coupon doesn't have an expiration date.

IN THE MEANTIME, Blog 2 Print has given me permission to share a 20% discount with all of you, BUT it expires on 11/9/09. You can totally do your book in that time, it's really simple, so if you're interested in that option the code is: fall4b2p  and you'll put it in at checkout. It must be used by 11/09/09 so time is of the essence!

Anyway, leave me a comment if you're interested in the free 20 pages (can't be used with the 20% off). Happy Blogging!

My Halloween Protest

I wore no make-up

I dressed 'down'

I acted LESS witchy than normal

I did not eat a single piece of candy

So there.

All Kinds of Jiggly inside

Ohhhh, so many happy things going on, where do I start?

Well, first, Julie and I leave on our booktour in 10 days. Wow. I am so, so, so excited. I've heard from several people who are planning to come out and I'm stoked for the support, and for the chance to meet some people I've only known via facebook and e-mail. Julie and I have our rental car rented, our sleeping arrangements made, and Julie has a GPS, although she informs me it only speaks Swedish. Lucky for me, she's fluent--or GPS fluent anyway. I've updated the itinerary on my website to reflect our new stops in Reno, Fountain Valley and Newhall. We've about given up on the last few presentations, but if you have a last minute request--or just want to go to a movie with us or something in the cities where we haven't gotten anything scheduled, be sure to let us know.

Second, I find it a lucky qirk of fate that my booktour coincides with English Trifle being featured as a title selection for Time Out For Women. I was stoked when Lemon Tart made their list, but English Trifle too? Wow, wow, wow. I was interviewed for their site HERE, so check it out, I don't think I sound too stupid, which is always nice.

Third, Devil's Food Cake is done and under review with Deseret Book. I'm so glad to be finished, it frees up my brain to start thinking about the next book which will be titled Key Lime Pie. Yummmmmm. I can't tell you what it's about because...well, I don't know yet :-) But it's gunna be good and take place in Florida.

And Fourth, I got my computer back. It was $400 but they fixed everything, everything, everything, and seriously, after the hours I log on this thing it deserved a spa day; or week. I'm relieved it's all glammed up for the trip and that I don't have to use the timer on the kid's computer anymore, that was totally lame.


And there's only two more days of stupid Halloween crap to deal with. What could be better? Other than only one day of stupid Halloween crap left.

Withdrawl

I can't feel my feet, that's a bad sign, right? And the room is spinning. I'm a little sick to my stomach and no matter how hard I try to tell myself that I'm going to be okay, my mind refuses to believe what must surely be a lie. I am not okay.

There are substitutions available but it seems to make it worse--reminding me how good it once was. The replacement's very incompleteness triggers my anxiety until I fear that I've made a grave, grave mistake. Is imperfection worthy of separation? Am I selfish and arrogant to believe I deserve the best? Why am I so hard to please? So demanding? Is nothing better than almost perfect?

These thoughts have spun around my cortex for the last two days, but I have told myself that I only had to hold out until Friday, then my fears would be laid to rest and this parting would seem a distant, albeit, painful memory. Alas, there is a delay in our reunion and seeing as how it is Friday, that delay will stretch for the rest of today...all day tomorrow...throughout all of Sunday (which, truly seems sacrilegious) and until Monday when I receive the triumphant call that all is well. Only then will I be at peace, comforted by my vice without whom I am simply not myself.

Oh Monday, sweet Monday, I long for the comfort you will bring.

In the meantime, what advice do you have for me? How do you cope when your computer's in the shop?