Christmas Meme

:)

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate?
Ummm can't I pick both? I love Egg Nog around Christmas time, but Hot Chocolate is my favorite drink year round.

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just set them under the tree?
Wrapped, of course! If it's a present that's too big to be wrapped, it's hidden somewhere like behind the couch or outside.

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white?
No house lights. Tree lights are colored.

4. Do you hang mistletoe?
Nope.

5. When do you put your decorations up?
I used to BEG my parents to put them up the day after Thanksgiving. But sadly, they usually waited until a couple weeks before Christmas. (Though they did let us take the stuff down from the attic - a one a year adventure! - and play with all the ornaments, read the books, etc. before they went on the actual tree.

6. What is your favorite holiday dish?
My dad's baked apple pancakes that he makes every Christmas morning. Mmmmm.

7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child:
We'd sit at the top of the stairs, waiting for eternally slow parents to be ready to go down. Then my dad would have to go down first and he'd stop at the bottom of the steps and go, "Uh, oh! I think Santa made a mistake! He left TOO MANY PRESENTS!" Only after that were we allowed to run downstairs and take a look for ourselves.

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa?
I demanded to know. Then I was mad once they told me. Parents just can't win.

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve?
This was a tradition I lobbyed for for years as a child. Not until I was much older did the parents wear down and say okay to this. But once I have a family, I would DEFINITELY insist on this tradition.

10. How do you decorate your Christmas Tree?
Lights first, then garland, then ornaments, then tinsel. Dad's in charge of the lights and garland. He's also quite a obsessive about perfecting the tinsel distribution. He's a "strand here and there" versus "globber."

11. Snow! Love it or Dread it?
It'd be nice to have a white Christmas. It's been a while.

12. Can you ice skate?
Yup. Not great, but enough that I don't fall on my butt too many times.

13. Do you remember your favorite gift?
There were so many over the years. I guess getting a Cabbage Patch kid the year they were impossible to get was a real good one. My Mom is an early shopper and simply went out and bought one before the rush, having no idea they would be valuable. My parents then debated selling it over giving it to me because they were going for sooo much. (We didn't have a lot of $$.) But they decided it would be better for me to have it!! :) I felt like the luckiest kid in the world. Her name was Constance Georgia and she was a ponytailed redhead. I still had her until last year when my house burned down.

14. What’s the most important thing about the Holidays for you?
Presents! :) (And you thought I was going to say family, lol!)

15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert?
Chocolate Cream Pie. Mmmmmmmm.

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition?
It's sad cause my family is split up now, but for years we did the exact same thing every Christmas. Went downstairs, opened stockings, had apple pancakes for breakfast, went into living room and opened presents, relatives came over, ate dinner, showed everyone our presents, etc. etc. It was awesome. I have such happy memories of Christmas. Now I kind of hate the holiday because it's not the same with everyone apart. My brother is in Colorado and never comes home for Christmas. My mom is in Florida. My dad's stepfamily follows a lot of our old traditions, but it's a bit weird to do it with completely different people...

17. What tops your tree?
Usually we had an angel. I used to use her as a doll before the tree was set up.

18. Which do you prefer: giving or receiving?
Giving, for sure. I am an awesome present giver. :P I really take the time to figure out what a person would really like - something they may have no idea they wanted but would be absolutely perfect for them. Then I love seeing their faces when they open the gift. One person said to me once after receiving their gift, "Wow, you really listen to me." It made me quite happy.

19. What is your favorite Christmas Song?
What Child is This?

20. Candy Canes?
I like 'em. I never crave them, but once I open one, I'm sucking on them nonstop. I like the cherry flavored best.

I'm back from Florida. Okay, okay, I've been back a few days - have just been busy. I'm working a night shift this week at work so my schedule seems all out of whack. Plus I'm hard at work on my August novel "Moongazer." Sometimes when I'm writing a ton of book stuff, the last thing I want to do is blog on top of that.

I finished PRETTIES by Scott Westerfeled. I thought it was better than Uglies. I picked up a copy of Specials, the third book in the series, but it may be a while until I get to it. So many books, so little time to read. However, since my World of Warcraft videogame BFF left to go home for Xmas, I'll probably get some extra reading/tv time next week, lol. I promised not to level my latest toon (character) too much without him.

Luckily I have the second season of Veronica Mars to keep me company! In the last 24 hours I think I have watched 6-7 episodes. It's not my fault - they always end on a cliffhanger, forcing me to watch the next one. I like to say it's research for writing YA novels, but in reality it's just addiction.

If you're a dog lover like me, check out Daily Puppy. It's the best website ever for cute puppy pictures.

:)
MARI

Off to Florida

I've been working the night shift all week and so I'm completely mixed up schedulewise. Also, I'm jetting off to Florida tomorrow AM for the weekend to visit my mom for a little pre-Christmas celebration. I'm FINALLy getting a handle on everyone's Christmas gifts. Thank goodness...one less thing to worry about.

Eargon is opening tomorrow. I think I want to see it. I didn't read the book because it was like 1431554364365437 pages long and I don't have the attention span for books like that, but the plot seems kind of cute and the guy playing Eargon is totally hot.

Charlotte's Web is also opening. Is it just me or does it look like a remake of BABE?

Hope you all are enjoying the holiday season. I'll be back on Monday if not sooner.

:)
MARI

Cute Guy (Random Day) or...I LOVE MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE!!

I always forget to do Cute Guy Friday on Friday. Oh well, as long as we can drool on SOME day of the week, right? Today's choice is a bit eclectic. I didn't use to think he was cute at all, but something about the new platinum haircut and sexy suits really does it for me. Or maybe it's just I'm absolutely in love with his new album "The Black Parade" and play it 24/7. :)

Anyway...I present to you: Gerard Way, singer of My Chemical Romance. He'd make SUCH a great vampire. Mmmmm....

Not sold? Watch and listen to their amazing single. If you don't like him for his platinum locks, you can always appreciate his amazing lyrical genius.

Are you Sunny or Rayne?

Now you can take this quiz to find out for sure! :)




MARI

Blog Slacker Update

Sorry, I'm a blog slacker, I know, I know. But hey - you should be off reading Stake That! and not blogs anyway, right?? Of course, right!

Thanks to everyone who's already written in and said they loved the new book!!! You rock. But you read too quickly! Especially since Girls that Growl won't be out til October! Long wait!! Ah well, what can you do?

I, myself, just finished reading the book UGLIES by Scott Westerfeld. Great book. I highly recommend it if you like stories about post-apocalyptic worlds. (Which I can't get enough of, personally.) I have part 2 - PRETTIES - in my hot little hands and plan to start reading it soon.

Speaking of post-apocalyptic books - I'm currently hard at work on my own. My August book "Moongazer". I'm really having a great time writing it - I literally get to create a whole new world. How fun is that? This is my first non-comedy and actually it's pretty dark and sad. My hero is so very Emo. But I love him much.

Booksigning in Bellingham, Mass on Sunday 2-4pm. Don't forget!

:)
MARI

Cute Guy Sunday

I forgot to post Friday's cute guy, so I'm making up for it now. Today we have Neptune's resident bad boy we love, Logan Echols. I don't know what it is about him, but gah! The tension between him and Veronica ignites the screen.

I'm on Season 2 of the DVDs now. It's become a true addiction.

Mar