Another announcement

There have been so many wonderful things happening in my life, and the lives of my loved ones that I can hardly keep them all straight!

My next announcement, after my dad and Colleen's mission call, and our family's upcoming wedding, is about a project I've been working on for a while, now, that I have just started speaking up about.

I wrote a novel.

A young adult science fiction novel that is 317 pages long.

And back in July, after I'd finished writing it, I entered Returning the Golden-Eyed Girl into a manuscript competition where it landed in the top 75 out of 2,000 entries!

The concept for Returning the Golden-Eyed Girl originally came to me in a dream, and though I had Charlotte, who was about six months old at the time, I decided to turn it into a book. "How hard can it be to write a book, anyway?" I thought to my naive self. "I have the idea. What more do I need?"

So. Much. More.

Returning the Golden-Eyed Girl is the first book of a planned trilogy about the floating city of Ixus, and seventeen-year-old Amelia Pritchett who finds herself stranded there. No one on the surface below has heard from Ixus in over thirty years, but upon arriving there, Amelia finds that she holds a truth that threatens to destroy the city's secrets.


After placing in the top 75, I've been instructed to set up a pre-order campaign in order to crowdfund the publishing of my book through the publishing company Inkshares. If I can generate enough interest, and meet Inkshares' pre-order goal of 750 copies, they'll publish my book! I've included a few excerpts on my campaign page here so you can preview the story and my writing for yourself if you're curious. And if you're feeling generous, you can pre-order straight from that page, by clicking the green pre-order button on the top right of the screen.

This is all incredibly new to me, this world of writing communities and publishing companies, but I'm trying to muddle through the best I can. I'm not exactly sure why I kept my book a secret for so long, perhaps I didn't want to constantly be asked how soon I'd been finished with it... but here I am! Finished with it! Book #2 is proving to be harder, since now I have to connect all of my lines between characters that I established in the first book, but it's coming along... slowly. But I've been almost constantly surprised at how much I love writing, and I've marveled at how it took me so long to figure that out.

Tomorrow the competition will announce their top 50, so I, too will announce whether I made it or not. In the meantime, I've delved back into the Facebook world in order to network and spread the word about my book and its campaign, so send me a friend request at S.G. Meine if you're on there. I'm going to do my best to market as much as I can, but I need the help of my lovely family and followers to get the word out there, too.

So, my campaign has successfully been launched, go ahead and take a peek if you have the time. And I'd love some feedback if any of you have any!

Thank you all, I love each one of you so, so much!

A winter wedding

ATTENTION! ATTENTION! I HAVE AN ANNOUNCEMENT TO MAKE!

MY BROTHER: MY TALENTED, HANDSOME, LOVING, DRUMSTICK BREAKING BROTHER IS GETTING MARRIED, AND I CAN HARDLY CONTAIN MY EXCITEMENT!

Side note: This announcement, as exciting as it is, comes a little late, and I have to be honest and tell you that he actually proposed at the beginning of October. But, as I've said in previous posts, it hasn't been until now that I've had the time to sit down and make a post about it.

ANYWAY.

THAT'S RIGHT, FOLKS, WE HAVE A WINTER WEDDING COMING UP FOR JOE AND TARA, AND IT'S GOING TO BE NOTHING SHORT OF AMAZING! THESE TWO WERE MEANT TO BE TOGETHER, AND HAVE BEEN FOR MANY YEARS, AND I AM THRILLED BEYOND BELIEF AT THEIR DECISION TO GET HITCHED! CAN YOU TELL?

NEVER, HAS A MOMENT IN MY LIFE DESERVED TO BE TYPED ABOUT IN ALL CAPS, BUT HERE WE ARE.

CONGRATU-FREAKING-LATIONS, JOE AND TARA! I CAN HARDLY WAIT TO CELEBRATE WITH YOU!!

XOXO

Nashville or bust

As members of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, both young men and young women are encouraged to dedicate either two years, (for the young men) or eighteen months (for the young women) to serving and teaching others about the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. We are all children of a loving Heavenly Father, and He has a great plan for us, a plan that allows us to live in eternal families in His presence. There are currently about 74,000 full time missionaries serving worldwide in 418 missions, and they are changing people's lives every day.

But it isn't only young people who serve missions....

Senior couples can serve missions as well, helping to spread the gospel, as well as serve those they encounter, and it just so happens that my dad and step-mom are going to do just that!

They received their mission call, or their assignment, in the mail just a few days ago, and I am thrilled to announce that they will be serving in Nashville, Tennessee starting on February 13th, 2017, and they will be serving for 23 months! I could not be happier for them, even though this means that they will be away for two years. But I know that this is an opportunity for them to help change and shape lives, bring joy and happiness to many people in Nashville, as well as make some wonderful memories. Congrats to dad and Colleen! I think it's safe to say that many adventures await you in Nashville.

For more information about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saint's missionary program, click here.

Two years old...

Before I begin this post, I must acknowledge that the last time I made any sort of effort to actually post anything to this blog was around Memorial Day, and for that I apologize. As Charlotte gets older, the days go by much quicker than I was ever expecting them to, and as a result, I have less, and less time to sit down at upload a bunch of photos. Being a mother is hard work, and it leaves me exhausted, restless, and exhilarated at the end of each day. A two-year-old is a force to be reckoned with, though I think we lucked out with ours. Charlotte has the sweetest disposition, despite a few meltdowns here and there, and she has shown me time, and time again that little children truly are gifts from a loving Heavenly Father. I have learned more patience in the past two years than I had in my entire lifetime, and I wouldn't change it for the world. So, in light of receiving all of the photos from Charlotte's two year photo shoot that my close friend took for us, I'd like to post some of my favorites.

Needless to say, I couldn't be happier about how well the photos turned out. She had a blast!

Memorial Day: Austin Aquarium

Since everyone and their dog (literally) seems to want to spend time at the lake on Memorial Day, Ander took the day off and spent it with me and Charlotte, and we decided to take baby girl to the aquarium.

I feel a little silly confessing that the aquarium has actually been open for a while now, but this was the first time we actually went, and we had a really good time! It was the exact activity we were hoping for, it wasn't too crowded, and Charlotte absolutely loved every minute of it.

By the way, I didn't take many pictures, because it was dark and hard to see, but I did get a cute video of Charlotte petting the stingrays, which is the best part of this post.

Biggest hermit crab I've ever seen in my life. He was twice the size of my hand.

Reptiles galore. They even had an iguana that just hung out on a rock that everyone was allowed to just pet whenever they wanted. He was very chill. You could also feed quite a few of the animals, like the lorikeets, the huge tortoise, the rays and a lot of the fish.

Thankfully, you could not feed these dudes. This guy had to be the most sinister looking reptile I've ever seen.

You could feed the rays, too, which both me and Ander did, but Charlotte couldn't quite get the hang of it. It was so strange, the rays don't have teeth. Just two bony plates that they munch on your fingers with, while sucking the shrimp from them. It was totally bizarre, but awesome at the same time.

I hope you all had a lovely Memorial Day, and that it was free of sinister reptiles!

First word

Charlotte's first trip to Utah: Part 6

The last two days we spent in Utah were calm ones that were full of family. Charlotte and I spent a morning at Grandah's house playing on his swing set, something that Charlotte absolutely loved!

On our last day, Charlotte spent the afternoon with Granny Ashby along with her two aunts, Cozette and Aleah, and her uncle Joel, while mom, Katie and I did a little bit of shopping. Charlotte and I visited the petting zoo at Thanksgiving Point with the Ashbys, too, but apparently I didn't take any pictures because I was too busy making sure Charlotte didn't get her finger chomped off by some animal. 

We topped off said shopping with a trip to the Purple Turtle, which has THE best shakes in Utah, and it did not disappoint.

When we finally flew home, we were blessed not to have anyone sit by us, so Charlotte was able to take the entire row and do as she pleased. Which was, incidentally, watch Baby Einstein and eat goldfish crackers. (No fruit snacks this time! I learned my lesson!)

After a wonderful trip that was full of fun, friends, and family, it was definitely good to be home. 

Charlotte's first trip to Utah: Part 5

This trip was where Charlotte began trying to wear my shoes, and she has been continuing to do it every since. They look good on her, don't they?

I had the wonderful opportunity to attend the Mount Timpanogos temple with my dad and Colleen, which was the exact temple that Ander and I were married in nine years ago. I hadn't actually been inside a temple since before Charlotte was born, so this was very refreshing, and we had a lovely lunch afterward to top it all off!

 #templeselfie

Charlotte and I then went to Granny Lisa's school where Charlotte pushed this little car up and down the hallways while me and Granny rearranged desks. Charlotte had a blast having the whole school to herself, and she laughed and giggled the whole time she pushed that car in the hallway.

A trip to Utah just wouldn't have been complete if I didn't go and see some old stomping grounds of mine, so in the company of Granny Lisa we saw:

the house I was born in

the house I grew up in 

my old junior high (Go Leopards!) 

and the PF Changs I used to work at 

It's so strange to me that a place can look so familiar, yet so different at the same time, and it was a serious walk down memory lane to visit these places. The time I spent here shaped me into who I am today, and it was really special to be able to see how far I'd come from where I'd started. Hard to believe that all that time eventually sent me to Texas!

Charlotte's first trip to Utah: Part 4

My mom knew of a cute little pond that was close by, so we took Charlotte there to feed the ducks. Unfortunately, everyone else had apparently had the same idea, so the water was FULL of uneaten bread. But that was alright, Charlotte began quacking without any prompting from us, so I considered that mini victory.

Granny Lisa also had a totally awesome bubble machine that Charlotte absolutely loved. She loves bubbles as they are, but this was a dream come true.

I finally got to see the crazy, funky, odd, awesome house that my sister lives in! I'd heard all about it, and had been looking forward to seeing it myself. I was not disappointed. Katie and her roommates are all about animals, (alive and dead, oddly) and most of them own creepy crawly pets... like two species of highly aggressive tarantulas, which is absolutely beyond me. Don't worry, I didn't take pictures of those two.

This is Lemonpepper, the leopard gecko

 And this is Adelaide, the kestral. Some of Katie's roommates or falconers, and they have a shed out on the side of their house where they keep their birds. Adelaide was super cute, but she wasn't very happy with us since we had no food for her and kept making her do tricks.

And once I got back to my mom's house, I had to break out my Utah survival kit in order to get any sleep: Humidifier, lotion, and a glass of water. (Not pictured: lip balm and throat lozenges) How did I ever live in this climate? I felt like every ounce of moisture my body had to offer was being sucked out of me every time I breathed.

Charlotte's first trip to Utah: Part 3

On Sunday we spent most of the afternoon at Salt Lake City's Hogle Zoo, where Charlotte was only semi impressed by the animals lounging around under the shade of trees. She loved watching the sea lions do tricks for their food, so that was a big hit, but other than that, she really just wanted to push her stroller around. Unfortunately she wanted to push it in the opposite direction of where we were headed, so she was pretty unhappy by the end of the day.

Oh, and she loved stealing and trying on Granny Lisa's sunglasses.

After we finally got baby girl in bed after a long day at the zoo, we all gathered around my mom's kitchen table to play some games, which is a tradition in our family. We played A hysterical card game called Exploding Kittens that had us all cracking up, along with Mad Gab, where we all continued cracking up. This is the night where I got snapshot happy, so be prepared for a picture overload!
My winning Exploding Kittens hand. And yes, that is a Potato Cat in the middle!

 Team Gomez and Team Dustin Beaver. It doesn't get much better than that.

Sadly, this was our last night with Joe and Morgan. They headed back to Sacramento the following morning, but I cannot express how important it was to see them for those two days that they were there. Morgan is absolutely darling, and my brother adores her. They are such an awesome pair, and it makes me so happy that they are part of each other's lives at last. Now, I just have to make sure that I'm a stinking cool aunt.