Hawthorne Street Fair - this weekend

Hawthorne Boulevard will be closed from SE 30th to SE 38th Avenues! Sunday event highlights include: live music all day, beer gardens (located outside Bazi Bierbrasserie with a live DJ and beer tastings, and at the Eagles Lodge with live bands during the course of the day: both beer gardens are family and pet friendly, and are cash only), kids events at toy store Kids at Heart including face painting, circus activities, prizes and more! PLUS our friends at Lounge Lizard have some surprises up their sleeves! Make sure you pop on over to Hawthorne Boulevard this weekend for this fantastic street fair!

AcroYoga

Their Eyes Were Watching God

Their Eyes Were Watching God is a story about new horizons and looking for the good in even the worst of situations. It's also a story about love and looking for a connection with another person and loving them.

Zora Hurston wrote this novel in 1937 in seven weeks.

It's the story of Janie Crawford, a young black woman who grows up during the course of the book and her search for love and her own identity.

Zora was a woman who wrote this story in a time when it wasn't easy to be an African American female writer.

Though the text might take a little time getting used to, it is well worth the effort. I would rate this novel a 7-8 on a scale of 1-10. It was a little slow in a couple of spots (one being the very beginning) but over all it was very entertaining and interesting.

SCBWI Oregon Retreat

If you want to get away and relax while being productive all at the same time, then you should check out the SCBWI-Oregon Retreat:

2014 Annual Fall Retreat

Date/Time
Date(s) - 10/16/2014 - 10/19/2014
3:00 pm - 12:00 pm
Location
Oregon Garden Resort
895 W Main St - Silverton, OR 97381

A Weekend Wedding

My brother got married over the weekend and it brought the family together from all over the country...well, at least from Minnesota, California, Washington and Oregon. And it was so much fun seeing family I haven't seen for quite some time.

And it was a wonderful thing to see young cadets doing an honor guard crossing of the swords for the bridal party.

And then--of course--there was the kiss that sealed the deal, while everyone stood by and watched.

And then we partied with food and fun.

All-in-all, I couldn't think of a better way to spend a weekend.

Cooking Class

I took an outdoor cooking class

At the Farmington Gardens  

where they have From the Garden to the Table classes

It was a sunny, warm day and it was fun to sit outside and watch the ladies cook and smell the aromas floating around the air, and they even fed us what they cooked. So it was a yummilicious time.

And on August 9th they'll be having another class on peaches. Wouldn't you like to learn how to make chilled peach soup?

I think it sounds interesting.

DEMON'S INK

I'm excited to announce I've SOLD my first young adult novel: Demon's Ink!

The story is set here, in Portland, Oregon. And Mt. Tabor will feature prominently in the storyline. The main characters attend the local high school and street names and locations will be obvious to any Portlandian.

I'll post more, as I get more news. But for now, I just wanted to share my happy news with all my friends.