INCONCEIVABLY BLONDE....

Wait, Wha??? Isn't it supposed to be "Caroling, caroling, through the SNOW?!!"  Yeah, well, this is Christmas, "SO FLA STYLE," BAYBEE!!! Where we have Rudolph the Red-beaked FLAMINGO and COCONUTS roasting on a sunny beach, and where we string rows of lights on PALM TREES and go to the BEACH Christmas Day...where we have BRIGHT, not WHITE Christmases :)  Awww, I'm so sorry, they don't sell snow tires or window scrapers here--but we do have a nice assortment of boats, tarps, and you can always buy RAIN X to wipe across your windshield--that stuff is MAGIC, I tell ya..... Ahhh, but alas, I digress.... This Christmas I had to spend apart from my folks and my brother--mostly because of my mom's fragile condition.  I didn't like it.  Not one little bit! Instead of moping around, feeling sad and blue and sorry for myself, I opted to spread a little cheer to those who likely could use it MUCH more than I....to some folks in local nursing homes...

As holiday shopping kicks up a notch with each passing day, folks tend to get a bit more stressed, watching their spending especially THIS year, "making those lists, checking them twice, gonna find out who's naughty and nice" :::thinking 'HMPH, BAH HUMBUG' as I unwrap my Emergency chocolate, take aim with my piece of coal, and chuck it at the trash bin in my office:::  After all, 'tis the Season, right? "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year...."  "Santa, Baby, just slip a sable under the tree for me, been an awful good girl." "Deck the Halls, 'Tis the season to be jolly--Fa-la-la-la laaaa-la-laaaaah-la-laaaaaaa", and all that good stuff.... OK--Yeah yeah yeah, that's great and all. Now please move a little farther so I don't peg you with my charcoal or candy wrappers.  Hey, I'm being NICE and not NAUGHTY--you gotta warning :) This year I just haven't had time to feel all "Christmas-i...

I love listening to the First Presidency's Christmas Devotional, and I look forward to it every year.  It fills me up with that warm, gooey feeling, even if it's from a satellite broadcast.  Watching the Mormon Tabernacle Choir perform, catching glimpses of panned shots of Temple Square superbly lit up and decorated, completely blanketed in snow...awww, it makes me remember way-back-when, when I lived out there for a stint as a college kid attending BYU ::sniff sniff, getting a bit misty-eyed:::... I just LOVE IT! Listening to the First Presidency give their respective talks never fails to amaze me and marvel at the incredible power, simplicity, and love they convey in their words--each very different in their flavor; but, combined, make such a delightful spiritual feast of the sweetest flavor to my very soul. This year, my favorite talk was from President Uchtdorf, and one of his quotes especially hit me: "“If we look for the good, we can see this time ...

OK, first of all, I’m am amateur—I really feel like I have absolutely NO IDEA what I’m doing out of bed, let alone behind a car, a computer, a book, etc…. When I get to oogle on Google and muck around through the incredibly vast world of online publishing across this little blue planet we inhabit, it totally amazes and overwhelms me—not underwhelm, not whelm, OVERWHELM even.  Here’s why. You never know who’s reading what these days, nor who’s writing what. I’m not trying to scare anyone with Big Brother or Wiki Leaks conspiracy stuff; it’s just a fact of life.  Truly, people—readers, writers, performers, audiences—all across the world are on a LEVEL playing field, so to speak.  The virtual world is indeed your oyster. So, now more than ever, putting it out there is becoming more and more important—but how you put yourself out there needs to be just as varied as the multiple platforms out there.  Someone like myself, who is navigating the creative writing waters...