Happy Easter (to you) / Happy Birthday (to me)
Yesterday was my birthday, which is exciting enough as it is, but in addition to turning older, I also released my latest book, Running Through the Words. How exciting is that?!
Technically, Running Through the Words is a sequel to Just Whistle, but you don't need to have read Just Whistle in order to pick up this new one because I intentionally write all of my books so that they're able to be read as standalones. That means you can start with Running, read Just Whistle afterward, and still be ready for Running's prequel, Kick It One More Time, when I release it later this year! You'd better get reading, eh? Here's a link to the new novel: BUY IT NOW! 🤪
Here are some other wonderful things that happened to make this year's birthday fun and memorable:
The Educated Friends represented! Darren brought the trivia (a deck of cards with questions about the 90s) which proved to be ample amounts of fun. As per usual, he and Ben knew nearly every answer, but Brock and I did alright as well. Even Mary and Alex, the babies of our team, were quite knowledgeable!
Buddy (whose birthday is tomorrow) brought a delicious pimiento cheese spread. For those of you who don't know my Buddy, this is how she operates: Buddy loves to cook, but she only makes recipes from the cookbooks she owns and she only makes the recipes in the order they appear in said cookbooks and she only ever makes each recipe one time... even if she loves it. She's a quirky character, which is why my character of Axa Montague is modeled after her. (Axa makes a guest appearance in Running Through the Words, in case you were wondering.)
Chad was there! Chad is half of Alex-and-Chad fame, owners of Bantam Coffee Roasting, and he had never attended a party at my house before, so it was fun to have him!
Nate came and brought his parents! Probably not many teachers can say that their favorite student pops in periodically, sometimes unexpectedly. Probably most teachers can't say that their favorite student's parents also pop in unexpectedly at times. Nate's appearance yesterday wasn't unexpected, but I did not realize Mom and Dad N would be tagging along! It was such a great birthday surprise -- and Dad N is going to put a new roof on my house next summer. We talked about it yesterday.
My other Other Mother, Theresa, stopped by and she brought two new types of spaghetti sauce for me to try! (I am a sucker for fancy spaghetti sauces; my mom gifted me with five of them this year.)
My mom came over and Alex greeted her with the loudest, "Nance!" imaginable! Their reunion was adorable!
Annie and Brian showed up and we listened to Cabinet! (Phil and I are going to see Cabinet at XL Live on Friday and I believe Annie and Brian are going to join us. Brock might come too -- he's supposed to be checking his calendar.)
Erin and Matt came and Erin brought me a funny concert-themed gift!
Kathy brought her new puppy Piper, who is incredibly small and totally cute! She's silvery with black spots and she has that wonderful puppy-dog smell. We introduced her to Arlo and Augusta, who overwhelmed her a bit, but were about as good as they're capable of being. I mean, I don't call them "the terrible terriers" for nothin'.
Jody finally showed up! She and Kathy helped me clean up by essentially eating all of the leftovers I would have had to put away. It was very helpful.
That was the day in a nutshell. Just by turning older, I secured quite a few plants and some other great things as well. See?
Comments