Intro in case you don’t know about the Sunday donut:
(it’s sort of like that chapter at the start of every Babysitter’s Club book that you can skip if you know the world already! If you know, just scroll down to the donut pic. That’s where it gets started!)
Ok, I just had a blast reading my friend Jackie’s blog.
She borrowed something she loved from another blog:
A heart to heart sort of post about life,
as if we were sitting down to have coffee together and just chatting.
Um, I LOVE THAT!
Except I can’t drink coffee.
I mean, I CAN,
but the world is not ready for that.
It would be like this:
So instead I’m going with donut.
I used to be a paper carrier, and we would get donuts EVERY Sunday!
So I’ve sort of been conditioned.
I’ve even got a nice little donut shop within walking distance!
So, imagine that we meet at my house, walk down to get donuts, walk back (chatting the whole while!) and then sit in my kitchen, chatting some more and snacking.
You guys, I just barely missed getting this blueberry cake glazed donut!
The donut shop was closed for an event but they let me in.
Thank goodness!
Yup, two Sunday donuts in one, since I didn’t do one last week (GASP!)
So I’ll split it into two sections:
November 1st-8th
If we were having donuts, I’d tell you that NaNoWriMo has begun and I’m going crazy with my words! I’m writing a ton a day to get to my goal of getting 50K by November 15th. I even made these cute printables for people to use any time of the year, but they are perfect for NaNo time 🙂
Three sizes for all your coloring needs
Rockin’ it out the first day!
Lots and lots of printables!
If we were having donuts, I’d tell you that our pictures arrived from the wedding. We ordered postcard thank you notes, and should have them in soon. I want to make an album with the pictures; that may happen in December or sometime next year. We are so happy to have them though; thanks Debbie and Jared! (our wedding photographers and also my sister and brother-in-law!)
If we were having donuts, I’d tell you that I spent this week making a ton of stuff. I will do a blogpost soon about how I batch process things for my daily instagram posts, but just know that I usually create about 12 things at a time, then scan or photograph them all so they’re ready. Then I pick from those to post each day. This strategy is what has saved my butt many a time when I don’t have time to do something a specific day, and I know during this month it will save me because I’ll be so busy writing! 
Batch processing mini pep talks 🙂
If we were having donuts, I’d tell you that I got Danny to dance with me for my weekly dance. And let me tell you, it was awesome. He did such a great job. Love that guy. See it here.
If we were having donuts, I’d tell you that I made a bunch more thank you notes this week for authors and am REALLY loving the Saying Thanks thing I’m doing with my greatmailday newsletter. Every Thursday I send out a story of a time I appreciated someone, usually including the actual note I wrote. It’s been fun to think of other ways to appreciate people, and just to spread more of that in the world! 
A thank you note for an awesome book; I actually did two of these because there were two authors!
A thank you note for the great Laurie Keller!
IIf we were having donuts, I’d tell you that my work took us on a field trip to San Diego on Friday! We went to see the first mission, and also Old town, and Point Loma, where Juan Cabrillo landed. It was so fun to hang out with my work friends, since I only see them once a month or once every other month, and especially to spend time with a few that I haven’t really connected with yet but want to. There were many fun adventures; I’ll show some below. I didn’t end up getting back until really late (11:30 or so!) so it was a really full day! 
Juan Cabrillo against the blue sky. Or what they thought he looked like. They actually have no idea.
I am astounded by Cabrillo.
All the things I LOVE!
My friend Connor and I and Father Junipero Serra!
Loved this part of the mission exhibit!
Fun trip to the mission!
Looking good!
Horse riding in old town
The best sandwich and olive bread I’ve ever had, from a place called Con Pane in San Diego.
If we were having donuts, I’d tell you that Danny and I had sort of a date day at Hicklebee’s and in Willow Glen on Saturday. It was Balloon Day, and if you have a game card from their store, you can get discounts. Our good friend Chris and Byron (hi guys!) gave us a gift card there for our wedding, so we decided this would be the best day to use it. We got some books, some games, and some thinking putty!
And then we met Laurie Keller (post coming soon!) and Arnie the Doughnut!
After all that fun was done, we had lunch at a fabulous deli in Willow Glen; Danny had a hot sausage sandwich and I had a calzone and a meatball. It was AWESOME food and so fun to just have a little weekend adventure! 
Us with Arnie 🙂
Arnie all drawn out!
Hooray for meatballs!
Sausage sandwich!
If we were having donuts, I’d tell you that my sister had her baby shower. I was sad not to be there, but that’s the reality of living in California when most of your family lives in NY. We are most likely here to stay, so we will have to figure out ways to be there without being there, and so will they. It will be hard but it’s better than not putting in any effort, right?
Right.
Ok that was week one, on to week 2!
November 8th-14th
First, this is the donut that my penpal, Magnolia, drew me.
Had to include it.
Then it’s the glazed donut.
This week was CRAZY.
I think NaNoWriMo will do that to you.
If we were having donuts, I’d tell you that I took a notes of cheer walk through Bookshop Santa Cruz! A full post will be on my other blog soon (I have a lot of catching up to do blogwise!) but I left notes all around the bookstore because it was raining outside. I also got to meet David Zeltzer, the author of NINJA BABY, and his daughter helped sign my book too. Again, another post coming. It was a fun day at Bookshop. I love going there, especially checking out the used and discounted books. I snagged a few gems that day too. 
David and his daughter reading Ninja Baby to Singe Singe.
A notes of cheer left behind!
David presenting
More notes!
Just don’t, ok?
Deals from the used/discounted section of the store!
If we were having donuts, I’d tell you that NaNoWriMo is HARD but it’s moving along. Lots of words. Lots of good stuff, but A LOT of bad stuff. Stuff that, as I’m writing, I think, “Um, why am I writing this again?” but I’m trying not to judge myself and just let the words flow. It’s better that way; I get it all out and then I wait a month or so to see what I have once the dust settles. For some reason, NaNo is a great way for me to push words out that I otherwise wouldn’t, so I am grateful for that 
The latest card I’ve made. I have some catching up to do! I’m a bit past 40 K now!
If we were having donuts, I’d tell you that we finished watching LOTR with our neighbors on Tuesday! The last half of the last movie. Tears were shed, cheers erupted, and I quoted a lot of lines verbatim, which shocked me since I haven’t seen the movie for at least 10 years. Man, what a good series. It was really fun to have 6 movie nights with our friends. Now I think we’re going to move on to Star Wars!
If we were having donuts, I’d tell you that for Veteran’s Day we went all out. Ok, by all out I really mean we went to Dave and Buster’s and then Dairy Queen after, but it felt like going all out. We went with two friends that Danny’s made at school and their five year old son. We lucked out; Wednesday is half price game day, so the games were reasonably priced instead of their usual expensive price.
We ate there and grabbed game cards and had so much fun! Danny likes playing games where you have to stop the light at the right spot, or driving games or spaceship games. I like games that are more active: Basketball, this Kung Fu Panda punching game, a fishing game, and some GAME games, like Wheel of Fortune, Monopoly, and Let’s Make a Deal. We played four person air hockey and that was amazing. We hit some big jackpots and still have points left on our cards, so we’ll go back some other Wednesday I’m sure.
Our original plan was to go hiking, but it was still a bit wet outside. I would have LOVED to just stay home all day and work on stuff, but Danny is a veteran, and I wanted him to have a special day. His two friends are veterans too, so it was fun to celebrate them as well. I still did get to do some stuff when I got home, so it was win-win.
I got food that came with TOTS. The only vegetable pictured? The little tomato on the top!
Danny and Chris playing the fishing game.
Celebrating a good hit in the Kung Fu Panda game
Chris snagged TWO prizes in the claw game!
Some good basketball form
Danny’s game face, ready to race.
Us playing the Monopoly game together
The light game! Such a good workout!
Yummy, blizzards!
If we were having donuts, I’d tell you that every time I try to type donuts it comes up dounts. No idea why. Maybe my fingers are just tired from typing so much these past few weeks?
If we were having donuts, I’d tell you that we went out to eat with our friend Liza for her birthday! It was a whole capoeira crew and we had some great food and really fun times. We were in a booth that had a chalkboard wall running all around it, so I wrote out Happy Birthday Liza in big letters. I made her a fun card, and went easy on myself that day as well.
When I got home from work, I only had about thirty minutes before I’d have to leave for capoeira class. I had a card to design, draw, make, and write in, and also wanted to get some words done. Pretty soon I realized I would not have enough time. I thought for a second about just going to the class on time and then finishing everything later, but thought again. What if I just finished waht I needed to and showed up for class a half an hour late? I’d get everything done and feel better about class and still get to train. I ended up doing that and it was AWESOME. 
Birthday Bacon. More cards like this coming soon 🙂
If we were having donuts, I’d tell you that we had a movie night on Friday with our friends, watching Inside Out in 3D! Wearing the glasses is always fun, and everyone loved the movie! I like having things on Fridays, but also want to get work done. I think it’s going to be a constant battle for me to balance out time with friends and time working on things. 
All our friends on the couch
Until the little one decided she wanted to sit with us in the recliner 🙂
If we were having donuts, I’d tell you that we got to go to a piano recital on Saturday and make a gingerbread turkey! The experience was great but the gingerbread was not! 
Blurry and too zoomed in picture of the piano recital. Zoey played AND sang!
Once again Luiza could not be away from Danny.
Zoey’s papa recording and mama taking photos. Danny on Luiza duty.
Teamwork on the turkey
It looks pretty good!
Even some lettering on the back by Zoey!
In its demolished state!
If we were having donuts, I’d tell you about Snail Mail My Email, a project I’m working on this week and next week. Basically, people could send an email to this site, and the coordinators forwarded it on to an artist waiting to write that letter out for the person and send it in the real life mail! You know how much I love lettering and mail, so this was a perfect fit. I got got four letters, which was the PERFECT amount, and am making plans for the last of them. Here’s one that I did. 
Also, I sent in a letter myself! It’s going to Danny, and I saw that someone I follow on Instagram actually wrote it out! That was fun. Here’s the preview of that: 
If we were having donuts, I’d tell you that I don’t know what to say about what happened in Paris, Beirut, and all over the world. My heart just hurts. I don’t know what I can do to make a difference except what I’m already doing; trying to bring more light into the world. I wrote more about it here, but I’m still thinking a lot about it. There’s so much arguing and fighting in our world. I wish we had less of it.
Finally, if we were having donuts, I’d tell you that I’m on my way to the Night of Writing Dangerously today in San Francisco! I am so excited to hit 50K, ring the bell, and meet new people! This is my third year and I just love going. I raised more money this year than I did last year, and was less than 200 dollars short of making it into the top 5 fundraisers! Next year I will for sure! Thank you to all the people who donated and supported me; I’ll make you proud!
Phew!
What A LOT of things can happen in two weeks!
How about you, friends?
Thanks for having a donut with me.
Now let me know what’s going on with you!
What are you up to? What’s making your heart sing?
and most importantly, what kind of donut are you eating?
Until next time,
bye for now,
KE
