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Dear Reader,
Hello, hello, it's so good to be back from vacation! I missed you!
This year I booked a staycation. I stayed at home for my entire vacation, but I planned an itinerary in advance to ensure I'd be relaxed and entertained. Originally my idea was to get up every morning and go out in the community searching for a story. Say hello to strangers, find an exciting story every day, and type it up--deadline midnight! The idea sounded intriguing initially and my adrenaline was pumping, but the closer it got to day one of my vacation, the more it started feeling like I was planning a working vacation. So I nixed that idea in exchange for these.
1. Spend an afternoon on Siesta Key Beach.
2. Set up a table downtown on Main Street with a sign: "Writer looking for stories" and see what kinds of interesting people I'd meet. I realized it was "iffy" whether or not I needed a permit to set up a table and chair on a public sidewalk, but I figured even if I got arrested I'd certainly be guaranteed one good jailhouse story along with a mug shot I could share with you.
3. Invite my family to an Eat-and-Run dinner. (Eat-and-Run means after they finish eating they don't have to stick around, just say thanks and head out the door.) Scattering Eat and Run dinners in-between normal dinner invitations means we find the time to get together more often.
4. Spend time with my grandchildren.
5. Hang outdoor Christmas lights.
Every year, for the past four years, I've announced to myself that I was going to string Christmas lights over my bushes and palm trees, and every year for the past four years, I haven't put up one single strand of lights. I realize putting up Christmas lights before Thanksgiving is a social faux pas, so surely stringing Christmas lights before Halloween must be an outright holiday transgression. That's why I chose the color purple.
Purple covers any possible social gaffes--at least this year--because New York fashion designers have designated purple (Purple Heart, Pantone color 18-3520) as one of the "in" colors for Fall 2009. And since the first day of Fall was on September 22nd and winter doesn't officially begin in the Northern Hemisphere until precisely 7:42 a.m. EST on December 21, my yard is legally covered in Christmas lights even though it's only October 26th, and it's wearing the latest fashion trend!
Tune in tomorrow for more vacation escapades and I'll be giving away vacation souvenirs. It's so good to be back!
Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.
Suzanne Beecher
Suzanne@DearReader.com
http://www.DearReader.com
AUTHORBUZZ: New authors, old favorites--all wonderful books you can win: James D. Stein, The Right Decision; Linda Lael Miller, A Creed Country Christmas; Terri DuLong, Spinning Forward; Laura Brodie, The Widow's Season; and Terry Brennan, The Sacred Cipher. Go to: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader
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