1. I have this habit of being REALLY late on any trend. It’s like my own trend. Anyway, right now, with the season having already finished, I’m obsessed with the show GIRLS on HBO. Like, someone may have to take away my iPad because I can’t stop watching it on HBOGO obsessed. It’s just SO good and fresh and different and I sort of want to be best friends now with Lena Dunham. She’s brilliant and so open and honest. If you’re like me and late for trends, get on this one. I don’t think you’ll regret it.
2. I am writing this late, while my husband puts my daughter in the bathtub. We just came back from dinner at one of our favorite local places, 411 West (which was, incidentally, the inspiration in many ways for Luna Blu in WHAT HAPPENED TO GOODBYE, but I digress). It was one of those hectic Friday night dinners: we’re there early, she’s hungry and bored, alternately bugging me to walk around and wanting to sit on my lap. She acted out so I had to take her back by the pizza ovens and put her in time out, which I will do ANYWHERE at ANYTIME, I have no shame. Sometimes, the sheer effort of parenting just wears me out. I was with her all morning, had a few hours off to write, then back in it until now, when I get a few minutes before starting the bedtime ritual. How can something be so great and so hard, all at the same time? I am still trying to figure it out.
3. Earlier, my husband came back from the coop to report that our main hen, Pretty Chicken, is once again sitting on eggs. We suspected as much when she was the ONLY one not out in the yard when we were throwing food scraps earlier: normally, none of them miss that, not for anything. I feel so bad for Pretty Chicken, because I am TOTALLY codependent. This is her third time sitting on eggs, and so far nothing has come of them. So much work and effort: I just want it to happen, this time! I can’t imagine how hard it must be to sit and nurture and take care and then…nothing. It breaks my heart. (Again: codependent.) Then again, she’s never had to worry about administering a time out by the pizza ovens. Or….will she?
4. In other yard news, my husband has OFFICIALLY declared war on our squirrels. This has been in the works awhile. They ate all our peaches and nectarines, regularly rip up our garbage. But the other day, he was coming home and saw one run across the driveway with a ripe tomato from our garden in its mouth, and he just LOST IT. Oh, boy. Today he bought a pellet gun and he is ready to get serious. Now, my husband loves animals. He used to breed lizards and treats the chickens like children. So this is out of character, but I get it. Raising all this food in the garden is HARD work and half the time the squirrels just take the tomatoes, eat one bite, and then leave it for us to find like a big, rodent F-You. But when he does finally pull out that gun, I will be a bit sad. And taking cover. QUICK!
5. Okay, this last one has to be super fast because I can hear my kid getting toweled off. So I’ll just link to this awesome post I found earlier this week on BuzzFeed, which features 20 Pictures That Will Restore Your Faith in Humanity. And if they don’t do that, they MAY at least bring a tear to your eye. It happened to me, anyway.
Whew! Blog done! And just in time, as little damp feet are approaching. Have a good weekend, everyone!
The parenting gets less physically exhausting as they get older. Not easier, necessarily, but it takes less out of you as they get more independent. It’s still fun, though!
You’re doing great! We all do what we need to when parenting. Sometimes I feel bad about the amount of screen/Wii time my chipmunks get, but with Hubby gone so often and me in a new town, sometimes it’s the only break I get. So I’ll take it!
We are looking at being up your way come December . Its our 5 year wedding anniversary and PRAYING to make it to our first UNC basketball game. HUGE fans. My husband drove a baby blue tahoe when we met . ( tells you how big of a fan he is) We will def have to check out the resturant.
Thanks for the heads up. Maybe just maybe by then you will be doing an apperance while I’m there. 
A girl can dream anyways right? That would def make our anniversary amazing. !
Thank you for your honesty about having children. I am toast after a day with mine. And I’ll do time out anytime, anywhere…because I have a 22 month old!
OMG, I’m so happy you posted this! I love being able to hear about little “secrets” of your book, like how Luna Blu was inspired by 411 West! It makes your books that much more relatable to know they are based off of real places.
Love your blogs!
They’re relatable anyways
Don’t worry, I’ve heard having a daughter is a full time job, and I don’t doubt it. I only have the little cousin experience, ’cause Iive lived with her several months, and IT’S NOT EASY!
I can’t imagine what’s it like for a parent that has to do all the job. So hang in there Sarah, the calm days are around the corner.
So, I’m king of ashamed to be asking this, but today is my 19 birthday! Is it too much to ask for a birthday wish? To @ValeriaProsperi ? Yeah? I’m sorry, It would be awesome, though.
Have a great weekend!
I really loved the link to the pictures, it was a inspiring seeing that there are still good people out there
I loved the “21 pictures that will restore your faith in humanity” link! It brought a smile to my face- numerous times – and reminded that there are still good people on this planet. Thank you!
Thanks for the link to the website, Sarah. It did not only succeed it bringing tears to my eyes, but also has restored my faith in humanity a little bit more. Keep writing, I love reading your blog!
1. Lena Dunham went to Oberlin College (just like me)!!!
2. Squirrels eat the peaches before they are ripe in OUR backyard too… it sucks. Maybe I should invest in a pellet gun as well? (Just kidding…)
OMG, I LOVE Girls!!!! And as someone without HBO who only happened to catch an episode while housesitting, I BEGGED my friend to let me “borrow” her HBO password so that I can watch it on my Iphone whenever I want to! And how much do you love Lena/Hannah’s oddly quirky and sort of twisted Justin Long boyfriend? Wow, am I a freak for how much he appealed to me as the episodes went along? (Don’t answer that) It’s just so heartbreakingly raw and honest, I don’t know how anyone couldn’t love it! Phew. BTW, HUGE fan of your books, so much so that I’m normally not drawn to typing in caps, but you bring out the big excitement and book nerd in me, Sarah Dessen!!
Oh yeah, as for my above comment, it should’ve read Justin Long-ish boyfriend. Hopefully people realize that I don’t actually think it’s him. ;>)
i loved the link, i was having a really bad day sofar so i decided to go on the internet to your blog, and when i clicked on this link it really made me happy. These people are really awesome and i hope that I would meet someone like that or I could be one of those people.
How am I just now figuring out that you live right down the road from me?! This is so cool! I saw a post earlier and figured out it was a NC beach, but I had no idea you lived near me. Yeah, I’m a nerd. This is just too cool!
411 West sounds like your fav place- it sounds pretty good too!
Keep writing!
My dad does the EXACT same thing with the pellet guns and the squirrels. If he tells me that a squirrel got in our garden, I know he will be out there later that day popping off the squirrels one by one. It kills me to watch him as I love all animals, but after multiple failed attempts to stop him I just look away. Good to know that there are others out there who do the same thing!