Sculpting My Own Boyfriend: The Grimbaud Life

You've probably read the blurb for Love Charms and Other Catastrophes by now. And no doubt, this particular part has caused you pause:

"Concerned that its favorite charm maker has given up on finding a boyfriend of her own, Love takes matters into its own hands and delivers the perfect boyfriend to her in a giftwrapped box...literally."

Literally. 

I don't know how I would react if I found a boyfriend wrapped in a nice box on my doorstep. Nope. No idea. 

But as I did some shopping this month, I found something that I knew I had to try because it reminds me of Hijiri. It might, in fact, be a thing sold in Grimbaud. 

I'm still not sure if a love charm is attached to this thing, but... this is for you, guys. I bought this:

Yes, this is a real thing. Take a moment to read the front and back of the kit. Savor those words. Your, your, your. I love the focus.

In February, when you can't help but look at others - other couples, in particular, and jab your own heart in the process - the message here is ironically sweet for a joke gift. The minute you open the kit, this is about what you want. Kind of appealing. 

So let's see how I did with it.

As promised, the kit comes with polymer clay and an instruction booklet. This is the time where you sit with your eyes closed, envisioning the perfect guy you'll create with your super fantastic artistic skills. 

Then you actually start sculpting head. And it begins:

I'm not getting "dreamy," are you? He looked more like John Malkovich as a Muppet. 

Plus, I got fingernail prints all over him. BATTLE SCARS. How do polymer clay sculptors avoid making those???

Thoughts I was meditating on: What is love? What's for dinner? Why do I love it when guys roll up their shirtsleeves? Who thought it was a good idea to put googly eyes in this kit and why would that be romantic?

You'll have to check my Instagram for my thoughts on sculpting my boyfriend's hair - but let's just say that I was VERY determined not to copy the hair on the kit. 

Now then. Time to sculpt the body. One big problem, though. When I opened the blue pack of clay meant for the t-shirt, the clay was completely hard. I couldn't use it! WHAT TO DO?

My boyfriend decided for me that his favorite color is black. So I prayed that I had enough of that clay to cover the rest of his body and set to work. I couldn't help but add the crumbled, useless bits of blue clay I managed to dig out. VICTORY CRUMBS.

I am also incapable of sculpting thin arms. 

There is no need to show you how painstaking it was to sculpt his legs. For a brief moment, I considered not giving him a torso. I was out of clay. But then - I still had brown clay left! If you see him on the street, please don't ask him why his pants are two different colors. He'll be embarrassed. Maybe. 

My polymer clay boyfriend is needy. Instead of sculpting flowers, I had to use the yellow clay for shoes. 

So here he is, standing up (leaning on) his paper bedroom. A bedroom I wouldn't have dreamed of, but you know. It came with the kit. 

Side by side comparison. They look almost the same. If you squint. 

Okay, so I didn't sculpt my dream boyfriend. My skills just aren't that great. I also realized that I will probably never sculpt adorable tiny clay food, so I should move on to another hobby like making pop-up books or terrariums. 

After finishing and cleaning up all the bits of clay, I finished by afternoon with another very February treat:

So tell me... how was your Valentine's Day? Have you ever attempted to sculpt before and how did it go?

A Very Grimbaud Giveaway!

Hello readers! We survived our first week of February. Or maybe it's just me because, after getting hit with a stomach virus at the end of January, I now finally feel well enough to eat... normal food. No more toast, rice, and saltines. Hurrah! 

AND JUST IN TIME! Because I have had Big Plans for this month. If I have anything to do with it, the rest of February is only going to get better. 

I'm excited to announce that I will be hosting a few giveaways this month... and they all start TODAY! 

No matter the giveaway, they all begin today (February 9th, 2016) and run until the end of the month, February 29th, 2016.

Who Can Enter?

ANYONE! These giveaways are open internationally and in the US. 

How Do I Enter the Giveaway(s)?

Depends on the social media. My giveaways are on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. 

Facebook

"Like" my page and leave a comment on my giveaway post. The winner will be chosen at random.

It's February 9th, which meaaaans... giveaway time! In order to win a personalized, autographed copy of LOVE FORTUNES...

Posted by Kimberly Karalius on Tuesday, February 9, 2016

Twitter

Follow me and Retweet my giveaway tweet. The winner will be chosen at random. 

Giveaway! RT & follow @kkaralius by 2/29 for a chance to win a signed copy of LOVE FORTUNES + book swag! Open Int'l pic.twitter.com/L7aa91Jaao

— Kim Karalius (@kkaralius) February 9, 2016

Instagram

Okay, so since I LOVE Instagram way too much, this giveaway is more involved. There will be THREE winners. Why? Because I'm running three different photo contests. You can enter one or all of them:

1. Post a Valentine's Day inspired photo with the words "Love Fortunes and Other Disasters" and "Kimberly Karalius" included in some way, shape, or form. Example below:

2. Post a Valentine's Day inspired photo with your copy of Love Fortunes and Other Disasters.

3. Post a photo of of First Kisses and Other Misfortunes - of you reading it, your favorite page, anything! It's up to you! 

In order to be entered into the contest(s), you MUST use the hashtag #thegrimbaudlife and PLEASE use these additional appropriate hashtags like #kimberlykaralius #LoveFortunesandOtherDisasters #FirstKissesandOtherMisfortunes #SwoonReads

I will choose one winner from each category, but I'll also be able to feature everyone's photos who entered on my blog (as long as you use the hashtags, my friends, haha). 

What do I win? 

Now we're talking, right? 

Every winner, no matter the giveaway, wins this totally awesome pack of Grimbaud book swag and other magical Valentine's Day goodies. Let me break it down:

Left to Right:

1. Big stickers! The one on the right is inspired by Nico and Martin's novella, First Kisses and Other Misfortunes.

2.  A small postcard (front and back)

3. Two different bookmarks. The one on the right is designed like a train ticket!

4. A personalized, autographed copy of Love Fortunes and Other Disasters! 

5. (Not pictured) A bunch of Valentine's Day/Grimbaud inspired goodies! 

What are you waiting for?

Regardless of how you feel about the Most Romantic Month of the year, it COULD be potentially much more awesome if you enter these giveaways. Take a page out of Fallon the gang's book (har-har) and be a little rebellious. 

If you have any questions, feel free to leave them in the comments! 

Summer of Swoon Tour: Kim's Recap

*warning: this blog post is long, mostly because of tour photos.

I'm a terrible diarist. When I was little, I kept a diary, but never managed more than a handful of entries before giving up. Then trying again. Then stopping again. My problem was that I wrote too much, determined to remember everything that happened after each day, no matter how mundane. And that meant that my entries looked more like little novels than, well, a reasonable diary. 

Thankfully, I've become slightly less obsessed with rehashing. 

It's been two days since I returned from the Summer of Swoon tour, and I'm feeling more human than I had been on Wednesday when I dragged my suitcase into the house and collapsed on the couch. My fellow Swoon Author, Sandy Hall, once said that after a few days on tour, the stops start to blend together and you forget details. I can understand that now. So I'll do my best to share the highlights of the tour with you, but please refer to my Instagram account for anything else #SummerofSwoon - I'll try not to repeat too many photos that I already posted there. 

For those of you who missed it, the Summer of Swoon Tour featured me and three other Swoon Authors Sandy Hall, Katie Van Ark, and Temple West, visiting seven cities (Cincinnati, Dallas, San Francisco, Seattle, Chicago, Saratoga Springs, NY, and New Brunswick, NJ) between May 12 and 19.

Tuesday, May 12
Cincinnati: 7 p.m. at Joseph-Beth Booksellers

Wednesday, May 13
Dallas: 2:30 p.m. at the RT Booklovers Convention

Thursday, May 14
San Francisco: 7 p.m. at Books Inc. in Opera Plaza

Friday, May 15
Seattle: 6 p.m. at University Bookstore

Sunday, May 17
Chicago: 2 p.m. at The Book Stall at Chestnut Court

Monday, May 18
Saratoga Springs, N.Y.: 6 p.m. at Northshire Bookstore

Tuesday, May 19
East Brunswick N.J.: 7 p.m. at Barnes & Noble

DAY 1: CINCINNATI 

On May 12th, I woke up as a bundle of nerves, packed the last of my belongings, and went to the airport to catch my flight to Cincinnati. Most authors probably spent their book birthdays at home, getting ready for their book launch parties or just checking the internet for the first book spottings in stores. Me? I was going on a book tour. 

This was literally the first time I've ever flown by myself. I've never needed to - whenever I flew, it was always a family trip (unless we're talking about my study abroad trip to England, in which case I flew with my classmates). 

My internal compass has been broken since... forever. I was worried about navigating the airports with only my brain for help, haha. 

Turns out, my brain is perfectly capable of following the big signs posted everywhere in the airport. YUSSSS.

The plane left on time, especially pleasant because no one was sitting next to me. Katie, Sandy, Temple and I were texting each other the night before, so we let each other know when we arrived at the Cincinnati airport. Katie's flight landed early, but in an extreme twist of luck, Temple, Sandy, and I's planes ALL landed within minutes of each other. So we met at baggage claim, hopped in a cab, and chortled with relief at having found each other after a long day of flying.  

I should probably say that we've never met each other in person until now. Did I recognize Temple and Sandy right away, despite that? YES. It was like we'd always been friends. That sounds cliche, but it's completely true. More on my fellow Swoon authors later! 

The hotel was strange and gorgeous, with chocolate coins and pillows with George Clooney's face on them. I had to include a picture of the bathroom, because it had a giant print on the wall of hands and lace. VERY strange.  

After getting settled in, we met at the hotel restaurant for dinner. I got to meet Katie Van Ark for the first time, as well as my publicist (and our publicist for the trip), Nicole Banholzer. And our editor, Holly West. I ate sea bass drenched in pistachio butter (PISTACHIO BUTTER WHAT) and then we headed over to Joseph-Beth Booksellers for our first event!

Delicious pink cupcakes. Beautiful bookstore with fireplace display for our Swoon Reads books. Cute "autographed copy" stickers to go on our stock signings. To top it all off, I met a fellow Figgie (Figment.com) and got to talk about our stories and the site. So fun!

.@kkaralius & @kvanark are so excited about meeting fans! Also, cupcakes. #SummerOfSwoon pic.twitter.com/A19jC5AtD8

— Swoon Reads (@SwoonReads) May 13, 2015

DAY 2: DALLAS

My photos for Dallas are a little more all over the place. Which makes sense because we weren't just going to Dallas. We were attending the Romantic Times Booklovers Convention! Even though I've been to conventions before, this was my first time at RT. It was awe-inspiring to be surrounded by so many authors and blown-up cover photos of steamy male abs. Abs, abs everywhere. My hotel room was like an oasis, and probably one of my top favorites of the tour: 

The chairs were fantastic. I spent my downtime in the chair by the window - with a great view of the noisy trains below. On both Day 1 and Day 2, I was working through nausea. The motion sickness kind. The weird thing is that I normally don't get motion sick. I ride the spinning teacups at Disney like a pro and laugh all the way through the big bad roller coasters in my favorite theme parks. So why now? Probably because my body wasn't used to getting on a plane every day. And I wasn't eating enough of the right foods to combat the nausea. I drank a lot of water and ate carbs like crazy. In the meantime, I plastered a smile on my face and tried not to cover my mouth whenever I saw food (like the buttermilk fried chicken my fellow authors ate for dinner that night, while I suffered through (delicious) mac and cheese). 

The nausea meant that I didn't spent much time going to panels during my free time. I went with Temple and Katie to a marketing panel, which was pretty fun, but then retreated to my room until dinner after that. Gah. Here are the beautiful water displays the hotel had, as well as the three books I chose in the magical Pegasus room (A School for Brides by Patrice Kindl, Daughter of Deep Silence by Carrie Ryan, and Static by L.A. Witt):

More tidbits about the Dallas experience (from left to right, top to bottom):

1. Sandy, Katie, Temple, and I in a super fancy van from the Dallas airport to our hotel. We all look way better than we're feeling after waking up really early that morning, and still going.

2. The lunch I ate in an attempt to quiet my rolling stomach: diet coke, a cup of fruit, and a turkey burger with fig jam. There were no apples or saltines to be found, but this meal was tasty. 

3. My little signing table at our Swoon Reads 10 Word Love Story event at RT. Look at that poster of my book cover! 

4. Gifts from fellow Swoon Author Jenn P. Nguyen - the cover concepts for her upcoming book, The Way to Game the Walk of Shame, were being voted on during the event, and she came by to say hello and join in on the fun. AND SWEETS. Thank you, Jenn! 

The 10 Word Love Story event was packed with activities and people. Both authors and Swoon staff wore matching Swoon Reads t-shirts underneath the light of a giant chandelier. There was a YA triviaa game, voting on 10 Word Love Stories and Jenn's cover concepts, and the signing of our books. I met so many great readers here. One girl came to my table wearing a Riddler dress and Batman scarf; when I found out that she was also watching Gotham, I got so excited that I ended up smudging my hand with my Sharpie as I waved it around, professing my love for the TV series. Two delightful girls (one of them wearing a flower crown) said they'd read my chapbook, Pocket Forest, which was way beyond cool. We talked about how much we love mori girls and even my rolling stomach was forgotten, haha. 

One of the hard parts about touring is photos during events. I can't take my own photo... so I must rely on other people taking photos, haha! It's so fun to see them popping up!

Thank you @SwoonReads for an amazing party! @iamsandyhall @kvanark @ByTempleWest @kkaralius great to meet you! #RT15 pic.twitter.com/blVrly9Bkt

— Mary H (@knoxdiver) May 18, 2015

DAY 3: SAN FRANCISCO

I have never been to California before, but I seem to have made some great friends from there over the years. But like Florida, California is HUGE, so that meant that meeting my L.A. buddies and readers will have to wait for some other time - became our next destination was San Francisco. 

Our hotel had an interesting lobby with white marble, abstract lights, and bubbling green water displays. I could also see the hotel pool from my window! 

I had spent the 4 hour plane ride reading and finishing Becky Albertalli's Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda (I LOVED IT AHHH), so I was pretty distracted and the ride went quickly. Feeling better but not completely well, I ate spaghetti and meatballs before the event. The family joke about this is that my family's part Italian, so spaghetti and meatballs is an every day occurrence for us - so it should not be ordered at a restaurant under any circumstances. 

Obviously, I sent my dad the photo of my dinner with an evil grin. It was exactly what my stomach needed. No more nausea. I felt glorious. 

Books Inc. was an adorable bookstore with a drool-worthy display of young adult books. When I was asked about my favorite authors during the event, I mentioned Mervyn Peake - he's not YA, but he's an author who's a huge influence on me and my writing (Peake geek, that's me). I expected no one to know his name, but our media escort Kevin vigorously nodded his head. YAY.

After the Q&A, I ended up talking to a woman who, like me, used to live in NY and moved to Florida for a while - we both shared the same eye-rolling attitude towards the hot Florida weather, though she's certainly escaped it by moving to San Francisco. I also geeked out with one of the Book Inc. employees who's a big Laini Taylor fan too - I strongly urged her to seek out "Gentlemen Send Phantoms" because EPIC short story. 

How cute are our authors?! #SummerOfSwoon pic.twitter.com/eWDoDER5ZI

— Swoon Reads (@SwoonReads) May 15, 2015

Books Inc. gave us an amazing gift at the end of the night: one YA book of our choosing. 

I'm sure you know how hard this decision was. 

I ended up picking Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell. I mean, I knew I'd love the book, but I was holding out for a paperback version since my shelf space at home is so limited. And then the special edition hardback came out. Who needs space, right? Temple pointed out that the Fangirl's colors matched my shoes, purse, shirt... yeah, we matched on so many levels. Is that fate?

Unwilling to ship Fangirl home, I desperately made room for it in my carry on and looked forward to starting it later on the tour. 

DAY 4: SEATTLE

Seattle. Now this was the stop I was dying to see. I've watched enough travel shows to believe that Seattle is magical. Also, I'm a huge Owl City fan, and one of the first of his songs I fell in love with was "Hello Seattle." Yeah, I'm linking it: 

So of course, when we got there, I listened to "Hello Seattle" probably a hundred times while I unpacked in my hotel room. 

Technically speaking, our event was at the University Bookstore in Bellevue. We had some rare free time before the event, so Katie and I went exploring at the Bellevue Arts Museum. So many great exhibits - from robots to water gardens to Madeleine Albright's impressive pin collection. Katie and I also got to leave a Swoon Reads message in sand! 

The event was crowded - and we got to answer some great questions from our moderator, YA author Carly Anne West.

Full house tonight at @ubookstorereads in Bellevue! #SummerOfSwoon pic.twitter.com/5mNGeKaEvL

— Swoon Reads (@SwoonReads) May 16, 2015

In addition to meeting some great book bloggers, the universe demanded that I read Fangirl ASAP. A girl came up to me after the Q&A, insisting that I'm just like Cath. I did not know who Cath was at the time, but now that I HAVE read Fangirl, I have to say that I AM. The anxiety. The fanfic writing. OH MAN. Now where's my Levi?

Had a great time yesterday at the #Summerofswoon event =D It was especially cool finally meeting @RachelllRaeee! pic.twitter.com/6opgLyFitO

— Emily (@FallingforYA) May 17, 2015

DAY 5 & 6: CHICAGO

Saturday was basically a travel day for us. The time change from Seattle to Chicago ate up all of our time (it was a wibbly-wobbly experience), so even though we took off in the morning, we arrived in Chicago by dinnertime. We stayed at the hotel airport, dragging our suitcases through O'Hare's endless tunnels onto carpeted hotel territory was strange - and welcome relief from a long flight.

I could see the parking lot from my window - and the planes taking off beyond it. The view was comforting in a way, if only because for two nights, I knew I wouldn't have to wait for pickup downstairs with the other travelers and their suitcases. 

Also had a dinner the first night of curried pasta with lentils and spinach. And a lentil burger the next day for lunch. The food was amazing. 

For dinner the second night, we ate at the Gaslight Club, a strange restaurant.... yes. Just take a look:

The event at the Book Stall was so much fun - I love that the event took place just a few steps down from the bookstore, in an old, pink dance studio. 

By Chicago, Nicole had returned to New York and we were joined by publicity assistant, Brittany Pearlman, who brought a lot of pep and energy to our tired, swoony selves, haha. 

The @SwoonReads ladies share their own "Swoon process" to @PageTurnersBlog at the Swoon event @thebookstall pic.twitter.com/CMU9ghf3G0

— Brittany Pearlman (@bpearlman89) May 17, 2015

I also got to see family for the first time on the tour! My cousin John. I think I got my impeccable taste of glasses frames from him. 

DAY 7: SARATOGA SPRINGS

I was born and raised on Long Island before moving to Florida in junior high, so I missed seeing a lot of New York. Saratoga Springs was completely new to me. And it was adorable. Our hotel rooms there were huge and beautiful - and caused Sandy to exclaim, very loudly, when she first opened her door in our hallway.

A sleep machine? Woah. I tried using it, but I couldn't sleep with the noise it made, haha. Irony.

Like Seattle, we had a chunk of free time in which Katie and I went exploring. I took the most photos here. So many things to see (and I wanted that rabbit umbrella sooooo bad):

The Northshire Bookstore was like a wonderland of toys and books. I mean, everywhere I looked, there was a display that hooked me. Including a miniature train display. I love those, as you probably already know from my photos of Epcot's little German village. 

We had another great Q&A and signing. Afterwards, my fellow Swoon Sisters and I took some semi-serious photos with the stuffed animals around the bookstore. And then this photo happened: 

@SwoonReads authors @iamsandyhall @ByTempleWest @kkaralius @kvanark Making "furry" friends at @NorthshireBooks #swoon pic.twitter.com/C31cZ1rIhX

— Brittany Pearlman (@bpearlman89) May 18, 2015

The fact that Publishers Weekly used this epic photo when mentioning our Summer of Swoon tour is just plain awesome.

 

DAY 8: NEW BRUNSWICK

The last day of the tour!!! Seriously, if you've made it this far in my blog post, you deserve an award. I know it's a long post... but imagine actually living this tour. It was long. And fun. And surreal. And so many things. Great things. 

Just when I was really missing Misty, two therapy dogs showed up on our way to the gate for our New Jersey flight. Couldn't have been better timing! They were adorable:

I hate to say it, but the hotel room was not anything to write home about - it was fine, but my photos picked up the lumpy mattress. By the time you reached this part of my blog post, I don't think you want to see a lumpy mattress. 

The turnout at Barnes & Noble was the biggest we'd had - and it was such an exciting end to the Summer of Swoon tour. We got to see Holly West and Lauren Scobell again. And Karole Cozzo!!!! And I got to see family and friends. For the first time on tour, we got asked questions that I could finally answer by saying, "Disney World." Hurrah! 

To finish out the night, Holly and Karole joined us in posing Bridesmaids style in front of the cooking section. 

The Summer oF SWOON TOUR ENDS

The next morning, I woke early and went to the Newark airport for my flight home. 

Home.

It was hard to say goodbye to my fellow Swoon Authors: Sandy Hall and her amazing wit that had me laughing way too much; Katie Van Ark and her secret love of house renovation, which made watching HGTV together 100% more fun; and Temple West, with her wicked cool hair and banter - there's no one else I'd have rather shared a book birthday with :) 

I'm happy to be back home, and I have a few local events coming up that I'm looking forward to. See you out there! 

Barbie Dream Date and Other Valentine's Day Shenanigans

This is a Valentine's Day post. I swear. But since making plans for this blog post, a number of Interesting and Newsworthy things happened. If you find books and blood pressure romantic, then hang on. You're in for a treat ;)

Since I last said hello on this dear blog, life has kept me on my toes.

Not the kind of toe-keeping that you see on medication commercials, where the actors wear big smiles and play casual sports in the park. More like where-has-my-life-gone-oh-it's-February-time-for-laundry.

It's official guys: I am a master worrier during my work hours.

When the company was offering free blood pressure readings (and even free-er boxes of Cheerios), the entire department got tested. Including me. The fun part was that I got tested at the worst possible time.

I had a big assignment to finish before the day was up (as if that wasn't enough), and during my lunch break, I found out that the ARCs of my novel had been printed. I mean, how could I possibly STAY CALM????

My number was large enough to scare half the department.

It's hard not to take that number as a badge of honor. It means that I'm taking my job seriously. That I care, perhaps too much, about doing a good job.

But of course I worried even more that day, ran home, and took my blood pressure morning and night for the next three days. And my numbers were perfectly fine. I AM HEALTHY. I just really need to learn some relaxation techniques I can use at my desk. Too bad I can't blame caffeine (I drink water all day at work - I rarely leave my desk to make tea).

So that thing:

THE ADVANCED READER EDITIONS OF LOVE FORTUNES AND OTHER DISASTERS. OH MY GOSH. Swoon Reads let me know about the arrival of the books via Twitter, and I had to wait a few days after that to get my grubby author hands on them. But look.

Look at that pretty front cover:

And the pretty back cover:

Too many feels. I carried my ARC to work with me this week in my bag. I keep it on my bedside table. Sometimes, when I get sleepy, I poke it with my finger. Just to make sure it's real.

It seems like I've been waiting a long time to see my book in ARC form. Perhaps because I've been there to see Temple and Karole's books as ARCs, even while I was still working through copyedits at the time.

Around the same time, Big Swoonworthy News was announced on USA TODAY'S Happy Ever After blog:

You can find the tour dates by clicking at USA TODAY, or read more about the tour from Swoon Reads's blog. You'll find the tour dates under my "News & Events" tab at the top of the blog as well.

Are you on Goodreads? If so, you can let your attendance be known via my profile's event listings. And please do! I'd love to know if you're going, and at what stop of the tour. I can't wait to meet you!

I'm also thrilled to meet three other Swoon Reads authors: Sandy Hall, Temple West, and Katie Van Ark. Even though we've kept in touch through emails and social media, it's going to be awesome to meet them in person. I can't wait to ask Sandy what her favorite shade of Essie nail polish is, how Temple chooses what color to dye her hair next, and exchange funny/creepy teaching stories with Katie (once you've taught, you'll have stories, believe me).

Okay. So. All these events have totally dwarfed today of all days: Valentine's Day.

Or as I have the pleasure of calling it, Single Awareness Day. HAPPY SINGLE AWARENESS DAY!

If you've gotten a sneaky peek at LOVE FORTUNES AND OTHER DISASTERS, you know that I have a thing for cupids, hearts, and other sugary desserts. To celebrate this year, my mom and I went shopping and treated ourselves to appetizers and desserts at Grillsmith. I'd been having a craving for salmon bruchetta and bananas foster. And let me tell you, I feel completely satisfied now. Grillsmith is kind of a special occasion for me, mostly because it just feels fancy when you dine there, and I have fond memories of eating there with friends when I was in college (different town, same menu, haha).

I also fell madly in love today too - with notebooks. Aren't they gorgeous? The little guy at the top is a new cell phone cover. A waterfall of glitter and shiny stars. I like glitter, but only when it's safely contained!

And then there's Barbie Dream Date. GUYS. GUYS, THIS IS MY CHILDHOOD. I don't know what compelled my parents to buy this game for me when I was a kid. But whatever it was, I'm glad they did. Somehow I had convinced by brother to play the game with me (probably because you play as Ken), and it's amazing how much we both remember about it.

Now, at some point, we lost some of the pieces and had to throw it away, but I couldn't forget. I HAD to have this game again. So this year, I decided to make good on my yearning and finally order one.

Look at those sparkly eyes. They must be in love.

Nostalgia was practically dripping off of this box. I didn't cry, but I didn't hesitate to punch out the cards and put together the spinners either.

But you're probably thinking, what is this game about? 

Well, I typed the description from the back of the box, because there's no way I could have said it any better:

Every girl dreams of fantasy dates - and now girls can play Barbie Dream Date Game with Barbie and Ken! After picking out beautiful gifts for Barbie, Ken may take her horseback riding, snow skiing, or maybe even to a costume ball!  

Players travel around the locket collecting gifts for Barbie, then move around the date board collecting snapshots of their dates. When the clock strikes midnight, the player with the most gift and date cards wins the game! Players turn their cards over to see what kind of gifts Ken really gave Barbie (a box of candy, perhaps?). 

Every girl's a winner when she plays Barbie Dream Date game!

I'll let that sink in. 

My mom and I played the first game. We had to read the directions first, which are a bit more complicated than I remembered, but once we got started, it all came back to me. Like riding a bike. Once you play Barbie Dream Date, you never forget. 

This, my friends, is the game board when you're ready to start:

For this game, I chose the Orange Barbie and Ken, while my mom chose the Blue Barbie and Ken. No matter which couple you choose, Ken rocks the 90s fashion we all know and love. Enjoy it. Barbie and are separate at the start of the game. The idea is that Barbie is at home, getting ready for her date with Ken. Meanwhile, you're Ken, about to embark on an Unforgettable Night of wooing Barbie with your mysterious presents and excellent date ideas.

You travel across the board using the spinners at the bottom left of the photo. When it's my turn, I spin both of them at the same time and move with the combined number. However, if one or both of my arrows land on the little pink clock instead of a number - uh oh! I have to move the pink clock on the main game board one hour forward.

One less hour to spend with Barbie :(

When the clock's hand reaches midnight the game is over - and whoever got the most date and gift cards combined is the winner. Obviously, the winning Ken is rich and has great luck.

You go around the golden locket first; this is the only time you can collect gifts for Barbie. You're only allowed to take one gift per category, even if you landed on perfume three times. Unlike the dates, you can't look at the gifts until the game is over. In real life, then, we'd have to assume that Ken either chose his gifts blindfolded or invested in grab bags.

CANDY.

After the locket, you pick Barbie up at her house (I love that you have to attach her to Ken's stand - he's got room for two!) and begin the dating.

Each time you land on, well, a date, you get to pick the card that matches. Did you land on ice cream parlor? That means you took Barbie for ice cream. Great, right?

Even if you land on ice cream parlor ten times, you can only take the card once. Unlike the mysterious gifts, you wouldn't want to have more than one anyway. The pictures on the other sides are always the same. They are the same pictures already printed on the game board, in fact.

The best part is that Ken's hair color is different in a few of them. Either he had his hair dyed a few times throughout the night, or Barbie dated his evil twin(s). I wonder.

So the clock strikes twelve, right? The night is over. It's time to tally the cards and find out what the gifts are.

Here's what I ended up with. Orange Barbie and Ken had a great night. Costume ball, skiing, boating. Oh, and that box of chocolate? Nice:

But my mom's Blue Barbie and Ken truly made the most of their time together, even though her Ken forgot to pick up more gifts, haha:

Because the mysterious gifts were my favorite part growing up, I've got to show you what they are. And then you need to tell me what you would think of these gifts. Seriously:

So how was your Valentine's Day? Did you have a good time? If a 90s Ken gave you one of these gifts, what would you think? 

The Revision Game

As you might have guessed, my tardiness has much to do with THE BOOK. July ended on a bittersweet note, with both my job getting crazy-busy and my dog falling ill.  Misty is much better now, though still recovering, and I'm getting used to the roller coasterish excitement that is now becoming my day-to-day life at the office. 

Meanwhile, Swoon Reads has been full of surprises! In case you missed it, voting for LOVE FORTUNES AND OTHER DISASTERS' cover totally happened. These lovely covers had been the choices:

Which one did you vote for?

The cover voting made me even more inspired as I work through my revisions. Which, by the way, has been going pretty well despite facing some intimidating changes. When I say "intimidating," I'm not talking about the meaning in a classic sense. My editorial letter rocked. After combing through the letter with my editor, Holly, and finding solutions and brainstorming for a good few hours, I'm excited. I can't wait to share the new scenes, the twists and turns that are forming underneath my fingers as I type them out into what's becoming a shiny new draft.

But if you've ever written anything, be it a short story, novel, or even essay, you know what I mean when I say that there are intimidating parts of everything we write. Those scenes that you want to revise and make better, that you're just itching to unravel - but you remember the mountains you climbed to pull that idea from you head in the first place, and wonder if it will stay intact once you start making it better.

And so, while I bravely plunged into my manuscript with sword and shield in hand, I had some moments where my attitude was more like...

... and I'm pretty sure that's normal. Going slow, and taking these scenes piece my piece, usually helps me. If you poke a hole, ignore the whizzing sound of the air rushing loose, or plug it up temporarily with a giant I Shall Return note in the margins. Or highlight. I love highlighting. Listening to perfection in the form of movie soundtracks doesn't hurt either (if you peeked at my Twitter feed this weekend, you knew I was half-bawling, half smiling while revising to A Little Princess and The Secret Garden soundtracks).  

I've got a few more matters to attend to before turning in my first round of revisions *snaps on surgical gloves*

When the headaches subside and the night wraps stars around my house, I recover a sense of adventure and revise.