good time story time!

My story time and signing for Have You Ever Tickled a Tiger? at Joseph-Beth in Cleveland went great on Saturday! When we were walking in, my husband pointed out the giant poster in the front window (which just seems funny to me, because it's ME). Anyway, the kids really participated and responded well, and I feel like it was the best turn-out yet. We had lots of fun learning about what it's like to touch interesting and unusual animals, reading books, and making tiger masks. Having family and good friends there for me, meeting new people, and sharing my books–it was just one of those days that fills you up inside. The mystery girl below is my niece...isn't she scary?!



I am finally getting more comfortable letting go and going with the flow of these "appearances." I am honestly not the most comfortable speaking in public, though I do really enjoy it once I am in the moment doing it. In the past, I tried to be really prepared and have an "agenda", but I've realized that each signing goes really different, just depending on the age of the kids, their personalities and the general vibe that day. It is much different and less predictable than speaking to adults, but this is also what makes it so fun.

So this time, other than getting together all the necessary materials and putting together a rough outline, I decided to not overly prepare or think about it too much. I got a little panicky the night before, when I thought, "What am I doing? I am NOT prepared!" But I shook it off pretty well. I am slowly learning to accept these feelings of anxiety and anticipation. Instead of trying to push those feeling down and ignore them, I now just let myself feel those things fully. And the panicky nervousness seems to pass much more quickly than when I try to fight it. I recognize that the nerves are just part of the process for me–feeling nervous is really not THAT bad of a thing, is it?

I am looking forward to another story time/signing at the Cincinnati Joseph-Beth this Friday morning. More close friends, kids and good times, I'm sure!

you're invited...

If you're in the Cleveland or Cincinnati areas, I'd love it if you'd come to one of my storytimes and book signings at Joseph-Beth. Click here for the scoop. And bring the cubs if you got 'em.

garden gifts

This year, Jeff and I decided to ease into gardening and planted some veggies and herbs in half of our neighbors' garden. This photo was from a few weeks ago, so things have already grown quite a bit more since then. We got a late start planting, and the deer already ate the tops off all our tomato plants before we could even get them planted, so we'll see how things go. I think most of the tomatoes are bouncing back. It already makes me want to plant lots more goodies next year. Once you get going, you just want to grow EVERYTHING yourself, right? Maybe some day.

And going along with the garden theme, I thought I'd post this gift card I did for Target last year. I just discovered it up on the Target website, so I thought I'd share. I had fun with this one.

check out my new diggs

Just a few pics of the new studio. These pics are of my room...Jeff has his own room now, and we have 3 other rooms for storage and clutter control. I love it...kind of like a mini apartment. And it's so nice to have lots of windows and feel connected to the world when I'm working. I do not miss our bat cave office one bit.

I painted my room (very) blue...I thought it was going to feel a little more like an antique blue, but at least it's not dull (even if I do feel like I am underwater in a swimming pool). I've decided to like the color. This is the first whole room I've ever painted...Jeff says I am a master taper, which I guess really means, "You will be doing the taping from now on, Bets." That's okay, I don't mind, because he has to paint everything up high for me. So it seems like a fair trade.


I think it is so funny that right outside my big front window, centered perfectly, it says, "Y-O-G-A." (there is a yoga studio directly across the street). Do I need any more signs to get my butt over to yoga class??? Geez.

I still have a lot I want to do to "betsify" the space, like add curtains, get a funky rug, stuff like that. But it's a good start. And now it's time to forget about decorating for a while and get back to work. Happy "Independence" Day!