Twilight in Forks

 I was working in Oregon this week and my team mate, Lisa (who lives there), asked if I wanted to go have lunch at one of the places where Twilight was filmed. Of course I jumped on that offer! The restaurant is called Stone Cliff Inn and has wonderful food and a lovely view of the river below.

Placards are hung on rocks that depict the different scenes from the movie and what the dialogue was for that particular scene. It was crazy fun!

The Inn from the road

Edward come back! Don't leave me!

Don't know if you can read it, but there is dialogue written from the location

A New Author (to me anyway)

I have a fondness for Young Adult novels. Shiver is the first book in a series set in Mercy Falls that is written by Maggie Stiefvater. There are three books in the series, Shiver, Linger and Forever. The first two books are out and third will be released July 12, 2011.

I will confess that after I read Linger, I called my daughter, with tears in my eyes (who promptly laughed at me), to commiserate about the characters and the drama that had unfolded. This is definitely a series you will want to pick up. You might want to wait until the third one is out to spare yourself any tears.

Below is an exert from Shiver:

For years, Grace has watched the wolves in the woods behind her house. One yellow-eyed wolf—her wolf—is a chilling presence she can't seem to live without. Meanwhile, Sam has lived two lives: In winter, the frozen woods, the protection of the pack, and the silent company of a fearless girl. In summer, a few precious months of being human... until the cold makes him shift back again.
Now, Grace meets a yellow-eyed boy whose familiarity takes her breath away. It's her wolf. It has to be. But as winter nears, Sam must fight to stay human—or risk losing himself, and Grace, forever.

The Year of Exploration

I have been pondering the past two months as to what my theme will be for 2011. I have so many new opportunities happening right now, that I don't feel like I have any one specific area I want to concentrate on for my theme. With that said, I think the Year of Exploration will sum up my goals nicely. I want to explore opportunities that will be coming my way  in 2011.

• Travel - my job is taking me to places I never thought I would travel to. I don't really have the time when I'm training to explore a city while I'm there, but I can look up things ahead of time and maybe do some evening sight seeing. Maybe my travel focus will be on people as opposed to places. 
• Running - I want to explore what my body is capable of this year. Last year my average time at the half-marathon was 14.45, which is incredibly slow, but understandable when you figure that I walked most of the time. This year I want to do a half-marathon that starts in San Luis Obispo and ends in Shell Beach. I want to see if I can run most of the race and finish between an 11:30 to 12 minute average pace.
• Scuba Diving - I really enjoyed snorkeling when we were in Mexico last year and I would really like to learn to scuba dive. I'd like to see if I like it. If it will give me additional freedom in the water. The optimal place I'd like to scuba dive is in tropical (warm) water, so we'll see how this one plays out. 
• Read - You know I love to read, but I'm not finding the time to keep up with my blog log, so I will read, but my pace will slow down and I will blog only intermittently about books and I won't be keeping track of the count this year. Suffice it to say that I've read a LOT during the past two years. 164 books in 2009 and 150 in 2010. I'll still be keeping my Excel log, so if you want any recommendations,  just let me know.
• Open Heart - I want to have an open heart that is willing to try new experiences as they come my way and explore opportunities as they present themselves. I want to enjoy time with family and friends and make the most of each opportunity I have with loved ones.