December – 2009 – jenn reese

2009, Reflections

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Dec 31, 2009 |Life Stuff, Martial Arts, Writing

I learn a lot by posting year-end reviews. It’s a rare chance to see the forest for the trees. Same as last year, I’m going to break down my reflections into three categories: Mind, Body, and Spirit. MIND 2009 was a great MIND year. Tons of new challenges and obstacles, and a few successes along [...]

Wallpaper: David Lanham

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Dec 30, 2009 |Geekery, Inspiration

Lifehacker recently posted about the Five Best Wallpaper Sites and included my personal favorite, VladStudio. I wanted to bring another artist to your attention: David Lanham. I’ve been visiting Lanham’s site for years and am a huge fan of his icon sets, wallpapers, and art in general. Recently he’s branched out into vinyl toys. If [...]

Concentrated Domesticity

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Dec 30, 2009 |Life Stuff

For 50 weeks out of the year, I’m running at top speed, trying to manage a crazy day job, a writing career, a demanding martial arts hobby, and my connections to friends and family. Dishes stack up in the sink, faucets leak, dust collects under the bed, doctors go unseen… I’m sure most of you [...]

Cooking, Baking, Eating

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Dec 28, 2009 |Food-n-Drink, Photos

Faced with hiatus (more time, but no money), I thought, “Hey! Cooking! I should, like, try some of that!” Of course, when actually faced with the prospect of cooking, all of the recipes I’ve been drooling over for months (on tv, in friends’ blogs, in books) suddenly vanish from my brain, and I’m left staring [...]

Fredonia Trip

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Dec 27, 2009 |Adventure, Food-n-Drink, Photos

I thought I understood small towns. I went to college in Ithaca — a town listed as “rural” in my college guidebook. But the tiny college town of Fredonia makes Ithaca look like a bustling metropolis. At first I was shocked by the general lack of necessities. (By “necessities” I mean: book stores, coffee shops, [...]

Slangman on GPBKids.org!

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Dec 18, 2009 |Cosmic Toast, TV Shows

Our Slangman’s World page at gpbkids.org has just launched! You can: Play our awesome new game, Gizma’s Robot Builder, in which you build a robot while learning the names of body parts in various languages! Watch all ten of our fun, music-filled Slangman’s World episodes! And yes, this gives you an opportunity to see my [...]

I made cookies!

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Dec 16, 2009 |Adventure, Food-n-Drink, Photos

I made chocolate chip cookies. Plain ol’ chocolate chippers. And I made them FROM SCRATCH. Now, to understand how amazing this is, please understand that I had to go out and buy flour, eggs, and chocolate chips to make this happen. I already had sugar (Hello, coffee!) and baking soda (Hello, drain unclogger!). But did [...]

An Unladylike ARC Contest!

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Dec 14, 2009 |Reading

The talented Stephanie Burgis is holding her first-ever ARC (Advance Reader Copy) Contest. Yes, that’s right! Now’s your chance to win an ARC of her forthcoming book The Unladylike Adventures of Kat Stephenson: A Most Improper Magick! I was lucky enough to read this wonderful book — the first in a trilogy — last year, [...]

Agent Appreciation Day

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Dec 11, 2009 |Life Stuff

Joe Monti of Barry Goldblatt Literary (@joemts on Twitter) has been my agent for just over two months now. FUN FACTS ABOUT JOE He found me via Twitter. (Yes, really!) He seems to know everyone. (Yes, everyone!) He seems to know about every book ever written. (It’s like talking to a very opinionated encyclopedia of [...]

2009: YA Reads

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Dec 10, 2009 |Inspiration, Reading

I read fewer young adult novels than middle grade this year, but really loved several of them. I have Steph to thank — she recommended three of these, and I spent almost a week raiding her bookshelves when I visited her in May. Again, these are in no particular order. 2009: GREAT YOUNG ADULT READS [...]