Spin Cycle Archives - A.J. Cattapan | Stories with Heart & Hope

Homemade Tiramisu & Other Ways I Relax

August 13, 2015/2 Comments/in Spin Cycle/by AJ Cattapan

In this week’s Spin Cycle, Ginny Marie is asking us to write about how we relax. One of my favorite ways to relax is to bake. And by bake, I don’t even necessarily mean “turn on the oven.” I mean making any kind of dessert.

I’ll make cookies . . .

Or cakes . . . .

Or frozen treats . . .

Pretty much anything yummy.

I used to bring treats into work, but one of my old bosses complained that I must have too much time on my hands if I had time to bake! What she didn’t understand is that baking was the way I relaxed! If all I do is grade papers all the time, I become a really cranky teacher.

One of my favorite recent recipes has been making homemade tiramisu, perfected after taking cooking classes in Rome. Most people think tiramisu includes alcohol, but they’d be wrong. Real tiramisu doesn’t having alcohol. Only restaurants put in alcohol because they need it to act as a preservative. Real, fresh tiramisu doesn’t have any alcohol in it.

Sure, it still has espresso . . .

and mascarpone cheese . . .

and ladyfinger cookies . . .

. . . but no alcohol!

Want my recipe for real homemade tiramisu that’s easy and delicious? Sign up for my monthly newsletter and get it delivered to your inbox!

I guess I’ve decided that I miss my old baking blog a bit, so I’ve decided to share some recipes in my monthly newsletter. Sign up soon and you’ll get the tiramisu recipe in my next newsletter!

My Love/Hate Relationship with Social Media & Marketing

August 6, 2015/10 Comments/in Marketing, Spin Cycle, Writing/by AJ Cattapan

Since my book came out in April, I’ve been engaged in a lot (and I mean, A LOT) of social media marketing. In the past few weeks (since my return from the Italy/Spain trip), I’ve had some time to really dig back in again before school starts up next week.

On the one hand, I LOVE it. Or at least, I’m totally fascinated by it. I’m wondering what will work and what won’t work. And sometimes the results are very interesting. I’m thinking things like . . .

How can I promote this awesome review I got on Readers’ Favorite? I’ve tweeted it, pinned it, and posted it to both my personal and professional Facebook pages. So far I’m getting the most likes on my personal Facebook page. But is that helping? Most of those people have already bought the book.
How do I make really attractive Pinterest pins that people will repin and that will bring traffic to my website? I wrote a whole blog post on that one.
What hashtags work the best in Twitter?
How do I make press releases that actually show up in online newspapers?
How do I can get more Pinterest followers? (I’ve quadrupled my followers in the last week. Of course, my numbers were small, so it wasn’t too hard. Ha! Follow me here, if you want to help my Pinteresting crusade. Leave me a note in the comments of this post, and I’ll follow you back.)
How do I get more subscribers to my monthly newsletter? You can subscribe here to learn about my writing news, appearances, and giveaways.
Should I have a YouTube channel? Guess what? Yes, I should. And do. It only has two videos so far, but still. Come visit me.

On the other hand, I HATE it. It’s sucking up my time. I follow one lead to build up my social media marketing and end up down a whole rabbit hole of information that makes the beautiful summer day outside suddenly disappear. What happened to my day? I’ve been tied to my laptop, my phone, and my iPad.

Argh! And I used to think marketing was boring! My college roommate majored in it, and I couldn’t figure out why. Of course, that was all before the social media explosion. I wonder if they teach a whole course in social media marketing in colleges now.

Got any social media marketing tips for me? I’d love to hear them! Of course, I may never again see the light of day if you do share them.

Want to hear about other people’s love/hate relationships? Click the button below to follow this week’s Spin Cycle.

Why I’m Such a Star Wars Geek

July 15, 2015/8 Comments/in Spin Cycle, Writing/by AJ Cattapan

I promised on Facebook that one day I’d write a blog post about why I’m such a Star Wars geek.

Well, be careful what you promise on Facebook. 🙂

Ginny Marie of Lemon Drop Pie saw my post and decided to use it for this week’s Spin Cycle prompt. This week we’re talking about what makes us geeky, and for me that’s definitely Star Wars. But why?

These are my action figures. Not my brothers’ actions figures. 🙂

My students already know part of the answer to this. Every spring in my sixth grade reading class, we end the year with a fantasy/mythology unit that asks the big question: “What makes someone a hero?” And in this unit, we talk about how Joseph Campbell, a renowned anthropologist, studied the myths and tales of cultures around the world. After years of comparing what tales had been told century after century, he discovered that all cultures have hero stories, and those hero stories have a lot of similarities.

He came to the conclusion that all hero myths could basically be combined into one “super myth,” a monomyth that incorporates all the major events that have occurred in hero stories around the world for as long as stories have been told. Campbell then wrote about this theory in his book The Hero with a Thousand Faces. In it, he describes the seventeen key elements that are in hero stories (although not all hero stories have all seventeen elements).

George Lucas had studied Campbell’s work and used it to create the plot of Star Wars. If you’d like to read about how Star Wars fits into Joseph Campbell’s monomyth, you can read my blog posts about it here, here, and here.

So part of why I’m such a big Star Wars geek is that I love a great hero story. I love hearing about a character who is brave enough to leave his own safe homeland in order to fight evil in a dangerous world far away. This also explains my love of Harry Potter, by the way.

However, I think there’s more to my Star Wars love than just the fact that it’s a great hero story. It’s also a story with great characters. I mean, who doesn’t love a feisty princess who can shoot a gun and handle a smart-alecky pilot? And who doesn’t love a smart-alecky pilot who also has a soft spot?

And what about the wookie? I mean, what is a wookie? I don’t know, but I love him! And I admit to liking Ewoks, too. I know some people thought the Ewoks were a bit childish, but I like ’em! They’re cute but tough.

And who can resist two droids who bicker all the time but are really best friends and would be lost without one another? (Does anyone else think Carson and Mrs. Hughes from Downton Abbey are a little like C-3PO and R2-D2? There was always something of the British butler about 3PO.)

And then there’s the setting! See, the trick about taking the old hero story and turning it into something new is finding a way to make it really fresh for the audience. Lucas accomplished this by making what is called a “space opera” or “space western.” He grew up in the age of cowboy movies, so to him, Star Wars was basically an old cowboy movie set in outer space.

But how great is that?!? Take what we’re really familiar with (a princess, a bad boy who’s really good, a good boy who tries but fails, and a villain clad in black with a mysterious past) and put them into a situation we’ve never seen before (space stations as big as planets) and with characters we’ve never met (alien creatures that can actually tug at our heart strings). This is what makes a winning story! This is why the same basic hero story can be told time and time again. As long as the writer does something new with it, the whole story feels new.

One last reason I’m a Star Wars geek: it’s a story with a lot of heart. I love stories that move me. I want to care about the characters. I want them to feel like friends I’ve known forever. I want to root for them when they’re down and cheer for them when they finally succeed. I think Lucas succeeded with this because he made the core of his story a family story. In the end, Star Wars is about a family–a father and his twin children, all mourning the death of the mother–who follow very different paths but wind up together in the end!

For those reasons, I’m completely geeking out over the new Star Wars movie that comes out in December. I’ve got pretty high hopes because director J.J. Abrams did a really nice job when he tackled the Star Trek franchise. He seems to be a big Star Wars fan, and from the glimpses I’ve seen it looks like he’s going to stick with the kind of storytelling that made us all fall in love with the original trilogy.

Also, he’s brought back a lot of the old cast. One of the reasons I think the Star Wars prequels that came out 15 years ago or so didn’t do so well is that we were missing out on the characters we had grown to love. C-3PO, R2-D2, and Yoda were the only characters tying us back to the originals. But in this new movie, we’re going to get Han, Leia, Luke, and Chewbacca back again. It’s like getting to see old friends that you’ve been parted from for a long time!

How about you? Are you as excited about the new Star Wars movie as I am? Or is there something else you geek out about?

Find out what others are geeking out about on this week’s Spin Cycle. Click the link below to discover more geek stories.

Mi Piace, Mi Gusta – Day 20: Tre Cose Buone (Three Good Things)

July 3, 2015/4 Comments/in Spin Cycle, Travel/by AJ Cattapan

I was happy to see today that the Spin Cycle writing prompt for this week is about “three good things.” It was saving me from writing a post that would probably come out sounding unintentionally negative.

You see, this morning, I was mentally ticking off all the things about Florence that make it “less than” Rome. But do I really want to spend my last night in Florence talking about what I don’t like? No. That’s crazy. I’m in Italy. I shouldn’t be complaining about anything! And I don’t want to sound negative because I am enjoying myself here. (Of course, that being said, maybe someday I’ll write a post about why I prefer Rome to Florence.)

But in the meantime, let’s talk about three good things that happened in Florence today.

1. I took a test to finish off the “Intermedio 1” level at school and got a 97% Yippee!

2. Katie and I climbed to the top of Piazzale Michelangelo where we got awesome views of Florence.

3. For “dinner,” we had an aperitivo at a rooftop bar at a fancy hotel that Katie’s Russian classmate helped us find. We had fancy drinks as well as potato chips, formaggio (cheese), and olives (I let Katie have most of those). Then we found a place that makes yummy crepes with gelato and chocolate. (To my mom and Katie’s mom, don’t worry we had protein at lunch.)

Bonus good thing: We also spent a good part of this very hot day in an air-conditioned museum (Palazzo Pritti) with lots of cool art.

Where we hid from the heat.

Off to Spain tomorrow for the final leg of “Mi Piace, Mi Gusta”! (Yes, that’s right, we’re finally getting to the “Mi Gusta” part of the trip.)

Spin Cycle: Summer Reading List

June 12, 2015/2 Comments/in Fantasy, Middle Grade, Mysteries, Speculative Fiction, Spin Cycle, young adult/by AJ Cattapan

This week on the Spin Cycle, Ginny Marie is asking for our summer reading lists. Here are a few things on my Kindle app that I’m hoping to get read this summer.

1. Capturing Today by Jess Evander–I read the first book in the series (Saving Yesterday) last year, and I’ve been really looking forward to the sequel, which just came out. It’s about a girl who discovers her blood holds a secret; namely, that she can time travel. In fact, she needs to time travel because the very existence of our planet depends on it.

2. Implanted by Heather Letto–This is another sequel to a book I read last year. You can see my review for Impervious here. Think YA dystopian but with a Christian allegorical slant.

3. Storm Siren by Mary Weber–Okay, I’m behind on this series. The sequel just came out, and I haven’t even read the first one yet. But doesn’t that cover look super cool? The sequel cover is just as gorgeous.

4. Worth the Time by Laura Jackson–This has been on my to-be-read list for a while now. I don’t read a lot of straight contemporary stories. I’m more of a mystery and fantasy sort of girl, but this story looks cute.

5. Sisters of the Last Straw by Karen Kelly Boyce–I just heard about this one recently, but it sounds kind of cute. It’s a middle grade mystery involving nuns that get involved in capers. And how can you not love nuns that get into capers?

What’s on your summer reading list? Click on the link below to see what others are reading this summer. Or link up your own blog post!

How to Throw a Facebook Book Launch Party!

June 4, 2015/6 Comments/in Angelhood, Spin Cycle, young adult/by AJ Cattapan

On Memorial Day, I guest blogged on Seekerville and talked about how authors can throw themselves a book launch party on Facebook. I thought I’d run a recap of that blog post here as part of the Spin Cycle’s “summer rerun” writing prompt.

How to Throw a Fantastic Facebook Launch Party

(Without Losing Your Sanity)

So maybe you’ve got a new release coming out. Or maybe you’ve spent years hoping you’ll have a book to promote . . . someday. Either way, when the time arrives, you’ll want to be ready to throw yourself one fabulous celebration!

Build up your Facebook author page.

If you don’t already have an author Facebook page, do so pronto. This article explains very clearly why you don’t want to use your personal page as your author page. Long before your book releases, you’ll want to build up your audience. Reach out to friends and fellow writers and let them know you have an author page. To keep them coming back, post interesting content daily so that people stay engaged.

Set the date and time for your party.

Pick an evening during the week when people are likely to be free. The great part about a Facebook party is that people can participate on their smart phones while doing other things. During the launch party for my young adult novel Angelhood, I had one friend participating during her daughter’s fencing lesson! Also, don’t forget to list all the different time zones on your party page! I had people from four different time zones at my party, and you don’t want someone not showing up because they had the wrong time.

Decide on your prizes.

Most authors give away copies of their book, bookmarks, gift cards, and other author swag, but try thinking outside the box, too. For my party, I reached out to my fellow YA authors to see if any of them would be interested in donating copies of their book(s) as prizes.

This turned out to be a win-win for all of us. I was able to introduce these other YA authors to the fans who showed up at my party, and these authors advertised my party on their own social media accounts, so a lot of their fans got to learn about me.

Create cute graphics for your prizes.

Because I was partnering up prizes, I used picmonkey.com to create cute graphics for each prize pack. These graphics became a fun way to advertise the party ahead of time on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram.

Type up your script ahead of time.

Your Facebook party is going to fly by! You don’t want to waste time composing and typing out your posts during the party. Simply, create a Word document with an entire timeline of already composed posts. For example, I typed out:

8:15 Game 6

My main character’s younger sister Cecille is a ballet dancer. I took ballet lessons for only a few years but really enjoyed our dance recital in which we performed a ballet to a song from a popular opera that takes place in the Far East. Can you guess the opera?

The prize is a Jamberry nail wrap gift basket, including a sheet of the ballet slipper style like I’m wearing tonight and a copy of Cynthia T. Toney’s Bird Face, a great story about overcoming bullying.

This script was a lifesaver! It was so easy to just cut and paste the posts at the necessary times. This left me free to read people’s comments on the posts and respond to them.

Gather your friends for help!

I had a team of about six women helping me out. We staked out a spot at a local Starbucks, made sure we had plenty of caffeine, and fired up our laptops and tablets.

The women took turns watching the entries on the games. Each time a new game went up, one of them would take all the names of the commenters and enter them into random.org. As soon as the game was over, they hit the “randomizer,” and the top name became our winner!

We were getting around 50 comments per post, so having a lot of eyes on the party helped tremendously.

Have a place to write down the winners’ names.

At the end of my Word document script, I listed all the prizes (by the way, I definitely recommend numbering your games and prizes!). As soon as the winner was picked, I typed in the name and posted it in the comments section of that game. When the entire party was over, I listed all the prizewinners in a single post.

Have fun with it!

My friends and I all dressed in our “Angelhood blue” t-shirts, so we’d stand out at the Starbucks. My sister-in-law (who makes customized jewelry) even made necklaces for us with my book cover design on it. When the two hours flew by, we couldn’t believe it! Over 100 people had joined our party, and it was so much fun reading their comments.

Have you thrown or attended a Facebook launch party? What did you think? Do you have tips for others on how to make it a success?

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Help me name my next travel blogging adventure!

May 28, 2015/6 Comments/in Spin Cycle, Travel, Writing/by AJ Cattapan

As I write this, there are only eight days of school left. Normally, I teach summer school, but for the first time in my teaching career, I’m going to take the summer off!

And you know what that means . . . it’s time to travel! Last year, I fit in a two-week trip to study Italian in Rome after the summer school session ended. I blogged every day I was there and dubbed my trip the Speak, Pray, Cook tour. This year, because I have more time off, I’ve expanded the trip, but what should I call it? “Speak, Pray, Cook Part 2” seems sort of dull.

So here’s what I’ve got planned so you can help me come up with a name:

two weeks in Rome studying at the same Italian immersion school I studied at last year
a Saturday cooking class (a different cooking school than the one I went to last year)
finally doing the Scavi tour at St. Peter’s where you get to do down into the excavation site where they found St. Peter’s actual tomb! (Only a few people are allowed to do this each day, and my friend and I have tickets!!!)
hopefully a trip out to some catacombs (I’ve been to Rome three times but never seen any catacombs.)
a one-night trip to Siena (As a writer, I’ve got to visit the hometown of St. Catherine of Siena–now that woman could write! Her writing persuaded a pope and all sorts of influential leaders.)
one week in Florence studying at one of the satellite locations for the Italian immersion school
and then because I’m traveling with a friend who speaks Spanish . . . four days in Spagna . . . uh, Spain! (Sorry, getting a head start on my Italian there.)

So what should I call this grand adventure????

I’m coming Rome! Save some sunshine, gelato, and cappuccino for me!

I’d really like my Italian to progress to a point where I can listen to some Italian and not feel like I’m really straining just to catch a word or two here and there. I also want to have some fun before buckling in for the doctorate program in the fall.

Got some summer plans you want to share? Hook up with the Spin Cycle this week and share your blog post! Click on the button below to link up.

Leave your suggestions for a trip name in the comments below and maybe I’ll pick you up a little something in Italy or Spain. 🙂

And no, sorry, I can’t bring you back a man.

Spin Cycle: Teaching and Writing

May 22, 2015/1 Comment/in Angelhood, Spin Cycle, Writing, young adult/by AJ Cattapan

With all the book launch craziness going on lately, I haven’t had much time for blog posts, but I promised my launch team friend Ginny Marie that I’d get back on this blogging business! This week’s Spin Cycle topic of teaching seemed like a good time to do so.

I certainly know something about teaching. I’ve been doing it for . . . well, never mind how long I’ve been teaching. I was just excited today when my sixth graders found out I’ve been at our school for eight years, and one of them said, “Really? I didn’t think you were that old!” I’d give the kid an A for that comment, but he’s already getting one! 😉

I’ve debated quite a bit about what exactly to say. On a recent guest blog post, I’ve already talked about how my careers as a writer and as a teacher have overlapped, so I thought I’d take this topic one step further and talk about what exactly has been happening lately.

The regulars around here know that last month my young adult novel Angelhood was released by Vinspire Publishing. It’s been an exciting time, but I haven’t been sharing it with my students. Some have wondered why not. Aren’t they my target audience? Couldn’t it create some teachable moments?

I have, in the past, shared some of my writing successes with my students. For example, several years ago, I had a Highlights magazine article published about a former student and the experiment he had on one of the final space shuttle missions. It was a perfect story to share with the students because it was about one of their peers!

When I was published in a Chicken Soup for the Soul book two years ago, one of my coworkers insisted on printing out the local newspaper article and having it hung outside the school office. To be honest, I cringed a bit. The story itself had nothing to do with school and was really aimed at a more general adult audience. Nonetheless, there was nothing inappropriate in the story, so I let it go.

Now, however, I have a young adult novel published. It’s the story of a troubled girl who finds herself in the position of being a guardian angel after her own tragic death. Since it deals with guardian angels, it’s filed under the category of “Christian fiction” on Amazon. Since it deals with difficult topics such as suicide and drug use, it’s definitely more “young adult” than “middle grade.” For those two reasons, I am not discussing the book at my public middle school with an extremely diverse student body.

I treasure my role as a teacher. When I’m there, it’s my job to help my students reach their potential. It’s not my job to sell books when I’m at school. I’m there for my students, not to toot my own horn.

Nonetheless, you can never underestimate the Googling abilities of middle school students. I’m not sure who started it, but somebody found me . . . perhaps on Instagram or Twitter or Facebook. Or maybe they just found this website. Either way, there are murmurings at school about my book.

A few students have been bold enough to come right out and ask about it. Sometimes I have a little fun with them when they ask something like, “When is your book coming out?” and I respond, “Oh, you mean my Chicken Soup book? That came out two years ago.”

And other times, when I feel like they’re asking just to change the topic in class, I say, “We’re not talking about that right now. We’re talking about your writing. Now let’s get back to it.”

Lovely gifts from some lovely students for teacher appreciation week!

Teaching is a really special career. It can be frustrating, demanding, and heartbreaking, but it can also mean lots of wonderful moments watching kids blossom in ways you’d never expected or finally seeing that light bulb go on over their head. I wouldn’t want to do anything to take away from that. Therefore, when it’s appropriate, I’ll discuss my own writing in class, and when I feel it’s not, then I’ll hold back. In the end, I’m going to do what’s best for my students, and that means focusing on their writing, not on mine.

Spin Cycle: 28 Inspirational Quotes

February 27, 2015/5 Comments/in Angelhood, Spin Cycle, Writing/by AJ Cattapan

For this week’s Spin Cycle, Ginny Marie of Lemon Drop Pie is asking us to list 28 of . . . well, whatever we’d like! We’re just celebrating that the 28-day month of February is almost at an end. (One of my former principals used to call it the “armpit of the school year.”)

For my post, I’ve decided to list 28 inspirational quotes. In the comments, tell me which one was your favorite or if you have a favorite that I didn’t list!

Quotes on Success

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

Funny Quote

This one made me laugh. I guess it’s the Spanish version of “If someone hands you lemons, make lemonade.”

7.

8.

Quotes about kindness

9.

10.

11.

12.

Quotes about Hope

13.

14.

15.

16.

17.

18.

Angel Quotes

Thanks to my book Angelhood coming out in two months, my friends are sending me lots of angel quotes. So here’s a whole set of them.

19.

20.

21.

22.

23.

24.

25.

26.
27.

28.

Stop by the Spin Cycle to see what other kinds of lists other bloggers came up with.

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Spin Cycle: Valentine’s Day and Ten Great Loves

February 14, 2015/3 Comments/in Spin Cycle/by AJ Cattapan

As a single person, it’s easy to get disgruntled on Valentine’s Day. Already this morning, my Facebook feed is filled with all my married friend’s posts about the chocolate, cards, books, flowers, and jewelry their husbands have given them today. (Side note: you know you have a lot of author friends when their husbands give them books for Valentine’s Day.)

For the Spin Cycle this week, Ginny Marie is giving us a Valentine’s Day prompt with a twist: simply put, what do you love? (Notice it’s not “Whom do you love?” So I’ll refrain from telling you how much I love my friends and family. 🙂 )

I love . . .

1. My new Jamberry nail wraps for Valentine’s Day. Aren’t they pretty? Got lots of compliments from my students yesterday.

2. Mystery books. Please, oh please, oh please, surprise me in the end.

3. Italian food. What’s not to love about some pasta? You can do so many things with it. Mix it with some cheese, tomato sauce, and spinach. Or maybe some sausage and broccoli. Or maybe some zucchini, squash, cherry tomatoes, and cheese. Yummy, yummy, yummy! And to go with it . . .

4. A nice glass of wine. I’m pretty non-discriminating when it comes to wine. White. Red. Rose. Sparkling. Whatever. As long as it’s not an overly oaky Chardonnay.

5. Traveling. Have I told you about my upcoming trips? Guatemala for spring break. Italy and Spain this summer! Dallas for a writing conference in September. Then New York in November for my investiture into the Order of Malta!

Order of Malta Magistral Palace in Rome.

6. Italy! Don’t worry, Mom! I’m not moving there.

Check out that blue Roman sky! Bella!

7. A nice cup of tea. This is one of the reasons I adore the Brits. They appreciate a good tea time.

Another cup of tea for the record books.

8. Running on a warm day. (Please let that warm weather return soon.)

Com’n, sunshine! Bring back the running weather!

9. A really good story. At first I thought about writing my post just about this fact. You see, there’s a certain movie out this weekend that everyone who blogs seems to be mentioning (and criticizing). I won’t be seeing it. I never read the book. I’d heard about it fairly early in the game because its quick rise to fame was making waves in the publishing world: Twilight fan fiction that had gained popularity and then a publishing contract and now a movie. However, every literary agent and editor who blogged about it back then said right away how poorly written it was and that it lacked a real plot. Why would I spend my time on that? There are too many good stories out there. And that’s what I love: a good story. Which brings me to number 10 . . .

10. Musical theater! A good story combined with beautiful music and breathtaking dancing. You gotta love it!

Into the Woods circa . . . uh, let’s just say it was “once upon a time.”

So guess what I’m doing tonight for Valentine’s Day? My plans, I’m pretty sure, must be a sign of God’s sense of humor. You see, my friends and I have season tickets to a local theater company, tonight happens to be our night for the current production, and the show just happens to be . . . West Side Story! That’s right, for Valentine’s Day, I’m going to see one of the saddest love stories in the history of musical theater. Ha!

My West Side Story sweatshirt from high school

But still, I count myself as lucky. On this day when we remember our loves, I get to a do a lot of things I love. I’m wearing my pretty Jamberry nail wraps. I’ve already had a nice cup of tea. I’ll get to do some mystery reading later. Then I’ll enjoy a nice Italian dinner with my friends. (I’ll have that glass of wine, of course!) And then I get to see some musical theater with beautiful music, dancing, and a good story to boot!

Whatever your plans are for today, I hope you do something you love!

Tag Archive for: Spin Cycle

Homemade Tiramisu & Other Ways I Relax

I’ll make cookies . . .

Or cakes . . . .

Or frozen treats . . .

Pretty much anything yummy.

Why I’m Such a Star Wars Geek

Mi Piace, Mi Gusta – Day 20: Tre Cose Buone (Three Good Things)

Spin Cycle: Summer Reading List

Help me name my next travel blogging adventure!

Spin Cycle: Teaching and Writing

Spin Cycle: 28 Inspirational Quotes

Quotes on Success

Funny Quote

Quotes about kindness

Quotes about Hope

Angel Quotes

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Spin Cycle: Valentine’s Day and Ten Great Loves

I love . . .

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