http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEdVfyt-mLw

Great video!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTzB8W8shi8

Since I've started my GIVING GLEE CONTEST ( http://...com/yj3nrbg ) thought I'd post a clip from one of my favorite new fall series! I'm so sorry it won't be on tonight!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etr7UtnUflM

Darius Rucker - Alright CAPITOL NASHVILLE (P) (C) 2009 Capitol Records Nashville. All rights reserved. Unauthorized reproduction is a violation of applicable laws. Manufactured by Capitol Records Nashville, 3322 West End Avenue, 11th Floor, Nashville, TN 37203

This song always makes me smile!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-94JhLEiN0

What a joyous way to start a marriage!

There's a newspaper article today about my new release, and our signings on Valentine's weekend. If you're near Erie, we'd love to see you there! ...com/OUAValentine-s

Holly

Anybody ever heard the Proclaimer's song, I'm Gonna Be? The guy talking about walking 500 miles, then walking 500 more in order to say he was the man who walked 1,000 miles to show up at her door?

This morning as I took my walk with the dogs, that was the song that played over and over again in my head because of math. Yes, I'd done the math. I walk the dogs twice a day, at least 1.5 miles each time, but frequently more. So, I allowed myself 20 miles a week, though most weeks, it was more. Anyway, 20 miles a week for a year...I walked over a thousand miles this year...or I will have as of New Year's Eve. I didn't miss many days. I don't walk in monsoonish rains, or blizzards, but otherwise, I'm out there.

I've lost weight. "Things" are more toned. I have to assume that means I'm healthier. And that's part of why I walk, but there's more to it. Some people are runners, but they go so fast, I wonder if they miss things. Some are joggers, but that's a sort of jarring form of exercise. With walking, you get to really take in your surroundings. You get to smile and nod at the people you see. You get a chance to meet yourself. See where you're at, think about things. I like to think about things. Great big issues, moral, philosophical and the like. But also the little things. I like wondering about the kids, marveling in the people they've become. Even smaller things...like what to make for dinner.

I like to walk and think about my writing...about what's going to happen next. My morning walks are a great time to really get prepped for the day's writing. I also try to appreciate what I have. I just did an interview and was asked if I could take away one horrible thing in my life--just erase it--what would it be. And I thought about and realized, I wouldn't take anything away. Everything that's happened to me--good and bad--has brought me here, and I'm pretty happy here, so I wouldn't. I'm thankful for all the wonderful things in my life, and even though I don't like awful things anymore than anyone else, I appreciate that they helped turn me into the woman I am today...and I can appreciate that.

I like walking because for that half hour or forty-five minutes, there's no one calling me on the phone, no television or laundry to do. It's just me, the dogs and my thoughts...big and small. I love my evening walks with the dogs and my dh...we talk. Just the two of us (the dogs don't say much!). It's a nice way to touch base.

Yes, I like walking for all those reasons... Plus I lost about twenty pounds.

So, next year, I'm going to shoot for at least two miles morning and evening. Four miles a day. Goodness knows how many more things I can think in those extra five hundred miles next year! I think that's my resolution. Walk more. Think more. Appreciate more. Visit with my dh more.

Have you picked on out a resolution??

Holly...still humming.

Happy December, everyone! Once Upon a Christmas should be hitting your local bookstore's shelves in the next day or two...I hope you'll watch for it! If you want to see what else is going on, please check out my newsletter at: http://www.hollyjacobs.com/newsletter.html Holly

Yes, I'll confess, I've become addicted to Hallmark's Christmas movies. My dh keeps complaining that I'm clogging up the DVR with all my movies, but seriously, how can I resist Gary Sinise in a movie about coming home and finding love? Or how can I resist the story of a runaway who brings his father together with a widow who's still mourning the loss of her husband? The answer is, I can't. I got up this morning, read the paper, and the cuddled up under the quilt with the dogs, and watched Fallen Angels (the Gary Sinise one) since I get up absurdly early and no one in the house was stirring yet. I sort of knew how the movie would go, and I knew Gary (I'm a huge fan) was destined for a happily ever after, but that didn't take away from my enjoyment...it added to it. I think that's why I love the romance genre. I love opening a book and knowing I'm destined for a Happily Ever After. I started my holiday off with an anthology, The Magic of Christmas...and happily-ever-afters abounded. It was the perfect way to start my holiday season. My daughter suggested a book not long ago. I'd seen it on the best seller's lists, and thought, well, sure. The ending...well, it wasn't happy. It was tragic. It left me in tears. And not happy Hallmark movie tears. Serious tears. I called her and asked, "What were you thinking?" So, FYI, when you pick up one of my books, I write an unapologetic HEA. Sometimes a book has its sad moments...my American Romance American Dad trilogy deals with three single moms on a PTA committee who find love. Being a single mom is tough. Trying to find a way to let go of the past and find a new future is tougher! But at the end, there's a HEA. I promise. Holly PS Once Upon a Christmas is on sale here at eHarlequin for 40% off! Hope you'll check it out! There's a HEA, I promise! LOL

Guest Blogging today at http://www.loveisanexplodingcigar.com/hollyjacobs/welcome_guest_bloggers_holly_jacobs_and_susan_gable Hope you'll stop in and say hi! Holly ONCE UPON A THANKSGIVING, 10/08