Cloudya's Top Ten Reasons You Should See New Moon and All the Reasons She Can't Wait To See It

Today Cloudya wanted to give you a list of reasons to go see New Moon as she can't wait for Friday.

1.) There's alot more action.








2.)For Team Jacob you'll get to see him alot more.

3.)Edward takes his shirt off.

4.)Can't wait for the birthday party scene, it changes everything.

5.)The Volturi are going to rock.

6.)Bella hallucinates Edward. Can't wait to see how they do that.

7.)Edward leaves. It will be as if I never existed...YEAH RIGHT!

8.)Bella finds out Jacob's a werewolf. Does she attract this things or what?

9.)Laurent finds Bella mouth watering and it starts a new chain of events.

10.)Alice steals a car...Alice drives like a manic...Alice is my favorite character and I can't wait to see the crazy things she will do.

Countdown to New Moon!

Last year-about this time-I had a friend ask me if I'd read the Twilight series. Apparently I was one of the only people in the universe who hadn't. She informed that I would love the series and should try it. On her recommendation I did just that. I read the first five chapters and HATED it. If I don't care for a book I don't finish it. So I'm talking to my friend about it and she's like seriously get past that fifth chapter and I swear you'll love it. Then another friend told me the exact same thing. With the release of the movie I thought I would try again, so I picked it back up and read the sixth chapter and than the seventh, before I knew it the week was over and I had read the entire Twilight Saga. Well my friends were right, I loved it. I'm huge on vampire literature and so I quickly became sucked into the mania surrounding the movie.

With the release of New Moon around the corner...one week to be exact, my house is full of excitement. My daughter-who thinks Alice is the coolest thing on the planet next to Nick Jonas-is counting down the days. She's been making me quiz her about the movie and books. She proudly boosts about the many times she went to see Twilight in the theater. For her headshots in March, she wanted a set with her Alice paraphernalia. To her it made sense to do it because Ashley Greene was her favorite actress and headshots help you get to be an actress.

My son is practicing his Edward run. He keeps asking me about the baseball scene which is his favorite scene in the movie. I'm scared maybe he won't like it because there is no baseball. He asked the other day if he would be faster than Edward on his ice skates. Kaiden's favorite vamp is a toss between Edward and Emmett. He did some promotional matieral for a release party and personally he could be Dr. Cullen's son.

The Twilight mania has found the Dean home and this week we will be discussing it on our blog. First I want to know if you've read the books and if you did what you thought. It's your opinion and too each their own, but we are going to have some fun till the New Moon rises.

Change on the Horizon

Most reading this blog assume that I spend all my time writing and that it's been that way for a very long time. Reading back through my posts, I thought about how much I made it seem like that. The truth is I took a break for several years; blaming everything I could except for myself. The real reason-jade. That's how I describe it. I allowed someone to finally break my confidence, which is what they wanted to happen. In the end, allowing them to get inside my head. I walked away because of one person's opinion-stupid I know. Usually criticism doesn't bother me so much. Honestly, we need it to make us better at what we do. One person doesn't define who we are as artists, but I let the jade consume me.

Luckily, sometimes we get second chances. I spent a great portion of last year, helping my husband edit his novel. For the first time in a long time, I felt whole. Sure, I wasn't working on my own writing, but it was enough to revive me. This year I was finally tired of my own self-pity. I hated how incomplete I felt. I swore I'd get back into my own routine again. It was hard, I'll admit it. Sure you never forget how to ride a bicycle, but that doesn't mean its easy when you get back on for the first time.

Then something happened to remind me just how precious all that lost time was. We all have those moments that make us look back and wonder what in the world we are really doing with our life. I had mine on the middle of Lake Pactola in South Dakota this summer. On vacation with my family, we thought it would be a neat idea to rent a pontoon boat and go fishing. The day was absolutely gorgeous. It had been the clearest day we'd seen the whole time we were there. All of us were getting bites and landing fish; which is something I don't usually do, because fish hate my hook.

My husband was out back of the boat wake boarding. Something that only California boys can really do well. That's when we noticed the rain heading in our direction. So, I'm a good ole Kansas girl and my reaction was to grab the camera. How beautiful the far off rain danced off the lake. It didn't take long for that far off rain to be right up on us. We put up the awning, so we didn't get so wet.

The rain became the least of our worries. Hail started to pelt our swimsuit-covered bodies. We rushed to get the kids covered, but they were already screaming at the top of their lungs. The waves on the lake started to swell, making steering the boat near impossible. Thank goodness my father-in-law is not only stubborn and protective, but very knowledgeable about handling a boat in a storm.

The cold water rushed through the front of the boat where my mother-in-law and I were covered up. She realized we couldn't stay in that location. She pushed me to where my daughter was hiding from the storm. Of course, she had to do this because I was in my pre-foot surgery state and couldn't walk without a boot on my leg. When I got down there I realized my son wasn't with me daughter like I had previously thought. Panic rushed through my body as I didn't know where my son was on a boat that could possibly beat it at any moment. Not knowing where Kaiden was; what kind of mother was I? I knew Cloudya was down there and I thought I'd seen him go with her. What I'd really remembered seeing was my sister-in-law covering him up with a blanket close to her. As soon as she heard my panic and the waves settled for a second, she got him to us. Relief hit me, but we still had to get off the boat alive.

The cushions from the seats protected the children from the hail, but they were still shivering from cold and fear. As a mother I feared hypothermia and shock, so I came up with a way to keep them a little more preoccupied. Cloudya loves to be quizzed about things she knows well like Twilight and the Jonas Brothers and Kaiden likes to hear the answers so he can beat her at the next game. We do this alot on long trips. I asked Cloudya when Nick's birthday was and she screamed she didn't know. Well obviously, reasoning was out the window. Then she asked, "Can we just sing one of his songs?" So there we were, in the dark door of a near death experience and my daughter wanted to sing Jonas Brothers songs. Cloudya started to sing and than Kaiden chimed in. I took my towel off for a minute to access the sky. If there was anything I could do, it would be to see how soon till the storm cleared up. I got a clear shot of my father-in-law, he was shaking so hard from fear. It wasn't cold, I knew that, the only thing I could see on his face was solid fear. Almost everyone he cared about was on that boat, and he wanted to get them back to safety. As the kid's voices surrounded us, the sky started to look a little less bleak although the hail continued.

The hail plummeted us for nearly forty-five minutes and just as we got to the marina wouldn't you know it would stop. I learned several things about myself in those moments, but mostly about wasted time. This wasn't just about my craft, but my children and family more importantly. I knew getting off that thing that I would stop at nothing to make sure everyone of their desires came true. All the years I'd spent in my jaded state seemed stupid now. The whole thing made me remember something my grandpa had said along time ago, "An artist doesn't choose his art, but rather the art chooses the artist." I knew on that day, that I had only been wasting my talent and it was time to get over that. Shortly thereafter this blog was born and the kids got to see the Jonas Brothers in concert. Someday an art or craft will choose the two of them-of course, there's some debate on rather it already has or not-hopefully I set a good example for them and they achieve everything their little hearts desire.

Madison Croughlin

Did you know according to statistics four million women in the United States are currently married to a gay man? No...Elizabeth Reaser is not one of them, but the lead female character in my current novel was. Madison Croughlin is next in our line of characters from my almost finished novel Amidst the Fog. Most of you know this actress as the mother of a bunch of teen Twilight vampires. Esme, who in my opinion doesn't get the screen time she deserves is the matriarch of the Cullen Clan. Now all you people out there assume that I would chose Elizabeth, because she happens to be in Twilight are incorrect. Remember I started the project several years ago. While deciding who to visual base my lead female character, Elizabeth was a supporting role on the TV show Grey's Anatomy. Something about her calm and mild demeanor made her the perfect choice for Madison.

Its five years since her husband left her for another man and Madison finds herself going through the motions of life. She works because she has to and takes care of her kids the best a single mom can. When her mother in law pleads with her to help organize her annual charity masquerade she is unable to decline.

When her mother in law begins to weave her matchmaker spell the two find it hard to stay away from each other. Everyone from Madison’s kids to her employees get in on the mission. My novel will take Madison on an emotional battle with depression, angry, healing and finally forgiveness, but will she ever be able to love again?