Happy Monday -- I hope you and your families enjoyed a wonderful holiday weekend! Ours was so delightful; lots of relaxed time with friends and family + puttering around the house and our little garden. Meanwhile, enjoy this awesome Weekly Blueprint, packed with event leads for the week. And did you know it's National Chocolate Day? I started a new chocolate delights Pinterest board if you're looking for some inspiration! Enjoy!

July 7: Learn to fish program begins. (Boston)

July 7: Try your hand at sea kayaking. (Boston)

July 8: Spend your lunch hour with Berklee College of Music. (Boston)

July 8 + July 10: Tom Zmuda from Berklee performs. (Boston)

July 8: Free concert- Orville Giddings Big Band. (Ipswich)

July 8 + 9: For all the Minecraft lovers. (Wenham)

July 9: Pretend to be a paleontologist at Dinosaur Discoveries. (Acton)

July 9: It’s time to play in the park. (Lincoln)

July 9: Wacky water fun at Smolak farm. (North Andover)

July 9 - 12: Pinocchio the puppet show. (Brookline)

July 9: Family beach adventure. (Chatham)

July 9: Boston Landmarks Orchestra family concert. (Charlestown)

July 9: Free concert - The Kennedy’s with Charlie Farren. (Plymouth)

July 10: Free concert - Grey Season. (Boston)

July 10: Sunset clambake. (Boston)

July 10 + 11: Summer drop-in days at the museum. (Easton)

July 10: From Broadway to Hollywood Summer concert and picnic contest. (Harvard)

July 10: Free concert - Orange Crush. (Ipswich)

July 10: Children’s tour of the farm. (Lexington)

July 10: Free outdoor movie - Frozen. (Waltham)

July 11: Free admission to the Discovery Museums. (Acton)

July 11: Dean Wareham in concert with pop up oyster bar. (Boston)

July 11: Create your own opera with KOEK. (Boston)

July 11: Beach BBQ and island games. (Boston)

July 11: Free outdoor movie - Despicable Me 2. (Boston)

July 11: Teddy bear picnic storytime. (Cambridge)

July 11: Evening hayride and campfire. (Lincoln)

July 11: Try out the North Shore’s top restaurants at this seafood festival. (Salem)

July 11: Free admission to John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum. (Boston)

July 11: Free admission to New England Historic Genealogical Society. (Boston)

July 11: Free admission to Fruitlands Museum. (Harvard)

July 11: Free admission to Cape Cod Children’s Museum. (Mashpee)

July 11: Free admission to Pilgrim Hall Museum. (Plymouth)

July 11: Free admission to Peabody Essex Museum. (Salem)

July 11: Free admission to Worcester Historical Museum. (Worcester)

Image credit: Mass Audubon

I arrived back from my aunt's funeral around six. We'd planned to rent a pontoon all day, enjoy the lake before camping. That didn't happen, but death comes when it comes, nothing to be done about that. My aunt was a wonderful woman, and despite the Pick's disease that robbed her of her speech, what I remember most from her was conversation.

I returned from the airport still in my funeral dress and immediately changed to camping gear. We managed to pitch the tent and get down burgers and s'mores before the rain came. In my grief I went straight for sleep, but within a few hours I awoke in a puddle where the tent leaked. My daughter slept through hours of thunderstorms when my husband and I sat stark awake, hands pressed against the leaky tent walls, wanting to make it to morning for her on her first night in a real tent.

When the thunder peaked, she awoke and hid in her sleeping bag, and I pulled her down to me on the mat off the cot and felt that feeling a mother feels when comforting her young no matter what the age.

That feeling might be the meaning of life.

I woke this morning with the tent rocking in a 20-mph wind, but in the midst of my grief and exhaustion was the memory of comforting my girl with my physical self against the wind and rain, and the knowledge I would not let anything come between her and me.

I'm totally feeling the itch of the holiday weekend so I'm going to drop this 28-event mega Weekend Roundup early and close down shop and enjoy a few days off the grid! Have a fantastic weekend, and if you're looking to catch up on backreading, check out the Best of June + these posts on how to book a camping trip with kids and pea recipes! And if you're looking for events today and tomorrow, check out Monday's Weekly Blueprint. Happy 4th!

1. Experience a robot’s eye view. (Acton)

2. Amazing fireworks in a glass. (Boston)

3. Making lanterns for Ramadan. (Boston)

4. Revel in hues of Indian ethnic styles. (Boston)

5. Pretty Things beer tasting and music fest. (Boston)

6. Berklee Jazz on beautiful Spectacle Island. (Boston)

7. Be witness to the trial of the century. (Boston)

8. Free family film festival presents Frozen.  (Boston)

9. Boston Tea Party scavenger hunt. (Boston)

10. Final weekend of the Brockton Fair. (Brockton)

11. Enjoy some Sunday Parkland Games. (Cambridge)

12. Happy birthday Nathaniel Hawthorne. (Concord)

13. Music at the Manse. (Concord)

14. Berkshire Arts Festival. (Great Barrington)

15. Open barnyard at Weir River Farm. (Hingham)

16. Final day of the Lion’s Club carnival. (Lexington)

17. Visit the MAKEmobile traveling creative and tactile experience cart. (Lincoln)

18. Celebrate the artist of the month at deCordova. (Lincoln)

19. Marblehead Festival of the Arts. (Marblehead)

20. Learn to camp. (Medfield)

21. 19th annual New Bedford Folk Festival. (New Bedford)

22. A family cruise on Nauset Marsh. (Orleans)

23. Revolutionary celebration and concert. (Sheffield)

24. Family Sunday canoe trip. (Sheffield)

25. Peruse the Handmade Arts Market. (Somerville)

26. Art in the Park: the art of pastels. (Somerville)

27. Get up close with some birds of prey. (Worcester)

28. Bass River Arts and Craft Festival. (Yarmouth)

Image credit: www.rgbstock.com

Peas. They're nutritious, delicious, colorful, great for snacking (I've been consuming large quantities raw thanks to the heat), easy to grow in a home garden, and -- notably in my book -- one of the few vegetables Violet will eat. Green and snap peas are in season June through September in Masschusetts, and this week's Eat Seasonal feature offers 8 ways to breathe new life into peas, whether as a snack, side, or main dish:

1. Try a fresh take on hummus via this green pea hummus.

2. These roasted sugar snap peas with mint and sea salt look simple and incredible.

3. Quick and healthy green pea fritters.

4. Keep it cool and simple with this crunchy summer salad (you can also use some of your seasonal cucumbers!).

5. Add color and nutrients to store-bought pasta with this ravioli with snap peas and mushrooms.

6. Seared scallops with snap peas and pancetta in 20 minutes = WIN.

7. Love the idea of pairing Korean-style short ribs with snap peas.

8. These pea guacamole and seared halloumi soft tacos? Major wow.

Image credits: peas via FreeDigitalPhotos.net; all others via linked sites above

Though I’ve done a couple of backpacking trips (a million years ago), I was initially hesitant about the idea of camping with the girls. I mean, I loved the idea but wasn’t sure how our fiery Vi would take to it. And while there were some inevitable squabbles (no different from home!), for the most part we had a great time. This and next week I'll share a few posts about camping with kids because many people have asked me about it (in the vein of it seeming impossible). Today I’ll start with the first step: 5 tips for booking your trip.

1. Start close. I recommend starting with a short radius, not only so you don’t have to spend a ton of time in the car, but also so that if for some reason things go awry, you know you can pull the ripcord and be home in a reasonable time. (In general, I’m a proponent of sticking with a commitment, but there’s comfort in knowing you could pull the ripcord if you needed to, even if you don’t!) We booked at Pawtuckaway State Park & Campground in New Hampshire, which was about 1 hour, 20 minutes from home -- the perfect distance to get woodsy but not be too far away.

2. Scout out the family friendly factor. Pawtuckaway ended up being super family friendly. In addition to trails, there was a beach, fantastic playground, canoe and boat rentals, and a cute little general store where you could get everything from beach toys to puzzle books to ice cream treats. It was really perfect for families.

3. Be strategic about campsite location. When you’re booking your campsite, think about positioning. For example, Jon smartly booked us at a site on a dead end so we didn’t have a ton of traffic coming through. Also, I recommend positioning yourself close (though not right next to!) bathrooms depending on where your kids are at with the potty situation.

4. Try one night to start. For peace of mind, try one night first to see how it goes. No doubt, it would have been more efficient for us to book 2-3 nights given that it takes some effort to get packed and organized (I’ll cover that topic in a separate post), but for our first time camping as a family, we felt better just committing to one night.

5. Just do it! I know many people are hesitant about trying camping with kids, what with gear (again, I’ll get to that in a separate post!) and different temperaments but I recommend you just do it! It’s simply wonderful to be in nature and away from devices and household chores...to live more slowly, even if it's just for a short stint. In the grand scheme of things our camping adventures was less than 24 hours but it was fun and different (and incredibly affordable!) and we plan on going again!

Do you have other tips for booking camping trips with kids? Feel free to share them in the comments below!

Image credits: Christine Koh

Happy first day of July, can you believe it? Year = half over! We have a string of delightful plans coming together for the holiday weekend; I'm just feeling kind of overwhelmed by gratitude for the people and good things happening in our lives. Meanwhile, since we've closed the books on another month I wanted to leave you with the best of June 2014. Enjoy catching up on some wonderful back reading from wherever you're enjoying the week!

Relationships & goals:

• The power of compromise
• 8 race tips for newbies (or anyone, really)

Home:

• Tess & Ted = awesome interior design services
• 9 tips for gardening on a budget
• A refrigerator tour

Food:

• Do you write about food? Share your awesome via this new series
• Eat seasonal: beet recipes
• Eat seasonal: strawberry recipes
• Eat seasonal: cucumber recipes
• Eat seasonal: scallion recipes

Local:

• Local gems in Easton
• Advice for visiting Boston with toddlers

Cool finds:

• A fantastic portable and affordable speaker
• Stylish textured dip bowls
• Great summer trekkers
• Super awesome one-piece picks from Splendid

Hey, Internet Keep Being Awesome:

• 1
• 2
• 3

Image credit: fourth of July marshmallow pops via Pinterest

Thanks to Grace Hwang Lynch of HapaMama for inviting me to talk shop. Check out her post here!

 

On Writing

I recently did a Skype author interview with my niece's English class. They asked when I started writing, and I realized I was younger than their 14-year-old selves when my fingers started itching. I began with poetry heavily influenced by Shel Silverstein and progressed to thinly veiled plagiarism short stories in the style of Ray Bradbury. After being published in a chapbook that I think probably published anyone who sent anything in, I had the bug bad, and it really never left. So let's talk about writing. 

 

What am I working on/writing?

 

Right now, I am not writing anything. A few weeks ago, I sent my contemporary new adult novel, THE BIRTHRIGHT OF PARKER CLEAVES, to my agent. He said he would read it. I was happy, though I felt none of the excitement that I felt when people asked to read THE OBVIOUS GAME, because now I know not to drink the water until it's been filtered, or some other terrible metaphor for becoming jaded by the publishing beast. I have a few ideas for my next novel, but for now, I wait to see if my agent will represent PARKER CLEAVES or if I need to go to Plan B. (I do not know what Plan B is yet.)

 

How does my writing/work differ from others in its genre?

 

Well, for one thing, it's in my voice. I know that sounds silly, but it's true. If I find a writer I like, I'll read anything that person writes. I fangirl easily. It's my dream that people will like my voice and then want to read anything I write, and I realize that is totally vain. But it's the truth. So I work hard to make my voice sound different than other people's voices. THE OBVIOUS GAME was turned down by some major publishers because "they already had an anorexia book on their lists." That was frustrating for me, because that makes it sound like the book is all subject and no voice. I get it from a business/catalog perspective, but it also made me want to scream. I think it's clear the same person wrote THE OBVIOUS GAME and THE BIRTHRIGHT OF PARKER CLEAVES even though the subject matter is vastly different. All of my writing tends to be less action/more character development than other books in my genres. I also try to portray strong parent/child relationships, because it seems like every young adult or new adult book I read has a crappy mother in it.

 

Why do I write what I do?

 

Someone super famous but apparently not easily googled once said, "Write the book only you can write." So that's what I try to do. My writing is influenced by my life experiences, my observations of people and events, my politics, my anxiety disorder, my sense of humor. It does no good to try to follow trends, because it takes so long for most of us to get a book published, the trends will change by then. When I'm planning a book, I start with a takeaway I want the reader to have, and I build a story around that. It's kind of like building an outfit around a belt.

 

How does my writing process work?

 

When I wrote THE OBVIOUS GAME, I just wrote in a linear fashion. Then I ended up having all these structural problems and rewrote and moved and rewrote four or five times over two years, and that was really painful. When I started THE BIRTHRIGHT OF PARKER CLEAVES, I used StoryMill software and outlined scenes in three acts. I figured out who all the characters were and when they would appear. I figured out the climax and most of the major events. And THEN I wrote, one scene at a time instead of one chapter at a time like THE OBVIOUS GAME. This time, too, I used my beta readers differently. I wrote a very loose and short rough draft and gave it to beta readers. Then I incorporated their feedback into the second draft and gave it to different beta readers. Finally, I incorporated that feedback and came up with a third draft, which I gave to yet again different beta readers. Then I shined it up and sent it to my agent. It'll probably change again, but I'd reached the point when I hated the whole thing, which is typically a good sign that you're done revising for a bit.

 

Next week, you can read about my friend Kyran Pittman's writing process. She's the author of PLANTING DANDELIONS, which is a really good book that I enjoyed muchly. 

On Sunday, my wonderful Tante Sue passed after a long struggle with Pick's disease. I remember most about her that she loved to socialize. Pick's stole her speech. It makes me very angry. It doesn't make sense.

I hate you, Pick's.

On Monday, my daughter's buddy Ka'Vyea Tyson-Curry left Children's Mercy Hospital after two months of recovery from multiple gunshot wounds. He's ten. He likes books. He did not deserve any of what he got. It makes me very angry. It doesn't make sense.

But I love you, modern medicine. Thanks for saving Ka'Vyea.

I miss my aunt. I'm glad Ka'Vyea is doing so well.

Life. It's complicated. You just have to hold on. None of it makes sense. Maybe that's not the point. Maybe the point is just to ease each other's pain in any way we can.

Happy Monday everyone, I hope you had a great weekend! I'm happy to report that we enjoyed a fun camping adventure with the girls, which I'll be sharing more about soon (particularly since many people have said either, "Really, you took a 3-year-old camping?!" or "I could never do that!"). It was shockingly doable! But before we get there, if you're off and looking for something to do this week, enjoy this roundup via the Weekly Blueprint:

July 1: Test your hockey skills with the Worcester Sharks. (Worcester)

July 2: Free concert - Soul City. (Plymouth)

July 2: Meet an astronaut. (Acton)

July 2 - 3: The Brewster annual oceanside summer arts and crafts festival. (Brewster)

July 2 - 6: Boston Harborfest. (Boston)

July 3: Children’s Discovery Day. (Stockbridge)

July 3 - 4: Boston Pops Fireworks Spectacular. (Boston)

July 4: A fireworks roundup by town. (Multiple locations)

July 4: Bridgewater Arts and Music Festival. (Bridgewater)

July 4: A children’s bike parade. (Needham)

July 4: Learn about Ramadan. (Boston)

July 4: Free admission to Heritage Museum and Garden. (Sandwich)

July 4: Free admission to Edward Gorey House. (Yarmouth Port)

July 4: Free admission to Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival. (Becket)

July 4: Free admission to Amelia Park Children’s Museum. (Westfield)

July 4: Free admission to Falmouth Museums on the Green. (Falmouth, Woods Hole)

July 4 - 6: Berkshires Arts Festival. (Great Barrington)

Image credit: Boston Pops Fireworks Spectacular