hello, monday

Published on by Krista Noorman Category: Personal, Travel

So … I turned 47 last Monday. And I’m not sad about it. When I look back on my life, I feel like I’ve done so much and it’s taken so long to get to this point. I’m excited for what is ahead in the next 47 years. 😉

The highlight of my week was my camping trip to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula with my best friend, Jen. You can see a bunch of pictures on my INSTAGRAM HERE!

This was our 16th annual trip, and it was definitely Sweet 16. Our adventures began in the summer of 2005 in St. Ignace and have taken us all over our beautiful state, especially to Upper Peninsula destinations. And I’m so thankful for 40+ years of friendship with Jen and our mutual love of Michigan and camping adventures!

We stayed at Van Riper State Park on Lake Michigamme. This is one of our favorite state parks, and we’ve been there THREE times in the past couple of years. Jen’s been there one more time with her family as well. It’s such a nice location between places like Marquette, Houghton, and the Porcupine Mountains. And this time around, we discovered that Bond Falls was only like an hour from our campsite too. Neither of us had ever been there, but she mentioned it last time we were in the U.P. and we decided this was the trip we would find them and see what they were all about. And they were amazing with a great viewing area and also hiking trails along the sides. So much fun!

We also decided to check out the northern point of the peninsula in nearby L’Anse. It was a dirt road and ended up becoming more of a two-track trail, which we braved in her minivan. We were laughing our way through it, trying not to get stuck in the mud puddles, and never did go all the way to the end of the road. But we did get to a really nice spot with a stone beach and a view of the point. It was a fun little adventure we didn’t expect. That tends to happen to us. LOL!

This is the best I’ve felt since all this coronavirus happened. It was so refreshing and rejuvenating to get away and just be outside, enjoying nature. Despite the 90 degrees with crazy humidity. 😉 Spent some time at the lake, cooked our meals over the open fire, got ice cream. It was just a wonderful vacation.

I hope you have found something during this strange time that brings you joy and peace and calm too. Getting out of the normal routine is so good for the soul. Have an amazing week!

hello, monday

Published on by Krista Noorman Category: Family, Personal, Writing

Hello, all! I’m determined to make this a happy Monday because … well, I had a reeeeally bad Friday. Not that anything horrible happened, but I woke feeling a little off, went for a walk with my mom, then spent an hour bagging up junk from our garage to finish filling the big ol’ 10 yard dumpster we rented for our house/basement/garage cleanup. It was very hot out, and I was exhausted, and let’s just say that I don’t do well when you combine extreme heat and cleaning up other people’s messes. Everything annoyed me. Everyone annoyed me. And when I went out later in the day, it seemed every driver on the road decided that was the day they would pull out in front of me or some other dumb driving move, and then I became so annoyed that I was the jerk driver who pulled out in front of someone else. Needless to say, I did not like the person I was that day. LOL!

It has been a long time since I had a day where I felt that grumpy. I think maybe 2020 is getting to me a little bit too. 😉

Thankfully, I woke the next day feeling a little better. It was also my parents’ 49th anniversary and my cousin Tyler’s wedding in Indiana. So those were things that made it a happier day.

Besides my grumpy day, the rest of the week was good. I wrote a new Chapter One for my novel because I wasn’t really happy with the first draft, and I like it so much more. I also decided to watch the last two seasons of Jane the Virgin on Netflix. I had gotten behind at one point and was happy to see the final season was on there. Binged that over the course of a week and love how it all turned out in the end. It’s such a silly, soap-y show (on purpose), but the relationships between the characters, especially Jane and her mom and grandma, are just so wonderful and often bring me to tears. And Jane is a romance novel writer, so I relate to her in that way. 🙂

As I mentioned, my cousin Tyler’s wedding was Saturday. My mom and I traveled to Indiana and spent the evening with my dad’s side of the family, celebrating Tyler and Lily’s special day. They were supposed to get married in late May, but because of COVID, they decided to postpone. And they ended up choosing the same day my parents got married so that was fun. It was a small, beautiful wedding at a lovely farm with the reception in a big old barn all decorated up with strings of lights. The best part was just being with family and catching up. I don’t get to see my cousins very often, and some I have not seen in quite a while, so it was wonderful to see them again. My grandpa even came for a bit too, and it’s always good to see him.

It’s so strange to attend an event like that and wear masks and social distance, but it was handled really well, and we did our part and wore masks when close to others inside and sanitized our hands and such. It was nice to have most of it be outside and in the barn with the doors wide open, so not really in an enclosed space. And what a lovely location for a wedding. I shared several pictures and a couple videos over on MY INSTAGRAM if you’d like to see more than the ones I’m sharing in this post.

It was a lovely end to the week, and we’re so happy God brought Lily into Tyler’s life, and so excited to welcome her into our family. They are the sweetest couple. 🙂

Have a wonderful week!

hello, monday

Published on by Krista Noorman Category: My Books, Personal, Writing

Good morning, friends! How was your week? It was a hot one here. In the 90s and humid daily. We finally had some rain this weekend, which knocked the humidity levels down (for now) and it’s been a nice couple of days. I’m currently sitting in my living room with the window open, enjoying a nice cool morning breeze coming in. It’s nice not to have to turn the air conditioner on as soon as we get up.

I did a lot of writing in my “mobile office” this week and finished the first draft of my upcoming novel, More than a Billionaire, Skylar and Franky’s story! It felt awesome to get to their little happily ever after moment. Now to dig into the edits and really make it good! I’m excited.

This week, we had a giant 10-yard dumpster dropped off in our driveway and spent some time this week emptying our trailer that we’ve been adding trash to for a while now and gutting our creepy old basement of a ton of trash that’s been living there for years. It was a ton of hard work, but it felt awesome to get all of that out. We still have lots more purging to do before the trash company comes to pick up the dumpster, but just throwing out stuff we’ve been storing for no good reason for so long feels amazing!

It was also a week of healthier eating around here. Tried several recipes from the Instant Loss Cookbook, including the loaded sweet potato pictured above. It was so yum, cooked up in the Instant Pot, so soft, topped with turkey bacon, blueberries, and walnuts, and then you mix up a little syrup for over it with maple syrup, cinnamon, and a tiny bit of almond milk. It was so good. HERE is a link to Brittany’s book, with lots more good healthy recipes for the Instant Pot.

Our weekend ended on a nice note with Jake’s sister and her hubby and their girls doing a drive-by visit on the way home from visiting with the grandparents. 🙂 It was nice to see them and chat for a few minutes.

This week is going to be all about editing on my book and filling up that dumpster. 🙂

Hope you all have a wonderful week!

hello, monday

Published on by Krista Noorman Category: Personal

Welcome to July, my friends! I hope you had a wonderful holiday weekend for those here in the U.S. It’s been a good week overall.

Finally, Chloe got back to gymnastics practice. Her coaches set up some outdoor practices at a nearby park, which is allowed here in Michigan since the gyms have not been opened by the governor yet. It was good for her to get back to training. And I got to get back to writing in my “mobile office,” as I like to call it. I’ve written and edited so much of so many of my books in my car over the years while she’s practiced hard at the sport she loves. It’s nice to be back in the writer’s seat. 😉

It’s been a very hot week here in Michigan – in the 90s and humid daily – so we’ve been staying inside for the most part. I decided to crack open my Instant Loss Cookbook and try a healthy recipe or two. I made the chicken tortilla soup and it was so good. I’m not one for peppers and onions in my food, but for my husband, who loves those things, I made sure to include everything the recipe called for and I challenged myself to just eat it all, and I did not regret one bite. It wasn’t too spicy, which was good since spicy foods are not my thing and my tummy doesn’t like them. But this was the perfect amount – not too spicy. Jake just added extra seasonings after the fact to spice it up and it was all good. HERE is a link to the recipe if you’re interested.

Watched a few things this week while staying cool. Chloe and I watched the documentary, Athlete A, on Netflix about the sexual abuse that went on within USA Gymnastics for years. It was heartbreaking that this happened to hundreds and hundreds of girls. Was a very well put together documentary worth watching.

Another series we watched was Dark on Netflix. Jake introduced me to this apocalyptic story (German with subtitles) last year. We watched the first two seasons and have been waiting for season 3 (the final season), which came out a week ago. Finished that last night, and the finale was really good. We were pleased with it. We always compare it to Stranger Things and even Lost at times, with all the twists and turns. It was really well done, but it for sure can give you a headache, trying to keep track of all the characters, who is connected to who, etc.

We also watched HAMILTON, of course. Who didn’t? haha! I have to admit, I knew very little about it, except how popular it was. I had only ever heard one of the songs, and I didn’t know anything other than Lin-Manuel Miranda was Alexander Hamilton. And I really enjoyed it. Will definitely be watching again. So many great moments and songs. Especially the forgiveness scene. Those who have seen it will know the exact moment I’m talking about. Such a powerful moment.

Spent some time at my parents’ farm on Friday, celebrating my brother Tim’s birthday. The last birthday we celebrated all together like that was Chloe’s in February. And we’ve only all been over there a couple times in the past four months, so it was good family time.

We had a quiet 4th of July at home, which was nice. Didn’t venture out to any fireworks, but we had plenty of neighbors shooting them off around us.

Felt like getting out of the house yesterday, so I went to my parents’ again and sat on the porch with my mom for a few hours. The weirdest pop-up rain showers came through while we sat there. It was fun to just sit and talk and watch them roll in, downpour, then go away. Cooled us off, too, which was nice. And my dad’s fields needed a drink so that was good too.

I just wanted to end my post today by thanking everyone who prayed for Chloe over the past week. We have felt your prayers as her broken heart begins to heal. It’s hard being a teenager with so many dreams for the future and wanting to grow up so fast. I just want her to slow down and enjoy this stage that she’s in, but I know she won’t. I didn’t when I was her age. Trying to keep listening and giving her the best advice I can, always reminding her that God is where her true happiness will come from.

Have a wonderful week!

hello, monday

Published on by Krista Noorman Category: Personal

This week in the Noorman household had some drastic ups and downs. Started the week on a high note, shopping with my mom for gifts for my cousin Tyler’s fiancée, Lily, for her bridal shower. We went to Applebee’s for lunch and it was my first time eating out in a restaurant since the quarantine began. It was just us and one couple across the restaurant. So weird.

On Wednesday, we spent the morning at a lovely poppy field, taking Chloe’s senior pictures. (Can’t believe my baby is a senior in high school already!) It was a nice girls day.

Then we had some teenage heartbreak happen, which is so hard. I can remember my mom just sitting beside me on my bed when I had my heart broken, and I can now relate to how she must have been feeling. You want to make it all better for your little girl, but there’s really nothing you can do except offer a shoulder to cry on and words of encouragement and prayer. And that’s what we’ve been doing a lot of this week.

I’m really thankful for her girlfriends, who just kept messaging her, calling her, stopping by to give her hugs and love, some of them spent the night with her just to offer her their support. She is not alone, and I hope she will always remember that she has all of us and she has God to get her through.

Yesterday, my mom and I traveled to Indiana to be with family and celebrate Lily and Tyler’s upcoming wedding at the bridal shower. We got to see my aunts and spend some time with them before the shower, which was so wonderful. Family time is so good for the soul.

In case anyone was wondering about the lovely poppy field. A couple in Fennville, Michigan planted this field in memory of their son, who was in the military and came home with PTSD and took his own life. It’s a lovely tribute to him that brings joy to so many people. I only learned of it this year, but I guess they’ve been doing it for a few years now since his death in 2015. So, if you are ever in Michigan in June, look up Pleasant Hill Farm.

Have a wonderful week!

hello, monday

Published on by Krista Noorman Category: Personal, Writing

Welcome to another week, friends. And it’s now OFFICIALLY Summer! Did you do anything fun to welcome in the new season? We stayed cool in the air conditioning for the most part.

I ended up taking no pictures all week until Sunday when we went over to my parents’ house for Father’s Day, so all the photos you see above are from yesterday.

Last week was kind of all over the place as far as emotions go. It started off on not a great note with some tough parenting, and I think that put me in a bit of a funk. Things in writing world didn’t seem to be going very well, and I ended my week just feeling sort of defeated and down. But I have to say that I am very thankful for my little circle of writing friends, who let me vent and commiserated with me for a bit. It’s good to have a few friends like that, the ones who get where you’re coming from and give encouragement.

On Friday evening, after I had finished writing some words on Skylar’s story, I decided to do a little writing on a “just for fun” series of young adult books that I’ve been thinking about writing in the future. It’s not anything I have a set plan for releasing just yet, so without any real deadlines, it will be something I work on when I feel like I need a break from other projects. So I started writing the first book and got half of the first chapter written, and it felt really good. Kind of therapeutic. Definitely something I’m going to continue doing. 🙂

As I mentioned, we went over to my parents’ on Sunday to celebrate Father’s Day. It was a hot day, but there was such a nice breeze. We all sat outside on the porch and had some dessert and ice cream and talked. Zach brought his guitar and played some tunes for us, and then he spent a little time teaching Chloe how to play. Also, my mom let me plant some bonsai tree seeds. My brothers planted a couple and have been watching them sprout. It will be fun (hopefully, it sprouts). I already feel like Mr. Miyagi from The Karate Kid. hehe!

Last night, we got some takeout and watched the movie Knives Out (on Amazon Prime video right now). A little mystery/comedy. If you haven’t seen it yet, it was a fun one.

I shared this last Monday on my FB. It’s a favorite quote of mine from Anne of Green Gables that came to mind and felt very appropriate after our blah start to the week. Hope it encourages you as it did me.

hello, monday

Published on by Krista Noorman Category: My Books, Personal, Writing

Welcome to a new week, friends. Are you ready for it? I would say this past week was uneventful yet productive. Got a lot done—both workwise and around the house—and that’s always a good feeling, but nothing major going on, really. Hasn’t that been the story for the past three months, though. 😉

Had some nice walks with my mom most mornings of the week. We’ve been at this new habit for the past few weeks, and it feels good to get out and begin our day that way. We’re up to 2.2 miles daily. A pretty good start. We even met a little “friend” along our walk one day. (bottom left)

My lovely peonies (bottom middle) got busted down by some storms we had mid-week so I had to cut them off and bring them inside (that’s an oversized coffee mug for the vase, by the way.) 😉 Enjoyed having those on display for a few days. They come and go so fast every season, but I just love them so much.

One thing that is really cool to look at but not so cool for allergies is the fluff falling from the cottonwood trees. (bottom right) There was so much of it coming down that it almost looked like snow falling around me. Had to stop and take a quick picture of it settled along the sidewalk like a fluffy white border.

Our Saturday was spent removing our old mattress and cleaning up all the dust bunnies that had collected underneath (yuck!) in preparation for our new “mattress in a box.” Have any of you ever had experience with one of these? I did a bunch of research ahead of time on companies that offer their mattresses this way, and I was a little worried about ordering a mattress that we didn’t try out first. But in the end, we went with Brooklyn Bedding, and it is AWESOME! (top right) We ordered their medium firmness option in the signature hybrid, which has these little tiny pocket coils along with memory foam and all sorts of layers of comfort goodness. Plus, it was super fun to unroll it, break the plastic open, and watch it expand from its flattened, vacuum sealed form to its normal size. 🙂

Is it weird that I’m so happy about a mattress? It was way past time for a replacement, and my hubby (who was having back issues from the old mattress) is already sleeping better and waking up less achy. Yay!

This week, I have another FREEBIE for you. The first TWO BOOKS in my Cornerstone Series are FREE through Friday, June 19th. These two books go together and should be read in order as Hello, Forever is the sequel to Goodbye, Magnolia, picking up with Maggie and Simon from the end of the first book.

Here are the links to each of the books for you:

Goodbye, Magnolia
Hello, Forever

Happy reading!

a moment among the bamboo trees

Published on by Krista Noorman Category: My Books, Writing

This week’s FREEBIE is my Lawkeepers novel, Lawfully Secure. While I was doing research for this book, one of the locations I chose for a trip for Paige and her bridesmaids was Maui, and I came across the bamboo forest, which I am dying to visit one day. I thought I’d share a little “almost kiss” moment with you today that takes place in this very unique location.

Enjoy this scene from Lawfully Secure:

He hadn’t realized they’d both stopped walking and were now standing face to face, their hands brushing against each other’s. His heart was racing as she gazed up at him. He took her in. Hair pulled away from her face in a ponytail, wispy hairs falling along her cheek that he was dying to reach up and push behind her ear, wide brown eyes gazing up at him, rosy cheeks from hiking, and full pink lips parted just so. This would be the perfect moment to see what her lips felt like against his. He knew without a doubt they’d be soft and heavenly … but he couldn’t. Could he? She wasn’t moving away. She seemed as locked into this moment as he was. One kiss. Just to know what it would feel like.

Her small hand suddenly found its way into his, and he stepped closer, until they were nearly pressed together.

“He’s not the one for you, Paige.” His voice sounded strangled as he fought himself from pulling her against him and taking her lips with his.

“You’re just saying that because you want to kiss me right now.”

He leaned his head closer, their foreheads brushing softly, but not resting together. Her soft breaths fell on his face. “I do want to kiss you.” The words coming out of his mouth seemed to snap him back to reality. “But I can’t, Paige. We can’t.”

DOWNLOAD YOUR COPY TODAY

hello, monday

Published on by Krista Noorman Category: Personal

Well, it’s another Monday, friends! How was your weekend? Did you do anything fun?

Our weekend can be described in one word. House project. 🙂

Jake took Friday off, and we went to Menards to get the supplies for him to build himself a new, bigger work bench/desk. We made it a little date and went to Culver’s for lunch and ate in the truck. On the way there, I realized that this was the first time I would be going into a store since March. Jake has been our “grocery getter” this whole time, and the only place I’ve been to is the post office and the gas station. This is also the first “date” (other than walks around our neighborhood and date night on the couch watching TV or a movie) that we’ve been on in months. It was nice to get out together.

And just so you get the full picture because I always like reading about people’s real life and not the rosy picture so often portrayed on the internet … high 80s outside, no air conditioning in the truck, masks on in a very warm Menards that made it hard to breathe, frustrations over not being able to find the things we needed, snapping at each other more than once. 😉

But we had nice moments too—the nice breeze with the open windows while we drove, a musician playing guitar across the parking lot at Culver’s while we shared a meal, being able to talk without the kids around.

Saturday and Sunday were ALL about the house project. Jake built his desk while the rest of us played “musical desks” 🙂 and moved Jake’s desk to Z’s room, Z’s desk to my room, and Jake’s new desk into his space.

We live in a small house, so it’s a challenge when we do these kinds of projects to find space to stack stuff. Our dinner on Saturday and lunch on Sunday had to be takeout because we couldn’t get to the cupboards or kitchen appliances because of all the piles. And I was 100% OK with that because our local Chinese buffet FINALLY reopened for takeout. Ever since everything shut down, they have been closed, and I’ve craved Chinese food more than once in the past 80+ days. And I have to say, it tasted so good. It was well worth the wait. And today … leftovers! 😉

Last week was filled with lots of walking with my mom and Jake, while soaking ourselves in bug spray because the mosquitoes are awful right now. Ugh. We were also able to return to C’s school and clean out her locker finally. Was a very strange end to the school year, that’s for sure.

I also spent a little time writing on Skylar’s first draft (More Than a Billionaire) and thinking about a novella I want to write this year as well while also putting together a few FREEBIES for the upcoming weeks.

This week’s FREEBIE is BITTERSWEET, my novel from the Second Chance with You series. It will be FREE through Tuesday, June 9th.

Happy reading!

cover reveal | more than a billionaire

Published on by Krista Noorman Category: My Books, Writing

So excited to share the cover of my next book with you. More Than a Billionaire is coming on November 30th and is now available for PREORDER HERE or by clicking the image above.

WHAT’S IT ABOUT?

Skylar Schultz has spent half her life loving Franky Middlebury, the only guy who’s ever seen her as more than heiress to the Schultz Chocolate fortune, but she’s always been firmly positioned in the friend zone. As much as she cherishes their friendship, she wishes he would see her as so much more than his best friend’s little sister.

Things aren’t going well for Franky. His girlfriend left him, he’s unhappy as a partner in his father’s law firm, and he feels stuck in a life he didn’t really want. The one bright spot is Skylar. She’s there for him in a way nobody else is, filling his stressful days with laughter and offering unending encouragement.

As their friendship progresses, they begin to rely on each other as they are faced with family drama and career changes. All the while, Skylar hopes their newfound closeness will blossom into more. But when someone new walks into Franky’s life, will everything change? Will this woman be the fresh start Franky’s been longing for or will he finally see the one who’s been there for him the whole time?