I love how even the tiniest of discoveries can uplift
Tiny turtle power.Â
We discovered this little guy on the Greensprings trail in Williamsburg, VA.
And just last weekend I left the house and saw this:
The cherry blossom trees are blooming!
It seemed like they bloomed overnight.
(Much like my kids.)
We also found Edvard Munch’s Scream in the James River. Can you see it?
Oh and he’s in this doodle too.
Just kidding.
Here’s some chocolate.
Did you know that you can put the chocolate on the inside of the strawberry?!
Oh the freedom,right?
Hey, look at me doodling on the definition of writing. 😉
Although,
I have to say I could’ve done without this discovery when I walked in the door at work last week:
Dummy at work.
Note: Mannequins are not a typical sight in a library office.
Hey, after this surprise, who needs coffee?
But back to a slightly lower level of adrenaline,
I got the proofs of the illustrated covers that I designed for my Chasing Normal series
and I discovered I’m pretty excited with the way they’re turning out!
What have you discovered lately?
Happy Monday!!
xo
Coleen Patrick 
Love your frog and your drawings! And your book cover is beautiful! I can see why you’re excited 🙂
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P.S. Chocolate on the INSIDE of the strawberry??? Who knew!!! 🙂
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Thanks, Susanna! 🙂
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Awesome book covers, Coleen. You are so talented and I love your doodles!
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Thanks, Catherine! Your support means a lot. 🙂
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The cover looks awesome!! I’m so glad I’m following you on Instagram so I can see your beautiful photos twice. 🙂 I thought the Munch in the water was scary enough but holy moly! That mannequin would have made me have a heart attack. LOL!
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Thanks, Teresa. Instagram saves me some time when it comes to photos for my posts! All I need to do is resize and add my name. And i had to pass that mannequin about 3 times before I stopped jumping!
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I love the ‘scream’ in the James River. What a great shot.
And your book cover looks wonderful. How exciting. 🙂
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I have to thank my hub for noticing the scream in the river. But I was the nut who held her phone over the bridge to get the shot. Ha ha. Thanks Carrie!
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Thanks for the no-calorie chocolate fix and a peek at the natural world up by you. Isn’t it astonishing how fast trees blossom. Coleen, your covers are pure eye candy. Nice job!
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Astonishing yes. Yesterday our dogwood had buds and today…flowers! 🙂
Thanks and hope you’ve got pretty views in your neck of the woods.
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Very nice cover. Here’s to no more dummies in the office.
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No more dummies in the office? If only… 🙂
Thanks, Julia!
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I LOVE that sweet little turtle!
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Me too, Joanna!!
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Those little things all add up to the best things – especially when you throw a turtle in there. Your book cover looks great! I’m excited for you.
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Totally agree. It’s stuff like this that are the bright spots. Thanks, Sheila. 🙂
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I love your book cover. Beautiful!
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Congrats, Coleen! The cover looks awesome, and I’ll bet the novel is, too!
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Thank you, Kathy! 🙂
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Hmm, not sure my comment went through! Trying again: I love your cover. I think any author who can design her own cover is pretty lucky. Too often, I find covers are so similar and ordinary. Turtles are so neat. We often find them in our backyard; they venture up from a pond behind our house. We have to be extra careful when we’re mowing the lawn!
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Oh, wow, that’s a job dodging those tiny turtles! We moved this one out of the bike path. Not sure he was so happy at the moment, but still.
I’ve been excited working on the cover–although there’s been many moments of hair pulling. I’ve been learning A LOT though.
Thanks, Kate!
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Coleen – lovely photos (as always) there is something special about discovery and asking the questions to learn, discover, and grow. or simply to wonder. Keep wondering and wandering, I will, too. Peace. AND, GREAT COVER!
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Thanks, Clay. Here’s to peace–and making each day count. 🙂
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That baby turtle is full of squeeeeeee! So cute! (Yes, I have a bigger one as a pet, LOL)
Love the book cover!
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Squeeee! My sentiments exactly. And lucky you–you’ve got such cute pets! But I guess your turtle doesn’t get the blueberry facial. 🙂
Thanks, Jennette!
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That turtle is adorable. And your cover is beautiful!
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Thanks, Emily! And that little turtle, even just the pic, is still making me smile
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I love the doodles and the cover. Oh, and chocolate. I like that a lot too.
What have I discovered lately? Unfortunately I’ve been too busy and stressed to notice the small and important things. Time to slow down I think.
Have a great week, Coleen.
Patricia Rickrode
w/a Jansen Schmidt
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Here’s to you getting some happy, slowing down time. I just hit send on another round of edits so I’m looking forward to less stress in the next couple of weeks!
Thanks, Patricia. 🙂
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That little turtle guy is just too cute, Coleen 🙂 I COULD see that scream! I didn’t know about chocolate stuffing strawberries (?) and your cover looks GREEEEAATTT! 😀
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Thanks, Donna! Isn’t that scream face crazy??
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Chocolate covered strawberries are my favorite!! I never thought of putting the chocolate INSIDE the berry. Totally trying this next time =D
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I think they turned out prettier than the standard, but mostly bc I tend to rush when I do these things. 🙂
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Covers look fabulous! Happy Spring.
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Thanks and happy, happy spring to you too!
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Oh my gosh Coleen! You are so talented! I love the cover of your newest book. Love, love, love it! If I ever, and I do mean ever, (although sometimes I have my doubts) get to the point when I am ready to publish, we are having a talk girlfriend. You do amazing work! And of course there’s always chocolate. In the strawberries! Sweet!
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Aw, thanks, Karen. And ready to lend an ear whenever you want. 🙂
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Talented lady! You doodle a lot better than I can. Nice job on the book covers. LOL at the mannequin. I would have laughed at it.
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She is pretty funny. She’s moved to a spot where I can see her regularly. And what I find particularly funny now is she is supposedly dressed in a Victorian wedding gown–but her expression says, It’s time to clean the chamber pot.
Haha.
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Now I like the idea of drinking coffee as depicted in your drawing — with actual beans floating in the cup in addition to the liquid coffee itself. It would be like drinking pearl tea. As long as the beans had soaked in the coffee for a long enough period of time, so that they wouldn’t be too hard to bite down on. There’s a rival for Starbucks in the making.
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