Teenage Garage Sale with Amber Kizer and giveaway!

The bigger, the bolder, the more dangly, the better. I preferred earrings that were representative of actual things like fish, asparagus (yes, really), birds, frogs, cats, rainbows, stars…you get the idea. And yes, I liked to be matchy-matchy even though I know that’s a cardinal fashion sin, I still kinda have a hard time mixing prints and not matching my bag and shoes.

I started reading Zebra romances in 7th grade. From there I read anything in the romance category and fell in love with Jude Deveraux and Nora Roberts. They are both amazing story tellers who focus first on the emotion. I still have lots of my favorites!

Again, life would have been much simpler with digital, but we didn’t have it so cassette tapes were awesome awesome and better still if they were mixed with lots of favorites! I would listen to Karate Kid (the original soundtrack), Dirty Dancing, Top Gun, Pretty Woman over and over again. I love movie soundtracks (still do) because they’re usually a mix of genres. I think it’s probably why I pay so close attention to the soundtracks I create while I’m working on a book!

So maybe it’s my name, or maybe it’s because I think uncovering fossils could possibly be the coolest job in the uncool job category ever, but for lots of years I collected rocks and fossils. I love sparkle and I love color and I loved my rock collection. I still collect Amber from all over the world—I try to find a piece when I’m in a new place—usually in jewelry that relates back to #1.

I come from a long line of Kodak moment capturers—no, it’s not in the same category as vampire slayers, but it’s definitely in our blood to take many and more photographs than anyone ever needs. So even in the days of film where you had no idea if you got a good shot until they came back from the developers—I took as many as I could afford to ‘cuz film wasn’t cheap on my minor allowance!

Always have loved to cook since my mother put me on a chair by her to make cookies when I was two-ish. That’s also how I was allergic to chocolate for many years which is tragic and let me just tell you carob chip cookies taste nothing, and I do mean nothing, like chocolate chip cookies. So I have a collection of cookbooks and magazines that I’ve annotated over the years.

Most of my best friends were boys until high school when boys took on other dimensions for me. I kept notes that we wrote during classes or for holidays etc. Part of me will always miss those friendships—shout out to Jesse, Kevin, Damon, Trevor. I kept a couple of letters from boyfriends mainly I have to say for the humor quotient—especially a break-up note I received in HS that was and is fodder for all time laughable moments.

Because we didn’t live near each other and because we are also a family that loves snail mail, I received mail a couple times a week from my Indiana family/grandparents. They were extremely good about sending me little thoughts and notes just so I felt loved all the time. I don’t think people understand the power of the actual piece of mail anymore—there’s just nothing like it.

So house rules wouldn’t let me wear color outside of the house until I was 13 but I have always loved make up and frankly should buy stock in Sephora! So I’d get sets for birthdays or Christmas and play with all the colors. I’m very careful about making sure I don’t use a product too long or risk infections so you’re not going to actually find any dating from there!

This is from my late teens years—I made my first quilt to take to college with me. It was/is a watercolor garden with tiny squares of fabric that light to dark make up the piece. Lots of little tiny squares of fabric!!!

11) Souvenirs from trips like a vase from Greece, a cross stitch from Mt. Vernon (George Washington’s home), seeds from Conner Prairie, postcards and stationary from anywhere.

12) Trophies and certificates—I was a very driven overachiever and kept all of those from school and sports for many years!