Making A List

It's T-minus three days and counting until John and I head up to the big city of Washington D.C. for a mini-vacation of sorts. Big ticket thing for me this year is the RWA booksigning on Wednesday evening! Muy excited, I am. I'm hoping to catch up with Wendy and maybe a few other bloggers or three, maybe Katie and KristieJ, I hope? I wasn't able to swing the entire conference this year due to the economy (*cough*) and furlough at work, but I'm just ecstatic I get to go to the book signing. I'm hoping next year to go to the RT conference since it's in Columbus, OH, and maybe we can plan a trip to my hometown around that.

I absolutely love the city of D.C., especially after our trip there last year. It helps that we have very good friends that live right outside city limits, so this year it's like a bonus for us. I just used RWA as an excuse to get up there to visit. ;-)

Anyway, on tap for today is straightening, cleaning, packing and laundry. Since I work Monday night and we're leaving early Tuesday a.m., I'm hoping to have our suitcases at least mainly packed by Sunday evening. If I do, that will probably be the first time I could ever even consider myself organized. I'll get back to y'all on that endeavor. Oh oh! And I need to pack one or two of my keepers to get signed if I'm able to -- namely, CASTLES by Julie Garwood, since I totally blame her and that book for my love of romance fiction. I guess I should peruse the list of authors signing that day to have a game plan of what I'll buy (*mental note* take the Visa).

*squeeeeeeee*

The Boss Friday!

Major props to my sweetie for making me watch this video on YouTube, despite my grumbling and griping. John has a major thang for pirate music, especially if it's done by some of our friends through the Renaissance Faire community. So when he asked me to watch a Bruce Springsteen version of "Pay Me My Money Down", yeah, I sighed. Me, I'm not so much a fan of the whole pirate schtick. I'm just sayin'. But this version sheds a whole 'nother light for me on the whole Boss thing. I'm gonna have to investigate and see if there is an album that features these two songs, which are actual American classics, I think.

Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch...

Besides a looong weekend at the hospital which, actually, was eventless (thank God!), it's been an interesting past few days around here. I missed posting something painfully cute and patriotic on the 4th of July and have been playing catch-up around BlogLand, so I hope everyone had a happy and safe holiday!

While everyone's glued to the televisions today for the coverage of Michael Jackson's memorial service, South Carolinians are breathing a sigh of relief after a suspected serial killer was shot to death yesterday a.m. Granted, Gaffney, SC is about 3 hours away from here, but John and I do have friends up that way, so we paid close attention to the news pretty much all weekend. Friends know that I'm fascinated by true-life stories of serial killers (David Berkowitz, John Wayne Gacy, PeeWee Gaskins - another SC killer), but this was a little bit too close to home.

So, serial killer has been caught, my weekend at work is over, and I should be able to relax a little bit before going back to work tomorrow night, right? Nope, poor John was knocked on his butt by some sort of stomach bug, and I was busy yesterday taking care of him. Poor guy never gets sick, but last night was a whole heaping sh*tload of fun, lemme tell ya... Today is much better and he's able to keep some food down, so I think we're on the mend. Lysol and Febreeze have been my best friend this morning.

I've got a date with my computer today to get caught up on two reviews I need to write up, and I'd love to spend time with Mary Balogh's FIRST COMES MARRIAGE today. I'd heard mixed reviews about this one, but I'm actually enjoying it very much. My only qualm with it is that I feel like I'm being pulled between two heroes, Elliott and Constantine, second cousins and right now, bitter enemies. Lyngate (Elliott) is the hero, but I'm hoping to see a happy ending, or at least a book, for Con.

One more thing -- one week until vacation!

A Little Bit of Elbow Grease

Well, I can say that I've actually accomplished some things today -- which is amazing in itself, since it's my last day off for my long weekend. My mom about keeled over in shock when I told her that I'd packed up three large garbage bags of clothes (mine and John's) and took them to the Salvation Army. I already have another hefty stack started for another trip later this week.

Oh! I'm hoping that my other achievement shows up when people view my blog. Blogiesta was weekend before last and since I was working, I couldn't really participate. But I did learn some things -- like how to tack in a favitar in the browser window right beside the addy itself. First I had to learn exactly what a favitar was, and after that it took some cursing since I'm not an HTML guru by any stretch of the imagination. But today, I figured it out! Go, me! Now I'd love to know if I should register my own gravitar to use when posting to other blogs outside of Blogger. *shrug* Who knows...

As for reading, I'm moving Heaven and earth to finish a review book up that I've been reading for weeks. It's a great book, but I get bogged down with it sometimes and it's not one that I rush to pick back up once I've set it down. But, since it's a review, I must do the right thing and write an honest review -- preferably tonight. So I've GOT to read the blasted thing. As for picking the next "fun" book to read, I haven't gotten that far yet -- but I will, oh, I will... *evil cackle*

And the Award Goes To....

I love awards, seriously. If for nothing else, it lets me know that someone is reading what I've written and thinks it remotely entertaining. I think this topic came up in blogs across the Land a few weeks ago about why bloggers do it and what keeps people coming back for more. Me, I'm not starved for attention, but I do enjoy the creating aspect of it. Since I'm not disciplined enough to write a book, I blog for fun. I love to write and sometimes my snark doesn't translate well, but apparently it did for Cindy, from Nocturnal Wonderings.

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The Rules:

1. Accept the award, post it on your blog together with the name of the person who has granted the award, and his or her blog link.

2. Pass the award to other blogs that you've newly discovered. Remember to contact the bloggers to let them know they have been chosen for this award.

I love it when I find a new blog to bookmark. The difficulty of this was that I only allowed myself five to choose...

Blanche of There's No Such Thing As 2 Many Books lives my motto. Just look at my book collection!

Ms Moonlight is always entertaining -- Moonlight To Twilight

Monroe is fairly new to the scene, but she's developing a huge following over at Monroe With A Twist

I'm new to Sarah's Monkey Bear Reviews, and I'm totally enjoying her reviews and various posts alike.

And Mandi's blog, Smexy Books, is secretly being hijacked (Sshhh!) in July, and I'm sorry I'll miss the fun because I'll be at RWA for the booksigning.

Sunday's Random Thoughts, and a Review

I have gotten a whole lotta nothing accomplished this weekend, and I'm trying to dig deep and find it in myself to feel guilty about it. Since our washer escapades earlier this week (what? I didn't tell you -- John and I had to buy a new washer on Monday), it's been all we can do to stay on top of the laundry. I've got a mile-high stack of clothes to take to the Salvation Army, and I've just started cleaning out our walk-in closet. What I'd love to do is play with my books today, maybe do some weeding out. Oh, and I have to pick out a new book to read since I finished up the Ortolon book.

What surprised me with UNFORGETTABLE, the aforementioned Julie Ortolon book I just finished, was that it didn't totally suck. Maybe I should qualify that -- I think I've mentioned here before that despite the numbers of contemporary romances I have in my TBR, I tend to shy away from them due to the sheer "zaniness". Sometimes it feels that while an author may be trying to go for a light-hearted, comedic flair, they overstep and make their characters and actions too wacky which results in contemporary FAIL for me. Ortolon's characters in this one may do silly things, but they have their reasons. And, honestly, while there is a plot with a mystery in it, the book remains character-driven in my opinion and really adds a flavor that made me smile.

UNFORGETTABLE features Riley Stone, a country singer who has returned to Hope, Texas, to carve her own niche in the world and immerse herself in the town she calls home. Jackson Hope, the boy she'd lost her heart to in high school, is also back in Hope at the behest of his father, the town's "leader", and God only knows what he wants now. It was only a matter of time before Riley and Jackson would see each other again, and each has their own reasons for putting on a gameface to hide their true feelings.

For years, the citizens of Hope have built and worked hard to keep their town free of tourist traps and cheesy outlets, despite a needed influx of money that could make the town prosper. The dance hall used to be the focal point where everyone would go on a Friday or Saturday night after a day of shopping at the various shops and boutiques owned and operated by Hope citizens. After the hall's operator, Miss Dolly, died, the hall had died along with her since no one had the talent and guts to run it like she did. Riley does, and wants to make a success of it again and that thought is forced home when the Hope family threatens to destroy it.

Riley may show the world that she is tough as nails and her body-to-die-for isn't for sale, but she plays up a vamp attitude to protect herself from people seeing the woman she truly is. Jackson had been floored by that body years ago, and he's sucker punched once again when his fantasies return with Riley as the star. But now they have bigger fish to fry when Jackson's father threatens to tear down the town's beloved dance hall and make room for a discount chainstore that will totally destroy Hope's small town atmosphere and warmth. Jackson can't believe that his father would be stupid enough to kill what makes Hope work -- small town living at its best. What's even more amazing is that now when he looks at Riley, instead of one night, he's seeing forever.

Before this "small" review totally veers off course, allow me to say that UNFORGETTABLE was a much-needed palate cleanser for me. Maybe I wanted to smack Jackson and Riley up alongside the head once or twice, but in all honesty, I appreciated this book for what it is, a lighthearted contemporary that kept me turning the pages to see what happened next. Looking at the author's website, it seems that this book was her most recent release, and it's dated 2007. Anyone heard anything else from her?

R.I.P. Farrah and Michael

I had planned to do this beautiful homage to Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson on the ol' blog today, but I don't think I can say anything better than what Wendy has already. Honestly, anything I've got to add to it would be paltry, and I think she's said exactly what I've been trying to decipher in my feelings towards Michael Jackson for the past several years -- I've been mourning him for a long time. What is sort of pissing me off about the media coverage is that poor Farrah and her passing was almost literally pushed to the side as soon as Michael died. But maybe she wouldn't have minded it that way; she'd gotten classy like that in the past couple of years.


My two cents -- I'd forgotten that MJ could rock out, along with the dancing. And that's proven in this video of one of my favorite MJ songs...