Leiha's rants and raves...

Leiha doesn't have a lot to rant about but she knows hows much Bo enjoys them. The other day Leiha was driving down the street, the light was green, and she was talking to her friend in the car when her friend warns her there was a car trying to turn left in front of her. Did Leiha mention the light was green? The other car stops and as she drives by the other driver proceeds to cuss her out and make gestures. Leiha was quite peeved. Leiha had the right of way and she knows when she is in the wrong she does the embarrassed, oh, I'm so sorry wave. How dare this chick be mad. Leiha wishes she would have remembered to flip her off but she was so shocked at the reaction and proceeded to vent after the fact. Leiha needs to work on her road rage some more.

Leiha lost her last black hair clip on the flight to Dallas. She took it off to take a nap and forgot to put it back on when she left (she had clipped it to the seat in front of her). Leiha had bought one of those cheap 12 packs of clips from the beauty store years ago. Leiha went to Ulta and bought 2 hair clips that cost $10, ouch! Leiha was not happy to find that the expensive clips don't hold her hair at all. They slide out. So Leiha went to Sally's beauty supply and bought a 12 pack bag for $2 and is much happier so this was a rant and a rave.

Leiha is looking at Demi Moore's long lustrous hair and is jealous. Leiha is also jealous of Marjorie Liu's hair. Yes, Leiha does have glorious hair but not quite as glorious as theirs. Should Leiha work on her jealousy or her gloriousness? Her gloriousness of course!

Leiha tried to buy a vinyl corset tonight but the website would not accept her credit cards. Now Leiha will have to leave her house to buy a corset. You know this does not make Leiha happy. Now she needs to find out where strippers shop. You know Leiha is all about being classy.

Leiha would like to take the time to rave about her co-workers. She lost her post office box key and they are not technically supposed to hand mail over the counter but since I did pay for a new lock they bent the rules a little. They also bent it because Leiha is a great co-worker! And because Leiha is the Tsarina the lock was replaced in one day. Leiha is happy.

Guest Blog-o-Rama

Whoo hoo! I am extra-special excited my favorite Georgia Peach asked me to guest blog! If for no other reason than I have been looking for a faboo reason to post that picture for two years...

(It's an orchid. Amazing, isn't it? I took that shot when I visited Selby Gardens in Sarasota, Florida a while back. If you are ever in the area, totally check that place out! It's all-kinds of purdy.)

**Grin**

Oh wait! Wait! Hang on!

I forgot to introduce myself...sorry. Let's start again, eh?

So hi, this is Rachael! Have we met?

I used to write a blog called Fresh Approach, but I quit today. LOL. The archives are still worth checking out though, so don't be shy.

:-)

But that isn't why I am here, now is it! Nope! I promised Leiha I would lay out for you kittens the best post ever, and thus far its a bit lacking, so I had better get crackin' on saying something (anything!) of interest...

Let's see...

Not being a romance novel reader, or an athority on strippers, I'd best go with a topic anyone who knows Leiha will like too...brace yourself dolls, this is gonna be good.



THE TOP 5 REASONS LEIHA SHOULD BE CROWNED TSARINA*

5. She looks good in a tiara
4. Men already bow at her feet, why not add the ladies?
3. If she were in charge, calories wouldn't count
2. When Leiha is tsarina, pajamas will be 75% off and sales will be non-stop

And the number one reason Leiha should be Tsarina?

1. She already thinks she is anyway! And rightly so.

Okay Mannions, that's it for me!

Big, wet kisses,

Rachael

__________________________________

Tsarina: Empress

Looking for a strip-club in Atlanta? Check out this site.

Orchid: From the Greek "orchis" meaning testicle, because of the shape of the bulbous roots

Sun, skin and food, glorious food...

This weekend Mr BAM was out of town so Brenda wanted to play. Sounded like a plan to me. She and her friend Mikey came up for lunch at the all you can eat Korean! Mikey got to see me in action at a buffet, luckily she met me previousely, you know how scary I can get. Bring on the food! After lunch we headed to the Super H where Mikey got to see a whole new world, LOL. We bought some king crab legs for dinner. It's all about the next meal, LOL. Luckily we didn't eat to the point of pain because the Super H on weekend has all kinds of samples. They even cooked squid there! We had fun looking at the dried jellyfish in the produce section, don't ask me why. We had no idea it was edible but I guess pretty much everything is.

The drive back to Brenda's was rough. I told them I wouldn't follow since I don't drive as fast as them, LOL. They had to make a stop at Kroger's and still beat me but in my defense, I made a wrong turn. Is that a good defense? BAM has a wonderful pool so we all changed and headed out there. She has a ton of floaties to choose from and since there weren't any kiddies around I felt safe enough to use a raft (I don't want to be upended by a rowdy kid, LOL). It was quite relaxing and since it was only the ladies I asked if they minded if I took my top off. I thought I might as well work on my tan almost all over *G*. Since they have boobies of their own they didn't mind so off my top went. The sun kept coming in and out of the clouds and finally when it looked like it wasn't coming back out and I was cold I went inside. The girls stayed out chatting while I took a nap, LOL. Hey, the drive was long!

Once it darkened and they came in Brenda heated up some crab legs for us. She was too full to eat but not me, LOL. I had also picked up some pastries from the korean bakery for them to try but they didn't really eat them so I ate them, LOL. They were delish! The bread was so soft and it was filled with butter cream. The crab was good too! I devoured mine (surprised?). By then I was full as a bull and Brenda wanted to slice some watermelon for me, I passed, LOL.

So we were hanging out in the living room chatting til the wee hours. Around 1am the girls came in from having a smoke and said let's head to the pool. I was like, "huh?" I had no interest in getting bit by more bugs (I have many bites, the price I pay for being so sweet) but then Mikey mentioned we were going skinny dipping. Count me in! I had never skinny dipped before, I know, I am a sheltered girl and you all know how conservative I am! Brenda tried to back out but we wouldn't let her. So we threw off our clothes and had what we called every male's wet dream when they picture 3 women having a sleepover together. Too bad we didn't wrestle while we were in the pool. It was fun floating around in the pool, til I got cold (coud it be because I was nekkid?) then it was time to go inside. I went to bed at 2am while the party girls stayed up til 3am. The last thing B said to me was what time could she wake me up? I told her not before 8:30am.

At 9:30am I dragged my butt out of bed and went upstairs. I was happy that she let me sleep in. That would be because she was still sleeping! Never one to look a gift horse in the mouth I went back to bed and read til they got up and came and got me, LOL. We went to brunch at Ryan's buffet. Yes, it was the weekend of the buffet, LOL. Yes, I will drag my ass to the gym to make up for it. They didn't have the sauteed mushrooms out so I asked and they sauteed us up some mushrooms while I waited, now that is service!

Mikey went home after watching me in action again (I do love the buffets) and B and I headed back to her house for more pool time. We had a couple of quality hours in the sun and I finished the book I had started, Crazy Sweet by Tara Jantzen which I thoroughly enjoyed. I tried the super large raft which was nice but it was too big and I couldn't navigate it. B had to come rescue me a couple of times. So I went back to my handy floatie donut and spent a lot of time in the deep end kicking my legs while reading, my low impact version of working out, LOL. I had to get out of the water when the sun disappeared behind the clouds and eventually we moved inside to lounge around some more. Of course, as soon as I put away the cushions for the lounger the sun came back out, grrrr.

I told Brenda that I wasn't leaving til I had some of the watermelon she promised me all weekend, LOL. So I had one more meal and then decided it was time to head home. It was a wonderfully relaxing weekend with great company. OK, my tan doesn't look fierce, have I mentioned I'm the whitest person in my family? It takes time to build up to fierce, LOL. Right now I'm at about a kitten purr but I'm working my way to fierce. I just need to leave the house again, hmmmm, that could be a problem.

I Have a Date With Harry!

It's 9:00 PM on Sat. and yes I'm home. Why? You might ask, well I was at a Party on the River Dock for a few hours but had already warned them that I would be leaving early! Too be honest, I even thought about not going! (Partially for the reason ahead and the other was I'm kind of peopled out! I just wanted to do what I wanted today!) Yes, its true - And not because I did not know the people or the food/drinks ran out, but because I'm determined to finish The 7th Harry Potter Book tonight!

I have had it since the first day, July 21, but with my Mom needing me, all of my driving (I will save the Road Rage Rant for the next post) and then being so tired I've only gotten half way through! And no other reading at all! It's really been a travesty and I can feel the stress building up! I have tried for a week to make time to read and have been thwarted every time (or fallen asleep)! But miracles do happen and I have not had anyone tell me a "Spoiler" that will ruin it for me! Also why I am home planning to finish it after this blog!

Now I may not be your typical reader of Harry Potter, but I have read every one and immensely enjoyed seeing where JK Rowling was taking her story! It started out that my sister-in-law had got the book for my nieces and then I had heard so much about it, so I got it. Now we both were anxiously awaiting the end! My niece Amber did catch up and told me that she finished it already! Yet another reason to read before I see her on Tues.!

So what do the mannions think about "Spoilers"? Do you want to know? Do you read the last chapters first? Do you want to find out all on your own? Are you OK with knowing the ending before you get there? Does it factor in to your enjoyment? Also do like a series to have a definitive ending or leave it open for more?

I am in the camp where I want to find out as I go along! I love to guess what happens next (especially with Thrillers) and have NEVER READ THE END FIRST! I also have never not finished a book....Even a bad one! Just a little quirk I have! I also need to read the book first before I see a Movie adaptation of a book! That way i compare and the books are definitely winning, though there have been some exceptions - Lord of the Rings Trilogy, etc. I also like that she has a definite end!!!

With the Internet, 24 hr. TV, Entertainment shows and so on - Can there be any surprises left? I want to think so! I believe the authors strive for that and I think JK Rowling deserves that! Don't get me started on whoever took pictures of every page and leaked it to the internet. I hope they find them and prosecute them!!!!

And for those who have finished The Deathly Hallows - I will not be online until I've read it so if you were tempted to reply with a "spoiler" It will not matter! LOL

Have a great Sunday!

I crumbled...

I turned on my air conditioning, LOL. It is really muggy tonight. Of course, then I got cold so I turned the temp to 78, LOL. I'll make it cooler (maybe 75) when I go to bed so I can snuggle under my covers.

I am taking some new birth control medicine and now my bosoms are sore. Does that mean my bosoms are growing because its not that time of the month, LOL. I have noticed I have an extra zit or two due to my new pills but at least I don't look like I have the measels which happened once when I went on some new bc pills so I stopped taking them. Of course, me being as lazy as I am I waited another year when I went in again for my annual to get a new prescription, LOL.

Nancy sent me my birthday present for my fake birthday, which was in April, LOL. They were a couple of cookbooks for my crock pot. One thing I noticed while flipping through and looking at the pictures was a lot of the recipes called for me to cook stovetop first then throw it into the crock pot. If I have to cook it first then what's the point?

Tomorrow Brenda and I are going on our monthly eating extravaganza. She gets so excited it just tickles me and you know how much I love to eat. Plus we have a newbie joining us who is equally as excited and she's going shopping with us at the Super H. After eating our big lunch I'm going to head out Brenda's way since she has the house to herself and we're going to have a slumber party. I said I wanted to come use the pool on Sunday and she said, why wait? I did warn her I was bringing my teeny bikini, no one but the girls will be there and I need some serious sun. Nothing like eating like a glutton then putting on a bikini. Most people would eat lighter but not me, EG!

The way her wireless is set up I can't access the internet on my computer so I won't be around much but I will be working on my fierce tan! Have great weekend everyone!

Why is it...

That all of my friends were sending me the link to the NYTimes article that said obesity is contagious, if you have heavy friends or family you are more willing to pack on the pounds. Again, is there a reason I come to mind? OK, I do love to eat, LOL. And I love to eat with my friends, EG!

Of course, my fridge does not reflect the fact. I really need to start cooking just a tad bit more which means at least once a week, LOL. Although I did go to the store the other day and bought 2 boxes of cereal and a bunch of fruit. Who needs a stove?

That being said, I am trying to figure out what I want for lunch. Yes, I do spend a lot of time thinking of future meals. I watched Martha Stewart today and she had a chef on there making a cocunut cake that looked heavenly and I am not even a big fan of coconut, LOL. I'm so easily ruled by my stomach and my eyes! This cake is so big that each slide is a pound, now that's what I'm talking about! The cake costs $100 if you want to buy it and $35-60 to overnight ship to you. Yes, I went to the website and looked it up. I don't even like cake that much, LOL. I'm much more of an ice cream gal myself.

Well I've made it to the gym twice this week. I guess I can't spend all of my time fantasizing about cake. That means I just need to get myself there one more time. I'm shooting for tonight because that's the kind of wild and crazy girl I am on my Friday nights, LOL. Actually, I have tentative plans with BAM tomorrow and with us, food is always involved. Again, why did I get so many links to that NYT article again?

Here it is:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/26/health/26fat.html?_r=1&hp=&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&adxnnlx=1185459485-xJfHdQxWqotm7LwyBKGoZg

It's raining...

It's storming, the old man is snoring, bumped his head when he went to bed and he couldn't get up in the morning. I guess GA really needs rain and if it's going to rain then in the evening is much more preferable and at least the thunder has stopped. A lot of times when it starts thundering I will pull the power cable for my laptop, you know where my priorities lie, LOL.

I'm drawing a blog blank right now. Not much happened today. So I created a Simpsons avatar instead. I couldn't figure out a way to save it without registering so I did a frame grab. Go into mail to a friend option to get a background and if you mail it to me I'll post it. I have to say, I'm hot in the Simpsons world, LOL.

Click on the create your Simpsons avatar.

http://www.simpsonsmovie.com/main.html

Bo pointed out you can only use the bar background, I guess the others are coming soon. She would have chosen the messy house backgroud if she could, LOL. and here is Sarah. She says she would have definitely been found in the bar, LOL.Brenda said she had to represent with the big hair. I think this is the scariest Simpsons avi of them all. Here's Nes!I think Stephanie and Sarah go to the same hairdresser in Springfield, LOL. I nominate Chez for best hair!

A public service announcement...

Today I got a flyer in the mail saying I could get my new phone from Verizon a month early. I was totaly stoked because you all knew I want to get a new bluetooth phone. I tried to do it online but my account wasn't letting me so I called the number on the flyer. I was put on hold. When I got a person they ask my name and location, I tell them and she says she deals with California so she transfers me. I get someone else and I tell him where I'm at and he says he doesn't deal with California numbers so he needs to transfer me back. By this time I'm incredibly ticked and told him I was transferred to him from the CA section but he can't help me. So I'm now talking to the third person and he says that I can't get the special on the phone I have to go through the internet. Then why the freak is there a phone number for me to call to order the phone?!!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! Needless to say, I had that to say and more, LOL. Then I apologized for going off on him, it wasn't his fault and it was a good thing I did. This is when he told me that if I waited a month I would get the discount on the phone PLUS a $100 rebate. Something that the flyer didn't say. With the special I would get a discount on the phone but no $100 rebate. So thats why I got this so called "special" in the mail. Nes said I should read the small print, there was no small print telling me that. I didn't know I would get less if I ordered a month sooner. I thanked him for telling me that, something I'm sure he wouldn't have if I hadn't apologized for my outburst but then again, he probably wouldn't have told me about it if I hadn't of vented. I'd thought I'd share the info with you so you don't get fooled like I almost did.

Another thing I wanted to blog about was Shaq's Big Challenge. Has anyone else been watching this show? I first started watching because nothing else was on at the time but now its one of the highlights of my TV week. Shaq really cares about these kids and I feel for them. This is not a glory project for him. Everytime they succeed you can see the pride busting out of him. It's been fun watching them come so far and I know I will be sad when this show is over. It would be wonderful to see more celebs and athletes get personally involved.

I went to the gym today. It was much more difficult today then it was last week but I made myself do 5 minutes more. I'm shooting for 3 times a week to begin with, there's really no reason why I can't make it there. I did think about walking instead but then thought about the bloodsuckers they call skeetos here. Last week I came home from the market and was standing outside talking to my neighbor for 5 minutes and ended up with 5 bites on my legs. You thought I was a homebody before, you haven't seen anything yet, LOL.

I am not worthy...

I am lucky to have such great friends, and a bestest friend with Leiha, so it really ticks me off when I go and be a bad friend – And do stupid things like forget my guest bloging day. Let the groveling begin…. And the excuses….

It was a long weekend. My mom was having an open house brunch on Sunday morning, and when not many people RSVP’d I encouraged her to invite more people. You know what happened then, it went from our planned 15 people to 45 people… whops! After work Friday I went to help start preparing for the brunch (and sponge dinner from them). I was there helping till a little after 10.

First thing Saturday morning I headed to Borders, I had to be to work at the ungodly hour of 7am (instead of my regular 10 am) because we had to clean the store from the Harry Potter Party the night before and be ready to open at 8am for the Harry Potter Hordes to descend upon us once again.

After work was the bright spot in my weekend – I picked up the new Marjorie Liu book “Soul Song”. I haven’t read it yet because that darned Aimee has me totally hooked on the Kim Harrison witch books… but after that I am totally hitting the Liu book!

After work I headed straight to moms again. We prepared food for the brunch, with one 15 minute break, until 12:30 in the morning. (Here is where I whine and hopefully get some sympathy points in my groveling) I was on my feet from 7 am to 12:30 am with an hour lunch, the drive to my parents and a 15 minute pizza dinner for breaks. Let me say that no amount of working out prepares a body for that and I was sore and tired.

I was back at the parents at 7:30 to get everything complete for the brunch that started at 9. We had Egg Sausage Souffle, Apple French Toast, fruit salad, bacon, sausage, a cheese plate with three cheeses and 2 meats, crackers and a smoked trout cream cheese spread, bagels with cream cheese and jelly, banana bread and apple spice bread, and…. Well I can’t remember what else, but you get the picture, my mom put out a spread! We had cousins from Arizona, Colorado, Eastern Washington – It was great fun once it got started.

I stayed and helped clean… till a little after 4 when my mom sent me home because my eyes were so droopy. I told her “Yeah – I need to go because it is my day to blog” and came right home. I am not really sure what happened then except I started to snore, woke up to eat, and crashed again till my alarm woke me up with my 15 minutes to get ready and out of the house this morning. I immediately remembered I hadn’t bloged… and figured I would do it at work… but my blasted boss has gotten wise to my bloging ways and has started watching my computer screen. So that is my sad pitiful way of saying I am sorry you guys didn’t have a Sunday Blog, and I am sorry I let you down Leiha.

To punish myself I am going to promise to have your birthday present in the mail tomorrow afternoon (yes – that would be from her April Birthday, but I kept adding to the box) I was going to ground myself also but realized that would be a reward, so instead I will say that I will finish cleaning the rest of the house in your honor, and call Kathy and have Jordan over… it is a win, win, win.

So I throw myself on the mercy of the court, ask for probation and promise to do my best to let this never happen again… I cant take the guilt or fear!

Hmmm, what happened to my guest blogger?

She will get a talking to, never fear! Well, fear for her, LOL.

Saturday I went to my first Braves game and it was a lot of fun. I don't particularly enjoy watching baseball overall but I do enjoy going to the game. I like the socialness of it all. I like the chants that they have and of course, the wave! And since this is the Braves they also have the tomahawk which was fun to do. Now I'm not a big enough fan to actually make plans to go but my friend invited me spur of the moment and was horrified I hadn't been to a game yet. Should I have said, I lived in LA for 7 years before I made it to a Dodgers game? To be fair, I had made it to a couple of Angels games but again, it was because I was invited by friends and they had box seats LOL.

My favorite part of the game.... It was eating my hot dog slathered in chili, fake cheese and onions. I had to have a dog at the game. Of course, that dog cost almost $7 which is highway robbery but it was a damn good dog. It could have been so good because I was starving at the time, LOL.

I took the MARTA to get to the game. It's Atlanta's rail system. Easy peasy to get to the game that way. You take the MARTA to your stop and they shuttle you to the game. Keep in mind I've only ever taken the MARTA to go to the airport which happens to be the last stop so I don't really have to pay attn unless I'm coming home. Well, the MARTA was packed coming home from the game and I didn't notice that it was the direction I wanted to go but not the line. Yes, I got on the correct train at the time but no, I didn't get off where I was supossed to, Oops! Turns out I had to transfer lines, something I didn't have to do when I got on to go to the game so wasn't thinking I had to do when I left. So I should have been home much sooner then planned but overall a fun night. Too bad I forgot my camera. I really wanted a picture of that hot dog!

BTW, the Braves won 14-6!

Back to the real world...

Those were most of our adventures in Dallas. I'm sure there is stuff I missed, drinks that were drunk, food that was devoured and authors I worshipped LOL. Actually, one of my biggest regrets is that I didn't get a steak while there. Su and I ran around so much we never did do a sit down dinner and she is always telling me how the Texans love their beef, know their beef and can cook their beef. Guess I need to make a return trip to Texas sometime, LOL.

Now that my trip is over it's time to get back into shape. Oh, the horror! I did make it to the gym once this week. I even walked faster on the treadmill then I normally do. Then my neighbor found out I went and she was like, let's workout together tomorrow and then she never called. Sure, I could have called her but I didn't, LOL. I have til Sep left on my gym membership and will work on utilizing it. I need to start taking some yoga classes and work on my strength and flexibility. The suck thing is the class is at 8:30am. It may take me a few weeks to get up by then. Actually, I'm up, I'm just not moving by then, LOL. I have started stretching at night too. And by starting I mean I did it once this week. Hey, it's about baby steps!

I read Fairyville by the Holly this week. I loved it. It is definitely not for the faint of heart. There are 4 main people, one woman and three men so just think of the combinations. I loved all of the different combos but it's not for everyone. The great thing about Emma's books is the fact that besides an incredibly hot and erotic story she writes a great story to go with it. You care about the characters and want to know what's going to happen next. And don't forget, there's an extra epilogue that you can buy on amazon for some ridiculously low price. I tried to wait til I read Fairyville but I had read the excerpt on her website and couldn't resist, LOL. Now I need to go re-read it. Nobody does erotica like The Holly. She definitely is in a class by herself.

La Bare's

You know we had to check it out. There was a male strip club in Dallas and since we didn't really have a lot of plans after the RITAs we decided to check it out. Unfortunately, most of the authors had to leave early so they couldn't join us. Or maybe they didn't want to, LOL. But Su and I are troopers and took one for the team *EG*.

I really liked La Bare's. It had a wonderful energy and lots of hot men, lots of big beefy men. Unfortunately, we're not supposed to take pics of the dancers. You have to pay for that privilidge at the end of the night, whatever! But we could take pics of each other so we tried to get a few dancers included. We weren't very succesful, LOL.
Alex says he was one of the co-owners but Su thinks he was the manager. He used to be a dancer. The good thing about him was he gave us a free shot, score! Plus, Su had told Barb we would do a shot for her. I know, we're great friends, LOL.

We also had a wonderful waiter. He's how Perry used to be before he took us for granted. Very attentive and brought us water. Too bad I spilled my water when I was getting body shot and then I spilled my water when I was tipping someone but I don't feel too bad, the waiter spilled a drink, which is way more of a party foul, LOL.

They had one main stage which would have a routine going on or a featured dancer and then have several smaller stages where guys were dancing. I had fun tipping them. You know me, tight with my 20s free with my ones LOL. The major bummer was they closed at 2am and we didn't get there til almost midnight so by the time I was ready for a dance they were closing. Oh well, I guess I will console myself with Swinging Dicks LOL.

I don't know if you all know it but I love Kimberly Dean's book Tiger Lily. It was a black lace novel. I sort of stalked her last year because it was such a treat to see someone who's book I loved and she endulged me wonderfully and didn't run or call security (although I'm sure she wanted to, LOL). I asked her when she was guest blogging if she was going to be at RWA and she was, yay! So I packed up my copy of Tiger Lily even though it was falling apart. I felt it would show her how well loved and well read it was. Unfortunately I didn't see her while I was there so I sent her an email because I wanted her to know I looked and she was so sweet and said she looked for me too (the short crazy asian). There are thousands of people there it's understandable why she didn't see me. Since she didn''t get to sign my copy of Tiger Lily she offered to send me her last decent copy of it SIGNED! Sqeeeeeeeal! This is why I love our authors so much. They love their fans. Tiger Lily and Fever are my favorite stories by Kimberly, hot, hot, hot. If you get a chance check out her website. www.kimberlydean.com It's ok, you're allowed to be jealous of me. If I wasn't me, I would be jealous too, EG!

The Party of the Year...

Is the Harlequin party. This is the one all of the authors crash, even if you're not a Harlequin author, or in our case, not an author. Luckily, Su and I were sleeping with someone who had an invite *EG*. Last year we ate before we went and were too full to eat at the party so this year we were going to be smarter and not eat. WRONG! All of this and I had one bite of dessert and some fruit and that was it.

I heard the creme brulee and the chocolate mousse was awesome. D'oh! Plus Su and I had had a few drinks during the day so I was not in the mood to drink that night, having been slightly more then buzzed already. They had champagne and it was an open bar, double d'oh! Luckily, I wasn't there for the food or drinks (shocking, I know) but to bask in the wonderfulness of all of the authors. This has to be my favorite pic of the conference. Left to right, Emma Holly, Julie Ortolon, me, Gennita Low and Su. My favorite moment would be when we were all dancing together singing Living on a Prayer by Bon Jovi at the top of our lungs. Sure, we got funny looks but when has that stopped us? It's great fun to be on the dance floor with more authors then you can count, including Nora Roberts who loves to dance and who Jenna danced with for a few songs. I don't know why we didn't crash that party, LOL. Or at least take a pic of it, sorry Jenna.

Emma introduced us to Pamela Morsi and I used to read her all of the time. I loved Runabout, Garters, Courting Miss Hattie, etc. I admit, I squealed when I heard her name, LOL. Robin D Owens was a total sweetheart and now I need to go find some of her books. It was fun watching the conga line which was huge. Now normally I would have jumped right in but my full stomach was not up for it, LOL. Luckily Julie and Pamela Clare represented.
And when the congo ended it was back to the dance floor. I love this pic. Bonnie Vanak is rocking out. She has promised me rum runners when I go visit her. She also has a hottub. You know I must take advantage of that, LOL. Of course we closed the party down. Some of us may have been limping by the time we left but the pain was well worth the joy and energy of being surrounded but some of the best of the best and just sharing in their happiness. These ladies may only get to see each other once a year but they certainly make the most of it.

A comedy of errors...

While at lunch Su and I planned where we would go for dinner (was there any doubt?). The waiter suggested Seadogs which had just opened 3 weeks ago. He raved about the menu. I think he was on the payroll. I hope that I can remember everything, LOL. When we got there it was almost empty but we figured it's new, they're developing their clientele. They also gave us a card for one free app with entree AND 10% off our meal. The first thing we do is order drinks. I want something that is not too sweet. She brings me a drink I can't drink. I would have sucked it up since it's what I ordered but she said she would take it back and get me something else so I got something simple, peach vodka and tonic. I thought wow, that's good service. They want us to be happy, cool! She also offered to split our check even though we said we could do it ourself so cool. Makes things easier. The bartender came over to ask about our drinks, I don't think he liked our answers, LOL.

The mussels we ordered as our app were pretty goot and the portions were big which is nice. You know I like bang for my buck! I ordered catfish with a broccoli slaw and vegetables and decided to splurge on a topping for my fish. It was a crab, shrimp and scallops mix, the most expensive topping they had but it sounded good and hey, I'm on vacation. They bring out our food. Su's fish was highly recommended by our lunchtime waiter. It was bland. My catfish wasn't bland but it had a weird aftertaste. I didn't want to eat it. The veggies were great but the slaw tasted foul. Su ordered veggies and a salad and the waitress didn't bring out the salad. When Su pointed it out the waitress said, well where will you put it? Their plates are big but you don't bring out the food! We make room, hello! Then our toppings come out. They were supposed to be on top of the fish but the waitress asked for it on the side. Why, I don't know. So I take a couple of bites and notice that there is pineapple in it. Now I LOVE fresh pineapple but I don't like it cooked into things. I wouldn't have ordered it if I knew it had pineapple then I notice there are no scallops and crab in there. I call the waitress over to tell her it's wrong. She tells me it's right. I ask for the menu and point out to her what I ordered and what I got, something $3 less btw. She took it back and she was so happy it wasn't her mistake but at this point we were less then happy.

By this time we were over the whole thing. We ate the mussels, some garlic bread and the vegetables. I asked Su to cancel our topping, I didn't want it. I wanted out, LOL. The waitress said they were getting ready to bring it out by then but we told her we still didn't want it. The manager came over to aplogize and offered us a free dessert. We didn't want one. He should have offered to comp our food because neither of us ate our fish and we told him our opinionson everything. Su and I are professional eaters and really, not big complainers. In fact, we laughed through most of this while Emma sat there and enjoyed her wine (she had already eaten). At this point the waitress brings us our checks with my drink messed up with Su's but that's no big deal. What is a big deal is she charged us for the mussels and didn't take 10% off. Back it goes. So she brings it back again and says everything is set when I point out the fact that the mussels are still on my bill, LOL. It was just so ridiculous. Really, all you can do is laugh. We were ecstatic to leave Seadogs and if you're ever in Dallas, avoid it at all costs, LOL.

We then headed to the House of Blues to listen to some music while we had another drink. The music was loud but my key lime martini was divine as was the company. Once we left there we took a cab back to the hotel, we were over walking, LOL. The Holly went to bed, Su and I went to our room where Jenna was getting ready to go workout, the crazy woman! She had gone to the Death by Chocolate soiree and I guess she overindulged. While she was working out and the fire alarm going off (false alarm, thank goodness I had no interest in walking down 10 flights of stairs) we decided to go have another drink. You know what a lush Su is. Earlier in the day we couldn't get served for the life of us but it had slowed down so we spent some quality time making friends with the bartenders. We never had to wait for drinks again. Plus, they were all gay and you know I love me my gays. They gave us tips on where to go and what to do. It was a nice way to end our first day at RWA. Well, when you discount the dinner from hell, LOL.

RWA the first day!

I arrived almost 2 hours before Su, my plane got in early. They were actually offering bumps on this flight but my time with the girls is more precious then a free plane ticket. Of course, now I wish I had that free ticket *G*. It was ok, I had to have time to figure out which terminal she was in, the airline she was in was in 4 different terminals! Luckily I was able to find her gate and hang out. I also had my puter and since my internet was down when I left that morning I had to get online, LOL. BTW, my flight was the quitest flight ever. Too bad I was freezing! I have decided I will always ask for a blanket. I need to be warm to sleep.

When Su arrived the party began. OK, not so much, we were still a half an hour away from our hotel. Once we got to our hotel we checked our bags and asked the bellmen where to eat. Since I was on the phone with Emma Holly (your damn skippy I'm going to name drop, LOL) Su got the directions. We were going to walk in over 90 degree heat but we had just spend $50 on our cab ride so walking it was. The walk wouldn't have been too bad if Su had remembered the fact that we were supposed to turn left at Houston, 10 minutes prior! We finally found our restaurant and ordered drinks immediately! It was a mexican restaurant but it was a little bit pricey so we decided to do drinks and apps and hit several restaurants. I picked a shrimp ceviche for us and Su picked pork gorditas. The gorditas blew the shrimp away. Sorry, no pics, we dug right into our food, LOL. Good thing our gorditas were huge because I got a call from Gennita Low and she wanted us to join her at the bar. The walk was so much easier when you don't make wrong turns or rather make the turns you're supposed to make, LOL.

Sitting with Jenna at the bar was CJ Barry aka Samantha Graves. I met CJ last year but this time around got to spend more time with her (all at the bar, LOL) and I'm very excited to read her new book, Sight Unseen. The bar was so busy we decided to go up to the bar since there were not enough waitresses little did I know it would take 30 minutes to get our drinks there! I was starting to get antsy but then The Holly showed up and all was right with the world. Especially when she gifted me with my Fairyville ARC. Leiha was happy again!

While waiting to order Pamela Clare called and I handed the phone off to Su since I thought I was getting close to getting served and Su didn't care that PC was naked, she told her to slap some pasties on and get her butt to the hotel and when Su talks, people listen. Then it was time for all of the authors to go to their various author functions. Su and I chose this time to actually make it to our room and get settled in. Then the Holly joined us after her dinner and it was time to hit the town. That story deserves it's own blog, LOL.

Eat Drink & Be Merry!

So what happens when 2 or more ReBeL's are in the same location? We Eat, Drink & Be Merry! More on that in a second! Both of the guest bloggers are in the same town, same living room catching up with Linda Westburg who has braved I5 North to drive from Sacramento (with her parents) to near the OR/WA border! And Sandra will be joining us on Mon.While you have been reading about the Asian Persuasion and their antics at RWA, up here in the NW we are just returning from dinner so you are getting an early start to Monday or a late start on Sunday! Nancine (not Nice Nancy) was to arrive late on Sat. due to her work schedule (and boy did she need to relax!) and then Linda W was to come over to my house for breakfast on Sunday. We set 9 as the time. It was a busy Sat. for me as I had to drive to Salem and help my Dad since my Mom was coming home from the hospital, pick the berries, make dinner & do the shopping to be able to enjoy my couple of days with the girls. By the time I got home & only semi ready for guests due to my own surgery and being so tired from all of my back & forth to Salem for Mom's hip replacement, I knew Nancine wanted to have a drink when she got here so I decided that we could have a drink here and be relaxed! So I put on my Champagne Girl Tank Top and had fresh Raspberry Puree mixed with Framboise ready for mixing with the champagne! We chatted & laughed until Nancine was a little tipsy & I was tired! Besides we knew that Linda W. would be on time & Nancy's cousin Michelle was coming over for breakfast! The alarm was set for safety's sake!As I was making a latte & went to get the paper, Linda W. was already parked outside! She had arrived almost an hour earlier, but did not want to wake us up before the time we had agreed upon! Silly Linda, I had been up but not out to get the paper! So for Nancine, we had Buttermilk Pancakes in the Seasonal Summer Molds & Fresh Raspberries, Marionberries & Blueberries picked yesterday by yours truly! Along with the Raspberry & Marion Jam & Blueberry Syrup that I had made last week!
We had a great time talking and hanging out! The biggest decisions to make were what to do about dinner! The criteria from my guests were: nice, sit-down, NW cuisine, dessert & then the most important Open on Sunday! My first few picks were not! We ended up at Wildwood which has been here for a long time and was one of the first to really use Local ingredients & update & print the menu everyday! Nancine started out with a Cucumber Martini that was great! We then shared a fabulous beet, greens & bleu cheese salad along with a smoked ham, white cheddar pizza with a smoky peach puree & fresh oregano! There would have been a pic, but we had eaten most of it before we thought of it! Big surprise there! But we did remember for Dinner & Dessert! LW had the grilled rib-eye, N had the Duck Confit and I had the Albacore Tuna! They were great and then we ate half (Don't worry, we brought the rest home) so we could have dessert! While all were great, Linda had the best one! It was an Eclair with peaches, raspberries, & black raspberry ice cream to die for! Nancy had the Chocolate/Peanut butter roulade with Peanut Brittle & Chocolate Ice Cream! Yes, all their Sorbets & Ice Creams are made in house, so we did need to try most of them, so I had the trio with Rhubarb Sorbet, Toasted Almond Ice Cream & Raspberry Lemonade Sorbet! We have now hit the full mark and will be doing vigorous exercises in a moment! Back to the busines of finishing the champagne, trying to post more pictures and talking about books and yes you Leiha, since it is all about you! Many hugs and wish you were here!

Cinderella and her step-sisters...

Congratulations to JR Ward for her RITA win. Doesn't she look glamorous? She won as Jessica Bird for From the First.

She also shared this tiny tidbit. Phury's book open with something big between him and Revhenge. I also let her know that I was all for more homo-erotic scenes (bite me harder Vicious!) and she says to keep on reading, YIPPPEEEEE!!!! I also heard this tidbit in the business office from some gals who were talking. After Phury's book will be Revhenge but since his book will be hardcover (boo) it won't be coming out until Jan 2009 but after that, her books will be twice a year again.

The Asian Persuasion!

I was posting this yesterday when my time on the internet was over. Sorry for the delay.

We are hanging in our room for a little recovering from feasting on books, nachos and bellinis (we're high class all the way, as the pictures will show, LOL). The RITAs are tonight and a couple of our favorite authors are nominated, mainly Pamela Clare and Marjorie Liu. Click on the Marjorie Liu link to the right and you'll find a picture of Su and I with her taken at yesterday's booksigning. She is a goddess and incredibly sweet plus she remembers how to spell my name. Sherrilyn Kenyon says I'm officially in stalker status because she remembers how to spell my name too, LOL.

Yesterday we met up with Dianna Love Snell and Mary Buckam. I got in trouble with Dianna because I haven't called her since I moved to the ATL. But we made future plans and while sitting there catching up Su and I had a drink or few while they drank water and club soda. I first met them with Sherri in Portland and we had partied together last year at RWA and we love them.By the time we finished chatting Su and I were quite buzzed (ok, a little drunk) and decided to take a cab to the West End, which is in walking distance but we had walked ther twice already and we were on a time crunch. There was a taste of Dallas going on. We shared the cab with other people going down there. While we're walking from where the cab dropped us off Su insisted I hop on her back. She made me hop on her back and then this was her reaction. Yes, she's a bitch.

So then we wandered down the streets trying as much food as possible. We had steak tacos, corn and crab bisque, shrimp and crawfish with dirty rice, sausages, brisket and a pulled pork sammich. Keep in mind last year before we went to the party we were upset that we ate before hand and couldn't eat any of the food at the party. Good thing we ate light, LMAO. We had to pee so we went into the sausage place and placed an order for fried pickels and potato chips and margaritas. The drinks were awful and the chips burnt. We sent the chips back. They wanted to re-cook it for us but we were on a time crunch and we really only ordere because we had to pee, LOL.

I'll talk more about the party later as well as post more party pics. But thought these would be fun to share. Su having fun on the dance floor. Now you can see why I distance myself from her, LOL. Of course, I can't post a pic of Su without posting one of myself. One of my best assets, LMAO!

Asian sammich anyone???

You know when Su an I get together we like to sammich a lucky person between us. Tonight we had 3 lucky persons. Filling #1 is Pamela Clare. Some people were gasping as we took this shot. I have no idea why, EG! This was actually the 2nd sammich of the night with Gennita Low. In the first picture Su looked too normal and that was unacceptable, LOL. And new to the sammich menu is my BFF Emma Holly. We didn't want her to feel left out which is why we forced ourselves on her, LOL. Hmmm, I just noticed that my tongue is out in each of these pictures and I wasn't even drunk, LOL.

Can you say OOPS?

Su and I are practicing discretion this time around and not grabbing every single book that we see, LOL. We were at one of the signings and I saw Linda Winstead Jones was there. I absolutely LOVED her Raintree book. Linda Howard wrote the first one and LWJ wrote Gideon's story and while I was leery I actually enjoyed the 2nd book better. LWJ was out of books but I still had to tell her how much I enjoyed her book and then proceeded to tell her I liked it MORE than Linda Howard's at which point I notice who is standing next to her. That would be the one and only Linda Howard!!!!!!! OMG, you know it takes a lot to embarrass me. Well, this would be a lot! I about died! And of course Ms Howard had heard what I said. Luckily she was extremely cool and she leaned in and said, I liked her book better too. That did not stop the blush that had started at my forehead and made its way down to my feet, LOL. But since there weren't any books left we asked for a picture instead. Linda Howard thought she was taking the picture, I was like, hello, you are STILL Linda Howard, LOL. Ms Howard is on the right side for those who have never met La Linda. I think I've had enough booze to dull the pain and embarrassment, but just barely!

Eat your hearts out...

In case you can't tell what is in my hands that would the ARC of The Holly's Fairyville. Su was seething with jealousy as she should. But hey, she's not The Holly's BFF. I am! Of course I will have to wait til I am home to read it, Emma's books should be read alone or with a lover and since I have no interest in being lovers with the Gennitas I will wait til I get home. I can't wait! Su says I can't have sex with her, I can't afford it. I say I won't have sex with her, who knows where her germaphobe whoo haaa has been. Can you tell we've had a few drinks? Poo doody made me!

We can't leave you without a pic of Poo, so here you go. The Asian Persuasion at their finest!

I've come a long way baby!

Today I got a call from Nordstrom's. They have a sale coming up and wanted to let me know because I'm such a valued customer that I was invited to shop early, helloooo! Of course, that means I've been spending way too much money there, LOL. The pre-sale starts tomorrow which sucks because I'm heading out of town but I set up an appointment for Monday at 4. She's going to pull clothes for me to try on. I feel so special. Like I'm Linda, LOL. I did ask her to pull more dressed from Fire because they made my magic dress. When she was asking my style I said SALE, LOL. I don't want her to think I'm going to go buck wild. I hope that I don't go buck wild but I have been pretty good with my money this paycheck, Of course, I'm heading out of town tomorrow and you know when Su and I get together we eat and we drink! kaching, kaching!

I think I made a mistake yesterday. I talked to my mailman, LOL. You know how friendly I am. It was pouring down rain and he was delivering the mail (I have a mail slot) so I yelled out the window telling him he needed an umbrella, he couldn't hear me so I had to get up and actually open the door (I usually yell out the window when Franklin walks by, I'm so high class, now we see why Nordstrom's is calling, LOL). Of course, whenever I see either of my mailmen I always wave or say hi or whatever. I'm a friendly person but a I was chatting with this guy I noticed he didn't have a ring on and he wanted to chat, dang it! He said I was the nicest person in the building. He also said he thought I was in college, LMAO. Oh, the joys of being asian, EG! Luckily, he's not my regular mailman, he is the fill in. Unluckily, he knows I'm home all the time, LOL.

Well you know I usually spend 2 weeks preparing for my trips. What did I do this time to prepare? Nothing!!!! Gennita Su and Gennita Low better be prepared so see a scraggly ass me. Ok, my ass isn't scraggly but I didn't decide til this weekend that I needed a hair cut but I decided I needed a new stylist and just didn't have the time. I also didn't have the time to color my hair, give myself a pedi, start packing (I will pack when I'm done posting) or any of the other little things I like to do to prepare. I was so busy with work that I honestly didn't have time to think about it til Monday and by then I was pooped, LOL. Then I figured it was all women anyway which means you know there's going to be a convention of hunky firemen there. Not that I would complain. My toes still look good and my hair is still presentable. Just not as fresh as I like to look when I travel. Luckily my place is clean so I don't have to do any before I leave, not that I would at this point LOL. And if there are a bunch of firemen I'll just wear my magic dress every day if I have to!

I am seriousely thinking about pulling a Nancy and getting a trainer when I get back. I need someone to motivate me. I am poorly self motivated. Joe used to motivate me. Now that I don't have him I sit on my butt all of the time and if I want my ass to look as fabulous as it can I may have to look into a professional. Shannon and I just don't motivate each other, it's so easy to cancel. We're always happy when the other one cancels, LOL. I need someone who isn't going to cancel on me and I need accountability.

OK, I have charged my camera batteries and have my camera cable pulled out to throw into my suitcase so you know there will be updates while I'm in Dallas. I'll be rooming with world famou author Gennita Low, how cool is that? Of course, my partner in crime Su will be there too. Think the three of us can keep out of trouble? Yeah, I didn't think so either.

More than meets the eye!

OK, Sunday I told Franklin we were going to see The Transformers. He wasn't thrilled about the idea but he faked it pretty well, LOL. Quite honestly, when I heard about this movie I had no interest in seeing it. A movie based on a cartoon from 20 years ago, ehh, I'll pass. Then person after person mentioned how much they enjoyed the movie and I do enjoy a good action adventure popcorn movie so I started feeling the urge to go and see for myself. It was between this and Die Hard and F had no interest in seeing an old Bruce Willis, LOL. So Transformers it was.

I have to say, this was a totally fun movie. It doesn't make you think but it's action packed and doesn't stop. Of course I had to go pee but it was hard to find a spot to go, LOL. F had to go but he held it because he didn't want to miss anything. The story isn't deep but it's fun and I would go see if again.

I looked for a theater with stadium seating which we found. Too bad that didn't mean a nicer theater. There armrests didn't go up and they didn't have extra wide seats, that's what I'm used to from LA and I can't find a theater I like and no, they didn't have flavored popcorn either!

OK, this is a short one. I need to get to bed at a decent hour tonight, you know 1am, LOL.

Changes

OK, the reason I've been working so hard has finally been launched. So if you get a chance please check out Karen's website which has a new Bloodfever excerpt on it. She also has a new message board and it would be wonderful to see your familiar names and faces there and last but not least, her MySpace page has also been updated. I hope that you take the time to pop in and see the changes and say hi.

Thank you to Lina for your wonderful help and to Nes who was there to answer my questions whenever I had them. Your unemployment was a godsend to me, LOL.

Your guest blogger Nancine....

Ever have one of those days... or weeks LOL. Nothing bad has happened, life is just bouncing along and it hits - BANG! Your in a mood - that is what is happening for me today. In the past I have "treated" said mood with lots of sleep and ice cream (and if it is really bad a dose of chocolate). As you all know in my quest to be healthy (that is a lie, it really is just a quest to be skinny so I can buy normal people sized clothes and find a man - but turns out you have to be healthy to do that) I have cut out the ice cream (and mayo, cheese, blended coffee drinks...) and started to work out. How does a healthy person treat a mood???

I was forced to make contact with the outside world with a few phone calls and bless the girls who spoke to me even though I was whiney and crabby. That helped... then I forced myself to do the dreaded trip to the gym. Now don't tell anyone I said this but I felt way better... and hardly crabby after that. I am afraid I am turning into one of those darn people who miss when they dont work out... and who knows, maybe someday I will actually enjoy it LOL.

How do the rest of you treat "the dreaded mood"? I don't know if it is all the way gone and I need all the non-ice cream help I can get!