Monday, May 30, 2011

Happy Memorial Day


Yay! I can blog again. Whatever was ailing my blogger/gmail account has miraculously been cured without any help from either me or Mike Geraci. Maybe the best way to fix a problem is to do nada.

By the way, B&N is offering my first book Bunco Babes Tell All at a clearance price now of $2.99! Is this a good thing or a bad thing? I think a good thing if it means more people will read it. Here is the link:

Monday, May 23, 2011

The Chick Lit Hero


My Savannah stories will have to be put aside for a few days. Today I'm attending college orientation with my youngest at UCF. A full day of activites from 8am -9pm. Sounds like fun. We'll see ;)

Meanwhile, check out my post, Men with Broad Shoulders, over at ChickLit Writers of America. I'm talking about chick lit heroes. My favorite being Josh Myers, from the fabulous chick lit film, Kissing Jessica Stein. Happy Monday everyone!

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Savannah Evening One

So now that we're all together it's time to go sightseeing. Mami, Carmen and me head out of the hotel on Liberty Street and start walking. Do we know where we are going? Oh heck no. Despite the fact that both Mami and Carmen have been to Savannah before we have absolutely no idea where we are in comparison to where we would like to be and where we would like to be is well... somewhere fun. Can you tell the Palacios women are not pre-planners? Yes, we all come from the Que sera, sera club. Doris Day would be so proud.

So we're walking along and we see a small crowd lined up on the street. At first, we walk past the crowd, but then a tiny spark lights up in one of our brains and one of us (okay, it was Carmen) decides to ask the crowd what they are waiting for. "The bus," answers one woman. A bus! Genius. We find out the bus is free (good) and that it will take you all around the historic district (even better.) We go by some lovely places that I cannot recall at the moment because we get off at River street and all I can say is: the $20 store.

Let me tell you, if you ever go to Savannah, you HAVE to go to this store. It's fabulous. We all bought rubber watches. I also bought 3 scarves and 2 pairs of sandals all for under $20 each (hence the store's name). Think of the dollar store but add nineteen dollars more. I know the salesgirl thought we were crazy because we kept coming back all night long because the bargains there are just too good to pass up and the more you think about them, the more you must have them.

All this shopping made us hungry and we go off in search of food. But before we eat we decide to buy tickets for the Ghost Tour. I've never been on a ghost tour. I bought tickets to one in Reno when the RWA conference was held there a few years back, but it was rained out and I was majorly bummed. It appears that ghost tours and I are not meant to be. The woman at the ghost tour booth was... well, I'm not sure what she was. Mami is convinced she has smoked one marijuana joint too much. Carmen thinks she's just daffy and I'm almost of the belief that she didn't really exist we just imagined her (kind of like a ghost herself). After about 15 minutes of trying to buy tickets and her fumbling and ruffling pages she never could get us booked and we gave up, disappointed, and went to The Shrimp Factory where a couple of margaritas and a bloody mary later, we felt much better. Of course I also felt much much better after eating my shrimp and grits. It was absolutely delicious.





After dinner, we continued our walk/shopping spree along River Street. If you are a fan of Paula Deen then you are in luck, because just about every store carries her stuff, which includes all the various cookbooks and cooking paraphernalia you can imagine. The other big tourist seller is anything that has to do with the "book" or the "movie", which is Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. More on that in the next post...


Eventually, we get tired of the shopping and we head back to our hotel, walking along Bull Street, which is packed with people. The night is beautiful. The weather is cool and crisp and the atmosphere is quaint. The one tiny drawback is the smell, which is not so crisp and quaint. This is because the streets of the historic district smell like horse urine. There are more horse drawn carriages than there are cars. I didn't mind the smell though, because it's all so very lovely. We get to our room, where we collapse on our beds and get ready for a good nights sleep because we have lots of sight seeing to do tomorrow.


My one regret of the night? I should have bought candy at the Savannah Candy Kitchen, where the pralines and the salt water taffy abound. It was one of the cases where I thought we'd be back and I could buy at my leisure. Unfortunately, it didn't happen. Lesson learned. Live in the moment!

Monday, May 16, 2011

Savannah Day One

Yay! My blogger function is finally back up. For those of you who don't blog or use Blogger, the site was down for a couple of days last week and it ate my cookies. Or wanted me to have more cookies. Or get rid of my cookies. I'm not sure which. I just know that I tried to fix my cookies myself and couldn't. Oh well, that is what Mike Geraci is for (among other things.)

This past weekend I met my sister and mother for a girls trip to Savannah. It was absolutely fabulous. I can't believe I haven't been there before. It's about a 4 and half hour drive from Tally so that's not too shabby. You just hop on I-10, loop around Jax then head north on I-95. Pretty simple. So Friday I woke up and did a bit of cleaning because I just can't stand to leave the house in a mess. I know. I probably should have just left it as is, but my reward was that I returned to a fairly clean house, so yay!

First thing I do before heading on any road trip is get my gear ready. This includes having a caffeinated beverage of choice in my cup holder and a really great CD to listen to. So before I got on the highway I went by the Starbucks drive-through for a mocha frappucino (grande). Mocha frappucino was good, going through the drive-through, big mistake. When I rolled my window down to give the Starbucks guy my cash, a giant bug of unknown origin flew into my car.

Now, living in Florida, I am used to big bugs, however when I can't identify the said big bug in question, this makes me nervous. The bug was black, could fly (obviously) and looked like a big wasp. Maybe it was a big wasp. Not sure. I just know I started yelling at the bbici (big bug I can't identify) to fly out of my car. "Get out!" "Get out!" So what if the bug can't understand me, I'm sure he understood my tone because the second I started yelling the bug went crazy and started flying all over the car.

The Starbucks guy must have thought I was yelling at him because you should have seen the look on his face. He's like, lady, get out of where? Just about that time, the bbici flew out my car window. The Starbucks guy then saw what I was yelling at, ducked and the bbici flew into the store through the drive-through window.

He. Sorry, Starbucks, but thanks for the latte.

Now with my latte in hand, I start my drive. And can I just say, to the guy who broke Adele's heart, thank you. I listened to 21 for the entire 4.5 hour drive and never got tired of any of the songs. Heartbreak music is the best. I stopped once on the trip up, somewhere about 30 minutes into Georgia where a Chik-Fil-A sign lured me liked the Piped Piper lured the little children, only to discover that the Ckik-Fil-A was closed for renovations. Talk about disappointment, although it is probably for the best that I didn't get to snarf down a chicken sandwich because I arrived in Savannah with my healthy appetite intact and I would have hated to waste my first night's dinner because I'd filled up on Chik-Fil-A which I can have any day (except Sunday) just right down the street from me.

After checking into the hotel (Courtyard Marriot on Liberty Street) I went to find my room, only to see this just two doors down.




Yep, it was a bachelorette party in progress, complete with tiny penis decorations on the door and all. By this time, my sister and mom had arrived and we stood in front of these two doors laughing and reading the various signs. Our room was right across from the ice machine and I was afraid we might hear some revelry going on, but nope. We slept like babies both nights.

More, later...

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Something Borrowed


Just saw the movie tonight with my girls (Loinfruit and Daughter #2). It was fun! I'm always afraid when they make a movie about a book I love that they'll screw it up but luckily this wasn't the case. The casting was so spot on, especially the role of the deliciously yucky Marcus, played by Steve Howey. I know the critics have been slinging arrows at this one, but if you like the book, you'll like the movie. That's my opinion and I'm sticking to it.

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Splitsville for Maria and Arnold



I really thought they'd make it. But alas, no. Apparently another one bites the dust.

I'll be honest, years back when I first heard of this coupling, I laughed. She seemed too smart for him and he seemed... well, he was The Terminator. Enough said. Then Arnold proved he was really kind of smart after all. And there was this great "opposites attract" thing going on. Plus they were both Catholic and had 4 kids and Arnold went into politics which seemed right up Maria's alley.

I have to admit, I'm kind of sad.


But then, as I often do these days whenever I'm feeling a little blue, I just think of Princess Beatrice's hat and I smile and everything sad is forgotten. Because, well, you know. Really.



Saturday, May 07, 2011

Mom is happy


Happy Mothers Day weekend! This is a picture of the beautiful tulips I received yesterday from Loinfruit (that is code for Daughter #1 who is grown up and lives in Tampa). Aren't they pretty? I love tulips. Especially multi colored ones like this. A perfect gift!

Thursday, May 05, 2011

Bunco!



Last night, I rolled 3 buncos, which for me, was almost like a miracle. It's the first time in like 11 years that I've won most overall Buncos in a night. I have no problem with most games (or least games) or even the Boobie prize, but for some reason rolling those three sixes have become an elusive challenge.

The way my Bunco Broads play, a Bunco is nothing less than three 6's. So it's not easy to win one. We also play that whoever grabs the dice after a Bunco is thrown gets 2 points per dice grabbed. It makes for some very fun (and interesting) play. Yay me!

Wednesday, May 04, 2011

Books for everyone

There's two new books out this week from fellow GBC authors! The cool thing is that there's something for everyone in the house here.

Exposure by Therese Fowler.
Amelia Wilkes’ strict father does not allow her to date, but that doesn’t stop the talented, winsome high school senior from carrying on a secret romance with her classmate, Anthony Winter. Desperately in love, the two envision a life together and plan to tell Amelia’s parents when she turns eighteen and is legally an adult. Anthony’s mother, Kim Winter, who teaches at their school, knows—and keeps—their secret. But the couple’s passion is exposed sooner than planned: Amelia’s father, Harlan, is shocked and infuriated to find naked pictures of Anthony on his daughter’s computer. Just hours later, Anthony is arrested.

Despite Amelia’s frantic protests, Harlan uses his wealth and influence with local law enforcement and the media to label Anthony a deviant who preyed on his innocent daughter. Spearheaded by a zealous prosecutor anxious to turn the case into a public crusade against “sexting,” the investigation soon takes an even more disturbing and destructive turn.
As events spiral wildly out of control and the scandalous story makes national news, Amelia and Anthony risk everything in a bold and dangerous plan to clear their names and end the madness once and for all.


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And now for the ten and under crowd: Looking for a great series for your elementary school kid? Then look no more. The Sisters 8 by Lauren Baratz-Logsted is a great series to introduce the kiddos to. Book 7 Rebecca's Rashness came out this week.

8 Little girls (octuplets, actually. Can you imagine?) mysteriously lose their parents and must band together and use their talents to find out what happened to them. Sounds terrific, doesn't it?
 

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