In which Maxwell makes his Creme Puffs

While Mike Geraci was off on his boys golf trip I took the kids to Daytona Beach to meet up with my parents and my sister and my nephew for a weekend of fun, sun, and relaxation. Luckily, we got all 3 in large abundance (the tops of my shoulders and upper arms can attest to the sun part. Ugh. Why do I never remember to reapply sunscreen there? Despite using an SPF of 45, I still burned :(

The condo we stayed at was on the 22nd floor, giving us this really spectacular view of the beach. We were so high up, that when we sat outside on the balcony, we could actually look down on the sea birds flying. No joke. A couple of times I thought they were going to fly right into the balcony and join us for a drink. But they didn't :)

One delicious highlight of the weekend, was when my sister's friend Maureen and her 11 year old son, Maxwell, came over (that's him above checking out the Publix bakery). Maxwell is a budding chef and just about the cutest thing you can ever imagine. We'd all seen the movie "Julie and Julia" and were talking about food, and about making food, and about eating food, which stirred our taste buds to no end. So we decided we had to run out to Blockbuster to rent "Big Night" and go to Publix so we could cook something. My sister made this simple and utterly delicious pasta dish with broccoli (sorry, no pics of the pasta, I was too busy eating!) and Maxwell made his famous creme puffs.

At this point, I nearly pounced on the puffs. But here they are cooling, and I was a good girl and refrained until they were ready.

Ice Cream Creme Puffs a la Maxwell. Creme Puff stuffed with ice cream and covered with his homemade chocolate sauce. Fantastic!

After a meal of pasta and ice cream puffs, we all collapsed to watch TV.

In between going to the beach, getting sunburned, watching "Big Night" and eating, I did manage to write 8 pages on Bunco Book 3. Yay!

Nice Dice

I absolutely adore this look. Katy Perry rocks! Coincidentally, she's also mentioned in Bunco Book 3 (title to be named later). No, Katy Perry doesn't come to Whispering Bay to play Bunco with the Babes (although the Babes would certainly welcome her with open arms in this dress) but she is a sort of character in the book. You'll just have to wait till Sept 2010 to find out how;)

On that note, I'm trying to finish writing a critical scene, do laundry, and get some sleep tonight before heading to Daytona Beach for a little fun and sun this weekend. Yay!

My Perfect Hero

So I'm sitting here in my closet, writing away on Bunco book 3 (title to be named later) and I'm just having such a freakin' hard time whenever my hero enters the story. Now don't get me wrong, I love my hero. It's Zeke Grant, Whispering Bay's chief of police (and a secondary character in Bunco Babes Gone Wild). Zeke is married to Mimi, one of my Babes (only mentioned once in Book one, but a prominent secondary character in book 2) and he's absolutely delicious. (Think Josh Lucas in Sweet Home Alabama). But the guy is sometimes just too alpha to live. Every time he opens his mouth I want to put a sock in it. I wish I could curb the things he says but then he wouldn't be the right character for this book or for my heroine.

I was reading Eloisa James' article over at B&N titled Alpha Allure . I absolutely love Eloisa's heroes. One of my favorite all time heroes is Rafe from "The Taming of the Duke." He's the perfect tortured alpha male. And it got me to thinking about heroes in contemporary romance vs historicals and I've come to the conclusion that they aren't that much different. I think, as women, we are initially attracted to all the prominent characteristics of the alpha male- the in-charge, sexually potent guy who walks in a room who makes women stand up and notice. But it's the little leaks in the damn he uses as a shield that actually make us fall in love with him. Because let's face it, perfect is boring. Imperfection, on the other hand, allows us a glimpse into the real man inside and it's the way he handles those imperfections that can make or break a character. Like Eloisa's tortured Rafe. Sigh. I still wonder what he's up to. And that's the ultimate test of a really great character. Creating a person so vivid, so interesting, that they stay with you long after you've finished the book.

Which reminds me, I have to go finish writing the book...