Love in Bloom - blog hop

Featuring the sweetest romances you'll ever read.

May 18-23 

Hello friends and fellow bloggers! I'm so excited to be one of the 150 blogs participating in this supercute Giveaway Hop. (and my first one, by-the-way--so be kind!) 

**Love in Bloom**

I volunteered at the very lovely "I'm a Reader, Not a Writer" --which I completely adore! (Check it out when you have a moe.)

Just by participating (see how below), your name is magically thrown in my cyber-hat to win one of these three giveaways of reading deliciousness. Easy-peezy, yeah?

 Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins 

Eat Cake by Jeanne Ray 

 Austenland by Shannon Hale

Personally, I think any reader-of-loveliness should have all of these in their library.

How to enter:

All you have to do is follow me and leave a comment stating your favorite swoooony scene--preferably from a book (but I won't judge if you absolutely LOVE, say, the end of While You Were Sleeping when dreamy Bill Pullman shows up at Sandra Bullock's train station hut and drops a ring in the coin slot. Swoooon!)  Don't forget to leave me your email addy.

One winner will be chosen at random on May 23rd.

Thanks for stopping by and being part of this special hop! Now you can check out all the other great giveaways featuring other contemporary/lighthearted, sweet & clean romances....

Y is for Yummy

 

And while we're at it. . . Brad Pitt eating is rather

yummy.

O is for. . . . other things (on my list)

Hey. Guess what tomorrow is.

Exactly! It's my 40th birthday! 

(I know, I know, I've heard it before, I don't look a day over 38 and a half. Sweet of you to say.)

Clicky-click to see the full LIST and see how close I am to finishing!

Alrighty, then. Here we go:

#39- Sleep under the stars.
This didn't turn out exactly the way I thought it would. Honestly, I saw myself hunkering down somewhere lovely, creek-side, communing with nature (and Brad Pitt somewhere off in the distance strumming a guitar?). But I kind of ran out of time and ended up blowing up an air mattress and dragging it out to my tiny backyard. 

My cozy star-sleeping accommodations.

This was the view above my head.

If you squint just right, you can see two wee stars.

#8 - Run the stadium stairs.
Again, this one didn't go exactly as envisioned. Thing is, all of the stadiums around here are locked up, unless there is a football game or track meet going on. After driving around for an hour an and half, I finally found some stairs, kind of.   

Trust me. It was a lot higher than it looks. Or was it?

Starting out on stair one.

View from the TOP. Wow.....it's a long way down!

After driving around for an hour and a half, I ran those stairs then found a Duncan Donuts. Win-win!

Brought to you by:

N is for (The) Neverending Story

Not! 
But stick with me....

The Neverending Story (along with The Dark Crystal, The Flight of the Navigator, and The Boy Who Could Fly) were my sister's favorite movies when she was a little kid. 

Let me tell you about my sister.


She's awesome
And tough and funny
She sings like a bird and drives faster then me. She's always had better hair (except when she selfishly volunteers as guinea pig to her friends going through cosmetology school....perms are seldom a good look, sister)

Me & my bestie, doing what we do best,

I gave her The Corrs, she gave me The Backstreet Boys
I gave her Downton Abbey, she gave me Veronica Mars
I gave her Twilight, she gave me Katie Fforde
I gave her The Pimpernel, she gave me Star Wars
We discovered Monty Python, The Marx Brothers and Robert Downy, Jr together
We share love-custody of Gilbert Blythe and Gerard Butler
She gave me Brad Pitt
She understands my fascination (and borderline obsession) of Deb, Ang and Jen
Even though I don't quite get her enthusiasm for alternative rock and ska
We share a fear of circus freaks and a love for all-you-can-eat buffets and Brit Coms
We're both going to marry Jedi Knights someday
And Mr. Big

We shared a room in college for one summer and spend those hot nights trying to sleep while cooking up alternate endings to Phantom of the Opera and "What was Mr Darcy really thinking..." scenarios. 


Nicknames: 
(Seinfeld) she calls me "Gammy," I call her "Mulva." 
(Gossip Girl) she calls me "Em," I call her "Es." 
(Ab Fab) we both answer to "Pats"

I love you mucho, sister! Enjoy your "Day of N." And I'll allow you....THIS TIME, to watch one of your crap movies. 
I'll see you in California tomorrow!!!
ex-oh, ex-oh.

L is for List

Where have the months gone? Time is seriously ticking away. But I'm getting closer to reaching my goal of 40 Things.

#11 - Retry 10 foods I always thought I hated.

Cottage Cheese

Since I'm such a texture freak, I assumed I would still detest this stuff. But because someone explained to me that it's NOT supposed to be sweet like yogurt (which I thought it was), but is more salty....like ricotta (which I LOVE (see HERE)), I was pretty much hooked after the first bite. Now, I eat it practically daily; with pairs, or tomatoes, or blueberries, or straight out of the tub. I only hope its healthier than ricotta....for the amount I've been consuming! 
Side note: I prefer the small curds to large. But they're both rather delish.

(This was my first attempt. Which explains the tiny amount. I was nervous. I eat much larger scoops now!)

#15 - Take on a new leadership responsibility at work.
 United Way hotdog cookout (celebrating natural gas summer grilling...for a good cause!)

Planning this has been such fun, and the execution was far beyond my hopes. With the help of my fellow marketing team and some other lovely volunteers, I was put in charge of a relatively huge event.We raised a pretty huge amount for United Way.

Go Team Atmos Energy!

Pre-staging. A view of the grill and dining area.

"Big Tex," the massive grill, with the two superheroes who run the sucker.

The first wave of fine diners. They were ready to eat!

 

One of the natural gas grills we raffled off. I did NOT win.

Me with some of the Marketing angels.

We had ice cream, yo.

#32 - Volunteer at a soup kitchen (or something similar in the community)

Donated surplus food (from the above cookout) to North Dallas Food Bank & to a local first station

Yes, I did happen to volunteer to take the food to the firehouse. And, I'm not gonna lie...a bunch of steamy firemen were outside playing shirtless basketball when we pulled up, and yes, they showed their appreciation in very intimate ways. Nope, no pictures included here. 

#31 - Renew my passport

(This is my expired one. Don't I look 12?)

Because I still had the BROWN HAIR when I had my passport renewed, I opted to use a different passport-sized photo I had taken over the summer, for my CHL class. At that time, I had very blonde hair....as well as a pink stripe. My new passport will be rocking that picture for the next decade. Party on.

#24 - Learn to do a Sudoku puzzle
I didn't complete as many as I thought I would; I guess I'm still a crossword puzzle girl. But, at least now I know how to do a Sudoku, and I'm no longer afraid to chat about them at the next Sudoku cocktail party I attend. And that's what this is all about!

(My first lesson.)

brought to you  by......

J is for Jaffa Cake

Today's post comes from my lovely and talented critique partner, Sue. She's super-fab. Check her out on the Twit: @scwine

 

J is for Jaffa Cake

Yes, I know. You know about Hob Nobs and Cadbury's, you may even drink tea like the British do, but I'm betting you don't know what a Jaffa Cake is, and that okay. Great, even. Because once you know, and you actually taste one, you'll be dreaming about them, and worse, eating them constantly. It takes at least three weeks to kick the habit. It's bad. These fascinating little cookies have a layer of yellow cake, with a strip of orange jelly on top, covered in dark chocolate. The description doesn't do them justice. But next time you are shopping, and you come across the 'International' aisle, or, rather quaintly, the 'exotic foods' section (that's in a Stop and Shop in CT), pick up a pack of Jaffa cakes. Double dog dare you. Or, make them from this lovely British recipe:  http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/homemadejaffacakes_91480 

Oh yes, you're going DOWN!

G is for Gatsby

(And while we're at it, I'm checking off #2 on my LIST)

 

(Okay, F. Scott.....you had me at the title page.)

Bonus:

G is also for gazpacho. Which I made for the first time yesterday. I figured since I'm having one of my characters make it, I should learn too. Check it out:

 

 

brought to you by.....

C is for Cupcakes

I love cupcakes. 

I wish there were songs written about them so I could sing along in my car, then perform them at open mike night and get discovered by Tommy Mottola or Lou Pearlman (if he wasn't in jail for ripping off the Backstreet Boy). Then I'll go on a Cupcakes for Peace world tour, raising cupcake awareness across the globe about the deliciousness of cupcakes. After I blow my voice box from too much red dye number 9, I'll have to auction off my cupcake-shaped house in the Hollywood Hills (which was right next door to Brad and Angelina, incidentally). And, wandering the streets, homeless, I'll no longer be able to afford, ironically, cupcakes.

So, for now, I suppose I'll have to be satisfied with just eating them.

Brought to you by...

Audrey, Audrey, Angelika and my List

Hello, dah-lings!

#29 - from my LIST - "Have a Day at the Angelika"

I simply adore the Angelika--our uber-chic and fab art house theater. It shows the films other theaters are afraid of (documentaries, foreigns and weirdo indies.) 

For years I've been dreaming of spending an entire day within its hallowed, art-deco glass walls.....drinking in artsy film after artsy film, with perhaps a little lunch in between at one of the many charming restaurants near the theater.  

Which is exactly what a friend and I did this past weekend. 

As you can see, we started our adventure early with a 10:30am film.

Hello, girl in the striped shirt. I see you!

I put off seeing The Artist. In fact, I planned on never seeing it. Honestly, I'm not sure why. Perhaps because I seldom agree with the Hollywood Foreign Press, and since this particular film was the Academy's sweetheart this year, I figured I would pretty much hate it on principle. 

Oh, how I love being pleasantly surprised at times like these.

The movie was phenomenal. Clever, funny, sentimental, nostalgic. The acting way flawless, never over-the-top. The costumes, makeup and sets were perfection. I can't say enough. I could have sat through the whole thing a second time. Two thumbs up. Five stars. Eight cows.

After stepping out for a sushi lunch, the next viewing was Delicacy. Audrey Tautou is so beautiful and her wardrobe was to die for. (Though my movie companion thought her high-waist wool tweed trousers with the bow on the front were hideous. We agreed to disagree.) This was a sweet little French movie. Not great, not bad. (On a more writerly note: the husband....I'll be writing a character who looks like him someday. Major swoon.)

Last (as well as least) was A Separation. A rather un-charming, uninspiring film out of Iran. First of all, what does Iran know about film making anyway? But that's another story. The plot was thinner than Kate Moss, the story went nowhere and the constant yelling, lying and general unkindness really got on my nerves. I have no idea why this film is so beloved by Hollywood....which brings us back to my original bone to pick with the Hollywood elite. Review: Stay away; see The Artist; eat sushi.

Does it look like we'd been in the dark indoors for six hours? Yeah, kind of.

Want to read more? My awesomely-cute friend blogged about our experience HERE.

#38 - Upgrade jewelry 

Okay, so here is the deal. Over the years, I've collected piles of chunky necklaces and matchy-match earrings (and other similarly ugly, tacky, just-plain-old pieces). Which I never wear anymore. And even when I did, they inevitably ended up coming off halfway through the day because I would start to feel claustrophobic. Psychologically, maybe, but still. Ergo, as part of the big "list," I decided to purge.

And as a reward, I would pick out something lovely at Tiffanys. (I love making win-win deals with myself!)

Simply pulling this box out of the bag made my heart beat fast.

Isn't this just the sweetest thing ever?