It’s Friday. It’s the end of the second week of January… and I thought I could use a little fun. So, here is Picture Me Friday which includes the cat, new bedding and SHOES!

Indy

This past weekend, the kiddo and I put together his Indiana Jones temple from Raiders of the Lost Ark. Six hundred pieces and three hours later, here is the fruits of our labor:

It’s actually pretty cool but the pieces keep falling off. Seriously considerly glueing it all together. LOL

Sampson (a.k.a. CAT CAT)

The other day when I came home from work, I found this:

and this:

Sampson is trying to look all innocent but I know what he was up to. He was in my chairs doing naughty things while I was at work. Bad, kitty, bad!

Here he tries to make up for it.

You can’t fool us, Sampson, with your sweet little face. We know what you’ve been up to!

Shoes

I had told myself if I sold TAKE ME I’M YOURS, my reward would be a new pair of shoes. Well, Zappos was having a sale, in which I was powerless to resist. So on Wednesday I ordered two pair and chose the free shipping, which is 4-5 business days. I figure, no sweat, I can wait. BUT! I get this email from them and they have upgraded me at no cost to FREE overnight shipping. OMG I love them. They rock. SO! I got my new shoes TODAY instead of next week and here they are.

Gabriella Rocha, Mylie

rsvp, Kathryn

The red shoes are SUPER sexy. I love them so! I can’t wait to wear them. And I’ve been hot to have some red shoes for a while. The zebra shoes are really cool, too. I love I can wear them with so many different things. I have always experienced superb customer service from Zappos. I HIGHLY recommend them.

And, last but not least, I got new bedding to go with the new bed. It also goes with my brown/blue scheme in the bedroom and I got the comforter set on close-out for $60.

The new bed sleeps like a dream. I totally LOVE it. It was well worth the money. AND! The mattress pad (that was FREE with the 10 year warranty) is 300 count thread.

I am in heaven.

So, all in all, it’s been a pretty damn good week. I have more pictures but will spare you since I’m sure it’s rather boring. TGIF and Happy Weekend! I’m going to be writing my butt off tomorrow and Sunday…

…and not blogging, thought I’d post this:

…Feel free to enjoy THIS:

Hey I’m blogging over at Southern Fried Chicas today so check it out.

And tomorrow is Free Book Friday! So come back for your chance to win a copy of A Bend In Time!

I have officially crossed the line into nerdom. Not that I wasn’t one already. I mean, I was in band after all and I did play MajorMUD online for years before BBSes went by the wayside (in case you’re wondering BBSes were around LONG before there was an Internet… I thought I was so cool when I got my 2400 baud modem haha).

Anyhoo… I recently purchased the lovely pair you see here (another Zappos special). I bought my size, but they were a 1/2 size too big. Zappos is so wonderful, I could exchange them. Free shipping both ways. So naturally I did.

I was so happy to have them, that after I tried them on and saw how delightful they were, I felt compelled to write an online review of them at Zappos. Hence the reason I’ve crossed over into nerdom. When I told Best Good Friend about this, the email response I got back was: “Geek”. And I totally am.

Ah well. I have a thing for shoes; what can I say?

These Gabriella Rocha shoes are wickedly sexy. And they should be with a 4 1/2 inch heel, right? My friend at work asked me how I could possibly walk in them and not fall and break my neck. They have the very thin stiletto heel too. I’ll admit, it was a challenge. But I was willing to take it on and go for it. And really, they were comfortable. As far as ankle-strap shoes go, that is.

Anyway – enough of my shoe-obsessiveness.

I’ve been having the itch to work on my fantasy series lately. Probably because I’ve been revisiting the first story that is still on submission. I skimmed it and found a few little places to change here and there, even after the rigorous editing I put it through some months ago. I sent it off to my reader to get her opinion on it.

There’s something about this story that keeps pulling me toward it. I just haven’t figured out where I’m going with it yet. And I just haven’t figured out what it is I need to write for it. I have about a 1000 ideas in my head and some of them are written down. Others are still floating around there. For whatever reason, there is something holding me back from sitting down and pounding the keyboard. And that I haven’t figured out either. I should be like a writing machine. Instead, I sit around and goof around. Browse Zappos for more shoes I don’t need. Or Christmas on eBay. Yeah, these are all things that have to get done (well, okay, not the browsing for shoes…) yet I still haven’t found the Happy Writing Place.

I have the office I desperately wanted and needed. I have the space decorated with inspirational items. I have my book covers up where I can see them all. Maybe because my life has settled down and I’m starting to get into a normal daily routine have I discovered that I don’t quite know what to do with myself. I haven’t had to focus on anything in the last few months except the house – buying it, moving into it, getting it unpacked and decorated, buying furniture, infinity – and now that I’m down to just every day normal stuff, I feel sort of … lost.

Perhaps I should be participating in NaNo. Maybe that would help to get the word down. Of course, I’m several days into the month and I would have to do some serious writing to catch up. Plus I have a housewarming party to plan for Saturday.

There’s always something isn’t there? And it’s time for me to buckle down, roll up my sleeves, and get to work. And I don’t mean work as in the day job work. I mean work as in writing work. It’s time for me to tell myself to stop goofing around and frittering away time and just write.

Sounds easy enough, eh? Just write. That’s all I need to do.

Wish me luck.

Quote of the Day:
Stiletto, I look at it more as an attitude as opposed to a high-heel shoe.
–Lita Ford

I thought I’d do something fun and different today. Since I’m such an avid shoe freak, I am (a) posting pictures of my new shoes and (b) giving you a peek inside my closet.

You might want to run away now if you think you might be scared of this little exercise. :hehe:

First of all, here are the two new pairs of shoes I bought myself with my gift cards for my birthday:

Sally-T by Guess

and

Maadanna by Anne Klein

Cute, huh? LOVE them. Especially the Guess. They are just beautiful.

When I was married, my husband would shake his head at my shoe-freakness. “But I needed them,” I’d say and he would just shrug and go on about his business. Now I can buy shoes to my heart’s content sans the guilt. It’s a beautiful thing.

Most of the men I’ve known only have three pairs of shoes – sneakers, a black pair of dress shoes and a brown pair of dress shoes. There are exceptions to this rule, of course.

Just like there are exceptions to the rule that All Women Love Shoes. My best-good-friend and Sysenlaw, as a matter of fact, is not a shoe freak. Her daughter – who is 10 – however, is a shoe freak. A gene, I’m sure, she inherited from me. Sysenlaw says she can’t bear to pay a lot for a pair of shoes she’s going to “put my fat foot in” (which totally cracks me up but I swear that’s exactly how she says it).

I, on the other hand, will not blink an eyelash when I pay $100 or more for a pair. But I gotta tell ya, it annoys me that toilet paper costs $5 for the six giant rolls of Charmin Ultra (with Aloe). Why is toilet paper so much?

Anyway, here’s an idea of what my closet looks like.
(more…)

Quote of the Day:
I always have an opinion. Just ask me.
-Mik

(Is it cocky to quote yourself?)

First of all – today is my mommy’s birthday! Happy Birthday, Mommy! For her present, I bought us tickets to see Phantom of the Opera in April and I can’t wait! I’m trying to figure out what I can wear with my high-heeled silver sandals. For the record, they look like this:

You ever have one of those days where you just feel “on”? Yesterday was such a day for me. It was the first time since the whole mess of my life began that I actually almost felt normal. And you couldn’t shut me up. I’d talk to anyone that listened. I had a serious case of being a true Gemini for sure yesterday.

Maybe it was because I came to grips with my situation. Maybe it was because I gave the soon-to-be ex a piece of my mind, not once but twice. Maybe it was because I realized that life will go on and my son will continue to love me no matter what. We had a great weekend and I enjoyed spending time with him (except for the 23049834 times I had to repeat “Leave the cat alone”). All I know is, I felt better than I have in days.

And I was cracking myself up and a few others at the office. Of course, SOME people didn’t think I was all that funny. I was working on this presentation for a project manager and told him I changed the color of some text because I didn’t like it. He said he was glad I had an opinion so I told him “I always have an opinion. Just ask me!” I laughed my ass off as I walked away but somehow I don’t think he thought it was that great. :doze:

Last night, I got to spend some quality time plotting and talking writing. It was so great. They helped me with my historical and I see what needs to be done with it. I need much more character development and they gave me some great ideas. I’m going to work on some character sketches in the next few days and see if I can flesh them out and make them a little more human. I wanted to write when I got home, but it was late and instead I finally finished reading that first entry for the contest. One down, four to go.

At Starbucks I tried something new. I went for the marble mocha macchiato. And OMG it was heaven. You really can’t go wrong with chocolate AND coffee, can you? Then, as we were talking, the girl brought around a tray of their yummy cupcakes and I finally got to try that sunshine cupcake I’ve been eyeing. Loved! Every! Bite!

And in other news, I sent in issues 3-5 on the new and improved Ransom & Fortune to my editor over at Inara Press. Issues 1-2 have already gone to the line editor. I’m trying to get through issue 12 done as quickly as possible so it’ll get up on the website and OOoOOo I can’t wait for the cover art! Revisiting the story makes me remember how much I totally love these characters. Dane is so.bloody.hot. Okay, so never mind he’s a hit man. But he really doesn’t want to kill her. Honest.

A quick Samhain update on Talk Dirty To Me: The artist is working on artwork for May releases. Since mine is a July release, it’ll be a little while, but at least I know it’s coming. It’s coming! I have already finished the first round of edits and my editor said the next round will probably be VERY minor. Excitement!

Here’s what I want to accomplish this year:

Finish Magic
Finish the historical (there is a possible sequel too)
Work on the dragon book

I feel as though I’m getting closer to regaining my writing focus. Which is good. I really need to get back to it.

For now, it’s off to work!

I totally dig these

Your Sexy Red Shoes Are

Christian Lacroix 954913

Okay… let’s have some fun. I’m calling this game “Name Those Abs”. I have no idea what the winner will get – maybe a future copy of my forthcoming book Talk Dirty To Me. How’s that sound?

Anyway.. without further ado…Name Those Abs

Gawd. Is that hot or what?

Answer in tomorrow’s blog entry.

I needed some therapy yesterday. So what does a girl who needs therapy DO? Why, she goes shopping of course! Got these yesterday:

They are – to say the least – bitchin’. Or Sexy Hooker shoes as my good friend calls ‘em. I prefer CFM but – hey – it’s all good. Right? Black with a camel stripe. BCBGirls. Four inch heels and they make me massively tall. Yes, I am a shoe ho. What can I say?

Not that I needed any more shoes, but a girl can never have too many. Yes?

And I should be receiving my DSW reward certificate in the mail this week. I still haven’t spent that gift card my other good friend gave me, which means I will have nearly $50 to spend … on shoes. I was told once it’s a foot fetish gone wrong. And if so, then I don’t want to be right. HA

In other news… I tweaked chapter five of NGD and started chapter six. Hey, it’s slow progress but progress nonetheless. Still have no idea where this story is going, but I sure am enjoying the ride.

Till tomorrow, folks.

Quote du Jour:
Double, double, toil and trouble;
Fire burn and cauldron bubble.
–The Tragedy of Macbeth, Act IV, Scene I

Last night was the perfect Halloween night. The Trick or Treaters started showing up at 6:15 and didn’t stop until nearly 9. We had a hoard of kids. That’s what I love about my neighborhood.

My little Buzz Lightyear ate his dinner and then was off to do his trick or treating by about 6:30ish. Here he is, all dressed up and ready to go:
(more…)

Sassy. :wigglebrow:

Your Couture Shoes Are

Giuseppe Zanotti E5133

NICE! :thumbsup:

Your Sexy Boots Are

baby phat Silla 03

A little bling-bling on these, Kenneth Cole Reaction.