Sunday, May 22, 2011

New Blog!

Just a quick post (I will update soon) - I have started a new blog about song memories called My Life in Song.  I hope you check it out and follow along!

I will keep this blog as well.

Thanks!

Monday, May 16, 2011

A Day at Lewis Ginter

We had a crappy winter here - so many gray and dreary days, rain, snow.  I really despise winter, and also suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder, so I'm always counting down the days to spring.

Well, spring has sucked as well.  Not much sun, lots of rain and dreariness.  Chilly.  It's been more like fall than spring.  So when the kids had off during Spring Break, there wasn't much to do here outside.  And I like doing stuff outside when it's nice; we live in Maryland, close to Annapolis, Baltimore, DC.  Beautiful places.  Not so beautiful when it's cold and rainy, though.

Desperate for something to do, I researched nearby weather.  Ocean City, MD - cold and rainy.  Hershey, PA - cold and rainy.  Richmond, VA - sunny and 75 - JACKPOT!  Road trip!  I did a little more research and discovered a place called Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens.  Perfect!

Becca, her friend Emily and I picked up Chris's mom and then we were on our way. Lauren didn't want to go - "Flowers bore me." - so she stayed home and played video games.  The trip was nice; it started off cold and pouring rain, but by the time we got to Richmond about three hours later, it was sunny and gorgeous.

A few pictures of our perfect day (and we were lucky; it rained ALL DAY back home):

Me, Becca and my mom-in-law:

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Emily and Becca:


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Some beautiful flowers:

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Check out this little guy:

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And we stopped by Steak and Shake on the way back:

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Awesome day!

Catching Up!

Wow, it's been over two months since I last blogged!  I have been crazy busy with my reading, writing and reviewing.  OK, and Twitter and Facebook.  I have had a couple stories accepted to anthologies since my last post, as well as had a winning story at Necon E-books monthly flash fiction contest for April.

Here, read my story, and then the note at the bottom.  Let me tell you, I was stoked for days.  Still am, actually.

I am now proofreading for the UK magazine Morpheus Tales.  I am a grammar and spelling nerd, so this is very enjoyable.  I was also given a twice-weekly guest blog at Altered Realities Radio; my blog is called Something Wicked.  I'll be writing about horror, of course.

I stepped out of my comfort zone this past weekend and attended an event with a group called Momzshare, local moms who blog, write, own their own businesses; in short, go-getting women.  Not so sure I fit in, but I was invited and it was an 80s party with drinks like Flux Capacitors, so I decided to give it a go.

If you know me, you know I'm very shy in real life; it's hard for me to make small talk and mingle.  Thankfully there's a woman here in my little town who is part of Momzshare, and she offered to help me out.  We carpooled together, and I kind of stuck to her like glue after we got there.  I hope she didn't mind (thanks, Shannon!).  I did dress somewhat 80s (yay, Commander Salamander!), but some of the women were DECKED OUT.  It was cool.

I had fun, but don't know if I made any kind of impression; I didn't exactly volunteer the information that I read and write and breathe horror because these were normal women with normal children.  As time goes on, I'm sure my little oddities and quirks will come out and either the Momzshare community will embrace me or run screaming.  I'll keep you posted.


I will try to update this blog at least a couple days every week.  I don't want to disappoint my public, after all.