Archive for the 'Family Portrait' Category

June 3, 2008 | Family Portrait, Life in General

Today is my sister’s birthday. I would tell you how old she is but first, she would kill me and second, you wouldn’t believe me based on the below pics. I will say that she is two years and two days older (yes, that means by birthday is on Thursday. Feel free to send gifts) and the mother of two teenagers, 14 & 18. That’s her on the right. Feel free to click on the pics to enlarge.

When we were young, my Mom made our clothes. She dressed us alike and did our hair the same way. We were mistaken for twins alot.

We shared clothes. Well, she shared clothes with me. Back then. Now, it’s probably vice versa. And we shared birthday parties until we were old enough to say “Um, hello, two individual people here, Mother dear. This ain’t gonna happen again.” But I really do miss the days of those little cups of ice cream with the wooden spoons. Remember those? Do they even still make those anymore?

Our rooms were right across from one another. We even had to share a bed at one time (when we moved back here). Amazingly enough, I never got chicken pox after she caught it. I just got it even worse during college final exams. From her daughter, no less.

We shared secrets and stuck up for each other. We tattled, too, but not too much.

And when we laff…it sounds like surround sound stereo. Ha.

Gemini’s. We are so cool.

luv ya, sis.

May 19, 2008 | Family Portrait, Life in General, Random Thought, The 4-1-1 on Me

I ate lunch at Village Inn on Friday and they played our wedding song, “I Only Have Eyes for You” by The Flamingos.

This restaurant’s piped in music is oldies, which I think is pretty cool. When I heard it, it made me smile.

Luv ya, babe.

Technorati Tags: I Only Have Eyes for You, The Flamingos

May 12, 2008 | Book One, Book Stuff, DA Series, Draven Atreides, Family Portrait, Life in General, Movie Queue, Revision Hell, The 4-1-1 on Me, Weekend Wrap-Up, Writing Movements

I hope you all had a great Mother’s Day. Both mothers and non-mothers alike. Friday night, I went with my parents to see my niece’s 5 minute Film Shorts Festival. 100 scripts had been submitted, they’d narrowed it down to 20, and hers had won first place! I’m so proud of her and she did such a great job. As a writer, we’re constantly asked of any similarities between us and our characters. I can honestly say that when her play, “Don’t Quit Your Day Job”, was being acted out, I could picture her saying some of those lines:

“I said sip it, not inhale it.”

It was very funny and I laughed hysterically during one play titled “My Son Johnny.” And my throat got tight during another, “45th Infantry.” That one hit close to home because I’m sure there were some people in the audience that had family members over in Iraq. All of the plays were written by the students and directed by the students. During the time my niece went to this school, I made sure that I caught all of her performances and it never ceases to amaze me how talented these teens are. She’s graduating next month and plans to spend the summer in California with one of her father’s cousins, who makes commercials. Maybe something will come up and she’ll get a break. I may be biased, but my niece is super talented.

Saturday, I “stimulated” the economy by spending my half of the check we got back from the IRS. I bought a couple of sundresses on sale at Old Navy, bought Mother’s Day gifts for my Mom ($25 Bucca di Beppo GC), sister (Prosperity Pie by SARK…which it turns out she already has a copy.) and co-worker ($20 Old navy GC). Bought a birthday gift (drawing pad and colored pencils) for said co-worker’s 8 yr old daughter. She celebrated her birthday yesterday. Ate breakfast at my favorite place, The Original Pancake House, and went to see a movie (Speed Racer). I’ll get to the little movie review in a minute, but I also did some research for the DA Book One.

A local resort spa was the inspiration behind the spa in the current story and I’m at a certain point in my revisions where I needed a visual of a home that can be rented. A really pricey rental home. I called down there the day before to see if I could take a tour and was given permission. Needless to say, the pictures on the website didn’t do it justice. Seeing it in person was pretty cool. I’m so glad I was able to see it because it was just what I needed. Normally, I would’ve post the link and let you guys have a look-see, too, but that will come later. I’m going to have a website created for the series some time in August and when I give a little back story about each book, I plan to include the local places that inspired me: mostly links, but hopefully some pictures, too.

So, the whole Speed Racer thing… (more…)

Technorati Tags: Old Navy, Bucca di Beppo, Prosperity Pie, SARK, The Original Pancake House, Speed Racer

April 28, 2008 | Family Portrait, Life in General, Movie Queue, The 4-1-1 on Me, Writing Movements

On Saturday, I participated in the Laveen Boutique at Thomas Jefferson High School (which I found out is a charter school). We saw very little traffic at this event, but my parents showed up and one of coworkers did, too. Again, it was a case of buying from each other. I’ve started to think that even if I don’t make a sale (I sold two books and a keychain), it’s all about exposure and networking:

~ I had a gift custom made for my niece who’s graduating from high school in June.

~ I found an interesting toy for my cat. Which can also be used as a baby toy.

~ I found a new “cleaner burning candle” with a great scent: Heart of the Ocean. I plan to contact this rep and get the Fresh Laundry. I’m a sucker for ocean/rain/clean scented candles. I LOVE her last name. I didn’t realize it said that until I got home and looked through my goodie bag of business cards and flyers.

~ I connected with a vendor who’s products would make great party favors for the DA book release party next year.

~ I met an woman who works for the Board of Education. She teaches all the teachers before sending them out to the schools. Thanks to her, I might have an “in” when it comes to doing school visits.

See? It wasn’t a total waste of time. I have another boutique this weekend at another school. We’ll see what kind of connections I can make at this one.

Saturday night, the hubby and I had Date Night: dinner at the Macaroni Grill (their tiramisu wasn’t as impressive this time. Although you get a bigger portion than you do at Olive Garden) and off to see The Forbidden Kingdom:

It’s about an American teen who is transported back in time to ancient China, where he joins a crew of warriors to help free the king. For the record, the hubby and I are big martial arts fans. Before I met him, he got a chance to train at the Shaolin Temple in China for 3 weeks. Any movie that has Jet Li, Jason Statham, or the main plot surrounds martial arts, we’re SO there. While we’re not real keen on Jackie Chan (his stuff seems so cheesy), we’re fans of Jet Li, so we wanted to see it. It wasn’t as bad as we thought it was going to be. But it was Jackie Chan and Jet Li. Together. In the same movie. For the first time. Ever. It was like a momumental occasion or something, so we had to see it. There was some wire work (like in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) but it wan’t overdone.

Then on Sunday, while the hubby was male-bonding with his BF, I went to see Nim’s Island.

I thought it was a real cute movie. Kinda like Swiss Family Robinson, but not with so many family members. It’s been a while since I’ve seen Jodie Foster in a movie and surprisingly enough, she’s got a funny side. In this movie, she plays bestselling author–and slight agoraphobic–Alexandra “Alex” Rover, who writes Indiana Jones-type novels involving a male character that bears the same name as her: Alex Rover. Gerard Butler does double duty as Nim’s father and the character Alex Rover. I love his accent (which he uses while he’s portraying the novel character). I loved him even more when he was half-naked in 300. Whew, is it getting hot in here?….

So, that was my weekend. Short but sweet. How was yours?

Technorati Tags: Laveen Boutique, Thomas Jefferson High School, Macaroni Grill, Olive Garden, The Forbidden Kingdom, Shaolin Temple, Jet Li, Jason Statham, Jackie Chan, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Nim’s Island, Swiss Family Robinson, Jodie Foster, Gerard Butler, 300.

December 26, 2007 | Family Portrait, Life in General, The 4-1-1 on Me

Because that’s all I got for Christmas. Well, that and a $15 GC to Starbucks from the hubby, that is. I got cash from both the hubby and my parents (Visa GC from the niece and nephew) and went to the mall after work today to spend it.

Where I was once again reminded why I prefer to buy my clothes thru a catalog.

It’s not that the mall was overcrowded–truthfully, it wasn’t that bad–it’s the fact that I really couldn’t find what I wanted: work clothes. Nice work clothes. Some nice slacks, maybe a sweater or two? How hard can that be? I mean, really?

You wanna know what I found?

Nice formfitting suitable-for-work type pants masquerading as slacks. I ended up buying a couple of pairs of these.

Nice formfitting suitable-for-work type pants not made to conform to an apple-shaped butt masquerading as slacks. Yeah. Not going there.

Highly disappointing.

I bought a sweater from Old Navy and some yoga pants before getting fed up with not finding anything and leaving the mall….

and promptly headed over to Barnes and Noble to perk myself up with four romance books (looking forward to finally reading Strong and Sexy, Jill).

So, what’d you all get? This inquiring mind wants to know.

Technorati Tags: Starbucks, Old Navy, Barnes and Noble, Strong and Sexy