You know, I don't even have a link on here, but...

I do websites and book covers if anyone is interested. Here are some of the premade covers I've designed:









Check out more here!

Thursday Thirteen - THE HUNGER GAMES!

13 Hunger Games Scenes I’m looking forward to seeing in the movie (if they haven’t cut them out):

1) Effie Trinket making snobbish remark about last year’s tributes not having table manners and Katniss eating with her hands just to tick her off, after thinking about how those kids were poor and starving, and didn’t know any better.

2) Peeta’s announcement on screen about the girl he’s in love with is there with him.

3) Katniss decking Peeta for making above announcement.

4) Peeta and Katniss smoochies.

5) Thresh sparing Katniss’ life for trying to save Rue.

6) Younger Peeta slipping younger Katniss the burnt bread.

7) Katniss and Peeta ‘on fire’ for the capital crowd.

8) The full rooftop conversations between Katniss and Peeta.

9) Katniss blowing up the cornucopia.

10) Katniss dropping the tracker jackers down on The Careers.

11) The dead tributes as muttations.

12) The berry scene at the end (trying not to spoil those who don’t know).

13) How they’re going to handle the very end of the movie – how things will be left off with Katniss and Peeta. Will it be same as book? Or will it be more of a Hollywood ending? Guess we’ll see.
If you haven’t noticed, I have a thing for Katniss and Peeta – I want longing looks, intensity, and fairly hot smoochies (even if they are an act). :D

There’s more I’m looking forward to, but some I’ve seen in trailers, and some I just can’t think of. These are the ones that popped into my head.
Gah, can’t wait!

Thursday Thirteen

I live in Tucson and we have Rodeo break here, where we get off Thursday and Friday from school in honor of the annual rodeo (but we don't get President's Day off) – it’s strange, I know, but that’s Tucson for you. And I’m not about to complain, since I get two days off. :D

Anyway, in honor of our break, here are 13 random facts about the Rodeo:

1. The word “rodeo” is loosely derived from the Spanish word for “round-up,” or literally, rodear, “to surround.”

2. Rodeo events are based on the real-life skills of working vaqueros and cowboys, first in Spain and Mexico, and later in the United States, Canada and Australia.

3. Bull wrestling, practiced long ago in Mediterranean countries including Spain, may have been an Olympic event in ancient Greece.

4. The first recorded rodeo was held in Arizona in 1864.

5. William F. Cody, also known as Buffalo Bill, created the first major U.S. rodeo and Wild West Show in 1882, in North Platte, Nebraska. (HE’S MY GREAT, GREAT, GREAT GRANDFATHER ON MY MOTHER’S SIDE.)

6. Women joined the rodeo circuit in the 1890s. Women of this era often rode broncs and bulls and roped steers against male competitors — and sometimes won!

7. Before World War I, competitors couldn’t earn a living on rodeo winnings alone, so many were also Wild West show performers or performed entertainment acts at rodeos. Vaudeville hosted many of these acts during the rodeo off season.

8. In the era of non-standardized rodeos, cowboys and cowgirls often did not know the exact events being offered or the rules of competition until after they paid fees to enter the contest.

9. In 1940, Gene Autry became so popular as a rodeo singer that even today rodeo producers attract crowds with country singers headlining at rodeos.

10. In 1991, Wade Leslie scored the only 100-point bull ride in the history of rodeo.

11. Modern bucking broncos are not wild horses but are bred for use in rodeos. A proven bucking bronco may cost between $8,000 and $10,000.

12. Rodeo is the official state sport of Wyoming and Texas.

13. For many colleges, particularly in the West, rodeo is an official team sport.

Taken from (and there’s more there, too): http://ramonajournal.com/rodeo-fun-facts-p3409-160.htm

Oh, and BTW - I've never actually been to the rodeo. Go figure.

Hunger Games TV Spot

I've watched this like 20 times today - thought I'd finally post it to the blog.

Okay, this is way overdue, but I HAZ AWARDS!

I am way, way, way overdue with these, and still have to choose who to award these too, but I thought it was time I posted the awards I've won:



As with all my awards, this was given awarded to me from Victoria Smith at Confessions of a Twenty-Something Fiction Writer.

I'm supposed to choose 5 blogs to award this to...

I will come back with these soon.





The Rules!

For the Kreativ Blogger Award I am suppose to post 10 random facts about myself and pass on the award to 6 others.

10 Random Facts:

1) Unless it’s a friggen’ great book, I typically skip over the love scenes in romances.
2) I LOVE Brendan Fehr – in some circles, I go by the handle fehrbaby
3) I’ve met him 4 times.
4) I have very dark brown hair and brown eyes, but both my kids are blonde, blue eyed dolls.
5) I am miserable when my feet get cold.
6) I can’t say something sentimental and sweet or romantic out loud, but I can write it just fine.
7) I love cooking shows.
8) I love bright, vibrant colors, but I dress mainly in blacks and dark tones.
9) I love Edward from Twilight, despite the fact that he’s a controlling, stalkerish boyfriend.
10) I make fun of Twilight for the above stated reasons.


For the Versatile Blogger Award:

1. Nominate 15 fellow bloggers for The Versatile Blogger Award.
2. Add an image of the Versatile Blogger Award.
3. In the same post, thank the blogger who nominated you in a post with a link back to their blog.
4. In the same post, share 7 completely random pieces of information about yourself.
5. In the same post, include this set of rules.
6. Inform each nominated blogger of their nomination by posting a comment on each of their blogs.


7 Pieces of random information:
1. My favorite books of all time are books I read when I was a teen: The Secret Circle by L.J. Smith (and I can’t stand the show) and The Final Friends Series by Christopher Pike.
2. When I think of hotties in my head as fuel for my writing, I think: Brendan Fehr, Jason Behr, Josh Holloway, Jonathan Scaech, Chris Pine, Nathan Fillion, Channing Tatum, younger Sean Patrick Flannery, Normon Reedus, (BS!) and some others, but I’m too tired to remember. :D
3. I design indie book covers, if anyone wants to check them out: http://sweetnspicydesigns.com
4. I love Buffy the Vampire Slayer (go Buffy/Spike!)
5. I’m watching Firefly as I do this.
6. I love my Kindle Fire, but I still use my Kindle DX because I loved the text-to-speech feature – it makes cleaning and doing other things where my hands are busy with other things pass much quicker.
7. I’m still, this much later, bummed that Dorchester’s SHOMI line didn’t continue – I LOVED those books and probably would have bought them all for years to come.

Tinsel and Tulle Wordle

Hmm, guess I better check out my usage of looked, like, just, back, eyes, and know.

See anything else that is standing out?

Thursday Thirteen

After I had my little guy, I ended up with a mild form of Post Partum Depression and was put on an antidepressant to help stabilize my moods. The pills do the job, but they also give me really crazy and wacky vivid dreams – I had the same dream last night two times, each with a different set of characters but the same plot. This happens normally. So, in honor of my wacky, crazy dreams, I present you with 13 facts about dreams:

1. We forget 90% of what we dream within ten minutes of waking.

2. The average person has about 1,460 dreams a year. That’s about four per night.

3. Blind people dream – if they lost their site after birth, they dream in images. If they were born blind, they dream with their other senses.

4. One of the most infamous precognitive dreams in history was President Lincoln's in 1865. The president envisioned his own demise just a few days before he was assassinated in Ford’s Theater on April 14, 1865.

5. Elias Howe (1819-1867) said one inspiration for his invention of the sewing machine came from a nightmare he had about being attacked by cannibals bearing spears that looked like the needle he then designed.

6. Falling dreams typically occur at the beginning of the night, in Stage I sleep. These dreams are often accompanied by muscle spasms, called myoclonic jerks, and are common in many mammals.

7. The Iroquois have an annual dream-sharing festival in which they act out their dreams, either literally or in pantomime

8. While we may not recognize them all, every face we see in dreams is based on a face we have seen before, and because we see so many people, we provide an endless supply of characters for our minds.

9. 12% of people dream exclusively in black and white, and you’re more-likely to dream in B&W if you watched black and white T.V. as a child.

10. During REM sleep the body is paralyzed by a mechanism in the brain in order to prevent the movements which occur in the dream from causing the physical body to move. However, it is possible for this mechanism to be triggered before, during, or after normal sleep while the brain awakens.

11. Our mind interprets the external stimuli that our senses are bombarded with when we are asleep and make them a part of our dreams. This means that sometimes in our dreams we hear a sound from reality and incorporate it in a way. For example you may be dreaming that you are in a concert while your brother is playing a guitar during your sleep.

12. Men tend to dream more about other men. Around 70% of the characters in a man’s dream are other men. On the other hand, a woman’s dream contains almost an equal number of men and women. Aside from that, men generally have more aggressive emotions in their dreams than the female lot.

13. You can not only have sex as pleasurable as in your real life while dreaming, but also experience an orgasm as strong as a real one without any wet results. The sensations felt while lucid dreaming (touch, pleasure and etc..) can be as pleasurable and strong (or I believe even stronger) as the sensations experienced in the real world.

Check out more Thursday Thirteen Participants here

Sources: http://www.boredpanda.com/15-interesting-facts-about-dreams-dreaming/
http://facts.randomhistory.com/interesting-facts-about-dreams.html

Contest Winner

Well, my three year old picked a winner of my blog join/follow contest! And the winner is....

DRUMROLL....

Ilima K. Todd!

I'll be contacting you shortly so you can choose your book!!!

Six Sentence Sunday - Between the Tinsel and Tulle

Here's an excerpt from the holiday wedding story I pitched to Entangled Publishing in the contest by the Rockville 8:

Andrea’s eyes remained closed a few seconds after he kissed her, and when she opened them, she was smiling.

“How was that?” he asked, dropping his forehead against hers.

“That was nice. Do it again.”

He grinned at her sudden bossiness, but he wasn’t going to make her say it twice. So he kissed her again and again, over and over, and in every way imaginable.


Enjoy!

Thursday Thirteen

Thirteen Random Facts I'm writing just as they come to me...

1. I am addicted to Chai Lattes from Starbucks, coffee from a friend's coffee shop here in Tucson, and Diet Coke.

2. I think Channing Tatum is sexy, even though he's a wooden actor and doesn't look too bright (and I don't usually find dumb sexy).

3. I was recognized at my high school graduation for not missing a single day of school in 10-1/2 years, which is funny because as soon as I got to college I skipped classes all the time - still graduated with honors, though.

4. I love Care Bears - especially Grumpy Bear.

5. I met my awesome husband on a setup by my sister and her husband (the day of their wedding.)

6. I named my daughter Persephone, my dogs Andromeda and Cerberus, and my son...Craig. It's a family name.

7. I got my start in Roswell fan fiction (and so did a certain very high profile agent/published author many of us know - we wrote at the same time) and still think the authors in the fandom are pretty incredible writers - some not all.

8. I'm not a Twi-hard, but I'm not a Twi-hater - I like the books, but I make fun of them too. Figure that one out.

9. I think a particular highly-regarded self-published book that everyone fawns all over on Amazon is a trite piece of crap - it reads just like a newbie fan fiction, has a weak backstory, and is downright cheesy in parts - but I'm obsessed because it's popularity completely mystifies me.

10. I teach ELD (think ESL) during the day, but because the school I'm at is slightly more affluent and has less of a population of non-English speakers, I get to frig around on my computer for almost two hours a day.

11. I hate shopping and while I have many pairs of shoes, there are only two pairs I wear with any regularity: black dress shoes and white/pink Reeboks, and they're both closed-toed. I hate, hate, hate open-toed shoes, b/c I hate having cold feet when I'm inside and the A.C. is on, and I hate the way my feet feel when they sweat - and in the Arizona summers, your feet sweat like crazy. Blugh! (Shudders)

12. I would rather be in a long-sleeve T-shirt and a soft pair of jeans than any other outfit in the world.

13. My butt gets numb when I drink too much caffeine - is that weird?

Check out other TT participants HERE!

Thursday Thirteen

I'm a little late to the party on this one, but couldn't get to this until after work was over.

The Top 13 Books On My Kindle Fire That I'm Looking Forward To Reading As Soon As I Finish My Current Project

1) Thoughtless by S.C. Stephens
2) Fifty Shades of Grey by E L James
3) Then Things We Did (And Probably Shouldn't Have)by Sarah Mylnowski
4) Deadly Cool by Gemma Halliday
5) My Boyfriend's Back by Chrissy Olinger
6) Dead(ish) by Naomi Kramer
7) Love Unscripted by Tina Reber
8) Unholy Ghosts by Stacia Kane
9) Shut Out by Kody Keplinger
10) Accomplished in Murder by Dara England
11) Bloodlines by Richelle Meade
12) Falling Star by Diana Dempsey
13) Stolen (The Madame X School of Sex) by Jinx Jamison

Some are books I've bought, some are ones I picked because they were free or promotional giveaways. Either way, looking forward to checking them out!

What's the number 1 book in your TBR pile?

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View other Thursday Thirteen Participants ::HERE::