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Monday, February 25, 2013

Birthday Extravaganza!


The past week of my life has been about all things birthday since my little monkey turned 5! 

The Little Monkey

This year instead of a party we decided to take a family vacation to Disney World to celebrate.  From where we live it’s only a 9 hour drive, so we loaded up in the car and got on the road.  We were worried about everyone being well since we had all been sick the week prior, but it worked out perfectly.  The little monkey did sleep most of the way to Florida though.  Finally, we were there! Disney World!

Mr. Alpha Male, the Monkey and Me with Mickey Mouse

We rode tons of rides…

Some of us more than others...



And got mouse ears…
Arrrrrrrgh!

And more mouse ears...


And watched shows…


And we met some of the characters, although the little monkey refused to smile in the character pictures.  “Mommy, they’re not real.  They’re just people in costumes.”  LOL



But, no worries, I still smiled....

We spent one afternoon in “England” inside EPCOT.  Mr. Alpha Male was only able to pry me away with the promise of dessert in “France” only a few steps away.



I’m always amazed by the attention to detail at Disney.  It makes the OCD parts of me sigh in contented bliss.




I’m glad we took the time to enjoy our little family this week because it seems like all you have to do is blink to miss so much.  I had an amazing time.  I hope you had a great week too! I’m looking forward to getting back to normal now that the birthday extravaganza is over, even though I can’t believe I have a 5 year old!  When did my baby get so big?

We’ve got ears say cheers! *winks*

Monday, February 18, 2013

Spring 2013 Wish List

I'm probably not alone in saying I'm ready for spring. Winter in the South isn't harsh, but it's still winter. Meh. I'm over the cold, the COLDS, the short days, the dry heating in my house making my eyes and sinuses unhappy. Yeah, so ready for spring! There is much I hope to accomplish this spring and a few treats I want to get for myself.  Below is my oddly assorted wish list for this spring. All tangible because I can't  post cool pics of the intangibles I long for (like warmer weather, less allergic reactions to pollen, and no sinus infections. HA!).

First, I've recently started coveting the Naked Palette from Urban Decay.  Relaxing one Sunday evening, waiting for The Walking Dead and Downton Abbey to start up, I found myself surfing through a series of make-up tutorial videos on YouTube. (I love make-up!). There are so many different looks one can achieve with this 12 color palette. Can't wait to pick one up for myself!


Next up is my tax refund present to the household (but mainly to me). A Lenovo U410 Ideapad. It does everything I need and, with an added external hard drive, it's all we need to be our "home" computer too. The Irishman and Li'l Man are all about the iPad, so this will probably be mine alone. (heh heh) AND it's red!



No, not the beach - though I'd take that as a gift too! - a set of adirondack chairs. I want at least two, in red, to go in my wall garden. Li'l man's sand box and dirt play area is over there and I want a pretty place to sit and relax while he plays dump trucks and helicopter rescue. How funky cool are the backs of these too? Love!

Potted lemon grass. Many pinners on Pinterest swear this helps keep the mosquitos away. Our back yard is 2/3rds a wooded lot. Ere go TONS of skeeters. They don't like me, but they loooove the Irish blood of my husband and son. I hope to get about six planters of various heights and set them up all along my wall garden.

That's not my yard. I WISH! The point of the pic is landscaping. My birthday gift from my mom is to have the yard worked on (ie. grass sowed in places grass won't grow, clearing out our gorgeous fire pit area at the edge of the woods, the liriope layed out to make a lovely border, etc.) I can't wait!

Finally, a small corner desk for the guest room so that I may have a teeny tiny writer's area carved out in the house. Right now there's a unit, way too big and bulky, with stuff piled everywhere like a paper catch all from hell. We will actually have guests this summer, so I want to tidy up that space and make it a presentable, welcoming room for visitors a well as a workable area for the biz side of my writing.

That covers it for me!  What are your spring wishes?  
Write on,
McGovy



Monday, February 11, 2013

E. Michels' Mountain Adventure



This weekend was for celebrating!


Last week I sent my manuscript off to my critique partners which was reason enough to do the happy dance, but it was also my Dad's birthday on Saturday!  He has a log home we call Big Moose Lodge up in the mountains, so of course that's where we headed to meet up with family and celebrate.  We left on Thursday afternoon and by the time we were halfway there, it looked a little like this:


Looks like fun, right?   And it would have been fun if I hadn't had a death grip on the passenger seat while my Dad tried to slide off the side of the road.  One of his headlights on his Jeep was out and he doesn't see well at night to begin with.  I seriously thought this might be the end.  But, we survived and arrived at Big Moose.  *sighs of relief*   It was freezing up on the mountain.  While we opened up the house and brought the luggage inside, the little monkey piled up pillows in a corner by a heat vent and curled up with his IPad. This was where I found him.  *grins*


The next morning we woke up to snow, and here in the South we take any opportunity we can find to play in the snow! 


Later that evening Mr. Alpha Male, one of my brothers and his 3 boys arrived after getting off work and driving up to meet us.  We celebrated!



And in opposition to what is normal, my dad gave me a gift.  Coolest gift ever! It's an antique book printed in 1917 that belonged to my grandmother.  It's sayings of the 1700's, and its' contents will most definitely make an appearance in my next book. Yay!



The next day we went to a really cute park with a playground and let the little ones run off some energy.  I have no pictures of this because it was so stinkin' cold I didn't want to take my hands out of my jacket pockets.  Trust me, it was a lovely park with a mountain stream running through it and the kids were cute. *winks*

We went to grab some lunch from our favorite local restaurant before we got on the road to return to the real world.  I'm including this picture because it makes me laugh.  This was Mr. Alpha Male's attempt to annoy some hippies in the parking lot by parking his Hummer beside their VW Bus.  LOL


And once inside, I had to pose with my favorite dude in the restaurant...


I had a great time celebrating with my family over the past few days.  So, what did you do this weekend?



Monday, February 4, 2013

My Cast of Crazy Characters

In the spirit of character sketches by Darcy Drake and Emichels, I bring you the cast of characters from my Fianna Series. A motley group that I hope will entertain readers sometime in the reasonably near future. (reasonably in publishing means sometime before 2020. lol)

By the way, after listening to Legal Issues for Writers tidbits from the Carolina Romance Writers meeting, I feel I should add: These characters (not the images of the actors/models) are copyrighted by me. I adore them, but trust me, they're all a lot of trouble so no one else should want to wrangle them but me. =)

Sawyer - my reckless, lovable, jabbermouth Fianna.
(Ryan Reynolds all day long)

 Kinsey - my loner oracle with a streak of fierceness.
(Katie except with Zooey's eyes)


Cian - my  Fianna with a hot temper, good heart, and love of brawling.
(Gerry's looks, but Cian is Irish, so the dry wit and wile is more Jason O'Mara)

Hannah - sweet, naive civilian struggling to put her life back together.
(Martine McCutcheon)

Maddox - the stoic druid who insists on carrying the world on his shoulders, alone.
(Joe Manganiello, including hieght, piercing eyes, and sharp features)

Brenna - druid priestess, peace love & take no sh*t, life long friend, lost love.
(the softer side of Charlize)

Connor - loyal, white knight Fianna and the only one with a level head.
(Trevor Donovan)

Vaughn - the dangerous, haunted half brother and dark druid in rehab. Poor junkie.
But OMG the beauty! It burns!!!
(Miguel Iglesias)


Extras:
Gwen - Hannah's free spirit sister, but with brown eyes.
(Jennifer Lawrence)

Tommy - bar back & short order cook at Cian's pub.
(Josh Todd of Buckcherry)

Bran & Sceolan - Maddox's Irish Wolfhounds


The Baddies:
(I will say these aren't right, but it's all I have. My villains are so specific, so clear in my mind, that nothing is wholly them except what's on the page. These give a basic idea though.)



by hybridgothica on deviantart. Brilliant!