A Merry McGovern Christmas (Part 2)

I am not known for my cooking skills. Don’t get me wrong, I can cook, I just don’t derive an enormous amount of joy from it. I cook because I have to and I love to eat. The only exception to my food prep feelings of “meh” are cookies and adult beverages. I love to play baker and bartender for others. The holiday season is one of the few times I have spare moments to indulge in baking and drink making and I have a few traditional items I’d like to share.

First, the nommies:

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies. The only cookie The Irishman likes. Fortunately, Li’l Man and I agree.  A batch only lasts 48 hours in our house, so I don’t make them too often.  I use the recipe on the Quaker Oats container and add extra raisins. Mmmmm.

Sugar Cookies with frosting. NO SPRINKLES!  I’m anti-sprinkle on any deserts. They’re hard and annoying, with no additional flavor explosion. Instead I decorate my sugar cookies with a few different colors. They pull off festive fine sans sprinkle.

Finally, a new recipe I’m going to try: Orange Snowballs. Someone brought these little balls of delicious jubilation to our office party.  I think I ate six or seven. I would’ve had more, but they were devoured. Scruuuuuumptilicious and easy!  My kind of baking.

1 (6 oz.) can frozen orange juice, thawed
1 (12 oz.) box vanilla wafers-crushed
1 (1 lb.) box powdered sugar
1 stick butter

Crush vanilla wafers fine or in food processor. Mix in sugar. Add small can O.J. and pour in melted butter. Mix together with hands and form into 1-inch balls and roll additional powdered sugar if desired. Refrigerate. Serve cool next day.

Now for the Yummy Sips:

A drink that my mom started as a Christmas tradition when I was of age. Ish. The Frozen Brandy Alexander.

1 oz Brandy

1 oz Crème de Cacao

2 scoops vanilla ice cream

Blend until smoothed together

It’s like a grown up Frosty!

Finally, a simple favorite - the coffee with Baileys Irish Cream. It's not just for Christmas!  Pour coffee, add Baileys, and a dash of Splenda. Mmmmmwake-up happy!

That's it from Villa de la McGovern. We at the M Shelf hope you all have a Safe & Merry Christmas!  We'll be back after the 25th with the M Shelf year in review and goals for 2013.

Cheers!

&

A Merry E.Michels Christmas to You

5 days, 5 hours and 55 minutes from now my house will be a tattered mess of wrapping paper shrapnel—if my Snoopy countdown clock can be trusted.  So, I thought I would welcome you to my home today while the candy canes remain uneaten and the cinnamon scented candles haven’t burned down to charred wax.  Pull up a chair, have some coffee with your Baileys and I’ll give you the nickel tour. 

My tree is decorated in ornaments inspired by the Victorian Era, red beads, poinsettia blossoms and a few hand painted and poorly glued ornaments that were made with love and match nothing.  *grins* Like the rest of my house my tree is very traditional.  I like the old world, eclectic look of antiques mixed with clean lines of cottage décor…Oh dear, someone stop me before I start calling rooms spaces and referring to the hand and twist of carpet. 

Meet my little member of the Queen’s Guard.  He keeps order on my tree and never laughs even if you do silly things right in front of him.  I bought him in a gift shop in London when I was 18 and he still makes me smile.

These are my cookie ornaments.  I collect gingerbread men, ladies, houses and pretty much anything else gingerbread.  Similar yummy decorations can be seen in every room of my house. 

It was a childhood dream of mine to have a tree decorated in candy with popcorn garland.  I added this tree to my décor last year.  My candy tree makes me ridiculously happy, especially with the chef’s hat on top.  I mean, seriously, how cute is that? Love it!

Mr. Alpha Male and I started collecting Dept. 56 Dickens Village years ago.  Every year we get a new piece to add to our collection.  This year we got a bookstore!  Fitting right?  Our collection is starting to go from small hamlet to village now.  One day I hope it fills a room!  

Thanks for stopping by to visit for Christmas.  I hope you and yours have a peaceful and joyous holiday.

xx – E. Michels

A Merry McGovern Christmas (Part 1)

Here on the M Shelf we've decided to share some seasonal cheer through pics and a few words. It's been a long, quiet autumn 'round these parts, but with these holiday posts we hope to start down a fun, fresh avenue on the M Shelf Blog.  More to come on that, but for now, let's warm up with a big cup of hot chocolate (extra marshmallows of course, maybe a smidge of Bailey's) and flip through some pics of McGovy's Christmas Cottage.

First, my tree. I can't do a real tree (though I love them) because of alleries. My favorite are the tinsel trees of the 1970s. COVET THEM! But have you seen the price on the vintage ones?! I shall save up and invest in one later on. Last year, I saw the next best thing. A silver pre-lit tree. The spotlight shone, the cherubs sang, and I walked out of Garden Ridge with my very own "disco tree."  I also have a predisposition toward anything that glitters or sparkles, frogs, the color red, and nerdy sci-fi/fantasy stuff. And hence, my tree:

Yes, that'd be the Millenium Falcon and Vader's TIE fighter on my tree. I hang them proudly. I also have the orginal Star Trek Shuttlecraft from Hallmark w/ Leonard Nimoy voice over.

My son also likes to add his touch here and there. Ere go, Thomas & Friends make guest appearances on the lower branches.

My other Christmas weaknesses are gingerbread/sugarland themed items and snowmen. Oh, and my balls. I love my balls!

My Mitford Snowmen collection. Tried a little Instagram imaging on them. Nice, eh? That's about as artsy as I get.

I hope you've enjoyed a peak into my odd Christmas collection. If you know me, it makes perfect sense. Stay tuned this week for an EMichels Christmas and part 2 of my pics - Cookies & Booze: The extent of my holiday recipes.

Happy Holidays!
McGovy

Under Construction

We will soon be revamping our content & a few pages on our blog. In the meantime, we'll have a few Christmas-y posts & pics. Happy Holidays Y'all!

How to Survive a Writers' Conference in Style: Vol. 6

We've had a week to sleep off the craziness of Moonlight and Magnolias Writers' Conference.  So, now that we're settled back into real life, let's glam it up for a few minutes! These were some of our favorite shoes of the conference...

Darcy Drake and Jenna Patrick added a splash of color to the day Friday with their eye-catching shoes.

Tamera LeBlanc rocked these studded heels, showing off her awesome ink in the process.

Hillary Raymer had some bling; and we do love the bling here on the M shelf!

And more sparkles with Tanya Michaels!  (Also shown are my toes along with McGovy's peacock sparkle shoes.  Are we surprised at this much bling?  Not really.)

Even more sparkles with Anna DeStefano!  

And now I get to show off the M shelf boots.  Yeah, they're pretty fabulous, aren't they? *dreamy sighs*

And more dreamy sighs...

We had a great time at the conference! Stay tuned for more conference style pictures.  Do you have a favorite?  Right now my favorite shoes are the comfy Uggs I have on--with no heel. :) 

How To Survive A Writers' Conference in Style - Volume 5

We are now down to the week OF Moonlight & Magnolias and the giddy sleeplessness has already begun.  For this last volume of How to Survive, we’re going to focus on the packing list. We’re even breaking it down for you in list form so it’s easy to reference. Believe us when we say we used everything on this list last year OR wish we had it. We may have forgotten a few things, so feel free to add in comments. J

The first part of this list could really serve you well at any conference or extended hotel stay, so use at your leisure…

The Conference packing list:

1.    A full sized Coffee pot – because you may get stuck with a teeny tiny 2 cup job in the hotel room and that’s just enough to make you mad.

2.    Filters for the coffee pot – because you don’t want to chew your coffee.

3.    Coffee & fixins – because what the hotel offers usually leaves something to be desired and they probably won’t have Splenda.

4.    Travel coffee mug – you may want your yummy java To Go.

5.    Mints – for coffee breath. Avoid gum. No one looks good chomping gum, no matter how discreet they try to be.

6.    Snacks (ie. Trail mix, Lara bars) – because you’ll get hungry and may not want vending machine crackers

7.    Bottled waters – Hydrate! Hydrate! Hydrate!

8.    Champagne – Celebrate! Celebrate! Celebrate!

9.    Hairspray – medium to mega hold. You don’t want to fight your hair. Fix your ‘do so you can focus on the pitches and workshops.

10.  Bobby pins – for up ‘dos and the like.

11.  Safety pins – because you never know.

12.  Cute, publicly acceptable pajamas– because sometimes you need to make a run to the ice machine in your loungewear.

13.  Clothes – because you’ll get arrested if you don’t wear any.

14.  Shoes – because they’re awesome, but also because it’s gross to go without except on the beach or your home.

15.  Foot numbing spray – you’ll need it if you follow the advice of the previous post.

16.  Band-Aids or blister covers – ditto.

17.  Eye drops -

18.  Physician’s Formula yellow & green highlighter –

19.  Make-up – We all wear it in different ways and amounts, but it’s good to at least wear some.

20.  Make-up Remover and Toiletries –Don’t sleep in your game face and a long hot shower in the morning is heeeeaven!

21.  CASH – because hotel bars may not take plastic and taxis rarely do.

Now for the strictly writer stuff…

22.  Business cards – take them with you EVERYWHERE. We mean this literally.

23.  Post it note – to write your pitch appointments on and stick to the back of your conference badge for easy reference.

24.  Your pitch on a note card – in case you draw a blank during your appointment.

25.  Notebook & pen – for the awesome workshops and other info you pick up at everything from Q&As to waiting in the Starbuck’s line.

26.  Shoulder bag – to carry all your writer gear.

That should cover it. Good luck and Fun Vibes to everyone attending! See you in a few days!

How to Survive a Writers' Conference in Style: Vol. 4

So far in our series we’ve discussed hair, make up, clothing and touched on how author branding ties into all of these things.  So, I think it’s time we discussed my favorite part of going to a writers’ conference: shoes!  Most people would recommend that you wear comfortable shoes to a conference.  Something like these:

Please, don’t listen to these people.  Comfortable shoes are for wearing to the grocery store on a Saturday afternoon not for a writers’ conference.  Writers, by job description, sit alone at a computer all day.  We don’t have the opportunity to socialize often, so when we do we need to take advantage of that time.  Conferences are for networking with other writers—lots of other writers.  To make the most of your trip the one thing you want to be more than anything is memorable! So be flashy! Match your shoes along with your wardrobe to your writing as McGovy discussed in the last post.  So let’s step out of that comfortable writer zone with something like these:

Or these:

Or even these:

You may be saying, but my feet will hurt! Yes.  Yes, they will.  But that’s what I’m here to help you with today.  I spent 14 years of my life as a ballet dancer.  If there is one thing standing on your toes in ridiculously tight point shoes teaches you, it’s how to deal with aching feet.  

Here are a few of my dancer secrets you can use at your next writers’ conference:

1.   .  This may seem obvious to some but when you get a pedicure before attending the conference cut your nails back short.  The French manicure you have on your toes may be really cute, but you’ll regret the slight length of it when you’ve been in heels all day.
2.     .     Stretch in the morning in your hotel room before you put your shoes on.  This will keep you from getting leg cramps.
3.       Take a tennis ball with you in your suitcase.  At the end of a long day at the conference place the tennis ball under one foot at a time, apply some pressure and use it to stretch out your arch.  It helps—a lot. 
4.       If you can, slip away to the hot tub area of your hotel for a few minutes.  Soak those toes.  Bring your writer friends and a drink.  You’ll have a great time and your feet will thank you.
5.       Foot numbing spray! This is the secret to my 6” heel success.  Numbing spray can be purchased at any drug store on the isle with the bandages.  I highly recommend this product.  Spray your feet before you strap on your fabulous shoes in the morning and enjoy numbness all day while you walk around the conference.
6.       Bring blister bandages.  There’s nothing worse than a nagging blister when you’re wanting to party with your writer friends.  Your feet may be numb all day but that doesn’t mean you aren’t doing damage.  So protect those toes from further injury!

If you follow these simple steps, you too can be memorable at a writers’ conference in your fabulous shoes!  Have fun and don’t trip and fall.  Want to talk shoes? Please comment, I’d love to chat.