Midnight Musings

Okay, it's actually past midnight, but who's counting? These days, time seems to mean nothing to me--I'm finishing Love is Grand and am as likely to be writing at 3 a.m. as I am at 3 p.m. When I get it turned in, I plan on sleeping non-stop for a few days. And watching the 4 new episodes of Grey's Anatomy I have saved on my DVR. (yay!)

So this is going to be a jumble of things I've been thinking lately. Perhaps if I get them out of my head, I'll be able to better write my book!

Here goes:

1. The Bachelor finale: Oh, Jake--I had such high hopes for you. But you let me down. Honestly, you disappointed me in the very beginning, like on the very first night when you sent home most of the girls who actually seemed to have brains. But I digress. Best wishes to you and Vienna. I give it 6 months.

2. Along those same lines: The Bachelor: Jason and Molly's Wedding...Seriously? That much money for a wedding and there isn't a rain plan? Come on. As an event planner, I am totally offended. You can't convince me that there wasn't a canopy available or at least someone could've held one of those handy clear umbrellas (were those sponsored by Macys too?) over poor Molly's head. Designer dress. Ken Paves himself did her hair. And ABC made her stand out there in the pouring rain. Whatever. Overall, they seemed happy though, so that was nice. And wasn't it great to once again get to hear the phrase "star-gazing amazing" in reference to Molly's eyes...ha!

3. Not to stay on this reality kick, but Dancing With the Stars...I'm loving the lineup! Kate! Evan! Brenda Walsh! Need I say more? I'm calling Evan for the win though. You read it here first.

4. Zumba. Okay. I took my first Zumba class on Sunday afternoon. Except that the main teacher wasn't there so it ended up being a hybrid zumba/belly dancing/hip hop. This was a most hilarious experience. Although I did learn the whole routine to Michael Jackson's Beat It, which has been a secret lifelong dream of mine... Monday I tried again--wanting to experience a "real" Zumba class. Nope. This time the teacher came to class and apologized for not having any choreography for us. We free styled. You know the African Anteater Ritual from Can't Buy Me Love? It was something like that. (By the way, I love that movie...a pre-McDreamy Patrick Dempsey as nerdy Ronald Miller. Sigh.) And today when I woke up, I could barely walk, so maybe it was a good workout after all...

5. In writing news...Love is a Battlefield is now available on Kindle!

6. In more writing news...you can now read a sample chapter of Love is Monumental on Amazon! It releases in May!

7. One more story and then I'm through, I promise... Last week, my e-mail account was hacked. Or spammed. Whatever you call it. Unbeknownst to me, strange e-mails went out from my account to EVERYONE in my address book. I've had the same e-mail address since 1997. I haven't really cleaned out my address book since then. Which means e-mails went out to all kinds of people. People I don't necessarily keep in contact with anymore. Ex-boyfriends. Their families. Old bosses. Former co-workers. High school friends I haven't seen in years. And on and on. And on. Fun times. Needless to say, once the problem was fixed, I cleaned out my address book.

Okay. Break's over! Back to writing.

Instead of a song of the day, here's a clip from Can't Buy Me Love! Enjoy!

Random Ramblings

Okay. I know I should probably do a blog post about my recent book signings in Mississippi. Or maybe about the new series proposal I just sent off to my editor so everyone can cross their fingers and toes that it gets a green light. But no. Instead I have to get a few other things off my chest...

1. The Bachelor: On the Wings of Love.
Where to start? I admit that I am totally hooked on this show each and every season. My take on this season...Jake is going to walk away alone. I don't think he has a good crop to choose from, but they certainly provide for some wonderful entertainment.

2. The end of college football season.
Although I am an SEC girl, I have to say that I was really cheering for Texas in the National Championship. And I totally believe they would've won if Colt McCoy, hadn't gone out at the very beginning with an injury. And kudos to Colt for such a wonderful post-game interview. Here's a quote from Colt: "I never question that God is in control. Whatever happens, I know I'm standing on the Rock."

3. How much I love hot water.
My hot water heater busted over the weekend. It takes some time to get that replaced. I had to go to a friend's house last night to take a shower where I was reunited with hot water. Briefly. Hoping to have hot water again very soon!

4. The Wii Fit.
This was one of my Christmas presents--actually I got it for myself with the money my dad gave me for Christmas. My little Wii person is a little shorter and rounder than I would like. And I think the groaning noise it makes when I step on the balance board is a little harsh...

5. My desire for a snow day.
Yep. I want one really big snow. The kind that you can get out and play in. Then I want to immediately fast forward to Summer.

6. My birthday.
It is coming up. 10 days. Birthdays are starting to freak me out a little bit. Better than the alternative though.

7. Justin Timberlake at the Telethon for Haiti.
I go back and forth on being a JT fan. But his performance of "Hallelujah" was incredible. Go now and get it from iTunes.

8. American Idol.
I don't like the auditions. Why do they make fun of people who've clearly been made fun of most of their lives? Not cool, AI, not cool. I am ready for the nonsense to be over and the real competition to begin.

9. Board games, my love of.
My family is a game playing group. We are always looking for new games to play and I have officially found my FAVORITE GAME EVER. It is called "Things" and is just the most fun! Even my grandma loves it!

10. Red carpets.
I'm a sucker for awards shows. I love watching to see what everyone is wearing, what they're going to say from the stage and who wins what. But what I don't like is actually watching the red carpet interviews on E. The questions just seem so awkward.

Okay. I feel better now. Just had to get a few things off my chest. :)

And because this is a random post, how about a random song? One of my favorites...When the Stars Go Blue. This version is by Bono and the Corrs.

Where's Lloyd Dobler when you need him?

Get ready for some rambling.

First of all, I just finished watching Say Anything for the millionth time this week. Love me some Lloyd Dobler. More about that later.

Tonight I found Ciao Bella gelato at Fresh Market. Am trying the hazelnut kind right now. (nocciola in Italian, just FYI) It's pretty good. Although the best gelato is one eaten while sitting on the steps of the Duomo in Florence, or at least standing on a bridge in Venice, I suppose it will have to do for the kind to be eaten in my kitchen in Memphis. At least I didn't have to get on a plane for it. (Incidentally, I think the main thing that will get me back on an airplane headed overseas is the potential for lots of gelato)

Can I just pause now to say that this has been a long, crazy week that has induced a good bit of left eye twitching, which is what happens to me when I get stressed? That's right. It seems that my eye now twitches when I'm really stressed out. Thankfully, you can't actually see it happening. But I can feel it. I met with my accountant the other day, and was sure he thought I was winking at him. But my friends at work promise me that they can't see it twitch. So here's hoping Mr. Accountant didn't think I was hitting on him. (although if it would cut down on my taxes...KIDDING)

Now, back to Lloyd. Or rather, the anti-Lloyd, who has turned out to be none other than single dad bachelor Jason Mesnick. I admit that I was sucked in to the show this season because Jason seemed like such a likable, nice guy. But slowly over the season, I began to have my doubts. When he let Jillian go, labeling her as "too much of a best friend" or some such nonsense, I knew he was just another dumb guy. (I mean, don't most people strive to fall in love with their best friend? Isn't that really a best-case scenario? But I digress.) So Jason chose Melissa. Proposed to her, even. And sent Molly with her "star-gazin' amazin'" eyes packing. (those were his words, not mine) But it seems that he wasn't through with ol' Mol. In fact, despite his engagement to Mel, he continued to have contact with the runner up. And finally broke up with Melissa. On National TV. Granted it was a reality show. But still. And 5 minutes later, rekindled with Molly, who for some Crazy (with a capital c) reason, took him back. And then they made out. On National TV.

So now, there is a new word floating around. "Mesnicked" Let me use it for you in a sentence.

"I thought things were going well, but then he totally Mesnicked me and told me he's found someone else."

See? Reality TV is good for something. Expanding our vocabulary.

Song of the day--In Your Eyes by Peter Gabriel--straight off of the Say Anything soundtrack. (which I own, by the way, on cassette tape)

The Reality of It All

Summer TV just seems to feed my reality/game show addiction!

First off, The Singing Bee is very fun, even though Joey Fatone is even cheesier than he was on Dancing with the Stars. My verdict is still out on this one, but I'll definitely tune in tomorrow night.

Second, and a little more disappointing (yet somehow still strangly entertaining) was VH-1's Scott Baio is 45...and Still Single. I was a Scott Baio fan during Happy Days, Joanie Loves Chachi, and of course, Charles in Charge. But I never knew he was such a womanizer! The basic premise is that he's now 45 and has a long (very very long) string of girlfriends but no wife or family. So he's hired a life coach who is making him re-visit all of his exes to see what went wrong. (there was a movie a few years ago with this EXACT same scenario called Seven Girlfriends. Tim Daly was in it and it was actually pretty good) Anyway, the Scott Baio show looks a little trashy. I'm giving it one more week. He did reunite with Erin Moran (Joanie) and talk to Henry Winkler (the Fonz) which was kind of cool.

And now for my favorite of the recent reality shows--I loved Victoria Beckham: Coming to America! Posh is really funny. And she has such good hair. A little disappointed that they aren't doing the weekly reality show they originally planned to do. Nope, just the one night hour long special. But it was good.

And now I think everyone knows why I haven't made as much progress on my Chick Lit manuscript as I should have! Too much TV!

But I am excited that the e-mail loop is getting started for those of us who will be new to the upcoming ACFW Conference. We are all in the process of introducing ourselves right now and I'm hoping that this will provide motivation for me to turn OFF my TV and write!

Confessions of a Reality TV Junkie...

So I was devastated by Ian's departure last night on Dancing with the Stars. I wasn't surprised really, but I was hoping his Elvis dance would save him. I admit that Joey is entertaining, but he's such a cheese ball I was hoping he would be the one to go. Oh well. I think I'm rooting for Apollo now.

And for some reason Fox was blank last night for the first 15 minutes of American Idol. I missed everyone doing their first song. And on this one, I'm going to have to shy away from the popular vote...I'm hoping for a Jordin/Blake finale. I realize that Melinda Doolittle is the one everyone seems to think is the hands down winner, but I just don't see it. I'm way more entertained by Jordin and Blake. We'll see tonight I guess.

So now my secret's out. I love reality TV. And yes, I'll be tuned in on Friday night for National Bingo Night. And I'll probably play along...