Wednesday Weigh In: Dating a chef

This is not what my chef looks like.

Okay, I'm not doing so bad, but dating a chef makes it difficult to stay on track.  I took him to meet my parents last night (yes, another step) and he made gnocchi with chicken and peppers, roasted acorn squash, and we had bread and wine on the side.  Yum.  needless to say, I've not weighed myself this morning. 

The next couple days though, I'm buckling down to lose a couple pounds.  Office xmas party is Saturday and I have to fit into one of my dresses. sigh.

Still have the goal of losing more weight by release date.  That gives me just over a month *hyperventilate*. I think I can drop at least a few by then as long as my chef cooks light for me (or  not at all, lol).  AND no cookies, candy, or other holiday treats. sigh.

F³A: I'm starting to freak out

My book release is three months away.  THREE MONTHS!!!!!

I'm seriously starting to freak out.  I'm trying to plan two parties.  The Tacoma Public Libraries have offered to host my release party and then I'm having a private party for close friends and family.

My marketing campaign is not quite in place yet.  I'm still working on it.  Who would have thunk it would be hard to get people to take a free book?!?!?!

I'm still writing guest blogs.  I'm almost blogged out. I'm not sure I'll ever want to blog again when this is all over.

I'm trying to drop *cough* another 20 pounds before release.  I'm not sure I'll make it.

I'll have to get my house ready for out of town guests.  I may have to hire someone to help me come clean it, because I'm not good at cleaning things like door frames, and corners, and crap like that.

I will probably also be going into seclusion next week to finish revisions on my WIP. ugh.

Someone talk me down from the ledge so I don't have to resort to xanax.

Friday Scribbles:

Random Pandora song of the week: Vienna by the Fray. I love Pandora.  It gets me through my work day.

Netflix of the week:  Finally finished Monk and have started on Breaking Bad.  Looks funny.

Book of the week:  Um, I've not had much time to read.  I'm reading a friends manuscript and it's really good.  May be the one that gets her published.


Quote of the week:  "Shoot for the moon, even if you miss you'll land among the stars."  I don't know who to attribute that too. I remember reading that years ago some where and for some reason it popped into my head this morning.

Monkey Madness Monday: Traveling to the UK and other things.

Um, yeah, how cute is that?  First things first, Sundays Mustang count: 18.

Okay, I posted on Facebook that Never Eighteen was on its way to one of the most prestigious schools in the UK.  People wanted details so here they are.  They're a bit fuzzy, so bear with me.

One of my parent's best friends is British.   A couple Sundays ago, my dad  called me and told me to come over to her house, he and my mom were there that she'd extended the invitation to me.  I grabbed some Never Eighteen bookmarks, because I'd just received them in the mail, and headed over.

When I arrived, I found out it wasn't just a intimate gathering, but a full blown party.  A couple relatives of Lesley, that's the British gal, were in town and she wanted everyone to meet them.  I was a little embarrassed by the bookmarks, but showed them to my parents and Lesley.  Then my dad starts making a big deal about the book.

I was mortified at first, and then people started making me feel like a rock star, so, you know, it ended up being kind of cool.  Lesley's relatives, David and Val, seemed particularly interested.  We talked about it for a little bit.  I gave them one of the bookmarks and a button.  They asked if it were available in the UK, and I told them it was on the Amazon UK site for pre-order.

End of story.

Until Saturday.  My parents had a party (it was my brother and Lesley's birthdays), inviting me and my siblings, Lesley, and David and Val.  It was their last night there.  Val starts talking about the book again, and I come to find out (and this is where it gets fuzzy) that she is major high up in ranking at one of the most, if not the most prestigious schools in the UK.  The word Chancellor was thrown in (that would be like the principal).  I don't think she's the chancellor, but perhaps a step below. 

So, my mom tells me to go home and give her an arc, which I jumped at the chance, and conveniently my parents only live about six blocks from me.  The next day, Never Eighteen was headed to the UK.

So there you have it.