Hey Mr. DJ
What’s Jack up to? He’s spending the morning running around in circles today? Is that a sign of nuttiness? I think it may be. At least on my part for getting a nutty dog.
So I got this great RWA workshop tape from a friend of mine on Deep POV with Suzanne Brockmann from the 2003 National Conference. I was so excited to get it in the mail and get to hearing what Suzanne had so say. So a go to pick up my little portable boombox and notice for the first time that it has no cassette player. What the?
Now I have plenty of cassette tapes in my house from days gone by, but here’s the kicker. My DH got a new car a couple of years ago and it only has a CD player and now my car only has a CD too. What the heck am I supposed to do?I head to the basement. There has to be an old Walkman somewhere in this place. I’m digging though boxes and dust is getting everywhere and no cassette player is turning up. Craps!I head to the streets. They laugh at me at the better electronics stores. And look a
t me like I’m a little crazy at the discount stores. I was starting to feel like I had to head to eBay. Then the ever resourceful DH came home with paydirt yesterday! For 7.99 he found one at an obscure computer store that sold all sorts of outdated things. The strange thing is that it was actually made in 2007. Funny, huh?Now I’m excited about all the good music I can listen to while walking down the street with my big Walkman and thoroughly embarrassing my kids in the process. Way Cool!What would you listen to if you just got a new Walkman?
best,KwanaP.S Check out the train wreck reunion show of The not so Real Housewives of New York City tonight. I hear the fur was literally flying onstage and off.What? Me Stress? Nah!
What’s Jack up to? The sweetie is chillin. Being happy and carefree on this spring break week.
I went to a lovely ladies tea this Saturday. Stop laughing. It was for a good cause and I’m a grown up, well, most days. It was my first ladies tea and I had no idea what to wear. Eek!I ended up going dressy casual in cropped pants a linen sweater and sandals and I was fine up against the other women in the same type of outfits and there were a few with flowing print skirt and sweater ensembles. But I did hear at some of the more upscale teas they go all out and do the super-dressy hat thing. I hope I don’t get invited to one of those. Too much pressure.
Now this was through my DH and the women there were wives of friends of my DH and they know I’m a writer and had not seen me in and while. They are all sweet and wonderful women, but I felt like Bridget Jones going at a smug married dinner party with that dreaded, “so Bridget, when you getting married?” question.
About a 50 times I got, “so when is you book coming out?” or “where can I buy your book?” or “you still working on that book?” question.
It’s times like that when I almost regret “outing” myself as a writer.
Thankfully, the guest speaker was a totally cool spiritual healer named Nafisa who put all of us into a semi circle and talked to us about stress and how to deal with it. She then guided
us through a meditation where I clearly saw myself on the New York Times, USA Today and The Essence Bestseller Lists and I kept repeating my personal mantra “all roads lead to Oprah, all roads lead to Oprah, all roads lead to Oprah…”By the end of it I was just fine!
Breathe in- Breathe out.
Trust that it will all be purr-fect!So how was your weekend? Wonderful I hope.
Best,
KwanaLunch with some IT girls
What’s Jack up to? He’s like me and trying to figure out what the heck were going to do with the DD and the DS while there on spring break this week. Sorry kids but we’re not going to some exotic local like the rest of the super fab teens of today. Oh well. Welcome to the real world. That’s life.So had lunch yesterday with the premier women bloggers of my town (it’s a small town). It was Wish List Mom, PVE Design and I got to finally meet Confessions of and It Girl for the first time. Fun was had by all as we chatted over Greek food about anything and everything from being blogger moms, to publishing, to Queen bee moms and Kingpin dads. We also were nicely complemented by the-shall I say, interesting and it must have been 5 o’clock somewhere- patron of the establishment who pronounced us all verrrrrreeeey beautiful women. Hey, I’ll take it where I can get it, so it’s all good. Plus he threw in a free de-lish desert so you know we’ll be going back.On another note check out the new bag I scored from Tar-jay (that was for you, Megan) the other day. It’s a limited edition by Joy Gryson who used to design for Coach, Calvin Klein and Marc Jacobs and as soon as I saw it in Elle magazine I knew it would be a perfect throw across the body bag to keep my hands free while walking Jack and it is. I didn’t even have to order it on line. I had ended up in the store for other supplies and there it was like fate. I got the basic black, but it’s super hi-gloss and way cool. At 19.99 I could not go wrong. Hey, Jack. Let’s take a stroll. I got a bag to show off! What’s up for your weekend?
best,KwanaHe’s a Survivor- again
What’s Jack up to? Wow! Jack’s looking even better, but hating on me even more after yesterday’s visit to the groomer for a touch up now. The strange goatee is gone and he’s looking good. When I get some batteries for the camera I’ll post a photo.
I could not have enjoyed last night’s Survivor anymore if I tried. It was just fab! The whole episode was about getting rid or poor Jason in the worst way and after torturing him with the immunity challenge. The the whole tribe lied to him for pizza donuts and candy and was being all 7th grade by crossing their finger behind their backs and saying, “yes Jason we’ll be your friend.” Ugh. It was awful. I just knew Jason was going home.
But then a light. I could not believe it. What was going on behind the scenes with Mr. Jason?! I have a feeling that my cagey Cirie was behind it all. I just love her. And James (sorry Eileen) he has to go! In the end it was Ozzy that was gone with the stupid immunity idol in his pocket. Just perfect. I actually clapped. A great hour.
best,
Kwana
P.S. Chiming in late to say. Buh-bye to Stacy-Ann from America’s Next Top Model. Sorry you won’t make it to Rome sweetie.
Top Day!
What’s Jack up to? He and I are off to the groomers again today for a touch up, since he gave them a bit of a hard time last week and didn’t let them shave around his mouth. Wish us all luck.
No time for America’s Next Top Model last night, but I DVR’d it so I’ll catch up.
But I did get to watch Top Chef. It wouldn’t be Wednesday without it!
Top chef starts with Spike in his mustard fedora. Good times ahead.
And Jen whining about lost love and Ryan is feeling completely delusional talking about possibly winning. What?!
Dale is apologizing and Lisa not really taking it at all. Oh well, no love lost there.
No onto the Top Chef drunken beer challenge and the chefs have to create a dish that has to go perfectly with beer. All the Lushes say, “Hoo!”
Antonia is talking about dining down. Sounds like the kiss of death to me. Take everything n the TS kitchen seriously girl.Spike has on a black and white fedora.
That guest judge, Koren looks like she’s seen the bottom of a few beers in her life. Not a smile cracked there.
Jen and Lisa were so catty when Dale and Spike were in the bottom and the winner was Jen. Spike then turned catty and was all, “Yay lesbians.” Stop Hatin! But he doesn’t have on a fedora. Could he be running out? Fingers crossed. oh please let it be…The Elimination challenge is a tailgate party. Ugh. I can’t stand the tailgate challenge. I think it may be my least favorite and now Jen has a cause and she doing it for Zoi. Ugh again.
On to Whole Foods to tear the place up. They must hate to see them coming.
Spike- wings
Dale-Pork and he’s being over confidant so I’m worried.
Richard- Annoying
Nikki-sausage and Peppers- are you surprised?
Andrew- Very good sounding shrimp
Stephanie- Pork- Yum.
Jennifer- Is making a bunch of stuff an honor of Zoi.
Lisa- Skirt steak and she actually said, “beating her meat”. What? Now I’m watching Bevis and Butthead.
Antonia is doing a Jerk chicken sandwich.
Ryan is doing a poached pear. Mmmm. Just what I always want when I go to a ball game! What a fool.Now the chefs are back home and drinking and Spike and Marc are the in tub wondering why no one wants to join them. What?! Ewww. But I do love the sexy music.
Back at the field the chefs are showing their true colors. Dale is a fan, Spike is a jerk and Andrew is just silly with getting his helmet stuck on his head. He may have to wear it to judging. And poor Nikki, the ding didn’t leave enough food for the judges. So dumb.
Now into the Not So Glad Room. Funny there is no more Glad in there. Glad is probably thinking their reputation is being ruined by all the bad vibes.
The top three are Stephanie, Antonia and Dale. Even Tom is smiling at them. And the winner is…. Dale!!! Ahh my little Psycho boyfriend. I’m so happy for him. No trip to Italy, but you did get a gas grill? Lisa stop laughing at him. I know you are.Now the losers Nikki and Ryan and Marc. Why am I not surprised? I can’t believe Ryan is strongly defending those pears. Bring in Donald Trump to guest fire him now.
Commercial-commercialWhy are they making me wait?
Finally the loser is announced and its California poached Ryan! Buh-Bye. I guess it’s back to his dad’s sweat shop now.Best,
KwanaWhat is LOVE?
What’s Jack up to? Ugh! The wild dog tried to give the DH a heart attack this morning on his walk by dashing out into the street towards a car. Thankfully he’s fine. Not so sure about the DH.
Thanks to all of you who submitted questions on Ask The Agent yesterday. There’s still time to chime in. If you want to ask submit here. I’ll be writing up the interview soon and submitting it to Elaine. I’ll give a shout out as to when it will be posted. Great Fun! Thanks again.
Speaking of fun…
Happy Birthday to my dear DH! My own sweet knight in not so shining armor (not his fault. I’m just a poor armor shiner). No this is not my DH in this photo, but this is me at about the time I met my DH about 20 years ago with my big time forever crush, Prince.
Then my DH came along. He was my total opposite with his southern charm and cool demeanor, but he and give me the same type of chills as the very best Prince song. I was a lost from the start.
He really is my true BFF, my toughest critic and greatest supporter. Sticking by me at my best and worst and understanding me when no one else does.Happy Birthday DH!
I Love you. But you already know that.
Love,
Me
Ask the Agent- why don’t cha?
What’s Jack up to? Well, he’s really bummed today. We can no longer hold Nana hostage and she’s going home today, so no more clandestine treats for Jack. Sad days ahead. Waaa….
This weekend while having lunch with my Fab Agent, Elaine Spencer of The Knight Agency , Elaine agreed to be interviewed on my humble little blog here. So we were brainstorming on what she would be interviewed about and she came up with the idea of Ask the Agent. That means the interview is up to you!
Please feel free to post your burning (not too burning-this is a family show!) questions in the comments section and I’ll pose a bunch for Elaine to answer here. So what do you want to know? Don’t be shy. This should be fun!Best,KwanaBack from The Edge
What’s Jack up to? It’s Monday morning and he’s wandering around the now almost empty house and I hope happy to have me back home from my weekend away. Although he’ll be terribly sad to see Nana go home since she’s been secretly been giving him little treats all weekend. Mmmm! Fresh baked ham!
So I’m back from New England and the NEC Romance Writers of America Conference. The theme of the conference was: Come to the edge. What a fun and inspirational weekend it was! I got to meet my fab agent, Elaine Spencer, for the first time face to face! It was like meeting your old pen pal from Zimbabwe except in our case it’s been all emails with the occasional telephone call sprinkled in. I’m happy to say it was a wonderful meeting and Elaine agreed to be interviewed here. So stop back tomorrow for more details. Yay!
There was a breakfast keynote speech with Susan Wiggs on the writing life and on Saturday Suzanne Brockmann gave a talk about going deeper with your characters that rocked the room. I also really enjoyed a deep POV workshop with author Virginia Kantra which I so needed for my work and many other helpful workshops. Thanks NEC! But you know the truth, this weekend is mostly about making connections with old and new friends. Check it out:
Here I am with my New York buddies in our black dresses. There’s Megan my PIC in her stunning vintage Geoffrey Beene on the left and on the right is Elizabeth my NYC chapter Pres. in a gorgeous black dress with the coolest back that you can’t see, sorry.
Here we are again having a little more fun in the “lounge” area of the hotel!
Here’s the amazing Deidre Knight Pres of my agency with my other secret twin, Marley Gibson at lunch on Saturday. Are they not two peas in a pod?
Marley and me!
New friends and Japanese buffet conquerors Megan and Maureen. Hi Ladies!And finally, a shoutout to Myretta. Howdy! How come I didn’t get a picture with you? Bummer. Next time.Best,Kwana- whose all fired up and ready to write.On the Road
What’s Jack up to? The poor thing has gotten into something because he’s under the weather and threw up all over the place last night. Eww. I hope he’s feeling better soon. In the meantime here’s a photo of him with his cute new haircut! Don’t ask me why he’s looking so mean. I think he’s still mad at me about going to the groomer in the first place. Oh well, take a number Jack.
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So I’m off to New England for the NEC Romance Writers Conference. I can’t wait to see old and new friends and to meet my Fab Agent along with some of my other Agency Sistahs. It should be a fun weekend full of inspirational workshops and lots of ideas. I love just love romance writer’s conferences! Any place where I can freely bond over Mr. Darcy is fine by me.So what’s up for your weekend? I hope it’s Happy.
Best,
Kwana
P.S.- What did you think of the merge on Survivor last night? I’m going to be so mad if Ozzy wins this thing!
P.P.S. Wanna see something funny? Check this out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=piKQsnZl7I0
Earth, Wind and Fired Up!
What’s Jack up to? He’s exhausted after 4 hours at the groomer today with the other “kids”. The dear went straight to the hall closet after and would not come out. He was so over me. But at least he’s clean and you can see his eyes. Picture to come soon.
America’s Next Top Model was a recap show. I just don’t have time for those. It’s like a long commercial break.
But happily Top Chef was all new.
The show starts out with Jen being so cute and defending her girl who didn’t cut it last week. The we are introduced to Ming Tsai for the quickfire and the blind taste challenge. Antonia is excited. The chefs have to choose the more expensive dish. Stephanie was the worst which is surprising and Antonia rocked and won so she has immunity.Now onto the elimination challenge. It meals on wheels! Wheee! And its another team challenge based on the 4 elements of earth, water, fire and air and doing a starter.
Water team: Richard, Andrew and Mark are poaching fish and way too happy about it. WAY to happy with the high fives and of course Richard is in charge and assuming the role as executive chef on the 1 dish starter. Gag me!
Air is Jen, Nikki and Ryan. They are doing duck and pomegranate. Ryan messes up and uses all the pomegranate. Someone get him off the island.
Earth is Spike (with a herringbone fedora) , Antonia and Zoi who are arguing over soup from the start. Chill babies. Get it together.
Fire is the power team with Dale, Stephanie and Lisa. The tension is hot. Lisa is not happy with Dale or his devilish eggs. I love all of Dale’s snide impersonations of Lisa. Oh Dale you are so dry! Onto Whole Foods and Lisa is mad and now fighting for Asian. Way to fight girl! She wins out. Good for her.
Sidebar: I just noticed that Spike is wearing a crazy hat in the confessional that really does look like a Ricky original and I’m nervous for him.
Sidebar over and folks are coming in hungry. Team water’s poached salmon doesn’t look too good. Scaly? Oh very bad.
Team Fire and some good looking grilled shrimp and the judges are happy, happy, happy!
Team air’s Duck is next and uh-oh I head some complaints.
Team Earth and the beef and more complaints from the judges, the diners and Spike! Yech.Time for the judges table and the Glad not-so-glad room. Richard is whining. Why you not so bad now, Dude?
And the Fire team is called in and congratulated. They are so happy. I’m glad Lisa won this big prize since she really fought for this. Dale is bitter but man enough to admit it.
Now Earth and Water are called in for the bad news. Richard is in TROUBLE! Mark and Andrew are just there. The Earth team is called on the carpet for their dish being bland. Zoi is fighting for her herbs and Spike is still bringing up his missed soup.
Back to the Not So Glad Room and the big fight. Jen is bigging up Zoi telling her she’s an amazing chef. Is love blind? Richard is whining and Spike is mad at himself.
Back to the judges and it’s the end for Zoi. I saw it coming.
The Not So Glad Room is a mess. Jen is in tears. There is hell to pay and even with the show over the arguing continues. What tha-! Spike jumps on Antonia and Jen loses it, then Dale says something, Lisa jumps in and Dale tells her off because he’s pissed about not going to Italy. Spike goes too far with Jen and she kick a chair. Yikes! It’s Top Chef guys. Chill out and cook something.Buh-bye Zoi. Thanks for the memories.
Best,
Kwana
