My Last First Date

Way back when in 1989, I was a single girl.  I was working in retail management, living somewhat on my own and pretty much loving life.  In May of that year, I met my future husband.  I was actually friends with his sister but I had no idea she had a brother!  When she graduated from college and her parents threw her a party, I went with a bunch of our friends and there he was.

I knew the minute I saw him that I was going to marry him.

That's just one of the reasons I write about love at first sight because I firmly believe in it.  

Over the course of the evening, we sat and talked and I thought things were going great but then he left!  To be fair, he did ask if I wanted to leave with him and his friends - they were going to a bar - but I was only 20 and did not have proof to get in anyplace he was going to go.  So he left.  He didn't ask for my number and basically...yeah.  He just...left.

Not one to take this sort of thing lightly, I waited a few days and then began to snoop around and got his number.  Amazingly, his sister was NOT very forthcoming with this information.  So I eventually got the number and called him.  We played phone tag with one another for almost a month.  Then finally - FINALLY - we were able to talk one night and we were on the phone for four hours!  At the end of it I was like "Um...so do you ever want to go out with me?"

Brazen little hussy, wasn't I?

He said yes.  Sigh.  We went out the next night for drinks (yes, yes, I was STILL underage but I got in!) and we spent hours and hours just talking and laughing and it was amazing.  A date that started at 7 pm ended somewhere around 4 a.m.  I felt like we had shared our entire life's stories with one another and he never even kissed me!  

Kid.  You.  Not.

Seriously, how this lasted, I don't know because his reaction to me was NOT ego-boosting to any degree.  

But now, 26 years after that first date, we are still together.  Two amazing boys, one sassy pug and a whole lot of love and laughter has filled those years.  I had to dig through my stash of pictures to find one from those early days where we were actually together - there's a lot that I took of him and then lots that he took of me but all the ones of us together had other people in them and I didn't want to embarrass anyone other than us for the sake of this post!  It's a little blurry but you can still see the big hair and the cuteness.

Tomorrow is our anniversary of our first date and I'm so glad that my last first date was to such an amazing man.  I love him so much and am blessed every day because of him.

Now, for your entertainment, should you want to know what other exciting things happened in 1989 - so long, long ago - you can go here and see some of the hilarious happenings:  http://www.mtv.com/news/1965460/taylor-swift-1989-year-what-happened/

Revisiting an old friend...

As an avid reader, I cannot even pick my all-time favorite book.  There have been so many that have touched me and made me laugh or cry that there is no way to narrow it down to just one being "the best".  Characters leap off the page and become real - their stories unfold all around me that it sometimes feels like I'm actually part of it!  Imagine how much more intense it becomes when I'm the writer of the story!

So now that I am with Sourcebooks, I have a bunch of new books to write and new characters to meet and get acquainted yet.  But...the really cool part is that we are going to be re-editing and re-releasing all of my back titles as well.  It's a daunting task but what I'm finding is that I am getting a chance to revisit some of the fun characters I created.

Trust me, it's fun.

This week I've been working on "The Christmas Cottage" and "Ever After".  It's only been a little over two years since I released them and yet I had forgotten so much about them!  I got caught up in the fairytale and myth of couples finding love if they spend the night in the sweet little cottage.  I laughed with my heroes and heroines and fell in love all over again.

Do you like to re-read some of your favorite books?  How often do you do it?  There are times where I'll still have hundreds (yes, hundreds) of titles on my Kindle that I haven't read but I'll go back to one that I have and read it again!  I want that feeling...the way that the story made me feel just one more time.  It's comfortable.  There are no surprises.  No chance of being let down.  You know how it's going to end but you still want to go back and visit.

Have you gone back and re-read any Samantha Chase books?  Any of them make you want to go back and visit?

It's all about the love...

So...it's February.  Valentine's Day.  You know...the love holiday.

I've been happily married for 25 years.  Love, love, LOVE my husband.  Do we celebrate Valentine's Day? 

No.

I don't know why.  No wait...I'm lying.  I DO know why.  Because my husband declared many, many years ago that it was a pointless holiday considering that he loves me every day and doesn't need a day to remind him to love me.

Awwww...

Um...no.  I saw that explanation as a way of him getting out of putting in an effort on Valentine's Day.  He denies it but I still have my suspicions.  Normally I try and throw in a little effort on the actual day - a nice candlelight dinner with special foods.  Even if the kids are home.  We've had some great surf and turf during those meals.  I've even bought myself flowers - and then used them for props for our candlelight dinner. 

I guess I kind of agree with him.  We love each other 365 days a year.  I won't go so far as to say that EVERY day is Valentine's Day.  Because that would make me a big, fat liar.  We may love each other every day, but believe me when I say that there are plenty of days where we just don't like each other very much.  We yell, we scream, we say stupid stuff.  But at the end of the day, we get over it, kiss each other goodnight and say "I love you". 

I write romances.  I write stories about people meeting and falling in love.  Their relationships aren't perfect - as a matter of fact, that's one of the things that I enjoy writing about.  The complicated side of being in love.  The days where things just don't go well.  That's reality.  But in the end, everyone gets their happily ever after.

And isn't that why most people read romances?  They want to read about the happily ever after!  Or I always thought so.  I got a review once where someone actually complained about my books always having a happy ending.  That one threw me for a loop.  I wasn't sure what else this reader was expecting - it's a romance, people fell in love, and they normally live happily ever after.  I know there are authors out there that don't follow that formula, but I do.  It's what I like to read so it's what I like to write.

And I'm fortunate enough that it's what I get to live. 

Happy sigh.

So what's your take on Valentine's Day?  Love it?  Hate it?  Wish there was a little less pressure and commercialism associated with it?

What's your story?

This is NOT my sexy walk

So almost nine weeks ago, I broke my toe.  Not the big toe, not the little toe, but the toe NEXT to the little toe.  Oh.  My.  God.  The pain.  I have given birth to two children and I still think the toe hurt more!  And what's worse is that they don't DO anything for a broken toe.  You can go to the doctor and they're like "Yup.  That's a broken toe."  Gee, thanks.  I couldn't tell with all the swelling and bruising.

I was told I would be "uncomfortable" for about eight weeks.  And I have.  I haven't worn regular shoes in all that time.  I have a great pair of faux-fur-lined boots that have worked beautifully.  Of course in the beginning of the nightmare, it was still warm here and I was able to get away with flip-flops.  But then the weather turned cold and I had no choice but to switch to the boots. 

I've limped, I've hopped and now every once in a while I still have this funky swagger going on.  I'm not sure it's legit or if my body just thinks this is the new norm.  Either way, it's annoying and the darn toe still hurts!  Clearly I'm a slow healer.  Lucky me. 

I'm leaving for Disney World in a few days.  The most walking-est vacation you can take.  I'm going to want to strangle someone.  Probably my doctor.  Tonight we were getting ready to go out and my husband was in the shower and I was walking through the bathroom to the closet and he was like "Geez, it's like you've got lead feet!"

And they say romance is dead.

I'm hoping that eventually I'll stop walking like Quasimodo soon.  I'd really like to wear some of my cool winter boots and shoes.  Or really anything that doesn't resemble a slipper bootie.  Even though they are cute.

But for now, I'm stuck limping, hopping, dragging...whatever works.  Or maybe I should just sit down, put my foot up and read. 

Now THAT sounds like a plan!

Welcome 2015!!

Happy New Year!!!