MEDIEVAL TIMES - woah baby!!

OK - now for the moment you've all been waiting for! (well, at least it makes me drool.) Our trip to Dallas, TX could not have been complete without a visit to the Medieval Times Restaurant:

This place was absolutely amazing - so realistic in every way.

Here's me and Holly - who I just know will probably KILL me for posting this - but I just have to share!! She's my buddy and it's not very often I get pics with her & I together:

Here's Holly, myself, and our friend and fellow Celtic Heart Romance Writer, Corrina (plus she's the president of that online group and tons of fun to hang out with!):

This is the entrance to the Torture Chamber and the dude that was guarding it - (not one of the Hot knights so don't start calling me a liar yet!)




The Torture Chamber was pretty intense - I still don't know if half of the stuff that was in there was real or not! There was this one really ugly device, that for some reason I didn't get a pic of, but it was called the Breast Ripper. Yeah! You can just imagine what that little sucker did!! AHHHH!!

Here's a pic of the arena - very cool!

This is the place setting that we had - mind you, NO utensils! We even had to drink the soup from the bowl or dip our bread to sop it up with.
(don't mind the large blue cup on the side - that held my new favorite drink: Maiden's Kiss. Oh yummy!)

One of the guys who served us our meal and drinks. He was really nice - again, not one of the HOT knights. They're coming....patience....

Here's some pics of the show:

Oh yeah - Mr. Hot Blue Knight!!

We were seated in the Yellow Section, so we had to cheer for the Yellow Knight. This pretty white carnation was tossed into the stands and guess who caught it! Oh yep, yours truly! I was such a giddy schoolgirl that evening!

Hold onto your shorts!! Here they come!!

OK - so just look at the HEIGHT of these guys! It's amazing - they don't build 'em like that up here in NY - (sorry Jake, I love you and you're the love of my life - but damn!!) I'm 5'7" and they still tower over me!

That's it! I hope you enjoyed the post - I know I enjoyed the experience!! :)

RWA Nationals #2

Continuing on with the trip:

Both Holly and I are members of the fabulous Celtic Hearts Romance Writers online chapter and were able to meet many of our fellow members at the Meet & Greet that the chapter had. It was a lot of fun. Here's some pics:

Corrina Goentzel (aka Corrina Cowen) and Dona, who I can't remember her last name - sorry Dona!! - are pictured here. They did a great job arranging the meeting. It was a blast!

Holly and I really enjoyed meeting Corrina - she's a great person and a ton of fun to hang out with. We had a fantastic time at Medieval Times Restaurant with her - but I'll tell you more about that later!

OK - so on to Embarrassing Moment #2!

It was our second night there, Thursday night, almost midnight. I've got my comfy jammies on - boxer shorts and a t-shirt, when suddenly the alarm in the hotel goes off telling everyone to immediately evacuate the hotel. Lights are flashing, the whole nine yards - and it's also telling us to not ride the elevators. Mind you - we're 10 STORIES UP!! So, I grabbed a sweater - fortunately - and Holly and I hit the stairs! Yeah, not fun at all. Some other lady was with us too hoofing it down the million steps that we had to - not sure what her name was though. Of course, both her and Holly were dressed. Nope, not me!! So, here I am in all my jammie glory outside of the hotel at midnight:

Just luscious huh? Thank Holly for this wonderful view! Anyways, fortunately, it was nothing serious and about 10 minutes later, we were able to go back inside. Mind you, half of the hotel didn't even hear the alarm and were still inside - but there were many others in their jammies and moo-moos outside with us!

Here's me & Holly again at one of the luncheons that we went to. I really enjoyed listening to Lisa Kleypas speak at one of the luncheons. She was very inspiring.

Here's C.J. Barry (aka Samantha Graves) another member from Central NY Romance Writers chapter (CNYRW), at one of the publisher-hosted booksignings:

OK - Medieval Times is coming up! Hold on to your seat - this is going to be great!

RWA Nationals ROCKED!!

I have to say that the trip was amazing. Every bit of it. (Well, except for the flight home, but I'll tell you about that later).

Holly Greenfield and I got to the hotel about 1pm on Wednesday, July 11th and were simply awed by the beauty of the hotel. It was an amazing hotel.

This is the view from the 10th floor hallway where our room was.
This is the waterfall that was inside of the hotel - absolutely beautiful!!

We definitely had some interesting moments to start off with - the first day, we hit the goody room and started stocking up on the great promotional items that all of the authors had in there - then came the Embarrassing Moment - you see, they had a room called the "Press Room" where there were tons of books laid out on the table already autographed. Well, Holly and I, being the newbie first-timers that we were, figured that they were for free! So, what did we do? We started loading up!! Yep, had a huge armload of these books in our arms when a woman came over to us and was looking at me funny. So, I said "These are for free right?" And got a shocking answer that no, they weren't! Oh Hell....back on the table they go, in the spots that they were in - and my face must have been about as red as a tomato! I have to say it gave Holly and I a great laugh moment once we got out of that room!!

Me and my best friend, Holly outside of the hotel. I was so glad that she was there with me - it definitely would not have been nearly as much fun without her!

The first night of the conference, there was a Literacy Booksigning that we went to with about 450 authors signing / selling books to benefit adult illiteracy. It was amazing! This pic below is only a hint of the amount of people that were there:
Sherrilyn Kenyon below - She is such a down-to-earth, friendly, and personable person.

Holly and I with Nora Roberts!!! That was definitely a highlight of my conference - I have always wanted to meet her. She is one of my favorite authors and an inspiration to all of us writers!

Me with Shana Abe below - I absolutely loved her book "The Smoke Thief" and just got the sequal to that called "The Dream Thief". Awesome novels that I highly recommend to anyone to read!

We also had a wonderful time with the gals from our local chapter, CNYRW. Kari Townsend and Barbie Jo Bogart (aka Barb Witek) were so much fun to hang out with! We had a blast at the bar and luncheons with them - you should just hear them and all the hilarious stories they have - if there's something funny that happens, you can bet it will happen to them! Here is a picture of Gayle Callen (published author for Avon and also a member of CNYRW) and Barb and Kari (soon-to-be published authors!):

If you want to here more about Nationals or learn more about the ladies I hung out with - check out these blogs:

http://www.hollyweeden.blogspot.com/

http://www.karileetownsend.blogspot.com/

http://www.irishbarbie.blogspot.com/

Continuing on:

So, we couldn't stay at this beautiful hotel without getting at least one trip to the pool! And considering that the temp was in the low 90's every day in Dallas, TX - the pool was a very refreshing experience. Here's a pic of me, Suemarie, Carol, (both members of CNYRW too - see there were a lot of us there!) and Holly enjoying the pool:

I have to thank Suemarie for all of the wonderful advice and tips that she gave Holly and I while we were at the conference. She was a wealth of info and readily willing to share! Thanks Suemarie!! Best of luck to you - I know we'll be seeing those books on the shelves soon!

OK - I'm going to stop for now. But come back soon - I'll have more about Nationals posted shortly and you won't want to miss the best part about my trip: Medieval Times and the HOTTEST knights around!!

It's almost time!

The hours are counting down - and fast!! Only about 16 hrs to go and we'll be on our way to Texas! I'm excited, nervous, scared, and happy all at the same time. First time to an RWA Conference - I'm sure it will be as wonderful an experience as everyone says. My main priority this time around is to attend classes to help enhance my writing. I know that I have a lot to learn so that I can write better.

AHHH!! This is going to be great - I promise to post pics and tell you all about it when I get back!

Failure

Have you ever had a day - week - month - where you felt like a failure? Yeah, I feel like that with my writing. I'm stuck. I was taking a good workshop with awesome templates to use, which helped, but now I feel like I don't have a clue where to go with my story and I can't get out of this funk. I don't know what to do with my characters. I get a few chapters done and BAM! My ideas are gone and I don't know what they should do.
Ugh. I don't know what I need. Maybe more writing reference materials to read up on - yeah, maybe that would help. My friend gave me a book titled "The First 5 Pages" that I've started. So maybe that will help give me a push - I don't know. Feel like the brain's blocked up and I can't get any new ideas to flow. Maybe I'll just bang my head against a wall until I get something.
OK - enough of the pity party.

Lake Placid Pics

Some pics of Lake Placid, NY. I love this place!

To the left is a waterfall along High Falls Gorge - the hubby and I took a hike through this. Very beautiful - but for those who are afraid of heights, stay away! The walkways are suspended over the falls and river.

Below is a pic of Whiteface Mountain - still has snow in May!


This is the little cottage that we stayed in. We've been here twice - the first time was in November 2004, and that's when Jake proposed to me! We love this place! Cathy, the owner, is the best hostess and the cottage is the perfect spot to "just get away"! If you're interested in staying here, just go to this website: www.thehighlandcottage.com

ME above - playing mini-golf.

My hubby, Jake, to the left. We had a wonderful time together.

Crazy life meets kids

So, even though my own normal, insane, hectic world continues to run at that pace, we've now hit the spring months where my kids lives and activities add even more insanity to my daily existence. T-ball, minor league, and softball have begun! And add in that we still have ballet practice for my little one, that all makes for particularly busy weeknights. Just got to love it! Does anyone else have the joys of chaos in their lives? I'm sure I'm not the only one.
So, on we go. The hubby and I took the much needed vacay for the weekend up to Lake Placid. Absolutely loved it! The weather was beautiful and the scenery was perfect. I did get a chance for some writing - actually started revamping an old WIP that I began a while ago. Lots of work left to do on that one. Conal & Riane have jumped ship for now, and Laena's slowly inching her way out of the shadows, but as my reality is chaotic, so is my writing style. I am definitely a "pantser" - constantly shifting gears, changing modes, with barely a set final goal in mind other than to finish a manuscript!!
RWA conference is getting closer and closer each day though and I can't wait to go! I know that Holly and I are going to have an awesome time and I'm very much looking forward to all of the workshops that we'll be taking and all of the wonderful people we'll be meeting. It's an exciting time and I know will be beneficial to both of us. Plus - having a nice vacation with my best friend is the best way to enjoy the time away from home. We haven't had a girls night since we were in high school - definitely long overdue! Hol - we're going to have sooo much fun!!