IT'S RAINING BUT THAT DIDN'T STOP ME

When it's raining outside, most people want to curl up in bed with a good book and read until they finish or binge watch TV.

Not me!

This was the first time in almost four months that I could walk without the use of crutches so I did what any normal person would do.

I went out!

Yep, went out and had a full day.

First my day started with a 1 year olds birthday party. At Chuck E. Cheese no less. Big mistake. It was full of screaming children and those that were not screaming, were crying.

Well all except the birthday girl. She was asleep. She was missing her own party. Oh well, so much for the exciting overstuffed mouse and cheese pizza. 

On to the next stop.

Preakness Day Party.

Yay! I have never attended any kind of horse race and had no idea of the pageantry of it all.

The horse, the outfits and the HATS! Let's talk about the hats. First I am not a hat person, so I just ran into Macy's and picked up a quick one. 

Big mistake.

These women were donned out in the finest clothes. It was like I was sitting in church with a group of church mothers all vying for the coveted prize of "My hat is bigger than yours" prize or better yet. The "Don't sit behind me because you can't see anything past my hat" prize. 

Don't get me wrong, they were gorgeous hats; I just didn't know that people here in DC took this king of thing that seriously. 

Well now I know so I am already on the hunt for a very unique hat for the Belmont race coming up in a couple of weeks. 

Like I need another addiction. 

Then it was off to the third event of the day.

An all white party, hosted by my American Legion for the Martin and Long scholarship fund. 

It was a beautiful affair with everyone decked out in their finest white attire. Men had on their white suits and women had on their summer whites. 

But I thought all white meant, well all white. So I had on everything white including my shoes. 

Most people had on a variety of shoe colors, none of which were WHITE. What is the point of having and ALL WHITE party if you aren't going to wear ALL WHITE...just an observation on my part.

So after beginning the day at 9am; my day finally came to an end at 1AM, Sunday morning. 

Let's just say that the first day without crutches was a huge success however, my ankle wasn't to happy so Sunday, the day that it was nice and sunny outside. I spent that day, IN BED. 

Somehow it just didn't seem right but hey, rainy Saturday was just as fun!

DMV Weekenders

The name says it all, doesn't it?

My neice +Anquinnette Anderson and Paris organized this group of professional women for what they hoped would be a way to connect and network and most of all, have fun being comfortable with like-minded women.

They did themselves proud. I was fortunate enough to be invited to one of their outings, at The Melting Pot in Columbia, MD on May 4th. I arrived nervous but energetic. The women came in and the first thing we all noticed was that the staff was outside and we immediately thought, "are they closed? on strike? or taking a smoke break". Luckily they were just opening and when we sat down we instantly hit it off!

The women ranged in ages from last 20's to early 40's and from single to newly married-13 days.

We laughed, told jokes and enjoyed fondue. Some of us didn't know how to 'cook' using the fondue pots and some of us got a steam facial but we all got something out of it; we gained some new friends.

These ladies talked about everything from reality shows to Jamacian men.

At the end of it all, we all agreed that it was the best Saturday afternoon spent meeting new people and we all agreed that we enjoyed each other's company.

Yes, the DMV weekenders truly are a great group of ladies!

Conferences, my new best friend

When Chocolate and flowers aren't enough...



February 1-3, 2013. That is one of the best weekends I have had this month. Oh, did you think I was going to say this year? See, every year I travel with another author, Austin S. Camacho to Rosemont, IL to the LOVE IS MURDER conference. Every year I look forward to seeing Hanley Kanar and Luisa Buehler and the rest of the gang that put on the conference. When chocolate and flowers aren't enough...that is the slogan. Pretty cool, don't you think?

Although the conference is always on the Super Bowl weekend, it is always over by noon and I am back at our friend Cyndi's home in Ohio by 5pm, plenty of time to get those Super Bowl snacks ready to watch the commericals. You didn't think I really cared about the game, espeically since Dallas wasn't in it, now did you?

This year was no different. Well in a way it was. I convinced another author, Deliah Lawrence to travel to Rosemont, IL to the conference and she did and she and I and Austin had a wonderful time. We had the time of our lives! We met Lee Goldberg, sat and had lunch with Shane Gericke.

We sat on panels and discussed everything from having the perfect pitch for an agent to writing in the post 50 Shades aftermath. How did you miss all of that? Well if you don't attend conferences, that is how you miss it.

Now next year, we plan to be there again, are we going to see you there? If not, I will sit and have dinner with Heather Graham and Shane Gericke...while you sit at home and get ready for the Super Bowl.