I think meowvatar would get a kick out of this:

Cake Wrecks is now available in book form!

Even though you can see it for free on Cake Wrecks over at Blogspot, but apparently there is "75% new wreckage" in the book (so saith the website). I saw this book at work and immediately thought of meowvatar. Then I went and shared it with other people at the registers (kinda against the rules since we're not supposed to read at the registers... bah.) and we shared in the horrible awesomeness.

So go to your fave bookstore and stock up on some epic wreckage today!

• Helping a very attractive man at B&N with a deliciously deep and velvety voice *le swoon*
• Having girls' night out with the LB ladies!
  
• Getting a Cthulhu themed link/Tweet from booklady50

Sometime next week, Magic & Madness will go to press! Holy crap monkeys, Batman! This is actually happening! Wow! I will be an honest-to-God published author! *le squeee!* I have been grinning like an idiot since I got the email from North Star Press. Woooooo!!!! Yeah. I'm stoked. And, in case you haven't seen it, here's the cover, awesomely designed by my friend Krista Ramberg:

Yeah, pretty hot, no? I'm so in love with this cover... it is so much more than what I had envisioned in my head. Wow. Fantastic job, Krista!

So my coworker, Mary, slapped a book down on the cash wrap counter this evening while I was working. I looked at it perplexed as she walked away with a cryptic: "This is for you." I looked down at it ans squealed with delight. It was a new zombie book. And not just any zombie book, but Zombies for Zombies, a delicious parody of the Dummies franchise. I was so enthralled with it at first sight, I bought it on my lunch break and started to read it. I was laughing out loud within the first 3 pages, and was nonstop giggling ever since. So, since I'm basically done wasting time on the interwebs, and my back/hips/knees/legs can't stand being on this hard ass wood floor anymore (I have no puter desk, so my PC is on the floor... not good set up by any means). I will now retire to my bed and read more zombie book. Yay!

Oh, times and info for my book signing @ B&N will come soon! As will fun contests to win signed copies and other kewl prizes!

Ciao!!

• The stripped copy of Zombie Queen of Newbury High that my friend Diana had placed in my work cubie. Yay for free zombie books!
• Kiera did very well at her grooming appointment today. True she was more scared than anything, but she did well and even suffered gracefully through a bath. So far, now that we're home, she hasn't left any "gifts" for me to find.
• The process of buying the condo/townhome is going well, and the inspection should be happening anytime this week. If all goes well, we will be closing by the 18th.
• Bought a new purse today that is fun and has lots of pockets for my various "can't leave home w/o it" things. Like cell phone, planner, wallet, book... Books now have their own separate pocket so they won't get crammed in with planners and wallets that can bang them up.
• Got a 50% coupon from booklady50 for Michael's, so I got a big scrapbook paper holder thing so I can finally get my stuff organized. Also went to Archiver's today (while waiting for Kiera to be done getting pretty) and got 40 cardstock sheets (buy 10 and get 10 free!) of the 12x12 and 8x11 sizes. Yay! I'll have the Technicolor Scrapbook!
• Set up a Swister Day for Wednesday. There's a new Mexican restaurant in town that I want to go to, so my swister and I are going! Yay!

• Lilly P. DOB Late January 2009 (I want to say 25-27 sometime...)
• Emma M. DOB 2-13-09 
• Lucy M. DOB 5-19-09
• Baby T. ETA 6-3-09 (Wes & Christina's little one)
• Baby 2.0 ETA October 2009

psychologizer

• Put an offer on a bank-owned townhouse/condo and the bank has accepted said offer. If all goes well, we'll close the deal and I'll get the keys to my new home June 18th.
• I've been slowly recovering after three 12 hour work days last week, and those days were in a row: Thurs-Fri-Sat. Worked both jobs those days, spent 12+ hours at the mall. My legs turned to Jell-O Saturday night and I could barely walk at work. My whole body is just shutting down and I need so much sleep (so I really should be in bed now instead of writing this @ 130am). Need to talk to manager @ 2nd job to keep that from happening again.
  
• Kiera has decided to become a 2 year old, demanding new food at 4am because the stuff I gave her at 11pm before I went to bed isn't good enough for her anymore. Her incessant mrrowing starts at 4am and goes until about 6 when I finally drag myself out of bed and feed her... to only find half her food has been eaten. We have been having little battles over this, but I think the scruff-of-neck-grab-and-throw-to-the-bed move I put on her Sunday morning calmed her down a bit.
  
• The publishing of my book is going insanely slow. I need to email North Star Press about the editing and to see if I can start revising some of the stuff the do have done. The way this is going, the promised release in summer 2009 might turn out to be winter 2010. Bah.
  
• Learning that it's really not the mold in my apartment that has been making me sick, but my cat. Have official medical proof from the allergy test that I'm allergic to cats. Mold is a strong second, but there's not enough mold in my apartment to make me sick. My allergies were just triggered by the normal amount of mold in the air, since my system is more senstive to stuff like that. So my pride, ego, soul, whatever, was knocked down a few pegs after my "righteous" hatred of my landlord over "his indirectly causing me to be sick" was proven false and I was really making myself sick by demanding I have a cat. Bah.
  
• Speaking of books, slowly working on Relic Chosen #2. Got stuck on a fight scene because I'm not too good at fight scenes, and whenever I get around to writing on it, it's 1am and I'm tired.
  
• Finished Pride and Prejudice last week and it was lovely. Had to move on to Rogue Angel: Polar Quest (#16) because I've packed up most of my books in preparations for immenent move, so Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is in one of 10 boxes of books. Ugh. But I will read it soon... prolly when I get all unpacked and settled into my new place.
  
• Have been in a funk lately, mostly due to stress of finding a place---and securing said place---by the end of August (when my 2 months' notice said so), and trying to adjust to working 2 jobs while trying to find time for hobbies, relaxation, time for friends, family, and writing. Ugh. Not enough hours in the freakin' day.
  
• Kiera is snoring.
  
• I'm going to delete my Myspace account by the end of the month. Hopefully before then, if I remember. I haven't gone on that bloody page on a consistent basis in in years (really since the last ex and I broke up) and I think I've been on the site with a purpose maybe 5 times this year. It's going. Might be replaced with something else... a writing/Relic Chosen/author page...? I dunno. We'll see.
• I am insanely tired of being single. You really have no idea how tired of it I am on so many levels I won't go into now. But it needs to stop. Which leads me into Events & Adventures, the horrible waste of time and money that was supposed to fix the aforementioned problem. Ha. Yeah. I didn't go to any events from Feb to April because of severe sinus infections/allergies/bronchitis... May I bailed on the one I did sign up for because I went to go hang out with people who already are my friends, and I haven't signed up for anything in June because... eh. Nothing sounds interesting. Big. Collosual. Waste. Of. Time.

jilrani

Books: I love books. I love going into another time or world, being a part of this person's life---even for a while---to see how they live and the trials and experiences they have to endure. It's a lovely way to escape from my boring, horrible life for a while and exalt in a new adventure. I'm really addicted to books, and since I live work in a bookstore, that addiction has grown insanely. I think I still have too many books to read right now, but that doesn't stop me from buying more. I like creating new worlds and characters, so thusly I would love to read about them and get lost in a whole new world and experience. There's really nothing better than the rush of reading a really good book and being pulled into a great story and feeling for the characters, rooting for them, and hoping that everything turns out all right in the end. I'm kinda a sucker when it comes to endings, I like mine kinda predictable and happy: the guy gets the girl, they all live happily ever after, the end. Hehehe. I love books so much, I'm working at Barnes & Noble and have been for almost 3.5 years now. And frankly, I don't see myself stopping that anytime soon. ^_^

Scrapbooking: I'm not quite sure how this hobby of mine started. I know back when I first lived at home after I graduated college, I had a lot of pictures and stuff laying around and I needed something to do with them. I then went to visit my friend/brother down in St. Louis for the first time and came back with lots of pictures I needed to do something with. And also, very coincidentally my church @ the time (I really don't attend services there anymore for various reasons) started a scrapbooking group at that time as well. I went a few times, gathered some stickers and some other advice from the other ladies, but I stopped going after a while (like I tend to do with most things). Now I scrapbook on my own and have been scrapbooking ever since. I have quite a few albums of my adventures around the states, trips, my first year in my apartment, and so on. I'm stuck in working on my California 2005 trip, and need to get my Baltimore 2008 trip into the album I have. I like scrapbooking because I can be creative and artsy while storing memories in such a way that I will want to look back at them from time to time over the years to come.

Drawing: This hobby of mine started in high school. I never really knew I could draw until I was looking at a comic book magazine I used to get way back in the day, and I wanted to copy said picture. At first I started just tracing things, but then I was able to do pretty damn good copies by just looking at the picture and drawing it myself. I loved to just lay on my bedroom floor and draw, and it took my mind away from all the problems in my life. It was very focusing and cleansing to draw. I really didn't acknowledge anything else in the world except the paper, the pencil, and the image in my head that desired to come out. My family was amazed at my drawing abilities and said I should go into drawing for a major in college. Thankfully I never did that---took one drawing class in college and nearly decked my professor. Not really, but I wanted to. Sadly during college, like all things that are fun and awesome, this hobby of mine took a back seat to my learning and studying. I have slightly lost my ability to draw like I used to, since I have gone so many years without doing so, but I'm slowly getting my talent back. I have recently drawn a few sketches I want to use for cover art for the Relic Chosen books I'm working on. Woo!

Faeries: Love faeries. I love them so much, I drew one and had it permanently tattooed onto my back! They are so delicate and beautiful, magical and inspiring. To me, they just show that anything is possible. I mean, really, a small tiny little woman with spiderweb-thin wings can be the master of magic and nature? She can command the animals and be that powerful? Then hell, I can do whatever I want in my life in that case. They just really are so beautiful. Whenever I see faeries in stores in either pictures, statues, etc., I just stop and have to stare. I get a shiver up my spine and I have to study every little detail of the painting/object with said faerie on it. I'm a very artistic/aestetic person, so anything with that level of beauty and care is just cause to be admired.

Humor (i'm totally going to cheat by using my answer I gave meowvatar, cuz I don't know much else I can do to expand on this topic!): Is basically how I live my life. It has been the best thing that's ever happened to me, and also the worst (at least to some people *cough*carl*cough*). I make people smile and laugh, brighten their days---even when I don't mean to, because I'm just being myself. I have a dry sense of humor, which was noticed at a young age by my mom. She thought it was hilarious. But at other times I can be a little wacky and out-in-left-field, and that tends to confuse people. Oh well. I enjoy making others laugh, making myself laugh, and not really taking life too seriously. My motto that I now live my life came to me accidentally a few years ago when I was digging around in the Bible for something about sacred rasin cakes (Hosea 3:1 The LORD said to me, "Go, show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another and is an adulteress. Love her as the LORD loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and love the sacred raisin cakes.") when somehow I ended up thumbing through more pages and found myself in Hebrews. I found Hebrews 13:2 which reads: Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it. To me it means, be kind to all, because you don't know who they might be, or what they might be going through. Give someone something to laugh about, to smile about, because maybe they are having a bad day. Be kind and groovy to all, because (to kinda through in some of my quasi-Buddhist inclinations) karma comes back around. You do something groovy for some one today, later, you'll get something groovy. And I also take the "entertain" part to a little more of the comic/make 'em laugh side of the spectrum than what Paul had intended, but I think he wouldn't mind.</lj>