Simply Hot Blogfest!

All right, peeps! This is my third and final (for now) blogfest in the crazy fun blogfest triathlon!  But before I carry on ad naseum about my favorite mug, which believe me I will, I want to invite everyone to stop by on Saturday for my announcement of the lineup for my 100 followers celebration.  Come on by and help me kick off the party! We'll have some cocktails and it'll be grand.

Okay, so first, thank you Erica and Christy for such a fun idea for a blogfest! Stop on by their blog for more entries.  Here goes:

I am very particular about mugs.  I don't like anyone else to use my favorites and have been known to be snappish on the subject.  At home I mostly drink tea.  Green, Earl Grey, Spearmint, Chai, Chamomile, fruit or flower flavors.  All sorts.  Coffee is for work, or for when I run by a Starbucks or Borders or something, in which case it is more like a dessert than coffee.  It always cracks me up when they ask if I want whipped cream.  Um, yeah. Always.

My favorite mug was purchased at Starbucks, which is part of the reason I love it. Did you know that while they are an overpriced conglomerate, they are actually quite socially responsible?  I studied them once for a business class. They have really good fair trade and environmental policies, and have great benefits for their employees.  I sort of love the hell out of Starbucks. 

The second reason I love this mug is that it is roundish in shape.  Like my wineglasses, I like a fat, round shape.  It fits your hand better (and holds more, of course). Okay, this just got super anal retentive.  I mentioned I'm particular, right? This mug is also made out of recycled materials (high five environment).  And the final and main reason I love this mug (I know, finally, right?) is the word on the side, because my novel is about someone who's lived through a whole bunch of lifetimes.  So when I saw it I was instantly in love - simple, elegant, awesome.  Here it is:

I realize in the pic it doesn't look that round, but it is :)

And my second runner up is this one, because I love the artist, Laurel Burch, and it has horses (need I say more?):

So, if you're still reading, congrats and thanks for indulging my neurotic diatribe about mugs!  Pop over to

E & C's blog for more mug obsession :)

A Saturday of Sunshine and Starbucks

I've been trying to stick to a Monday, Wednesday, Friday blog post schedule, but alas, my internet quit working Thursday night.  I had to spend 45 minutes on the phone last night with the internet provider trying to get them to fix it.  It would appear for the moment they have.

It's been a lovely day so far.  I woke up early and went to a 5k run with my sister, and the morning was chilly and sunshiney gorgeous.  Then we went to Starbucks and I got a grande pumpkin latte, which led to an amazing caffeine high, which led to being productive with some yard work.  Now I'm ready to take a luscious afternoon nap.  So, here is your teaser for the week, from Chapter Two.  Have a great weekend!

She was abruptly aware of her senses as they came into sharp, diamond focus: images flashing into her peripheral vision, her ears picking up hundreds of distinct sounds, her skin tingling all over. Her heart quickened almost painfully and her throat went dry. All of this happened in a fraction of a second, her body reacting to some unknown threat.

Adding to her panic was the fact that she’d never experienced anything like it before. She had no idea why her body was reacting as it was, but she abruptly felt an uncontrollable urge to look behind her and see if anyone was following her. It was a completely irrational instinct since of course many people were behind her on the crowded street.

She turned her head, very slowly, to look behind her. Not knowing what she was looking for, her eyes scanned the crowd, skipping over each figure in less than a second. Her logical mind was absent as some sort of foreign intuition took over. Then her eyes rested on what she knew without a doubt was the source of her instinctual fear: about twenty feet back, a tall figure in a dark cloak strode swiftly in her direction.