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Things I Love

The Last Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe You’ll Ever Need

Did you know that October is National Cookie Month? Neither did I, but being that I L-O-V-E cookies, I will gladly join in the celebration! I’ll share some of my favorite cookie recipes throughout the month. And feel free to share some of your favorites with me too! Just post in the comments and I’ll pick a few good ones to share at the end of the month. Today I’ll start with my favorite Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe. One I found from an episode of Good Eats hosted by Alton Brown on the Food

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October 1st - A Magical Day for Disney World

It was forty-two years ago today, that Disney World opened its doors to the Magic Kingdom in Orlando, Florida. Entrance into Magic Kingdom. Believe it or not, I took this photo with my iPhone. I happen to believe that Disney World is one of the most magical places on earth. Honestly – it’s ruined most other theme parks for me because I’m always comparing it to Disney. I’ll never forget taking my kids to a regional (not Disney) theme park. They were so excited to meet one of the characters.

Things I Love

Prisoners – The Movie

Have you seen the trailer for the new Hugh Jackman and Jake Guyllenhal movie, Prisoners? It’s an intense 2 minutes and 36 seconds. I’m trying to avoid the spoilers. The movie opens tomorrow!! Are you going to go see it?

Things I Love

Music I Love: London Grammar

Oh I am in LOVE, LOVE, LOVE with the indie UK trio, London Grammar!! Lead vocalist Hannah Reid has a voice that will totally remind you of Florence Welch and every single track I’ve heard is amazing. Their new album If You Wait is available today!! Lucky for some of you, they’re kicking off a US Tour at the end of September with stops in major cities like Los Angeles, New York City, Chicago and Philadelphia. Check out their official website and full tour schedule here. What do you think of their

Things I Love

First Date Friday: Chocolate in the Garden

I’m going to let you in on a secret. Well, it’s actually not really a secret because if you check my bio (and practically any author of the female persuasion it would seem) you’ll see that I love all things made of chocolaty goodness. Let’s face it – most females like chocolate. Right girls?! Chocolate is like a food group for authors. Have any of you heard about how rough being a writer actually is? We N-E-E-D chocolate. Almost like we need air. You would too if you spent countless hours

Things I Love

I Want Crazy

Hunter Hayes’ video for I Want Crazy is what I try to capture in the young adult novels that I write. That whirlwind kind of love that consumes you so the other person is all you can think about. It also makes you do crazy things, like sneak into the public pool, or sneak up on a rooftop or catch a plane on a moments notice to be with the one you love because you can’t stand being apart. Yeah – that’s what I write about. That got me to thinking about the craziest thing I did as a teen. I’ll

Things I Love

Teen Book Review–Daughter of Smoke & Bone by Laini Taylor

I’m going to make two confessions. First, I have a thing for audiobooks. I can listen while I’m driving, which is a good and bad thing. Bad only that I still have to pay attention to the driving and sometimes books are very engrossing. Second, my TBL (To Be Listened) stash is ridiculous, so it takes me awhile to get to some of the books. Hence the reason I just finished the young adult novel, Daughter of Smoke & Bone by Laini Taylor and read by Khristine Hvam. Sadly two years after the book was

Writing Teen Romance

What I Learned at RWA – The PRO Retreat

Pardon the delay in this post…my favorite saying of late is: Life Happens. I won’t bore you with the details other than to say, I’m deep in edits for one of my young adult manuscripts. My day job is insanely busy – so much so that I’m working well over 10 hour days, which leaves me very little time to spend with my family, let alone write a witty blog post. So I’m sorry. But let me try to make it up to you by giving you the scoop on the PRO Retreat at RWA.. For all you non RWA members out there,

Things I Love

What I learned this year at RWA–Day One

Every summer, RWA - Romance Writer’s of America - has a huge conference. This year, the conference was held here in Atlanta and that’s where I spent a good portion of last week. It was tons of fun getting to meet up with writer friends from my chapters like the Young Adult Romance Writers (YARWA) or Celtic Hearts; and very nice to make tons of new acquaintances. Aside from making friends, I also learned a lot. Such as: If you want to workout while you’re away – it’s best to pack your running