Frothy Goodness

For those of you who know me in my mild-mannered librarian guise, you know that I'm the last woman on the planet to ever get excited about kitchen gadgets. I'll be blunt. I don't really thrive in the kitchen. Oh sure, I love to eat. I don't like to cook. My time spent in the kitchen can be be compared to the sexual misadventures of a teenage boy. His heart's in the right place, but most of the time he's fumbling around in the dark, not quite sure if he's "doing it" right.

Something unfortunate happened to me recently. I got myself addicted to Starbucks Earl Grey Tea Lattes. This is not good people. And frankly, no good can come to me (or my wallet) by getting addicted to anything at Starbucks.

I'm a hard core tea drinker, and I tend to drink it "straight." Sweetened. No milk. So color me surprised that I got myself addicted to a tea confection that takes steamed milk. Mmm, mmm, good!

But, back to my poor wallet. The siren song of Starbucks Earl Grey Tea Lattes was getting quite loud. So while out shopping with My Man this weekend, I came across this handy steamless milk frother. Yep. For $20 I was willing to try it and break free of the shackles of Starbucks. And boy howdy, it works! I'm now enjoying myself a nice tasty, English Breakfast Tea Latte as I type up this blog post. Mmm, mmm, good! Tasty!

In other news, our dear sweet Nathie is in southern California right now thanks to a family wedding. A bunch of us got together yesterday and hit Borders. Today, me, Nath, Tracy, Renee and (maybe) Lori are hitting a local used bookstore. I suspect I'll just end up browsing. I looked at my wishlist recently, and it was so woefully out of date, I just deleted the darn thing (I know, the horrors!). Plus, I'm still in a dreaded reading slump, and even I can't justify buying a crap-load of books when I'm not, um, really reading.

Sigh. Nobody likes a whiner Wendy.

Big News From The Bat Cave

The So. Cal. Bloggers are spread out over such a large area, that we're currently experimenting with finding different places we can meet. Sort of like on a rotating schedule, that way one part of our group isn't always stuck with a crap-load of driving. Yesterday we headed north, which worked out great for me, since it was literally right around the corner from where the Lil' Sis lives.

So I get to her place, and tell her I brought a copy of Kiss It Better by Portia Da Costa for her to read. I turn my back to her, and as I'm rooting around in my book bag, she says, "I have something for you too. I have this really great bookmark...." I turn around and she's holding....

Ultrasound pictures!

Squeeeeeeeeeeee!

The Lil' Sis is pregnant!!!!!

It's Baby #1 and Pregnancy #1 for her and the Super Genius Brother-In-Law, which is why she waited until the end of her first trimester to tell any of us. The lil' stinker. I should have known something was up when we were at the L.A. County Fair, on a day hotter than blue blazes, and she turned down the opportunity for an ice cold beer. How obtuse is Wendy? Yeah. Very.

She's due in early April, and feels pretty good right now. A little nauseous, but doesn't have full-blown morning sickness. Her main issue is exhaustion. She's really, really tired - which if you know my Lil' Sis, you know it hasn't been easy for her. She's very much a go-go-go kind of person.

So finding out that bit of news just added to an already great day. Seven of the So. Cal. Bloggers were able to make the trip. It was me, Rosie, Nikki, Tracy, Lori, Renee, and Rowena. Books were bought, swapped, discussed, food was eaten, and much merriment ensued. It's always so great to see everyone, and catch up not only on book-related "stuff" but also on our personal lives, husbands, kids, jobs etc. A greater bunch of chicks you'll never meet. A super-duper fabulous day!

Where I'm At Today

I'm abandoning My Man with a full slate of college football (yeah, he's bereft - not!) to hang out with some of the So. Cal. Bloggers today! Yippeee! And better still? We're hooking up at a new meeting place (have a mentioned we're spread out all over the damn area?) which just happens to be, literally, right around the corner from where the Lil' Sis lives. So I get to see my sister, bring her a copy of Kiss It Better by Portia Da Costa to read (cuz that's how I roll) and hang out with some of my most favorite blogger, book-geek, peeps.

Wahoooey!

What are you all doing this glorious weekend?

California's Burning Down

I'm currently carrying around Highland Rebel by Judith James and wouldn't you know it? Southern California is on fire. Some of you may recall that last November, I had just checked out a library copy of Broken Wing when My Man and I were hustled out of the Bat Cave under mandatory evacuation because of the Freeway/Triangle Complex Fire. I left all my books to burn (which thankfully, they didn't) but did rescue Broken Wing and a cozy mystery I had snagged from work. I know. I'm such a good little worker bee.

In fire news, I'm currently safely out of harm's way. In fact, you wouldn't even know parts of the area are in the process of burning down if you were just looking at my neighborhood. The only visual evidence I've had is spying a giant white mushroom cloud off to the west as I went to pick up a pizza for dinner on Saturday evening. So yeah, except for the ungodly hot weather we're having, the Bat Cave is fine.

I did send out an e-mail to the other So. Cal. Bloggers this weekend, and everyone is fine. Nikki, Rowena, Lori, Tracy and Renee are probably getting the worst of it because the smoke is so hellish and the air quality is shit. But everybody is currently safe, although worried about friends and family that are in the path of the fire. My Lil' Sis (along with Kassia Krozser of Booksquare and Quartet Press fame) live in the Pasadena area, but neither are in harm's way - just suffering because of the piss poor air quality.

This is honestly the only time of year I hate living in southern California. It's insanely hot (at one point it was 109 at the Bat Cave last week!) and some part of the area is always trying to burn down. Luckily the winds haven't been bad, but with the heat, terrain, and the never-ending drought, our firefighters have been working their asses off. Then of course you end up reading about some dumb ass idiots who ignore the mandatory evacuation orders and try to protect their homes with a garden hose.

Yeah. Seriously people. Use your brains. If you're there, you are hindering the firefighters from doing their jobs. Like your garden hose is going to beat back a raging wild fire? Why not spit in the ocean while you're at it? Geez. Besides, no amount of "stuff" is worth your life. When I evac'ed last year, yes I was worried. I'd left behind so much (including a quilt my grandmother made me - d'oh!) - but you know what? It's just stuff. We can always get more stuff. Our health, well-being, our very lives? Yeah. Not as easy to replace. Just sayin'.

Be safe everybody. Feel free to use the comments section here to check in and give updates.

Hangin' With The Girls

This is a busy time of year for just about everyone, but the So. Cal. Bloggers decided that one last get-together before RWA was in order. Unfortunately between family "stuff" and illness (get better soon Tracy!), only four of us ended up hanging out this afternoon for our usual gorge at Borders and The Cheesecake Factory. Myself, Rosie (who is not dead in a ditch), Lori (blog template fixin' goddess!) and Renee (Queen Urban Fantasy). Much talking, much laughing, and all around general merriment ensued. I properly sucked up to Lori for fixing my blog (thank you, thank you, a thousand times thank you!) and between Borders and Rosie I came home with way too many books.

Because, you know....I don't have enough books. D'oh!

One thing I wanted to be sure to pick up at Borders was the July issue of Romantic Times. I'm still on a couple of romance-novel-related e-mail loops, and one of my long-time buds from one of those lists (waving to Fatin!) told me that I was "blurbed" in an ad for Megan Hart's latest book. Sure enough, there I am on page 119. Now during my tenure with The Romance Reader I was blurbed quite a bit. Still am on occasion. The thrill here? See.....there's my name! Usually the quote is just attributed to "The Romance Reader." But see! There's my name! I'm famous. Famous I tells ya! Ha!

Also, a much shorter version of this quote is on the actual back cover of Deeper. But yeah - just attributed to The Romance Reader. Not me. But still.....

Oh, and look....

There's Anne! Anne is famous too!

So there's my cheap thrill of the moment. Honestly, this is all it takes most days. But hey, my Mom will think it's cool and my boss will probably get a charge out of it. The rest of you? Yeah, probably not so much.

In case you're curious, Dirty was actually one of the last books I reviewed for TRR and dang, my review was pretty good. I used to write really good reviews. I'm not sure what happened. And Anne's quoted review can be found here.