Chrissy Munder's Blog, page 73

Giving Back - Become a Soldiers' Angel

Sometimes in life we come across people and organizations that give us an opportunity to become a part of something greater. It's truly impossible to describe how important my real-life affiliation with Soldiers' Angels is to me, and over the course of the next few months I'm going to share projects and opportunities from the organization here on the blog to give others a chance to explore easy ways to contribute if interested.

What is Soldiers' Angels you ask?

Soldiers' Angels is a volunteer-led 501(c)(3) nonprofit with hundreds of thousands of volunteers providing aid and comfort to the men and women of the United States Army, Marines, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard, veterans and their families.

Even several months of blog postings won't be enough to share all the opportunities for service the group offers. Whether it's a donation of as little as $5.00, or joining one of the project teams, everyone can find a way to participate.

Clare and Chrissy Ask - Are We There Yet?

Chrissy: Greetings all! Welcome to this month's slightly sticky edition of The Clare & Chrissy Show. Despite what the excess heat and humidity may lead us to believe, it's only the second day of Summer. Plenty of time for us to back away from our confetti-strewn Solstice Celebrations and poke at something other than our ongoing themes of renewal and recharging for 2011.

Clare: Chrissy?

Chrissy: Yes, dear?

Clare: We have themes?

Chrissy: *sigh* Too much vacation brain, hmmmm? You and those margaritas – can't live with 'em, can't live without 'em. Remember your trip last year when you woke up in your living room, wearing a bikini and dancing the samba?

Clare: Oh Gawd, you're right. I only hope the boys aren't home this time.

Chrissy: How much money did they make selling ringside seats to their friends?

Clare: Little heathens. But I shouldn't complain. After they'd bought 6 months subscription to their Xbox, there was enough left over for me to buy more margaritas on my trip *this* year..

Chrissy: As our audience may have noticed, in our opinion, margaritas are …

Clare: … more entertaining than me in that bikini, I can tell you.

Chrissy: For those in our audience who read Clare's recent Blog post at Not Your Usual Suspects on Writer's Block, we should mention that before her arrival today we sent Clare through the full-body scanners, and removed any and all sharp objects from her person.

Clare: Took all the fun out of my day, although that one screener was rather charming. Even if he did make off with my axe.

Chrissy: Yes, well. We'll arrange for a return visit if you'd like. Until then, we're taking a break from our plans and contemplating that time honored summer tradition: The Vacation.

Clare: But I've not even unpacked yet.

Chrissy: Buck up, old girl. I have faith. Like a lot of things in life, vacations become an either/or scenario.

Clare: *brushes off her inbox with glee* Either you take them…

Chrissy: …or you don't. *frowns at her wip folders and sighs*. And we're not done once we manage to decide which side of that fence we fall on. Then we face the whole "what kind of vacation question". Shall we make it a family event, or a solo endeavor? Driving or flying? Camping or room service?

Clare: Room service!! I don't *do* canvas, you know. And don't get me started on the latest round of airline fees.

Chrissy: How about a cruise or a planned stay at a resort? Do we want to mix it up with family obligations - jamming five to a bed at Grandma's house, or would we prefer a deserted island far from anyone we may have met in a past life?

Clare: Don't forget to toss sightseeing into that mix. Group tours or individual? Tourist traps or no?

Chrissy: OOOOOHHH!! I love tourist traps! I've never met a "Mystery Spot" I didn't like. Those, and historical markers stuck in the middle of absolute nowhere.

Clare: I just *knew* you'd be one of them. With my hubby in charge of the itinerary I've done every ancient ruin in Luxor (many), every monastery in Skopelos (one), every mill in Yorkshire, every country churchyard in Devon, and always – always! – the local steam train exhibition.

Chrissy: Of course, all of this rampant festivity is dependent on the EDJ, or as it's more commonly known, the Evil Day Job.

Clare: Don't remind me. It's the drudge we have to suffer between holidays.

Chrissy: The punishment for a few weeks of blissful carelessness.

Clare: And who set the work/life balance at working five/six days a week, one/two days off? Surely something got reversed on the original memo?

Chrissy: Hell, yes. It sometimes feels like we have to promise our first born to get any time off work at all. And even when we're entitled, it can seem like a Herculean task to get out of the darn building.

Clare: Just finish this before you go … just one more meeting/call … oh wait a minute, where did you say you put that file …?

Chrissy: What's worse is even if we manage to lose our cell phone, and forget our office logins while away, The Dreaded Return hangs over our vacation like a raincloud over the desert island sky.

Clare: *blinks* How poetic. Yes, it'll all be waiting for us when we get back, they snicker. While you fill in when someone else is out, does reciprocation take a holiday when *you* do? Does your work pile up on your desk in stacks so high you regret ever thinking about leaving in the first place …?

Chrissy: Stop right there! Step away from The Horror.

Clare: But, Chrissy, you know I don't have my axe with me. *waves at the nice TSA agent*

Chrissy: I said –

Clare: Stepping away, stepping away. Killjoy.

Chrissy: We're here to suggest we all take a virtual break – right now! - and Think Vacation.

Clare: Or Holiday, in the vocabulary of the old country … *smirk*.

Chrissy: You know you deserve it. Drift off into Lottery-winning land and tell us where or what YOUR favourite vacation would be.

Clare: Or, in fact, already is. What's the best place you've ever found? (and send me a map …) Do you go back to same much-loved place every year?

Chrissy: Or seek a new adventure every time you re-pack?

Clare: Have you got anything planned this year ...

Chrissy: ... and like us, do you struggle with finding the time / money / key to the shackles to be able to get away at all?

Clare and Chrissy: Share your thoughts with us! If we can't travel the world right now, at least we can dream!

Chrissy: Uhm, Clare?

Clare: Yes, dear?

Chrissy: Any particular reason you didn't use the photo of me on the plane *after* my facial wax?

Clare: *evil grin*

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MAY Winner: essayel - Congratulations! Please email Chrissy at chrissymunder@yahoo.com with your choice of eBook download from either of our current lists.

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DSP Authors chatting at LRC today - and a special discount code

Just a reminder that the Dreamspinner Press authors will be chatting at Love Romances Cafe Yahoo Group today from 4-11 pm EST.

I'm not sure if I'll be there or not yet, but it's always a fun time to meet the authors, read some excerpts, and take advantage of the special discount count that will be posted during the chat.

Learning Something New or Stalk *Your* Favorite Great Lakes Freighter

I don't know anyone who has spent time on the Great Lakes without falling just a little in love with the large freighters that travel so beautifully up and down their waterways. We took a drive to the state's East Coast, rather than our favorite West Coast this weekend, and I'm excited to share my new favorite vantage point. Where, I'm happy to report, the temperature was an entire 25 degrees cooler than in my backyard. Go Great Lakes!

The Great Lakes Maritime Center is, in a not-to-do-it-justice word, AWESOME. State of the art AIS screens overlay actual ship locations on top of satellite imagery to show you, in real time, the location of each vessel on the Great Lakes. A live underwater camera feed lets you view activity under the St. Clair River. I could go on and on and still not hit all the high points. I'm talking benches! Glassed-in viewing areas where I know we will spend plenty of time this fall! Gulls! Fishing piers! Power boaters! Freighters! Sunshine! Music! See, I could go on and on. The only thing missing were cots and employment opportunities.

The center is also where I learned about BoatNerd.com. An amazing, and informative website with more info on Great Lakes Shipping past and present then you could imagine. Bonus! You can stalk, erh, track your favorite freighter. Want to learn its tonnage? What freight is it currently carrying? What port did the vessel sail out of and where is it going? Where I can view this freighter?

See? Awesome.

image author: Bob Campbell. This image is in the public domain because it contains materials that originally came from the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, taken or made during the course of an employee's official duties.

Darn You, Eric Arvin..... :)

...or thank you, as the case may be, for originally posting this clip. LOL. Here's a whole lot of power and grace in motion. Enjoy.

June is a gonna be busy! New Release News! Pride Celebrations! Pyramids?

Looking at the Beth Wylde Yahoo Group Pride Month schedule (Have you seen it? Take a look at that baby!) I knew this would be a busy month. But, it's starting to explode already. Love Romances Cafe Yahoo Group is kicking the month off with a special GLBT Open Excerpt Day today and I'm sure there will be more celebrations announced as time goes on.

In other news, I admit to a small moment of hyperventilation when I realized my story, The One That Counts is not only available for individual sale today, but leads off the First Time For Everything Package! Eeeep. Granted, part of the fun is not knowing exactly when in the month the story will be released. But, I Eeeep nonetheless.

And yes, if you've visited my FB & Twitter today (what,you haven't?) you are well aware of my Pfffffft'ing at the lack of photos to go along with the discovery of ancient markings found inside a secret chamber inaccessible to humans in the Great Pyramid of Giza. *sigh* So unfair.

Naughty, Sexy, Fun Writers or Clare & Chrissy go NSFW on June 2nd.

That's Clare London and Chrissy Munder. You know us, we chat, we write, and we laugh - a lot. We can't remember exactly how we got together, but the results have been explosive. In the fun way that is. And we are excited to once again share that fun and celebrate Pride Month with the Beth Wylde Yahoo Group.

Join us on June 2nd with our no-holds barred NSFW Day. That's right! From 12-6 pm EST we'll have NSFW Excerpts. Three NSFW Contests where you'll have a chance to win our eBooks as well as our almost-trademarked glittery swag bags. Plus, all Clare and Chrissy will be NSFW for your chatting pleasure. And yes, that's a lot of NSFW.

Click here to join the group and be approved for posting. Hope to see you there!

It's a Poppy Open kind of Tuesday, and a photo to prove it.

Just had to share this morning's excitement! We are hoping these blooms will stay until the others open.

Racing around this morning, seeing what's what. That's what happens after a non-internet kind of long weekend. Everyone stay safe and have fun? I should have a few more posts up today when I get things together.

We made another visit to the Great Lakes National Cemetery in rememberance this weekend. Every visit we are more and more impressed with the facility. In addition to the sobering amount of gravesites, we spent time at the two columbariums and walked the paths of the scatter garden. It's a beautiful site, and one well appreciated by those with family members resting there.

Excerpt Thursday! The One That Counts/PG

Here's a snip from my upcoming release The One That Counts. Part of the Dreamspinner Press First Time for Everything 2011 Daily Dose. Available for individual sale on June 1st.

Buy Link: http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/index.php?cPath=55_128


Summary: When Rob Gentner's father dies, his partner David sees an opportunity to shed some light on a past Rob rarely talks about. Standing in front of the family-owned Laundromat that was a major part of his upbringing, Rob finally shares the story of the summer of his first year of college, the beginning of his self-acceptance and life as a gay man. Finally David can understand the circumstances that made Rob the man he loves today—and they both decide that while first times will always be remembered, the last times are the ones that count.

Excerpt:

"What are we doing here again?"

The 'For Sale' sign had faded over the long months of exposure, the laminated rectangle as forlorn and neglected as the small strip of un-kept landscaping underneath. Tall clumps of overgrown grass and even taller weeds hid the realtor's telephone number and pushed the thin metal supports anchoring the sign out of the ground. Rob Gentner fumbled at one side of the bracing in an absent-minded attempt to straighten the twisted frame.

"I wanted to visit the old place," Rob said over the rush of traffic on the busy street behind him, but he didn't glance away from the abandoned building, once such a huge part of his life. "One last time."

Rob listened as his partner, David Morris crossed the broken asphalt of the empty parking lot, gravel and square chunks of pavement kicked out of his way. David's forearm snaked around his waist, pulling him flush against David's chest and offering the same, unflinching support Rob had depended on so thoroughly this difficult weekend.

"Don't expect to receive any proceeds from the sale…"

Rob choked back laughter; surprised at David's uncanny mimicry of his sister's shrill voice, but not the way he zeroed in on what had Rob so unsettled. For the first time since leaving their home in Saugatuck two days before he relaxed, his weight resting on David's cushioning belly. Rob tried to associate the image of his sister he carried in his mind, the childhood smiles and shared memories with the stiff figure in the lawyer's office. But the woman with the tight, pursed lips, and angry, disdainful glare as David held his hand through the reading of his father's will remained a stranger.

"It's funny, you know," Rob murmured. "She hated this place when we were kids. Thought her friends at school looked down on us because our parents owned a laundromat. No matter what my dad said, she always refused to help out." Rob traced his fingers along the smooth bone of David's wrist. "Guess she still has no problem spending the money."

The two men surveyed the squat, brick building. The reddish-brown paint picked out by Rob's mother and now faded and peeling off in huge patches, reminded Rob of days spent helping his dad apply the color to the exterior blocks. The hottest weekend of the year his dad repeated to anyone who would listen.

Plywood replaced the three broken out windows on the side facing the road. Some of the stickers had peeled away, but the speckled glass of the front door still proclaimed the hours of operation. Despite the changes, reflections of the time passed since his last visit, Rob relished the comfortable pull of his memories.

"How about you?" David asked. He rested his cheek on Rob's back, his breath warm and reassuring through the soft cotton of Rob's dress shirt. Sometimes David's fondness for PDA's irritated Rob, he preferred the initial 'P' stood for private. He wondered what it said about him that this weekend he welcomed every one of them.

The One That Counts by Chrissy Munder. Part of the Dreamspinner Press First Time for Everything 2011 Daily Dose. Available for individual sale on June 1st.

Open Excerpt Day at LRC! My poor wallet. :(

Yes, LRC is at it again. Just in time to coax me to open my wallet and splurge on new reading material before the long weekend. Such evil & wicked planning. I can just imagine a cackling voice in the background "Buy my pretties, buy!" 

*cough*

Click HERE to start reading!