Julia London's Blog, page 106

Bridezillas and Other Unnatural Creatures

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A comment by Parrot in another forum about a Bridezilla got me to thinking.  Next month I'll be giving a baby shower for a lovely young woman I've known for ages.  I gave her a wedding shower a few years ago and am delighted that she is about to have her first baby.  I know she will be a wonderful and loving mother, so it's a joy to be able to celebrate her.

But it ain't always so.  I've thrown my share (probably more than my share) of wedding and baby showers in the last few years.  Most of

Half-Empty Nest

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Thursday, we packed up the car, drove up to Maine, took one last family mini-vacation at our favorite beach spot, then dropped my son off at college on Saturday.

Yes, I did it! I left Nick in his dorm room, got one last hug, shed a few tears, and walked away. I had feared that I might end up unable to leave, camping in his hallway, and being escorted off campus by police. But no. I walked away. Of my own volition, not even having to be dragged off by my husband and daughter. It wasn't as hard

These Dreams!

I'm not sure if it's the result of having a wildly active imagination, but I've always had very detailed, vivid dreams. Dreams that take on epic cinematic proportions. My dreams can be so entertaining, it's a wonder I ever wake up. Last night's, for example.


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There was a kidnap plot against Julia London! That's right, some dastardly villains were plotting to kidnap our dear JFL-- for a whopping $500,000 ransom (why not $5 mill? I have no idea. I guess in my dreams, she's only worth $500,000-

From Weddings, to Dating

I don't know much about dating, since I haven't done it in over twenty years, but I get lots of stories from my "kid" sister, Kristin.


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Note pose. You would never find me pulling a cheesecake pose for the camera, but Kristin has never met a camera she doesn't like. Kristin is 27, a high school English teacher and cheerleading coach, and the sweetest, most generous, fun-loving girl you're likely to ever meet. She does have a tendency to exaggerate, but what can I say? The girl loves attention,

You made me do it

You asked for it, you got it—ugly green bridesmaid dresses and the ugly wedding dress, Take One.  From left to right, Sister Karen, Blushing Bride, Sister Nancy, Brother Sandy. 

Notice first groom is conspicuous in his absence.  That's because second groom, Hubot, is soooo much better.  Why muddy the waters? 

Okay, Sherri and Kath.  Have your fun. 

Really?

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Well, yet another Jane Austen spinoff has arrived - Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters. Huh?  But yes, reader, it's a real book. And a real phenomenon.  Amazing.  And there's another new one:  The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Zombie Jim.  Zombies, Sea Monsters.  I can't wait to see what's next; Gone with the Zombies.  Alice in Zombieland.  Or maybe Zombies with the Wind.  No, wait, that one's not so good.  Olvier Zombie.  Middlemarch and Sea Monsters.

I truly don't get the zombie th

Just for Leslie

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Here you go, Leslie, wedding day pic for me and His Majesty.  We look SO young!!!  Oh, wait, we were so young.  It was a happy day.  And here's one of the resulting family, His Majesty, the Princesses, and me.  That was taken on another happy day. 

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What was your favorite summer trip?

Our family didn’t take vacations often, so when we did, it was a Big Deal.  One year, we drove from the panhandle of Texas where we lived to San Antonio to see the World Hemisfair and the Alamo. Imagine it:  Two adults and four kids piled into an old station wagon with the rear seat facing backwards. Remember those gems?  My older sisters got the seat behind my parents. My brother and I got the very back seat and the unique perspective of the world most people see in a rear view mirror.

My brother and I liked to make faces and weird hand gestures to the drivers behind us, which is why I think they quit making that model of station wagon.  I can imagine myself today stuck behind that car, and while I would probably think it was cute for the first ten miles, I would not think so much longer after that.

If you’ve never driven it, you might not appreciate just how big Texas is.  From the panhandle to San Antonio is about a ten-hour drive under the best of circumstances, and with four kids, I am sure my father was afraid it could stretch into days. Therefore, bathroom breaks were kept to a minimum and usually involved trees, or, in the prairies, a railroad track, as that was the only thing elevated. Meals were dug out of the paper grocery bag my mother had packed with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, apples, and Twinkies. We passed many highway hotels with swimming pools and longed to stop. I have a friend who remembers his family vacations by those swimming pools. It was their form of air-conditioning. They would pull into a highway motel, the kids would run and jump into the pool with their clothes on, then run back to the car, and off they would go with the windows rolled down.  We did not get to stop for anything as fun as that, but our mother promised our highway motel in San Antonio would have a swimming pool.

As we didn’t have videos or game devices back in the day, my mother did her best to keep us distracted. She had games for us to play using license plate letters and numbers. My brother and I had an advantage, because we saw the plates well before my older sisters did, which led to charges of cheating and general disintegration of the game. 

After what felt like days, we finally did arrive in San Antonio and our motel with a pool. I don’t remember much about the Hemisfair, other than the big tower that loomed over everything.  I remember the day we went to the Alamo, and how my big, tall, strapping rancher of a father teared up as we walked through. I remember there was a big, life-sized iron horse somewhere, and that my brother met Tom Jones, who was the headlining act one evening.

When it was all over, we left the motel with the pool and piled into the station wagon, my brother and I facing backwards, and watched San Antonio disappear as we drove away, bound for the panhandle.  On the way home, my father gave in and we stopped at a real restaurant in Tulia, Texas, that served homemade Mexican food. My father claimed that little place served the best sopapillas, a Mexican pastry, in Texas.  He was right about that; I remember those sopapillas to this day.

I was a little kid when we went to San Antonio, but I learned one of my earliest life lessons:  it's really all about the journey.


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Today is THE Day!

To rush out and pick up your copy of Julia London's Summer of Two Wishes! Fabulous, fun summer reading, or fall reading if you fall behind-- but don't wait to pick it up, go now. Now! (Are you still sitting here?)

It's also my 19th wedding anniversary. Nineteen years living with Mr. Right, Mr. Always Right. But he gave me the greatest gift this morning and he didn't even realize it. He said "You're right."

I was right about something big, and he acknowledged it without thinking. HAHAHA! You can

Is August Looking Up?

There was a glimmer of good news yesterday.  The local weather guy—Jim Spencer, who is alternately reviled and worshiped in this house—said that the high pressure ridge over Texas is weakening, which means our triple digits will be closer to 100 instead of 105 this week.  That's almost normal for August!  Could things be looking up?

And in addition to that, I've got a new book coming out on Tuesday.  This is a slightly different sort of contemporary than I have written before.  The idea for this