Julia London's Blog, page 50

My Very Excellent Adventure

My dad recently had a pacemaker put in and isn't able to drive for a month.  That fact, added to his recovery time, forced my parents to cancel their planned trip to ATL for the holidays.  Bummer!  Even worse, due to an overload of work committments, my DH can't take any time off between now and the end of the year, so going to see the folks for Christmas wasn't an option.  So I decided to visit them for a few days before Christmas.  At first I was going to fly down, but then my son said he wanted to come with me.  Given the crazy cost of the plane fare for not one but two short notice tickets, we decided in the immortal words of those boys from Animal House, "ROAD TRIP!"

The kid was able to change his work schedule for two of his shifts, but couldn't get out of work the day we wanted to leave.  So, rather than lose a day (when we didn't have many days to begin with), we decided to start the 500 mile trek when he got off work, figuring we'd stop for the night if we had to.  We pulled out of our driveway at 5:29 p.m. and the Big Adventure began.  Road-wise it's not a bad drive to my parents' house–98% of the trip consists of two roads–I-16 which brings you east to Savannah, then I-95 which takes you south to Florida.  Very easy.  But let me tell you, 16 and 95 are both reaaaaallly long roads.  And reaaaallly dark ones (why are there no lights on these interstates??).

Anyway, we'd only been on the road for about an hour when, true to D'Alessandro Family Tradition, we got hungry (and one of us, I'm not saying who, had to use the bathroom).  A quick stop at Arby's solved those problems.  (FYI–I'd never eaten at Arby's before. The turkey/bacon wrap was quite tasty and the onion rings were delish!  And btw–fast food calories consumed on Road Trips do not count.  Thank goodness for that rule!)

So, onward we drove–or rather onward *I* drove while the kid took a nap.  We stopped for gas after awhile and the kid, refreshed from his nap, took the wheel.  Which left me to man the radio (according to the kid I desperately need something called Pandora).  Anyway, we switched back and forth between a classic rock station and a Christmas music station, and sang along to The Stones and Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.  While we drove.  And drove.  And drove.  And sang.  And talked.  And laughed.  And sang and laughed some more.  It had been a while since I'd spent so many hours alone with the kid.  I already knew he was a great young man, but it was nice to be reminded.

We arrived at my parents' house at 2:01 a.m. and immediately headed for bed.  But not before we'd shared a hug.  There's a feeling you get when your grown son who's so tall he could eat pie off the top of your head gives you a big hug and says, "I love you, Mom."  I'm not sure how to describe that feeling other than to say it brings tears to the eyes–in a good way.  Hey, kid–I love you, too.

Have you taken any road trips lately?  Plane trips?  Boat?  Horse and buggy?  Do you have any trip rituals (fast food stops, kitchsy souvenirs?).  Are you planning to head off anywhere for the holidays!  Hope you have a great week! xox

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Touch Me

Pleasing a man is something former mistress Genevieve Ralston does very well. But after her lover callously dumps her, she's definitely off men…until she meets Simon! He's brooding. Sexy. And she can't keep her hands off him…

But Simon Cooperstone, Viscount Kilburn, is a spy. His mission: retrieve a mysterious letter in Genevieve's possession. Intent on seducing her secrets from her, he forgets to guard one thing: his heart.

Each stroke of Genevieve's talented fingers unleashes his deepest desires. Too late, he realizes that while he may be a master of the art of seduction, he's no match for a sensual mistress…

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The Christmas Secret: A Novella

I am very happy to announce that the ebook exclusive novella, The Christmas Secret, part of the Secrets of Hadley Green series, is now available for download.

If you read the first book in the series, The Year of Living Scandalously, you met  Declan, the Earl of Donnelly, Keira Hannigan, and Declan's sister Eireanne, who was packed off to a school in Switzerland in the hopes of making connections that would lead to a match.  In The Christmas Secret, Eireanne comes home for the holidays in Ireland, at the family home of Ballynaheath, and over the twelve days of Christmas, she finds the extended Hannigan clan has practically taken up roost in her brother's home, and that her family his pinned all their hopes on her making connections that might lead to a proper and scandal-stabilizing match.

But Henry Bristol, a handsome American, is also at Ballynaheath, and he is the one who captures Eireanne's imagination.  However,  a series of mysterious love letters have capture the family's attention, and quickly it becomes apparent that nothing is as it seems.

I hope you enjoy this reasonably priced novella and that it will tide you over until the last two books of the series, The Revenge of Lord Eberlin, and the Seduction of Lady X, are available in paper, ebook, and audio form in February and March of next year.  And if you are so inclined, I am having a great contest on my Facebook page.  If you post a review or comment about The Christmas Secret, you can enter to win one of TWO advanced reading copies of The Revenge of Lord Eberlin!

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Favorite Holiday Songs

One of the things I like best about this time of year is the music.  So many good songs–it doesn't seem fair that we only get to hear them for a few weeks out of the year.  Given it's The Most Wonderful Season of All, I thought I'd share my Top Ten Favorite Holiday Tunes. 

Number 10:  You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch.  I love the animated cartoon, and this song always makes me laugh.  Hey–I wouldn't touch you with a 39 and a half foot pole!

Number 9:  What are you Doing New Year's Eve?  Harry Connick covered this song, but as much as I love Harry, my favorite rendition is by the first boy I ever loved–Donny Osmond.

Number 8:  Oh, Come All Ye Faithful.  Or, as we call it in my family, O-C-A-Y-F.  When I was in 3rd grade, I joined the band and brought home music to practice for the Christmas concert.  The band director had hand-written all the music (can you imagine??) and across the top of the song I had to practice was written OCAYF.  I showed my dad and he asked, "What the heck song is O-C-A-Y-F?" I told him, "Oh, Come All Ye Faithful."  It's been a favorite ever since.

Number 7:  Deck the Halls.  This one became a favorite when my son was little.  When he said "halls" it came out sounding like "hores."  Being a family of very easily amused people, we found that pretty darn funny.  So Deck the Halls became Deck the Whores, which really changes the entire meaning, but, as I said, we're an easily amused bunch

Number 6:  Jingle Bell Rock.  Because it's fun and happy and makes me want to dance.

Number 5:  The Christmas Waltz.  It doesn't seem as if this is heard all that much.  My favorite rendition is on the Osmond Family Christmas Album–gorgeous harmonies and just a lovely song.

Number 4:  Winter Wonderland.  I love this song because it's so easy to harmonize to.  It's a family favorite.

Number 3:  Please Come Home For Christmas.  The Eagles version is my favorite.  So bluesy and cool.  My son plays it on guitar, me on piano, and we sing 'til we're hoarse.

Number 2:  The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire).  Nat King Cole's classic.  Who doesn't love this song?

And my Number 1 All-Time Favorite Holiday song is: Oh, Holy Night.  When you get to the words "fall on your knees" I just get chills.  Every time. 

What are some of your favorite holiday songs?  Why are they your favorites?

Hope your holiday season is going well! xox

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Home Invasion

No, not THAT kind (although there have been two–count 'em, two–home invasions in Georgetown recently…yikes!

No, I'm talking about the good kind. The party kind! We're having a work-related holiday party at our house tomorrow night. I'm looking forward to the food and the company…but what I'm really looking forward to is the pre-invasion result: a clean house.

Come on…y'all know what I'm talking about. That table that rarely gets dusted. That pile of junk upstairs (it's an upstairs/downstairs party as there will be little kids and teens, which means ALL rooms upstairs will be cleaned). The kids' rooms that you ignore b/c it's just too dang scary to go in there and convince them to clean. Yup, it all gets tidied up for the party. (In that way, it's a lot like moving.)

It's quite possible that 15 months after we moved into this house, a party will actually be what pushes us over the edge to tidiness and organization. Heck, I even finally got around to putting on the clean, new couch cover that we bought in Octobert 2010!

So that's the big perk for me (and that's true even despite the inevitable fact of the post-party clean-up, because at least I know there is a ground zero to be reached).

And then, of course, there's the food.

We've cut wheat from our diet entirely and sugar is pretty much to the zero point…but for special occasions, I'm all for adding the sugar back in. I mean, what's a party without chocolate? So we're firing up the brand new fondue pot and making chocolate fondue with yummy dippables: cheesecake chunks (assuming I get motivated enough to make a cheesecake), gluten free brownies, strawberries, bananas. I even bought a gluten free yellow cake mix, because that just sounded too good—drizzling chocolate over cake. The kids, needless to say, are excited. Though I think Catherine is equally excited by the shrimp rings that we're also serving with cocktail sauce.

And, of course, we'll have Christmas music. I think I post this on a blog every year, but here's my favorite holiday singing treat. Enjoy! (Anyone else doing the party host thing this year?)

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Holiday Pets

We just had a pet emergency here at home. My corgi Kylie, who was never spayed (because she never leaves the yard or spends time with unfixed male dogs, and my pug needed a few surgeries that left me unwilling to put another beloved under the knife at the time), somehow contracted a very serious uterine infection that required an emergency surgery.

Kylie with my daughter, on a better day.

Due to her age, 10, and state of the infection, the doctor gave us dire warnings that she might not make it. But the alternative was kidney failure and death, so… the good news, she made it. She's home recovering and it seems she will be just fine and with us for a while longer. Thank goodness!

Kylie, not feeling so great after surgery.

Starting to feel better, taking it slow.

This reminds me… pets are expensive. We love them and it's worth it, but not everyone has a spare few hundred (or thousand, as it may be) for emergency pet care these days. Times are tough. Just something else to consider before adopting a new pet. I'm sure Jane Lynch here, who just adopted this lucky little one, won't have any trouble.

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Congrats to the Jane Lynch family!

But, giving a live animal as a holiday gift is usually a bad idea, for a number of reasons discussed here. But mainly because a) a lot of people who think they want pets are not really ready for the responsibility and b) even if the time is right to add a new member to the family, the holidays are a source of stress and new situations, and maybe the new addition would make an easier transition outside the added excitement/visits/decorations that the holidays can bring.

However.

If you've weighed the pros and cons and decide that a pet is right for you, please consider adopting from a shelter. Friend of Whine Sisters Connie Brockway is involved with Secondhand Hounds. I just went out and fell in love. About ten times. We're not ready for a new family member here, but one day, when I am, I am rescuing a shelter dog. Like this one:

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Look at that face! A sweet little pug!

Or this:

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Ohh.

Ohhhh, my tender heart!

Secondhand Hounds also has cats and other animals available. Author Eloisa James adopted her beloved Lucy, a dachshund mix, there.

Another great holiday gift idea: donations to Secondhand Hounds or an animal shelter near you.

Have you ever added a fur-baby over the holidays? Or maybe goldfish? Lizards? Turtles? Have any holiday pet stories to share?

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The Tale of the Christmas Trout

[image error]In yesterday's blog, CateS mentioned the game Dirty Santa.  I hadn't ever heard it called that before, but I've played it several times at holiday parties.   You know the one where you can choose a wrapped gift or take one of the opened ones someone else has already chosen.   The year I remember it best, we played at a good friend's house and had a really wonderful time.

What I remember most about that particular game is the battle for the Christmas Trout, an ornament in pinks and greens that was maybe six inches long and definitely a good rendition of the real thing.  Sparkling with strategically placed glitter, it fell somewhere between downright ugly and enchantingly kitsch.  And of course, everyone at the party wanted it.   I don't remember the actual battle tactics anymore, but my husband and I were among those that wanted to possess it.  And being competitive sorts, we knew we had to have a plan.  So being later in the draw, we worked out a strategy that involved me taking it, losing it and then my husband going in for the final steal.  (In our game you could only take something so many times and then it was out of play).

We waited as the trout moved around the room, and then when my turn came—instituted our plan.  As anticipated, the trout was liberated from my possession on the very next play.  But cunningly, my husband swooped in for the final kill (or catch), winning the day—and the trout.   Every year since, that trout has hung on our tree a reminder of a wonderful party spent with fabulous friends.   And this year, as I take him from his box, and find that special place on the tree, I'll be remembering my friend, John, who along with his wife, Laura, brought the trout to the party in the first place.

John is gone, but his memory will always live on.  Funny, how something as silly as a trout ornament can become not only a cherished possession, but the embodiment of a wonderful person who is no longer among us.

Long live the Christmas Trout!

Do you have ornaments that remind you of special times and special people?

 

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The Christmas Secret

If you are a fan of my series, The Secrets of Hadley Green, you will remember that in the Year of Living Scandalously, Declan O'Conner had a younger sister Eireanne, who was tainted by scandal and deemed a little unmarriageable (is that a word?).  When last we saw her, she had been sent off to a girl's school in Switzerland in the hopes of makings some advantageous connections.

A Christmas Secret is an ebook exclusive novella that features Eireanne and her Christmas homecoming.  But when she comes home to Ballynaheath, her brother has married, her new sister-in-law's family is ever-present, and her friends, Molly and Mabe Hannigan are up to their usual tricks.  There are secrets and some surprises, and what Eireanne does with them will either sink her deeper into the scandals that have surrounded her family, or send her to London to find a titled husband who will hopefully add some dignity to a family who can't seem to stay away from scandal.

You can read about it, purchase it, and post about it here.

I hope you enjoy this Christmas novella.  And good luck to Eireanne, because she really needs it.

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The Gift-Giving Tradition

When I was growing up, Santa generally delivered one great gift, an orange, and some underwear or socks.  Mom and Dad came through with some extra gifts, and we four kids were expected to get our parents and sibling small gifts, and enjoy it, by God.  Ha!

Our take Christmas morning was not a big haul, but it was a meaningful one.  Things we really really wanted and had waited until Christmas for appeared.  But that didn't mean it kept appearing year round.  Once, my sister got the baby doll she wanted for Christmas.  That afternoon, she put her baby doll down on the floor heater and the doll's face melted off.  She didn't get a new one.  For one, we lived in the country.  For two, stores weren't open 24-7 like they are now.  And three, we did not live in an era when you lost a toy, you instantly replaced it.  Life didn't operate that way.  What everyone remembers about that day is that she lost her baby doll.

But we have made up for that more austere lifestyle in a major way.  Now, we get what we want, when we want it.  None of us wants for anything.  None of us suffers the trauma of melted baby doll faces, because we fix it right away.  Which means our Christamses, in which we were taught to enjoy the act of giving, have become kinda stressful.  What do you give a person who doesn't want or need anything?

For a while, we drew names.  But some people kept getting the same name.  So we went to white elephants.  They were fun, but kind of silly.  Well, apparently someone complained about last year's white elephant, because this year, we are doing it again, but it has to be a NICE white elephant.  No more giant bottles of whiskey.  No more boxes of two-ply toilet paper.  Where is the fun?

Now, I have to come up with a NICE gift that a man or woman, from the age of 30 to 90, would appreciate.  Do you have any idea how hard that is?  My stepfather, who is kicking at the door of 90, has never really gotten the concept and tells what he is getting.  This year he announced he'll be giving a tool.  Note to self:  Do NOT pick up stepdad's gift.

What are your family gift-giving traditions?  What do you get for the family members that have everything?  What were Christmases like when you were a kid?

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Saturday Books: Now Available

Masters of Seduction, the new anthology offering stories from six amazing authors (including Jacquie D'Alessandro, and me), is available now for Kindle, Nook, and at Smashwords for your PC, or on iBooks/iTunes.

Master storytellers Marsha Canham, Virginia Henley, Jacquie D'Alessandro, Jill Gregory, Sherri Browning Erwin, and Julie Ortolon deliver six sizzling new short stories featuring a magic mirror pendant that guides couples on a seductive path to their own true love destiny, from Middle Ages to modern day.

WHAT THE HEART SEES, by Marsha Canham: A knight defying Prince John's edicts risks all with a forester's daughter whose chance encounter with a blind jeweler offers the only possibility for escape… and for love.

A ROUGH WOOING, by Virginia Henley: After Scottish beauty Douglas Elliot takes advantage of a raid on English Border Warden Sir Lancelot Greystoke's lands to steal his antique mirror pendant, only a pardon from the new king can effect a union between these two reckless lovers.

HEART'S DESIRE, by Jacquie D'Alessandro: On her way to London to attend Queen Victoria's coronation and to announce her own engagement, Callie Albright's stop in the village where she spent her childhood brings her in contact with a man and an antique mirror––and both will change her destiny.

AND THEN THERE WAS YOU, by Jill Gregory: When childhood friends Georgianna and Gabe, separated by the years, meet again at a Wyoming ranch, the woman wounded by love and the gunslinger who's vowed never to marry find in each other the one thing they weren't searching for––love

ALL THAT GLITTERS, by Sherri Browning Erwin: Seventies socialite Elyse Fontaine, obsessed with immortality, finds that things aren't always what they seem when she meets mysterious rocker Bastian Blaze on the run from the law.

HAPPILY EVER AFTER, by Julie Ortolon: When Chloe Davis finds an ancient mirror pendant on the beach at Pearl Island, she sees it as a gift of acceptance from the B&B's star-crossed ghosts––until childhood acquaintance Luc Renard arrives from New Orleans with a tale about the mirror that could steal Chloe's happiness––or lead to her own happy ending.

Follow the mirror and fall in love with MASTERS OF SEDUCTION.

 

 

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