Julia Phillips Smith's Blog, page 16

A to Z Challenge -- N is for my dad, Norman

Welcome to Day 14 of this year's A to Z Blog Challenge.
   
When I was a kid in the 60s, it was still common for fathers to be remote figures to their children. They worked long hours, were still expected to be somewhat scary authority figures and good for providing financial stability to the family.

Yet, were dads thought of as friends back when I was growing up?




For Day 14 --
  
  
N is for my dad, Norman

In the 60s, my dad was already settling easily in...

A to Z Blog Challenge -- M is for Mary

Welcome to Day 13 of this year's A to Z Blog Challenge.
   
It's not often that a person can say they've been lucky enough to have a lifelong friend who isn't also a sibling or a cousin. Yet it happens sometimes, and today I'd like to introduce you to mine.

For Day 13 --
  
  
M is for Mary


I remember the moment we met. I was three years old. It was summer, so Mary was already four.
She and our little neighbor Johnny Michael were on the sidewalk at the bottom o...

A to Z Blog Challenge -- L is for Lisa

Welcome to Day 12 of this year's A to Z Blog Challenge.
   
For both my husband and me --
  
  
L is for Lisa


Brad and I are both blessed with longtime friends named Lisa.
The wonderful thing about married life is that we both gained a second friend named Lisa.
Here is Brad's friend Lisa.



They met in the early 80s when they both worked at the Imperial Six cinemas in Toronto. We meet up whenever Brad and I are back in his hometown, like this Christmas trip i...

A to Z Blog Challenge -- K is for Kelly Boyce

Welcome to Day 11 of this year's A to Z Blog Challenge.
   
My life-is-good moments usually contain a combination of feelings. There is the excitement of reaching a moment in time that I've been dreaming about, running parallel to the feeling of returning to a happiness I've cherished before.

A perfect example of this is The Pinot Grigio Moment, repeated most often with today's challenge feature --
  
  
K is for historical romance author Kelly Boyce

Kelly Boy...

A to Z Blog Challenge -- 5 on Friday -- Set 218 -- J is For Julianne MacLean

Welcome to Day 10 of this year's A to Z Blog Challenge.

Fridays at A Piece of My Mind are all about music. For today's challenge, I'm matching music to the periods when five historical romance audiobooks are set. Because today...
   


J is for romance author Julianne MacLean




Spinning Friday tunes since 2010...
For anyone who wants to join in, simply choose five pieces of music and post them for other bloggers to enjoy. Then check out the set posted by the other ...

A to Z Blog Challenge -- I is for Prince Ivan from The Firebird

Welcome to Day 9 of this year's A to Z Blog Challenge.

Time for more ballet!

Remember, kids -- when you're a ballet freak, there's never enough ballet.
  


I is for Prince Ivan from The Firebird ballet

Prince Ivan is played here by Andris Liepa , former Bolshoi dancer and now an artistic director for the Russian Seasons 21st Century project, which reproduces the ballets of the golden era of Les Ballet Russes headed by ballet legend Sergei Diaghilev .

The Firebird is playe...

A to Z Blog Challenge -- I'm blogging at Romance Writers of Atlantic Canada

Join me at Romance Writers of Atlantic Canada for Day 8 -- H is for Hal-Con.

A to Z Blog Challenge -- G is for Glass Sculpture

Welcome to Day 7 of this year's A to Z Blog Challenge.

Many of us have a wish list, a hopes-and-dreams list which these days has become known as a Bucket List.

As in --


Things I Want to Do Before I Kick the Bucket

My mom had "see Dale Chihuly's work" on her list, so last year she and I took an art-emergency trip to the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. For us --    


G is for Glass Sculpture


Since Dale Chihuly is a West Coast artist based in the US, discovering that hi...

A to Z Blog Challenge -- F is for Free Comic Book Day

Welcome to Day 6 of this year's A to Z Blog Challenge.

Do you love those scenes at Stuart's comic shop on The Big Bang Theory ?

Have you already seen The Winter Soldier or have plans to see it as soon as possible?

When you have to reach for your flashlight, is it a Pirates of the Caribbean flashlight, or did you get it at Canadian Tire?

If you easily said yes to all three questions, then you already know that --   
  


F is for Free Comic Book Day

Free Comic Book Day...

A to Z Blog Challenge -- E is for Author Event

Welcome to Day 5 of this year's A to Z Blog Challenge.

Today you'll find me at the Lord Nelson Hotel in Halifax, taking part in the Halifax Author Event . 
  


E is for Author Event



I'll be signing copies of my Dark Ages vampire novel, Vampires, Saints and Lovers as well as my dark YA fantasy Bound by Dragonsfyre .
I'm a big fan of taking part in author events. I love meeting readers and chatting with you at in person book signings or presenting an author panel at conven...