Jess Riley's Blog, page 13

GCC Presents: Jenny Gardiner

I had the privilege of being a Deb in 2008 with the hilarious, lovely, and talented Jenny Gardiner, and I'm so excited to showcase her new laugh-out-loud & touching memoir, Winging It: A Memoir of Caring for a Vengeful Parrot Who's Determined to Kill Me (available next Tuesday, March 16, from Simon Spotlight Entertainment).



About the book: Like many new bird owners, Jenny and Scott Gardiner hoped for a smart, talkative, friendly companion. Instead, as they took on the unexpected task of...

It's only a matter of time...

From the Daily Mail: "New York Chef Makes Cheese out of Wife's Breast Milk."

In related news, I sure do wish this was a real product:


(They did forget "moons" and "clovers," though.)Subscribe with Feedburner

The Flaming Lips

Wouldn't it be great if instead of posting how many blog followers you have, that little widget labeled your "following" accordingly? Like, at the top of the pile would be "Jesus Christ." (As in, 'almost as many followers as.') And of course you'd have your Buddha, and various political figures, and Dave Matthews, and Chick-Fil-A. I think I'm somewhere in the neighborhood of "Brownie troop leader."

So last week was exciting! I nearly set my house on fire because I turned the oven to 400 degree...

My House is Some Old Sh*t

Just popping my head up from the pile to feed and water the blog.

We saw Patton Oswalt at the Pabst Theater this past Saturday. My shoulders have been generally scrunched up around my earlobes for the past few stressful months, so it was good to relax and laugh so hard my abs waved the little white flag. Folks, you don't need the Ab Circle Pro or any of that expensive ab-working shit that ends up under a pile of laundry in the back of your closet. You just need to get yourselves some tickets t...

Oh Yes! The Blog!

I knew I was forgetting something.
My brain is too deep-fried by grant proposals at the moment to write anything pithy or entertaining, so guess what? Yep! It's going to be a salad-spinner of a post. Let's see what splatters onto the bowl:
Have another cookie, dear! An extensive British study finds that young children who are regularly looked after by their grandparents have an increased risk of being overweight. They are also prone to tantrums when it's time to return to The Land of Joyless R...

LONG-overdue GCC post for Wendy Tokunaga

I am still back-logged on my GCC posts (forgive me!!), so here is another post long-overdue, for the fabulous Wendy Tokunaga. I had the privilege of meeting Wendy a few years back at the San Francisco RWA conference, and she is just as lovely as she is talented. Without further ado, let me present Wendy's sophomore novel, Love in Translation :

For anyone who's ever dreamt of finding love and family in an unexpected place...

After receiving a puzzling phone call and a box full of mysterious fami...

This is Your Brain on Grants

Tonight when I left work I swung by Festival Foods for "a loaf of bread, a carton of milk, and a stick of butter." I have officially become an old Sesame Street sketch.

My life lately is like this: workworkworkworkworkworkworkeatworksleepworkworkworkeat BUT I am escaping this weekend to attend Chilifest. We haven't attended since 2006 (really?!), and this year I'll be bringing "Chili Sin Carne" from Vegan with a Vengeance. Photos and recipe and debauchery to follow. I sincerely hope we skip th...

Not a Resolution

Updating my blog regularly, that is. Why? Because I am about to write ten grant proposals between now and May 28. This will come to roughly 1,000 pages of narrative, budget wordsmithery and number crunching, and assorted attachments. Not including meetings with clients to plan for, develop, and revise the drafts, plus more revisions and editing, plus the actual preparation for submission.

I do this because I like to eat, and I like my health insurance policy. It also supports the occasional we...

Eileen Cook can Spin A Yarn

One of my dearest author pals, Eileen Cook , has a new book out, and I am tickled to announce the news here! Getting Revenge on Lauren Wood hit bookstores yesterday. If you have any bookstore gift cards burning a hole in your pocket, what are you waiting for? Get thee to the book vendor and pick up this book!

About the Book: Popularity is the best revenge. In the final weeks of eighth grade, Lauren Wood made a choice. She betrayed her best friend, Helen, in a manner so publicly humiliating that...

Is that a Rhinovirus in your Stocking?

That wheezing sound you're hearing? Is me coming up for air after a week I'd spent weeks rushing around preparing for. Also, I am getting over a cold. I wonder what number cold it was in my life. My best guess is that it was my 58th cold (assuming I got more than one head cold in some years). I'm kind of weird that way--I like knowing these strange little bits of trivia, and I like imagining that after I die, St. Peter (or Buddha...or one of their minions) and I are strolling the grounds of s...