I had an entire post written (after fighting with the new plug-in WP installed for my blog site without asking me) and now it’s gone. So I’m going to start fresh and keep the cursing to myself. But I do hate when sites update things without warning or asking users beforehand. So annoying. Like going to the grocery store and discovering they’ve completely rearranged everything. I can never decide if spring or fall is my favorite season, and in each one, I think that’s the one.

We’re winding down September with a family birthday dinner today (and start October with another next weekend!), hence the cupcake.  It’s been kind of a busy month for me: crazy-busy weeks at the day-job, a few family birthdays to celebrate, the 30-day accountability challenge (which has been going amazingly well! I’m really excited about the progress I’ve made.), ticking a couple of to-do items from my perpetual list, plus the Fall into These Great Reads Bookathon. Speaking

I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that I was taking part in this fun book event, and my post will be up this week, on Wednesday, 9/23 (fun coincidence, that is my oldest son’s birthday!). I’m really excited about this. Celebrate Autumn all month long at N. N. Light’s Book Heaven’s second annual Fall Into These Great Reads Bookathon. 47 books, 34 authors. So much fun! I have a link to the general promo page here, but will have the direct link to my post on Wednesday and will s

But it doesn’t feel like summer anymore either. Finally! There are some gorgeous days in the weather forecast for us for the next week, and I’m so excited. Today was one of them. Sunny, but not hot like just a couple weeks ago. I’m liking this weather. I wish summer was more like this than the 90-100+ degree temps we had all season this year. Today, I’m doing a quick fly-by because I’m working on revisions on that first tiger shifter story, and I really want to get some extra

We’re finishing up a holiday weekend here, though I think I did as much work this weekend as if there wasn’t an extra day off. But it was necessary, and I’m glad it’s done. I had a lot of mulch delivered to the boys’ midweek, and then spent Saturday and Sunday mulching flower beds around the house and planting a few things as well. We had a hard time guesstimating the amount of mulch we needed, so we wound up with extra, so the good news is we won’t need to mulch next year. A

These guys love my fennel plants all summer. When I have dill planted, they love that, too, and since the plants get so big, I don’t mind sharing. When I snapped this picture the other evening, this guy had two friends also snacking on the same fennel plant. Two of the caterpillars were pretty sizable, like, soon time to cocoon and change into butterflies, and the the third was about half their size, so he had some time to go before his changeover. Aside from the caterpillars

This looks like a normal vacation, right? Especially when you’re a kid. I kind of wish that was this year’s vacation. Maybe next year. In reality, my vacation is a ‘working vacation’ this time, with some tasks on my to-do list getting checked off–like some of the garden work I needed to do at the boys’ house, and some purging here at our house. I still have more garden work to to do at the boys’, but I am going to wait until it cools down a bit here, like my long weekends in

That is not my current view, but the grey sky is pretty much what we’ve had here all day. There was a little rain overnight, and into the early morning, and then the clouds just stuck around. To be fair, I wouldn’t mind it so much if the view included the beach above where we do our writing retreats, but alas, not this year. Those kind of days aren’t really motivating, are they? They invite more lounging and doing nothing than getting things accomplished, I think. But in spit

( Beach with chaise lounges – Depositphotos ) That looks like a good spot for a vacation, doesn’t it? Beach, water, no other people around. Unfortunately, this is unlikely for most people this year. Vacations in general are almost impossible with the virus still spreading all over the place. I hadn’t really planned to go away during my week off later this month, but I can daydream, right? While I hope for an actual vacation next year. My plans for this year are far less glamo

(Heart in sand on Atlantic coast -Depositphotos) I’m capping off my birthday week celebration today with family dinner with my guys, but we have a little while until our early dinner. It’s been a good week, and I’ve spent some of it looking at the new month ahead. I have my writing goals, of course, but I admit to being really distracted the last few days. I have a store of photos for hero inspiration, current and future, and periodically, I stumble across a photo I’ve loved

This is the last week you’ll hear me talk about my birthday till next summer. I got a gorgeous box of chocolates from someone I work with the other day–these chocolates are so beautiful, it’s a sin to eat them, but I will, eventually. My cheesecake will be here this week, but because my birthday falls on the busiest day of the week for the day-job, we’ll have birthday dinner and cake on the weekend next week. I’m still pondering dinner, but the cake was already decided on. To

Yes, I’m still thinking about birthday cakes. So many different varieties, shapes, sizes–yellow sheet cake, triple layer chocolate cake, angel food. And most of them I love. I’m not a fan of peanut butter icing (it’s okay, more for you!), but there are almost no limits to the kinds of cake I would eat, or have eaten in the past. When I was younger, my mom had a friend who made a rum cake one year when we visited. There was rum in the cake (I can still remember how moist that

(Delicious cake with strawberries – Depositphotos) Since it has been hot, hot, hot here for weeks, I thought maybe a nice light cake this week. That looks delicious, and perfect for our very summer weather. Just a little over two weeks until my birthday now, and my cake will be ordered this week. It will be an extra-special treat, since it will be a bit of NYC here–since we cannot go there any time soon. Or anywhere unnecessary, really. Though to be honest, right now, we’re n

( Chocolate cake and sparkler – Depositphotos ) Yes, it’s July, which means my birthday is coming soon, so expect lots of cake pictures the next few weeks. Since it’s still Independence Day weekend, the sparkler cake seems appropriate today. There are actually a fair number of family birthdays this month, though even in a normal year, we don’t gather for celebrations, because our family is so spread out geographically, cousins, siblings and aunts all over the country. This ye

( Chocolate cake and sparkler – Depositphotos ) Yes, it’s July, which means my birthday is coming soon, so expect lots of cake pictures the next few weeks. Since it’s still Independence Day weekend, the sparkler cake seems appropriate today. There are actually a fair number of family birthdays this month, though even in a normal year, we don’t gather for celebrations, because our family is so spread out geographically, cousins, siblings and aunts all over the country. This ye

I’m a day early this weekend, but it’s for a good reason. My youngest son’s birthday is today, and we have our birthday dinner planned for my regular posting day tomorrow. And in a few days, my birthday month starts, so expect to see lots of pretty cake pictures. I’ve already decided on my actual birthday cake, too–last year I was in New York City for my birthday and brought home the best cheesecake in the world for my birthday cake, and I think I’m going to splurge this year

( Goal Target – Depositphotos ) This is the time of year that I typically take a look at the goals I set for myself for the year and see where I need to make adjustments. Every year, I think I have made realistic goals, and it feels like the universe takes that as a challenge to see how many curve balls it can lob my way. Needless to say, this year’s goals will need a major overhaul. Who could have predicted when I started my goal list in November what was coming at us? Certa

I have an old 80s song stuck in my head this week, “I’m So Excited” by the Pointer Sisters. My shiny new website has launched, and it is so pretty! I love what my web designer did for me, and I hope you all like it, too. Check it out here. I’m in the middle of the last couple weekend chores right now, so this post is just a fly-by. I have a quick excerpt from Light the Way Home for you today. ================ “I really do appreciate this, Lucie,” Nate said from where he stood

It’s a gorgeous Sunday here, and my lilies have buds all over them. My mom had them planted at our mailbox when I was growing up, and the ones in my garden came from her mom’s garden, so when they bloom every year, they make me happy for multiple reasons. I’m watching them daily to see how close mine are to blooming. Probably not quite yet, a week or so, I think, and then happy orange flowers will brighten our side garden for a couple of weeks. Each month means something diff

( Depositphotos.com ) I’m past my normal blog day this week, and I’m sorry. the last couple of weeks at the day-job have been kind of busy. Theoretically, we get to catch our breath for a few days, but my two teammates are off the rest of the week, so it’ll just be me the next two days. Luckily, it isn’t as insanely busy as last week, so I’ll be fine. I think I mentioned that I was working with my web designer on a fresh look for my website, and we’re nearly ready to launch t