Tuesday, March 21, 2017

Travel Tuesday - Disney World

Young Miss is becoming quite the photographer! These are some of my favorite photos she took on our trip to Disney this past January - all taken with her phone camera.

























She has a great eye for details!

Monday, March 20, 2017

Monday Musings

Hello friends! I hope you had a good weekend, they sure go fast don't they?!


Saturday morning, I drove a few junior high girls (my daughter included) to their orchestra competition [on account that the bus didn't show up to take them]. They got a first place and have qualified for state. I am very excited for them!


Saturday afternoon and evening was pretty lazy around our house.


Yesterday I went and did some shopping with Young Miss. Then cleaned house; did some knitting and scrapbooking.




I got my pedometer going again mid-week last week and did pretty good with my goal (7500 steps each day).

I hope you have a wonderful Monday!

Thursday, March 16, 2017

Get to Know the Author - Cynthia Luhrs


Welcome to the second "Get to Know the Author" segment.


Today, I welcome Cynthia Luhrs to the blog.






Tell us a little about yourself.

I’m a southern girly girl who lives with three tiger cats and drinks gallons of iced tea with mint picked from the garden. When I was little my parents allowed my brother and I one hour of television a day but I always read books. Once I’d read all my books from the library, I’d look around and pick up whatever my dad was reading, I wasn’t picky, I just wanted to read. It was his fault I’m afraid of clowns and getting eaten by sharks. Thank you IT and Jaws.


What other interests do you have?

Reading of course! I also like to sew, machine embroider, monograms for all is my motto, and I also crochet, quilt, and paint.

Where can we find you on the internet?

Stop by and say hi.
Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/cynthialuhrs/
Twitter – https://twitter.com/wickedgreens

Website – http://cluhrs.com








What are the titles of your books?

When She Was Good (Coming end 2017)
When She Was Bad
There Was A Little Girl
Beyond Time (Coming in May)
My One and Only Knight
Last Knight
First Knight
Forever Knight
Darkest Knight
Lonely is the Knight
Knight Moves
A Knight to Remember (the first in the series and free everywhere)

What made you want to become a writer?

I wanted to write stories readers could curl up with and find themselves transported to another world and books they’d finish with a smile.
What does your typical writing day look like?

When it’s nice outside you’ll find me on the deck or the screened-in porch with my laptop, writing away. In the cooler weather, I’m in my office at my desk or my new treadmill desk, which I’m still trying to get the hang of typing and walking, I’m rather uncoordinated. I typically write from nine until noon, break for lunch and then take care of the business side of things, run errands, etc. Then I’ll write again from seven until eleven. Though when I’m on a deadline, it’s all words all the time, the laundry piles up and I’m surviving on Pop-Tarts, carrots, and Pepsi by the time I turn the book in to my editor.

What have you put most of your effort into regarding writing?

Learning the craft of writing and nailing dialogue. Sparkling, witty dialogue is my goal though I’m not there yet, however I keep working on improving. Always trying to make the next book better than the last.


If you could spend time a character from your book whom would it be? And what would you do during that day? (PG-13 please :)

Charlotte Merriweather from Lonely is the Knight. She’s a free-spirit who figured out her sisters time-traveled and made preparations to go find them even though she didn’t know how they managed to fall through time. Her belief was so strong, you just knew she’d accomplish whatever she set her mind to achieving. I’d like to meet up with her in medieval England and spend a day with her going about her day-to-day life, learning little details that have been lost as time passed.


What is the toughest criticism given to you as an author? What has been the best compliment?


Constructive criticism is great, things like head hopping or mixing present and past tenses, that kind of feedback helps me improve my craft. But the mean kind? I quit reading those reviews a long time ago. As far as the best compliment? Whenever a reader takes time out of their busy life to email me or post on social media that I kept them up all night reading, or I made them cry or they’ve read the books over and over, I treasure each and every one of those, they make my day.

What book that you have read has most influenced your life? What is your favorite book?

There are so many, I can’t pick one. I’d have to say reading as a whole has made me a better person and shown me other viewpoints and worlds. As far as my favorite book? Hands down, it’s Outlander. The book that hooked me on the time travel genre and had me searching out every book I could get my hands on.


Who is your favorite author (besides yourself)?


It’s so hard to pick just one. Tessa Dare and Courtney Milan for fantastic dialogue. Of course Diana Gabaldon and J.K. Rowling for stories that when you close their books it takes a moment to realize what day it is And of course Stephen King, Harlan Coben, James Patterson, and so many more. But if you’re going to make me choose, right now it’s Karen Marie Moning for her Fever series. I absolutely loved the series and Jerrico Barrons is one of the greatest alpha heroes I’ve read in a while.


Anything you would like to say to your readers and fans?

Thank you so very much for taking time to read my books, I write them for each of you and hope you close the book with a smile.



Thank you for stopping by, Cynthia! I hope you will all check out her books.






Wednesday, March 15, 2017

WILW

I am linking up with Rachel for another week of What I'm Loving Wednesday. I hope you will visit her blog and say hi!

I am loving a few things the past week:

*My husband keeping up his sense of humor during a rough week for me, last week.

*Cupcakes!

*Finding this magazine at the library. It made me laugh a little too hard...

*My aunt texted me this and I made it my phone wallpaper

*Reliving different trips on my blog - so fun to look back (even if it's only been a few months)

*Baseball is coming!!!!!!!

What are you loving this week?

Tuesday, March 14, 2017

Travel Tuesday - Disneyland Details

These are just a few Disneyland details we enjoyed during our visit to the parks.



 The "gingerbread hotel" in our hotel lobby:

 I stumbled on this fountain in a quiet corner of Disneyland while trying to get somewhere else in the park. I could have stood and looked at it for a very long time!

More Disneyland to come soon....

Monday, March 13, 2017

Monday musings

Hello my friends! I know I was MIA last week but plan to be more "present" this week.


We woke up to a little snow this morning.
A couple of inches. Thanks Mother Nature - that's enough now.
To my friends on the east coast - be safe and warm!


We watched this on Saturday night:
Meh.... I don't feel smart enough about the workings of an oil rig to have really understood the first 45 minutes of the movie. The action the last half was intense though.

My husband got me a red velvet cupcake from our local cupcake shop and it was delicious! (A great end to the weekend)

I hope you all have a great week ahead!

Tuesday, March 07, 2017

Travel Tuesday - The One with the AWESOME Tour!

We decided since we were staying "in the neighborhood" and we were enjoying Hollywood-type tourist attractions, we would take the tour of Warner Brothers. We had a BLAST on that tour!!!!

Young Mister was VERY excited to see all the Batman vehicles


This is just a few of the lights you can rent from the prop warehouse. It is a massive building with ANYTHING you could want for a prop!

We stopped by the Warner Bros. Super Hero Exhibit:


Saw some famous TV house sets:


The Full House front door:
 
We took a drive down a New York City street:
Oh and look here is some of our talent:
JOHN LITHGOW!!!!!

(he was filming his new show that comes out this month - Trial & Error)

There were a lot of shows in rehearsal and prep to tape - Mom; Big Bang Theory; Ellen. It was fun to see in the studio sets. We also got to walk on the set of Lethal Weapon (the TV show).

Got to play with some movie magic:
 (look who to got to be "bigger")

and got to wear the Sorting Hat

and ride a broomstick

 and ride the Bat Cycle

And the part I enjoyed the most:

We got to sit on the Central Perk couch:

Phoebe's guitar:

We HIGHLY recommend the Warner Brothers tour - lots of fun stuff to see and do.
Our tour guide (sorry I can't remember her name...) was fantastic! All the staff was friendly and encouraged us to look at everything and touch what we could. The tour was about 3 hours long.