I come from what I figure was a typical family. To us family which included extended relatives they come first. We make this happen by meeting all of us on my Mom’s side of the family once a year for Thanksgiving either in Ottawa or Sudbury, Ontario. It wasn’t until recent years that I realized how rare and special my family truly is. You see not everyone is as loving as they are or as lucky as I am to have a family like them. Yeah there are times we get crazy and/or don’t agree, but we never doubt it for a second that we don’t love each other and have the best intentions. Well this year there will be 2 people fewer at Thanksgiving. In the last 24 hours we lost two important, wonderful, loving women Elaine and Aunt Rose.

I met Elaine over 20 years. She married my cousin over 19 happy years ago. She was a great addition to our dynamic family. She always had a smile on her face. She worked in the heath care field and loved every minute of it.

Aunt Rose might have been small size but she had the biggest hard and best hugs in the whole world. She was the last one of my granny’s siblings to die. I can’t remember a time when she was in a bad mood. She was always smiling and never uttered a negative word about anyone.

Elaine and Aunt Rose you will be dearly missed.

For the past two weeks or so I have been making my way through JULIE & JULIA MY YEAR OF COOKING DANGEROUSLY. I was going to give this book a bad review. I’ll explain why I wanted to and why I’m no going to. However let’s start from the beginning.

At first I kept getting bored with the book. I thought to myself this is the reason some reviewers have DNF (did not finish) on their reviews. Did I stop reading the book? No, I kept on going. I have a philosophy with books, there is a lesson to learn in each and every one of them. Some are clear while others (like I this book) aren’t so much or it’s more that the lesson it at the end of the book.

Once I moved on from being bored I had to resist screaming “Come on you have got to be kidding me” and follow that up with throwing the book across the room or against a wall. Since I can’t stand to see the binding of my books get a crease I knew I would never let the temptation of throwing a book get the upper hand.

I have to say that hearing about cooking meat really didn’t appeal to me and it’s not because I’m a vegetarian. I’m just not that in to cooking. I tried to get into it but it just didn’t work for me. I used to love to bake, but since I don’t’ have as much time and the fact that I’m baking for one kind of kills the mood.

What did I learn from this book?

Well it wasn’t until the last 5-10 pages that I got the message from the book. For me it was about a woman who needed a reason to challenge herself into looking deeper into herself and discover the true “her”. I have been through this process many times since graduating from high school. I will probably continue to do so since I believe that a person changes with the different circumstances in her life. We can’t help but change when the curves our lives do as well. Did I learn anything about myself while reading this book? Yep, I found out that I can read something that isn’t fiction, homework or work related. I also learned that I’m not that into biographies,

Would I recommend this book? I’m not sure. I’d have to say give it a try and see.

I knew there was a reason why I loved to watch CASTLE, it took only one minute into the show to remember why. He has the best one liners and Nathan Fillion can deliver them perfectly.  It wasn’t until this morning that I realized who the character Castle reminded me of, Loralee in Gilmore Girls. I still miss that show but not as much since Castle has been on. Hmmm!

What does this season hold for Castle and his crew? Well I think they will solve Beckett’s mother’s murder. Did you like the way Castle linked her death to a student and someone else? Maybe an affair was going on, who knows. However I think it will take a lot of convincing for Beckett to reopen the case although deep down that’s exactly what she wants to do.

I wish I had more spoilers (or any new spoilers) to share but alas I don’t have any. If I do hear of some you bet I’ll be blogging about them.

I don’t know about you but I am looking forward to next weeks show already.

The new TV season kicks off today. Woo hoo! Finally something new to watch. I have to admit I haven’t done a lot of TV watching during the summer. I did more reading, but I am looking forward to a few of my returning favorites like BIGGEST LOSER, BEING ERICA, CASTLE, MEDIUM and GHOST WHISPERS to name a few.

I can’t wait to see what Castle discovered and Becket’s mother’s death. Was it murder or suicide? I noticed in the sneak previews that a dead body is stolen from the morgue van while the coroner and Castle are in it. This should be interesting.

As for the other shows, I hear that Melinda’s son will be born in the first few minutes of the first show and then we are thrown 5 years in the future, Allison on MEDIUM wakes up in the hospital and must deal with the fact that she doesn’t have her talent and may never ahve it again.  Last saw the beginning of BIGGEST LOSER, Danny is back along with more contestants with inspiring stories.  As for BEING ERICA, I hear she will the be one helping out the Dr, that should be interesting. I am just looking forward to relaxing and being entertained for a little while.

What shows are you looking forward to watching?

With the passing of Patrick Swayze a lot of fans are talking about their favourite movie. I have to say my favourite is the North and South TV movie. However DIRTY DANCING comes in at a close second. Since this is the favourite of many I thought it would be interesting to blog about why this movie appeals to so many.

Here are my reasons

• We see Patrick’s well built naked torso. I bet her went to gym on a regular basis because he was gorgeously fit.

• For a change the heroine, Baby is a strong young woman who has a mind of her own. Yes she is sheltered and innocent, but she’s the one who saves the hero. However he doesn’t sit by and let her lead him. No way, he helps her see beyond her pampered existence. Together grow and become better people.

• The dancing is freeing and fabulous. The dancers make it look so easy I don’t know how they do that.

• The music is fantastic and makes you want to get up and dance along with them

• The message of the movie might be simple but it’s well delivered.

This movie will always be a favourite of mine.

Have you ever picked up a book that was not in the genre you usually read? Does it take you longer to get into it than usual? I’m reading a book that is more non-fiction than fiction. This is outside my genre comfort zone. I haven’t read a non-fiction for pleasure in a very long time. I am having a hard time getting into the book and not being sarcastic towards it. Yep I’ve had quite a few eye rolling moments.

I won’t go into too much detail because I’ll probably blog about it when I’m finally done. Since the book I’m reading coud be qualified as a biography of sorts I find myself also influence by the writers’ personal life after writing this book. I’m wondering if this is one of the reason I’m truly not enjoying the book as I thought I would.

Has this ever happened to you?

I am still a little stunned. I’m happy to announce that DEADLY SECRETS has finaled for a Golden Leaf in the “Best First Book’ category. This contest only has 3 finalists. I have never ever been in the top 3 of anything that didn’t involve sports, but that doesn’t count. Now I have to send them a headshot (yuck), excerpt (which I’m going to agonize over for the next few days) and cover.

My fellow finalists are IN OVER HER HEAD by Judi Fennell from Sourcebooks Inc  & NOBLE BLOOD by Linda Parisi from The Wild Rose Press. I’ll be picking up a copy of each book today. I may not have read both by the time the New Jersey Conference comes around and we find out which one of us wins.

I’m also happy to announce that my friend Hannah Howell has also finaled for a Golden leaf. She’s a finalist With HIGHLAND SINNER  in the “Best Historical” category. The running joke right now between us is who will be sitting at the end of the isle during the ceremonies.

8 years have now passed since everyone’s life in North America chanced with the attack on the twin towers in NY. So many innocent lives were lost in one day and too many children were forced to grow up overnight.

However what I like to remember from that day are the Heroes that showed their true colors that day by small and big gestures. Even after all this time we keep hearing about all the good Samaritans that emerged from this tragedy. It’s great to see that there are still good people out there in the world. That’s what I choose to remember along with those who lost their lives. We may have lost our innocence/blinders that day, but I remember a lot bonding as well.

Quartet Press barely (it seem to me) opened their and now they have announced today that they were closing shop. It’s too bad. I love discovering new publishers whether they are big, small, print or electronic. Quartet Press sounded like they had a great plan of action for their future. I bet speculation and rumours are going to be rampant (they usually are) online with this news. I won’t be one of them. 

I wish the owners of Quartet Press and Ms James all the best.

I am going through right now what a lot of others have, an unforgiving computer that has decided to die and early death. Yep my computer is toast. Have no fear I didn’t lose any writing. Nope it’s my business computer. I had backed up some of my files but not all. So for now I’m working on rebuilding my contacts.

This is a long tedious job, but it’s got to be done.