I am over at The Debs today blogging about 4th of July traditions.  Swing over and say hello. 

There was something about tthis story that just amused me. A 12 year old girl in Indiana was running her lemonade stand, no doubt dreaming of corporate glory, when a man came up and demanded all her money. After handing over the money the girl decided she was mad as hell and not going to take it anymore and ran after the thief.  She chased him all the way to his home and then called police.  There was  a standoff as the thief refused to leave for a period of time (no doubt concerned a pack of 12 year old girls would attack).  The thief is now being charged with felony robbery.  They don’t say what the girl is doing, but I bet she’s considering getting some tights and a Lycra suit and becoming a superhero.

I suspect prison is going to be hard for this particular thief.  Being taken down by a 12 year old can’t be good for your reputation.  The lesson here is clearly don’t assume because someone is small they will be a push over.  I know a few 12 year old girls and let me tell you they aren’t the type to sit back and wait for a boy to rescue them.  They’re scrappy. 

In other news…

With July 4th right around the corner, author/friend Barrie Summy is asking everyone to post a recipe to help celebrate.  Can I point out that her name rhymes with yummy?  That fact makes me happy every time I think about it.   So with no further ado- I give you  a recipe that I don’t know where it came from or the exact amounts.  Consider it a flexible recipe.

Peach Salad

Take a bowl and fill with lettuce. (any type of lettuce will work- choose the leafy greens that make you happy)

Peel and dice up 1-2 peaches.  I like two peaches myself but feel free to go down to one.

Peel and slice around 1/4 of a cucumber.  Or if you love cucumber throw some more on, or save the slices to put over your eyes for a face mask. 

Crumble some feta cheese on top.  

Toss in some prosciutto ham  (unless you are a vegetarian in which case you most likely don’t want pig bits on your salad.  However, if you are a meat eater the salty ham is a nice touch)

Toss salad with balsamic vinegar and olive oil. 

Serve. 

What’s your favorite food for hot summer nights? 

Joelle sent me this story, no doubt thinking that it was absurd and thus would appeal to me. A woman is suing Victoria’s Secret because she sustained an injury to her eye from her thong. 

Yes, you did read that right.  Now it is harder than you might imagine to nearly take out an eye with a tiny scrap of an underthing. Apparently she was bending over pulling on her fanny floss when the metal clip that held on the rhinestone heart broke and flew off striking her in the eye.  What are the odds? A million to one? A zillion to one?  

The first thing I thought when I read this story is “wow- this is exactly the kind of thing that would happen to me.”   It isn’t that I am cavalier when pulling on my undies, rather it is the fact that I have a unique ability to to injury myself in odd ways.  Last week I got my thumb stuck in the shampoo bottle.  I had screwed off the top and was attempting to clear a shampoo clot from the neck when I realized my thumb was stuck. I had this image of having to drive into work with the bottle on my hand so that one of my co workers could cut it off.  I was so flustered that I nearly slipped and fell getting out of the tub.  I really didn’t want my dead body to be found in the tub with the shampoo bottle on my thumb.  That is the kind of thing that leaves your family wondering what the heck you were up to before you died. 

Tomorrow is Canada Day. Hope you all celebrate safely.  Now fess up - who else out there is a klutz? 

You know it is a beach read when it’s even about the beach: Martha’s Vineyard in this case.  I had the chance to live in Boston right after I was married for a short time, so this is an area of interest to me. Then you add the fact that Jenny was behind the book Everything I needed to know about being a girl I learned from Judy Blume, one of my favorites from last year, and I couldn’t wait to meet her. I dove right into the interview with Jenny O’Connell.

1) Where did the inspiration for this book come from?
The books take place on Martha’s Vineyard, so first and foremost summer was the greatest inspiration. I’ve always felt like summer is a time when anything can happen, it’s all about possibility. LOCAL GIRLS and RICH BOYS have very different plots, but they’re both about the opportunities and changes summer brings.

2) As someone who has written for both the adult and YA market- what do you find different about writing for the two different audiences?
I think I have more fun writing YA. Maybe I feel like readers will be less critical, picking apart everything. When adults read a book they’ll note the typos and then email you about them - as if you were the copy editor and typesetter and could something about it. YA readers seem to be a little more forgiving, just enjoying the story. I also enjoy losing myself in being 17 again.

3)  I loved your book Everything I Needed to Know About Being A Girl I Learned From Judy Blume, if you were to be a Judy Blume character from one of her books which one would you be?
I don’t know that I am like any one character, but I most identified with Deenie (not because I was an aspiring model but she just resonated with me). I’m a little silly and mischievous like Fudge, I make up stories like Sally J. and when I think of being a teenager I remember feeling like Katherine in Forever. A little bit of everyone! 

4) What do you like to do when you’re not writing?
I work! I have a “real job” that I also love (in advertising). I also play field hockey, which is why I have odd black and blue spots all over my body.

5) How would others have described you in high school?
You know, I really have no idea. I went to a small private school - we had 56 people in our graduating class. There weren’t really enough people to form cliques, but there were people that naturally gravitated toward one another. I’ve reconnected with a few people in my class since then, people I didn’t necessarily hang out with in high school, and they’re completely different than I remembered. They were funny and fabulous. I went back to my school to talk about my books and had a chance to spend time with some of my old teachers. They said I was exactly the same: I talk fast, laugh hard, tend to be a tad loud and have energy to burn. But I have no idea what my fellow students thought of me back then.

More about the books:

In LOCAL GIRLS, friendships are in danger of ending with the summer. Kendra and Mona are best friends, local girls who spend their summers catering to rich tourists and the rest of the year chafing against small-town life. Then Mona’s mom marries one of the island’s rich summer visitors, and Mona joins the world of the Boston elite, leaving Kendra and Martha’s Vineyard behind. When Mona returns the following summer, everything is different.

Unlike his sister, Mona’s twin brother Henry hasn’t changed.  He’s spending his summer the way he always has: with long, quiet hours fishing. Early mornings before work become special for Kendra as she starts sharing them with Henry, hoping he can help her figure Mona out. Then Kendra hatches a plan to prove she’s Mona’s one true friend: uncover the identity of the twins’ birth father, a question that has always obsessed Mona. And so she begins to unravel the seventeen-year-old mystery of the summer boy who charmed Mona’s mother. But it may prove to be a puzzle better left unsolved–as what she is about to discover will change their lives forever…

In RICH BOYS, Winnie jumps at the chance to babysit for a wealthy summer family and earn some extra money—but soon learns that life in the Barclay’s beautiful vacation home isn’t as perfect as it appears. And what was supposed to be a carefree summer quickly becomes more complicated than she ever thought possible.

You can get the books HERE.

Remember last week when I passed on the story about the guy who had the homeless woman hiding in his closet?  Well, if that freaked you out, you shouldn’t read THIS. 

Apparently this guy broke into his ex-girlfriend’s house, cut a hole in her sofa and hid in it.  She comes home, sits down on the sofa, thinks to herself “dammit- this thing is so uncomfortable, I’m going to Pottery Barn to get something new.” When she stands up to leave she discovers he’s hiding in there.  In her sofa. In a hole he cut out. So not only does she have a seriously wacky ex on her hands, her sofa is pretty much ruined.  Plus, I’m betting she’s going to be way too freaked out to watch scary movies in her place anymore.  Once you find someone in your sofa I’m betting you lay off the Stephen King stuff.

I think part of the fun of a scary book or movie is letting yourself feel all those emotions while knowing at the same time that you really are safe. I don’t care for slasher movies or books, but give me a good creepy movie or a thriller any day. I think one of the reason I love these kinds of odd stories is that if you wrote this in a book it would never work.  I can imagine an editor of horror novels saying “You want me to believe he was hiding in the sofa?  Really? Can’t you come up with something a bit more realistic?”

Truth is stranger than fiction.

So fess up: do you like horror movies/books?

This story was passed on to me. Pig Wears Boots.  The pictures are difficult to describe- a pig in wee tiny wellington boots. 

Great. Now I can’t eat bacon.  Once I start dressing them it seems unfair to eat them. 

In other- non food related news- I am very excited to announce that I’ve joined the Girlfriend’s Cyber Circuit for YA authors.  I’ll have the chance to interview some of my favorite writers- right here.  My first interview will be this coming Friday with Jenny O’Connell.

For those of you who live in the Pacific Northwest- I’ll be doing a signing at Chapters/Indigo in Metrotown Mall- Burnaby this coming Saturday from 1-4pm.  Please be sure to come down and say hello.

I am over at The Debs talking about what we keep in our purses.  Come over and see what I’ve got in there.

Today is our 14th wedding anniversary.  So to all those who thought we wouldn’t make it- HA!

When I was in high school and dating, as I would leave the house my dad would slip me a quarter so if my date ever became “too fresh” or if the date was going horribly, I could call home.   On the day of my wedding my dad slipped me a quarter saying “just so  you know, if you ever need to, you can always come home.” 

I’m lucky in that I’ve never been tempted to make that call. 

I married my best friend. I love him because he scraps my car windows off on icy mornings and takes the dogs to the vet because he knows I hate it.  I love him because he will get up in the middle of the night and kill a spider in the bathroom for me.  I love that he cooks for me on the weekends and never talks about my writing as my “little hobby.”  I love that he’ll let me put my cold feet on his legs when we crawl into bed. I love that I can give him “the look” at a party and he knows it means I’m ready to go home. I love that he continues to develop new hobbies and interests. I love how excited he gets when he talks about whatever space mission NASA is doing. I love that we never seem to run out of things to talk about on long car trips and how he sings with the radio. I love how he makes up conversations with the dog. I love that he can make me laugh. I love how he can’t help telling the players how they could do it better when he watches hockey. I love that he still says thank you when I do the laundry. I love that he still tells me I look beautiful when we go out for dinner. I love that he encourages me to reach for the things I want and when things go badly tells me that it will all be okay.  I love that he doesn’t make fun of the fact that I’m afraid of the dentist. I love that he will take the time to run back downstairs to kiss me good bye before he leaves in the morning. I love that he helps me with running this site and the debutante ball and never once says “why don’t you just learn how to do it yourself?” I love that he tells everyone about my book. I love that if there are two pieces of candy left- he lets me choose my favorite first.  I love that I’m not even close to running out of things to say about him.

Tell me something you love about your significant other…

I’ve been waiting to share this and now, at last, here it is! This is the cover (below) for my new book What Would Emma Do?

Working with the whole team at Simon Pulse has been great and I am very happy with what they’ve come up with. In particular, I like that she’s stepping on his foot in the picture; for some reason that makes me most happy. Tell me you think of this cover, and what you like in a cover in general.

Lastly, I did an interview over here. If you have a chance, check it out.

Because some of us are not nearly neurotic enough- I bring you something new to worry about.  Have you ever lost something in your house? Maybe for example you would have SWORN you bought mustard when you were at the store, and now no matter where you look you can’t find any?  Or perhaps there was full package of cookies in the cupboard and now there are only a few left and you’re pretty darn sure you didn’t eat them? Maybe it’s a case where you have a favorite shirt that you can’t find anywhere until you are left wondering if somehow the washing machine ate it.

Here you thought you were just absent minded- but have you considered that you might have a small homeless Japanese woman living in your closet? It can happen.  This guy in Japan set up a hidden camera because he was sure food was missing in his house. When he saw the images of a woman in his house he called the police.  Turns out she had been living in his closet FOR A YEAR.  She would sleep on the top shelf in his hall closet and come out only when he wasn’t around. She ate, she took showers. Heck she probably sat around and watched the cable TV.

Now when you are lying in bed at night and you think you hear some rustling you’ll have something new to worry about.