Once Upon a Consignment Shop...

...I came across a beautiful poncho that I just had to take home!

We were actually on our way to a festival when I spotted a store called My Big Sister's Closet and asked my husband to pull over. Like a typical woman, I can go into a shop and browse without any intention of buying.

But then I saw this little baby.

A combination of rayon (which is one of my favorite fabrics--I love the way it touches you) and polyester, this is perfect paired with a black skirt or black dress pants. I already wore it with boots, but as my great friend & fellow author Phyllis Bourne suggested, it would be perfect with a slinky pair of heels, too! Plus, you gotta love something with sequins. I love the poncho's flair for drama, its daring blend of colors, and the fact that it looks like something an actress would wear onto the Broadway stage or a fairytale character would wear while traipsing through a magical forest. Besides, who says 50+ women can't be blingy?

And it was a steal for under $20.

If you've got a My Big Sister's Closet by you, drop in and have a look around. You might just find something that will make a statement about you, too.

Excerpt from GLIMMERS OF HEAVEN

Her heart began to pound hard again when he closed in the space between them. He removed his own helmet and held it under his arm at his side.

"I think you should know," he began. "I think of you as a friend..."

Hayley blinked twice. Her hopes were about to be dashed. "I do, too. I think of you as a friend, too--"

"But I think of you as...more, too. And I want to know if you feel that way about me, too. Because if you don't, then I understand. But I want to know--"

"I think of you this way."

Reaching up slightly to compensate for the difference in their height, she let her lips find his. It was a soft kiss, lingering only enough for her mouth to be pressed up against his, and still for a small, sweet kiss, it felt like it was packed with all her emotion. She was the one to draw away slowly, and it almost hurt physically to do so.

Zach moved toward her slightly, as if he were about to steal another kiss from her, but he stopped himself.

"That's what I wanted to know." He grinned and pulled the helmet back on. "I gotta get back to the church. See what's up. Can I call you later?"

"Please. I hope everything's okay."

Then, as he backed the Harley away from the curb, he winked at her again and blew her a kiss, prompting her to blow a kiss back at him.

She was still dancing on air when she entered her apartment. After tossing her purse in its usual spot, in the corner by the bookshelf in the living room, she saw the red light blinking on her telephone. That was when she realized what she'd done...

Get GLIMMERS OF HEAVEN for your Kindle or Nook!

Got Nook?

Good! Because now GLIMMERS OF HEAVEN, my new Christian inspirational romance novella, is available for the Barnes & Noble Nook as well as the Kindle!

And since I didn't make this clear in my last post, please note that this is my first self-published book. In the past I've always worked with traditional (print) publishers in addition to ebook publishers, and I'll be doing that again.

But there are stories that I've wanted to write that I wasn't able to find just the right home for, and that includes my inspirational work, which mostly found publication only in magazines. The interesting thing is that I began my career with a Christian novel, Crystal Waves, a book that was never published. Over the years I wanted to write for that market, but I then found another couple of markets that I enjoyed writing for, the romance and YA genres, and I never did write another inspirational novel. It's almost like I've come full circle now.

Because, with the advent of the ebook readers and the success of many an indie author, I decided to give it a go. Needless to say, self-publishing is a lot of work. I have the advantage of having worked as a magazine editor, so I also served as the editor for Glimmers of Heaven. The cover employs my own photography and design. In the future I may contract a professional for that area, but with this being my first venture in self-publishing, I'm content with the results.

My next book, which I have already begun to work on, will also be a genre that I have wanted to work in for some time. I don't anticipate completing that book for a few months, so it may not be available until early next year. I'm very excited about that, but I want to assure my readers that I will continue to write for the romance market, as I always have.

For now, enjoy Glimmers of Heaven and I'll be putting up an excerpt sometime this week!

New Book: GLIMMERS OF HEAVEN

Available now on Kindle--GLIMMERS OF HEAVEN! This is my first short Christian romance and it also happens to be my first self-published book, so I'm particularly excited about this new baby. This week, I'll also be making it available on Barnes & Noble for all you Nook fans out there. So if you've got a Kindle or a Nook and you're looking for a sweet inspirational romance with a lot of heart (and some city flavor!), put GLIMMERS OF HEAVEN on there!

And coming soon, a little snippet of this story, my newest book!

Where did all the good movies go?--Part 1

"Here's five dollars," my mom would say on a Saturday morning before going to work in the hospital's housekeeping department, "you and Linda go to the movies."

Amazing. Five dollars! For that amount, a kid could get an admission ticket, a frosty Coke, a box of Junior Mints, and a small buttered popcorn. Of course, this was in "the horse and buggy days," as my kids say (i.e., the early to mid-1970s), so I'm showing my age. But you'd hurry down Bergenline Avenue with your best friend to get to Union City's Cinema in time. You'd find a good seat in that cozy, air-conditioned theater and try not to eat all your popcorn before the coming attractions had run their course.

And then...there it was: The reason that would keep you in that theater for the next 90 minutes. You and your friend would only whisper to each other occasionally, and those words were usually along the lines of, "Oh, my God!", "Now that's hilarious!", "My sister does that all the time", and the traditional, "No, no--don't go in there!" You couldn't talk too much or leave even briefly, because you didn't want to miss a second of what was transpiring on that screen.

Sometimes the movie wasn't as good as you'd hoped it would be. Regardless, it would still be entertaining, one of those "so bad, it's good" movies. Sometimes it was as good as your other friends had told you it would be, ending with the advice, "You GOTTA go see it." Sometimes it was great.

And once in a while, it was unforgettable, awesome, magical, and every other adjective that basically meant you'd always remember the first time you saw that particular film.

Just from the 70s alone, in no particular order, here is a list of the movies that I either saw in the movie theater, which I loved as much as the bookstore and the library as a kid, or later on when it played on television:

Love Story
Jaws
The Exorcist
American Graffiti
Grease
Manhattan
Kramer Vs. Kramer
Cabaret
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Rocky
Saturday Night Fever
Superman
A Moment in Time
Manhattan
Carrie
The Shining
Sybil
Revenge of the Pink Panther
The Amityville Horror
A Star is Born
The Cross and the Switchblade (a Christian film based on Pastor David Wilkerson's book)
Distant Thunder (also a Christian film)

and last but not least, a really creepy thing aptly named

The Hills Have Eyes (which my mom and I watched together and realized it was a terrible B movie, but it still managed to make us laugh and cringe, and more on this later. This movie was not anywhere near on the same level as The Exorcist, but it actually ended up being a cult classic--and it sparked a remake in 2006)

But wait! There were also the old vintage films which I would catch on TV, those black-and-white antiques from the 1940s and 1950s, and the silly-but-fun films of the 1960s.

Those would include:

It's a Wonderful Life
Casablanca
The Mummy
Frankenstein
Dracula
The Creature from the Black Lagoon (B movie GOLD, I tell you!)
Hans Christian Anderson
Mildred Pierce
Some Like it Hot
On the Waterfront
A Streetcar Named Desire
Million Dollar Mermaid
Psycho
West Side Story
Cinderella
A Christmas Carol (1951)
Fantasia
Alice in Wonderland
Miracle on 34th Street
Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?
To Sir With Love
The Birds

There were many more, too many wonderful--and some not-so-wonderful, but yet they were fun to watch in some way, shape or form--to list.

To be continued...

I Love Intuitive Eating

Cute thing that happened today at work: I bumped into a friend and coworker who works in a different department, who interrupted her chat with someone else to tell me, "Ooooh! You lost weight--you look so skinny and curvy!"

Vicky is the fourth person in the space of a month to notice I've dropped a little weight over the past month, dropping from 136 to 129. (In actuality, though, I fluctuate between 129 and 131, depending on if there's cheesecake around. Just teasing! More on that in a second.) What is most amazing to me is that I haven't done anything in particular for that to happen. I'm exercising, yes, because exercise is part of my life. It's something I enjoy and don't have to force myself to do--but I'm not doing it obsessively. Neither am I counting points, carbs, or calories and swearing off favorite foods.

That said, the way I look at food and eating HAS changed...and it's all due to Intuitive Eating.

Let me back up. I've been practicing IE longer than I've been blogging about it, bringing me to almost two years since I first discovered the book and subsequently waved goodbye to dieting. In that time, I've watched friends drop weight on diets, then regain it, then return to that diet or a different method of losing weight. My own weight has fluctuated, and at one time it went as high as 138 (at the beginning of my journey), with my weight slowly beginning to drop and hover around 129 and 131 for, literally, weeks. I have been maintaining that weight effortlessly, and I can't take the credit when it goes directly to IE.

Where am I now on this journey? Well, there are better benchmarks than what the scale has to say, for one thing. I no longer measure myself by what digital numbers show up in that little square. For one thing, I and my family are eating less processed food, less fast food, and less eating out in general. We're enjoying more the fruits (and vegetables!) from our garden and local farmer's market. If it's not delicious, I don't have time for it. I do indulge in what is referred to in Intuitive Eating as "play foods" (chips, ice cream, Snickers and such, usually a Friday or Saturday treat), but I no longer feel the urge to go overboard. My portions are smaller than they used to be. I don't need a diet to tell me how much I can put on my plate. If anything, I am satisfied with less naturally, by just honoring my natural hunger and fullness.

Interestingly, though I'm no longer dieting, I still stock my fridge with yogurt and I still ask the young lady on the other side of the counter at Subways for a little extra lettuce on my sandwich. Jeans that I haven't worn in a long time are fitting me perfectly again, and if I'm lost in a book my Kindle is reading to me, I can stay on the treadmill for an extra 15 minutes and not even notice!

Because of IE, I've discovered that I'm a foodie. I never would have admitted that to myself when I was dieting because, according to diets, there are Good Foods and Bad Foods. When you're a foodie, you acknowledge that grilled cheeses made with Gruyere cheese are even sexier than those made with American cheese!

And also because of IE, I've sort of become my own nutritionist. I had a professor in college who once told us, "I make it my business to know all there is about cars so that I know what the mechanic is talking about." (Don't ask me why she was going on and on about cars; the class was Children's Literature! Heh!) To paraphrase her, I've made it my business to know all I can about nutrition, so that I know my family and I are getting the best nutrition we can."

Besides, there's something about eating homemade creamy tomato soup that you can't quite get in a can. It's especially delicious after an invigorating walk out in the fresh air, under God's blue sky and a brilliant sun!

Are you an intuitive eater? How has your journey been? Feel free to share them!

Something for Your Treasures

For some time I've had a dilemma: What to do with my little collection of necklaces? I mean, other than having them strewn all over my dresser?

I can't take the credit for this idea. While at an engagement party recently, I saw something similar in the room where the hostess let us toss our purses. Since then, I began a little hunt for a similar wall hanging and found this steal at a local Habitat for Humanity for only a dollar!

With just a couple coats of ivory spray paint, what was probably used for hanging keyrings is now transformed into a necklace organizer! The flat surface works for other items, like small framed pictures or miniatures.

Thanks to my neighbor for the great idea!