Awards Day

Tuesday was awards day at my oldest daughter's school. I was surprised that there wasn't very many parents there for the fourth grade students. There should have been, because almost half of the kids made the A/B Honor Roll for the whole year. I thought that was very good. My daughter received 7 awards that day including the Honor Roll award. I am very proud of her for all the hard work she did throughout the year. You would think the Honor Roll award would be her favorite. Nope. It was the Spirit and Spunk award for "bringing joy and laughter to her class" that was her fave. I think she will always remember this award. I'll probably have to frame it for her.

My youngest daughter did good as well. She didn't lose a behavior stick all year. That is pretty good for kindergartner. She also was in a small reading group of children that were reading above grade level. They got to pick their own chapter books to read. I am very proud of her.

When I was in elementary school I received an award for Honesty. My teacher made the award just for me because I let her know that one of my answers on a paper was wrong. I had received an A+ that I didn't deserve. I will never forget that award, or the fact that the teacher made the award just for me. It made me feel very special.

Do you have any childhood awards that you will always remember?

SIS BJ aka Aleena Ravenwood

Biography

I’ve said before that I’m really not all that interested in the private lives of celebrities. Apparently I am. I’ve watched a few episodes of the show “Biography” on A & E and I find these programs quite fascinating. I guess I find these interesting because they are not meant to be “gossipy” and not meant to hurt the person who is being featured. They just focus on the facts.


Yesterday, I was thrilled to tune in and see that this “Biography” was about one of my favorite movie stars of all time, Doris Day. Unfortunately, it was two hours long and I couldn’t take my eyes off of it, but it was two hours well spent.

I was intrigued by her story and kept reflecting on it all day long. I never would have thought that her life was as tumultuous as it was. To see all of her movies, her TV show, and photos of her, one would think her life was filled with happiness. She really had quite a ride!

Later in the show, they mentioned that she had written a book. I was surprised to find that I am really interested in reading this book. I realized that I don’t think I’ve read many, if any, biographies or auto-biographies. Her book, Doris Day: Her Own Story, an "as-told-to" work with A. E. Hotchner is definitely on my TBR list. I can’t wait to buy it and start reading.

What about you? Do you read biographies and do you have a story to recommend?

SIS Bren

Happy Memorial Day

Happy Memorial Day from all of us at SIS.

May your day be full of memories of loved ones who have moved on and may you make memories with those that are still here.

If It Ain't Broke

When I first read BJ's blog on Thursday I thought to myself that I needed to come up with a new topic because somehow she'd read my mind and had talked about the same thing I was going to. Then I realized that wasn't exactly the case, so here goes.

Back in 1978 when I was 12, I had a huge crush on Olivia Newton-John. I don't know if it was the blond hair, the blue eyes, the accent, the voice, or a combination of those. I eagerly bought every album she made and kept up with every aspect of her career. I even went so far as to keep a photo album of newspaper articles and photos of her that I had collected. Then along came the movie 'Grease'.

It wasn't the best movie ever made, and Olivia certainly wasn't Oscar material, but at the time it didn't matter. I absolutely loved it and managed to see it 18 times in the theaters before it was gone, and my total viewings now stand at over 100. My wife simply rolls her eyes and quietly leaves the room whenever it comes on and tries her best not to listen to me recite the dialogue word for word. My crush on Olivia has faded, but the movie 'Grease' never will. Sorry, Olivia.

My initial happiness was to last four years. In 1982, 'Grease 2' was released. No Olivia, and only a couple of minor original characters were back. I made what was then the biggest mistake of my life and saw it. I will spare you the horrid details and me the agony of remembering it. Suffice to say I was very disappointed and almost angry. My favorite movie of all time had been desecrated with a lousy sequel. How dare they!

So here's my question: Is there a movie or TV show that means so much to you that you would hate to see it remade or have a sequel made?

My Book Expo Adventure

Looks like I missed an interesting week of topics her at SIS. Apologies to my sisters for not chiming in. I had a whirlwind week preparing for and attending Book Expo America in NYC. BEA is a humongous trade show featuring publishers big and small of every genre imaginable. It is immense and overwhelming. Mostly the trade show is attended by librarians and booksellers. Publishers give away a lot of books in hopes of generating interest. Numerous big name authors were aplenty, each signing their latest... if you didn't mind standing in super long lines for a super long time. In years past I've done just that, but this year I wanted to roam and take everything in.

My primary reason for attending BEA was to sign and give away copies of OUT OF EDEN. I was lucky enough to have two scheduled signings. On Wednesday I signed in the RWA booth--48 books in 30 minutes. Woo-hoo! I met some incredible librarians and booksellers who had some very nice things to say about my books. It was an amazing experience.

On Thursday I signed in the Harlequin booth. My editor, Keyren Gerlach, was at my side the entire time, helping me open books to sign--96 books in 45 minutes! I was stunned as I signed one after another book. So grateful for the opportunity to get my books into the hands of people who can help spread the word about my work.

Another perk was seeing many friendly faces! Friends and uber talented authors, librarian friends (Hi, Nina!), reader friends (waving to Elsie and Laurie). I also spent some quality time with my editor and agent (such great ladies!) Unfortunately, there were several friends that I didn't see. I was actually only at the trade show a day and a quarter. Not enough time to see everyone!

I had my Flip video cam with me. I wish I would have been more creative. If I would've been thinking smart, I would've snapped vid of some big names like James Patterson, Debbie Macomber, Lemony Snickett.... But I sort of spaced on that end, taking random show shots. My one goober moment was standing in line for an hour to meet Rick Springfield (yes, the pop rock star) who just wrote an autobiography. THAT I got on my Flip.

Overall it was a wonderful experience... though exhausting. Below are snippets of my adventure. Enjoy!

I LOVE IT WHEN A PLAN COMES TOGETHER

That is one of my favorite lines from The A-Team. " I pity the fool" is another one. Hannibal, Faceman, Murdock and of course, B.A. Four men on the run helping people out of bad situations all over the world.

I remember watching The A-Team with my sisters. We would get so excited every time it would come on. We would laugh when B.A. would trow a fit about getting on an airplane. They always had to knock him out somehow. Hannibal coming up with the best plans, Face always getting the girl and Murdock doing something crazy. You knew how it was going to turn out, but it was so much fun to watch. I think Murdock was my favorite because he was so crazy and could get away with just about anything.

Now a movie has been made of The A-Team. I'm not sure if that is good or bad. I hope they stay true to the characters. I wouldn't want to see anything change about them. They were fun and lovable on the T.V. show and I think they should stay that way. I'll hold my judgment until I have seen the movie.

There are other shows that we watched together as children. MacGyver and V are two of them. V is now a new series. I watched a couple episodes and wasn't impressed about it. I would love to see what someone could do with MacGyver. That was my favorite show growing up. I still try to "MacGyver" things.

Did you watch The A-Team as a child.? If so, who was your favorite character? What childhood show would you like to see remade.

SIS BJ aka Aleena Ravenwood

Reasons I Love My Dogs

Almost every morning I am aggravated at my dog, Moose. He’s not quite a year old yet so I try to give him some slack, but just one morning, I’d like to wake up on my own, with no whining involved. I don’t mean my whining…I mean Moose’s.

I understand that he needs to go outside and that’s fine. So, I grab my pillow and blanket, let Moose and Dizzy outside, and then make a bed on the couch to try to get just one more hour of sleep. I start to drift off, but then I hear crunch, crunch or ripping sounds or I feel his big, wet tongue on my face. He’s usually chewing on a bottle cap, or a pencil or pen that he’s stolen from the table, or like this morning, shredding a towel that he pulled from the laundry basket!

I feel bad that my day always starts out being aggravated, so I’ve decided to remind myself of why I love dogs!

1. They’re just so darn cute! This is Dizzy, my very faithful and loving Bichon Frise.

2. They’re comical! This is my mom’s dog, Brat. She may be funny looking, but she’s very sweet.

3. They’re inquisitive. I’m sure Moose probably grabbed the train right off the table after this picture was taken.

4. They’re athletic. I love to watch Moose chase my boys.

5. They have a sense of humor. It’s amazing what our dogs will let us do.

6. They’re just so darn cute! Ooops, I already used that one. But I love this picture and most people who see it let out an uncontrollable “Awwwwwww”.

Do you have pets? What do you love about them? What drives you crazy about them? And if you don’t have pets, what would be your dream pet?

SIS Bren