Yesterday I attended a truly lovely memorial for Gin Ellis. It was held at the home of one of her closest friends. I feel sure Gin was with us there and I believe she was quite pleased. There was food and drinks and collages of Gin and her friends and family throughout the house. There was also a time where everyone gathered together and anyone who wanted to say something about Gin or tell a story had the opportunity. I was lucky to have crossed paths with her in this life and I wish I’d known her better.

Afterwards I met two friends for dinner and the musical Menopause. Dinner was great and the musical amusing, but faintly depressing. I’ve never had a hot flash and, quite frankly, I’m not looking forward to it. :angry: We can explore space and have camera phones, why can’t they do something about hot flashes? :crazy: :confused:

I know I have to slow down. Yesterday, I was about to leave the house. As usual, I’d showered, gotten dressed, done the hair and make-up thing all in about 40 minutes because I was running late–thank goodness I’m not a high-maintenance woman. Then I was running around putting one cat in the bathroom, feeding the other one and crating the dogs. Finally, I’m ready to walk out the door but I know I’m forgetting something. What is it? What is it? What have I forgotten? Oh, yeah. My shoes. :hehe:

FABULOUS!! The only way to describe last night. We had such a great time! Dinner at Mick’s–arguabley some of the best fried green tomatoes and sweet tea around. Then the musical Annie at The Fox Theatre. The production was great and the Fox is simply beautiful.

The only down side was all the kids. :hehe: I know, it’s a show for kids, but the kid behind us was really too young to be there. “Riley, sit down.” “Riley, be quiet.” “No, Riley, no.” “RILEY.” I came very close to turning around and suggesting that Riley’s mother take Riley out. My husband is deaf in one ear and partially deaf in the other and he had on ear phones that pipes the sound directly in–and even he could hear Riley and her mother’s antics. Riley must’ve been all of four and a 7:30 production strikes me as past Riley’s bedtime, but…whatever.

During the first half, a well-mannered girl was to my right. Her brother, on her other side between herself and the mother, was spazzing around like he had ants in his pants. We come back from intermission and “Oh, joy!”, they’ve seated Spazz Boy next to me. He’s old enough to be there and old enough to behave. He kept putting his foot on mine. :crazy:Finally, I shoved it off with my foot. I felt him look at me, but that took care of it. :rolleyes:

We did have a scary moment when The Girl slipped on the stairs (we were seated on the balcony) coming out. Thank goodness she had a hand on the rail or she would’ve tumbled down head first and it could’ve been very bad. As it was, she bruised an ankle and a knee and her pride. The up side, according to Girl, is that it didn’t hurt that bad for that long and we got to wait in the private reception area which was tres cool while my husband fetched the car and picked us up curbside.

Afterwards, we stopped by Sonic for a banana hot fudge sundae…with nuts. :) :)

I’m so excited…we’re going to see the musical Annie tonight at The Fox! It’s our anniversary on Friday so we’re celebrating early. And yes, we’re taking The Girl along. Hey, we passed the two decade mark a couple of years ago (What? How can that be? I’m sure you’re thinking I must’ve been a child-bride! :P) and if we left her home, we’d just keep looking at one another and commenting on how much she’d enjoy it. :hehe: I like to dress up and I like to eat out and I adore The Fox, so it should be a great time!

And I’m going to have that song running in my head all day…the sun’ll come out tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow…

I’ve got plenty to do today. What do I really want to do? It’s dark and raining and I really want to plop my butt down on the couch and dive into a good book. :rolleyes:

And now I’m going to put that thought right ouf of my head. The guilt would outweigh the pleasure. :crazy: At least I think it would…. :hehe:

Yesterday was our monthly Georgia Romance Writers meeting with a book signing afterwards at a B&N. Even though it was a melancholy day with one of our members gone, I think we all needed it. At least I know I did. Writing is such a solitary endeavor–I spend most of my day alone with my computer–I really need that day spent with other writers. We talk about projects and ideas. We celebrate good news and we even celebrate rejections because rejections mean at least you’re putting your work out there. It refills my well.

Picked up a couple of new cd’s–I was due :) — Diana Krall and Asrud Gilberto. If you’ve never heard Diana Krall’s The Look of Love…well, you should. It’s just what I need to listen to as I wrap up this book. :)

The Girl is a member of a professional children’s choir. Last night they sang the national anthem to open the Atlanta Hawks game. They did a great job. Very exciting. We stayed afterwards for the game. Not exciting. :confused: It wasn’t because they lost. I can handle a loss. It was the lack of passion on the court.

Many, many years ago when I was in the corporate world, free basketball tickets were one of the perks. My husband and I loved going to Hawks games. It wasn’t about the winning on the court, it was about the heat players brought to the game. Dominique Wilkins. Larry Byrd. The stands were packed and it was great basketball.

Last night more seats stood empty than filled. Not hard to see why.

It is with great sadness that I post the death of a talented writer and mentor to many. Gin Ellis, a fellow Georgia Romance Writer member, was found dead in her home on Wednesday evening. Gin was a unique person who lived life on her own terms and wrote brilliantly about loss, love and hope.

Gin was also one of my judges in the first Maggie contest I entered and the first published writer to say, “I think you have a lot of talent, finish that book.” Those were powerful words for a struggling unpubbed to hear and I’ll always carry them with me.

I want to thank her for the books she wrote, the friendship she extended, and the love of writing and reading she fostered. Gin will be missed.

I have a fair amount of imagination. In fact, when I’m home alone at night and the house creaks and settles, I have a surplus of imagination. :rolleyes: I’m often distracted at restaurants and airports, even the doctor’s office, because I see people and start filling in the blanks–giving them stories. I write romance with a fair measure of sensuality in those books. So, you’re getting the picture here…lots of imagination, the brain’s always churning with some story or another.

Lean in a little closer and I’ll tell you what I dreamed last night. Often I don’t remember my dreams, but I recalled this one with vivid, startling clarity. Do you really want to know? That’s it, lean in just a little bit closer to the screen…last night I dreamed about…shaving my legs. :crazy: How absolutely bogus is that? No sex. No great food. No exotic foreign travel. Me…the queen of imagination…I dream about shaving my freaking legs! :angry: I don’t even want to know what a dream interpretation book would have to say about that.

I’m disgusted. Sheesh, you’d think I could come up with something better than that….