UPDATE! The winner of yesterday’s contest, hosted by Juniper Bell, is Stormy! Stormy, congrats, and send me an email so I can arrange delivery!

In the meantime, I promised some pictures from last weekend’s trip to Memphis. My travel buddy’s were the red-headed hellion, her new boyfriend, and the 6-year-old. We all drove up in my tiny Scion which couldn’t have been comfortable for Dex (he’s over 6 feet). We left early in the morning from my home and arrived at our first stop around noon. Graceland.

Yes, it’s cheesy. But it wasn’t for me. My daughter adores Elvis. How’d that happen? Guess it’s my fault. I’ve always had a thing for bad B movies. When she was in grade school, TBS ran an annual Elvis movie marathon on the anniversary of his death that lasted a week. It was our thing. When I’d get home from work, we’d rush through homework and dinner, then sit down with popcorn to watch Elvis. She’s been in love ever since.

And really, if you go to Memphis, there are iconic places you have to go: Graceland, Sun City Records, and Beale street. We hit two of them in our quick fly-by weekend.

Yes, this is Elvis’s Graceland mansion.

This is me in his trophy room.

But here’s where we spent most of our time—shopping and eating—Beale street. It’s pretty empty because of the cold, but that suited us just fine. The stores weren’t crowded. We hired a carriage to take us on a loop of the downtown and riverfront area. For the six-year-old. Uh-huh.

Maybe I had a little too much fun?

Anyway, I brought back a couple of gifts I bought in Tater Red’s on Beale street. This is the first prize I’ll offer up—Dead Elvis! You know you want it! I’ll be sure to add some other swag to the package!

Post a comment on my blog anytime before Sunday, and you’re entered in the drawing!

Today’s the last day of the contest to win the eGift Certificate. You have to post a comment to win!

I was surprised. I didn’t take all that many pictures this trip. Maybe it was because of the weather. Or maybe it was because I’m a little jaded. My cruise last year with Sasha was sooooo much fun and the weather was completely awesome. I will admit that cruise travel isn’t really my cup of tea. I much prefer flying to one place and taking trains/renting a car to see the surrounding area. Port calls just don’t leave you time to explore.

These are the last pics I’ll share. Tomorrow I’ll be back with a winner and news about a new book.

Believe it or not, this cruise was work-related. Here’s proof (just in case Mr. Taxman is reading!). From left to right is Erika from Avon, Eric from Tor, and Wanda and Adam from Harlequin.

My favorite view. Really. The ninth deck at the back of the boat wasn’t a hopping place, which was what I often needed. I liked standing there and just breathing the sea air and forgetting that there were 2500 other people crawling over the same boat. I’m such an introvert!

After debarking, this was the sight as our shuttle bus pulled up to the airport. There were easily a dozen police cars covering the entrance. But the cops were only standing around. No guns were drawn. Not sure what was up, but it was an interesting end to the journey.

So today, you get to make up a reason for why all those cop cars
were covering the entrance to airport!

The contest continues. See note at the bottom of this entry!

Okay, so the title of this post is more exciting than the pictures from Cozumel. The cruise ship docked. Passengers debarked and entered a small shopping area that was suspiciously pristine. Cyndi and I walked the length of the shopping area, then crossed the road. Immediately, we realized that not all of Cozumel was brightly painted and clean—and since nothing appealed, we turned around and shopped our brains out. So yeah, I didn’t take a lot of pics.

The best part of the day was Cyndi! She taught me to haggle.

Our boat’s the one on the left. Massive things, aren’t they?!

Anyone who has cruised knows that one of the fun things the room steward’s do
is make these little towel pets.

So guess what each of these is supposed to be. Remember, yesterday’s contest continues today—but you have to comment!

***Contest! Post a comment on my blog and you’re entered. Contest ends Sunday, so post every day for more chances to win! The Prize? A $25.00 gift certificate from Amazon.com!**

Here are a few pics from the first 24-hours of my cruise to Key West and Cozumel!

Miami from the sea!

Taken from the dock at Key West on Friday morning!

Cyndi is the one who dragged me on the cruise. She sent an email and begged me to come. She really had to twist my arm hard! First thing we did on Key West was rent a little electric car. So worth it!

Key West is packed with cute little shops, overaged hippies and really cute houses!

This is the one I want!

Pretty little cottages all in a row.

Do you get the feeling the Westies know how to enjoy life?

Pirate sighting!

Cyndi and I sped around the island in our little car (okay, the fastest we could go was 20 mph) and took in the sights. Some. Mostly, we shopped! We picked up art work. I bought a pendant made from the silver from the sunken Spanish galleon, the Atocha. At the end of the day, we were ready to head back to the ship for a rest.

I keep wondering what Captain Booty’s story is. Maybe y’all can help me make one up. Why would a man dress in a red-sequined pirate outfit with a stuffed rooster on his head?

I had a terrific day with my daughter’s family yesterday. Didn’t worry about making a wordcount. Didn’t itch to get to my computer. I headed to Hot Springs with my camera and a credit card.

My SIL, his mom, the red-headed hellion, the 5-year-old, and 1-year-old were all loaded up, and we headed first to downtown Hot Springs. Parking was tough to find because it was a beautiful sunny day with a nice breeze and EVERYONE headed to the strip.

We started at Bubbalu’s for hot dogs and hamburgers. A woman came up to ooh and ah over the baby. The baby gave her a scowl. “She must be shy,” the woman said. SIL said, “No, ma’am, she’s just mean.” And that’s the truth. Little Girl doesn’t have a shy bone in her body, but she has a temper and she did not want to stay in her stroller.

We stopped in at several little specialty shops, the 5-year-old and I bought matching shiny pink scarfs to wrap around our necks and blingy necklaces. The girl-child got stopped several times to be told how beautiful and “fashionable” she was. The same folks chuckled at me as they passed. This was the girl-child’s last day of Spring Break, and we’d told her it was her special day. She kept remarking on how great it was that everyone showed up to help her celebrate.

While we were walking, I passed a family with this dog and had to stop them to get a picture. Don’t you know there’s a story somewhere in that picture?

The shopping was nice. Stopped in Tillman’s which is an estate sale store and saw some amazing pieces. Faberge eggs, jewelry from The French Quarter that dated back to the late 1800’s. So much bling I thought I’d died and gone to heavan. I forgot to ask if they had lay-away… But never mind. Daughter and I are already plotting our next trip there—just have to save a bit to get something special!

Girl-child’s wish was to go to the petting zoo, so off we traipsed. This is us in the goat cage, feeding bread to the goats. It’s the only shot you’ll see of me, because after I saw what the wind did to my hair that was over!

The highlight of course was the alligator house. They keep them inside in winter and the gators huddle under heat lamps in the pools. Being so close, with only a 4-foot fence surrounded by chicken wire, didn’t make me feel very safe. I know they can jump that height and that chicken wire isn’t enough to hold them back if they do attack, but they looked very well-fed and lethargic.

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I’m back from the NOLA conference! Betcha didn’t even know I was gone. It was a quick trip—Friday through Sunday. And it was just across the border to Shreveport Louisiana, a little over two hours away. I’m a member of the NOLA chapter and love to get a chance to go down there and see friends.

I traveled with Shayla Kersten, and wouldn’t you know, I didn’t get a single darn photo of the woman! We had a great trip. I drove, hence the quick driving time. She only gasped a few times. We were set to stay in the hotel where the event was hosted, but discovered they’d lost our reservation! While I boiled, reception found us a room in the hotel next door, a Hilton Homewood Suites, and they arranged a very reaonable price for the rooms. Yeah, rooms. We ended up in a two-bedroom suite with a common sitting area and kitchenette. I didn’t complain after that.

I took a few pictures, but promise to share only a few! This first is of Lori Wilde. I’ve taken classes from her before. She makes some really tough concepts so easy to understand. I won the hardcover book you see pictured here. Didn’t get her to sign it though. Don’t know why I didn’t ask. When I’m done reading it, I’ll pass it along to one of you.

Here’s Sandy Blair. I love her. Her books and listening to her speak. Very funny lady.

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My horoscope today. No kidding. “You’re a space explorer, setting out into the unknown. Make contact with Houston.”

Anyway, I’m back! Still tired and my butt’s tingly from sitting for hours in a car, but I kind of like tingly, so not so bad. And I have pictures! They’re not as fun as the cruise pics, but you know I have to share. Thanks so much to the ladies who took over my blog while I was gone. Looks like you all had fun! We’ll do that again!

Have to start with this picture. My sis, Elle James, forgot she was wearing her reading glasses and we bumped heads while she held the camera above us. She thinks I deleted this one.

Sis and I left Arkansas on Friday, and headed up north to snow country. A writer’s group in Omaha invited us up to conduct a weekend-long plotting bootcamp. We do them a couple of times a year. They’re exhausting, but also a lot of fun. I like hanging with other authors and helping them put together a plot for a book. Brainstorming is fun so long as the book’s not mine!

The group was a nice mix of newbie-writers and multi-published authors. I won’t mention names to protect their privacy, but I was pleased and a little intimidated going in. That lasted about five seconds once everyone started talking about their stories.

I shot this out the car window as we drove. I don’t see snow that often, so it’s cool to me. That drive, BTW, was 12 hours! I broke it into two legs. 4 to my sister’s, then we drove 8 together. Like I said. Tingly butt.

The Omaha group set everything up in a hotel. Here we are arriving. Had to include this pic because that’s sis’s butt. She’s gonna want to kill me, but she’d have a long drive to do it now.

I don’t have a lot of fun photos because the weekend was cram-packed with work. I took a couple of shots while everyone worked on their lists of story conflicts. This was a rare quiet moment.

The bootcamp class is dynamic, and usually looks more like this. Wish you could see her schnauzer slippers. We kept to sweats and slippers for comfort.

The whole reason I love to do the bootcamps is a chance to hang with my sis and do something we both love.