Happy B'day, JB

Pre-Teen Girl wore purple to school today to mark the occasion ...

So I took in Justin Bieber's documentary, Never Say Never, last Sunday with a group of middle school kids and - du, du, du - LOVED it. This is a photo of us at the theater in downtown Ventura (a stone's throw from the beach). I thought I might get bored, so I bought a large popcorn and settled in. Far from it! I giggled, sang, and got all teary-eyed at one point! (Missy, if you're reading this, I know you did too!!!)

Hubby and I were at the same theater the night before to see The King's Speech (loved that too, btw), but I found this movie just as entertaining (in a different way). Inspirational too. Say what you want, but the kiddo's got talent. And a pretty cool team around him.

There were moments of prayer sprinkled throughout the film, so I said one myself for JB at the end of the movie. So hoping all the hoopla doesn't do to him what it's done to so many others his age. Here's to answered prayers ...

Did YOU watch the Oscars last night?

My son's away at school. This is what his friends do when they're not studying (hmm ... they've made a lot of these videos ...) Matt makes a cameo :)

You must have a sense of humor ...

to view this video.

So last week, College Boy came home for the weekend and made me watch a ton of silly videos produced by Julian Smith. I don't know about you, but I DON'T HAVE TIME to watch a bunch of online videos! But my kiddo was home and I was tired so I plunked myself down ... and laughed. so. hard. The guy is really, really, really ridiculous. And funny.

So College Boy is back at BIOLA and he posted this video on my Facebook wall. It's Julian's family doing a parody of his I'm Reading A Book video (a favorite among writers). If you haven't seen any of Justin's stuff, this one might not have as big an impact because there are all kinds of hidden nods to his other videos.

Then again, if you're a lousy cook like I am, you'll get something out of it. This video is basically my life ... hahaha.

p.s. Doesn't Julian's mother look young? Kind of like College Boy's mama, LOL

Free Reads

To chase away the winter blahs, blogger Diane Estrella (and frequent visitor to my Waves of Grace Blog) will be featuring authors and giving away books all week long. Free novels! Who doesn't love that?!

Stop by That's What I'm Here For for details. A Shore Thing will be featured on Friday :-)

Have a beachy day my friends ~ wherever you are ...

Pondo 2011

Hung out last weekend with our church's middle and high school kids at winter camp, about 3 hours from the beach. No snow (that's coming this weekend ... grrr), but we did find some leftover patches to play in on camp grounds. And in a last-minute maneuver, we drove north a bit and found a snow-tubing area just south of Snow Valley.

Let me just say ... man-made snow is fast! I couldn't let the young 'uns show me up, so I found myself careening down the steepest, iciest hills face-first on an inner tube. Laughed. My. Head. Off. Okay, not really. It's still attached. But still! The oldest of the group ~ including counselors ~ was like, 21. And then there was me. LOL

And, oh yeah, it was church winter camp so we talked a lot about God. Did you know that YOU are His Masterpiece? Yup, you are! That was the best news of all ~ snow or no snow :-)

Love thoughts continued ...

Talk about someone who has bewitched me, body and soul ...! The love of my life brought me these today: romantic card, roses, and my favorite candles ever :)

Happy Valentine's Day

You have bewitched me, body & soul ...

Love is in the air and my friend, Jamie Carie, author of Snow Angel, has an oh-so romantic Valentine's Day message for us all ~ ooh, la, la ;-)) Behold ... love lines from some of her novels.

p.s. Do you know which movie my blog post's title is from?

One thing about the beach I could live without is wind. We get a lot of it. Today the winds howl, palm fronds shoot like missiles, and the plants beg for mercy from the dry ground.

At least it's not freezing here like it is in some parts of the country. Oh, wait. The nights are below freezing in the local mountains ... and guess who signed up to be a counselor at middle school winter camp this weekend? That would be me :-) Love the girls. Not crazy about the cold. Brrr...

Despite the cold, I'm looking forward to seeing what the good Lord has in store for us all up on that mountain. I've been in a weird place for several months, questioning, thinking, praying, trying to make certain decisons ... you know that place? If you're breathing, somehow I think you do!

Anyway, here's to swapping out wind for cold. I'll let you know how it goes ... :)

Fade to ... Friday

It's Friday! Yes! It's nippy outside, but the sun's shining overhead so I'm determined to bundle up and get myself to the beach. Fade to Blue is going to print in about a week so there've been all kinds of details to finish up ... but we're almost there. Good feeling!

If you're not on my mailing list, you missed receiving a copy of my latest newsy news. You can read an archived copy of my newsletter ~ where I mention a humorous discussion (sort of ) with a soccer mom about Snooki and me ~ here.

If you're a writer interested in the whole eBook phenomenon, I'm over at the CANblog today talking about my recent experience with publishing one of my own titles in eBook form. It's short and sweet and you can read that here.

I'm off to look at back cover copy of my next summer title ... fun! Hope your day wraps up quickly too, and that you find time to head to the beach or the mountain or wherever makes you happy. Have a beachy weekend, my friends ~ wherever you are :-)