The Secret History of the Pink Carnation by Lauren Willig
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
My teenaged daughter borrowed this historical romance from a friend and pronounced it awesome. I like a good (awesome is even better) historical romance, so I decided to read it myself. This isn’t the genre I generally reach for to quench my word-thirst, but if it’s awesome I can’t pass it up.
Was it awesome? Yes. Yes it was. Imagine, if you will, England in the spring of 1803. Okay, I can’t imagine it either, but you won’t need to. Willig sets the scenes beautifully, but never lets the landscape overtake the plot. Her characters are just as delightful. The main heroine is absolutely delicious. I love her personality. She’s full of strength and weakness, courage and trepidation, purposefulness and utter distraction. Willig’s ability to give the reader such in-depth knowledge of Amy Balcourt is what draws you in. Not to be overshadowed by the heroine, the hero, Lord Richard Selwick, is quite the mixture himself. Strong and confident, but completely confounded by this unexpected woman.
Other characters are just as intriguing and well detailed. I adored Miss Gwen and her fine cane. You’ll love her too when you read this book.
Oh… and there’s another story going on while you read about Richard and Amy. Modern day Eloise is writing her dissertation. She’s in England chasing the Pink Carnation by way of digging into the past of the Purple Gentian. Rummaging through old papers and spending days inside library dungeon-esque basements, her determination to unravel the mystery is contagious.
Even if you don’t usually go for historical romance, I think you’ll find this a rewarding read. Just think of it as a spy novel set in the past with some romance on the side.
When I first starting writing Camel Lot: A Misplaced Adventure, I had no idea what I was setting in motion. Writing, yes, I can handle that. Artwork, sure, I’ve done that before. Publishing a book – yikes! Even ebook format had my head spinning. What is ebook exactly and why is it different depending on what you read it on? How do I even know if I’ve sold anything if it’s all electronic? I have no idea what I’m doing. But, my book managed to arrive at Amazon, then the iBookstore, then Barnes & Noble. As if by magic, my children’s book appeared in online retailers around the virtual globe. I could search for my book and voila, there it would be.
Rob first pointed out the ratings about a week after Camel Lot became available on Amazon. It was ranked #9 in the Children’s Action & Adventure ebook category. I was thrilled. How cool is that? What does that mean? I still have no idea. Apparently ratings on Amazon is calculated using a very complex algorithm based on book sales, book reviews, blood type and pancake ingredients. So it really doesn’t tell us anything.
Rob told me the other day that according to Footprints for iPhone (has nothing to do with Jesus carrying you) I hadn’t left the apartment since Wednesday. Seriously?!
Writing Bermuda’s Triangle was a blast. It’s a fun story and cute kiddos to write about. I enjoyed it just as much as Camel Lot. But, the art… whew! Camel Lot was full of flowers, a crazy cat and a pink magical unicorn. But Bermuda’s Triangle is full of musical instruments. Complicated, twisty (in the case of the French horn), and precise. Not exactly a description of my brain or artistic style. Okay, yes, my brain probably is complicated and twisty, but definitely not precise.
After returning to Indiana from Los Angeles, leaving behind a job I loved, I thought, “I’ll just run right out in this depressed job market and snatch up another.”
You have to make your trips few and far between to really enjoy going to the 
The main area has an ever changing exhibit pertaining to one area of scientific study or another. During our visit, 
Allyson really enjoyed getting her picture taken with the Governor of California, I mean the 
I went out last night with my sister, Dorothy, to 
I love plants. I add to my flowerbeds every spring and fall. My hostas are the envy of the neighborhood. So I never mind a little rain. I even appreciate it as I can leave the bulky water hose in the garage. But, this is verging on Forks rain – Forks, WA that is. Or is it?
After a great deal of procrastination in getting started, I finally began on a Monday afternoon. Collage is not necessarily a difficult medium to work with. There’s an abundance of materials to choose from (like sheet music), the tools are simple enough, and it’s really quite fun. It’s also quite messy. I decided to burn the edges of small torn sections from the sheet music to give it a better contrast. Then I used a decoupage medium to affix each piece in an aesthetically pleasing location on the bat. Piece by piece a design from sheet music, charred edges, and lyrics builds around the original logos of the Louisville Slugger.
Upon completion, unsurprisingly the same day delivery to the Arts Council was required, I rushed downtown to introduce my Slugger to all the others soon to join in the exhibit.
Recently I was researching cheeses to see if we, as vegetarians, could still indulge in 
I stumbled upon this infuriating information at 
One of the things I’ve noticed since joining my daughter in being 
Recently, my husband asked me to find out if the cheese at our local 
About a week ago, my husband went with me to purchase my 
Once out of the box, you place your machine where you would like it to live on your counter. You’ll first notice how heavy it is. Not super heavy, but heavy enough to make you feel you purchased quality. You then remove the water tank and rinse it (don’t wash – rinse) with cold water. Fill up the tank and return it to where it belongs. You place a mug in position (do not add a K-cup at this time) and select a priming sequence which runs water into the heating area and deposits a quantity of steaming hot water into your mug. Throw this water away. This water is used to sterilize your machine.
You are now ready to begin brewing coffee, tea or hot cocoa to your hearts content. Easy, huh?
mine on the largest mug setting. So far, I like the 
I’ve read at some coffee blogs that you can use a K-cup more than once. I gave that a try since the Newman’s Own Extra Bold is too strong for me the first time through. I find it’s much tastier when running it through a second time. This is great if you aren’t extremely particular about your coffee being exactly the same cup after cup. Which I’m not. One of the reasons I loved the idea of a single-serve coffee brewer is to more easily enjoy variety whenever I feel like it. If my first cup is a little strong and my second is a little weak, that’s okay with me. Another idea I read online and loved is to run your extra bold K-cup through twice on a medium setting to fill your travel mug before heading out into rush hour traffic.
Since I had my brewer in time for my family arriving, it was fun to show it off and get everyone’s reaction. My family is comprised of heavy coffee drinkers, but not coffee snobs. Everyone loved the ease of use and were fascinated at how simple the design was. Each person tried a different coffee with most of them agreeing the Newman’s had great flavor but was a bit strong. It is an extra bold after all. They were also impressed with the idea of easily grabbing a cup of coffee and then making a cup of tea if that’s what they wanted next. I have one sister who drinks more tea than coffee and she loved that flexibility. All in all, it was a big hit. The talk of the party. Brew•C won’t let it go to his head.
Tonight I went to Crit Club. That’s short for Critique Club. It’s an art club where each artist brings in a sample of their work and a guest artist will provide critique. I went as a guest speaker, not critiquer. I had the opportunity to speak to the artists about websites. Since I have created websites for several individuals and businesses, I was considered an authority. Strange what goes for “expert” these days, huh?
I gave the usual spiel about types of websites, especially talking up