My gift box for the Diabetes Auction

Here are the details on the gift box I am donating to Brenda Novak's Diabetes Auction:

A Taste of England -- a gift box from author Jessica Raymond

• A Lily of the Valley gift set from Woods of Windsor
• English Lavender bath herbs
• Twinings English Breakfast tea bags
• A box of slow-baked all-butter shortbread fingers
• A signed copy of A Taste of Summer, a duet beach romance by Jessica Raymond and Nell Dixon
• Jessica Raymond notepad, pens, bookmarks, and fridge magnets

The auction begins on May 1st and runs until May 31st. Bids on my box will start at USD $2 and you can pay by Paypal, credit card, cheque (US-drawn) or money order. There are LOADS of other fabulous things up for grabs and Brenda will be giving an amazing prize away to the person who places the most bids, even if they don't win anything.

Once the auction starts I'll post up a permanent link to my gift box on the sidebar.

I'll be away from the blog for a little while now, as tomorrow we fly to Spain to visit my mother. This is Little Frog's first ever trip on an aeroplane and I'm really hoping he behaves. (It doesn't help when both Mummy and Daddy hate flying.) But I'm just going to think about the nice sunshine and the good food and seeing the look on his face when he squelches his toes into some soggy sand on the beach :)

A Short Story - "Rearview"

A short story of mine appeared on the Moonlit Romance Authors Blog last week. If you'd like to read Rearview, just click here. I'd love to hear what you thought of it!

News of my Diabetes Auction gift box coming very soon.

The Soundtrack to My Life?

I shamelessly stole this from Liz Fenwick, who usually has some of the best meme's and tag-posts :)

If Your Life Were a Movie…What Would the Soundtrack Be?

Here’s how it works:

1. Open your music library (iTunes, Winamp, Media Player, iPod, etc)
2. Put it on shuffle
3. Press play
4. For every question/bullet-point, type the song that’s playing
5. When you go to a new question/bullet-point, press the next button
6. Don’t lie and try to pretend you’re cool, because you’re not!

Opening Credits: Feelin' Good by Nina Simone

Waking Up: Save Me by Remy Zero (the theme tune to Smallville)

First Day at School: Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out by Nina Simone (??!! -- and I have over 400 songs in my library and it picks the first artist again...?)

Falling in Love: Whisper of a Thrill by Thomas Newman (from the score to Meet Joe Black, and this is a pretty good match)

Fight Song: Inertia Creeps by Massive Attack (which could work!)

Breaking Up: Respect by Train (I think this is from one of my Dawson's Creek soundtracks and the lyrics kind of fit)

Prom/Dance/Ball: Angel by Ralph Fridge (a dance tune which, bizarrely enough, was released around the time of my high-school graduation)

Life’s OK: Toca Me by Fragma (the original version, not the one that's just been re-worked)

Mental Breakdown: Times Like These by Foo Fighters (another reasonable match!)

Flashback: Smoke by Natalie Imbruglia (and this is quite good, too, because it reminds me of my dad for some reason)

Getting Back Together: Everything by Lifehouse (which you must listen to because it's gorgeous... and also sort of fits lyrics-wise... I sometimes imagine this as a first-dance-at-wedding song)

Birth of Child: Daniel's 9th Cipher by Hans Zimmer (from the Da Vinci Code origin
al score... thankfully I don't own the score for The Omen!)

Wedding: Poe Meets Larkin by Mark Mancina/Trevor Rabin (from the Con Air original score... bizarre fit movie-wise, but it is a very beautiful orchestral arrangement)

Final Battle: Deadline by Dutch Force (a dance tune... I half-hoped something from the Flash Gordon soundtrack -- yep, I own it -- would pop up here)

Funeral Song: On Hallowed Ground by Graeme Revell (from the original score of The Crow... a pretty eerie match)

End Credits: Call the Police by James Morrison (and what should I make of that?!)

Dreams of Danny Dyer

For those of you who don't know who Danny Dyer is, here's a photo:



He's a British actor, and for some reason I had a dream about him last night. Not that I'm complaining ;)

Today I got one of those kneel-pad office stools, in an effort to be kind to my back. When I'm proofreading I have been known to sit in one spot for three hours or more (I know, I know, I should take a break every half an hour and stretch...) and my dining-room chairs just haven't been cutting the mustard.

I'm in the process of finalizing my gift box for Brenda Novak's Diabetes Auction, so keep an eye out for news and a photo of the prizes. (Speaking of which, Debs, I have not heard from you yet about your prize!)


Just finished reading: The Wives of Bath by Wendy Holden (Thanks, Pip! Really enjoyed it, although if the character of Jake was real I would need to be held back from punching him in his smarmy face.)