Author: julie

In honor of The Dog…

10 Comments

I don’t normally post pet or personal-type photos, but The Dog turned nine years old today, and during our walk this morning, I had one of those “how time flies” moments.  I’ve been noticing that he’s as pokey as me during our walks these days– and considering I’m about eight and 1/2 months pregnant and waddle around at a speed of roughly 1.2 miles per hour, that’s saying a lot.

So I thought I’d post this picture, taken just this morning, as a Happy Birthday shout-out.  When The Dog was a nine month-old puppy, we found out he had hip dysplasia in both hips and the vet specialist told us that he’d see us in six months for hip replacement surgery.  Here we are at nine years, and no surgery yet (fingers crossed that keeps up):

And because the temperature in Chicago dropped twenty degrees since yesterday and Fall suddenly seems to be upon us, I couldn’t resist posting this photo as well:

Have a great Labor Day weekend, everyone!

People Are Strange…

7 Comments

Cue the Doors song. . . .  The other day, I was walking The Dog, and we came across something that struck me as a little. . . odd.  Luckily, I happened to have my handy iPhone camera with me.

From a few feet away, I saw this box leaning against someone’s house:

Curious, as The Dog and I walked by, I looked to see what was written on the box:

“IF YOU WANT THIS FOR YOUR DOG, CAT TO PISS ON– TAKE IT[.]  HAVE FUN.  Put a Plastic Bag on one corner.”

I laughed out loud at the “Have fun” part.  Okay. . . I get that this person was trying to be neighborly and all, but are there really that many people walking around, looking for a stray mat for their dog/cat to “piss” on?  I do appreciate, however, the helpful advice to “put a plastic bag one one corner.”

Shockingly, from what I saw, they didn’t have any takers.

In other (very exciting!) news. . . on Friday, I found out from my editor that Something About You has gone into its third printing!!  Whoo-hoo!  Thanks to all of you for that.  : )

Oh–and I’m hoping to be able to share the cover of my next book, A Lot Like Love, soon.  Meanwhile, I’ve turned in my proposal for Book 5 and should start writing the book next week.  More to come on that front soon!

Fun stuff: tea-time photos and what I’m reading/watching

13 Comments

I meant to post these photos a week ago, and then got sidetracked with my RWA round-up blog and the arrival of my international books.  A short while ago, I had the delightful opportunity to get together with two readers and romance fans, Jennie and Jen.  They were in Chicago for a half-marathon, and we met for tea at the Drake.  Tea the Drake hotel is always fantastic (they even have a harpist!), and beyond that, I had such a blast meeting with Jennie and Jen!  It’s always wonderful to get the chance to meet readers and talk about books.   Here are a couple of photos I thought I’d share (thanks, Jen, for the pictures!):

And the piece de resistance, we couldn’t resist taking a picture of our shoes:

He, he– I’m such a shoe girl.  It truly is my weakness.  : )

On another note, having finished up the revisions for A Lot Like Love, I’ve been catching up on some reading and TV/movie watching.  Last week I read Slow Heat by Jill Shalvis, which I really enjoyed, and yesterday I started Abandon the Night by Joss Ware, the third book in her Envy Chronicles (I thought the first two books in the series were great and have been looking forward to this one).

In terms of television, after finishing Dexter, the Husband and I had a free slot in our TV-viewing schedule, so we decided to give True Blood a shot.  (I was curious to see what all the hoopla was about.)  Oh, that Vampire Bill. . . I think I’m started to get why everyone’s making a fuss over this show.

And speaking of hoopla, after hearing numerous rave reviews of the BBC series North and South, I decided to give it a try.  It took me awhile to get into it, but I was hooked by the third episode and couldn’t stop watching after that point until the end.  If you like romance and angst and a hero who broods–and then broods some more–this is the mini-series for you.  It doesn’t top the Pride and Prejudice BBC mini-series in my book, but it’s definitely worth checking out.

So that’s what’s going on here. . . how about with you?  Reading/watching anything good?

I’ve gone international!

10 Comments

How cool is this? The other day, I received from Berkley copies of several foreign editions of my books.  I love these covers!  And since I don’t have jpegs of all the covers, I thought I’d take a few photos and share.

All the foreign editions--don't they look cute together?

Taiwan editions of Just the Sexiest Man Alive & Practice Makes Perfect

Russian edition of Just the Sexiest Man Alive

Thai editions of Just the Sexiest Man Alive & Practice Makes Perfect

Japanese edition of Just the Sexiest Man Alive

What do you think? I’m not sure why the Chinese cover includes the image of the Parthenon… but I love it.  And Jason and Taylor look about eighteen years old in the Russian edition of Just the Sexiest Man Alive, but they’re so cute together it doesn’t matter.

So there you have it–I’ve gone global.  There are other foreign editions in the works, including a French edition of Something About You, and I can’t wait to see those as well!

Coming up for air–what should I read?

27 Comments

Whew!  Last Friday, I heard back from my editor re: Book 4, A Lot Like Love, which she is very pleased with.  (Yay!)  She had a couple of minor notes, which I worked on these past couple of days.  I’m happy to say that earlier this afternoon, I emailed the revised manuscript off to her.  (Another yay!)  In theory, I’m done until it’s time for copy edits.  I hope.

Which means that it’s time for me to move on to. . . Book 5!  I’m really excited to get going on the new book–the hero in Book 5 is introduced in A Lot Like Love, and I think his story is going to be a lot of fun to write.  And now that I’m done with A Lot Like Love I finally have time to read again!!

I just finished up my book club book, Girl in Translation by Jean Kwok, which I really enjoyed.  So I’m trying to decide what to read next. . . and thought you guys might be able to help me out.  I pulled a few books from my TBR shelf that caught my eye:

Any recommendations?  I think I might be leaning toward Slow Heat by Jill Shalvis–since it centers around a baseball team that seems like a good one to read before the summer is over.  But I’d love to hear what you guys think!