Party!

First, here are some links where you can buy Paris Runaway in ebook or paperback.
On Amazon for Kindle here. The paperback should be available soon on Amazon.
On Barnes & Noble for Nook or paperback here.
Now, for those of you not on Facebook, I wanted to share some of the festivities from the launch party last night.
Yes, I was stressed all day, including a stiff neck.
Around 4:30, I decided to have a glass of wine, hoping it would help me relax. As I worked to slice four baguettes for the meat and cheese trays, my youngest decided it would be a good time to engage about the fact that my husband and I were abandoning him next year to move to France. But that will be a post for another time.
I made it to the launch and friends immediately jumped up to chip in and help get everything organized. Things went much more smoothly than I'd anticipated.
I served five different kinds of French cheese, along with salami, prosecco and capicola. We also had margherita pizza from Dewey's. For dessert, macarons from Pistacia Vera and madeleines made by Grace.

I served 4 kinds of white wines and 3 kinds of reds, all French, bien sur.
Friends provided beer.

Overall, I felt really loved and supported by both my friends and my family as people kept me busy all evening signing books. Grace was in charge of the book sales so that I didn't have to mess with the money or the credit card.

Earl worked hard serving wine and then cleaning up at the end. Spencer, who had to get up at 6 a.m. for work, woke up from a nap and made it to the book launch about half way through. He fetched me a glass of wine when I asked for it, so his support was really helpful. It was nice to have 2 out of 3 of my children there, and that is not a passive aggressive slam at Tucker. I didn't expect my boys to attend, so getting one of them there was a coup.

This might be the last book launch I have in the United States, but I'm planning to try to finish another book this fall, so you never know. I might have one more book launch.
Here are some pictures from the party.

I did a reading, and it went better than I expected. 

And when we got home and unloaded everything, I got a picture with my husband.

Thanks to everyone for your support.

Anniversary -- Then and Now

Today we're celebrating our wedding anniversary. We were married 23 years ago on my parents' blueberry farm in Kentucky.

 Here we are driving off in my Mustang convertible, and you can tell by the look on my face, that I was ecstatic. So, I like to think that's one thing that hasn't changed after 23 years.
There are moments when I realize how lucky I am to have tied myself to this man who makes me happy -- on most days.
Here we are today before going out to brunch in a photo unwillingly taken by our 17-year-old son.

And here I am at the restaurant drinking a Kir Royale and pretending I'm in France. But, I'm still in Ohio. The drinks were the best thing about the meal, but that happens some times. Look how fabulous the drinks look, with the creme de cassis settled at the bottom. Should we have stirred them up before we drank them? the last few drink were awfully sweet.

Easter Askew

I knew this was going to be a strange Easter.
Spencer is away at college and Tucker left for a school trip to France. But I still didn't anticipate how off kilter things would be until Grace started throwing up Saturday evening.
She was really sick all evening and finally fell asleep.
Earl and I felt compelled to cancel our plans with his sister and family since we didn't want to spread the stomach virus to anyone else.
So this morning, I wandered the grocery aisles, wondering what I could fix for someone who has been recently ill, and two people who might come down with the same virus.
Grace slept and slept. I asked Earl to fix her Easter basket and hide it while I went to the grocery store.
We didn't go to church, again not wanting to spread the virus.
Earl and I were at loose ends as we waited for Grace to wake up. For the first time in 21 years, we didn't have kids looking throughout the house for their Easter baskets.
Grace's basket had candy, which I knew she wouldn't want to eat after being sick all night, and a copy of the DVD Les Miserables.
"If Grace would wake up, we could watch Les Miserables," I told Earl.

Here's a photo from our first Easter with Grace.
Love those floral print dresses and big glasses.

When she emerged around 11, she wandered into a chair at the dining room table where Earl and I were both on our laptops.
"Hurry up and find your Easter basket so we can watch Les Miserables," Earl said to Grace.
I turned my head and stared at him. Grace looked confused.
"I can't believe you  just spoiled the surprised," I said.
He looked a little sheepish but shrugged it off.
Grace wandered in the living room until she found her basket hidden under a blanket. She set it on the table and we all looked at it expectantly. Was the DVD hiding behind the chocolate bunny? Nope. We hadn't even put it in the basket.
I went to the closet and grabbed the movie from its hiding place.
So after our subdued meal, we spent the afternoon watching Les Miserables. It was just as wonderful as Sim at Chapter 1 - Take 1 predicted, and as moving as Grace told me.
I hope your Easter was a little more traditional than ours.

My Husband's Christmas Birthday

I never felt a lot of sympathy for Christmas babies, til I married one. He remembers having one birthday party as a kid. His Christmas and birthday gifts were usually combined.
We celebrated today with brunch out and presents very separate from his Christmas presents.
And we ended with a dance dip in front if the Christmas tree. Happy Birthday , Earl.

21 Years

I can't remember how I felt 21 years ago when I married Earl. I was nervous, excited, happy. I think I jabbered nervously and forgot to apply lipstick when my Dad came to that upstairs room to escort me down to the wooden porch, down a few steps to stand in front of a tinkling waterfall, tiger lilies blooming thick along the bank.
I can't remember how I felt, but this expression on my face explains it.

We drove my convertible from my parents' log cabin in Kentucky to the reception. That's a barn in the background, not the house! My best friend from high school, Tracey, was my matron of honor and Earl's brother Art was the best man. They rode in the front seat. It didn't matter because Earl and I had eyes for no one else.
Today, we went to Trattoria Roma and sat on the patio. We drank wine. We laughed. Earl said I looked beautiful, and I'm kind of amazed that 21 years passed so quickly. I don't mean to make it sound easy. We've had our share of days slogging through deep sand in the desert (I mean that metaphorically) and sometimes it feels like we're on opposite sides instead of the same side. Every time though, we return to each other with that loving look in our eyes.
As we left the restaurant, Earl took my hand in his and said, "Do you think we can have 21 more?"
I try to imagine us 21 years from now. My mind reels. But 21 years ago, I couldn't have imagined the life we created, the people we've become.
Happy Anniversary, Earl.

Oh Christmas Tree

We decided, kind of by default, not to get a Christmas tree until Grace came home from college. She arrived home last Thursday.
Friday was a basketball game after school. Saturday was a day-long swim meet. We decided to get our tree after mass on Sunday morning. Then Spencer announced a special Sunday basketball practice at noon.
"Can we get the tree without you?" I asked.
He shrugged. It's hard to know if those shrugs mean, I don't care or I'm so sad that I won't be there to choose a Christmas tree.
We went without him. The YMCA lot only had 13 trees left. We chose one within minutes and tied it to the top of the car.

Earl set the tree in its stand while Grace, Tucker and I moved furniture around to make a place for the tree.
And it stood there, forlorn, free of decorations.
Christmas carolers came to the door that night -- four high school boys, friends of Grace. They came in and made no comment about the bare tree.
I scheduled a decorating time for Monday.
Tucker had swim from 8 to 10 a.m. and Spencer had basketball from 11 to 1. Earl had to leave for work at 3. I declared 2 p.m. tree decorating time.
Earl put the lights on the tree ahead of time and I made a batch of manicotti along with a salad to feed us afterward.
Charlie Brown Christmas music played as we hung ornaments.
Spencer was feeling sick so could only be roused to hang a few ornaments, but at least we were all together for a little while.

Milestones

Twenty years ago today in Daniel Boone National Forest in Kentucky, Earl and I were married. The day was sunny and warm, but nowhere near as warm as it is today in Ohio -- 89 humid degrees.
I wonder if it's a bad sign that we can't find our wedding album anywhere? I've searched and Earl has searched. I found some snapshots that friends gave us so you can see how fresh-faced and naive we were in 1990.

My parents owned a blueberry farm in a holler in Kentucky. We were married in front of a meandering creek with the tiger lilies in bloom. On the left side of the photo is Grandad Ish, who has since died. Earl's brother Art was the best man and the priest, Father Al, has gone on to write books about being a priest in Appalachia.
Look at my face. I really love that man. I'm amazed that he's marrying me.
After the ceremony, we stood there by the whispering creek and people moved along to congratulate us.
You can't see me in this photo, but you can see Tracey, my best friend from high school and maid of honor laughing.

Twenty years ago, I had no idea how to make a marriage work. I got very lucky in a number of ways. One of those ways was my choice. I think it's nearly impossible to make a good choice this young (and I was 27!). I chose a man who treated others well. When a waitress dropped a tray, he'd get up to help her. When a woman was panhandling and he turned her down, he later knocked on her car window and gave her money. He cares about other people, and that includes me.
It hasn't been 20 years of bliss. We've had fights that lasted for weeks. We've learned to swallow hurtful words.
We've gone through childbirth together three times (okay, I bore the brunt of that) and find our biggest arguments are about parenting.
We've lived in seven houses and owned four. We've moved from Florida to Michigan to Ohio. We've been to Europe six times and traveled throughout most of the United States.
We have dreams together -- dreams of owning a bed and breakfast, dreams of moving to France, dreams of publishing novels.
Most of our day-to-day lives focus on paying bills and raising kids.
We've already celebrated our anniversary with a trip to France this spring, but today we'll find a table in a restaurant and open a nice bottle of wine. We'll toast ourselves and our great luck to have fallen into each other's arms twenty-two years ago and to have pledged to stay together twenty years ago in front of a small gathering of friends and family.