Monday, April 27, 2009

Burn My Bra

So a friend of mine told me about the Butterfly bra from Ashley Stewart. I thought it was great idea, being that it takes the pressure off your shoulders and puts all the support in your back. But it's still a freaking underwire bra, which I don't wear. Underwires dig into my underarm. They never fit underneath the boulders. And Right at the front, they poke out. I hate that! So why are the really cute ones underwire?

I tried the Butterfly. It's so much material that I could go without a shirt and think I'm dressed. Lol. So huge! My shoulders were footloose and fancy free just like promised, but I was locked in a cage behind underwire. I wanted to cut my way out to freedom. Am I shaped funny or what for cripes sake? Can I get support, cuteness and no wire? What's up with that?

Well I guess me and the girls have to continue our hunt for the perfect bra...

Friday, April 10, 2009

My Yummy Bryant



Octavia "Tae" Stokes thinks the most important thing in her life is to achieve her dream of becoming a nurse, even if it means leaving her small town boyfriend behind while she goes off to college and tries to forget about him. But fate deals her a hand she could not have planned for. She finds hers dreams shattered when an accident leaves her scared for life and hiding from the world, especially from the man's whose heart she broke.

After proposing to the woman who will always hold his heart and being turned down, Bryant sees no other option but to join the army. Who could have predicted that a war in Iraq would have him stationed half way around the world fighting for his and his buddies' lives? When he finally comes home after a near fatal injury and the loss of his best friend, it is not Tae but Leena who is waiting for him. But Leena is not all she pretends to be, and a soldier needs someone to hold onto, someone to love.

Can Tae forgive herself for her past mistakes and move past her outward appearance to help heal a soldier's heart?

COMING SOON TO: www.sugarandspicepress.net

Wanted tea, nothing special...

I just wanted tea, something soothing to warm the belly and a touch of sweetness to ease the ache. I saw a video suggestion of vanilla chai and found White Tea something or other chai. It had vanilla in it and honey and some other ingredients.

I loved the vanilla taste but there was another that was stightly off-putting. So I can only drink 2/3 thirds of a cup, and I'm forced to keep going through it because I have two boxes of the stuff. Sigh. Oh yeah and the somewhat ick ingredient? Black pepper. Yep, you can taste it in there. That's just unnatural! Or I am. Haha.

Thursday, April 9, 2009

I'm Feeling Accomplished

I made great progress today and last night. I worked singlemindedly since I woke up for the day and last night as well. For those who know me, that's miraculous. Got lots completed. Last night before I went to bed, I wrote a few notes on various scenes I wanted to add into my book. I'm happy with that, but still nervous because this book is different but the same for stories I've done. I can't explain it. When I get further along, I'll do a blurb or something.

I'm not getting any younger, and I feel stronly that I must live and enjoy each moment of my life. So I didn't want this year to be about a waiting game, a wishing for it to end so my friend will come home. I thought a good idea would be to set a few goals that I could see happening over the year and enjoy. It would also serve to distract me from moping around.

With dread I looked a my credit card and other large debt and thought, why not figure out what I need to do to pay off these things and choose a time period. That would give me something to work on each month, something to look forward to and a sense of accomplishment. To me setting goals, whether financial or otherwise, is paramount for happiness in life. It gives you like I said that sense of accomplishment. I also think it builds self-esteem.

I can't claim that I just woke up and thought I think I'll pay off some things. No, I was playing around on YouTube and came across a woman's video where she said she paid like $20,000 in debt off in 3 years. I first wanted to know what the heck she does to afford that. Because I saw that if I really wanted to do some damage, I would need $800 a month. Yeah right. I'd have to write until my fingers fall off. But I'm going to do what I need to and I believe I can pay off my credit card in one year, maybe less. I'm very happy with that plan.

I'm excited about this because it isn't enough to just say I will pay a little extra on my payments every month. I needed a solid date to work toward and how much I would need to pay extra to reach it. Paying a little extra wasn't truly committing for me.

Oh yeah, and I was annoyed that my scale went down 1/2 pound one day, went up 1/2 pound the next. I know. I know. Get off the freakin scale. No! Haha. I won't do it. I don't let it get me down too much, so I figure I can take it. I did my usual not eating breakfast for a couple hours until I had knocked out some work [You didn't think I was the healthy lifestyle example did you?] and went to my closet to get something. I stepped on the scale totally distracted and was happy that I was down below the stupid multiple of ten I hated. Lol.

Well, gotta go. Gotta write.

Sunday, April 5, 2009

How I Came Up With My Book Idea

I love the song Same Script Different Cast, sung by Whitney Houston and Deborah Cox. I have no idea how old it is, but I just discovered it, and I just play it over and over and over again. It's not the words, but the sound of their voices and the music that I like. I do that with a lot of songs.

So I was sitting there listening back-to-back, just replaying, and I was trying to come up with an emotional romance that really hit some painful places in the relationship with my heroine and hero, and just playing this song helped me come up with it. Don't worry, it's so not about a cheating partner or anything like that. I wanted to do something with failed relationships and how where we are in life sometimes affects the decisions we make and make or break our relationships with a significant other.

I opened Microsoft Word and just began to plot it out, from start to finish. When I was done, I wasn't sure if it truly fit the chracters I normally develop. I thought it might be too raw in some ways, but I'm going to go with it.

The book will have a soldier hero. It will of course be an interracial romance, and that's all I'm going to say about it. But I've already started, and I'm well on the way. After some soldier consultation with my buddy Dahlia, I'll be good to go. Can't wait to know what the readers think of it.

Saturday, April 4, 2009

Snacks 2

I think I've found some temporary snacks. First I went with those cottage cheese and fruit things. I liked it great. Spread on my dry as the Sahara ry crackers, it worked out. But when I went back to the store to get more (I had only bought one to test out)I found that one of them has something like 400 grams of sodium. What the...? So I was back to square one. I needed something with enough fat in it to not leave me hungry and just enough sweetness to satisfy that craving as well. I don't know if I mentioned it but, protein (meat protein) and/or fat are natural appetite suppressants. Not fat and high sugar though. A lot of sugar can make you thirsty and hungry. Note how if you drink soda on a scorching hot day, you're still thirsty. It's the sugar.

Anyway, I went with shredded sharp cheese. And I want to know why they can't make extra sharp shredded cheese? I want as much as bite in my cheese as I can get. With my rice crackers. Don't gag, they're okay. And I got cool whip and red apples. I skin the apples. Don't lecture me. If I force myself to eat that disgusting skin, I will give up eating apples because I hate it so much.

The apples are not overly sweet although they're still not my favorite. I cut one up and put a few tablespoons of cool whip on it. Just good enough to be a cheap partfait. Okay, partfait I think is usually yogurt, but whatever. It's a great treat. So I get my salty snack without overdoing it. One quarter cup of shredded cheese and about 16 rice crackers. And after that I have one medicum cut up apple with the cool whip on top. Yum, yum, yum.

I don't know how long this will last, but it's worked so far, and miraculously (can't you hear the choir singing) I was down 3 pounds this morning. I don't think it's the snacks, but I'm happy! Lol.

And my boo wrote me so my world is temporarily in complete harmony.