The Union Jack & TopShop...

These are some of my fave English things in no particular order: Barbara Cartland's sweet romance novels. Beatrix Potter and her adorable Peter Rabbit crew. Phillipa Gregory's sensual and dramatic Wideacre series. Bridget Jones' quirky adventures{and the next movie that may be in the works}. The gothic romances penned by the Bronte sisters. Vivienne Westwood's gorgeous haute couture fashions. Wedgwood's Fairyland Luster chinaware. Princess Kate! Kate Winslet! Adele and her 21 album!!! Supermodel Kate Moss! Comedian Ricky Gervais. Christian Bale! Jason Statham! Fine china, tea time, and biscuits. Becks & Posh. Rimmel makeup! GWTW's Vivian Leigh. Downton Abby {both classic and modern.} Cadbury's caramel filled chocolate Easter eggs. Smexy James Bond and his Aston Martin{s.}

It's raining, it's pouring...

Omg its raining/hailing/snowing in So Cal today! Its time to break out the umbrellas, plastic slickers, snow chains, jackets, and a new pair of windshield wipers. I see on the news that the Grapevine is major clogged. It sucks to be one of those people stuck there, moving at less than the pace of a snail and wasting really expensive almost or over $5 a gallon gas and staring into a sea of blinking red tail lights. Then after a couple of hours you find out you've only moved about half a mile. Wait- thats like normal rush hour traffic... except when you factor in the rain etc. no one really knows how to drive! Additionally I'm going to throw in a brief rant here. Mean drivers suck. Don't roll down your window and throw out your trash/your fast food wrappers/your cigarettes, etc; that's just disgusting and uncool. Don't run the light. Don't cut others off. Don't pass on sharp curves. Don't keep your brights on at night-it can blind other drivers. Don't leave your pet in the car with the windows up. Don't wedge your d@mn oversize SUV/Truck/Van into a compact spot where you scrape other peoples' car doors or cars. Don't abuse the priviledge of another's handicap placard just to park close to an entrance. Don't abandon your shopping cart in a random parking spot-where it can roll off and hit someone elses car-or where someone has to get out and move it before they can park. If you/your car can't drive fast get outta the fast line. Lastly, don't cheat to use the carpool lane. That plastic doll in the passenger seat does not count as a second person. Bye.

Monday Monday...

Wow Monday again huh? Where do the days/weeks go? Watched bits and pieces of the Oscars last night. It was beautiful, kind of bizarre, and definitely not boring. I think the best parts were seeing 'The Artist' get so many wins. And Jean DuJardin mon dieu, oh la la you are tres bien magnifique! The accent, the looks...{fans self}...the everything. I don't really understand what you're saying French, but boy does it sound hot! Anyways... Moving on to another topic its Girl Scout cookie season again. All I have to say is Samoas are full of awesomeness and made of win! I could eat a whole box of them they're so good. And I found a really funny out to lunch sign through Google image search and posted it on my desk while I'm gone. I think I'm going to get a new battery for my mobile soon too; it dies way too much. Fun fact: I was watching the news the other day and they said people are developing addictions to their smart phones. I wonder if that can really be possible? I suppose so. I can understand that but I can't understand how people can be addicted to video games. Especially grown up, older people who are even way older than me. I know one guy and I'm like: Dude put the controller down. You'll have plenty of time to play that in senior living. Get out there and live some life. That is all...for now.

What do you like?

Hey party ppl Happy Friday night to everyone! I just wanted to give a shout out to y'all who have read my book and are reading my blog! Thanks for your continued support, you all rock! Secondly I have a question to ask eveyone... writing wise I have many irons in the fire so to speak, and I'm curious as to what genre appeals best to you! What type of writing project do you want to see me tackle next? A more traditional Western action adventure romance? A slightly complicated, slightly steamy Regency piece? A fun, fast paced spy styled comedy action dash of romance fic? A quirky modern set romance? A script styled parody tale in either a soap opera or anime genre? My inquiring mind wants to know...so please vote in the poll! Domo arigato peeps!

Regency Randomness

I've been truly passionate about the Regency Era and its fictional romance genre for years. Before I wrote Garters, Gunslingers & Grace I had started various Regency stories which I had placed on the backburner so to speak to pen my Vampire Steampunk Western. So tonight I decided to toss out some Regency Word Randomness. Enjoy! Slippers. Stockings. Garters. Petticoats. Corsets! Shawls. Cloaks. Morning gowns. Day gowns. Evening gowns. Walking gowns. Riding habits. Sidesaddles. The Serpentine. The Haberdashers. The Miliners. The Mantua Makers. The Modiste. Bond Street. Tea Time! Carriages. Phaetons. Coaches. Curricles. Highwaymen! The Cut Direct. Candles. Scandal sheets! Almacks. The Marriage Mart. Corinthians. Rakes! Gaming Hells. Four In Hand Club. Waterloo. Cyprians. Cits. Tigers. Valets. Tweenies. Ladies maids. Kitchen maids. Downstairs maids. Upstairs maids. Footmen. Cooks. Butlers. Housekeepers. Governesses! Tutors. Princess Esterhazy! Byron and Caro! Dandies. Mrs. Radcliffe. Rogues. Houses of Ill Repute. Vauxhall. Covent Garden!

Shuffle

If books could have soundtracks these would be a few songs on the playlist for Garters, Gunslingers & Grace: Two Gunslingers by Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, Head Games by Foreigner, Magic Man by Heart, Wanted: Dead or Alive by Bon Jovi, The Wayward Wind by Patsy Cline, We Found Love by Rihanna, Hells Bells by AC/DC, Another One Bites The Dust by Queen, The Wanderer by Donna Summer, Dynamite by Taio Cruz, Mr. Saxobeat by Alexandra Stan, Never by Tina Arena feat. ROC, Rescue Song by Mr. Little Jeans, Girl All The Bad Guys Want by Bowling For Soup, Sour Cherry by The Kills, No Air by Jordan Sparks, Riders On The Storm by The Doors, Fly Again by Kristine W, House Of The Rising Sun by The Animals, Move For Me by Kaskade...

Current Events...

Good Morning Everyone! I thought I would start today off with some online reading recommendations. So real quick here's a few of my fave newspapers: latimes.com {the Los Angeles Times} nytimes.com {New York Times} huffingtonpost.com {huffpo} thetimes.co.uk {English Newspaper} thegaurdian.co.uk {English newspaper; I believe I read a tidbit once that Charles Dickens worked for The Guardian newspaper during his lifetime and they published a weekly serialized novel of his too} & The Daily Yomiuri {Japanese newspaper viewable in English. Back to the grind now!

Oh La La!

Let's dive right in! Today I had such a busy day with work, shopping, chores, and various other things I'm surprised I found the energy to post this! I think I'm still running from the fuel I had yesterday. I had Mickey D's Sweet Tea in the morning, Dr. Pepper with lunch, and SoBe Green Tea with my Chinese takeout. Sugar + caffeine = yum!

Ok so where was I earlier...fragrances! Starting off I would recommend: Princess by Vera Wang. Starlight by Shania Twain. Happy by Clinique. Burberry. Miracle by Lancome. Romance by Ralph Lauren. Dune by Dior. Guerlain. No. 22 by Chanel. Miss Dior Cherie by Dior. White Diamonds by Liz Taylor. Poppy by Coach. A few of the more higher end scents I have't had the pleasure of owning/wearing myself but have sampled/smelled them and they are simply divine! Adieu!

Yay! It's...Monday.

I have such a case of the Monday's! Lol anyways I'm gonna try to get this post done on my lunch break, so here goes! Mostly it's just gonna be recommendations for stuff. First off, St. Ives Mineral Therapy lotion. So far the best body lotion I've had the pleasure of discovering. It feels great, and leaves you feeling refreshed and clean. Second up is Love Spell by Victoria's Secret. Honestly the best way I can describe it is to say that its heavenly scent makes you feel like one of those sexy chicks on the cover of a romance novel. Its fruity and floral. The best of both worlds! Lastly there's Sweet Pea by Bath and Body works. I think this one works best when used as an after shower/bath and before bed lotion. It's not too heavy and smells sugary without being overly sweet. Watch out for my next post on parfums/ perfumes/ fragrances.

Clothes Horse!

Here are some of my fave clothing labels in no particular order. Roxy. Quiksilver. Volcom. Fox Riding Co. Hurley. Split. Skin Industries. Rampage. Free People. Papillion. Fang. Angie. Ralph Lauren. Dereon. Forever 21. Charlotte Russe. Betsey Johnson. Gap. Levi. Ann Taylor. American Apparel. Cheetah. Newport News. Turtle Fur {hats}! Liz Claiborne. Petite Sophisticate. H&M. Jones NY. DKNY. Diesel. Miss Sixty. Rock & Republic.

In The Pursuit Of...

Maybelline Baby Lips! It's the hottest trend in lipwear on the cosmetics aisle...everywhere. The lipbalm with a dash of color is so popular right now that I can't seem to find it anywhere. I went to two Wal-Mart stores. Sold out. Went to Target. Sold out. Tried going to my fave online retailers...and it was sold out there too! I think the flood of catchy commericals that played repeatedly on TV had finally hypnotically {brainwashed} convinced me to try it out. That and their spalshy ad campaign in the glossy mags. Now I'm so totally bummed that I can't get my hands on it. I mean, retailers should totally stock more than like ten or twelve tubes of it. Come on, get with the program. This is a *fairly* big city. Argh. End rant. Now I'm proceeding to wait patiently until the next shipment comes in at one of them. Then I I'm gonna stockpile me some lipstick. :)

Psuedo Goth Stuff

Cool kinda gothic-y stuff. Sweetypuss post cards. Emily The Strange gear. Lenore The Cute Little Dead Girl comics. Any Mitsukazu Mihara manga. Evanescense circa 2002. Bunnicula. Count Chocula. Masterpiece Theater. Clue. The Adams Family. The Munsters. Tales from the Crypt. Ghost Hunters. Ghost Facers. Phantom Of The Opera. Magic Eight Balls. Don't Fear The Reaper by Blue Oyster Cult. SPN! Urban Legends. Constantine. Folklore. Christine Feehan novels. Kresley Cole Novels. Gina Showalter novels. Clamp manga. TBC...later.

My Fave Celebs on the Twitter-verse!

Actor Efren Ramirez; 'Pedro' from Napoleon Dynamite: twitter.com/efrenramirez

Actor Shane West; 'Michael'
from Nikita/ER/AWTR: twitter.com/shanewest_1

Actress Maggie Q;
Die
Hard IV & 'Nikita' from Nikita: twitter.com/MaggieQ

Actor John Cho; 'Harold' from Harold &
Kumar:
twitter.com/JohnTheCho

Actor/Comedian Joel McHale; 'Jeff' on Community & himself on The Soup: twitter.com/JoelMcHale

Actor Jared Padalecki; 'Sam' from Supernatural: twitter.com/jarpad

Actress Jane Levy; 'Tessa' from Suburgatory:
twitter.com/_janelevy

Actor Eugenio Siller; From Maid In Manhattan telenovela:
twitter.com/eugenio_siller

Actor/Comedian Chris D'elia; From Whitney: twitter.com/chrisdelia

Journalist/News Anchor David Muir; From ABC News: twitter.com/DavidMuirABC

Actor Devon Sawa; 'Owen' from Nikita: twitter.com/DevonESawa

Actor Misha Collins; 'Castiel' from Supernatural: twitter.com/mishacollins

Actor JGL: twitter.com/hitrecordjoe

Actress Kassie De Paiva; 'Blair' from OLTL: twitter.com/kassiedepaiva

Radio Peronality Bill Handel; himself on Handel on The News/Law: twitter.com/billhandelshow

Author Janet Evanovich; 'Stephanie Plum' Series: twitter.com/janetevanovich

Setting A Romantic Country Dinner

I know its post Valentine's Day, however my inner decorator simply can't help but dish advice. Let's talk about how to set a romantic looking table. First of all the table should be fairly small and intimate and not the type used to seat multiple people for a banquet style meal. A rounded table is more welcoming than a sqaure one as it blurs the lines of formality in terms of how close one is to another. Now for the tablecloth. For the first layer that is directly on the table I would recommend a solid yet sheer color, like pink for example with no patterns or styles whatsoever. It can be made of fine linen or a more silken type material such as a gauzy type of rayon. Make sure its ironed with no creases. Atop that you would then layer a cotton battenburg lace design top tablecloth. I personally like the ones with a type of starburst design in the middle and a continuation of the lace around the edging. This way the color below peeks through and makes the battenburg lace stand out as a nice contrast. Then for a floral centerpiece a mixture of wildflowers such as Queen Anne's Lace, baby's breath, eucalyptus, and carnations. A handful of peonies also work well. Or, if you prefer something more fragrant then a snip of Gardenia, a stem of Jasmine, and a few multicolored fresh roses can work to make the air more subtly fragrant. Faux flowers with petals spritzed very faintly with a light perfume can pass too. The arrangement can be put in either a Milk Glass vase {using this type of glass sets a very vintage tone}, or a wide mouthed crystal brandy decanter, or you can even recycle a glass milk jug and tie a bow around it. If you can add some type of beads or stones to the vase and they're visible it looks even better. Then comes the candles. Nowadays with the wonderful advancements of technology you can purchase battey powered votive candles that produce the tiny flickering flames of yore without the danger of fire. Now for the flatware. I would recommend Oneida 1881 silverware as its rose design is quite antique looking. For the dishes I would use an older Mikasa set as they tend to be more prettily floral patterned than their modern dishware. Or you could use Limoges, especially vintage Limoges. Wedgwood also has very fine china too. Of course, nearly all English made antique bone china is of fine and delicate quality. I have also recently came across an old Eastern European type of dishware called Victoria Chezch Slovakia. The dishes are absolutely stunning. Get what I like to call Chintz edged patterns with pink roses on a blue background. Quilted style placemats are charming to use. As for napkins I used to say linen worked well however if you are making a meal and not creating a showpiece than you should use disposable ones, preferably the thick kind with fancy trim such as those by Vanity. No matter what type of beverage you partake of a pair of crystal or pewtered champagne flutes can help to make it a more intimate and special. Lastly to set the tone have a dessert baking in the oven to add warmth and aroma to the atmosphere. Voila you have an excellent and romantic country dinnertable!

Crafty Corner

Happy Friday night everyone! Tonight I want to talk about that oft used phrase 'One man's trash is another man's treasure.' Never were there truer words spoken by an anonymous person than these. Despite your best efforts to go green you may be unwittingly disposing of things that could help you be more savvy and save money. I'm going to just briefly throw a few tips out there. Random tip: dont throw away left over jars from the kitchen such as glass spaghetti sauce jars or plastic mayo jars. Wash them and you can reuse them for storing tiny things outside the kitchen such as push pins, paperclips, beads, coins, etc. Tip 2: An empty tackle box can make a great jewelry box with all its seperate compartments. Tip 3: Save the fortunes from your fortune cookies and scrapbook them. Or make a Tumblr or meme out of them. Tip 4: Make a memory quilt out of important scrap materials that you can no longer use. Tip 5: Make a decorative vase out of an empty wine bottle by pouring tiny glass beads inside it and placing one or two long stemmed flowers within. More to come...

Randomness

Wow I can not believe I haven't posted anything in such a long time, yikes! I've been busy with a lot of stuff in RL i.e. shopping, working, hausfrau duties, dreaming up new story ideas, etc. Plus I like totally ate so much Valentine's day candy I think I may barf up a velvet and ribbon covered box of chocolates. I'm just joking, LOL. So what to talk about...well, I recently picked up a cute new slash used top at the Salvation Army by Lauren Conrad which I'm totally gonna wear this summer. Ever since I moved last year I completely misplaced my fave CDs like my Heart Greatest Hits {Magic Man FTW!}, my AC/DC hits cassette tape, and my Foreigner hits as well so I've been stuck with the radio now for a while. Thank goodness for KLOS. I really don't like a lot of the dumb morning radio shows that are out there-a lot of them are shallow and stupid-my two faves are Mark and Brian on KLOS and Bill Handel on KFI. Let's see what else...The Grammys were awesome. Very sad about Whitney and I loved their tribute to her it was very touching. Also Adele and her performance and wins were just freakin' amazing. Saw the 60 minutes interview that aired b4 the show and squeed over the segment with her and Anderson Cooper. Also last month I saw this vid that was going viral on YT where this extremely talented South Korean teen girl sang Rolling In The Deep. Don't know her name but she should totally get signed ASAP. Watched KTLA morning show today and saw Frank Buckley talking about a really cool burger joint in L.A. called Fuku Burger. Even though it was really kinda early for a burger they looked unfreakingbelievably de-lish! Move over In-N-Out! Saw lead in lipstick news sounds scary. Then switched over to Fox GDLA and Mar Yvette was doing a seg and they had The Fat Dog eatery's food on display. Talk about yummy looking sinfully good chic and cultured diner food with a hipster vibe! BTW I love how mainstream things become Indie and Hipster in L.A. Oh Silverlake how I miss you so! If this was Twitter I would so hashtag eveything I just said. Ohh and I discovered Pinterest. This. Full of win. That is all. G2G...

Monday...

Well....its Monday, I survived work and the Super Bowl was totally freakin' awesome last night! I'm kinda bummed out that its all over for now but the next things I'm looking forward to are: All Star Weekend, The Finals, The World Series, and of course the Playoffs again! I really want to see where Blake's going take the Clippers though; despite being a loyal Lakers fan I'm making a space somewhere in my soul for the Clippers now too! :P Ciao for now...

Ahh, YouTube. You make being bored fun. I just wanted to share some randomly awesome stuff I've discovered during my surfing adventures that you can check out at your perusing leisure!
Between Lolcatz vids and random ppl singing bad cover songs of the newest pop tracks I've been checking out the 'not leaked/leaked' cool commericals that are gonna get screen time during Superbowl Sunday, and I think my fave so far is the new FBDO. So then I started checking out some other totally rad eighties things. Like BananaRama's Cruel Summer, Hall & Oates Maneater, & Billie Jean by the King of Pop.
Among other things I recalled a music video I had seen a while ago on MTV; a remake of the Stevie Nicks eighties classic Stand Back except this one was by Linus Love. Seeing it again in its full glory on YT was kick@$$, and it helped me stumble across the Ultra Records channel; a place full of win! They have the most uber hot new house/techo/pop/hiphop/eurobeat/club etc music anywhere! Check it out, and bookmark their page like I've done!

Friday Friday...

So besides the fact that I'm stoked its Superbowl weekend {party hardy W00t!} it's also rather boring Friday night and I'm chilling watching Nikita {MichaelxNikitaxOwen FTW!} I realized that I've totally neglected posting anything for like a week!
Picking up from where I left off here's my fave picks for make-up so far:
Eyes: For Eye Shadow I'm using Almay Intense i-color shimmer-i kit in Hazel. This new color palette featuring three color pods of swiss coffee beige, smoky gray, and shimmering mermaid green is beautiful when blended or worn individually and is best when shaded in with the skin and applied with a small amount of water.
For eyeliner check out Rimmel London's Soft Kohl Eye Liner Pencil in Jet Black. This pencil is worn at its best slightly smudged or smoothed out.
When it comes to Mascara right now I'm keen on Rimmel London's hot pink flourescent like tube of The Max Volume Flash Mascara. A couple of coats work quite well.
For the face my fave right now is Maybelline Dream Matte Mousse in a small rounded jar; the makeup has a definite mousse feel and submerges with the skin wonderfully. Also Maybelline FIT in a skinny more traditional stand up vial works excellent as well.
The blush thats been working for me lately is one that I've bought a little while ago. It's Soft Color Blush in Blushing Mocha by Neutrogena. A few brush strokes on the cheekbones work great.
Lastly, the Lipstick I'm taken with is NYC's English Rose. A shimmery pale pink color it works good as a pre Spring shade.
And there you have it, a new look to banish the humdrum tones of those wintery styles!