Did you know you can buy a cup of coffee for a deployed soldier and have it delivered with your own personal note? Is that so cool?

Some of the soldiers never receive letters from home and many are homesick. There's nothing like receiving a little thank you and encouragement from the home front. Green Beans Coffee has made it easy. All you do is click on the "Buy a Cup of Joe" button, pay your $2, write a little note and it's done.

I did it and received a thank you email from the soldier who got the cup I donated! It was really neat. So, if you have a couple of minutes and a couple of dollars, why not Buy a Cup of Joe?

Have you heard of other ways to support our troops? Tell us about it in the comments section!

Everything about the Getaway is the same. They are still closing Biltmore House the evening of September 27th and taking just our group on a custom-made Maid To Match tour. They will take us through and say, "This is the room where Tillie and Mack such-and-so.  This is where such-and-such happened."  Is that so cool?

And right before the tour we'll be having dinner on the Estate.  On the 26th we'll be coming in costume (if you want) to our Gilded Age Party complete with parlor games, book swaps, souvenir photos, fun lessons on the Language of the Fan ... just everything.

The only thing that is different is we won't be able to accomodate as many people as we could originally. The good news is, the event will be very intimate and we'll have lots of time together. The bad news is, once we fill up we'll have to close down registration.

So don't delay in registering and ... I'll see you there! 

Today, I want you to meet Thelma and Louise.  Okay ... their names are really Carolyn and Karla and they’ve promised me they have no plans to drive off any cliffs, but they are embarking on a big adventure that involves cars, good times and getting away from it all.

These two partners in crime work at the same church library in Seattle and both read Maid to Match--along with the announcement about my Getaway this September at Biltmore. Carolyn has been longing to go to North Carolina because her dad was born on Ocracoke Island, NC, in 1899, and she used to visit there as a child.  The Getaway With Dee renewed that desire--not realizing Asheville was on the other side of the state!  

But being “equal parts stubborn and a little crazy,” (her words, not mine!) she was determined to figure it out, but very leery of driving that far alone.  In comes Karla.

Karla makes amazing cakes and crafts and has been buddies with Carolyn for over 25 years. All Carolyn had to do was mention her idea to Karla and the two of them started packing. From that point on, the trip assumed a life of its own!

They’re flying into Raleigh, renting a car (I hope it’s a convertible!!), driving to Ocracoke, then taking time to enjoy the early fall scenery on their way back to Asheville for the Getaway. But that’s only the beginning!  

From there, they’ll be  tooling up the scenic highway through the Smoky Mountains and end up in Blowing Rock, NC.  (Carolyn’s been wondering if Jan Karon's Mitford is based on her home town of Blowing Rock.  So she plans to find out!)

After Mitford/Blowing Rock, they’re heading to Kentucky and then back to Raleigh.

“Neither of us gets to travel too much,” Carolyn says, “and we are totally excited and looking forward to our ‘Karla and Carolyn Adventure!’”

And so are we girls! What about you? Have you ever gone on a getaway with your girlfriend? Do you have any advice for our very own Thelma and Louise? Tell us about it!

P.S. If you’re going on our Getaway and have a story to tell, email me and let me know about it!  

The black and white kitty is about 6 months old. The calico is brand new and soooooo cute. Our dog, Cowboy, isn't too sure about the new additions. If the cats would just let him smell them, things would be much better. But the minute Cowboy gets close they hiss and swat at him. He's sported more than one bloody nose lately!

Both the cats are really sweet tempered, though. The kitten has taken to either sitting in my lap while I work or on my desk. She's walked across my keyboard and deleted files and all sorts of things. So, I keep moving her off the keyboard. Now she sits behind the computer screen and stares at me.

I cannot tell you how hard it is to get any work done with that precious thing eyeballing me!!

Still, it's been fun to have the boys home and to see them everyday. And I will miss them and the kitties when they all leave next month.

What about you? Where do you like to find your costumes?

The murder was set in Bigroot, CO during WWII. I played Lilly White (she had a checkered past). At first I figured I'd be able to get into character right away because Lilly White sounds so Southern. But as it ends up, Lilly was of German descent! Jawohl! So I did the best I could. Here's a peek at part of my monologue:

LOL. Everyone was a good sport and I was really impressed with the company that created the mystery. They are Mysteries by Vincent and if you want to do a mystery dinner party, I highly recommend you checking out their website. Because of time constraints, we couldn't set the room up with all the trimmings (where the parlor looked like a parlor and the conservatory looked like a conservatory), but if you did this at home, you could really go all out.

Here's the group of authors (suspects) who played in our game:

From left to right: Keena Kincaid, Cindy Gerard, Brenda Novak, Carolyn Crane, & me.
The above pic is with Samuel Soloman. He was in the next murder mystery game.

I have more pics up on Facebook from not just this game, but from all the fun events we did. Check it out at facebook.com/IWantHerBook.

What about you? Have you ever done a mystery dinner or game before? This one was my first.

I went on all-systems-alert and quickly spotted the mama cardinal. She's a lovely reddish-taupe color with a bright red beak, red feet and red feathers on the underside of her tail (kind of like wearing a red petticoat). I have a great close-up of her in my scrapbook. While she feeds the babies, the daddy bird flits this way and that being very protective of their territory.

I hate to let the dog outside to do his business, but fortunately he's oblivious to the family with their new little ones. They aren't oblivious to him, though, and after the dog comes back inside, the mama and daddy birds nonchalantly do a fly-by to check on their chicks. When they can't stand it any longer, they fly into the ligustrum bush where the nest is.  

And all is well.

Having them right there is very distracting. I'm constantly running to the window to see what's going on. I took all these photos from inside my house (looking through the backdoor window).

Pretty amazing, isn't it? I can't tell you what a treat it is to watch this young family. I can't wait until the day they learn to fly. I hope I'm not out of town!

I have more pics in my scrapbook. Click on Dee's Circle of Friends logo at the top, then click on the scrapbook.

So, what about you? Have you ever seen nature unfolding before your very eyes? Are you a birdwatcher? Do you know someone who is? Tell me about it! 

Not only because Julie is such a sweetheart, but also because she's my editor at Bethany House! Yup. She's been my editor since my very first book in 2005 and she is wonderful. Tammy and I have both won Christy awards and though Julie has been nominated before, this was her first win. So when they announced her name last night I was ecstatic.

And if that weren't enough, I can now say that both my editors at Bethany House--Julie Klassen and David Long--are Christy Award winners. Dave won the Christy in 2002 for Ezekiel’s Shadow (Best First Novel). And now Julie has won for The Silent Governess (Best Historical Romance).  I'd venture to say there aren't too many authors who can make that claim!!

So big-time congrats to Julie and all the other winners.  Here they are, in the order in which they were announced:

Best Contemporary Romance:

Best Contemporary Series:

Best Contemporary Stand Alone:

Best First Novel:

Best Historical (Bethany House):

Best Historical Romance, Julie Klassen, The Silent Governess (Bethany House):

Best Suspense:

Best Visionary:

Best Young Adult:

Congrats to all the winners! It was a great evening. If you haven't had a chance to pick up any of these books, I'd give them a try. These are the cream of the crop!

Richard Alvarez is a California based screenwriter and filmmaker with more than thirty years of professional experience in radio, television and film. When he's not on a set shooting, directing or stunt arranging, he's in front of the computer editing or writing screenplays.

I sat down with him yesterday and this is what he had to say ...

This is an amazing mini-documentary, Richard!  I noticed many of the shots were candid shots.  Are costumes a big part of your life?

I’ve been in media production for more than thirty years.  A lot of that was producing period shows for festivals and theme parks across the country. So basically I have a garage full of theatrical and antique garments from various eras. The shot of the Musketeers [in the video] was from a stunt show I produced – my wife made all the doublets from period patterns. A few of the shots in the video depict friends and family in actual Victorian Garments that we have collected over the years.

That's so neat. I'd love to have a garage full of costumes! You wrote, directed and produced the above mini-documentary.  What are some of the most unusual pieces you've done in the past?

I produced an award winning documentary about life on the road as a jouster, entitled American Jouster. www.americanjouster.com.  It aired on the PBS series “Video I” here in the San Francisco Bay area. Probably the most unusual interview I’ve shot, was with his Holiness, the 14th Dalai Lama. That was a real treat, and a moment I will cherish forever.

Wow. That is really special. I understand you also did the voiceover in the video.  With such a rich and versatile voice, this obviously is a huge asset.  Have you ever done commercials or theatre?

I started my professional career in television as a cameraman, but was asked to do some occasional voiceover work when the station talent wasn’t available. Later, I moved into radio as an announcer for the #1 station in Houston, Texas in the late 70’s early 80’s. I can't recall how many radio commercials I've done. I’ve performed in theater and festival settings as well. I formed my production company Pierrot Productions, in 1980 and have been freelancing at every aspect of the media since then. 

You have other talents as well and graciously choreographed the fight scene at the end of A Bride Most Begrudging between Drew and an Indian. It is still one of my most favorite scenes out of all my books. Tell us how it is you knew how to choreograph that scene?

I’ve always been interested in martial arts and stage combat. I trained as a fencer in college and went on to become a Classical Fencing Master. As an actor and fight choreographer, I've directed and performed everything from fist fights, to sword fights to gun fights and mounted combat. I approach a fight scene the way I approach writing dialogue. Because essentially – all fight scenes are basically a physical manifestation of internal dialogue. And just like any other scene, if it’s going to work well it has to advance the plot and illuminate character. 

So when I write or choreograph, I ask the writer or director “What sort of person is fighting?” – Are they experienced or a novice? Frightened or emboldened by righteous indignation? What’s their motivation? This illuminates character. Then I ask “What has to happen to advance the plot?” Is there some physical outcome that must be achieved? Does someone have to be injured in a particular way? Some piece of information revealed that moves the story forward?  Given this information I ‘look around’ in the setting, and I put myself in the mind of each of the characters, and imagine what they would do in that situation.

Oh my goodness! No wonder I love that scene. :)  So, what projects are you working on currently?

I’ve just finished my second screenplay this year. This was the first time writing with my son, which was a great experience, and we’re shopping it now to see if we can get some interest. I’m also going to be getting on horse once again in August and September to direct and perform medieval jousts for a company in Pennsylvania. So I'll be back in armor once more.

That is such a way-cool job! So, your staging and presentation talents, combined with your own artistic abilities as an actor and a writer, put you in a unique position to create videos like this.  If someone wanted to contact you for help with a project, how can they reach you? 

They can reach me by writing to PierrotFilms  at  Yahoo dot com. 

Thanks so much for stopping by, Richard!

***

Is that so crazy fun? If you'd like to ask Richard a question, he will try and pop in this week as his schedule allows. Don't miss this opportunity to visit with a real live filmmaker!!  :)

Fredericksburg is in the heart of the Texas hill country. When we were driving in we saw sign after sign for fresh peaches. Clearly, we were in Peach Country.

So while we were there we visited a peach orchard and picked our own peaches. We were going to pick some blackberries, too, but their quota for the day had already been picked. (I was really sad about this. I loooooove blackberries.)

Anyhoo, we were told how to tell if a peach was ripe and ready for picking. One thing I didn't know was that the red part of the peach is its "sunburn." The farmers said peaches get sunburned just like we do and that's not what makes a peach ripe. The thing to watch for is a peach with any green on it. If it has green instead of yellow, it's not ready to be picked.

I tell you, though, what they were calling green, I would've called yellow. So I did it by touch. If it was soft instead of hard, I picked. We ended up with ten pounds of peaches! Ohmigosh, they were so good and juicy.

When we got back to Houston I made some homemade peach cobbler. Yum! We still had tons of peaches left, so I Googled recipes that included fresh peaches and we've been trying all sorts of things ... peachy fruit salad, smoothies, parfaits, and all kinds of stuff.

What about you? Have you ever picked fruit right off the tree before? 

We had family come in from as far as Alabama and friends come over from as close as next door. We had a hot and humid day, but it started to cool off around 5:00 (by "cool off" I mean it dipped down into the 80s). One of the highlights of the party was a cake that our daughter-in-law's mother brought. A lab tech she works with at the hospital makes cakes for fun.

You would not believe this cake. It was so pretty I hated to cut it! Everything on it was edible. And the expression on the faces of the crawfish were priceless. I've posted more pics of the cake and the boil in my scrapbook. Click on the Circle of Friends heart at the top of the page, then click on the scrapbook.

Instead of a book tour this year, I'm hosting a readers' event so we can all get together and hang out! We're going to dress in Victorian costume and go to a Gilded Age Party. At the party we'll play Victorian Parlor Games (like the ones Tillie & Mack played in the book). We'll learn how to wield a lady's fan. We're going to have a book swap. And a Victorian expert is going to dress me in full Victorian costume starting with bloomers and chemise!

The next day we're going to have dinner together and then go on a private tour of Biltmore mansion.  Check it out:

Can you believe it? I'm so excited!

All the specifics are at GetawayWithDee.com. We also have a brand new Getaway With Dee facebook page with photos and videos and a discussion forum. Be sure to "like" me once you get there, then click on the "Discussion" tab and join in on the fun!

So what do you think? Would you like to come with me? Be sure to sign up right away. Space is limited and we expect to sell out!

Let me know what you think!

Maid To Match

If you haven't read Maid To Match yet, we have an excerpt here and a brand new EXCLUSIVE excerpt for my Circle of Friends. (click on the open book)

If you have read it, leave a review in our comments section below or come over to my Chat Room where we have a lively discussion about the book going on!

CUPCAKES! My 23 yo daughter (the one that majored in graphic design) stayed up until 4:00am making them. The cupcakes are frosted green and make up the “ground.”  Some of the “flowers” are made of vanilla wafers decorated with cut up marshmallows which she painted with dyed sugar. Others have petals made of jelly beans and m&n’s. The butterflies are constructed with the chocolate you dip strawberries in. Is that just the cutest thing ever? 

And if that weren’t enough, she grouped them around scented body lotions and an adorable pink watering can filled with yellow tulips. 

I just couldn’t believe it when I walked into the breakfast room. I haven’t been able to bring myself to eat one of those cupcakes. They’re way too pretty! She had some extra put aside, though, and it ends up she made them from scratch with rice flour and birch sugar because she knew I’d been trying to eat healthier. Can you believe that?

What about you? How did you (and your mom) celebrate Mother’s Day? 

Tamera Alexander is a fellow Bethany House author who is as sweet as pie. She had two books nominated! And Julie Klassen, whose authored The Silent Governess, was also nominated. She is my editor at Bethany House and edited A Bride in the Bargain!

So I feel like I can't lose. No matter who takes home the award, I'll be so very pleased. The award ceremony will be in St. Louis this year on June 26th.

On the heels of that news, I found out that A Bride in the Bargain also finaled in a readers' choice contest sponsored by Borders Bookstore. The Readers' Crown award, as they are calling it, is only open to romance novels. Bride finaled in the Historical category along with some great authors. The winner will be announced at RomCon, a romance readers' convention in Denver on July 9th.

I'm pumped! :)

***

On April 18th, Erin from Chesapeake, VA won an ARC (Advanced Reading Copy) of MAID TO MATCH--my new historical coming out in June. Congrats, Erin! Megan of Inola, OK won the ARC for the week of April 25th. Congrats to Megan as well!

As of yesterday, ChristianBook.com has Maid To Match available and I expect the other online venues and brick-and-mortars to follow within short order. So our ARC giveaway has come to a close. It's always so fun to hear from you, though. So keep your comments coming. I read every single one!