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Wild weather!

With the exception of that one time when I was 18/19 and I moved out of state, I’ve lived in only two neighboring counties here in “sunny” California. For most of the last 20 years we’ve been suffering serious drought conditions. Until now.

We’re experiencing some incredible storms featuring atmospheric rivers that are causing flooding as I’ve never seen. Aside from some fantastic rainbows, there have been some really beautiful results. Here’s one.

Happy New Year

My friend Juls has a fantastic tradition of writing down all the good things as they happen. She puts the slips in a jar and reads them all on New Year’s Eve.

I’m going to start my jar here.

The boys and I spent New Year’s Eve in the City.

2016/2017

After they ice skated outdoors, we watched an amazing fireworks show.

Now on Day Two of 2017, we were sitting in chain control traffic on the interstate so I put on my new awesome headphones and listened to Pink’s Glitter in the Air while watching huge snowflakes fall outside the car.

I really like this game so far. Thanks Juls.

 

 

Holy coincidences Batman!

Just finished reading the beta version of the book Wicked Folk by Jamie McFarlane and loved it.

I’ve recently FB posted a shout out to all my friends to read the first in the series, Wizard in a Witchy World which can be purchased at fickledragon.com for just 99 cents!! And hey–don’t forget to check out the Rookie Privateer series while you’re there.

Wizard in a Witchy World cover art
Wizard in a Witchy World cover art

So I told my peeps that my name is in the book and everyone should read it to find out where. ***Spoiler Alert*** The acknowledgements ’cause I’m a beta reader you sillies.

Now for the crazy part. In the second book of the series there are the following references to me, sort of, but not really. Say what? Read on:

  • Whyte Wood Coven (actually named after me in both books)
  • Character: Kelli (not me in either book)
  • Character: Aaron Merritt (nope and since he didn’t even know I’m a Merritt, Aaron is not meant to rhyme with my sister Karon neither)
  • Character: Petaluma (he says Luma could be a coincidental, subconcious reference–he’s seen it in my address)
  • Cover model for first book (says it’s not me but really who’s he kidding?? Look at her up there, a spitting image!)

Do you think future generations of my family will hand down my book copies and perpetuate the legend that this book has my name(s) all over it?

It’s wedding season!

After a long dry spell, I’ve been to two weddings in two weeks.

I very much enjoyed a scavenger hunt in Las Vegas to find a surprise bouquet for the bride. I still can’t believe how hard it was to find flowers on the Strip on a Sunday…apparently it’s practically impossible after 2 in the afternoon. So the concierge at our hotel helped me out by taking these from the arrangement on the desk. And I just so happened to have some yarn in my room…

Darleen-flowers

And of course I needed a cute little bag. After all, what would a Vegas wedding be without a little bling? I spent two weeks knitting and felting a bunch of little purses. I gave one to the Vegas bride and here’s mine.

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The second was my good friend’s mamma’s Hawaiian themed wedding. These were a surprise for the bride for her eight bridesmaids. We had a wonderful time going to the flower mart to pick out the flowers and then putting them together.

IMG_2175 Bridesmaids Bouquets

The daughter of the bride was also working with her sister-in-law on table decorations. After combing Pinterest for ideas she came across a Pin for using wood rounds as risers for a centerpiece but that looked really expensive. Turns out the sister of the bride has some property that has an orchard so they cut up one of their trees and the daughter of the bride had them finished at her work. The sand dollars are cookies, the sea shells are candies, and the sand is cookie crumbs. These really came together beautifully!

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They also needed a ring bearer’s pillow and had an extra yard of fabric from the bridesmaid’s dresses, so I whipped up one of those too. I also surprised the daughter of the bride with a little bag. After all what would your mamma’s wedding be without a little bling?

Ring Bearer Pillow Debs Bag

So much fun playing with flowers and knitting and sewing. And boy was it good to do girly stuff after that long little boy baseball season!