Setting Sail: My trip to hell and back... Part 1

Well I don't know if it was hell but it was certainly interesting...

Day 1: Fort Lauderdale

I'm starting with my day having to put my cats in the kennel. All the way over I'm really sad and I know I'm going to miss them terribly.

On the way to pick up my dad in Port St. Lucie(PSL), I drop my hubby off on the train to Ft Lauderdale. He hates riding in cars and there simply will not be enough room in the car with everyone's luggage.

So I head down to PSL. The day before, my doctor was out of the office so I needed to get an IV treatment on the road. The awesome National Pain Institute was terrific in accommodating me before going on my trip. I heart them so hard! :D

The IV made me so stoned, I couldn't drive. So my dad drove, which is the lesser of two evils. He's a good guy, just a jerky driver, so my head hurt because I tensed up so much after being so loose after the IV.

Anyway, we had a really nice business hotel in Ft Lauderdale that had a great great breakfast and a shuttle to the cruise terminal. It was completely hassle free except for the desk jumping out and biting both my husband and I in the middle of the night. It's dark and too far out in the slim area in the walkway between the wall. We woke up my sister in the middle of the disaster because we both did it one right after the other.

Day 2: Sail Away!!

OMG!!! I'm so excited that I'm rushing everyone out the door. We leave our car at the hotel and take a shuttle to the terminal. Because of my hip and knee pain, I need a wheelchair if I'll be standing for a while. (I'm hoping this clears up by GRL) So we grabbed a wheelchair at the Port and get checked in. After much picture taking for our cruise cards and passport checking (and of course credit card swiping) I'm wheeled onboard. YAY!!

Woo. Steph is staying with us too and we check out what's happening from our balcony. Here are some pictures of the view from our room.

Yes, that's a Boardwalk right beneath our room. (That's going to come into play later. Trust me.)

But the room is not important now. We meet our lovely cabin attendant who checks on my onboard wheelchair to make sure it's delivered before Hairspray. But we do some exploring while our bags are being delivered. We head to the buffet where Dad and Helene are already eating and my dad is already packing away the sugar-free cookies. 

We think the buffet is just not for us. So we head down to Johnny Rockets and have a burger. Yum! Delish! Hubby had a massive beer I think I posted on Twitter earlier. This beer was bigger than my head. O.O

Anyway, we get back to the room and our stuff is there. I unpack in a nice OCD fashion and everything is perfect! I hook up my power cord for my laptop and iPod and hubby's iPhone. And we're off for dinner. 

The view of Central Park from our floor. 

So we go down to Dinner and our waiter is a dear. He's from Jamaica and very personable, very helpful. He's had everything on the menu so he knows what to order. He didn't steer us wrong at all. The first night was delicious but we have to eat fast because we're going to Hairspray. 

Now, there was a problem with the wheelchair because I still didn't get it. And I really need it to get down to the theater because it's on the other side of the ship. I decide to tough it out but my legs almost gave out. 

After being 45 minutes later, it finally opens and yay! We're seated.

So my pain level hits a new high halfway through the show, but they are really fabulous so I stick it out. Loved it.

I get back to the room and oh thank god, my wheelchair is here. But the music outside the room is really loud from the boardwalk. When I turned the TV on, I can't even hear it. I complain to the front desk but they said it's normal.

About 1am, the noise stops. I figure I can sleep in and be okay. :)

Day 3: At Sea

8am. I'm wide awake. Shit.

Well, since I can't go back to sleep, I get up and Steph is awake too. We head down to brekkie. I'm surprised Steph is coherent but she is :) anyway, we discuss politics and how Democrats need to grow a pair and stand up to Republicans. Blah blah blah. We head back upstairs and find Hubby is just waking up. The noise from the Boardwalk is just starting. I'm hoping for a break in the noise so I can nap and adjust my schedule.

But the noise just doesn't stop. I complain again. I'm told again it's normal and no one else has complained. Well, I fucking am. I suggest there may be a problem with our door, can you come look at it. They say they will.

I decided to go explore the ship with Steph, Dad and Helene. This ship is massive. 17 floors, tons of balcony rooms, a central park and Royal Promenade that oddly reminds me  of Rapture from Bioshock. I kept thinking that one of the Big Daddys was going to step around a corner. Or I would see one of the Little Sisters running around.

I had lunch with Steph in the Japanese restaurant. It was delish! I ate all the edamame. :)

Anyway, one of the best parts was the Casino. Yes, this ship had the Casino Royale with the Trademark and everything. It was pretty sexy. And as you walk down the corridor, it loops the James Bond theme, which fucking cracked me up. I was dying.

Anyway, we change for our first formal night, which consisted of my regular dress with a Rolex added on. I could wear a burlap sack with that watch and everyone would think it's the latest fashion because of the watch :)

But before dinner, it's time for an ice skating show. Now, I was skeptical. I used to ice skate and I was thinking "Really? On a cruise ship?"

Frozen in Time blew me away! Here are some videos from a user on YouTube about it:



Steph and I were heckling the show a bit, especially the part when he put the red boots on the girl. I was snickering and then Steph piped up with "Aww, he found a girl to put his sparkle boots on."

The music from this number inspired me to re-write a scene in my latest work so back to the drawing board!

Anyway, dinner was fab. Back to Casino for Steph's first gambling experience. We all won and walked away with about three hundred bucks. Yay! :D

Tonight, Hairspray was broadcast to the Tony Awards from our ship! I didn't see it. Too busy running myself into the ground to do anything. I really needed an electric wheelchair

Get back up to the room. This time the noise didn't stop until 2:30am. I'm exhausted and I finally fall asleep.

Day 4: Haiti

I wake up as we are pulling into port early (like 7am). We're docked at sea and a tender takes you to shore. I decide not to go, not when I see how quiet the ship is. I sneak upstairs with my computer to write and eat breakfast and stare out into gorgeousness of this island.

In a sad way, it reminds me of when I was on a trip and we visited Venezuela way back in the day. As we approached Venezuela, it looked so beautiful with gorgeous green hills but we got closer, we saw the mud huts and the condos had no windows, except for one island where we visited. I remember thinking that town was made of gold compared to the rest of the country. It was gorgeous, even more beautiful that some of the nicest parts of town here in the US.

The contrast was heartbreaking. Severe poverty and extreme wealth all together. My mother was told to not let me out of her sight because I would be kidnapped as a blonde child and sold to one of the rich families. That shocked the hell out of me.

Haiti reminded me of that a bit because it was a remote part of the island. There wasn't a town nearby, just a private beach for our cruise line. The beauty and it translated into my story, the yawning canyon between beauty and darkness and how they can come together. I sat there for hours while I wrote. My waiter for dinner was in charge of the buffet and he told everyone up there to let me sit there and write. I got a lot done and I had the greatest time.

That night Hubby took me to the Japanese restaurant. But I'm starting to show cracks and after Hubby and Steph come back from the casino, they hear the problems with the noise outside. They can fall asleep in a hurricane so they have no problem falling asleep.

However at 1am, I went downstairs and lodged a complaint. The front desk guy was horrible to me, bitching back to me saying it was the first time he'd heard of the problem. I told him I hadn't spoken to a man, but only women before now. Anyway, he wrote down my complaint.

Thankfully when I went back to my room, the noise was quieter and I could sleep.

So that's it for now... stay tuned for the conclusion, Day 5: Jamaica My moment of breakdown and the massive computer failure :(

Part 2 is here now

(Note: I'll be posting more pictures so check back soon!)

Finally catching up... and then I'm gone!

Whew, I'm finally catching up with everything... and then it all hits at once again!

Worth The Wait released last week and it snuck up on me! But I'm giving away a copy at Stumbling Over Chaos. So stop by and comment on the lovely Mayhem and you may just win. 

I'm hard at work on the much awaited sequel to The Long Con, which has a working title of Dangerous Submission. Tony and Bradley are in supporting roles (yes, Bradley, Tony thinks you are #1 still) but the story centers around two new characters, Drake and Robbie.

So stay cool in all this heat! :) Bye for now!

PSA for authors, about auto adding friends on Goodreads..

Hey, this is a public service announcement.

A lot of authors have commented to me about having friends auto-added on Goodreads and they couldn't figure out why.

There are several reasons why but the main thing is when you sign up for Facebook, it will auto select an option to add the people you are friends with on Facebook. If you want to change that, here are the instructions.

Here is a link to the app page of your account: http://www.goodreads.com/user/edit?format=html&tab=apps

<----- the culprit. I unclicked this box.





And that's all you need to do. If you're still getting auto-adds, contact Goodreads customer service. They are awesomely friendly! :)

Congratulations, Stephanie Barbeau-King!

I just got back from my dad's place in Port St. Lucie for my sister's graduation. So I just wanted to say congrats to my baby sister for graduating high school with honors! You're the best and here is to a very happy life after high school. You did it! :D Now on to college! :)

I'm exhausted... but happy again!

This week has been exhausting. It started off really awesome with giving away books and stuff to the awesome people who participated in the Hop Against Homophobia. That was a lot of fun for such an awesome cause!

I haven't stopped since then! On Wednesday I had a second round of shots in my SI joint and this time it feels much better. I rested yesterday but then my muse kicked in (maybe it got the shot in the ass it needed :D) and I've written 7K in two days.

So I'm tired, especially after the epic traffic around Disney, and I'm going to stay in and just read and write and enjoy myself on this holiday weekend.

Take care!

The winners (yeah you read that right!) on the Hop Against Homophobia.

Mission: Spread the love!

Status: Accomplished!

When I made my post for the Hop Against Homophobia, I thought posting about love wouldn't be enough. I thought maybe I should post my experiences of being genderqueer and my journey to where I am today. I want people to know that hate directed toward them is just temporary and that it gets better.

But I wanted to post where I am today and my post reflected the love I feel surrounded by my family and friends, fellow authors and of course, my fans.

You guys proved me wrong and I'm so happy!

As I watched the comments fly in on my post on the Hop Against Homophobia, I was so pleased, I almost cried. There were so many people who were so positive and the comments were so beautiful and full of love, well, I got really happy. :D

(OMG, my editor is going to kill me. I used "so" 4 times)

I decided to give away TWO choice of my backlist.

vitajex and SheriV

Please check your e-mail! You won!

Not to sound all Saturday Afternoon Special on you, but we're all winners when hate takes a hike! Stay cool everyone! Love you all! :D

Hop Against Homophobia!

Wipeout Homophobia!

Hello! Welcome to Lori's post on the 

2012 Hop Against Homophobia!

Hate is horrible. 

Hate doesn't have a place here.

Homophobia is hate.

But on a more serious note, setting a good example for others is the best way to combat homophobia and hate. If you see someone doing something hateful of any kind, step in and do something about it. It's our duty as human beings to help others. 

Love is awesome :)

It's as simple as that! :D

My prize I'm giving away:

An e-book off my backlist! YAY!

What do you have to do to enter? 

Leave me some comment love, baby!

(but dude, leave your comment in secret ninja style

like this: lori at loritoland dot com)

This contest ends May 20th. So look for my e-mail on the 21st. 

I'll also post again on my blog the winner so you can be happy for them.

Last but definitely not the least, 

Check out the rest of  the authors 

On the 2012 Hop Against Homophobia

at:

http://hopagainsthomophobia.blogspot.com.

I visited the vampire yesterday...

Yesterday I gave blood as I do every 56 days but yesterday was different. I gave double red blood cells with these new machines that put your plasma back in along with saline. It was really cool but I forgot that I can taste most saline when it's injected into me and boy, it turned my stomach fast. Once the phlebotomist got me a juice I was okay. :)

But the machine is really cool. They filter your blood so they only take your red blood cells. The only issue I had was I got a headache after donating but that's pretty normal with me. I always have a headache for some reason. Any doctors out there wanna chime in with why that might be?

Either way, I'm O- so I'm a universal donor and in an emergency, anyone can get my blood. So I give what I can! :) My next date with the machine is in 4 months so I'll be back, but just whole blood this time. I'm looking a bit pale today :)

In Honor Of Mother's Day...

This is always a really hard day for me. In fact, for several weeks prior, it's always a really rough time because I'm inundated with advertisements for Mother's Day presents. I really wish there was some way to turn those ads off because it's hard enough without her, but Mother's Day is particularly painful because I wish with all my heart she was still here.

This year has been particularly hard because I realized how much my mom would love all this. She would be my little cheerleader and she would never let me give up. I was very lucky to have her as long as I did. Every day at the end, I never took a day for granted and I treasured every moment we did have.

So in honor of Mother's Day, I just want to thank my mom for everything she did for me. One of the last conversations I had with her was he asking me if she had been a good mother to me. She said she waited to have me because she was so scared she would screw up being a mom. I told her I couldn't imagine a better mom than her.

I miss you, Mom.

Love,
Lori

Just another day in paradise...

Yeah, that's me, just hanging around, trying to recover from my SI Joints shot. They help in the long run but they hurt like a bitch to get. I'm kinda stoned on painkillers so if I ramble on Twitter, I'm not responsible for myself. :D

I also forgot to congratulate my winners of my book tour for The Long Con, Bodice Rippers and Jibriel. Thank you very much and a huge thank you to all who stopped by my tour. I hope you enjoyed chatting with me.

And last but not least to answer a question that seems to be cropping up a lot: Yes, I'm working on a sequel to The Long Con. While Bradley and Tony won't be the main characters in the book (for a very good reason) they will have supporting roles. So have no fear, they will be returning in the next book alongside two very debonaire characters :)

Talkatcha later :)

My Cheddar boy! (GP of my Cat)

I just thought I'd share a picture of my beautiful Chester :)

He makes my life so happy! :)

Immigration Equality... the reason for my dedication in The Long Con.

Today I'm posting because Blogger had a fail! Evil Blogger! But this post had a special place in my heart because Immigration Equality is my pet project, besides the ASPCA. So I'm posting it here.

So please click on the link to your left and stop by and get more info about this wonderful cause.

The Battles That Lay Ahead

I think on my tour I’ve said a few times The Long Con was the book I never meant to write. I went through a lot with this book. Bradley’s story was an old idea from before I was published about two men from different countries who met and fell madly in love. And one of the heroes was from the US, which twisted my gut.

You see, I went through immigration with my British husband, who gave up everything he knew in the UK to come here to the States. We had a routine case (first marriage for both of us, no criminal record and I was in a strong financial position) and were very lucky because we’re a heterosexual couple. I say we are lucky because if we were a gay or lesbian couple, I couldn’t have petitioned on his behalf to get immigration benefits. But we were lucky because of our genders.

In The Long Con, Bradley is with Tony in the US and together they are loving on borrowed time. The clock is ticking; they don’t have forever nor can they have a happily ever after because their borders will keep them apart. And as a writer and someone who went through that horrible separation, it killed me to write those scenes at the end. Because I knew how they felt intimately.

Around the time I wrote the end of The Long Con, gay immigration was suddenly in the headlines with the striking down of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell and the fight against DOMA here in the US. A gay couple married in the US in Massachusetts was petitioning for immigration benefits because in their state, now in California, their marriage was legal and the health of one of the men was declining due to AIDS.

Their petition was denied. The non-US citizen was given a deportation order and had a date by which he had to leave. Immigration Equality took over fighting the case but hope for a positive outcome was bleak. In one of the articles, there was a picture of the couple hugging.

S.F. gay married couple loses immigration battle

I looked at that picture and sobbed. Maybe if they had both been healthy, they could have moved to Australia but it was impossible with how sick the US citizen was. The future looked depressing and all I could do was hope that our government would do the right thing here. And sure enough, this year, the couple found their brief respite.

Deportation threat lifted from S.F. gay spouse

To this lovely couple, all my love and best wishes. They became the center of a fight that shouldn’t be happening. Loving whoever you want is a human right, not a political war cry.

But as far as Tony and Bradley? I’ll state for the record, I believe in HEA and everyone deserves one! Their story was a long road and a really tough one for me. I bawled through so many parts of their story. I had to hide so my husband didn’t think I was an idiot for crying over a book.  Did Tony and Bradley make it to ride off into the sunset together? You’ll have to read the book to find out what happens ;)

THE LONG CON by Lori Toland

British Agent Nathaniel Bradley is tasked with bringing home a stolen heirloom. After tracking the Faberge egg all the way to a group of criminals in New York, Bradley infiltrates a ring of con artists and gets sucked into the role of a high priced prostitute.

While hoping for a chance to take back what is rightfully his, Bradley’s sole mission becomes to seduce Tony Terranova, Jr, the heir to a notorious mafia dynasty. Though Tony is strikingly handsome, the usually dominant Bradley is hesitant to submit to the sexual whims of a dangerous Mafioso.

What Bradley doesn't expect is for Tony to fall to his knees so eagerly for him, leaving him blindsided by how intensely their dark tastes complement each other. Now Bradley is caught up in a deadly game of lies and desire, where what he truly wants may not be what duty requires.

EXCERPT:

My heart pounded, and I panted from exertion. Replete and relaxed, I knew my weight crushed him to the bed, but if he didn’t say anything, I wasn’t moving. I dropped a gentle kiss on his shoulder, tasting the salt from his skin when I licked my lips.

I opened my mouth, and my heart slammed against my rib cage when I realized what I had just been about to say. Before blurting out my love for him, I pulled out slowly and stood.

I needed to get my shit together and remember I was on a task, one of huge importance to Margaret. I took a deep breath and let it out. When he glanced at me over his shoulder, I put on the same mask I wore around everyone.

His eyes told me he saw beneath the surface, and that scared me. He was much too perceptive, and from this moment forward, I would have to be on my guard. “Are you okay?” he asked.

“Yeah. You almost killed me there.” I laughed it off, but it felt hollow to me. I left him on the bed and walked into bathroom.

I threw away the condom, and when I turned around, Tony stood in the doorway.

“Are you sure?” he asked, his frown worrying me.

I wanted him to drop it, so I just smiled and placed a kiss on his lips. “I’m sure.”

My explanation didn’t seem to satisfy him, but I didn’t stick around to give him the time to question me about it. I flipped on the shower and waited for the water to heat up, a little perturbed about how much I wanted him.

AUTHOR BIO AND LINKS:

CEO by day, erotic romance writer by night, Lori Toland lives in Orlando where the summers are hot but the romance between her characters is even hotter. Writing since the tender age of 13, Lori somehow finds time to play video games and watch movies while taking care of her beloved cats and a husband who will forever be her hero.

Lori’s Website: http://www.loritoland.com
Lori’s Twitter: loritoland
Lori’s Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/lori.toland
BUY LINKS: http://www.loose-id.com/The-Long-Con.aspx
Other buy links will appear here as available:
http://loritoland.blogspot.com/2012/02/long-con-loose-id-4242012.html

**********GIVEAWAY**********

A $25 Amazon GC to a randomly drawn commenter from the entire tour.

-Giveaway is OPEN TO EVERYONE!
-To be entered, MUST leave a comment, along with your email addy.
-One commenter will be chosen randomly from all comments made throughout the tour, so the more tour stops you make a comment on the greater your chances of winning.  A list of all participating blogs can be found here.
-Giveaway ends at 11:59 PM CST on 5/4.

Since this is my tour, I'm not eligible to win (well, duh) but please go comment at all my other tour stops which can be found here. 

You can comment on this post as well. Please be aware that all comments are moderated so I will try to keep up with approving them as we go. If you comment here, it will be an entry for the gift card!

Is it Caturday yet?

Dad said I don't have to come out until then!

CEO by trade, artist by birth.

I see a lot of posts about why people write, which are really interesting. There are quite few where the authors get defensive, like they have to justify the reason they sit down at the keyboard and lose themselves in the world they create.

My family always knew I was creative. I went to a Creative and Performing Arts academy because I loved creating art in any form I could. They all encouraged it, even though at some point I realized a day job was in order so I could

Last night I was watching E! for Fashion Police (I loved RuPaul! Finally someone more catty than Joan Rivers) and I caught Fashion Star which has designers competing for contracts with three huge name stores in a reality show type setting.

They are just competing with themselves really but sometimes the stores compete with each other in a bidding war for the designs. But last night, one designer, Barbara Bates, didn't get picked up and I was really sad because I loved her design. It was sexy and yet age appropriate for me.

One of the buyers asked her why she would create something like that. I loved her answer, which was, "It was something I would wear."

The show was really neat because it reminded me of the publishing industry. Sometimes there is a bidding war over your book (if you're lucky) and you have to decide what pub co to go to. But you design this book and throw it out into the world. If you're lucky, everyone loves it and it sells enormously. If not, well, there is always your next book.

I personally write books I want to read, just like that designer makes clothes she would wear. I love watching the story unfold. While I do temper my style to make it easy to read, the story isn't the words; it's the plot and the characters.

I can't wait to read The Long Con again. :) It's coming 4/17. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I loved writing it.

And the lovely RJ Scott tells all on my blog today! (No not really LOL)

I have the wonderful RJ Scott by my blog today who is kind enough to answer questions about how her craft. 


She has another new release, which I'm sure her fans will devour with ecstasy :D but to celebrate her release, she's hopping around to answer questions from me and other M/M author as well. She's like the answer fairy today!


So here's the question I posed to her.


Lori: How do you research your books set in the overseas places since you're from the UK? 

RJ: I pull from all the TV series I watch and the films I have seen but I think my answer is that I rely on my wonderful overseas friends for accuracy...


Lori: Why didn't I think of that? :D

For answers to more questions, please visit RJ Scott's website and say hi!


Or visit this post for more details about her awesome blog hop! Win $30 bucks at Silver Publishing! (Gosh, wish I could win!)


Authors participating are: Diane Adams :: Chris Quinton :: Sue Brown :: Me! :: Anna Marie May :: Freddy MacKay :: Pia Valeno




thanks RJ, for stopping by!

Boooiiiiiiinnnnng!!

Today has been a rough day. I woke up with a pounding sinus headache. I was truly thankful I didn't have anywhere to be or too much to do today.

However, I did need to do one last return. For Christmas, my dad bought my husband and I this lovely present:

A Beavis and Butthead Lava lamp and

         

Beavis and Butthead Bobble Head dolls. I told him to just get my husband beer to make his Christmas tolerable, what with him having to be around his in-laws and all but Dad insisted.

We all had a good laugh but honestly, I could do without the bobble head doll and lava lamp so I called Spencer's Gift and asked if I could return it. They said no problem, just bring it in. But in our Christmas fun, I had pulled the tab on Beavis so we could all hear what he said. So all the way to the mall, Beavis was in the backseat spouting out "Booiiiinnnnnggggg" and "Shut up Butthead."

It didn't stop there.

Unfortunately I parked at the wrong end of the mall (which you always do because that's life) and I had to walk all the way from the opposite end of the mall to Spencer's with Beavis going "Booooiiinnnggg" all the way. I even half expected when I passed Victoria's Secret for Beavis to chime in but in fabulous Beavis fail mode, he stayed silent. Return went off without a hitch.

And I got one last present for my little sister's eighteenth birthday. It's less than a month and I know she'll be excited.

So that was my day. Not nearly enough editing of The Long Con because of my headache. I came straight back home and collapsed in bed.  :(

Holy &$@%!

It's been crazy cold here in Florida. We had a hard freeze warning here and I wasn't entirely sure what that was. I'm sure you Northerners are laughing at me.

I think we've left Florida, Milly. What do you think?

She says: You may be right.

Feel the peer pressure...

Everyone is doing posts about looking forward to 2012 and I don't think I've been surrounded by such excitement and treipdation for a new year since 1999.

1. 2012 is the year of the Dragon, which is soooo exciting. I'm a dragon so naturally I'm very much looking forward to this. (And I'm turning 36 too!)

2. I feel like we are dawning on a while new era of possibilities. Part of it is the buzz surrounding the Mayan calendar (since it's NOT the end of the world but the changing of the guard in their civilization) but of it is 2011 was kind of shitty for me so I'm looking forward!


So I'm raising my glass to a new year, and here's hoping that 2012 is fucking awesome!

New Blog... Almost New Year!

I've been working on moving to Blogspot for a while now. I finally pulled the plug and moved to my new home. I'll still keep my loritoland LJ but I won't be updating it as often. Just mainly big announcements and all.

Some news before the year end:

The Long Con (m/m erotic romance, suspense) is contracted at Loose Id and will be coming out in 2012 so look for a release date soonish.

I'm hard at work on the sequel to Soul Seduction, titled Soul Salvation (titles always subject to change) and hopefully this will release in 2012 as well. Yes, Soul Seduction is the first of the series with hopefully many more to come.

My CP Kele Moon has a new hot m/f erotic romance out at LI called Battered Hearts: Defying The Odds and available at Amazon.

I'll be updating after the new year so if I don't see you on Twitter or Facebook, please have a safe and happy holiday. Hug your family and tell them you love them if they aren't assholes. And if they are assholes, tell them you love them to fuck with their minds. :)

HAPPY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!

My trip to San Francisco and Yaoi-Con

So wow, Yaoi-con was FUCKING AWESOME. I was little worried about fitting in but have no fear, I just dorked out like everyone else and it was AWESOME.

Do realize I'm a native Californian and if you don't like the word AWESOME, you will be sadly disappointed with this post.

Here's Milly and I waiting for our flight in the lounge by the Virgin America gate.

So on the flight out there, we tried to get an upgrade to First Class. Since the plane was bursting at the seams, this was not going to happen. But sitting in coach on Virgin America is like flying in First. It looks like we're in a bar too, not a plane!

We watched TV and my husband watched Cars 2. We had a blast and I'm now in love with this popcorn.

479 Popcorn FTW!

FINALLY! I'm home in California. Well, not really home but I'm in California. Florida is my home now, with cats. (They are now hiding under the bed, scared I'm taking them back to the kennel) And where is my first stop? Okay, yeah, the hotel, where they have the bed request wrong. So off to my fave burger place to eat while they fix that.

(If you've never had an In-And-Out burger, you're missing out.)

Back to fall into bed. The next day, we hit Japantown! I'm so excited and we walk down to the train. We pass In-And-Out *cries* and head into the city. Well once we were in the city, it's a huge hike from the train station near there to the actual location so we had to take the bus. And the people are exceptionally nice. I don't know if we had tourist written on our foreheads or what but people stopped us, knew we were lost and helped us go the right way. To all of these people, thank you!

ZOMG!!! We are in Japantown and it is TOTALLY AWESOME!

We shop in complete and total awe, barely able to speak. After hours are me squeeing and Hubby saying "Oh, that's quite nice" we sit down for a nommie lunch/dinner.

We take a taxi home because I can even wait for the bus and I am so exhausted, my legs are shaking. I fall into bed and sleep for a couple of hours and wake up fully refreshed. We head downstairs to see some of the Yaoi-con people have arrived and we watch them being geeks, while totally geeking out ourselves!

Hubby takes me to a lovely birthday dinner and I had filet with blue cheese (I'm not supposed to have blue cheese but oh well) and then we meandered a bit.

And we meet Morgan Hawke! :D Who is awesome! www.morganhawke.com

So bed for us, because Morgan has been up for 48 hours and I need my beauty rest. Next morning I wake up and head down to brekkie.

IT'S MY BIRTHDAY! Happy Birthday to me! (I'm excited, can you tell?)

Anyway, we go to Japantown to do a huge amount of birthday shopping and I splurged on my lil sis and luckily, no one called to sing happy birthday to me, just wish me happy birthday.

And of course I have my awesome birthday dessert! YUM.

Then I eat the strawberry and it had mold in it. I'm highly allergic to penicillin so I'm hoping I don't have an allergic reaction. I also realize I have a dairy intolerance and this was the worst idea so far of the trip. Whoops.

Anyway, we have to head back because I'm meeting with the other DSP authors. So we head back and I run around the room and get cleaned up and head down to the Monterey Room to say hi.

AND ZOMG... I meet Mary Calmes. I then proceed to dork out and act like an idiot and be totally stupid. Yeah. *hides* I also meet some of my other fave authors and I have a moment where I can't believe this is what I do. I'm an AUTHOR. Wow.

So I get my badge and sorta help set-up. (I carried a box) And then it's time for a bit of nom with hubby. We head to In-and-Out. And due to a shady cab driver, my husband is held hostage while I make change at the In-And-Out (Cab driver claimed he had change when we got in, but suddenly didn't when we got to our stop) but he was safe. Be careful out there guys, there are some really not nice people out there.

The next morning, I head downstairs for a lovely breakfast and then finally to man up the booth at Yaoi-con. I try really hard not to fangirl Mary but that proves to be too difficult a task. So I fangirl her badly. BADLY.

And Amy Lane gives me the most awesome hat!

I also hung out with EM Lynley, Andrew Grey and Clare London. And of course the always cool Ariel Tachna and Nikki Bennett. Julianne Bentley showed up at the end of our shift too.

But it's lunch time and I'm off! :D I go to In-and-Out for some one-on-one time with a burger. It was lovely :D

When I get back to the hotel, hubby is downstairs and I head back to fangirl Mary but I spread the love! :) I met Shira Anthony and I was her first autograph (the first of many I'm sure) and I did some shopping.

But when I reach our room, my ickle Milly doll is gone. For those of you who don't know, my hubby gave me a little stuffed cat for our first Christmas together. She has traveled everywhere with me, including when my husband and I were separated for nine months waiting for his visa. She's kinda ratty but I love her! She was found though. She had an ickle adventure! She said I was like Little Orphan Annie and I escaped in the laundry.

She's okay now though!

But that night, I passed out. I gave up fighting to stay awake and fell asleep.

The next morning I woke up and Hubby's lip is somehow cut open and swollen. I head to Walgreens and buy some ointment but holy hell, it's far away!

I get back and give hubby his medicated lip ointment. By now, I'm sporting a bitching slipper tan line. Check it out:

But I missed Amy Lane :( (See you next year!) but I did meet Isabelle Rowan. I help pack up (not really that much help) the DSP Booth and the cases get checked at the bellhop and I'm suddenly sad because it's all over. And tomorrow I'm leaving on a jet plane. :( So I hug and kiss everyone good-bye and go upstairs to pack.

One last trip to In-And-Out (by now, I'm sick of it) and packing is my friend. If you don't know me, I'm a scary talented packer. We bought a lot of stuff and without an extra suitcase, it's going to be a tight fit. So I take a shower and when my hubby comes back, every last thing has it's place, including his Spice and Wolf body pillow.

I held my breath until the next morning, because I was sure that my suitcase was going to be over 50 lbs but no joke, it's at 49. :O while dancing to the groovy music at the Virgin America check-in counter, we managed to get an upgrade to first class and then we are all set to go through security.

Now, take note TSA. You should all model yourselves after the SFO airport security. Everything is orderly. There are mailers available if you get to security and realize you left your gardening clippers in your hand bag. Oh, did you forget a quart clear bag for your liquids? That's okay. You can have one that says SFO on it, FOR FREE. Do you have a bottle of water? It's okay, don't hurt yourself drinking it before security so you'll wet your pants in line. Just dump it out and refill your bottle once you're past security with our filtered water. Don't forget to recycle your bottle when you're done! :D *groovy*

Oh yeah. Did I forget to mention YOU HAVE A FUCKING PINKBERRY past security?!?! My breakfast was a Pinkberry. My trip is now complete.

But it's time to leave. And I already hate I have to leave the state I was born in and 35 years ago, I was barely a few days old. I'll always be a California girl.

But I'm glad we got the upgrade because holy shit, these seats are nice. I acted stupid and flailed in my seat like a dork. Hubby could actually stretch his legs all the way out and not hit the seat in front of him.

But then we have to watch a safety video. And it's worth it to watch for the LULZ!!! :D

I watched Bad Teacher (ehh) and Source Code (WOW! Highly recced) but then we're back home and it's time to pick up the kids! I walk into the cattery and I speak and the babies wake up and start meowing for me. And I start to cry because I missed them so much.

Only one more load of laundry to go and I'm done.

This week was amazing. I was worried because while I'm very much a go-getter, I tend to be very shy about my writing. I have a hard time accepting compliments about it. Now as a CEO, I get compliments all the time about our products, our marketing strategy and our contractors and employees and I take those well.

I'm proud of both areas but the writing, I'm very on display here. I never feel like I'm in control when writing and that's hard to accept. I also hate to say this, but there are some mean people in this industry who are just looking to hurt writers. I haven't made sense of it and I don't think I ever will but having thicker skin may be for the best.

But this weekend, there were a few kind people, who treated me with the utmost respect. To those people, you have my greatest thanks from the bottom of my heart. To be next to you, as a fellow writer, just blows my mind.

So I'm signing off to get ready for my book tour. Soul Seduction's cover is on its way!