Writerly Retreat

One of the beauties of having such generous writerly friends is the chance to visit their wonderful get-aways. Or, in this case, writer-pal Delilah Marvelle‘s GORGEOUS home!

Set on eighty lush forest-y acres, Delilah and Mr. Marvelle are busy renovating the existing house on the property. Aaannd…I’ll have my own room in it! For when I come visit. Which will be often. Thanks, Delilah! šŸ˜‰

I’m so looking forward to the peace and quiet, to the calming beauty, and the chance for La Muse to crank out some amazing pages.

Aren’t I lucky? I think so! šŸ™‚

Happy travels,
Melia

Edit Mode

Happy Mash-Up Monday!

So. Yeah. I’m in the middle of revisions where my editor pointed out that, among other things, I have a horrible aversion to commas! Happily, this is what my life is about these days:

P1170596Heading back to the manuscript so I can add those commas!

Have a great week,
Melia

 

Food and Wine Wednesday: Grill and Chill

One of the joys of summer is the chance for dudes to play with their grill. Right? P1170353Which means we ladies get to chill with an ice cold beverage in hand – BONUS!

Here’s how you make it happen:

1.Ā  Search through freezer for package of sirloin that you swore you just saw. Find it half an hour later, WAAAY back there, past the frozen blackberries (Two years old? How’d I miss that?), chicken bones for soup stock (enough for a cauldron), and a freezer-burned package of ground beef (that was promptly tossed).

2.Ā  Set package on a plate and place in fridge.

3.Ā  Remove package from fridge because, HELLO, you need it tonight, which means you need to marinate it this morning so the flavors have a chance to marry.P1170355 (Don’t know if this is a technical cooking term, but that’s what I call it. What can I say? I write romance!)

4.Ā  Babysit the package while it’s thawing in the microwave. Coz you KNOW the minute you walk away it’ll start cooking. *Nods sagely*

5.Ā  When half-thawed, remove meat from package and slice into strips.

6.Ā  Place strips in a bowl and add salt, pepper, olive oil, and rosemary from the handy plants on the window sill. (Be warned: if you don’t use the rosemary, you’ll walk in one morning and find they’ve taken over the entire kitchen. Yep, they grow FAST!)

7.Ā  Place beef mixture in plastic zip lock bag so that, you guessed it, the flavors can marry!P1170364

8.Ā  Remove some ten to twelve hours later (hey, it’s the construction season!) and skewer.

9.Ā  Hand plate of skewered meat to The Grilling Dude.

10.Ā  Let him cook the danged things and get all the credit for the meal.

Huh.

I think we’ll go to a steakhouse next time. . ..

~Melia

 

On a Mission for . . . BEER!

A few weeks ago, I’d had the good fortune of picking the brains of two attorneys in my family for a story I was working on. These guys were so patient and so kind, I decided to send them each a token thank you gift. And, since we were at a family gathering at the time of the interview, I noticed they both drank beer. What better choice than sending locally made beer? Brilliant! At least, that was my thought when I went about the process of finding said beer that was also bottled and could be shipped at room temperature.

My first choice for them came only in a keg. (Sorry, guys. Much as I appreciated your input there was no way you were each getting a keg shipped in a refrigeration truck to your homes. Besides, what would your wives say? Dumb question. Well, the answer’s still “no.”)

But after a bunch of phone calls I found another locally made beer that was bottled and could be easily shipped. Great! I headed down to a shop that carried the brand, a writer on a mission to thank my victims. . . umm. . . cousins for their kindness. And as I stood dazed in front of the beer selection, my mind going numb at the choices upon choices upon choices, I came to one conclusion: I wish they drank wine instead. Sigh. To say I chose their bottles playing a game of Eenie, Meenie, Miney, Moe wouldn’t be far from the truth.

But the real highlight of the evening came at the check-out stand.

In a weird way, my life is a paradox day-job-wise, a cross between working in a male-dominated world with a child-sized body and a job title that assumes a certain degree of authority. (That job title/authority part? That’s what I’m told, but I swear I’m perfectly harmless! *Insert angelic face here*) I’m not that different from anyone else, which is why it always amuses me when I see pictures of myself in a crowd of people. There’s no way I’m THAT small!

But, alas, the world seems to be a bit confused by me. And that evening at the check-out stand was another example.

There I stood, all set to begin the transaction, when the really sweet young lady looked at my bottles, then at me, and said, ā€œI’m sorry, I’ll need to see your I.D., please.ā€

No, I don’t get that all the time, but when you’re my age, you gotta really wonder about people. (And, yeah, I’m always secretly pleased!) ā€œSweetie, I’m old enough to be your mom,ā€ I told her as I handed over my driver’s license.

After looking at it she grinned, gave it back, and said, ā€œYeah, you are. My mom was born the same year!ā€

Nice. She should’ve just taken my word for it.

Anything amusing happen in your life lately? I’d love to hear about it!

-Melia