I have two confessions today. One is that I went shopping this morning for pants that I can wear to cocktail parties Monday in NYC. I didn’t find any because I’m TOO SHORT. Kohls is having some great clearance sales and I tried on an embarrassing number of pants but they all were too long for me by about 4 inches. It might have been worth it at clearance prices to buy them and pay to have them tailored, but I was too overwhelmed to make that decision this morning. Maybe I’ll go back.
The other confession is that I’m not at all ready for the traveling to start again. I think it must be because I’m basically lazy at heart, and it suits me to be able to do nothing all day 
Also, ever since I told her I was going (last week, because she heard me talking about it and asked) Brianna has been telling me how much she doesn’t want me to go. This morning she was particularly upset about it.
But on that note, blogging will probably be lighter again in the next few weeks, because we all know I’m no good at traveling and blogging!
For the Reader:
Since I don’t normally promo my releases during the week, I’m going to start listing them here, under the “for the reader” section. So, released this week:
Taken by Anya Bast (erotic sci fi romance)
Called by Blood by Evie Byrne (erotic paranormal romance)
Mexican Heat by Laura Baumbach and Josh Lanyon (m/m action romance)
Publisher’s Weekly is looking for reviewers in fiction genres including romance!
Kristen Nelson wants to know if free books work on you. On an interesting related note, I got an email from one of my blog readers this week, who was emailing to tell me that the free books she’d gotten from Samhain definitely resulted in her buying others. Anecdotal evidence that free works! I think editor Leah Hultenschmidt talked about that on her blog this week as well.
Jane from Dear Author wonders if you’d be interested in a rent-to-own ereader and ebook subscription?
Smart Bitches has the video from MSNBC that features the Kindle (and Kate Duffy of Kensington!)
Continuing the series about the Dear Author reviewers and their new Sony Readers. I’m really enjoying these posts.
For the Author:
Edittorrent had two great posts up on rejections this week. Alicia wrote this one on form rejections that I swear I could have written myself. Theresa wrote one that relates to my blog post here a few weeks ago about how fast is too fast?
And since we’re talking rejection, here’s one more on post-rejection protocol from Jessica Faust at BookEnds.
Author Lauren Dane has started a Sunday series on promotion.
Author Maria Zannini talks about signature lines. Honestly, an obnoxiously long signature line irritates me enough to remember the author’s name in a negative light.
Author Shannon Stacey has an awesome post up about making sure you’re following your dream, not someone else’s.
In the Kitchen:
Download spice jar labels.
Nom nom nom, these Italian love cakes look good (and easy)!
Pioneer Woman is doing a series on sushi. I actually learned how to make sushi from a Japanese friend years ago, but I’m still enjoying this series.
Peanut Butter and Rice Krispie treats. Me please.
For the Crafty:
Does anyone out there knit? I really want this scarf. Almost enough to take up knitting, except it would take me five years to finish. The scarf combines my love of two things: Doctor Who (LOVE Tom Baker) and scarves.
Sew, Mama, Sew is doing Fat Quarter February. Check out all the fat quarter projects they’re sharing. Tissue holders here (and if I’d thought of it sooner, I’d have whipped up a bunch as small Valentine Day gifts for the daycare staff)
Check out this list of the top 100 tuturials of 2008
I would love to make one of these tea wallets. I like to travel with tea but it always ends up in the bottom of my purse.
I love this idea. Anyone who’s ever been to a conference has a bunch of tote bags laying around. Here’s a tutorial for dressing up and resuing those tote bags!
For Everyone:
Thankfully, the CPSIA Lead-Testing Law has been delayed for one year. I hope they can work the kinks out of that and get a new/different/better law into affect.
An interesting post on recipes and copyright (where I learned, though was not surprised, to find that recipes aren’t copyrighted).
A little insight into the editorial debate between an author and an editor. These are weighty issues we discuss!
Whee! There’s going to be another Sex and the City movie. I’m not sure what type of story line they’ll come up with, but I don’t care. I’ll go see it! Looks to be set for hopefully Summer 2010
It’s what everyone has been talking about. The Snuggie. Now you can make your own and pimp it out to boot! Score!
$25 free from E-Trade when you open an E-Trade Savings Account.
You know you want to make one. A LOLCat purse!
So you’re bored and want to kill some time? Make your own comic strip!
Maybe your music library is like mine and could use a little attending to? MakeUseof.com has 4 suggestions for tools to fix and auto-organize your music library. Let me know if you’re familiar with any of them or try them!
Wi-Fi Hotspot finders. I need to put these links in my phone, with as much as I travel I often need Wi-Fi (even with an aircard, it’s nice to find Wi-Fi)
For the Political:
Not really political but I’m putting it here. Via HighlandGal, a quote about the Michael Phelps thing that made me laugh (also, see the bottom of this post for some links to current articles about Phelps losing sponsors):
Look, I don’t blame Michael Phelps for apologizing. He has a living to earn, so he did what he had to do.
In the meantime, I merely note that this broken wreck of a man’s failure to win any more than a pathetic fourteen Olympic gold medals (so far) is a terrifying warning of the horrific damage that cannabis can do to someone’s health—and a powerful reminder of just how sensible the drug laws really are.
-Andrew Stuttaford from The Corner at National Review Online.
A new video from Ashley Judd about Sarah Palin’s support of the brutal hunting of wolves. The video is not for the tender-hearted.
Obama puts a cap on executive pay at businesses that received bailout money. I really wish more things like this had been put in place before the bailout money was ever given out.
I’ll admit it, I laughed when I read to the end. There’s a follow-up article here. All I can think, though, is that our nation is facing the largest unemployment rate in two three decades and this guy is going to be worried about a suit jacket? Puh-lease.
Michelle Obama is stepping into the stimulus package fray. Oy.
Picture of the week:
Because the whole idea of this still makes me laugh.
Related articles by Zemanta
- Carrie on regardless: How will Sex and the City cope with the credit crunch? (guardian.co.uk)
- Michael Phelps Suspended: Dumped by Sponsor (montysmegamarketing.com)
- Friday Just Keeps Getting Worse For Michael Phelps [Michael Phelps] (deadspin.com)
- New Website Launches to Keep Tabs on Sarah Palin’s Animal Conservation Record (Video) (treehugger.com)
- In the Kindle Backorder Queue? Upgrade Offer for Kindle 2 Coming. (jkontherun.com)
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I’m happy to find that someone liked my article on recipes and copyright. For some reason, I’ve been getting a lot of responses saying that recipes are copyrighted and have been surprised by my research.
I feel your pain on pants buying. I’m 5’2 and am just in between petite and misses in length. So many times the petites are too short and the misses are almost always too long. *sigh*
My daughter is a tiny little thing and we buy all of her jeans & dress trousers at Petite Sophiticate. The store near our house carries ‘regular’ and ‘petite’ lengths (petite petites? lol). Wonder of wonders, we rarely have to hem them. If you’ve a PS near you it’s well worth the trip. As to prices, I really don’t know. I gave up the endless hunt for inexpensive petite clothing & we just shop there. :bat:
Happy Shopping! :glee:
Pants are too long for you, and I have the opposite they’re too short for me. I’m a giant. LOL.
Zombies!! I am such a zombie freak, I wish that had happened here. I love it!
I hate buying pants too. I am 5’3 and one of the best things I ever did was learn to hem my pants lol
Hello? Needle and thread? You need a good steam iron, a tape measure, some pins and – well, there you go.
More news – the results of the Romantic Novelists’ Association Valentine poll for the Ten Sexiest Celebrities Alive has come through. I voted for the winner, and I’m so glad he won! I just did a piece on it, and looking up the pictures was torture, I tell you!
Italian Love cakes sound awesome, especially since I make my own limoncello.
Needle and thread? I have a sewing machine. Bump the needle and thread
Kristen, how do you make limoncello? And is that included on the raw diet? :belly:
I love your choice for picture of the week. The Zombie traffic signs have been a bit topic this week and I laugh every time I see the pictures. I wish I could’ve seen one in real life.
I have the complete opposite problem when I try to buy pants. Most of them are too short for me and have only been able to find a few stores/brands that carry longs that are actually long enough.
Did you try New York & Company? They have petite sizes.
Have fun at the cocktail party!!!
And people wonder why we Alaskans are suspicious of Lower 48ers meddling in our unique affairs.
Maybe we wouldn’t be if they actually bothered to gather all the facts on the ground in Alaska before twisting things around to suit their own political agenda.
The fact is Alaskans were battling airborne predator control years before Sarah Palin ever entered politics and, sadly, will probably be battling it for years to come. I’ve lived here a lot of years now and the issue is one for the voters. Not the Governor. It’s been on every ballot of every election I can remember since I moved here and every single time Alaskans (myself included) vote it down, but the issue never goes away. In fact, the issue cuts across party lines. Just as many conservatives believe it is wrong to shoot wolves from helicopters as liberals.
Start at http://www.ktuu.com if you want to learn the real story on this issue.
I used to shop at a Petite Sophisticates when I lived in ND, but that was ten years ago and I haven’t seen one since.
Jana, most of my clothes come from NY&C. I was just whining because the Kohls prices were really good, and it was brands like Chaps and the Vera Wang collection. Wah.
I am short too. I’m also a great seamstress. What I’ve learned, however, is that the stress of preparing for travel and altering pants is too much for me. I totally botched a $130 pair of pants because I was rushing. Haste makes waste. FER SURE!
I don’t like altering pants. I find it tedious and kind of stressful. I’d just as soon pay someone to do it for me. I only want to sew when it’s fun
The “Boo!” to Kohl’s for no petites!! Or should that be “Boo!” to Chaps and Vera Wang? Hmm…
NY&Co is probably my favorite store. I can usually walk in confident I’ll find something I like that will look good, too!
I was in NY&C today and I’m sad because I hate their new collections. Orange, yellows and greens. Blech.
I want to see one of those zombie signs. That is just too funny…come to think of it…some of the road workers around here move as fast as zombies…maybe that’s what the signs referred to, lol.
I knit but that would probably take me a while to do that scarf but it is pretty cool. I loved the tea wallets too. My Mom would love something like that.
Hah! I have had the exact same problem with Kohls. I even blogged about it once last fall, after trying on every single brand of black/gray pants in the entire store in a 6-size range (regular & petite, 8-10-12). Nothing fit.
I buy most of my clothes at Old Navy and Gap, because for some reason, their pants fit me (but only the low waisted ones–I have exactly no space between hips and rib cage, so “low waist” hits me at the waist…”regular waist” leaves the crotch dangling to my knees). But they don’t have nice dress clothes that often.
I hate pants.
Good luck on your search!