It's Leap Day AND Hump Day!

I feel like this should mean something.

Thinking...

Thinking...

...
...
...

I've got nothing. :o

Well, since it IS still Wednesday, I suppose we should talk about getting over the writer bulge. Okay, I'll admit it, I suffer from this particular syndrome. In my defense, those two kids I popped out didn't help anything. Gone are my gloriously skinny days. And now that my age is catching up with me and my digestive system no longer seems to be made out of steel, I have to adjust.

All of you know about my gluten free diet I've started. Yeah, it's been interesting. I've cheated a couple times (and paid for it, too), but for the most part, it's worked out well.

Since I don't have an actual recipe for you today, I'm going to give you something even better. It's the most amazing gluten free website I have ever seen.

YOU MUST CHECK IT OUT!!!

I am not kidding here. The food is AMAZING! You will NOT feel like you're dieting. So, DO click this link to the gluten-free goddess. You will love it. :)

On Conquering Fears and other exciting things

Image taken from here

I think I've mentioned on numerous occasions that I am shy. Sometimes cripplingly so. I'm able to function online because I can think through what I want to say, there's a backspace button if I want to take something back, and I don't have to be instantly "on." It's wonderful. 

However, the wise and wonderful Kendra Saunders (marketing genius at SHP) thought I needed to break out of my shell and do a radio interview. I wish I could describe my terror to you. And you'd think, me being an author and all, that I'd be able to do it, but there aren't words, dear readers. There are. not. words. 

But I did it! Somehow, I managed NOT to sound like an idiot. I know, I'm amazed too. :o

You can check out ipmNation.com (my interview was with Matt Connarton UNLEASHED). I'm not entirely sure if my actual interview is available online right now, but I'll keep checking and let you know.

That is, if you even want to hear my mousy voice. :)

And in other exciting news...

I'M FREE!!!!

Since the beginning of my marriage to my wonderful and gorgeous husband, we have had only one vehicle. Over the years, this has become a nuisance (especially considering we have two children now). But Uncle Sam has graciously given us our money back (in the form of a tax refund) and we bought a 2005 dodge caravan! 

I'M FREE!!!!

You have no idea how wonderful it is that I don't have to ask my mom for a ride anymore. And now I'm able to do things every day of the week (instead of just Thursdays)!! 

*does little white girl dance* <---lots of elbows

Books Complete Me Interview

I'm over at Books Complete Me today, probably embarrassing myself again. :o So I won't bore you with a long post today. All my quirky loveliness is over there. :)

Stop by and say hi!

Fairy Tale Princess Hair

So you know I don't usually talk about my personal life on here. Sometimes it happens, but for the most part, my life is boring. Amidst cleaning my house and wiping bums, I come on the internet, check out blogger and facebook, and work on my novel.

Like I said. Pretty dull.

Except now.

The other day, I was standing in line at the supermarket, waiting for the cashier to finish ringing up all my stuff. There was an older gentleman behind me and I could feel him staring at me. Well, I'm a very shy person, so I just played with my wallet as I waited to be done and out of there.

And then he said, "You look like..."

I turned and smiled at him as he stared with his eyes wide open. Obviously he had not meant to say what he was about to say out loud. He repeated himself a few times as I continued to smile. Honestly, I was just trying to communicate with him that I was not the type to scoff at strangers because they have the audacity to talk to me.

Finally, he said, "You...uh...look like a fairy tale princess. Because of your hair."

I paused for a moment because this was just about the greatest compliment I'd ever gotten and then I beamed at the man and thanked him. He seemed very relieved. I think he thought I might have treated him like a loony. Actually, my husband was a bit upset when I told him later. But it was such a wonderful moment to my day!

(By the way, my bio picture is a bit outdated. My hair isn't quite as long as this yet, but it's close and it has the same wave, so now that he said it, I can kind of see it.) 

I think a lot of times, we don't know how to act around strangers. Stranger danger is ingrained in us since childhood that we can't fathom a   situation where it's appropriate for someone we don't know to pay us a compliment. Or to talk to us in general unless it's business related or to say "excuse me" or "thank you."

But I'm glad that man spoke up. I told him he made my day and by the way he smiled back, I think I might have made his day too.

Do you pay compliments to strangers, just because? Or have you had any interesting experiences while out doing mundane things?

Also!!! On a completely unrelated note. The interviews have started! Check out all my *cough* interesting answers on Pure Textuality and learn more about the craziness that is me.

Valentine Yummies with Franny!

I am soooo excited to have the amazing Franny from So Good... So Franny! and Mind Reader. She is a great friend and a wonderful blogger. Please stop by her blogs (the first is a cooking blog and the second is a book review blog) and say hello!

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When my good friend Emily asked me to do a guest post for her blog I accepted straight away. But I didn’t imagine it would be such a hard task!

Valentine’s Day is such an annoying holiday for me, as every single year I end up having no money and doing absolutely nothing. This year we’re having guests so not so much of a choice, but we’ll surely make something special when the guests are gone to make up for the lost time.

Valentine’s Day is a day for gifts. To buy gifts. To receive gifts. To express love to our other halves. To show how much we care (even though it should be done every single day).

However, if you’re broke (like me) but you still want to do something special and romantic for your boyfriend/girlfriend/husband/wife, here’s a recipe to make your loved one crawl at your feet J

SUGAR HEARTS SANDWICH COOKIES 

Ingredients

• 1 recipe Sugar Cookie Dough, at room temperature
• 6 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1/2 cup confectioner's sugar
• 1 tablespoon pomegranate juice
• Small red sugar hearts, for decorating
• Equipment: 2 1/4-inch round cookie cutter, 1 1/2-by-1-inch heart-shaped cookie cutter

Directions

Start with Alton's Sugar Cookie dough recipe.

Prepare dough as directed and chill for 2 hours.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Sprinkle a work surface and rolling pin with confectioner's sugar and roll out dough to 1/8-inch thick. Move dough frequently to prevent it from sticking and add more confectioner's sugar to the work surface and rolling pin as needed. With a 2 1/4-inch round cookie cutter, cut 72 dough rounds, re-rolling dough as needed. With a small heart-shaped cookie cutter (about 1 1/2-by-1-inch), cut hearts from the center of half the dough rounds. Place the rounds and cutouts about 1 inch apart on parchment -lined baking sheets. Bake until just set but not brown, about 6-8 minutes. Let cool on the pan slightly before transferring to a rack to cool completely.

Meanwhile, make the filling: In a small bowl, whisk together the cream cheese, butter, confectioner's sugar, and pomegranate juice until smooth and fluffy. Spread about 1 teaspoon filling on each round cookie and top with a cut-out cookie. Place a red candy heart in the center of each. Leftover filling can be used to sandwich the small hearts together.

Mmmmm! This sounds so delicious, Franny! I've never had anything with pomegranate juice before. Thank you so much for sharing it with us!

Volunteers Needed!!

So as I hinted at on Monday, very awesome things are in the works. One of these awesome things is an Elemental blog tour!! The very cool, very AMAZING Kendra Saunders (marketing extraordinaire) is compiling a list of bloggers who we will ask to participate in the blog tour of the century!!

(or something like that)

If you would like to be a part of it, please leave your email address in the comments below! Or, if leaving your address makes you uncomfortable, you can always email me at emilywhite_1112(at)yahoo(dot)com.

And spread the word! Remember, I need YOU! Because, honestly, bloggers are pretty much the most important thing in this crazy world of marketing.

:D :D :D <---that's me laying on the charm

Spencer Hill Press Author, Kate Kaynak

We're nearing the end of the list of authors from Spencer Hill Press even as ELEMENTAL's release date looms closer (May 1st, baby!!). I've gotten some AMAZING news from a very wonderful lady who handles all the marketing and promotions for SHP. Very cool things are in the works, dear readers. Very. Cool. Things. One of which is a book trailer beyond my wildest dreams. Seriously, everyone, I am the luckiest person in the world.

And let's be honest here, none of this would have happened without the author I showcase today.

Kate Kaynak

Kate Kaynak was born and raised in New Jersey, but she managed to escape. Her degree from Yale says she was a psych major, but she had WAY too much fun to have paid attention in class.

After serving a five-year sentence in graduate school, she started teaching psychology around the world for the University of Maryland. While in Izmir, Turkey, she started up a conversation with a handsome stranger in an airport...and ended up marrying him. 

They now live in New Hampshire with their three preschool-aged kids, where Kaynak enjoys reading, writing, and fighting crime with her amazing superpowers. 

Kate has SOOOOO many wonderful books out that if I were to name them all here, this post would be LOOONG. So, what I'm going to do is give you the first book's cover and synopsis and the link to the Ganzfield Series website. Trust me, you want to check it out. :)

Sixteen-year-old Maddie Dunn is special, but she needs to figure out how to use her new abilities before somebody else gets hurt. Ganzfield is a secret training facility full of people like her, but it's not exactly a nurturing place. Every social interaction carries the threat of mind-control. A stray thought can burn a building to the ground. And people's nightmares don't always stay in their own heads. But it's still better than New Jersey--especially once she meets the man of her dreams...

See the rest of the series at www.ganzfield.com.



You can (and should) find Kate in these various locations:

website
blog
facebook
twitter
goodreads

Also, Spencer Hill Press is on twitter! Check it out!

Healthy Eating with a Family and HUGE News!

First off, I want to share the HUGE news.

•  Lisa Rogers's launch party for her debut novel, Angelina's Secret, has started TODAY!!! 
•  Despite some nail-biting and freaking out, I made my deadline for FAE! It is now with my editor! Now I can freak out for a whole different reason... :o (see below)
• While I wait to get my first round of edits back, I'll be working on a completely different novel! It's a YA Paranormal that I finished in one week a little over a year ago (still proud of that little milestone :) ). Unfortunately, I've only done some very minor edits here and there on it because I've been so focused on ELEMENTAL. But a few writer friends of mine and I have started a critique group and I was the lucky first pawn to submit my WIP! I've renamed the book to DISENCHANTED and am SOOOO excited about taking all their suggestions and making it something spectacular.

So, yay!!!

Now that I've gotten the HUGE news out, I want to talk about Healthy Eating with a Family. Yes, it's hard. I distinctly remember my hubs telling me I wasn't going to be dragging him into any crazy diet. And if you have kids, dieting is even harder. 

Sure, you feel like you HAVE to buy those yummy snacks for them. I mean, come on! We all grew up on yummy delicious goodness. We certainly can't deprive our kids. Except maybe depriving our kids of fake food that could ultimately make them ill is a good thing... :o

But there are alternatives! 

In fact, Connie Keller left a comment last week with a WONDERFUL recipe for healthy, gluten-free chocolate chip cookies (see comment section).

My husband's birthday was last week and I made him a gluten-free chocolate cake. Oh my goodness. This thing was THE BEST chocolate cake I have ever eaten. And I know what you're thinking (assuming you looked at the recipe). The butter! The eggs! The sugar! This isn't healthy!

But it is. You know why? Because you should NEVER sit down and eat a whole cake by yourself, for one. And two, this cake is made with real food. Remember what I said last week? Real food is jam-packed with nutrients and doesn't come in a box or get processed by scientists and companies that are more interested in making sure you eat as much as possible so you have to keep buying more.

Also, treats are just that--they're treats. As in, it is a treat to be having something like this from time to time. Snacks are what you munch on several times a day.

And speaking of snacks, here are some good ones:

Home-made Banana and Strawberry Chips

I don't know about you, but I think the banana chips you buy in a store are TOO hard. And you know what? You don't even need a dehydrator to make these. If you have a cookie cooling wrack and an oven that has a "keep warm" setting (or can get to 145 degrees or lower), you can dehydrate your own food.

And these are delicious! I love to eat them with almonds or use them the same way I would a cracker, and put cheese on top.

Well, what about dinner?

Here's a great solution for picky eaters:

Rice and Cheese

Every kid loves mac and cheese, but let's face it, mac and cheese is bad for you. Instead, make your own cheese sauce and cook it in the oven with rice (instead of pasta). You can also use cauliflower as a substitute if you're little eaters are a little more adventurous. 

Rice:

4 Cups Water

2 Cups Rice (try finding jasmine rice in the asian section of your grocery store. It really is a lot better)

Salt to taste

Combine water, rice, and salt in large saucepan. Bring to a boil. Once boiling, cover, and reduce heat to low for 15 minutes. Once timer goes off, take pan off heat (still covered) and let sit for 5 minutes.

Gluten-Free Cheese Sauce:

4 Tablespoons butter

2 Tablespoons corn starch

3-4 Cups milk (I eyeballed it, but this was about how much I used)

3 Cups shredded cheddar

Melt butter in medium sauce pan. Add Corn starch, stirring constantly. When mixture comes to a bubble, slowly add milk while stirring. Continue to stir frequently until thickened slightly. Add cheese and stir until melted thoroughly.

         *Note: It is key that you wait until the last minute to add cheese. If you cook cheese too long, it gets grainy.

Now combine rice and cheese sauce in a large casserole dish and put in preheated (400 degree) oven. Cook for 35-40 minutes. You can add broccoli during the last 10-15 minutes to add a bit more nutrition.

Enjoy!

What healthy alternatives do you make for your family?