JeN WeiNeR GiVeaWay!

In the midst of all this Arizona move crap, I wanted to bring in some fun and what more fun is GIVING AWAY BOOKS FROM two of my favorite authors in the next few posts? First up in this post is Jennifer Weiner's Best Friends Forever -- the smash hit from last year which is coming out in paperpack on Tuesday, May 4.

If you somehow missed (HOW ON EARTH DID YOU MISS IT!?!?!) the chance to read it before now, well, here's your chance because I'm giving away my ONE AND ONLY paperback copy here. And unfortunately, I've already packed up my Advanced Readers Copy from last year (I'm keeping the hard cover!) or else I would have kindly given away that one too!).

The story is about two best friends from way back when (and come on, you all have got that ONE best friend from way back when -- mine is Ann Marie from St. Patrick's Catholic School -- how many of you knew I went to Catholic school for ELEVEN years? HI ANN!!?!?) But I will tell you, I wouldn't do to Ann what Val did to Addie in Best Friends Forever! In true Jennifer Weiner fashion, Best Friends Forever takes you on a journey through friendship, love, loyalty and family that soon won't be forgotten! You'll definitely want this book for your summer reads!

So, if you want MY ONE AND ONLY COPY, simply leave me a comment about one of your favorite books of all time. IT NEED NOT be a Jennifer Weiner book. We all know we love the lady! In fact, choose a different author--I want to find a variety of books in the comment section, so I can add to my own collection and find some great new reads this summer when I'm sitting out in the 115 degree temperatures in Scottsdale!

Also, thank you so much for always stopping by, and please continue to read Manic Mommy! I'll be giving away Jen's upcoming Fly Away Home later this summer. Here are more details on what will be her EIGHTH solo book! Amazing! I have followed her from the very beginning!

FLY AWAY HOME will be published on July 13. Jen's new novel tells the story of a politician caught in a sex scandal, and the impact of the fallout on his long-suffering wife and his two daughters, one a high achiever trapped in an unhappy marriage, the other a recovering addict trying to get her life on track.

To see previous postings on Jen, go to:

CertainGirls

JenWeiner

And, if you're in the Philly area, (which I used to be in, but then I moved BACK to Illinois, and now will be moving to Freaking Arizona! Holy CRIPES!) you can attend a reading of Jen's on Tuesday, May 4 WITH Wine and Chocolate!

The Pennsylvania General Store and Head House Books

invite you to enjoy Wine & Chocolate at Jennifer Weiner's

Book Reading at the Reading Terminal Market

Tuesday, May 4th at 6:00 pm

To learn more about Jen, go to JenWeiner.com

And yes, I did mention TWO book giveaways in the beginning of this post, didn't I? Check back next week for the announcement of a winner of Best Friends Forever book and also another book contest where I will be giving away two signed copies of Emily Giffin's upcoming Heart of the Matter! Another one you will NOT WANT TO MISS!

RaW aND uNeDiTeD

So this is what I wrote Friday, April 23 on the plane when we were coming home from Arizona ... unedited ...

I guess a lot can happen in about a month’s time and as I write this I’m going through a bit of a bumpy descent into Chicago and my xanax is waearing off and it’d be kinda nice if the pilot would say, “hey, we’re hitting acouple of bumps, just so ya know.” But whatever.

We are heading back from a whirlwind 4 days in AZ, (OK he did say we are descending to Chicago, and we will be bumping all the way down, but at least he told me to expect them so that makes me feel a bit better). So whirlwind trip – came out to AZ to ‘start’ the house hunt, and guess what? We started it and finished it!

So yep, in a month’s time we put our house on the market, sold it, came out to Arizona, found a house and bought it. Things have been moving at tremendous speed and we will be moving from the Chicago area, Sweet Home Chicago, on May 28 and heading from Phoenix Arizona all the way to Tacoma I’ve got seven women on my mind that same weekend. Sorry, I just had to incorporate two sings with those cities into it as I typed. Why? I’m not sure. Might be the bumps on the plane.

So, new house—in Scottsdale, not even Phoenix, but don’t know if there’s a song with Scottsdale in it, not that it matters and holy fuck these bumps are freaking the hell out of me right now but I’ll just keep focusing and typing God only knows what the hell I’m writing but concentrate on the words Steph and I’ll be on the ground soon. Shit shit shit. Breathe breathe breathe…

I hate bumpy flights like you wouldn’t believe. OK, smooth spot.
The house—well,we love it .We saw some other mac daddy homes too, but I am telling you the truth when it’s all about location. One we would have snapped up in a New York second however it was right across the street from a business complex and it backed up to apartments. No thank you. Another was gorgeous but was a foreclorsure/short sale and we did not have the time or enegery to do the work to it that it would have needed to be done.

This one, our new home, is move in ready. No paint needed, nothing. I get an office. We’ve got an oasis like pool complete with a freaking lemon tree in the backyard! And a bazillion rose bushes that I will no doubt kill.

And we just are going through huge bumps and I’m frfeaking out and asshole Mr. Manic looked at me like I’m a freak of nature bedcause I NEEDED to hold his hand and he looked at me like I’M THE ASSHOLE FREAK. Effer. That is just rude. I am freaking scared to death holding my breath over these bumps and am afraid of dying on this plane and there I said it so maybe that means I won’t die so I’m stopping here because I’m going to flip out….

Well, apparently, we didn't die on that plane ride, and we are home (whatever constitutes the word home, which I believe it to be "WITH FAMILY"... so yeah, we are WITH FAMILY again, and will continue to be with family until we are with family in our new home. Much work to do, headaches and sleep deprivation be damned, and I will get through the next ... holy shit, THIRTY-ONE days.

FuTuRe HoMe SWeeT HoMe

FoRTy DayS

In forty days I will become an Arizonian.

Strange. Wow. Weird.

I keep telling absolute strangers that I am moving to Arizona. Like the woman in the bathroom who was washing her hands Friday night. How the topic comes up, I don't remember, but I slip it in somehow, "Well, I'm moving to Arizona."

The clerk at 7-11, we start talking about the weather and how nice it is here, and then I say, "Well, I'm going to enjoy it now cuz I'm going to be melting soon - I'm moving to Arizona in June."

I think I say it out loud to strangers so it'll start feeling real to me. Cuz I'm not sure if it does.

I'm in auto pilot. Calling the doctor's offices. Getting our records copied. Friday I made an appointment with my doctor whom I love and adore; seriously, she is more like a friend than a doctor (a friend who writes awesome prescriptions for what I need -- "how are you on your Xanax? You think you'll get by with 30 until you find a new doc out there? I'll give you 60! And you need vicodin? OK.") So I made an appointment just to let her know I was moving, and to get my prescriptions so when I get out there I won't be lost, and we talked for 45 minutes. I'm now going to be her friend on FB. I love that woman. However, when I left the office, I thought, "DAMN! I should have had her look at my throat and ears, I've had this scratchy throat all week and my ears have been bothering me." Stupid me.

We did sell our house. Three weeks on the market, three offers. Had some bad karma there. We took the first offer, a little lower than we would have wanted, but we need to get out and start our new life, together as our family. Then another offer came in, but it was "riddled with fleas" (Is that the right terminology?). The third offer was solid, for more money, and the realtor and Mr. Manic wanted to take it. We had already signed on the first offer. I was thinking BAD KARMA! We can't do this to the first family. They want our house! This is THEIR House! We promised it to THEM! It will follow us if we don't sell them our house. I don't want to leave here with bad karma. I'm all about the GOODNESS and I was so upset, crying and feeling bad about this new family and the possibility that they might not get the house (and dear God, what if she googled and found me and now knows who I AM and is reading this? But in the end, the second people DID NOT get the house, because I AM GOOD KARMA, and the first people, They are getting the house and I am so glad, because I do know they have two kids, a boy and a girl, and I want them to have our house, and to love this neighborhood as much as I do. They will love this neighborhood. I will miss this neighborhood and my friends so much.

UPDATE: The new people drove by our house and Mr. Manic was outside and and invited them in! The new family came in and we just spent an hour and a half with them and I LOVE THEM and am SO HAPPY they are going to live here!!! It IS GOOD KARMA and I'm sooooo glad they get to have our home! All is good in the world!!!! They have two beautiful cute kids and are such a sweet family and it just makes me so happy to know that this is all coming together. I could really be friends with them. And that's what I want for the people who will live in this house. A good family! YAY! I love it when good karma plays a part!

I get teary when my kids are outside playing with their friends. That's the part that kills me. Yesterday, when I was driving Diva and four of her softball friends home from practice, we stopped for bagels, and then had the windows down, the music blasting, Tom Petty was singing Free Falling and all the girls were singing in the car and it was a beautiful day. How long is it going to take before we will have that spirit again. Before Diva is with girls again where she will be doing that again? These are the things that bring me to tears.

And at church last night, we told our Pastor that we were moving, and that I doubted we would find a church as cool as ours out there. I just hate the uncertainness of it. But this series at church we are working on is FEARLESS, and that's how I have to be as we move ahead ... FEARLESS. And so I face it head on. I will be FEARLESS. For my family. For my husband. For myself.

Tuesday, we start the househunt in AZ. I'm sure there will be plenty of FaceBook updates to look forward to. Plenty of brown bitchy ones, so stay tuned. In the meantime, I am currently cleaning out closets and giving away any and all snowpants and jackets. Those are things that won't be missed. Items are just items. People ... I will miss the peeps. But in my heart, you will always be there.

BooK WieNeRs! i MeaN WiNNeRS! aND MoRe GiVeaWayS!!

I had author Alan Wieder choose five random numbers and I gave each entrant a number in order to fairly choose the winners of his memoir, Year of the Cock. In no particular order, the winners of the signed copies of Year of the Cock are:

Jenna McCarthy

Lisa, of the habanero peppers story!

Annette

Maureen Lipinski

and Jennhuts, who I don't know how to contact so she better be checking in on the blog to see if she won!

So ladies, please contact me at stephanieelliot@comcast.net with your mailing address and I will have the most pleasant and kind, albeit, penis-obsessed Alan Wieder (whom I like to refer to secretly as Alan-wishes-he-was-Wider-and-Longer -- hahah, JUST KIDDING ALAN!) ... I will have Alan send you his wonderful, heartfelt, funny, freaky, crazy, self-obsessed, trying-to-figure-out-who-he-was-at-a-time-in-his-life-where-he-didn't-know-if-he-was-hitting-rock-bottom-or-hitting-on-too-many-booties ... OK, I'll stop right there, just email me so I can get you your book!

And coming up soon on MaNiC MoMMy, a great Mommy book for those of us who are not sure if we're doing things right AND, drumroll please ... you'll love this one ...

EMILY GIFFIN'S

NEW BOOK BEFORE YOU CAN BUY IT IN STORES,

AUTOGRAPHED! A MUST-HAVE ...

and I've already read it and it's

INCREDIBLE!

Heart of the Matter

NeW yoRK

I want to write about my awesome trip to New York but so much is rambling through my brain that I know I'm not going to be fair to the experience and it's just so much easier to post photos on FaceBook and leave captions there to tell a story, even though if I write about it, I can make it more fun and funnier. It was a total blast spending the weekend with my mom, my sister, Diva and my sis's daughter (my niece and Goddaughter), Brooke. I can't even begin to tell you. Some highlights:

We got American Girl Doll done and over with; Diva has already done that here in Chicago but Brooke has never been, and boy, did her eyes light up. She loved it!

Magnolia Bakery from Sex in the City. Or is it Sex and the City. That is one thing I always mess up. Pretty good cupcakes. I spent like $30 on dessert and I really don't eat sugar all that much anymore. But I did that day. Had to. Of course. We had red velvet cake, whoopie pies, brownies, and cupcakes, cuz hey, why not.

We saw our first celeb outside of the NBC building and we didn't know who it was just that it was some female celeb people were surrounding so we got with the program and started taking pics, cuz who knew, she coulda been really famous. Turns out it was Olivia Munn, who actually looked like a porn star, but is in Date Night and upcoming Iron Man 2.

VISIT FROM SWISHY! We screamed and hugged and it was as if we hadn't been apart for like 2 years. Gosh, I miss that girl. I could just hole up in a room and talk to her about books and boys and writing and life for just days and days and never be bored. I love her so much and miss her. She came to dinner with us and we all had a blast Friday night.

They made my martini WRONG. I like 'em like this: Equal parts vanilla vodka and apple pucker. NOTHING else. I told our waitress this. It usually means the drink is crystal clear. It came back frothy on top. I took a sip. It tasted like there was sour mix in it. I told her. She said their pucker is a different brand and that's probably why it tasted different. Again I sipped. I am totally not a snob in real life, but when it comes to my food and my drinks, Well then, I am the biggest snob you will never want to meet! I said, "I really don't want to be difficult, but this doesn't taste right, can you please ask the bartender how they made it."

She came back with a new one and WHAT DO YOU FREAKING KNOW? It was perfect! The first one must have had sour mix in it.So we ate and drank and laughed and had a great time Friday and then Swishy had to go out and do some Swishy New York things, which I'm sure Swishy will tell all on her blog. Love you Swishy

My sis brought us all matching jammies so then we had a jammie fashion show and photo shoot which was so much fun.

The next morning I had tix for us to go see the STatue of Liberty which I kept calling The Liberty Bell cuz you know me and History don't match up too well, but we had to get there at 8 a.m. so that meant a 6 a.m. wake up time. We were tired and crabby but got there and were practically first in line. The statue was awesome, and somehow we finagled our way to get to go up to the pedestal which not everyone gets to climb into the statue, and if you wanna climb to the crown you have to get tix 3 months in advance (we didn't do the crown though). But it was a great experience, and the statue was really amazing. Especially when we were done and got back to NY from the ferry and saw the freaking line with hundreds if not THOUSANDS of people winding their way around Battery Park waiting with their tickets to get on the ferry to go see the statue. I felt very smart and witty to have gotten up so very early. Plus, we then had time to go shopping!

So, we shopped, ate pizza, then went back to the hotel to regroup for Mary Poppins! Admittedly, I was not too psyched for Mary Poppins, but really, it is a holiday when you're with Mary! I was shocked at how much fun the play was! A really good time! Plus, we drank some pretty good cocktails during it! It was, in a word, supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!

After that, we walked around Times Square, found some HOT HOT HOT cops to ask directions and then decided that we MUST get our pictures taken with them because come on, THEY WERE REALLY GOOD LOOKING. They loved every minute of it, and after we got done with them, a whole bunch of other women started asking them if they could have pics taken with them. I swear, if they started charging, they could double their salary.

Dinner that night--INCREDIBLE. My brother and sister-in-law treated for my sis' 40th birthday (and mine), and nothing was spared. They had a bottle of Dom Perignon waiting on the table for us. I took photos of EVERYTHING we ate... lobster, Alaskan king crab legs, crabcakes, filet mignon, OMG, when I am lying in bed at night, this is the meal I am going to dream about. It was phenomenal!

After dinner, we had heard that Justin Bieber was performing on SNL. I could give a shit, right? Baby, baby, baby, but the little girls were DYING to see him, so we walk to the NBC building and go in and try to get into the show. Like RIGHT? Duh. Of course, that didn't work, but we had fun trying, and I tried to tweet Justin up to see if he would come out and say hi to the girls. Guess he's just too famous and big for his britches now ain't he? Well, well.

A horse and carriage ride took us back to our room where we collapsed and the next day we came home. And all during this time, we got offers, YES, multiple offers, on our house so that is in the works now and I am a complete wound-up ball of stress but one of them is going to work out and it appears that Manic Mommy and her family will be moving at the end of May. Things are falling into place but at a very fast pace, which I guess is very good because it's not giving me much time to think about all that I have to do, I can't think, I just have to do and focus and get it done so I am in "GO MODE," or NIKE mode, just doing it.

I think I need a black and white still-shot of me with a Nike hat on with some dead guy's overvoice saying, "Stephanie, did you ever think it would come down to this, that you would be moving, and that it would be happening so fast?" And I'd be looking into the camera, blinking my eyes, staring straight ahead, while the dead guy keeps talking, maybe he's saying, "Keep having faith, keep believing in the good karma that you have," and I'm still staring ahead and blinking in that black and white still shot, and the dead guy's overvoice will say, "And believe ... believe that everything will work out the way God has planned it."

For the complete set of photos from the trip, visit my FaceBook page. If you haven't friended me yet, feel free to do so, just send me a message that you're a Manic reader, and let me know how long you've been reading!

Oh, and winners of the Year of the Cock will be announced later this week!

yeaR oF THe CoCK: BooK GiVeaWay

BooK iNTeRVieW aND GiVeaWay
YEAR OF THE COCK
Win ONE of FIVE signed COPIES!

So, I heard about this book and since I love memoirs and it is about the opposite sex and basically male parts and what the guy really thinks about it, OF COURSE I had to read it! And then OF COURSE, I had to stalk track down the author and ask him a bunch of WAY too personal questions, and then OF COURSE, I had to ask him to sign some copies and give them away to you on Manic Mommy, so, here ya go … EVERYTHING you always wanted to know about what’s behind that zipper!

Year of the Cock, by Alan Wieder …

He leaves his wife, buys a hot new car, dates a bunch of chicks, does some serious drinking, goes a little crazy, goes back to his wife, and spends a lot of time thinking that his penis is too small.
Meet Alan Wieder.

At what point in your life/midlife crisis did you think, “Hey, this might be an interesting memoir topic”?

Actually, the book came about a bit organically than that. When I was deep in my obsessive crisis, my shrink suggested that I start writing down my thoughts and feelings in a journal, as a way of gaining control over them. After a few months of seeing just how balls-out-insane my cognitions were on paper, it seemed to me that there might be a compelling book in all this madness.

Did you start writing Year of the Cock as you were going through the experience, or after it was over?

I was still knee-deep in depression, anxiety, and distorted thinking when I started writing the book. My (now-ex-) wife and I were back together, but my relationship was still a shambles and so was I. As a result the book is, I believe, more of an experiential than a reflective narrative. It’s hard for me even to relate to it now, because the extremely visceral thoughts and ideas I felt such a pressing need to record five years ago now seem so bizarre and foreign.

They are pretty bizarre at times, at that’s pretty much why I really dug this book! Your ‘bizarreness! Did you ever have a fixation on your penis prior to your separation from your wife? What do you think sparked the feelings of inadequacy?

No. Never. I’d had a few bouts of obsessive thinking, and some totally normal passing wishes that the donger were bigger, but never anything so crazy and on such an all-effacing scale. Ultimately, my obsession with my penis had nothing to do with the organ itself, which is perfectly respectable (I assure you!). I think that after leaving my wife, I felt cripplingly inadequate and worthless as a man, leading my mind to cling desperately to my “manhood” as a measuring rod (so to speak!) of that horrifying deficiency. Also, before leaving my wife I’d had this egomaniacal fantasy that as a single guy I was gonna be a vagina-slaying stud. When the reality sank in – that I was really just an average dude going through a sadly average set of circumstances – it kinda rocked my world.

What will you say to your son before you let him read your memoir? What would you want him to learn from you/about you if he were to read it?

Hopefully a Bradburian book-burning regime will assume power before he gets old enough to read it, and all copies of it will be incinerated. No... if he really really wants to read it, I’ll just have to explain that before he was born I was a shallow and miserable dick who needed to write the book to grow up and be a man, so that I could become the kind of father he’d admire one day. Am I good or what?

NICE! What did you come away with from writing Year of the Cock (besides calluses and broken rulers)? Hah!

Well... I got paid handsomely to take time away from work to write a book, which had always been a dream of mine. But the best thing about it was the liberating process of confessing -- on paper, for everyone to see -- the ugliest, most pathetic things I’ve ever done. It may seem weird, but for me, the fact that I can now walk around without secrets, without any hidden shame – having acknowledged in the most public way possible the mess I made – has been the key to my growth as a person.

Yeah, they do say if you’re gonna write a memoir, write the most shameful thing you’d never want to tell anyone. I’d say you pretty much went there! Do you recommend penile enhancing products?

No. They’re all bogus, and trust me, because I’ve tried ‘em all.

What advice or words of encouragement do you have for men who are truly “penally” (is that a real word) penalized? (Gosh am I clever or what?)

Not since Richard Pryor has the world seen such a comic virtuoso... The best advice I can give a dude is to focus on his partner’s pleasure more than his own. Any woman will tell you that their best sexual partners are the ones who put in the extra work and are extremely attentive. Once I shifted my focus from my genitals to my partner’s, I became the raging stud I am today…

(Sorry, I don’t know you in real life, but I just have to laugh here, cuz man, that’s just FUNNY!)

… and enjoyed sex a lot more too. Learn how to perform oral correctly, find the G-Spot, talk dirty, be adventurous, and you’re gonna excel, even if your schlong ain’t worth writing home about.

Would you say the Year of the Cock was a year of mental instability for you, or do you think you were just depressed? Or was it a time of you finding yourself, discovering who you were, or what? How would you describe that year for you personally?

A little of both. I was unstable, depressed, paranoid, angry, compulsive, withdrawn, borderline alcoholic, you name it... but at the same time, there was never a point at which I felt like giving up on myself. I had a sense all along (thanks in part to a great therapist who helped me see it) that I would shed my miserable self-view and find a happier existence. I’m grateful for that conviction, because without it I’d be in the grave, instead of the incredibly happy boyfriend and father I am today.

What was the most amusing thing you discovered about yourself during the writing of this book?

The writing was hard as shit, mentally and emotionally, so I’m hard-pressed to find anything funny about it. Since publication, however, one amusing self-discovery is how much I love hearing readers and critics say brutally mean things about me. Just go to my Amazon page where you’ll see all sorts of people sounding off about what a narcissistic scumbag they think I am. The “reviews” have also been mostly savage assassinations of me as a person. But funny the thing is... I fucking love it! The eviscerating comments make me laugh and clap with glee, which must make me a masochist on top of everything else.

Is there anything different you would have done or anything you wish you WOULDN'T have done during your personal Year of the Cock?

No. At the risk of sounding arrogant, I have no regrets whatsoever and wouldn’t change a thing. Of course I’m not happy about the way I hurt people, namely my ex-wife, who is a very sweet person. But I’m also a firm believer in the idea that the choices we make define our humanity, and my mistakes were part of the series of actions that created the person I am today. That person is far from perfect, but the life I lead now is at least very honest and true and happy.

I’m doing exactly what I want to be doing both personally and professionally, and I believe I owe that to the fact that I fucked up royally, accepted my numerous errors, and tried to do better the next time.

You are in a stable relationship currently? Everyone’s happy? Your penis is happy?

I am in a wonderful and very stable relationship, thanks. My girlfriend, Carley, has brought incredible joy into my life -- and my penis’ as well. Year of the Cock Alan could never have landed a girl like her, so I must have gotten something right.

What are you working on now?

These days I’m mostly working as a screenwriter (at present I’m about to start work on a movie script for a forthcoming kids’ franchise), but when I’m not doing that I’m plotting out my next book. It’s called Yardbird, and it’s a fictional first-person account of (essentially, a fake memoir of) my arrest and three-year stint in federal prison. So far I think it’s funny, but we’ll see what my agent thinks.

Awesome, thanks so much Alan, and readers, if you wanna know all the cold HARD and NOT SO HARD facts about Alan’s penis, you can enter to win one of FIVE signed copies of Year of the Cock here. Just leave a comment, any type will do, but penis-related comments will make us laugh, and five random winners will be chosen! Make sure to leave your email address so I can contact you if you win!

*and if you wanna read something else about Alan, check out his article about how he got a girly makeover here. You look real purty there Alan, with all that eyeliner and mascara! : )


And I’m getting back into books/giveaways, so coming up soon I’ll be giving away books from the latest reads from Jen Singer, Jennifer Weiner, Allison Winn Scotch and Emily Giffin!

You do NOT want to miss out!

i TooK a WaLK ToDay

I took a walk today.
To yoga, and I thought about a lot of things.
Like how green it is finally here.
And how not green it's going to be in Arizona,
but then I pushed that aside,
and thought instead about how much
I have to look forward to.
All of the possibilities that await.

I thought of music that I like,
and books, and the fact that I am happy
healthy,
am raising a good-hearted family,
That we just had an awesome vacation.

That the sun was shining.

That it's finally spring.

That I like yoga,

That I could stop at Starbucks after yoga.

And get my new fave ...

A venti

Unsweetened

green shakened ice tea lemonade

For the walk home.

That I could pop in my iPod shuffle,

and listen to good music on the way home.

Across the golf course.

And know

That there will be sunshine in Arizona,

and golf courses, and warmth,
and Starbucks, and yoga, and music and books, and friends,

whether I have to talk to them on the phone, or through FaceBook,
or in my heart.

They're there. They'll be there always.

And so I walked home.

Happily.

And thought of the unpredictable future.

Smiling the whole way.

VaCa oVeR; BaR CLoSeD

Update: Vaca pics up on Facebook, and if you're a regular Manic Mommy reader but you don't following me on FB, go ahead and friend me to see the photos! As long as you let me know how I know you, and you're not a weirdo, I'll accept the request! : ) --Click on the FACEBOOK link to the right, under VISIT ME HERE.

Back from vaca and every morning we'd get up, go for a walk or a jog on the beach, then grab the primo spot at the pool, which we named the "Cocktail Lounge." One day (I think it was the last day we were there and trying to dry out), one lady and her kids sat at the table cuz we weren't using it, and she actually asked, "Oh, did we take your table?" LIKE IT BELONGED TO US ALL FREAKING WEEK?!?!?!

Anyway, here's a little sampling of some of the cocktails that were imbibed throughout the week, some by me, some not by me:

Obama Juice. You don't wanna know.

J-bombs. Jaegar and Redbull.

Pool boys. If you've read this blog for any bit of time, you already know.

Beer and limeade. GREAT concoction.

Straight Patron on ice with Limes. (My husband. The whole bottle. One day.)

Blue Moon beer.

Rising Moon, the spring version of the Blue Moon, yet I ended up calling them Rising Suns all week. Don't ask me why.

Strawberry Crystal Lite Slurpees with Absolute Citron, Ice, Pineapple and Cranberry juice. Yes, completely awesome.

La Crema Wine.

Absolute Citron, Cranberry, Pineapple.

Pina Coladas with Kaluha toppers.

I'll get to the more pressing stuff later, and yeah, I think I took a couple of pictures this week.

PeaCe uP! Hope everyone had a great week! Happy Easter!