Following Austen

Overheard

My niece, Grace, on going to Starbucks with her mom:

"Mom, I want a CRAP-u-ccino."

"You mean a CAP-u-ccino?"

"Yeah, a CRAP-u-ccino."

Ha!

Booksigning pics

Booksigning last night was fantastic.  Thanks to all who came out -- what a fabulous little celebration -- and to all who sent good thoughts and prayers my way.  It meant so much to have family and friends there.  We had a standing-room-only crowd, and sold every available copy!

A few of my favorite pics...

 

 

Celebration

My dear friends Catherine and Mark got engaged a month ago today.  Whoo-hoo!

All of us who know them wish them joy, and "Wuv... twoo wuv..." which they already have in abundance.

The Pipsqueaks

I posted pics of my tiniest niece a while back, and have been meaning to post pics of the other three.  These pretty much capture them!

And here they are in all their glory.  (Okay, I was egging them on!)

Ah, Venice!

My parents, world travelers that they are, are spending the day in Venice today.  Aren't they adorable?

A doting aunt

Okay, I've been wanting to post these for a couple weeks.  This is my tiniest niece, Isa.  (She's not really tiny.  Her new nickname is Isa-belly, and if you could see her little [big] stomach, you would understand.)  But how cute is she?

Unfortunately, the other three (the Pipsqueaks, as they're affectionately known) couldn't make it that day.  Will post a pic of them soon.

Carolyn McCulley

Fellow writer Carolyn McCulley and I have emailed back and forth over the years, but we've never met in person, so it was a gift to walk into a huge crowded theater and just happen to sit next to her and her group of friends. Check out her blog and her thoughts on Becoming Jane.

You go girl!

Sarah Hazel, whom I met through this blog, had her first gallery show in November, and I have been meaning to post about it since then.  Go, Sarah!  Congrats!

Hatteras sun

There's something incredibly healing to me about beach sun.

After getting back from France and crashing for a few days, I headed down to North Carolina, to meet my best friends from college and their families. There were seven adults, and nine children (9!) -- the best behaved children ever, and next to my nieces, my favorite kids in all the world.

Some of them are getting to be all grown up and reminding me that my friends are actually going to be launching little humans into the world in a few years (okay, 8 or 9 years, which still sounds very close). They sometimes get picked on at school and are developing wonderful character and minds and I am afraid maybe they don't know just how great they are.

And some of them are still small enough that they want to just be in your lap. Sweet three-year-old Sarah was attached to me all weekend and I have to say, it's lovely to be adored by a three-year-old. (I think maybe that's my favorite age.) We were reading a book and I said, "Why don't we go downstairs and see what everyone else is doing?" and she said, "But, we're all alone." Like, why in the world would I want to be around all those other kids? So we snuggled (which, I think, is also healing).

We had lovely weather -- sun and fog and rain, but mostly sun. We sat in the hot tub for hours. We swam in the pool. We ate far too much -- doughnuts, Rice Krispie treats, ice cream, more ice cream. We hung out on the beach and watched the kids play. Mostly, we just were.

Isn't she lovely?

My newest little niece made her grand entry into the world last night at 10:41 pm. Isabela Patrice -- Isa for short.  Or Isa-belissa. We are all smitten.

Not 18 hours old and she has mastered the art of the Very Big Yawn. (That actually is a yawn and not a scream.) So sweet!