Curve Ball

Treated myself to a mani/pedi yesterday as a reward for getting a lot of writing done the last couple weeks. Usually, I spend a few minutes perusing the shelf of colors before selecting a bottle. However, one leapt out at me right away, so I handed it to the nail tech without a second thought.

The color was spot-on perfect for me. So much so that I asked the nail tech what color it was so I could buy a bottle, and I never do that. She flipped it over to show me. The color name? Curve Ball.

Yep. Perfect.

All That's Good In The World

After whining about all that's wrong with baseball, I figure I ought to balance that with all that's good in baseball. Or--hey, why not?--things that are simply good in the world.

In baseball land:

• Mark Buehrle's perfect game. Doesn't matter if you're a White Sox lover or hater, whenever a pitcher pulls this off, it's something to cheer.

• The Rockies are moving into positive territory. I don't believe their sudden uptick in the win column is related to firing Hurdle (sorry, I'm still grumpy about that.) Whatever it is that's going right at Coors Field, I hope it keeps right on going.

• Matt Holliday is now 1,000 miles closer to me, having been traded from the A's to the Cardinals. As I've previously stated, Matt is My Next Husband After Jacoby Ellsbury (and, presumably, after my actual husband.) It may be time for a road trip to St. Louis. Plus, St. Louis has the added attractions of a great ballpark and Albert Pujols. What's not to like?

• I got to add another ballpark to my Been There, Done That list this month! While visiting D.C. for the Romance Writers of America's annual conference, I managed to hop the Metro to catch last Saturday's game between the Washington Nationals and Chicago Cubs. Beautiful, easily accessible ballpark, friendly employees. I saw lots of players tossing balls to kids in the stands, which earns a team serious brownie points. And best of all, I had great seats, right behind the Nats' dugout.

• Tonight, I'll see the Red Sox and Baltimore Orioles at Fenway. Any day at Fenway is a good day. (Assuming the Sox win, of course!)

And in the real (aka: non-baseball) world:

• I've been writing like mad (thus my relative silence on the blog front.) I've gotten TONS of e-mails asking me what I'm working on. As soon as it's in the can, I'll spill. Until then, I'm superstitious. But suffice it to say that I'm in a happy place with the writing, and I hope readers will be excited about the results.

• Writing has also been happy for Hakeem Bennett of Brooklyn. His essay about heroes won the Stone Arch Books national essay contest, landing him a spot in a Superman comic. I think it's incredibly cool that DC Comics rewards great writing this way. Congrats, Hakeem!

• I had the chance to meet LOTS of readers last week during the Romance Writers of America's booksigning for literacy in Washington, DC. Thanks to all of you who turned out. I love getting the chance to talk about various characters (Val and Georg from the Royally Jacked series still generate the most questions) and to hear what books you're carrying around with you right now. Huge thanks to author Jennifer Echols, who not only stopped by to chat, but who took this shot while I was getting set up for the event:



If I had proper cropping skills, I would. But there you go. It was still a lot of fun, even with those exhibition-hall type ceilings!

Got more happy news? Cool stuff happening in your neighborhood? An AAHHHHH moment you saw on TV? Put it in the comments! It's finally summer at my house (in other words, the rain has stopped at long last!), so I'm in the mood to hear all about your Big Happy.