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Larissa's Blog
Friday, December 26th, 2008
Happy after-Christmas! Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday! I did — I got all kinds of neat stuff, from movies to books to clothes. I'm loving everything!
My whole family had a lovely holiday, but this year, something different happened.
See, since before Thanksgiving, I'd been seeing reports about how charities were being hit extra hard this year. People everywhere are being hit hard, so there's less money to give to charities, and since the middle class are the ones who give the most (come on, rich people! Step up!) charities are suffering right along with the middle class.
So because of that, this year I felt more charitable than ever. I gave more this year than I've ever given. Most of my contributions went to animal charities (animals need so much help — when people can't afford to feed their children, the animals are some of the first casualties, so shelters are seeing a huge influx while at the same time getting much less in donations,) but my husband and I also gave a lot to the Salvation Army and Toys For Tots. Many of the gifts I bought were from companies that donate a percentage of purchases to charities.
And what really warmed my heart was finding out that a friend of mine had done the same thing, and then, when I called my mom, she told me that she and my step-dad had bought complete Christmas dinners, plus extra groceries, for two local families in need, and delivered them on Christmas Eve. They also took ornaments off one of the Wish Trees in their area and bought the children not just the one gift they'd listed as wanting, but their alternate as well.
My mom said that of everything that they'd done over the holidays, those things were the ones that made them feel the best, and it was worth every penny — even though things are extremely tight for them right now.
I'm a firm believer in what goes around comes around, and that when you give, it comes back to you threefold. So to everyone who donated to charities this year, bless you. And if you haven't donated…if you can afford even a dollar, give giving a try. The feeling is amazing!
Hope all is well with all my buddies out there in blogland! :)
Posted in Holidays, Worthy Cause | 6 Comments »
Wednesday, December 24th, 2008
From my family to yours, have a very safe and happy holiday, however you choose to spend it! :)
Posted in Holidays | 4 Comments »
Saturday, December 20th, 2008
Every holiday season, car commercials change. They turn into advertisements for Christmas presents. You see expensive cars all wrapped in ribbons, and some woman coming out of the house to find this new car with a bow in the driveway.
Um…seriously?
Had they discussed getting this car? Was it out of the blue? Is this guy rich and the car came out of HIS bank account and not their joint one?
Yeah, leave it to me to start playing out all the scenarios, but sheesh, I'd kill my husband if I got up on Christmas morning to find ourselves 50K in debt and a BMW in my driveway. (Not that I wouldn't like a BMW, mind you!)
I dunno. The car commercials are just weird.
Don't forget to stop by Shapeshifter Romance for the Holiday Extravaganza!
Posted in Contests, Give Me A Break, Holidays | 5 Comments »
Monday, December 15th, 2008
Okay, I did it. I broke down and bought a Macbook (laptop).
My current laptop has been slowly dying, and it's driving me nuts. I'm tired of spyware and viruses and programs that lock up. And I HATE Vista and the newest version of Word.
So I decided to try out a Mac.
Now, the big problem is the fact that my writing program, WriteWay Pro, is not Mac compatible. BUT, I might be able to get it to work on Mac's Boot Camp. Might be a pain to have switch between the Mac side and the Boot Camp side in order to check email and stuff, but I can't live without WWP. Sigh.
Still, it'll be worth it. Yay! My Christmas present should be here by Friday! :)
Have you gotten yourself a Christmas present?
Posted in Holidays | 16 Comments »
Wednesday, December 10th, 2008
It's going to be 75 degrees today here in Virginia. Yo, weather gods? Newsflash: It's FREAKING DECEMBER! My cat is shedding her winter coat, my car is mad about being falsely winterized, and my Christmas tree is confused.
Let's get with the program here. Gimme snow!!!!!!!
Posted in Give Me A Break, Holidays | 13 Comments »
Monday, December 1st, 2008
I should be writing. Or working on galleys. But what am I doing? Shopping. Online. Saving tons of money on things I was going to buy anyway. (I swear, darling husband!) Heh.
Yep, I'm Christmas shopping. And you know what make great gifts? Books! (Pleasure Unbound) Yes, you can give the gift of the written word! (Riding the Storm) Everyone loves a shiny new book! (Seduced by the Storm) And the best part of buying books is that not only are you giving to the recipient, but you are supporting an author! (Snowbound) You can even TRIPLE the benefits by buying certain books in which the proceeds are donated to charity! (Unleashing the Storm royalties are donated to animal shelters) Wow–how is that for the Christmas spirit?
Ahem.
Okay, back to shopping writing. Happy Cyber Monday, everyone!
Posted in Holidays | 8 Comments »
Wednesday, November 26th, 2008
As always, I'll post links to the Adopt-A-Turkey program, run by Farm Sanctuary. I'm a vegetarian, but my family are all carnivores, so we always have a turkey on the table. To ease my conscience, every year I give to Farm Sanctuary and its Adopt-A-Turkey program. Both do wonderful work!
So have a safe and happy Thanksgiving, have fun on Black Friday if you go out (*shudders*) and buy lots of books as Christmas gifts! 
Posted in Holidays | 9 Comments »
Friday, August 29th, 2008
DESIRE UNCHAINED (Shade's story,) is now available for pre-order at Amazon!
Now, it's back to Wraith's book…which is nearly done with the revisions. Yay!
Oh, and I have to pack for the weekend. Blech. 
Hope you have a wonderful weekend — I'll make Stephanie have a margarita for you!
Posted in Demons, Holidays | 6 Comments »
Thursday, August 7th, 2008
10. It's not humid, and it's rarely hot, so you can go to outdoor events without suffering heat stroke.
9. Of all the places I've lived, I've found that the Pacific Northwest tends to (generally) have the best customer service.
8. It's green!
7. No sales tax in Oregon.
6. Someone pumps your gas for you in Oregon.
5. Nights are cool, even in the summer.
4. It's acceptable (and normal!) to wear socks with your Birkenstocks.
3. A coffee shop on every corner.
2. Towns with names no one who doesn't live in the Pac NW can pronounce. Names like Sequim, Puyallup, Yachats, and Heceta Head.
1. Burgerville. Okay, let's just put this out there now — I'm a vegetarian, and even before I went veg, I hated hamburger. But there is just something about Burgerville burgers — besides the fact that all ingredients are local and fresh. They have this AMAZING mustard-based special sauce they put on the burgers, and OMG, they are pretty much the only burgers I'll eat. And the ONLY place you can get Burgerville burgers is in the Pacific Northwest. YUM. I had a burger yesterday and nearly came in my seat. (My mom was disturbed to hear this.)
Okay, I'm heading home to Virginia today (a day late, because yesterday when I was supposed to fly, I ended up in the ER with strep throat,) so will be out of touch until at least Saturday. Even then, once I recover from this damned strep, I'm going to be a little scarce. When I get home I'll have two sets of revisions on two different books to handle, and also copyedits for Demonica book 2. August is going to be really, really crazy for me.
So anyway, enjoy the rest of the week, and go check out Michelle's blog for her take (and pictures) on the tree-squishing. She's funny!
Posted in Holidays | 10 Comments »
Friday, July 11th, 2008
Okay, seriously, I'm never flying again.
I made it to Washington state, from Virginia — 24 hours and countless unscheduled flight changes, flight diversions, and headaches later. What. A. Nightmare.
I traveled with my son, who inherited my super-sensitive, nervous stomach. So he was a basket case the entire trip, throwing up, trembling, making panicked trips to the bathroom every 5 minutes.
To top it off, the airline lost all of our luggage.
The seemingly simple flights from Newport News, VA to Charlotte, to Porland, OR, turned into: Newport News to almost Charlotte. Circle airport but can't land due to weather. Run out of fuel and have to divert to Wilmington. Get off plane and sit for an hour and half, which means connection out of Charlotte to Portland is missed. Get back on plane, get to runway, get called back to gate because weather got bad again in Charlotte. Sit on plane for an hour. Finally fly to Charlotte. No more flights to Portland until 24 hours later, so get sent to Las Vegas in hopes of catching last plane to Portland.
Get in 1 minute after last flight leaves at midnight. Now stuck in Vegas until noon when the first flight for Portland leaves. Haven't eaten since breakfast. Drag our sorry asses to a hotel, try to eat at Denny's but kid is too sick to eat. Climb into bed at 2 AM. Get up at 8 to head back to airport.
Flight actually left on time, so I'm at my mom's now, getting pampered, but I still have no clothes, no makeup, no nothing. I'm not real sure my luggage will be found, so going out today to get a few needed items. Fortunately, I can wear my mom's clothes, but my son is screwed.
But at least we made it safely!
Now, I'm going back to bed, because I don't think I'm going to ever catch up on the lost sleep!
Have a nice weekend, everyone!
Posted in Holidays | 12 Comments »
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"Make it dark, make it grim, make it tough, but then, for the love of God, tell a joke." - Joss Whedon
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