Archive for the 'Thursday Thirteen' Category

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Thursday Thirteen #27

Published on May 16, 2007 in Thursday Thirteen. 48 Comments

So I asked my husband what I should do this week for my Thursday Thirteen list. He suggested I list thirteen ways to love your lover. He does my book titles too. :D He’s mine – back off!

Now I’m not talking about sex here. It’s sometimes nice to show your significant other how much you love them in unconventional ways. It helps to keep the spark alive in any relationship. So here we go…

Thirteen Ways To Love Your Lover
1. Love notes in their lunch bag. There’s something very sweet about opening your lunch and finding a little love note tucked between your sandwich and yogurt. It’s guaranteed to put a smile on their face, and can be just the pick me up you need through the work week.

2. Give flowers on a normal day. We’re so used to getting and giving flowers on special occasions, I think they’ve lost a bit of the beauty. I love it when my husband buys me some carnations from the store, just because. :)

3. Random daily hugs. You can never get or give too many hugs. It makes everything seem better.

4. Give them your undivided attention. I don’t know about you, but when someone is listening to me…really listening to me, I feel amazing. I know how much they like/love me with that simple act.

5. Hold Hands. Again, something simple that says more than any words can.

6. Give each other sexy looks. I love being a tease. I love to drive my husband nuts with little teasing looks and…gestures…okay enough on that. (Not sex!)

7. Flirt with each other. Again, I’m a terrible flirt. But it shows that the spark is still there in your relationship. Plus flirting with your spouse is pretty much guaranteed to get you laid! (Not supposed to be about sex – bad me!)

8. Snuggle. (Not sex!) This can be on the couch, watching TV, in bed (not sex!), in the car (not sex!). Anywhere!

9. Give them surprises. I love the little things my husband does for me. Buying me chocolates when he knows I’m desperate. Getting me a movie that he knows I’ve been wanting to see. Cooking me a special meal just because. It makes your lover feel special.

10. Make out! (Not sex!) But there is something to be said for kissing. It’s wonderfully erotic without having sex. It also brings the passion out in your relationship. So pucker up!

11. Watch a movie together. It doesn’t have to be a romantic movie either. As long as you’re watching it together. And by together I mean sitting side by side, in touching range. Not each of you in different chairs on opposite sides of the room.

12. Have a picnic indoors. We do this occasionally when the kids are in bed. We buy wine, get cheese and crackers, some fruit, sit on the floor and talk. (Not sex!)

13. Body massage. This is a great way to relax…okay and this one does lead to sex. But this is your lover your with so go for it!

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

Thursday Thirteen #26

Published on May 10, 2007 in Thursday Thirteen. 33 Comments

I’ve been tagged by a few people over the past few days (Angela, Red, Leah, Rashenbo, and someone else I think…) to reveal eight things about myself. Here are the rules:

1. Each player starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
2. People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.
3. At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.
4. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

Well I thought why not make this a Thursday Thirteen! Okay I’m getting sick and couldn’t come up with another topic LOL! So here are my eight things with a few bonus. As far as who else to tag…you’re all tagged. If you choose to do this meme, please leave a comment here so I can come visit your site.  :)

Thirteen Things About Me!
1. I have low blood pressure. We had a health clinic at work last week. The nurse really wanted me to go lie down when she saw it. 83 over 60 for those of you curious. And that is running normal for me.

2. I have hazel eyes. They are just like my dad. I have a nasty habit of giving my heroines hazel eyes too. ;)

3. I was in a body cast when I was six. I was trying to help my mom pass out coffee mugs. It tipped and spilled hot coffee all over my chest. I had second degree burns and was put in a chest cast for six weeks.

4. The movie The Prince Of Darkness scared me. I saw it when I was thirteen and couldn’t sleep for two days. For those of you who have seen it, I had a huge mirror in my bedroom. To this day it creeps me out.

5. I’ve always had a pet cat. I can name them all too: Ginger, Fluffy, Samantha, Tigger, Dutchess, Pip. Pip is my baby. :)

6. I like to meditate. But I don’t do it in the traditional manner. I tend to lie down on my bed, close my eyes, and let me mind wander. I usually feel so much better when I have some time alone like this.

7. I do ergonomic assessments at work. I can take a look at your desk setup and tell you what’s wrong and how to fix it in about ten minutes. :) People love me.

8. I kick ass at the game Scene It. I tend to remember useless trivia about movies and TV shows I watch. I also read IMDB a lot!

Bonus Things!

9. I’ve been in a TV movie. I was an extra in a movie called This Matter of Marriage. I was paid $10 an hour to walk across a bridge a few times and to be a part of a cheering crowd. It was fun and the coffee was free.

10. I used to be a competitive swimmer. I did a lot of swimming when I was a teen. I wanted to continue on, but it meant 5am swim times and that didn’t work for my family. I still love the water.

11. I have three university degrees. I didn’t know what I wanted to be when I got older LOL. I have a B.A., B.Ed., and a M.Ed. in instructional design.

12. Four members of my family are adopted. My dad, his sister, my grandmother and my cousin. :)

13. My debut novel is releasing July 20! *does the snoopy dance*

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

Thursday Thirteen #25

Published on May 2, 2007 in Thursday Thirteen. 42 Comments

I’m doing a presentation this weekend for our writers retreat on Debra Dixon’s Goal, Motivation & Conflict. If you haven’t read her book, or had a chance to see Debra speak, I highly recommend it. She not only is a lovely woman, but she’s able to help get to the heart of a lot of characterization problems.

For my list today, I thought I’d pull out thirteen important points I’ve learned from Debra’s book.

Thirteen Things About Goal, Motivation & Conflict.

1. Goals must be important and urgent. This is something I think that gets missed by some writers. They set the goal up to be important, but there is no urgency. No urgency means we don’t really care about it.

2. All characters in your book should have a GMC. I found this hard to believe at first, but it makes sense. Your subplots should feed into your main plot. For that to happen and for your secondary characters to seem real, they need their own GMC.

3. Character decisions drive the plot. Of course, Christine. But how often do we see (or write) scenes where this isn’t the care. They choose road A instead of B, but there are no consequences.

4. There is no right or wrong GMC. As long as it works with point #5, then it’s all good.

5. Goals and motivations should match the character’s background. There is nothing worse than seeing a character do or say something that is completely…wrong. Check to make sure it is in line with your character’s backstory.

6. All characters decisions should be driven by motivation. Leave nothing to chance, no random choices. They know what they want and their decisions should reflect it.

7. Characters can be both ally and enemy. This is something used in romance novels quite a bit. The hero and heroine play off each other, sometimes causing more problems for each other than they’d like to admit.

8. Misunderstanding is not conflict. I hate bickering. It’s not conflict, but it can become annoying.

9. Internal conflict is emotional conflict. Again, something that I knew, but couldn’t quite make work. I thought this was a great way of looking at internal conflict.

10. The strength of your book is your conflict. Tension keeps people turning the pages. That’s what every writer aspires to have!

11. Conflict is the obstacle your character must face. Don’t throw up a road block that your characters can avoid. What’s the fun in that! Make them suffer. :)

12. A scene is action and immediate. If you can keep this in mind, you’ll know when you need to cut backstory. If it isn’t necessary at that particular moment to know something, then chances are you can cut it.

13. GMC can be a guide for revisions. Whenever I think I have a problem with one of my stories, I’ll draw a quick GMC chart and go through the plot. I usually find my issues.

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

Thursday Thirteen #24

Published on April 26, 2007 in Thursday Thirteen. 32 Comments

I talk a lot about writing on my blog, but as many of you know I have a full time day job. I am a technical/soft skills trainer and an instructional designer. Since I’ve been talking about how tired I’ve been recently, I thought I’d share some of the courses I teach on a regular basis. I’ve also included the class length just for fun. :)

Here they are in no particular order.

Thirteen Things courses I teach in my day job.

1. Product Introduction. I review all of the products and services my organization sells and supports. 1 hour

2. Professional Writing. Punctuation, spelling, and grammar. The funny thing is I’m a terrible speller myself, but I’m honest with them. :) 3 hours

3. Introduction to Quality. I talk about our quality assurance program and how it affects the reps. 1 hour

4. Troubleshooting Tools. I show them how to use the software tools to help fix our products. 4 hours

5. Stellar Service. This is a two day customer service course. It’s a fun one to teach because I get to give our candy and stickers! 16 hours

6. Introduction to ISO. We are an ISO organization. I talk about what that means to the new hires and the impact on our organization. If you’re curious about what ISO is, check here. 1 hour

7. Phone system training. We get to play around in a training environment with our phones. They can make calls, transfers, conference calls, etc. Usually a lot of giggles going on. 2 hours

8. Cultural Training. We are an international organization so we talk about the different countries in which we do business and the cultural differences. 2.5 hours

9. Process and Procedures. What they need to know to do their jobs on a daily basis. 3 hours

10. Hands-on Lab. This is a two day lab where they get to play with our devices and they get to break them…and then fix them…we hope. 8 hours

11. Message Flow. Here I talk about how our products work on the network. They need to know the message flow really well so they know where to start with troubleshooting. 3 hours

12. Intranet Training. We have a big monster of an Intranet they need to learn how to use. 3 hours

13. Common Technical Scenarios. Here we talk about a lot of the cases they’ve seen during their job shadowing. I also run them through some common scenarios and have them try to reason them out. 3 hours

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

Thursday Thirteen #23

Published on April 19, 2007 in Thursday Thirteen. 37 Comments

Where has the time gone?? We’re in the middle of April and I think I blinked and missed March. I have a feeling May will be just as crazy. There are so many things going on, I find I’ve been putting a lot of other things off. So my list this week is going to talk about the things that I want to do soon.

Thirteen Things I really want to do.

1. Watch movies. I keep buying all these great movies from the bargin bin at the grocery store, but I have no time to watch them. One of these days I’m going to have a movie weekend. :)

2. Read a book from my TRB pile. I just read Jaci’s Wild, Wicked and Wanton (review on tomorrow’s blog), but I still have a huge pile sitting there. I need to get through these.

3. Start exercising. I used to exercise an hour a day, every day. I need to get back and do this again. No excuses.

4. Plan my garden. I love spring and gardening. This is my fist spring in this house and I can’t wait to get digging. That said, I need a plan. :)

5. Plan my marketing strategy. This is something I’ve been thinking a lot about recently. I hope maybe this weekend I’ll be able to sit down and plan out what I’m going to do. A big thanks to everyone who offered suggestions yesterday. :)

6. Plot a new paranormal. I have this great idea that’s been bouncing around in my head for a while. I need to take a day to sit down and really plot it out before I lose it.

7. Walk around my property. As I said, we haven’t been in our house very long. I have yet to really walk around and check out all the cool places on our property. I plan to do that this spring. Or as soon as the snow stops!!

8. Teach my girls how to ride their bikes. They both need new bikes to do that, but this year I really want to help them learn. I love riding my bike and it’s something fun we can do together.

9. Watch a new TV show. There are so many shows that people keep telling me about. I’d love to take some time (maybe this summer) to sit down and get caught up with them. House…I’d really like to see this.

10. Practice my guitar. I play. Not very well, but I do play. I’d really love to dig it out and start practicing again. Maybe even take lessons again to get better.

11. Finish knitting my blanket. Another thing that always gets set aside. If I can’t do it in a short time frame, it never seems to get finished. However, I really want to make this blanket.

12. Sleep. I’ve been sleeping like crap recently. I’d love to have one, maybe two really good nights sleep.

13. Relax. I don’t know if you’ve picked up on this, but I’m a very high strung person. I really need to learn how to relax before I burn out. My husband has been telling me this for years, but I can’t seem to do it. I have two modes: run and sleep. :)

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

Thursday Thirteen #22

Published on April 12, 2007 in Thursday Thirteen. 47 Comments

I got my book cover yesterday!! I’m still in awe. :) I thought I’d do a fun Thursday Thirteen this week as a result.

Thirteen Things I did when I saw my cover.
1. Jaw Dropped. You’d think I’d learn to stop checking my home email at work. People are going to start wondering about me.

2. Squealed!. More internal mental squealing until I could get into my car after work. I think there was stilll some shock going on.

3. Closed the file quickly. As I said, I was teaching a class and we were on a break. I didn’t want to scare the new hires. :)

4. Showed my husband. The second I got home I showed him. He was really impressed with it. I wish I hadn’t been so tired or I would have been a lot more enthusiastic. Teaching for eight hours straight is tiring.

5. Posted it on my RWA chapter site. The ladies of my chapter are really supportive and I wanted to share my excitemet with them.

6. Emailed Wylie, Amy, and Vicky. I wanted my three best cyber friends to get a first look at it. Hugs to all of you!

7. Keep opening it to look. Again, I think this is shock. I have to say when I got it, I think it finally sunk in that I’m in the process of publishing my first book. Crazy.

8. Try to figure out who I can show at work. There are some people who I really want to see it. There are some who I’d scare. :)

9. Email my Dad. At work…I love to bug him. Plus he’s retiring in two months so I don’t have many more chances. :)

10. Get nervous. It really has sunk in that my book will be coming out soon. I hope it goes over well.

11. Read the first chapter of Bonds. Seeing the cover inspired me to take a look at the first chapter again. I want to make sure it “feels” like the cover. The story is sci-fi and the cover really isn’t. However, I hope it won’t prevent people from reading it.

12. Squeal again. I got my cover!!!

13. Try and think of a way to work this into a TT list. :D

bonds.jpg

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

Thursday Thirteen #21

Published on April 5, 2007 in Thursday Thirteen. 34 Comments

I’m so excited because my family is coming to visit for Easter weekend. They are arriving Friday at lunch and are staying until Monday. Here are a few of the things I’ll be doing this weekend while they’re here. :)

On a side note, I won’t be very visible this weekend. I’ll try and pop around to say hi to everyone though. :)

Thirteen Things I Plan To Do For Easter Weekend.
1. See 300! I’m going with my husband, sister, brother-in-law, and Dad to see this in the IMAX. We’ve all been waiting so we could go together and I can’t wait!

2. Have some wine. I’m not a big drinker, but this has been a busy week at work and next week will be worse. For this weekend I plan on sitting back, relaxing and enjoying a glass of wine with my family.

3. Play with my niece and nephew. I don’t get to see them very often so I can’t wait to see how much they’ve grown. Plus my girls are really excited to have them staying over. :)

4. Hang out with my parents and sister. We haven’t really seen much of each other since my husband and I moved six years ago. Any chance we have to be all together is great.

5. Learn to knit! My grandmother is coming up as well. Every time I see her I try to get her to teach me how to knit. I’m slowly getting there.

6. Try and sneak some blog time in. A pipe dream I know. With everything going on I doubt I’ll even see my laptop let alone turn it on. :)

7. Watch Movies. Whenever my Dad and I get together, we always seem to watch movies. A lot of them. It’s a great way for me to get caught up on all the cheep movies I’ve picked up at the grocery store. :)

8. Eat. A lot. Enough said.

9. Eat chocolate. This is different thank #8. Everyone who loves chocolate knows this.

10. Hiding eggs. This is one of my favourite things to do. The only better thing is Easter morning when the kids go to find them.

11. Read. I’ll need a bit of unwind time at the end of the day. That means I’ll try and sneak a few chapters in from a book on my TBR list. It’s the only way to get that pile down.

12. Write. I know this won’t happen, but it makes me feel better to put it on my list. I’m thinking about writing.

13. Sleep. Because at the end of the day I’ll be really tired. Happy – but tired. :)

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

Thursday Thirteen #20

Published on March 28, 2007 in Thursday Thirteen. 43 Comments

I’m in the middle of edits for my debut book The Bond That Ties Us. I’m learning a lot about myself as a writer and as a person as I go through this process. I thought I’d share some of these things with you. :)

Thirteen Things about what I do as I’m editing
1. Can’t sit still. I find I can only read short bits at a time. Not that I’m bored or can’t concentrate, but I need time to think about the line and see how I need to change it.

2. Quiet and music. I also seem to bounce between needing absolute quite and wanting to have some music playing. I find if I’m editing an emotional scene, I need the silence. Action sequences need a sound track.

3. Obsessively check my email. I only seem to do this when I’m editing and not when I’m writing. It’s very strange, and I can’t seem to stop.

4. Random thoughts. I found myself quote weird facts I’d heard recently to my husband as I was working away. They seemed to come out of no where and popped out of my mouth. (Did you know the original Star Trek was the first TV show to use the word Hell on the air?)

5. Organize my desk. Okay so maybe I’m procrastinating a bit. At least I’m still by my computer.

6. Talk things out with my cat. She’s a really good listener and likes to sit on my lap while I edit. I think it’s her way of making me sit still.

7. Get excited about parts of my story. I love it when I read a paragraph and get an idea for the perfect fix. I read it over and over loving the way it sounds.

8. Day dream. I’m bad for this. I keep wondering what my cover is going to look like. I hope I get to find out soon!

9. Read. As I’m editing I find myself reading more. Not only for the enjoyment but to see how other authors handle things. When I have a comment by my editor that I’m not sure how to address, I pick up one of my favourite books and read. It usually helps me get my head around the issue.

10. Eat. Bad things usually. Cookies, crackers, rice cakes (the ones with chocolate and caramel!). I need to stop this habit before I gain 800 lbs!

11. Walk around. Busy mind, busy feet. I do this a lot at night if my husband isn’t around for me to annoy. The activity helps me work through problems.

12. Blog. If I’m really stuck, or simply need to recharge my batteries, I’ll visit some of my blogging friends. The support is always helpful. :)

13. Write! Eventually I get my butt in the chair and managed to get through it all. I’m a deadline kind of girl. Give me a date and I’ll procrastinate until the last minute, then I’ll plug through it all. I love the rush!

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

Thursday Thirteen #19

Published on March 22, 2007 in Thursday Thirteen. 39 Comments
Thirteen Books I’ve Bought Recently
1. Surviving Demon Island by Jaci Burton - I went through this one quickly. Loved the idea behind the demon hunters. Gina and Derek had great chemistry – hot hot hot! I’ll definately be getting the second book.

2. Jacob by Jacquelyn Frank- This one came to me via the Wicked Writers chat group. The flip side to Jaci’s world, the demons here are the good guys…and really sexy. Couldn’t put this one down at all! And I’ll be first in line for Gideon which is coming out this summer.

3. The Rest Falls Away by Colleen Gleason - I really enjoyed this book and totally want to have Max around my house. If you like Buffy The Vampire Slayer, I think you’ll enjoy this. Not your typical romance, but a great story.

4. Rogue Angle: Forbidden City by Alex Archer - I bought this last night on the recommendation of SciFi Chick aka Angela. Its officially on my TRB pile :) .

5. Lover Revealed by JR Ward
6. Lover Awakened by JR Ward - I’m putting these two together. I also just bought these as per Wylie’s recommendation. I can’t read them yet because I don’t have the first one in the series. I hate not reading things in order. So these will sit in my TRB pile until I can track the first one down. :)

7. Eragon by Christopher Paolini - Loved this book! I hadn’t read a straight fantasy novel in quite sometime. This was a great treat. Next up I’ll have to rent the movie.

8. Angel With Attitude by Michelle Rowen. Fellow TRW member Michelle’s book. It’s next on my TBR pile and I can’t wait to get to it. Michelle has a great sense of humor and I know that will be in her book as well.

9. Pleasure Prolonged by Cathryn Fox - The second book in Cathryn’s pleasure series. If you are looking for a hot read and some chuckles, this is the book for you. Plus the covers are beautiful!!

10. Surender To a Scoundrel by Julianne MacLean - I love historicals! They are what originally brought me to the world of romance and I’ll always love them. Julianne’s book is a very smart, enjoyable read that takes you into the world of yacht racing. Highly recommend it.

11. Storm Front by Jim Butcher - The first in the Harry Dresden books. Another one I’ve come to via Angela. I’m a big fan if the show and can’t wait to read this book.

12. The Dark Tower by Stephen King – The end of this series was a long time coming. I’m anxious to read the end and find out what happens to Roland. But I’ve decided to re-read the entire series first. It’s been so long I’ve forgotten what’s happened! lol

13. Eternally (Nocturne) by Maureen Child - This was my first introduction to Harlequin’s Nocturn’s line. It is a Highland type idea, where they are demon hunters. I enjoyed Maureen’s book and would read the next one in her series…if there is a next one. I’ll need to find out.

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

Thursday Thirteen #18

Published on March 15, 2007 in Thursday Thirteen. 35 Comments

St. Partick’s Day is Saturday!! I love this holiday and all the fun that’s around it. So for this week’s Thursday Thriteen I thought I’d take a look at…

Thirteen Things about St. Patrick’s Day That I Love!

1. Green. I know not everyone likes green, but I do. I look good in green! Probably has to do with my hazel eyes and hair colour, but gosh darn it you have to go with what works.

2. Shamrocks. I’ve always been fascinated with them ever since I was a kid. They’re very balanced and kind of look like hearts. I like that. Never found a four leaf one, but I’ll keep looking.

3. Party! It’s a great time of year to get together with friends for a party. You don’t even have to be Irish! Plus there’s no expectations of presents or baking. Bonus!

4. Leprechauns. Whenever I see a picture of a leprechaun I think of a looney toons cartoon with Porky Pig. He is staying at a hotel and gets terrorized by two leprechauns. Makes me laugh every time.

5. Beer. Now don’t think I’m a big beer drinker. I’m not. It makes me a bit sick actually. But once a year I feel obligated to pick up a mug and give a toast. Seems like the least I can do.

6. Kissing. Other than Valentines Day, St. Patrick’s Day seems to be a good one for kissing. Maybe it’s just my French husband compensating for something…not sure…not going to argue. :)

7. Faeries. I know it’s not as popular an icon as the Leprechaun, but there’s something wonderful about Faeries. Mysterious, deadly, and sensual all at the same time.

8. Irish Music. I grew up on the East Coast so Irish music has always been big in my house. I can even proudly admit to watching The Irish Rovers Sunday nights on CBC. And with that admission I’ve officially dated myself.

9. No Snakes. I always felt for Indiana Jones in Raiders of the Lost Ark. I hate snakes. Any Saint that managed to get rid of some of them is A-OK in my books.

10. Rainbows and Pots of Gold. I could use a pot of gold right about now. I could quit my day job and stay home and write all day! If you find one, please consider sharing.

11. Sense of Heritage. Being half Irish it really gives me a sense of belonging to something bigger when we celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. In our busy lives it’s not always something we consider, so the reminder is appreciated.

12. Taking with a bad accent. Okay, so I suck at the whole Irish accent thing. But come on! Everyone tries to do it. It’s fun!

13. Any excuse for fun! I’m a fun type of girl. I like to get together with friends and family to have a good time. This is one more reason to do it big!

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!