Ten (Shopping) Survival Tips from the Turkeys

(This post is for Rita Henuber, who wanted me to post a "happy shopping" message today for her, as she is woefully without internet, and possibly out shopping. I offered to “stuff” something into this post about shopping, but couldn't resist adding some snark…)

Whew, it's over. You survived Thanksgiving. So, now what? 

Are you planning to brave the stores for Black Friday and maybe burn a few calories? I've collected some survival tips to keep us alive in the dark (shopping) days to come....

Top Ten (Shopping) Survival Tips from the Turkeys who survived yesterday:

1. Don’t stick out your neck (or arm) too far. You might lose something. Those fellow shoppers can be vicious. They know how to use fowl play to their advantage.
2. Pace yourself. You don’t want to fry yourself just as you get going. Especially after eating all of that…stuffing. Waddle more, hurry less.
3. Stay hydrated. Baste yourself with some liquids now and then to keep from drying out. I, personally, like a Starbucks run in the middle of my shopping to fluff my feathers.
4. Shake your tail feathers. Walking laps in the stores or along the downtown shops will help you burn calories. (Hooray!)
5. Play nice, even if a fellow shopper is treating you like a turkey. (Mama always said this was the way to live.)
6. Be thankful. For the little things. Like surviving.
7. Make sure you have some leftover…money, that is. Don’t spend it all. (Besides, Valentine's Day is just around the corner.)
8. Use the occasional alcohol wipe or wash your hands. They can kill a lot of salmonella germs, but all those other germs from other shoppers too. 'Tis flu season.
9. Don’t forget the gravy. Everything’s better with gravy. In this case, I’m referring to that little something extra. Do something special for yourself while you’re out shopping for others. You deserve it.
10. Do you really need a #10? Get moving before the farmer sees us hanging around flapping our beaks.

Of course, this post was done tongue in beak, and kind of on the "fly," so take each tip with a grain of salt...and maybe some pepper. Definitely some gravy.

Rita and I wish all of you out there a safe and stress-free weekend, and hope you're able to enjoy it with your families. Instead of risking the stores, stay home and kick your heels up and eat leftovers. And buy the latest books from your favorite authors online. 

And if you happen to be shopping for a writer this year (*hint, hint*), you may want to check out this list of great gifts for writers from the "Glass Half-Full in Hollywood" blog. 

Happy (and safe) shopping!

What gifts are you hunting this season? And what are you hoping to receive? How do you shop - are you a Black Friday adventurist, or a survivalist who holes up and waits for Cyber Monday? Or are you another type altogether, possibly done with your holiday shopping by July?

I need to borrow the TARDIS!

Here in the UK, tomorrow is just another Thursday. My friends in the States, however, will be celebrating Thanksgiving and I would love to be there with them. I can eat, drink, be merry - and thankful - with the best of them. Truly! I have a lot to be thankful for - a healthy family, the best dogs in the world, being paid to do the job I love … and that’s just for starters.

As a writer, I spend a large chunk of my time daydreaming and one that takes up a lot of time is deciding where I would go if I could borrow Dr. Who’s TARDIS for the day. 

Given the TARDIS (Time And Relative Dimension In Space), I’d be crossing the pond tomorrow to help my friends celebrate Thanksgiving. I’d nip off to Lapland for Christmas, and I’d get there early to make sure Santa knows I’ve been really, really exceptionally good this year. I’d be crossing the pond again to welcome in 2014 in Times Square. Valentine’s Day would be spent in Paris or Venice. I’d be in Dublin for St. Patrick’s Day. 

Today’s destination is a tough one. Being high up in the Arctic Circle looking out for the aurora borealis is appealing. On the other hand, I’ve walked the dogs in the freezing temperatures of Lancashire, the logs are burning in the grate, there’s a bottle of wine with my name on it within pouring distance, all is warm and comfortable - so maybe, just maybe, I’d stay home.

What about you? If you could borrow Dr Who’s TARDIS, where would you go?

Happy Thanksgiving to all my friends in the US. Eat some turkey for me!

Thanksgivukkah

Let's forget the fact that another year is winding down and Christmas decorations are going up even though we haven't enjoyed Thanksgiving. This year is really crazy since Thanksgiving and Hanukkah coincide. Let me tell you, if you think Christmas is coming fast, anyone who celebrates Hanukkah is really scrambling! This is certainly a first in my lifetime--celebrating Hanukkah on Thanksgiving. I'm thinking I'll have to try making some sweet potato latkes. (Sounds good right?)

This melding of Thanksgiving and Hanukkah won't occur again for more than 77,000 years. (77,798 to be exact!) That's a long time, people! The last time it happened was in 1888. (I find the succession of the 8s and 7s very interesting, but that has nothing to do with anything.)

Of course, this melding of holidays has not lessened any of my family's dysfunction. It's possible that the dysfunction has multiplied. Ugh. In fact, I've decided to put this year's first dysfunctional story into a book. Now I just need to write a holiday book and fit it in. Haha. I've never set out to write a holiday specific story, although Dangerously Close does take place just before Thanksgiving and runs through Christmas, so I guess it could be called "holiday light." I've begun to bill it as "Add a little suspense in your holidays." (Actually, the Thanksgiving after-dinner scene might be my favorite scene in my fourteen years of writing. I giggled through the whole thing and only hope other people feel the fun as they read it.)

This year I'm especially thankful for having a healthy husband and daughter. I'm EXTREMELY thankful for my new kitchen after 23 years of waiting/saving. The space has transformed our little family unit since we have space to converge/cook/eat/sit. In the last few months we've had some awesome times in our new kitchen and I figure I have 2 more years to soak it up before my daughter is off to college. Here's a pic of my dream kitchen (with my dog's tail as she's walking out). The old kitchen ended right where the fridge starts. (We more than doubled the space.)

What about you? Anything you're particularly thankful for this year?

HERE COME THE GEEKS!

The fourth book in my geeky cyber mystery series, NO PLACE LIKE ROME, drops this Monday, November 25, and I'm pretty excited about it! 

For those of you not familiar with the series, Lexi is a geek first-class—a gamer, hacker, book nerd and fangirl who double-majored in mathematics and computer science and has zero social skills. Her day job for a hot new cyber-intelligence firm has landed her an exciting case on behalf of the sexiest uberhacker in the universe, code-named Slash. Slash's uncle in Rome has been accused of siphoning money from the Vatican Bank and it’s up to Lexi to hunt the hacker and clear his name.

Here is a short excerpt from the book:

I’ve loved listening to music since I was a little girl. Not because I’m musically gifted, but because notes, themes, chords and tempo all have an intrinsic mathematical logic that speaks to me. After all, music is defined by its numeric divisions, such as a beat, a measure or a bar. Musical scales are actually harmonics based on the numerical ratios present in the Fibonacci series, which are a sequence of integers beginning at zero and one and continuing with each new number being the sum of the previous two.

I know all of this because I’m a geek first-class. My name is Lexi Carmichael and I’m a mild-mannered twenty-five-year old who, thankfully for music aficionados, is not employed in any part of the music industry. By day, I work as the Director of Information Security at a hot new cyber-intelligence firm just outside of Washington, D.C. By night, I’m a gamer, book nerd and fangirl (Bond, Star Wars, Dr. Who, Lord of the Rings). I’ve got long brown hair, no discernible curves and zip in the social skills department. I double-majored in mathematics and computer science at Georgetown University with a specialty in cybersecurity. Ask me to talk about a rigorous axiomatic framework or computational complexity theory, and I’m all over it. Ask me to make small talk and I’ll imagine myself jumping off a bridge.

Haven’t tried a Lexi Carmichael adventure yet? Well, you’re in luck! The first book in the series NO ONE LIVES TWICE, is now available everywhere ebooks are sold for ***FREE***.  But hurry, this offer ends on November 30!

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD FROM CARINA PRESS OR HERE TO DOWNLOAD FROM AMAZON.COM OR HERE FOR BARNESANDNOBLE.COM.

So, who is your favorite geek of all time? Albert Einstein? Sheldon Cooper? Copernicus? Vint Cerf? Thomas Edison? Inquiring minds want to know!  :)

Julie Moffett is a bestselling and award-winning author who writes in the genres of mystery, historical romance and paranormal romance. Learn more about Julie and her books on Facebook, Twitter and her website. She has won numerous awards, including the EPIC 2011 Award for Best Action/Adventure Novel, PRISM Award for Best Romantic Time-Travel and Best of the Best Paranormal Books of 2002. She has also garnered several nominations for the Daphne du Maurier Award, the Holt Medallion and the Gayle Wilson Award of Excellence.