Tawny Weber is in the garden today!

Welcome one of the authors joining me in Calistoga, Tawny Weber, everyone please say ‘Hi’. Appetizer’s and beverages are over in the shade as always. Find a plate and fill it, then a seat and relax. Let’s get started.

Mary: First things, first. As I said, everyone can find out about your books from your site, etc. So please give everyone information on how to find out about your books. Web site, blog, Facebook, Twitter and anything else you can think of.

Tawny:  Sure, thanks, Mary.  My website is www.TawnyWeber.com and you can find me on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/TawnyWeber.RomanceAuthor or on Twitter at http://twitter.com/TawnyWeber

Mary:  Thank you, now we have that out of the way.  I’m very excited to have you here in the garden, and I want everyone to know you better as a person. What can you tell us about your growing up years? How did they shape you to be the person you are today?

Tawny: My favorite thing growing up was always make-believe.  I grew up playing story with my Barbies and paper dolls.  I loved nothing more than making up stories for them to act out.  When I was twelve, I told my parents I wanted to be three things when I grew up – a mom, a gypsy and a writer.  I love being a mom, I love being a writer, and since I’ve been a tarot reader and Reiki practitioner for years, I tell myself I’ve managed the gypsy part, too.

Mary: Where is your favorite vacation spot and why? And along those lines, you’re favorite food and why?

Tawny: My family has a cabin in the forest in Idaho, just outside the Seven Devils Mountain Range that’s so peaceful and relaxing.  It’s a great place to vacation!  My favorite food?  Oh man, anything chocolate for sure.

Mary:   Do you have any siblings? Do they share your same passions? Do they support your writing? (And that’s the only question I’m asking on that.)

Tawny: I have two brothers who are awesome.  They are fabulously supportive and both very creative themselves so they understand the ups and downs of living off your imagination LOL.

If you need to stand up and stretch do so. In fact, everyone pour yourselves some more wine, or something. Once everyone is settled, we’ll begin again.

Ahh,  thanks!  I’m going to get a bowl of grapes to snack on, too.  Want some?

Mary:  Oh I love grapes in or out of a bottle LOL. What are your hobbies? And why? Do you find time to do the things you love? If so how important is that to you?

Tawny:  I scrapbook.  I love the creativity of it and how it’s also practical.  When I’m done with an album, it’s something the family can enjoy or it makes a nice gift. And the process of it is a more visual creative outlet for me than writing.  I tend to bounce between pages and scrapbook layouts when I’m deep in a story. When I get stuck on a scene, I work on the scrapbook layout.  I’m still in the creative mode that way, and usually shifting gears lets me relax and find the scene answer I’m looking for.

Mary:  When it’s rainy outside, and there’s nothing on TV, what is your favorite thing to do to pass the time?

Tawny:  READ!!!  I love to read.  I love nothing more than curling up with a book and relaxing into a story.

Mary: Aw, me too! Before we say goodbye, please tell us what your favorite words of wisdom are. In general—again not career wise. Remember we’re getting to know you. Not the author.

Tawny:  Love yourself.  I think that’s the most important gift we can give ourselves, and give others.  If we love ourselves, we’re more patient, more supportive and more fun to be around.

For more information about the Book Signing and Wine Tasting Extravaganza please check out my web site here.

Thank you, Tawny, for joining me again. Please drop back any time. I’m really looking forward to meeting you in Calistoga to share a glass of wine.

Thanks so much, Mary!  What a fun interview. I’m really looking forward to spending the day with you.

Review on: Inside by Brenda Novak

Brenda Novak is an author I have on auto buy. If you're not familiar with that term it means: You automatically buy any new book that comes out. I have several authors on this list, but Brenda is one of my top picks, along with RaeAnne Thayne and Nora Roberts.

I just finished -- a couple of weeks ago, the day job has really set me behind on blogging and everything else--Inside. GREAT book. This is the 1st book of the Bulletproof Series.

Blurb:

Virgil Skinner served fourteen years for a murder he didn't commit. He's finally been exonerated, but he can't escape the gang he joined in order to survive. They'll do anythingto keep him from telling what he knows. And if they can't get to Virgil they'll go after his sister and her kids.

The California Department of Corrections needs someone to infiltrate another gang, one that's taking control of the state's most notorious supermax. Virgil's the perfect candidate — and he'll do it in exchange for his sister's protection.

Assistant deputy warden Peyton Adams is opposed to having Virgil in her prison. How will she protect him if things go bad? Besides, she's attracted to him; she might even be falling in love with him. That makes her all the more desperate to keep him safe — and it gives him someone else to lose.
You can buy it at Amazon, Barnes and Noble or eHarlequin  or many other book stores.

I give this a 4.5 rating

The minute Peyton and Virgil meet sparks fly, but how can these too make it work. You have to read it to find out. Full of twists and turns, and definitely surprises.

I can't wait to read the next book  in the series: In Seconds. Okay I have to hop over to Amazon or Barnes and Noble to buy it!

Happy Reading!

Interview with Dee Brice

Welcome another author who will be joining me in Calistoga, Dee Brice, everyone please say ‘Hi’. Appetizer’s and beverages are over in the shade as always. Find a plate, fill it, then a seat and relax.

Mary: First things, first. As I said, everyone can find out about your books from your site, etc. So please give everyone information on how to find out about your books. Web site, blog, Facebook, Twitter and anything else you can think of.

Dee: First, thanks for having me. Your garden is beautiful. As for the information, here it is.
Web: deebrice.com; Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Dee-Brice/230424546974171; blogs: I do two. Mine is deesdites.blogspot.com, the second is goddessesofstorytelling.blogspot.com. I have a Twitter address, but it's linked to my Facebook page and I haven't a clue how to access it.

Mary:  Thank you, now we have that out of the way.  I’m very excited to have you here in the garden, and I want everyone to know you better as a person. What can you tell us about your growing up years? How did they shape you to be the person you are today?

Dee: Only child with an overactive imagination. Wanted to be an actress, but liked eating too much to risk going to LA or NYC and starving. I did a lot of community theater as both a child and an adult which fulfilled the acting need. Wrote when the need struck, which was pretty much all the time. I worked in a job where I traveled a lot, but spent hours waiting for others to do their work. Pen and paper, windows down to blow out my cigarette smoke=perfect conditions in which to write.

Mary: I looked over your web site, and found this statement, “Dee lives in northern California with her inspiration, best friend, and husband.” So tell us a bit about your husband. How did you meet? Was it a true romance?

Dee: We met at Stagedoor Comedy Playhouse where DH was set and lighting designer, set builder and stage manager. I was cast in a play titled "Norman, Is That You?". We liked each other's sense of humor and the sexual attraction was immediate. As for romance… We were together for twenty-eight years before we married and will celebrate our 10th next year. Guess the romance is alive and well.

Mary:   Another thing from your web site caught my eye, “wannabe actress”? There has to be a story there. Will you share?

Dee: My much older than my mom father played the Orpheum circuit in the days of vaudeville. He was also a movie theater manager for Fox West Coast when I was a kid. I think I "was born in a trunk" in a figurative sense. Bitten by the acting bug at an early age and stayed infected until I committed more of my "free time" to writing.

Time for a break everyone! Help yourselves to some more wine, or something. Once everyone is settled, we’ll begin again. I hope you're enjoying meeting my new friends! I know I am.

Mary:  Have you lived anywhere else? If so, where and why did you move to northern California?

Dee: I was born in LA, raised in Fresno, and moved to the Sacramento area in 1969. The best thing about being from Fresno is being FROM Fresno. I definitely don't miss the summer heat or the winter tule fog.

Mary:  Do you watch TV or Movies? If so what are your favorite type of TV programs or Movies? Do you have a favorite series? I love Dexter, actually I also love Castle, and the list goes on and on. So please share….

Dee: The last movie I saw in a theater was "Blazing Saddles." DH and I order films we like and watch them at home. We both love well-written, well-acted films and lean toward comedies--not Neil Simon whose plays don't translate well to film. Either that or the screenwriters are--Never mind. Anyway, I love Castle, Chuck, Eureka, Warehouse 13, Drop Dead Diva and certain soaps. Gotta love how those writers construct transitions. Wish I could write them half as well!

Mary: Before we say goodbye, please tell us what your favorite words of wisdom are. In general—not career wise. Remember we’re getting to know you. Not the author.

Dee: Wisdom? Separate me from the author? I'm not sure I can do that. Based on my experience as a wannabe published author my word of wisdom is Perseverance. It took me fifteen years to sell my first novel (2006) and I'm now about to write book twenty.

For more information about the Book Signing and Wine Tasting Extravaganza, please check here!

Thank you, Dee, for joining me again. Please drop back any time. I’m really looking forward to meeting you in Calistoga to share a glass of wine or two.

Dee: Thanks for having me.

Interview with Julia Barrett

Welcome one of the authors joining me in Calistoga, Julia Barrett, everyone please say ‘Hi’. Appetizer’s and beverages are over in the shade as always. Find a plate and fill it, then a seat and relax. Let’s get started.

Mary: First things, first. As I said, everyone can find out about your books from your site, etc. So please give everyone information on how to find out about your books. Web site, blog, Facebook, Twitter and anything else you can think of.

Julia:  All information about my books, and a whole lot about what I think, is on my website:  http://juliarachelbarrett.net  I tweet about my books and interesting articles I run across:  @JuliaRBarrett and I do have a Facebook account under Julia Barrett, but I can’t figure out the URL for the life of me.

Mary:  Thank you, now we have that out of the way.  I’m very excited to have you here in the garden, and I want everyone to know you better as a person. What can you tell us about your growing up years? How did they shape you to be the person you are today?

Julia:  I was born and raised in Iowa.  The state will always be my real home.  My family had lived there since the railroad arrived.  Now everyone is gone.  My sisters and I live in the West and my parents moved out here eight years ago to be close to their grandchildren.  Farm country is in my blood and you can almost always find a mention of the Midwest in my books.

Mary: I happened to cruise through your web site and saw this statement: “I come from a long line of amazing cooks.” Anyone who keeps up on my blog will understand why I honed in on this. Sooooo…. Tell us about your amazing cooks.

Julia:  LOL!  One of my great-great grandmothers was a chef for the Hungarian royal family.  She passed on her recipes and abilities to her daughter who passed on her skills to her daughter-in-law, my grandmother.  My mother and my two sisters and I all love to cook.  Even my kids cook.  My mother, one of my sisters and I were gifted with super sensitive palates – which makes us very picky about food!

Mary:   Do you have any siblings? Did any of them grow up to be chef’s? And why didn’t you?

Julia:  Yes, see above – I have two sisters.  All three of us have baked professionally.  Two of us are trained pastry chefs.

If you need to stand up and stretch do so. In fact, everyone pour yourselves some more wine, or something. Once everyone is settled, we’ll begin again.

Mary:  Do you like to travel? If so, do you prefer big cities like New York, Chicago or San Francisco? Or small resort towns, like Carmel, Park City or Key West? Or something totally different?

Julia:  I love to travel.  I get so restless!  I’ll go to a big city or climb a mountain.  My favorite trips have involved hiking, rafting, kayaking and horseback riding.  Put me outdoors and I’m happy.

Mary:  Do you listen to music? If so what is your favorite? Rock, Opera, Country? And why?

Julia:  I’m not a huge opera fan, but I don’t hate it.  I’m a big fan of rock and roll, blues, Motown, jazz.  I do like some country music.  Patsy Cline is one of my favorites.

Mary: Before we say goodbye, please tell us what your favorite words of wisdom are. In general—not career wise. Remember we’re getting to know you. Not the author.

Julia:  Wow.  I don’t really have any, other than remember to tell the people you love that you love them.

For more information about the Book Signing and Wine Tasting Extravaganza please check out my web site here. 

Thank you, Julia, for joining me again. Please drop back any time. I’m really looking forward to meeting you in Calistoga to share a glass of wine.

Hope all of you can join us in Calistoga. If not, join us for a virtual signing, details to be posted soon.

Guest Blogger -- Chip Bagnall

Good morning everyone. Please find a shady spot to sit, pour yourself the beverage of your choice and fill your plate. I guess you should take care of the food part before finding yourself a seat. LOL. Anyway I have a guest blogger today, so welcome Chip Bagnall.

History as Comedy
By Chip Bagnall

I am plummeting from the ivory tower I never actually stood upon – at a great rate of speed.

We’ve all read, or at least attempted to, the dense tomes that inundate the bookshelves of our respective institutions of higher education.  In my case it was mostly of the historical ilk.  And I wanted a part of it.  Growing up in a small college town, I basked in the shadows of Georgian architecture and shades of tweed.  As soon as my undergraduate career got under way, I was utterly infatuated with the dry, objective world of academic historians.  I became a purist, and anything that entered the realm of narrative history was quickly deemed sacrilegious.  My mind was directly headed to a PhD American History program shortly after graduation.  However, there was a slight pain in the side of my head.  The knowledge that I may be buried in scholarly monographs and the cyclical nature of academic literature scared the crap out of me – a world of dust and death.

At about the same time I had a similar passion, a greater one in fact, for improvisational comedy.  Reading Gordon Wood and Howard Zinn during the day, and then expounding on the hilarities of poop jokes in the evening.  It was a dilemma.  Either go to graduate school and become socially inept, or move to Chicago and become a professional clown.  I chose the latter much to the silent chagrin of my perpetually supportive parents.  Still, years down the road I experienced that same itch; a passion not yet fully satisfied.  Thus the inception of Half-Baked History, my first volume of short comedic renderings of some of the most notable events in American and World History.  Even though I respected the career of a historian (and I certainly still do idolize the lifestyle), I was always cynical of the back and forth nature of the subject – there were infinite possibilities to interpret one event.  So, why not mesh my two passions together and deface one of them?

Some of the best works I have ever read – whether it is fiction or non-fiction, prose or poetry – often hint at the author’s other passions in this earthly life.  James Joyce, for example, artfully places his love of the Latin language and Italian culture within the pages of Ulysses.  I, on the other hand, slather my enjoyment of history onto the pages of a humor book.  I’m not quite there yet, but I’m gunning for you Joyce.  Write what you love.

Description of Half-Baked History (Available for just $2.99 on the Kindle and coming soon in paperback for $6.99):
Half-Baked History is a 20,000-word collection of 37 historical events, spanning both time period and geographical location. Boring?  No.  Half-Baked History is a satire of some of history’s most notable and notorious events.  Posing as the esteemed Professor Chip Bagnall, the supposed scholar takes historical facts and bluntly labels them as myth. Dr. Bagnall has one sole motive: to rectify the purported “facts” that have cursed the pages of our children’s history textbooks.  Reeducate yourself so the next time you try to impress your boss, a love interest, or even Professor Bagnall with a fun fact from the history annals, you don’t seem like an idiot.

Biography: Chip Bagnall, originally from Davidson, North Carolina, is a comedian, writer, and history-buff living in Chicago.  After graduating from Colorado College with a BA in History and failed attempts at entering a PhD program in Early American History, Bagnall decided to intertwine his two passions: history and comedy.

Book Signing and Wine Tasting Extravaganza

Welcome to my garden. It’s been a while since I’ve had a guest interview, but you’re all in for a treat. In October I’m going to be doing a signing with 4 other authors. It will be at a winery in Calistoga California. I’m very excited, especially since I’ve only met my author friends on line.

I want to get to know everyone before we meet. Anyone can go to their web sites and find out about their books, etc. But I want to know each as a person.

Over the next couple of weeks you'll be meeting each.
September 14: Julia Barrett
September 21: Dee Brice
September 28: Tawny Weber
October 5: Regan Taylor
October 12: Mary will in the interview seat!

When I'm finished with the interviews, you'll want to find your way to the Napa Valley to join in the fun.
So let me tell you a bit about it:

Book Signing and Wine Tasting Extravaganza  

Date: Oct. 20, 2011 

Time: 6 to 8 Pm  

Where:

Tasting Room 

www.rioswine.com 

1307-A Lincoln Avenue 

Calistoga, CA 9451

You’re invited to join five authors for a 

great evening of wine tasting and 

books. Find a new favorite wine and 

find a new favorite author, what’s not 

to enjoy?  

Who are these authors? 

Julia Barrett 

www.juliarachelbarrett.net

Tawny Weber 

www.TawnyWeber.com

Dee Brice 

www.deebrice.com

Regan Taylor

www.Regantaylor.com 

And Myself: Mary Martinez

www.marymartinez.com

The fun doesn't stop there! 

Anyone who buys a book or a bottle 

will be entered in a drawing for this 

book bag full of goodies! 

So if you're in the area, please do not miss the excitement drop by for some hors d'oeuvres and wine. OH and books!

Football season!

Fall is here, woohoo! My favorite time of year. The temperatures drop, to comfortable, leaves start to turn glorious colors and FOOTBALL and TAILGATING!


This is when you see me I'm usually in red for the UTES! Last Thursday was our first game against Montana State University. Utes 27, MSU 10. You may say great start, but we're worried. This is the big boys, the Pac 12. And we should have been more like 47. Our offense left everyone scratching their heads and wondering what was going to happen next week against USC. YIKES.


Here are some of the highlights from our game last week! I know most of you really don't care, but I have fun posting them. 

Touchdown!
Okay, I'll give it a rest, oh wait a few more pictures!

And I can't not post our smiling faces....

Yeah I know, we're geeks!

End of summer?

Summer's drawing to a close, but we're going to be out on our patio even when it's cold. In anticipation of the cold, we have a fire pit and a gas heater (like the ones on restaurant patios) So just because the summer is almost over don't think I won't be posting more grilled recipes.

So again we had some friends over. This time we had some of the Cajun chicken I've made in the past and I made a new summer squash recipe. Turned out awesome if I do say so myself.

Summer Squash
2 Yellow squash -cut into chunks
1 large Zucchini - cut into chunks
1/2 onion chopped
1/4 green bell pepper chopped
1/4 purple (or red) bell pepper chipped
1/4 cup white balsamic citrus basil marinade
1/2 cup feta cheese (basil & tomato)
1/4 tsp. Pepper
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp Savory

Chop and/or chunk all veggies and put in a boil. Add marinade and mix thoroughly. Add spices and 1/4 cup feta and mix thoroughly again. Place in fridge for a couple of hours. Then place in a 13x 9" foil pan place on the grill when it's almost done sprinkle the other 1/4 cup feta over the top and finish cooking.

Dinner was served with (for those who wanted white) a nice crisp Riesling and some had a Pinot Grigio both paired well. For those who like red we had a Cabernet Sauvignon.