Flower Friday - Sunstruck

'Sunstruck' roses

This week's featured flowers are ''Sunstruck" roses!  These pretty hybrid tea roses have apricot-colored  petals with golden yellow and salmon pink highlights.  The yellow markings on the undersides of the petals set this rose apart from many other apricot blends.  'Sunstruck' has large, slightly-fragrant flowers and blooms in flushes  from early summer to early fall.  The foliage is dark green and somewhat glossy.   To learn more about about 'Sunstruck' roses, check out the 'Sunstruck' page at Dave's Garden, the 'Sunstruck' page at Sun Valley Garden Center, or the 'Sunstruck' page at HelpMeFind.

A quick blog note:

Hope you all had a lovely Thanksgiving and are having a relaxing holiday weekend.  We had our first snow of the season this week and enjoyed a deliciously fun holiday feast yesterday.   Yay!  Plus, we now have one extra thing to be thankful for: our laptop is finally back from the service center!  *insert happy dance here*

Happy reading!  :-)

Flower Friday - Gold Medal

  'Gold Medal' roses

This week's featured flowers are ''Gold Medal" roses!  These hardy Grandiflora roses have warm yellow petals with light pink edges.  In our fairly mild climate, this disease-resistant rose blooms in clusters throughout the summer and into early fall.  The flowers have a light, spicy scent and the foliage is a lovely dark green.   To learn more about about 'Gold Medal' roses, check out the 'Gold Medal' page at Dave's Garden, the 'Gold Medal' page at Rose-Roses, or the 'Gold Medal' page at HelpMeFind.

  

A few book & blogoshpere notes:

1.  Hush, Hush and Crescendo author Becca Fitzpatrick will be chatting with the Mundie Moms on November 30th at 8 pm CST.  Stop by their blog to join the chat.

2.  Want to read Bree Despain's The Dark Divine before The Lost Saint arrives in stores on December 28th?  For a limited time, you can purchase The Dark Divine eBook for under $2.50 on Amazon or Barnes & Noble.

3.  If you enjoyed Cindy Pon's Silver Phoenix and are looking forward to reading Fury of the Phoenix when it arrives in stores next April, then you will want to enter the Fury of the Phoenix ARC contest on Cindy's blog (ends 12/1).

Flower Friday - Cosmos

Cosmos

This week's featured flowers are - Cosmos!  These tall flowers are extremely easy to grow from seed and come in a wide variety of colors. Their foliage is airy and fern-like, so they make a very pretty backdrop for shorter flowers.  Cosmos are drought-tolerant, love full sun, bloom from mid-summer until first frost, and re-seed quite freely.  They thrive in poor soil conditions, and require almost no care.  Most Cosmos flowers have a light floral scent (with the exception of the 'Chocolate' variety which is famous for its a chocolatey vanilla fragrance), and they make beautiful cut flowers in wildflower arrangements.  To learn more about about Cosmos, check out the Cosmos page at Dave's Garden, the Cosmos page at Wikipedia, or the Cosmos page at WildflowerInformation.org.

A brief blog update:

Sadly, I killed our laptop about two weeks ago, so the whole family is currently sharing our ancient (and painfully slow) PC.  The good news is that accidental damage is covered by our service plan (which is very fortunate since I managed to crack the screen and bend the power-supply pin).  But the bad news is that because I managed to destroy multiple parts of the laptop, it has to be processed through two separate service centers before making its way back to us.  *insert major laptop withdrawls here*  I really miss being able to keep up with all the bookish, blogish fun, so I am counting down the minutes until we get our laptop back.  But in the meantime, I will continue checking in and posting from our dinosaur-like PC as much as possible.
 

In happier news, we had the opportunity to meet Suzanne Collins last Sunday (so exciting!), and this weekend we plan to attend another awesome book event featuring several authors (including Gail Carriger and Ilona Andrews), so we'll have a couple of fun event reports to share as well as several reviews to catch up on in the coming weeks.  Plus, we can't wait to give away some fabulous signed books during our Gratitude Giveaway, so be sure to check that out on Wednesday (11/17).

Happy Reading!  :-)

Flower Friday - Fourth of July

'Fourth of July' roses

This week's featured flowers are ''Fourth of July" roses!  These climbing roses have petals streaked in shades of red, white, and pink.  This disease-resistant rose is a vigorous climber that blooms in flushes throughout the summer and into the early fall.  The flowers have a very pleasant apple scent.   To learn more about about 'Fourth of July' roses, which are called 'Crazy For You' roses or Hanabi roses outside of the US, check out the 'Fourth of July' page at Dave's Garden, the 'Fourth of July' page at RogersRoses, or the 'Fourth of July' page at HelpMeFind.

A few book & blogosphere notes:

1.  Candace's Book Blog is hosting a fabulous "Steampunkery" event this month, featuring all sorts of fun steampunk-themed giveaways, interviews, book reviews, and guest blog posts!  Be sure to check it out here!

2.  Want to chat with Maggie Stiefvater, the talented author of Shiver, Linger, Ballad, Lament, and the upcoming Forever?  She'll be chatting with the Mundie Moms at 8 pm CST Thursday, November 11th.  Stop by their blog to join the chat.

3.  Looking for free ebooks for children?  Check out the International Children's Digital Library.  With thousands of fun books in a wide variety of languages, it is a wonderful place to find digital editions of old favorites (like Alice in Wonderland and The Wonderful Wizard of Oz) and a great place to browse through lots of excellent international selections.   Check it out here!

Flower Friday - Kateryna

'Kateryna' roses

This week's featured flowers are ''Kateryna" roses!  These lovely shrub roses have light pink petals and bloom in clusters.  This shrub has dark green foliage and is about three feet tall and two feet wide.  The flowers have a mild scent and are still blooming in October at our favorite local park.   To learn more about about 'Kateryna' roses, check out the 'Kateryna' page at Dave's Garden, the 'Kateryna' page at RogersRoses, or the 'Kateryna' page at HelpMeFind.

A few book & blogosphere notes:

1.  There are still a couple more days to check out the Spooktacular Book Blog Giveaway Hop hosted by I Am A Reader, Not A Writer.  Eighty-eight blogs are participating, so there are tons of fun prizes up for grabs! (ends 10/31)

2.  Page Turners is hosting two Meet Us at the Crossroads chats this Sunday and Monday (10/31 and 11/1 at 8pm CDT).  On Sunday, they will be chatting with Karen Kincy, Linda Joy Singleton, Stacey Kade, Amy Brecount White, Joy Preble, Jordan Deen, and Judith Graves.  On Monday, they will be chatting with Angie Frazier, Jeri Smith-Ready, Kitty Keswick, Shannon Delany, Jackie Kessler, Lucienne Diver, and Tonya Hurley.  You can submit your questions and find out how to join both chats here.

3.  

Interested in participating in another fun YA author chat?  

On November 15th at 6 pm PST, you can chat with the authors of Beautiful Creatures and Beautiful Darkness, Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl, at Eve's Fan Garden.  

Flower Friday - Dream Come True + Friday Question

 'Dream Come True' roses

This week's featured flowers are ''Dream Come True" roses!  These lovely grandiflora roses have creamy yellow petals with warm pink edges.  It has dark matte green foliage and gets to be around five feet tall.  The large, long-stemmed roses have mild scent and are still blooming in October at our favorite local park.   To learn more about about 'Dream Come True' roses, check out the 'Dream Come True' page at Dave's Garden, the 'Dream Come True' page at Weeks Roses, or the 'Dream Come True' pages at HelpMeFind.

A few book & blogosphere notes:

1.  If you are looking forward to the release of Kimberly Derting's Desires of the Dead next March, you probably want to check out the prologue at Confessions of a Bookaholic.  (Warning:  Reading the prologue will most likely make the wait for Desires of the Dead seem even longer.)

2.  Want to chat with Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl about Beautiful Darkness?   The Mundie Moms are hosting a chat with both authors on Tuesday, October 26th at 9 pm (EST).  They are also giving away a signed ARC of Beautiful Darkness as well as lots of signed swag.  You can find that giveaway here  (ends 11/19).  Want another chance to win a copy of Beautiful Darkness?  Stop by and enter 

{...is a book whore)'s 

Beautiful Darkness giveaway here (ends 11/6).

3.  Squeaky Clean reads is giving away three copies of Lindsey Leavitt's  debut novel Princess for Hire.  You can find that giveaway here (ends 10/25).

The "Friday Question" meme is hosted by Kim at 

ilaxSTUDIO.  This week's question (#134) is actually two questions:

1.  When you eat out, are you more likely to go to a restaurant you know you love , or try someplace new?

We are more likely to go to a favorite restaurant.   Unless we are trying out a restaurant that is new to town or stopping in at a

 random restaurant to see if they've added more vegan options to their menu since the last time we'd checked,

  we are pretty loyal to a handful of favorite restaurants in the area.  We have at least two or three favorite restaurants in every town we visit regularly, so even when we stick to frequenting favorites it doesn't really feel like our choices are too limited.

2.  When you have guests in town, where are your favorite places to take them to eat?  We try to find time to take them to Lotus Garden, Sweet Life, and Voodoo Doughnuts.  But if they aren't in the area  long enough to make the forty-five minute drive to any of those locations, we take them to China Blue, Izzy's, or Nearly Normals.

Flower Friday - Nicole

 'Nicole' roses

This week's featured flowers are 'Nicole' roses!  These floribunda roses have beautiful white petals with dark pink edges.  The foliage is dark green and glossy.  Rose season is coming to an end as the weather grows colder and wetter, and none of the roses in our yard will bloom again until next spring.  But a few rose varieties continue to bloom through the end of October, so we took a walk through the rose garden at our favorite local park to snap a few photos of the final roses of the season & we'll feature them as the next few Flower Fridays.  To learn more about about 'Nicole' roses, which are sometimes called 'KORicole', 'Raspberry Ice' or 'Tabris' roses and are often confused with 'Hannah Gordon' roses, check out the 'Nicole' page at Dave's Garden, the 'Nicole' page at HelpMeFind, the 'Nicole' page at Ozarks Gardens, or Martha Stewart's  'Nicole' page.

.

A few book & blogosphere notes:

1.  Can't make it to any of Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl's Beautiful Darkness tour stops?  Visit the Caster Chronicles' Blog TV channel to check out videos of their Austin tour appearance.  Kaleb Nation also shared the first in a series of video interviews with Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl this week, you can check that out here. 

2.  Pure Imagination is hosting an international Pre-Holiday Pre-Order Giveaway featuring pre-ordered copies of Stephanie Perkins' Anna and the French Kiss and Bree Despain's The Lost Saint.  You can check that out here ( ends 10/29).

3.  Reading Angel is hosting a fun Ghost-apalooza Giveaway featuring all sorts of goodies, including signed copies of Jeri Smith-Ready's Shade and Lee Nichols' Deception.  You can check that out here (ends 10/23).

Flower Friday - Sedum + Friday 5

 'Blue Spruce' Sedum

This week's featured flower is 'Blue Spruce' Sedum!  These bright yellow flowers bloom above the blue-green foliage of this perennial succulent.  The foliage grows in needle-like formations that resemble the branches of a Blue Spruce tree, and the flowers bloom atop long pinkish stems that stand above the foliage.  This six-inch groundcover grows well in full sun or partial shade and is very drought-tolerant.  It blooms all summer long and is evergreen in our region.  It is quite easy-to-grow and spreads quickly.   This variety of Sedum blooms best if dead-headed regularly throughout its flowering season.   To learn more about about 'Blue Spruce' Sedum (also called Stonecrop), check out Monrovia's  'Blue Spruce' Stonecrop page, Wikipedia's Sedum Reflexum page, or the 'Blue Spruce' Sedum page at Dave's Garden.

A few book & blogosphere notes:

1.  If you happen to live in the Northwest, the Wordstock Festival is an awesome event happening in Portland, Oregon this weekend.  Lots of fabulous authors will be making appearances, including L.K. Madigan, April Henry, Dale Bayse, Kaleb Nation, and Becca Fitzpatrick!  You can read more about it here & check out the full schedule here. 

2.  I Heart Monster is hosting a fun YA giveaway featuring eight awesome books (several of them signed), including Holly Black's White Cat, Cassandra Clare's City of Bones, Kimberly Derting's The Body Finder, Carrie Ryan's The Forest of Hands and Teeth, and Melissa Marr's Radiant Shadows.  You can enter that giveaway here (ends 11/5).

3.  Check out Cinda Williams Chima's guest blog post at Novel Novice and enter to win one of three copies of The Demon King and The Exiled Queen (ends 10/15).

Friday 5 is a meme hosted by Friday5.org  This week's theme:  Mementos.

1.  Do you still have your senior yearbook?  Yes.  Where is it?  In a closet.

2.  What souvenir did you bring back from your last trip?  The last trip I remember bringing home souvenirs from was a trip to Disneyland.  We brought home several new pins, a photo album, family silhouettes, and autograph books.

3.  What visible signs are there of your most recent injury?  I don't have any very recent injuries (thank goodness), but I do have a new scar on my foot from an evil pair of shoes I wore for a few hours one day this summer.

4.  What’s the neatest wedding favor you’ve ever seen?  I loved the favors at my BFF's wedding.  They were little goodie bags that coordinated perfectly with the wedding theme/colors & were filled with fun goodies like playdoh, old-fashioned candies, & temporary tattoos.  :)

5.  What do you do with playbills and movie-ticket stubs?  I save them.  I have a binder with plastic slide protectors that is filled with movie tickets from the past fifteen years & playbills usually end up in a box with special holiday cards and other paper mementos.