Saturday Souvenirs: Meet Wild Siobhan Muir

Good morning and happy Saturday. I realized recently that my blog has become very writer oriented and I haven't done much interaction with the readers lately. While I love my writer friends, and am so glad to connect as well as read their writings, I wanted to also connect with the people who graciously buy my books and read for the pleasure of it.

I thought I'd share a little each week about myself as a reader and fellow human being in order to connect with people beyond my writing. I'm an extrovert and I love to interact with people. I'll be attending Arizona Dreamin' Romance Reader Event at the beginning of June in Chandler, AZ, so you can meet me in person, as well as several other romance authors.

Until then, here is a little something about me. The title of my blog is the Weird, the Wild, and the Wicked. Today I thought I'd share a little Wild about a recent visit with my friend Morgan Kearns. She came to Las Vegas to give a talk on cover art, and afterwards, we walked around the Strip together.

On the way back to our hotel in the Excalibur, we came across some knights errant offering photographs with the ladies. We were given a choice of photographs to take home with us and I couldn't resist a copy of this one:

Aww, aren't we cute? Of course, Morgan maintained she was the sweeter of the two of us (in terms of romance writing) so when the did the next photo, I got to be the whipping girl. ;)

Yes, it was as fun as it looked, and yes, I laughed my butt off all the way to the room afterwards, just because of Morgan's expression.

Of course, what trip to the Strip with your girlfriends is ever complete without a visit to the boys from Down Under? We saw a Thunder From Down Under show that night and had a great time.

I'd never seen men look like that outside of a romance novel cover and it was amazing to realize they were real. Breathing even. :D We cheered on the Brides they brought up onto stage (and there had to be at least 15 wedding parties in the crowd that night), and watched those guys dance. You know, for being so big, they actually moved together pretty well, and most of them seemed to really enjoy what they were doing (I know the ladies did).

If you get a chance to visit Las Vegas, I highly recommend Thunder From Down Under. It's fun, and at $40 it's a reasonable evening's entertainment. :)

So have any of you ever been to the Las Vegas Strip? And if you have, what fun things did you do while there?

Oh, and one other little tidbit. See that knight errant dressed all in black? You can meet him in person at the Man of Our Dreams contest at Arizona Dreamin' this year. Let me tell you, he was very nice! ;)

Thanks for stopping by and happy reading. :)

Happy Independence Day!

Today is the day! The day when people "blow shit up" like the Navy SEALs and everyone cheers. It's the day of really appreciating Firefighters everywhere, both on duty and off, and a day to sit back and relax. The fight is over for another year. Back to the grindstone tomorrow; but today is for being grateful for the reprieve.

I'm not terribly patriotic except when it comes to Independence Day. It gives me a chance to reflect on the opportunities and freedoms I enjoy living here, and I'm grateful for them. I'm grateful for the right to complain when I don't like something the government has chosen to endorse or do. I'm grateful, as a woman, for the right to vote, speak out, govern, and work in any profession I wish to pursue. A hundred years ago, that wasn't the case in this country; it still isn't in several countries around our world.

Of course, I like the great piles of food; turkey dogs, chicken burgers, krumpli salat (Hungarian potato salad), tart lemon bars, thick creamy Mississippi Mud, and chocolate wine; and the kicking back with friends on this day. I also really like the fireworks. In Las Vegas, the fireworks displays are larger than life and there several shows explode on the Strip and around the valley. Heck, you can stand outside and watch your neighbors shoot off displays just about as large as those from the Casino Resorts in town.

In my house, the master bathroom windows face south toward the Strip and every Independence Day, my husband sets thick fluffy towels on the marble and invites me in with him to watch the fireworks displays on the Strip from our bathtub. The A/C keeps us cool and the lights brighten the (usually) clear sky.

This year we have a lot of humidity (for us) and there are clouds filling our valley. It will be interesting to watch the fireworks illuminating the cloud cover in brilliant splashes of colored light. I'm sure it will look like Las Vegas is experiencing party-colored bomb blasts from space!

I hope your Independence Day celebrations are safe and full of wonderful family and friends. I hope your loved ones are home safe, and you are able to really enjoy your freedoms this year!

I know I will! :)