It had been a loooooong time since I stopped by one of my favorite Monday Muse sites: Miss Aimee over in Artsyville. While there, I saw she had posted a new weekword: Flavor.  I hear that word and I think of big international festivals with lots of food, music, dancing, and more food from different cultures. However, yesterday afternoon, while enjoying the quintessential summer playdate at a friend’s – sunshine and  sprinklers in the backyard. So after making wet butt print art on the fence, the kiddos chilled out with a frozen treat. It was the first time either of my girls ate a Fudgesicle (or is it Fudgsicle?) and the results were hilarious, and full of flavor!

And thank goodness there was a handy sprinkler nearby for cleanup afterwards!

I can’t recall how I stumbled across blogger Amanda Del Buono’s website: MandaJuice – Blogging With the Safety Off, but I’m glad I did. Her writing style is open and honest and quirky and funny. She is very near – if not exactly -  my own age, has 2 young chilluns (her oldest and Miss A were born in the same year) and, above all else, she is also on the journey to publication. She’s a few steps ahead of me because her first book is finished…and wow, but do I love how she includes an open invitation for an agent to come check her awesomeness out. If that is not the definition of awesome, I don’t know what is. (I promise to stop using awesome now). Her unabashed “Hey you, I wrote this incredible book, now who is cool enough to be my agent?”  was enough to get me wanting to read Gravy, the title of her hopefully-eventually-published-novel (y’know, the one she actually finished while I am still about 30k away from the 90k finish line I’ve estimated). I really like her recent post on “Where the Magic Happens” it makes me want to tote my netbook around more often, just on the off chance I’ll finally manage to find an extra 30 seconds in my day.

Apart from the kinship of a childhood in the 1980′s, motherhood, a love for Trader Joe’s,  and writing – I find we have something else “in common.” Manda went through gastric-bypass surgery and is very open about the procedure and its impact on her life. My mother and brother have both had this surgery, and my sister and other brother are both in the planning stages to have it as well. Though weight is a constant struggle for me, it is a battle I have managed to control, for the most part, in that surgery is not an option I have had to consider – nor do I ever plan to let it become one. But I can, all too well, understand the ache:  physical, mental, and emotional, that obesity causes.

But that’s not holding either of us back! On a much lighter note (yes, pun intended)  I am happy to see her GoodReads shelf includes Laura Kinsale’s newest novel, which I have cued up (thanks to a rockin’ SB Sarah!) and ready to go on Miss Scarlett. Wow, this is one Monday Muse I’d love to sit and have coffee with…especially if it means I’d be doing it in Portland (I still really want to visit there, and the husband still really wants to live there).

But if you can’t get some java right now – in the Pacific Northwest or otherwise, click on over to MandaJuice and start sipping.

Though I can’t imagine being unable to obtain some kind of coffee-type beverage at a moment’s notice in the Pacific Northwest…or is that a stereotypical fallacy? I’d be happy to do the research necessary to find out.

One of the hand-outs she created was a stream of consciousness instructional “lecture” on how to just let go and create. I am totally stealing her words and applying them to my writing, it has given me the little inspirational boost I needed today, I hope it does the same for you!

Send your inner professor to the hall for there is no judge here – no grade – no critique – only you and your pen and your paper and your process and whatever you might discover along the way.

Pretty awesome huh? It looks even better in her unique doodle-y design:

Her advice might have originally been intended for hand crafting your own lettering designs, but it can so easily be applied to any art…so take her words to heart, send your inner professor out the door and create something!

Thanks for the dose of inspiration Miss Aimee!

She Wears Many Hats was found after clicking her blog link from PW’s Tasty Kitchen site - I had spotted her recipe for chocolate muffins with pumpkin frosting (using dark chocolate, no less) and knew I would have to make these for the husband. That man is one picky eater, but this recipe has his name all over it.

Created by Amy from South Carolina, SWMH is  fun and informative; the website is vibrant and well organized; reminding me quite a bit of PW herself (maybe it’s all the recipes and great photos). Anyways, Amy has some neat craft ideas, home decor plans, diatribes about the usual stuff, and all the great things that make crafty creative Moms who blog a source of inspiration and motivation for the rest of us.

So put on your “web surfing while drinking wine” hat and click on over.

So go pay Smitty Baby a visit and enter, but if you win you better plan on sending me your 2nd copy.

Crafty Chicks is a collection of women (mostly Mamas, from what I can tell) who have some of the most wonderful ideas for all things crafty. Currently up on their homepage are ideas for “Quiet books” – cloth books to keep toddlers busy. I was amazed at the quality and level of detail in these books…I don’t know if I would have the patience (or skill) to make one! I think they should sell them (hint, hint). Lil’ G would love one for Christmas.

If ever your crafty creative well runs dry, take a peek at their tags – they have ideas for most holidays – take a look what I found under HALLOWEEN, and all sorts of other stuff like aprons, magnets, digital scrapbooking and more. I know this is going to be a great “go-to” resource for me when I’m wearing my homeschool mama hat.

Smitty baby’s Mama, Meridith, is close to my age, and had her first baby just a few months after Lil’ G was born…I think it’s amazing all she has managed to do as a new Mama in the past year. Check out her blog – she and her husband seem fun and funny and I wish them all the best in every crafty cool idea they come up with.

I’m talking, of course, of Diana Gabaldon – author of the Outlander series, and high on my list of people I’d love to sit down to dinner with for a long evening of wine and conversation. The latest book in her series comes out tomorrow (Echo In the Bone – #7 in the series – and not the last she promises us!)

She is launching her book tour…and will be within 90 minutes of my house next week…do I ditch my sand volleyball game to play gushing fangirl?

Let me see how much a ticket costs to her book reading/signing and I’ll get back to you.

We did accept the lovely invitation to play in a friend of  a friend’s pool before it closed for the summer.  I’m glad I let Miss A have that hour of fun…yes my schedule was full and hectic, but summer is almost over and you only live once. She had an awesome time (Lil G gad fun too).

I also managed to squeeze in a shower and plan the dance choreography for the show’s first song.

So you know what? I’m my own muse today!

Drama Mama…Multi-Tasking Maven.

Being a mom and a writer is hard, and the only other people who know just how hard are other Mama Writers. We want you to know that you have a place to come where you belong, where you can feel like part of a real community. And that’s something very special.

We have all dedicated ourselves to being the very best mom we can be, which means becoming a better person. And we’ve have dedicated ourselves to being the best story-tellers we can be.

It’s a great place to go for when you feel…as so wonderfully articulated by Aimee over at Artsyville:

And if that’s not enough...every month they have a contest, giving away a bag of goodies to whoever comments the most at their site.

I haven’t had a lot of time to dig around on the site, but I look forward to finding ideas and inspiration…Mama Writers…what a great idea! Go check it out today!