I'm a Double RITA Award Finalist!!!!!

So I totally had another post planned today and I was going to tell you about this great book I just read, BUT my brain cells are now only operating at half-capacity because I got the call today that I'm a double nominee for a RITA® Award (the romance writer's version of the Oscars)!!!!

BREAK ME DOWN is nominated in the erotic romance category!

and

NICE GIRLS DON'T RIDE is nominated in the novella category!

I'm over the moon excited. My morning has mostly consisted of this: 

The Carlton Dance - snap you fingas!! in #happy

and this...

GIF in #excited

Here's the list of all the nominees if you want to go on a book buying binge. I know I'm going to be doing that, lol.

Now I have to go shop for a fancy dress for the San Diego conference. :D

Have a great holiday weekend, y'all! 

First Look: Excerpt of Loving You Easy

Want the first sneak peek of LOVING YOU EASY? This is a menage romance, but here's a little snippet of the heroine, Cora Benning, with one of the heroes, Ren Muroya. They've both been working hard to be professional since they're working together, but things break down after a few drinks over dinner. (NOTE: This is a pre-edited version. Some things may change and please forgive any typos.)

Enjoy! Oh, and if you'd like to picture Ren while reading, the visual inspiration for his character is Godfrey Gao. You're welcome. :) 

From LOVING YOU EASY (releasing September 2016):

Cora shifted backward, bumping into her car. “Please don’t do that.”

Ren's brows dipped. “Don’t what?”

“Try to make me feel better. Give me a boost or whatever. Because, seriously, I don’t need your pity.”

He laughed. This sharp bark of a thing that echoed through the empty parking lot. “Pity? Are you kidding?”

Her teeth snapped together, anger rising. “You—“

But he moved so fast it made the rest snag in her throat. Both of his hands landed on the car behind her, caging her in and bringing his face close to hers. “Ready for completely and whole-heartedly inappropriate?”

He wasn’t touching her anywhere, but he may as well have pressed his entire body against her for the way her blood went hot. She couldn’t speak. Couldn’t move. All she could see were those dark eyes and inhale the scent of him, spicy food and man.

“I reeled myself in tonight. I asked you to dinner for selfish reasons. But once we were there and got to talking, I had a crisis of conscience. You’re working with me. You’ve been through hell this week. You didn’t need me complicating that. I forced myself to play by the rules. I made myself be good.” He leaned close to her ear, his breath coasting along her neck. “But don’t think for one second that I didn’t want to talk you into my bed tonight, that I didn’t want to show you that side of myself you saw in the hallway at the party, and that I haven’t been thinking exactly how good it would feel to have you beneath me.”

All ability to breathe ceased inside her. Her body going still as stone and melty as lava.

“So you can accuse me of a lot of things, Cora. Crossing lines. Being selfish. Acting inappropriately. Because I’m doing all of those things right now. But one thing you can’t accuse me of is pity.” He pushed off the car, freeing her from the invisible hold, and took a step back. “I’ll see you in the morning. And if you decide not to show up anymore because of this, I’ll make sure you’re paid through the rest of next week.”

He turned and strode toward his car, leaving her standing there trembling and breathing hard and…way too turned on.

She wet her lips, a surge of bravery welling in her. “You never told me your breaking the law story.”

The words rang through the distance between them, and she thought he might keep walking, but he stopped and turned around. “We’ll need to schedule a seven-course meal to get through all of that.”

“That long of a list, huh?”

His mouth kicked up at the corner. All bad boy and charm. "Goodnight, hallway girl."

***

Get your copy on pre-order:  Amazon  | Barnes and Noble |Books-A-Million |Indie Bound |The Book Depository | Kobo | iBooks | Google Play

Week 1 of the #ListifyLife Challenge - Spring For Me Is...

Spring is here! Which for Dallas apparently means it's finally going to act like winter. o.0  We've had a strangely warm winter and then the day the calendar flips to Spring, it got really cold. But I'm looking that as a positive--maybe it will kill some of the mosquitos lol.

Now, on to the first week of the #ListifyLife challenge and this week it's all about Spring! Remember you can join up with this challenge at any time. There will be a new topic each week throughout Spring.

So here's my list! (Forgive the not-so-great doodles. God blessed me with the ability to write and left me with nothing in the ability to draw department.)

1. Bluebonnets - This was a new one for me when I moved to Texas. Right at the start of spring, these gorgeous blue-purple wildflowers pop up all over the place along the roads and interstates. They only last for a few weeks, but it brightens everything up and lets you know spring is here. You'll also see people stopping along the side of the road to take pictures of their kids in the bluebonnets. I haven't done this yet because...bees. Fear of bees > Need for blubonnet pics

2. Thunderstorms - This is my least favorite part of Spring. I love rain, but I hate the scary thunderstoms we get here in Texas. Hail is no fun and tornadoes are terrifying. And we've been through Springs here where every week the sirens are going off and you're hiding in the closet. *hates*

3. Crawfish boils - Unfortunately, this is one I don't get to experience anymore since leaving Louisiana, but Spring still makes me think of them. It's crawfish season and it's lent (no meat on Fridays) so in Louisiana that often means crawfish boils on Fridays. Some of my most vivid family memories are of sitting around a newspaper-covered picnic table with the big crawfish pot boiling away over a roaring propane flame and the scent of cayenne in the air. This Good Friday, I will promptly go into the sads that I don't have a crawfish boil to go to, lol.

4. Start of conference season - The kick off for the writers' conferences I go to is the Romantic Times convention, which is typically in April or May. So now is when I start thinking about fun conference trips with friends, getting new clothes, and seeing readers. :)

5. Sunshine - The most obvious one of Spring, but after my Vitamin D deficiency issue this past fall/winter, the sunshine is more welcome than ever. 

All right, that's my list for the week. Are you joining in to the challenge? Click here for the details, but below is the list of topics for the coming weeks. And you can post any time during each week. If you're playing along, feel free to leave a comment with your link. :) And remember Sierra Godfrey made really cute printable cards if you want to use those for your lists.

What does Spring mean for you?

Making Cold Brew Coffee or How To Be Highly Caffeinated

Today I'm fighting Spring allergies and trying to get my head in the game to write, so what did I think to blog about? Coffee. Why? Because that's the only thing on my mind this morning. *needs ALL the coffee*

The other day I mentioned on Twitter that I love my cold brew coffee and a few people asked me what it is or how I make it. So I figured that we can always use a little more caffeine in our life. :)

I am not a lifelong coffee drinker. I actually was an avid coffee hater until a year ago. I had tried all kinds of different versions, everything from the basic to the frothed, whipped, chocolatified kind of coffee and always found it - yuck. Then, last year on a trip to Napa (God, that sounds pretentious), I was cold and hubs got a pour over coffee and it smelled really good and I thought--okay, I'm going to try again. Lo and behold, after a few sips, I realized I liked it.

This also may be due to the fact that we'd been wine-tasting for a few days and I'd learned the technique of getting your tastebuds acclimated to a new taste. Meaning, you probably aren't going to like the new thing on the first or second sip because your tastebuds are all--what the hell is this? Is it poison?! Abort! But by the third sip, you're tastebuds are all--oh, look at that, we didn't die. We can like this. Carry on. Yum.

So since that day, I've become quite an avid coffee drinker. And I like to try new versions of it. So last summer, when I was wanting iced coffee (because a cup of a hot coffee just doesn't have the same effect in 100 degree Texas heat), I started researching how to make it home. That led me to the concept of cold brew coffee, which is different from iced coffee (and tastier! and more caffeinated!) Cold brew means just what it said. The coffee isn't heated up to brew it. This means that much of the acid in coffee never makes it into the brew (yay!) leaving a smoother, almost chocolate-y taste. It's delish. I sampled it at Starbucks first. (Make sure to ask for cold brew not iced coffee. Iced coffee is just cooled regularly brewed coffee poured over ice.) 

But I work from home and didn't want to drive to Starbucks every day, so I needed to figure out how to make it myself. Because if you try to buy cold brew concentrate at the store, you'll find out that it's freaking expnsive. I was not down with that. So I researched.

OXO Good Grips Cold Brew Coffee Maker, Clear/Grey

$49.95

There are some basic ways to make it involving filters and mason jars, but I wanted the easiest system possible. Enter the OXO Cold Brew Coffee Maker.

This thing is exactly what I needed because a) I don't like complicated kitchen equipment and b) I hate to clean intricate stuff. This fixed both. All you do is put in your coffee (recipe below), add your water, and then leave it on your counter overnight. In the morning, you put the carafe beneath, flip the switch, and your delicious cold brew concentrate comes out. (Note: There are tiny little paper filters you can buy that go with this. I use those.)

And here's the best part, the concentrate will last in your fridge for TWO WEEKS without getting stale. Though, a batch only late a week around here. 

And this is CONCENTRATE. You don't drink this straight up. It's meant to be mixed with your milk and water. So you get a lot of cups out of one batch. And you can make it over ice or you can mix it with hot water to get a hot cup. Easy easy. And so tasty. Plus, it's a hellavu lot of caffeine, lol.

So if you decide you want to try it, here's my favorite recipe:

To make the large batch of cold brew (will keep in fridge for two weeks):

• 3.5 cups of your favorite fresh ground coffee (I use Starbucks Pike)
• 5 cups of filtered water

Let brew on your counter for about 12 hours or overnight.

To make an individual travel size cup of iced cold brew coffee once your concentrate is ready:

• Fill travel mug halfway or so with ice
• 1/3 cup of cold brew (OXO recommends 1/4, but what are we? Amateurs?)
• 1/3 cup of low sugar vanilla almond milk or milk of your choice
• Sweetener of choice (I use one sweet n low)
• Whatever room is left, fill to top with filtered water

Enjoy and be caffeinated. :)

What's your favorite way to have your coffee?

*This post isn't sponsored but any Amazon links are affiliate links. 

5 Lesser Known But Wildly Helpful Apps

Y'all know I'm obsessed with paper planners and like doing a lot of things the old school way, but that doesn't mean I'm immune to the joys of technology. I'm not someone who has a billion apps on my phone, but I do have a good number and there are a few that are great little short cuts that help me out often. So I thought it'd be fun to feature the ones that I find extra helpful.

1. Pocket

Not sure if this one is lesser known, but it's necessary for me. Am I the only one who ends up with 13 million tabs open on my browser? Arg. I see an article I want to read on Twitter or Facebook, and I open a tab. But I don't have time to read it just then, so it sits there. And then I'm left wondering why my computer is getting slow when I have 13 MILLION TABS OPEN. This is where Pocket comes in. I can hit a little button on my computer (or phone) and it saves it in the Pocket app for me to read later. BUT this isn't the only helpful thing. Pocket also sends out a weekly newsletter of curated articles that they think you'll be interested in, and they are always really good. Like there is always something I want to read in that email. Usually more than one thing. I look forward to that email--which I can't say about many newsletters. So I'd get the app for the newsletter alone even if it didn't do the other cool thing.

2. Pensieve

This is a recent find. Someone in my planner group recommended it and as soon as she said what it did, I was like--I need that! So this is a super simple app but it lets you send a quick email to yourself without having to type in email addresses and such. You just have a little open box, you type your note and hit send and it automatically goes to your email. (You only have to enter your email the very first time when you set it up. After that it remembers.) I am constantly emailing myself little notes or reminders when I'm away from my computer and this makes it super quick and simple.

3. GIF Keyboard

Okay, I don't know if this is "helpful" per se, but it certainly is fun. I have it on my phone and computer. This gives you access to a GIF database instantly. You just search and then click the picture and it automatically copies it so you can paste into text messages. You can install it as part of your keyboard on your phone, but I chose just to get the app and open it when I need it because I didn't want it in my keyboard. Either way works. But it's loads of fun to be able to grab GIFs quickly.

4. Can I Stream.It?

Want to know if a movie or TV show is available to stream/rent/purchase from one of the many services out there? This app has the answer. It will tell you which services something is streaming on, where you can rent it, where you can buy it, and/or if it's available on DVD from Netflix or Redbox. It covers the major movie stations, iTunes, YouTube, Amazon, Google Play, Xbox, Sony, Hulu, Crackle, Vudu, etc. Very comprehensive. It also lets you set up alerts to let you know when something become available on a certain service. Really helpful if you have a lot of different options for streaming and don't want to have to individually search each one.

5. Sleep Pillow

Need white noise to go to sleep? Sleep Pillow has SO many different sounds to choose from. Box fans, open car windows, city noise, wind over the plains. I use this a lot when I travel and need to block out all those unfamiliar hotel noises.

Note: I'm on an iPhone so I'm sure if all of these are available across platforms.

So those are a few of my favorites. What are some of your favorite apps?