Upcoming Events!

First!

It's time to announce Philly Lit Night again! For those who did not receive the email (do you want the email? I will send it to you. Or rather make Simon send it. Since he wrote it), here are ALL the details you need to come and join us and pretty much have the best Saturday that you'll ever have on a Saturday that happens to fall on February 18th, 2012.

Our December Meet Up--Next time YOU could be in this picture!

What: Philly Lit Night
When: Saturday, February 18th
Time: 4pm
Place: Iron Hill Brewery and Restaurant, 3 West Gay Street, West Chester, PA
Why: Because we're awesome and you're awesome and we're interested in seeing how much awesome can possibly fit into one room before the universe implodes.

Also:
For anyone who wants to get some writing done before the meet up--with company--the First Novels Club will be at Chester County Book and Music writing around 1pm until we head over to Iron Hill.


And a non-writing event:

I'm now hosting a monthly Belly Dance Expo, a free show with the area's most amazing local dancers performing.

What: Belly Dance Expo

When: Tuesday, March 6th

Time: 8PM

Place: The Fig Cage and Hookah Lounge, 437 Old York Road, Jenkintown, PA

Why: Because belly dancing is AWESOME!

You can also catch me performing one Saturday a month now with my fabulous dance partner, Heather.

And lastly...

This weekend I'm road tripping with the fabulous Jeri Smith-Ready to DC so we can party hard at the launch of Jessica Spotswood's debut, BORN WICKED.

Whee! Ok, hope to see your faces at some of these events soon!

Kid Lit Drink Night Friday!

What are all of you doing this weekend?

If you live near anywhere near New York City (and you're 21 or over), you should definitely be going to this:

(Image used from the official Kid Lit announcement, found here.)

Kid Lit Drink Night: SCBWI Edition!

When: Friday, January 27th, 8pm.

Where: Public House (www.publichousenyc.com) on East 41st Street between Lexington and Third Avenue.

Who: All the cool people! Seriously, this is the hot spot for editors, agents, authors, SCBWI-goers, and generally interesting book people.

Oh and ME! I'll be hanging out and so will the entire First Novels Club.

Let me know if you'll be there too!

BIG NEWS at The First Novels Club

Wheeee! One of my critique partners and bffs has BIG NEWS that she was finally able to announce at The First Novels Club.

I'm so excited to celebrate with her! Which we will once I'm over this horrendous cold that's left me in bed for days AND we shovel out of the snow we finally got! YAY! In the meantime, go check out the news and congratulate her!

Drool Over Banana Bread

This is all I have for you today. A picture of some chocolate chip banana bread I baked today. If you came over I'd serve you a slice. But for now, enjoy the picture. And yep, this is vegan and gluten free. The recipe is from the Babycakes baking book. 

Did you guys make anything cool this week?

CRACKED Launch Party

Saturday night I got to celebrate the release of CRACKED by my friend K.M. Walton at her launch party and WOW was that a launch party.

The bookstore had to give out numbers for the book signing line and just to give you a small idea of how epic the night was, I was number 101!

And because these events are best shown with pictures and some possibly awkward (ok TOTALLY awkward) vlogs, I'll be showing you the CRACKED Launch Party in picture and video.

Waiting in line with my bff since 2nd grade, Atiya and Joanne, the awesome indie bookseller!

Christine Danek, Simon Larter, Jessica Corra, ME, Ilene Wong, Amy Garvey, Donna Gambale, Sara DeSabato

Kelly Lyman, Jessica Corra, Christine Danek, Simon Larter

The CRACKED cake, so cool, it had a 3D cup with candy pills.

Many of the usual suspects: Lillie, Kelly, Christine, Ilene, Donna and Jenna.

K.M. Walton signing like a champ!

The insane crowd!

Donna Gambale, The Woman Of The Hour, Me, Sara DeSabato

Donna Gambale with CRACKED and her raffle prize!

Following the launch party many of us headed over to The Social Lounge for a little after party. But before that all happened, I shot a lot of videos. Some were (ahem) shot sideways and anyone familiar with me or my blog will know that I cannot edit these things, so...I'll spare you the sidewayisms, and leave you with the upright ones.

Enjoy!

Video 1: Pretending I'm the host of a red carpet show interviewing guests. But the question of the night wasn't "What are you wearing" but rather, "What are you READING?" And yes, the Bar Guide is my microphone.

Video 2: A totally normal moment that just happens to include me filming Amy Garvey (COLD KISS) who is also filming me while Kelly Lyman and Christine Danek film me and each other...

Video 3: Clean up on aisle Camping, Canoeing and Other Outdoor Books You'll Enjoy...

I hope you enjoyed our shenanigans. See how much fun these launch parties are? Especially when they happen near Philly?

K.M. Walton, you ROCKED the house! So proud of you.

How was everyone else's weekend?

What I Made Wednesday

Some of you may know that last November I cut gluten from my diet. Not one hundred percent...there have been a few experiments where I try it again to see if I feel differently (I do) and a few holiday mishaps where I didn't realize every ingredient (whoops) and a few cases where I just wanted to be polite (as a vegan I spend A LOT of time not accepting food, but there were a few times recently, I just felt like, oh well...).

Anyway, I've been feeling so much better. I was starting to get a lot of headaches and my skin has been a bit of a mess for awhile. The removal of gluten has really helped me there. And so, I've been baking and cooking A LOT. Being gluten-free (not eating any wheat) doesn't mean I can't enjoy normal foods...it just means, I need to make them myself to ensure the right ingredients for me are used.

And I'm having a blast. So I thought I'd share.

Vegan Gluten-Free French Toast

I used this recipe from PETA's website. To make it GF, I simply used GF rice-bread, and when the recipe called for flour, I used GF flour. This is probably my favorite right now. I didn't know for a long time I could still have french toast without eggs. And it's so simple and fast to make. I topped it with strawberries and agave nectar.


Vegan Gluten-Free Pancakes

These came from a pancake mix called Pamela's Gluten Free Pancake and Baking Mix. The recipe on the side of the bag called for an egg, which I just skipped. But to help make the pancakes a little more fluffy, I added applesauce to the mix, cooked, and then topped with berries.

Vegan Gluten Free Latkes

I found these when I wanted latkes for Hannukah and I'm so glad I did. I will probably make these a few more times this year. The only downfall is they take SO much time (not because their GF or vegan, but because that's the nature of the beast with latkes unless you buy a store mix). This recipe came from Alicia's Silverstone's fabulous website The Kind Life. Again to GF the recipe, I swapped out the flour for GF flour.

Ok, I hope you enjoyed. Now I must decide which recipe to try today....

No Kiss Recap and Cracked!

Thank you to everyone who participated in the 3rd Annual No Kiss Blogfest yesterday. I think this was the best one yet and I can't wait to see everyone again and all the tense almost kisses you'll dream up again next January. I had so much fun reading posts yesterday and reading everyone's comments. I hope you all had fun! (And if I somehow missed your post, please let me know so I can come and read).

And now...today is a VERY special day! My friend K.M. Walton's debut novel CRACKED is now in stores. To celebrate this awesome occasion, I give you A Very CRACKED Adventure.


Once Upon a Time, in a Barnes and Noble not too far away....

Donna and I were sneaking up on CRACKED! We wanted to surprise him.

Oh no! CRACKED spotted Donna! Busted!

But it was okay because CRACKED and its twin brother CRACKED were so happy to see her!

AAAAAAHHHH! TWINSIES!!!!

So then CRACKED was like, "Frankie! Donna! Calm down! I'm going to meet EVERYBODY SEES THE ANTS in the cafe for some coffee and have a chat."

After coffee, CRACKED decided to go chill with his favorite local books.

Then CRACKED decided to go read some magazines and catch up on current events since he'd been living in his
shipping box for awhile.

But I had to stop that, so I could read CRACKED myself.

Donna read CRACKED too.

And after much chagrin, CRACKED agreed to let Edward look in his pages.

And Jacob...

CRACKED  went over to the Nook and had one question for him. "How on earth do I fit in there?" Nook would not reply.

CRACKED tried to hang out with some bananagrams. But they were making him hungry.

And after all that excitement, CRACKED lounged on a couch for a bit.

His coffee caught up with him and he raced to the bathroom.

But there was one little problem...No Merchandise allowed inside. Luckily in that moment CRACKED remembered he was a book and he didn't have bodily functions.

Instead, CRACKED read a bedtime story.

And went to sleep.

The End!

HAPPY RELEASE DAY to CRACKED and K.M. WALTON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!