The Holy-@#$%-300-People-Care-What-I-Say, Liar Society Giveaway!! EXTENDED to March 25 & Open International!!!

I can't believe this day has come. We've surpassed 300 followers! You are all SO AWESOME! Thank you ;o) We've been riding the crazy train since 12/20/08.

Wow. That's a long time. So much has happened since then. But. Since this post is long, I will spare you the details... LOL

So. I just had to share what happened this past weekend. Because it was superfantastically awesome. My friend Melanie Hoo and I had the pleasure of attending Lisa and Laura Roecker's book launch for THE LIAR SOCIETY!

It was EPIC. I tell you.

And... if you slog through the next few paragraphs you may be able to benefit from our adventurous trip!

The journey over the hill and through the toll booths to Lisa and Laura's launch we go... is quite a story in itself. Grab a chair. Please note: I'm not making any of this up. Well, maybe the lame dialogue.

Day 1- Leave house around 9ish, get on the highway. Excited squeees ensue from Mel and Erica.

An hour or so later - "Dang, this fog is thick."
"I know, right?" I say.
"Oh, hey it started raining too, bonus"
"Ha. I hope it's not a omen." Laughter. Oh Karma, I'm sorry. I will never test you again.

Some hours later. "Wow, it's pretty bad out there," Mel says in between us belting out Bon Jovi. ( Mel was in charge of the iPod. She has exceptional taste.)
"It sure is--" My heart stops beating."*$%^ almost slipped there," I said. "Oh we're getting low on gas..."

Half hour later. "Hey there's a truck stop." Ride in. I think... crap there's two entrances. Naturally, you take the one that DOESN'T say semis and trailers only.
Except we didn't. "Go this way," Mel says."Oh."
"Crap, we can't get to the other side," I said. Semi's are lined up in rows glaring at us like invading parasites.
"Just go back the way you came in, no one's here."
Huh? Does not compute. Ten minutes of driving in circles later, I figure out what she's trying to tell me. Too late. "No way, with my luck it'll be the one time someone comes down it."
And we leave. Still low on gas.

Another amount of time later.  Swerve. "Ew. there's so many dead things on the road tonight."
"Did you hit it?" she says, in between belting out Chicago.
"No, my tires were on each side of it."

More time passes. "Toll booth." I see the sign about checking brakes. I check my brakes. They work good. Whew. Rain pelting down, we get to the line. "Cool only one van. This should go fast," I say.
Tick Tock... "What's taking him so long?"
Laughter erupts from us at the guy in the van standing and inserting his ticket into the top slot of the machine. (did I mention it was like ten feet up so the semis could get to it)
"Why is he using the ticket thing for the semis?"
"Not sure?"

You may be thinking here. Well, if he had to use it then... perhaps there is an issue with the lower slot. But sadly, I didn't think that. Not until it was five minutes later and I had shoved my ticket unsuccessfully into the bottom slot.

So I stood my 5'5 1/2 frame and tried to shove the ticket and the coins into the top semi slot. "%$#@ I can't reach it!" I had a choice.

1. Acquire Go Go Gadget arms
2. Become a super hero and fly up (My luck I would be the one that sprouted sonic ears of something that wouldn't help me in the situation)
3. Stand on my SUV

Since I didn't get the gadget arms or become a super hero, I hefted myself up on the rail of my SUV and reached up. Rain pelted me from the side and laughter echoed from the car behind me, I looked over and a car of girls were yelling "What are you doing?"
I laughed back. "You're gonna have to do it too!" And we're off again.
Still running low on fumes, we had to get off I-80, so we leave the highway and get to a toll booth, with a *gasp* real person.
"Oh, do you smell that? Smells like skunk," I said to the nice lady.
"I think it's you." she says turning up her nose.
"What? I don't think so. Must be around here somewhere, you should find someone and get on that."

Minutes later - it's 1 in the morning by now. Mel runs into the gas station and I pump the gas. *sniff* "Oh *&^%*, it is me." I say to myself.

As of today. It still stinks. Yes, and I didn't even hit it directly...

Fast forward to arrival in downtown Cleveland... after a few turn arounds, and a cop car pulling right behind us as I was getting lost, we get to the hotel.
Just as cops pull up behind us.
Now, I didn't say anything, but I was thinking ^%$#, !@#$;^%$. It's 2 in the morning. Instead of giving me a ticket for driving like a tourist, they get out of the car and strole into the hotel. Not a good sign... at least they aren't after me. But knowing they were there for someone IN the hotel had me a bit worried.

Freaking out and tired from white-knuckling it the whole way, I hop out of my seat and hear a crackle against the ground. Unbeknownst to me, my 3 month old 4G Samsung $$$ Epic, lay on the streets of downtown Cleveland, screen cracked but still functioning. Had to make a trip to Best Buy the next day to get a case and screen protector so I wouldn't keep scratching my fingers up when I used it.


Day 2 - Travel to Hudson, OH to The Learned Owl bookstore. (seriously the cutest bookstore EVER) and have the times of our lives hanging with Lisa, Laura their fam and some of the most awesome group writers/authors I've met!!

Lisa and Laura are the sweetest, most generous people I've met. They could not have made us feel more welcome. And, we got to hang with the fantabulous and FUN Scott Tracey, Leah Clifford, Chelsea Swiggett, Loretta Nyhan, her friend Erin (who is equally fantastic) in addition to LiLa's incredibly awesome family. Seriously, I want one just like theirs, if even for just a few days (no, no I still want mine, but I wouldn't mind a trade some days. LOL) The Regulator, regulated (can I tell you how much I loved her!) and the third Roecker sister was just as sweet as her siblings (her smile lights up a room). In fact, the whole town of Hudson was packed full of seriously kind and genuine people. I loved it there.

Day 3 - We rocked it at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum. So much stuff to see. Michael Jackson's Thriller jacket, letters and contracts, lyrics written on paper... We Didn't Start The Fire, was written on lined paper! Some lyrics were on folders, whatever they could find apparently. We even saw some of Jimmy Hendrix's drawings he did as a kid. Yeah, who knew he was an artist too? I didn't. SO COOL!

Gah. That was long. Sorry!

So. because you made it through my weekend story. I'm doing a giveaway!! While at the book signing, I just happened to get a signed copy of THE LIAR SOCIETY and I'm giving it away to YOU! Because you are awesome and because I got my own copy... but really you're awesome. I'm also adding a Liar Society bookmark as well! YAY!

Since Latin plays a large role in TLS (how awesome is that book? SO GOOD, if you have not read, you are totally missing out) I'm going to ask you to put on that brain cap and write a sentence in Latin (can be from TLS too,) leave it in the comments (with translation please) and a couple of my pals Brenda Drake and C.A. Marshall over at DNA writers are going to judge! So get those Latin Dictionaries/Google Translator's ready and get creative.

Entries are as follows...

+1 Comment on this post with your Latin sentence!

EXTENDED to Friday MARCH 25th! NOW OPEN INTERNTIONALLY!

Have a fantastic week ;o)

Good luck!!

<;3 Er


Pic credit http://www.graphicshunt.com/