FRIDAY FAVORITES

 

Friday Favorites include my favorite images on reading or writing!

(taken from Facebook)

 Enjoy!

   

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY WITH WINNER

ANNOUNCEMENT!

For today, WW is up and running, but . . .

We are having a HUGE family reunion, so my blog will be CLOSED for the next three weeks or so--June 29-July 21. If I have time, I might post a few pictures.

Wordless Wednesday will resume on July 22 and the winner of today's WW will be announced then. The gift card will still be rewarded on time.

I will miss you all!

Hope you are enjoying your summer!

Image courtesy of [artur84] / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Congratulations to last week's WORDLESS WEDNESDAY 

winner: Mary!

I liked her answer entitled:

Image courtesy of [taesmileland] / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

PUTTING OUR LOVE ON THE LINE

To view, go here.

Wordless Wednesday is actually filled with words--the words, thoughts, and feelings that pictures or images evoke within each of us without uttering a single word!

Image courtesy of [usamedeniz] / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

What WORD/WORDS does this picture evoke within you?

Or, in other words, "TITLE THIS IMAGE."

I'll start: A WAVE OF LOVE

My favorite answer wins a $5.00 dollar Amazon gift card.

Don't forget to leave your email or I will be unable to name you as winner!

You may leave multiple answers to increase your chances of winning.

Contest is closed by Thursday at midnight and the winner will be contacted. Winner will be announced the following Wordless Wednesday.

Open only to those who can legally enter. No purchase necessary. You must be 18 or older to enter or have your parent enter for you. The winner will be emailed. If email is incorrect, a new winner will be chosen. Giveaway is sponsored by Taylor Dean Books. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW.

MONDAY MUSINGS--POWER OF THE MATCHMAKER

Coming your way in 2016 . . .

Watch for it!

I'm so thrilled to have the opportunity to participate with all of these wonderful authors for this amazing collaboration of books.

I've already read the beginning novella and it is fantastic!

My book will come out in July of 2016.

I can't wait to read the other books as well!

~

In other news . . .

We had the opportunity to spend last week in Santa Fe. It was a business trip for my hubby. While sitting in the hotel, I got lots of work done on my "Matchmaker" book. (My favorite way to work!) Regardless, it still felt like a much needed vacay!

We stayed at a hotel within easy walking distance of the famous plaza.

It was fun to walk out the door and explore the shops and choose a place for dinner.

 

This little burro marked the entrance to "burro alley," a pedestrian only alley/walkway.

We loved all the outdoor patio dining--and the weather was perfect.

Tell me about your summer!

FRIDAY FAVORITES

Friday Favorites include my favorite images on reading or writing!

(taken from Facebook)

 Enjoy!

I love writing and and I love grammar.

It makes sense to me.

Math, however, is something I will never, ever understand!!

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY WITH WINNER

Congratulations to last week's WORDLESS WEDNESDAY 

winner: Laura!

I liked her answer entitled:

Image courtesy of [m_bartosch] / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

IF I ONLY HAD A HEART

To view, go here.

Wordless Wednesday is actually filled with words--the words, thoughts, and feelings that pictures or images evoke within each of us without uttering a single word!

Image courtesy of [taesmileland] / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

What WORD/WORDS does this picture evoke within you?

Or, in other words, "TITLE THIS IMAGE."

I'll start: "Hang on to our love!"

My favorite answer wins a $5.00 dollar Amazon gift card.

Don't forget to leave your email or I will be unable to name you as winner!

You may leave multiple answers to increase your chances of winning.

Contest is closed by Thursday at midnight and the winner will be contacted. Winner will be announced the following Wordless Wednesday.

Open only to those who can legally enter. No purchase necessary. You must be 18 or older to enter or have your parent enter for you. The winner will be emailed. If email is incorrect, a new winner will be chosen. Giveaway is sponsored by Taylor Dean Books. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW.

MONDAY MUSINGS

I got to spend the week with my grandson, Gavin.

And that's about all I did this week!!

How was your week?

Hope you are enjoying the lazy days of summer!

FRIDAY FAVORITES

Friday Favorites include my favorite images on reading or writing!

(taken from Facebook)

 Enjoy!

So, I admit, I have a weakness for pajamas. 

One of my favorite movie quotes of all time is from City of Angels when Nicholas Cage asks the little girl he is escorting to heaven, "What did you like best?" And she answers, "Pajamas."

I would have to agree.

Of course, the below quote is good too!

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY WITH WINNER

Congratulations to last week's WORDLESS WEDNESDAY winner: Quilt Lady!

I liked her answer entitled:

Image courtesy of [winnond] / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

SAVING MY LOVE FOR YOU

To view, go here.

Wordless Wednesday is actually filled with words--the words, thoughts, and feelings that pictures or images evoke within each of us without uttering a single word!

Image courtesy of [m_bartosch] / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

What WORD/WORDS does this picture evoke within you?

Or, in other words, "TITLE THIS IMAGE."

I'll start: "Artificial love!"

My favorite answer wins a $5.00 dollar Amazon gift card.

Don't forget to leave your email or I will be unable to name you as winner!

You may leave multiple answers to increase your chances of winning.
Contest is closed by Thursday at midnight and the winner will be contacted. Winner will be announced the following Wordless Wednesday.

Open only to those who can legally enter. No purchase necessary. You must be 18 or older to enter or have your parent enter for you. The winner will be emailed. If email is incorrect, a new winner will be chosen. Giveaway is sponsored by Taylor Dean Books. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW.

MONDAY MUSINGS

Reviews of GIRL OF MINE:

This first review is from a Goodreads reviewer:

I have to confess; this is the first romance I have read, without a detailed sex scene, in a long time. Yeah, yeah, it is stupid but spare me. :P

So here I come down to the review.

I absolutely adored the book. 

Jill was such a realistic character. She's supposed to be short in the story and 98 pounds but I tried to imagine her as more curvy. All this imagining did not change the beauty of the story at all. That is the point. The story seemed so realistic that I could imagine anybody as it's protagonist. If that isn't the highest kind of compliment, then I don't know what is!

The story was emotional and enriching and during no point in the story did I feel that I was being subjected to forced emotional ride. (or rather handcuffed to it- read it, you'll get my point!)

                                             

The author does not shy away from creating characters with faults. None of them were perfect but their imperfections made them just perfect for believing. Trust me, there is no better feeling.

                       

Don't waste your time. Just pick up the book and read it.

I confess, I love receiving a review with gifs and memes. I rarely ever receive them and I love them!

The next review is from www.mylissasreviewsandbookthoughts

In 2013 I first stumbled across Taylor’s book For Nick, and fell in love with her style. What great books she writes. Now each year around March-April I start getting anxious to hear from Taylor and beg her for an advanced copy. Each time I read a new book by Taylor, I am stunned to discover she did it again. Her books are golden!

Girl of Mine is a wonderful, heart wrenching story of two best friends, Troy and Luke. They go through a life-altering experience as kids, which changes them forever. Troy becomes angry with the world and Luke decides to continue to be the best friend he could ever be for Troy.

As Luke is just about to be deployed, he decides to break of his engagement to the girl he loves, for reasons you will discover as you read the book. Regretting his choice, he returns a short while later to find her engaged to Troy. But he is not willing to let her go that easily.

This story is told in sections taking place in the past and present, giving you more insight into the characters as the book progresses. Eventually you get the whole story, and it takes you on all the highs and lows that are so typical for a Taylor Dean Read.

Once again I found myself laughing, hurting, gasping out loud, and even shedding a tear or two. I can’t believe I will once again have to wait another year to get my Taylor fix. Luckily her books are soooo good, you find yourself rereading them time and time again!

I'd like to post every single wonderful review I've received thus far, but . . . I won't. I know if you really want to read them, you'll go to Goodreads or Amazon and view them yourself. I just get a little overexcited when I receive a good review and I want to shout it out from the rooftops. But then I'd probably get arrested for disturbing the peace, so I'll control myself and just post a few of them every now and then. Much safer.

~ 

I had the opportunity to spend a magical weekend in Austin visiting my son last weekend. It was a nice break from life and we had a wonderful time!

One more semester and he graduates from college! Sooooo excited!

Tell me about your weekend!

FRIDAY FAVORITES

Friday Favorites include my favorite images on reading or writing!

(taken from Facebook)

 Enjoy!

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY WITH WINNER

Congratulations to last week's WORDLESS WEDNESDAY winner: Rita!

I liked her answer entitled:

Image courtesy of [m_bartosch] / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

MY LOVE FOR YOU IS TRANSPARENT

To view, go here.

Wordless Wednesday is actually filled with words--the words, thoughts, and feelings that pictures or images evoke within each of us without uttering a single word!

Image courtesy of [winnond] / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

What WORD/WORDS does this picture evoke within you?

Or, in other words, "TITLE THIS IMAGE."

I'll start: "Give me your love."

My favorite answer wins a $5.00 dollar Amazon gift card.

Don't forget to leave your email or I will be unable to name you as winner!

You may leave multiple answers to increase your chances of winning.

Contest is closed by Thursday at midnight and the winner will be contacted. Winner will be announced the following Wordless Wednesday.

Open only to those who can legally enter. No purchase necessary. You must be 18 or older to enter or have your parent enter for you. The winner will be emailed. If email is incorrect, a new winner will be chosen. Giveaway is sponsored by Taylor Dean Books. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW.

MONDAY MUSINGS--A REAL LANCASTER HOUSE!

A reader messaged me the other day with this:

I thought you might enjoy this! There was an article in our local newspaper about our very own Lancaster house! There was even a tower! The poor guy lost out on the chance to renovate his childhood home, but he has no idea how much he really lost!‪#‎LancasterHouse‬ ‪#‎TaylorDean‬ http://www.news-gazette.com/blogs/there-yet/2015-05/two-strikes-and-its-gone.html

Naturally, I immediately clicked on the link, my curiosity completely stoked! (I love that she says, "he has no idea how much he really lost! Haha. I'm sure the resident ghost is none too pleased!)

Here's the article:

Two strikes and it's gone

Tue, 05/26/2015 - 8:57am | Julie Wurth, staff writer,

The house of Weiss Lancaster’s youth was a magical place to grow up, an old Victorian mansion with back stairs and a tower and a huge porch.

It was a lively place, too, full of artwork gathered by his father, former University of Illinois art Professor Ed Lancaster, who cultivated a salon atmosphere with artists and dancers visiting from around the world.

And it was full of history, originally owned by the Solons, one of Champaign’s founding families.

Now it’s gone.

Like so many others, the house at 403 W. University Ave., C, succumbed to the wrecking ball last month.

It was heartbreaking for Lancaster, not just because it was his childhood home. Because he had tried so hard to save it.

Weiss loves old buildings. He owns a dozen rental properties throughout C-U, the majority of them “antique properties,” including a large Edwardian mansion at 309 W. University Ave., C. He also rehabbed the former Ginza building at Fourth and University.

He traces that love back to his childhood at 403 W. University, where his family moved in the early 1960s. They lived there for 20 years, renting the property from a Solon descendant who lived next door.

The house had five bedrooms, two bathrooms, a formal parlor, a living room and a dining room, with incredibly detailed Victorian woodwork and a grand staircase with thick wood posts.

“You can imagine being a little kid, playing in a mansion was a dream come true,” Lancaster said. “We always felt that West Side Park was our private playground.”

He was a teenager when his family moved to another Victorian house a block away at 507 W. Park Ave., which is still there. But the University Avenue house was home.

Lancaster heard about the house going on the market earlier this year and decided to bid on it. It turned out to be an emotional, and bureaucratic, struggle.

His parents had died, and returning to a house that brought back so many childhood memories was difficult.

Then he went inside. It was, in his words, “a catastrophe.” Bought by a flipper, it had gone into foreclosure, and then squatters moved in.

“It was an absolute destroyed mess,” he said. “It was knee-deep in garbage and waste. Some of the walls were covered in mold, and some of the drywall and plaster was ripped out.

“Even though this is what I do for a living, it was very clear this would be a very difficult struggle to try to do something with the property.”

It was listed at auction by the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development, and there was a 30-day period during which it was available only to single-family owners.

Lancaster met with his attorney to complete the 24-page HUD document releasing the agency from liability for lead paint or mold or other problems. He crunched some numbers to determine what the house was worth and what it would cost to fix up.

He ended up offering the full asking price: $86,000, in cash.

As Lancaster understands it, he won the auction. He calculated that he’d have to invest another $200,000 to $250,000 in the house, and it would be hard to recoup that under any rental scenario. But it was “a labor of love.”

Then HUD informed him that it had canceled the auction, saying the mold on the inside was too prevalent (even though he had signed the releases). He couldn’t get much information from officials at HUD, and still isn’t exactly sure what happened.

The house sat empty for a couple of weeks. Then a crew was brought in to remove the debris and tear out moldy walls. After that, it “looked a lot more presentable,” he said.

Then HUD suddenly put it back on the market for $86,000, this time with no waiting period.

With three offers now on the table, Lancaster upped his price to about $91,250. But he finished second. The house sold for $100,000, according to county property-tax records.

He felt a mixture of emotions. Guilt that he didn’t try hard enough. Relief because it would have been an enormous project. And sadness, because it’s the place his family, and the hundreds of people who visited from around the world in the ’70s and ’80s, consider the Lancaster home.

“To have lost it, to have tried not once, but twice — it was heart-breaking,” he said.

The new owner wasted no time tearing the house down. Lancaster hasn’t talked to him, and doesn’t want to second-guess his decision.

But the house’s condition wasn’t as bad as initially thought, he said, and there are few properties in Champaign with the same history, beauty or prevalence. He wishes now he had started a social-media campaign to save it.

“It does seem a shame that without much input from the community, something that is such a part of the fabric of Champaign could be allowed to disappear within a couple of days,” he said. “Once it’s gone, it’s gone.”

The new owner didn’t say what he planned to build there but did keep several important architectural pieces from the house, including the stained-glass windows, Lancaster said. He understands “there was something historically important to the property, which is a wonderful thing. As long as it was saved, that’s the important part.”

The owner also allowed the Preservation and Conservation Association to salvage other parts of the house, though he wasn’t interested in working with PACA to restore it, said Director Tom Garza.

Lancaster got some of the woodwork and a wall sconce that used to be on the backstaircase, “the one I came down every day of my life for breakfast,” he said wistfully.

Garza said “there’s no reason” the house should have come down. It needed work, he said, “but lots of things do. It’s a sad loss to the community.”

He argued that Champaign needs to update its historic-preservation laws to allow public input, as Urbana does.

One of Champaign’s most interesting features is its architecture, Lancaster said, and “it’s disappearing at an alarming rate.”

There are many properties worth saving, worth remodeling, “worth keeping rather than tearing down.”

______________

Julie Wurth blogs about families and kids and covers the University of Illinois for The News-Gazette. Leave a comment below, or contact her at 217-351-5226, jwurth@news-gazette.com or Twitter.com/jawurth.

I am so sad the house was torn down. It's such a shame. I would've loved to have seen it renovated.

Besides, where will Andre live now????

Special thanks to Kendra for sharing this with me! Now I want to read Lancaster House again!