What was begun as an online journal of the books I read evolved...or maybe it devolved...to also feature behind the scenes goings-on at All About Romance from my perspective (mostly based on my personal feelings - okay, it's a personal pity party); topics I've gone over ad nauseum in commentary at AAR, including the nature of reviews and online behavior; and my non-cyber life (including family and items in pop culture that capture my interest, which is just about everything).

Please do not violate my trust. I restricted certain AAR-related and personal entries for a reason...to keep them as private as possible. Now that my blog is read-only, to access restricted entries you must already have a password; if you do, hold onto it so that you can continue to read restricted entries.

This blog is not part of All About Romance. I ask that you keep comments or questions regarding restricted blog content off of AAR.

Below you'll find the blogs I visit, broken out in my own odd little system of categories.

July 2006



Next Stop...Cape May!

Friday, 21 July 2006 8:19 P GMT-05
There's nothing like waiting till the last minute, is there?  We leave at the crack of dawn tomorrow to catch a plane for the East Coast, and it wasn't until noon today that I was able to settle down and pack.  The morning was spent with la
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White Rock Creek Trail

Thursday, 20 July 2006 1:42 A GMT-05
I absolutely cannot fall asleep tonight...perhaps it's because we're leaving town in two days for a nearly two week trip and I haven't even begun to prepare. Instead of attempting bed just yet, I decided to find a map online of the walk trail I
Category: Personal/Political

Sara...meet Prissy

Tuesday, 18 July 2006 2:19 P GMT-05
My husband and I can't really understand why Gordon Ramsay is like Dr. Jeckyl and Mr. Hyde on Kitchen Nightmares and Hell's Kitchenand as far as picking the best chef, Top Chef has it all over Hell's Kitchen. That said, however, I have one question t
Category: Entertainment
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The Trouble With Us

Sunday, 16 July 2006 2:26 P GMT-05
This afternoon my husband and I watched the fifth episode of Texas Ranch House, another of the fascinating PBS (or Channel 4 originated) "reality" shows set in an historic time and place.  I have watched probably every o
Category: Entertainment
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Goodness Had Nothing To Do With It

Thursday, 13 July 2006 9:45 A GMT-05
Last summer I read Come Up and See Me Sometime by Lucy Monroe. While I didn't like it as much as I enjoyed Ready (by the same author), I still found it a good read, and since Monroe is now an auto-buy author for me, picking up the sequel to Com
Category: Reading
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Disappointed with the Pirates

Saturday, 8 July 2006 5:51 P GMT-05
I really loved the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie, and today we went to see the second. I disliked it so much I doubt I'll go see the third. While Johnny Depp ate up the screen every moment he was on it as Jack Sparrow (and how he d
Category: Entertainment

The Second Chance by Jaclyn Reding

Saturday, 8 July 2006 1:14 P GMT-05
Not long ago I noticed that Jaclyn Reding (who did a Write Byte for me on the Restoration for our Historical Cheat Sheet) had branched out from writing historicals to contemporaries, and I picked up The Second Chance. It's one of the two books
Category: Reading
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PPP Contest...voting begins today

Thursday, 6 July 2006 5:16 P GMT-05
After worrying for the entire time submissions came in for our tenth annual Purple Prose Parody Contest, I think I can finally relax.  Several entries came in over the past few days, and we end the entry period with fifteen parodies.  And w
Category: AAR
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Fourth of July "fireworks" at AAR

Tuesday, 4 July 2006 9:40 A GMT-05
As I've done every July 4th for several years, I've uploaded our July 4th interactive "fireworks" display on AAR's home page.  Enjoy it while it lasts!TTFN, Laurie Likes Books
Category: AAR
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Almost Done!

Saturday, 1 July 2006 10:42 A GMT-05
Other than the fact that cleaning up my study and packing up books for Half Price Books kicked my allergies into such high gear that I had a horrendous headache yesterday afternoon, evening, and overnight, this reorganization of my study has gone qui
Category: AAR Personal/Political
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