Tuesday, July 31, 2007
this is a test...
Of course, my test isn't nearly as classy as Louisa's. Mine is more like the idiots guide to pop culture.
Choose one on each
- The Family Guy reruns or new American Dad episodes?
- Harry Potter or the Chronicles of Narnia (books)?
- Dark beer or Light Beer?
- TaquerÃa or TexMex?
- Titanic or Poseidon?
- Ben Affleck or Matt Damon?
posted by Mel Francis @ 8:42 AM |
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Monday, July 30, 2007
grocery store conversations
Group: You said you was a vegetarian.
Manboy: I am. I don't eat fried chicken.
On the way out to my car two fratboys get out of their SUV deep into their conversation.
Fratboy1: Dude. She did the inverted splits.
Fratboy2: No effin' way. (he said effin')
Fratboy1: Totally. Inverted. Splits. Man the things I did to her that night. And she was upside down!
Fratboy2: Like a circus freak. Dude, you're the master.
posted by Mel Francis @ 7:26 PM |
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the end is drawing near...
I love the idea that I'll be able to take my kids to school while wearing my pjs, come home, stay in my pjs, drink coffee, and daydream. Then write my daydreams down.
Totally a dream job.
Try not to be jealous. It's hard, I know.
Meanwhile, this will be my last week to deal with expense reports, sales guys, accounts payable, vendor billing, and cash receipts.
I'll miss my co-workers...but I won't miss my job. (sorry, boss. I know you understand. Love you, mean it...)
1 day down...4 to go...Not to rub it in or anything, but
IN YOUR FACE! IN YOUR FACE! IN YOUR FACE!
Labels: life doesn't suck, writing
posted by Mel Francis @ 4:35 PM |
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Sunday, July 29, 2007
no spoilers here...
This is a Harry Potter weekend.
I finished reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows on Friday and am impatiently waiting for Fishdog to finish reading so we can discuss. If you've read the book, please don't post spoilers in the comments because then I'll be forced to edit/delete/moderate and frankly that's just too much damn work. If you do force me into that position, I shall curse you with a pox. And trust me, after reading Deathly Hallows, I can soooooo curse you. Okay, that's a spoiler, but it's the only one...
So while I'm waiting for Fishdog to finish reading I'm going to go to the noon showing of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. This is the first time I haven't seen a HP movie on opening day. But this year, I was otherwise engaged when HP opened. Fishdog took the kids while I was in Dallas. He was a bad, bad boy. He broke the rules by going to see the movie without me and he was punished...
I'm really looking forward to O of the P because, even though it was my least favorite of the books (could Harry have been any whinier?) I've heard it's the best of the movies. And all the trailers and previews I've seen look fantastic. Plus, we meet mean ol' Dolores Umbridge. What a deliciously awful character!
Actually, I'll be doing a double feature today because the family is going to join me for the 3:00 showing of The Simpson's.
Today is gonna rock like a landslide.
Labels: books, life doesn't suck, movies
posted by Mel Francis @ 11:03 AM |
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Saturday, July 28, 2007
mea culpa, michael hauge
I did a bad, bad thing.
I misspelled my new BFF's name in my former posts. What kind of BFF does that make me?
Michael Hauge (nice ass) is allowing me to make it up to him. He is a much better BFF than I. (Even if he is a pushover for any broad with a boa....) Who can blame him, though? I've touted the magic of the feather boa for as long as I can remember.
If you are a writer and you haven't checked out his
So to wrap up the groveling. I'm a tart with a boa and I misspelled his name. He writes awesome books and has a great
How's that for an apology?
Labels: friends, guilt trips, rwa conference, writing
posted by Mel Francis @ 8:19 AM |
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Friday, July 27, 2007
breaking up is hard to do...
Since we're relocating, we have to sell the house. So, we're trying the FSBO route first. I know that a Realtor can get us an mls and get us listed on multiple sites, but frankly, I don't care. FSBO is the way to go for us. At least right now.Last night we popped our "First Showing" cherry. Great couple. We had met them b
oth before (Oxford is a very incestuous town. We all know each other. It's like 6 degrees from Kevin Bacon) They are definitely a couple I would like to sell our house to. I think they liked it. They stayed for a pretty good while, looked around, asked questions. They left us feeling optimistic. Maybe they'll wanna come back? Maybe they'll call with an offer? Maybe I'm getting my hopes up...Yeah. This is the part of FSBO that nobody talks about. The fear of rejection. When a Realtor shows your house, you only know it because they leave a card. You don't get face time with the people who might end up rejecting your home. But with FSBO, you meet your potential rejectors. And that's a bitter pill to swallow. What is wrong with our house? Did we talk too much? Was it clean enough? Is it overpriced? What is wrong with them that they didn't make an offer on the spot? Can't they see how fucking awesome our house is? All the hard work we put into it? The bamboo flooring, the
new lighting throughout, the open floorplan, the 8x10 Master Closet!?!?!?! Can't they see this is the house for them?Yeah, see, maybe FSBO isn't the way to go...whether we mean to be attached to the house or not, we are. I've been trying to break-up with my house for a few weeks. It hasn't been easy. I'm thinking an offer will make things much easier, though. I never said my love and loyalty couldn't be bought...
Labels: lurve, moving, must buys
posted by Mel Francis @ 9:36 AM |
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Wednesday, July 25, 2007
preparation h...
I have been dreading this moment since we decided to move back to Little Rock. We've decided the boys will be going to Catholic school and with that decision comes the realization they can't be my long-haired-hippy-boys any longer.
I put off the hair cuts as long as possible. Today was d-day. I'm still not happy about it....
But here are my boys. Cute as they can possibly be...just missing a lot of hair. (ps: Rader does NOT have a bowl cut...he just refuses to do anything with it...so there ya go.)
Rader:
Is he a goofball or what?Ian:
Labels: hair, moving, the kids
posted by Mel Francis @ 1:43 PM |
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Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Nostalgia part deux
But as my friend Jen said, it was great to relive
the innocence of 18 for just a few hours. When our biggest worries were test scores and rejection and how to score our next beer. (not that I drank when I was 18...)I'm still on a nostalgia high. I spent a fantastic week at conference and then followed it with a great night with old friends. Wonder what the crash is gonna feel like? Maybe, if I'm lucky, I'll just coast on the good feelings for a while.
I find it ironic that I enjoyed myself as much as I did, when even the morning of my reunion, I was dreading it. I don't know what I was worried about...I guess no matter how much you grow into yourself, old insecurities can come crashing back like a landslide. High School was bittersweet for me. I didn't always have a Naughty River (or at least, my Naughty River wasn't free flowing...) I never had the one "boyfriend" but I had a lot of great boy friends. I never was the star athlete but I was athletic. I knew almost everyone, and was friend to most, but only felt true to myself around a few.
Today,I'm okay with who I am around everyone. I can look at the big picture and think, "I don't have to be everyone's friend. It's their loss." Could you imagine ever thinking something like that in High School? Or, if you thought it, did you really believe it?
The best part of this weekend's reconnection was seeing that we'd all grown into ourselves. I'm amazed at the adults my friends turned out to be. And I don't know why it should be surprising...they are my friends, and I've always had great taste... if I do say so myself.
Labels: friends, nostalgia, reunion
posted by Mel Francis @ 4:28 PM |
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Monday, July 23, 2007
ian's big day
Before:
(Okay, isn't he the cutest damn thing ever? I hate that we have to cut his hair for his new school this week. Sigh. I love my long-haired-hippy-boy.)During:
After:
Do you guys remember what it was like the day you got your braces off? I do...my teeth felt like they had slime on them and I couldn't stop smiling. Ian said, "I can't wait to eat an apple!" LOL
Labels: the kids
posted by Mel Francis @ 8:00 PM |
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oh the nostalgia...
Bryant High School...20 years later.Wow. It was fantastic seeing so many of my old pals. There was one group of friends I was most interested in catching up with, and thankfully they were all there. 2 of the guys traveled from Seattle and one traveled all the way from New Zealand. It was fantastic.
After the reunion, several of us took the party upstairs. At 5:00 a.m. I realized I was too old for this kinda thing. We all bid our farewells and I figure we'll do it again in another 10. Or maybe in 5. Who knows?
The top picture is of my BFF Jen, Kim, Laurie and me. Laurie is a nurse in Afghanistan right now. She amazes me.
To the right is a pic of me and my friend Annetta.
And then the last pic on the left is of the group I was most looking forward to seeing. Me, Jason, Jon, Nolen, Jen. At one point or another, I crushed on each of the guys. Nolen and I did try to date a few years after high school, but we remained friends instead. It was a great night, lots of memories, and a little too much booze, but hey, if it only happens once every 10 years, it's okay...right?Labels: friends, nostalgia, reunion
posted by Mel Francis @ 4:15 PM |
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Friday, July 20, 2007
more pics...
Mel and Nic
Naughty Kate
Jax (Cassidy Kent) and Mel
Maria and Naughty Kate
Kristen Painter and Mel (Hmmm. that must've been a really good secret...)
My fabulous CPs. Louisa, Maria, and Mel
Some of the most Divalicous Divas ever!
My new BFF Kalen Hughes and Mel. (this chick is cool. buy her book: Lord Sin) Go on, do it now...I'll wait.
Jen and Mel. We have no more secrets...
Maria and Michael Maria's his biggest fan; or at least she was...
Now I'm his biggest fan!Good night everyone! Have a great weekend and I'll see you Monday!
Labels: lurve, romance divas, rwa conference
posted by Mel Francis @ 10:00 PM |
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Thursday, July 19, 2007
conference wrap up...
Nic and MariaFirst of all, thanks so much to Jude over at Blogging National who did a fantastic job of posting blogs as they were being updated. You rock, girly!
As always, the conference was a big blur. The literacy signing seemed ultra crowded this year. Th
e RWA Online party was low key but very fun. Lots of great food and emcee entertainment by Jenna "What's your secret?" Mayson. Lots of fun with feather boas, badges and cowboy hats. And of course, the highlight of my night...meeting and chatting with Smart Bitch Sarah over a plate of guacamole (okay, my serving was more like a wheelbarrow of guac, but nobody was watching, right?) Unfortunately, I was not thinking and didn't get photographic evidence of our meeting. But I promise it happened.Friday was filled with a couple of dud workshops and a nap. Seriously, I
felt a little old, but I couldn't go on after 2:00. I guess it was left over exhaustion from Drag Queen Karaoke. So totally worth being exhausted over, though.Then Saturday I went to the 2 greatest workshops ever. Michael
The Golden Heart/Rita awards were fun. We got to get all dressed up and pretend to be girly-girls and root for our nominated friends. I'd like to give a major shout out to my pal Barb (Caridad Ferrer) who won the Rita for Best Contemporary Romance. You go, my friend! It's a great book and the win is well deserved! (and to all you haters out there, shut it!)
Then after the awards, we met at the bar for our final round of liver training. We had quite a large crowd--a good mix of Romance Divas and RWA Onliners. While sitting there with my peeps, Louisa and Maria noticed that Michael Hah.
Never doubt the power of Mel and her feather boa.
Michael joined us and we were like putty in his hands as he talked about movies and actors and storytelling. Of course, he and Maria have TERRIBLE taste in movies aside from a few. But I forgave him that because he was so damn nice.
My feather boa paid off because he offered a ride to anyone who would be leaving for DFW in the morning at 10:45...so guess who got to ride in the Towncar with Michael
That's right! Moi!
Sooooo much better than the supershuttle.
I returned home to a house in need of packing. I've been a bit overwhelmed with having to work and trying to ready a house to go on the market this weekend. Sorry I've neglected my blogging duties. I'll have more pics soon, just be patient.
Finally, I want to give one last shout out to our regular waiter Chris/Alejandra (long story). He did his best given the circumstances and I never once had any trouble getting him to wait on me. I'm guessing it wasn't so much the cleavage as some like to believe, it was the fact that I took the time on Monday to learn his name, I tipped him well and with a smile every time he waited on me. For the record gang, Cleavage might get you preferential service the first time, but if you're all tits and no smile or all tits and no tip, you'll never get served again. Being friendly can get you anywhere. It also ensures that you are never lonely or without a beverage.
And Killer, I do plan on another round of "Who's tits are these?" So try not to worry.
Labels: excuses for not blogging, romance divas, rwa conference, tits
posted by Mel Francis @ 10:15 AM |
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Saturday, July 14, 2007
my bad...
Thursday started off with an early morning meeting with my wonderful agent, Deidre Knight. I love this woman. We plotted out my career goals for the next year and chatted a lot...while I ate a big ass plate of pancakes and a pound of bacon. Not that I was hungover or anything. Just wobbly.
Thursday was a quiet day spent meeting and greeting old friends and getting ready for The Literacy Signing and the RWA Online Chapter party.
Here are a few pics from Wednesday and Thursday. More to come soon. Sorry Killer and Fishdog, no boob shots today.
Chris the Wonder Waiter
Jenna Mayson, Adrian Wood, Kate Pearce, Nic Montreuil
Before Drag Queen Karaoke
During Drag Queen Karaoke
On the ride home from Drag Queen KaraokeLabels: excuses for not blogging, rwa conference
posted by Mel Francis @ 8:28 AM |
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Thursday, July 12, 2007
not time for details yet...
It's too early to give the details from last night, however there is one thing I will tell you.
None of those tits belonged to Gena Showalter or Jill Monroe because they totally dissed us and did not show up last night.
I think you should all comment on their blogs and let them know how disappointed you are....
Seriously.
Do it.
Labels: Gena and Jill, tits
posted by Mel Francis @ 8:52 AM |
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hmmmmm
God I love Gay Bars.....Labels: tits
posted by Mel Francis @ 2:01 AM |
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Wednesday, July 11, 2007
wine with barbara samuel
Barbara is so gracious and kind and such a good spirit. I've decided I'm going to follow her around and try to bottle her aura so I can
I had a glass of wine and chatted with everyone and then met ArkansasCyndi who will become one of my BFFs after I move home to Arkansas. She's awesome in every way that I think is cool.
Here's a group photo. I am the one not pictured because I am the photog. Try not to be disappointed. I promise I'll be in more pics later. Especially if we make it to Drag Queen Karoke...Oh yeah, we're so going.
Here are a few more pics, just cuz I'm feel generous.
Labels: barbara samuel, rwa conference
posted by Mel Francis @ 3:18 PM |
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more, more, more...
Secondly, no the piercing really didn't hurt. It was over Quick, Fast, and In-A-Hurry. Timmy the wonder Piercer said, "Close your eyes." and I did. And then he poked me. I held my breath and my right eye watered, but honestly, it felt sharp, like when you have an under the skin zit that you just won't let go. The guys at Taboo Tattoo were fantastic. They were friendly and gracious and now I have a little crush on Tim. I can see how people can get addicted to this. There is a definite rush. I felt the same after I had my navel done. But I didn't find myself crushing on my navel guy. LOL
That's my guy in the center. Timmy, we love you. You were great. By the way, I love my piercing. It looks like it has always been there and I had a couple of people comment yesterday that for some reason they thought I'd always had it. Awesome.
This is the group of Divas who kidnapped me and forced me to puncture my nose. What a great group of ladies!Now on to the conference.
Last night was a blast. A group of us did more liver training in the bar. We had great service (well, it was mediocre service but great compared to what others were getting) our waiter Chris was way busy and trying so hard, but he did manage to pay us a lot of attention. I have a feeling it had a lot to do with the abundance of cleavage in our area...
Not mine....but still, great cleavage.Of course, it might not be the cleavage, Chris could've just been coming by for the show:
okay, so I'm off to the gym. More pics and stories to come!Labels: piercing, romance divas, rwa conference, vacation
posted by Mel Francis @ 10:20 AM |
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Tuesday, July 10, 2007
uh oh...what's the girl gone and done now...
Before the Romance Divas...
They plan your next day all for you....
After Romance Divas... pic 1
pic 2
pic 3
pic 4
final pic
close up....What do you guys think?
Labels: romance divas, rwa conference
posted by Mel Francis @ 5:09 PM |
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the big "d" day one...
For the first time ever, my bags were the first to be unloaded off the plane. That was kinda awesome. I loved the looks of envy from the other passengers as I skipped over and plucked my red suitcase and the ugly brown JORDACHE hanging bag (circa 1988) from the conveyor belt. This was a good sign.
Um. sorta.
I found the shuttle. We waited for a few mins, nobody else came so we were off--to the next terminal. We picked up a lovely lady and commenced to drive around the airport some more. We hit each terminal at the airport, then came back to where he picked me up and told us we had to switch shuttle buses. While we're waiting to board the other passenger and I introduce ourselves. Imagine my shock and awe when I discover I've been sharing a shuttle with THE Eloisa James. How fantastic! Especially since Maria is her
We proceed to find a seat on the shuttle and I meet another passenger, author Kalen Hughes. As we continue our tour of the airport, the three of us commence in a lively discussion of books, kids, camps, Italy, jet lag, beer...until we stop at another terminal and pick up...my CP Louisa Edwards! Finally we left the airport and headed toward the hotel.
After Louisa and I check in, we rush upstairs to freshen up...I swear Airplane smell absorbs into the skin... we call our friends to discover they were waiting downstairs for us to check in! Somehow we missed each other.
We go downstairs, find our way to a bar (I know, big surprise) meet up with Maria, Pam, Nic, Kalen joins us with Dorchester author, Sandy Shaw. We enjoy a couple of drinks and some nachos then split up to get ready for dinner.
Dinner was a great little Mediterranean Restaurant named Sambuca. They had a live jazz duo and we had a cute little waiter named John who was trying a little too hard but that was okay. Oh, and we had a cute little cab driver named Abu who was our chauffeur to and from the restaurant.
After our fun dinner, we came back to the hotel bar where we proceed to train our livers for conference week. Kalen, Doreen, Anne, Emma Peterson, Eden Bradley, and Lillian Feisty joined the party. We had a great time and I stayed up a little later than usual...but it was totally worth it.
This morning Louisa, Maria and I hit the gym for an hour long workout and now Louisa is headed for a mani-pedi and Maria and I are heading downstairs to work registration.
Pictures will come soon. If things go as planned, I'll have something cool to report this evening...anyone care to guess what that might be?
Labels: exercise, rwa conference
posted by Mel Francis @ 12:08 PM |
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Monday, July 09, 2007
i'm on my way...
I promise to blog while at the conference...I can't guarantee they'll be coherent blog, but I can guarantee they will be somewhat entertaining.
Labels: rwa conference, traveling
posted by Mel Francis @ 7:35 AM |
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Thursday, July 05, 2007
packing...
People tend to get a little knotted up about what to wear to these conferences. We're all writers. Many of us roll out of bed and into the chair only changing clothes when we have to leave the house. So it cracks me up when I hear the "this is a professional conference so you must dress as a professional writer would" argument. Um. You know I write in my underwear, right? does that make me less professional because I sit at the computer wearing my Hanes Her Way? Frankly, I'm thinking that you guys want me to wear more than that when I'm at the conference. I could be wrong. I suppose we'll see next week...
Professionalism is in the eye of the beholder. It's in how you carry yourself. It's not in what you wear. I promise. If you're confident and happy, you'll present yourself as such, even if you're wearing a potato sack. If you're a dried up negative bitty who can't bother with a sincere smile but you're wearing couture, the only thing people will notice is your grim attitude and then comment on what a shame it is to waste such nice clothing on such a rotten egg.
This year I'm packing a few dresses and skirts because those are the clothes that fit me. (did I meantion I'm a size smaller this year?) The last two years I wore jeans and capri pants and nice shirts. (usually low cut shirts because that's how I roll. When you have tits like mine, it's best to show them off--you know what I'm sayin'? And I'm not the only one, as witnessed from last year's conference... Don't hate us cuz we have great cleavage.) So I've packed my nice clothes in my hang-up bag and now I'm working on the suitcase. Did I mention how much I hate packing?
Okay, I'm done. I've
Labels: rwa conference, traveling, writing
posted by Mel Francis @ 8:48 PM |
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what's going on?
I've seen two movies this week. Both were fun, action packed summer flicks, but I have to say, Live Free or Die Hard kicked Transformers' butt.
*there are some spoilers below...so if you don't wanna know, go here.
First of all, I'm a huge Die Hard fan so I was skeptical about the fou
rth movie. Even with the ridiculous stunts (fighter jet anyone?) it was a fun, totally fast paced flick. John McClane is an awesome character and this time he had an awesome geeky side-kick played by Justin Long (you know "Hi, I'm a Mac.") I've always had a wee crush on Justin but now it's full blown. They worked well together and the dialogue was never stilted. I could (and probably will) go see that movie again in the theater.Now, Transformers was another movie filled with action. But it also had so many more eye-rolling moments for me than Die Hard. The graphics were absolutely phenomenal and worth seeing the movie for. It also had a great cast. The Whitwicky parents were perfect and so was Sam. Sector 7 (the government agency that didn't exist) was fun and very Area 51. But for me, the movie ranked a B...maybe even a B-.
First of all, there was this ridiculous comic-relief evil robot that I called the Jar-Jar-Binks-Bot. I wanted to stick a fork in my eye every time that metallic bug came on the screen. And as amazing as the graphics were, there are only so many times you can watch the cars transform. It was phenomenal--the first 6 times. But after that, it got to be a little redundant. Oh, and can anyone tell me why Optimus Prime always transformed from Rig to Robot and landed in the Ninja stance? Totally corny.
The dialogue was sometimes so cheesy it had me craving crackers. Now I'm a huge fan of the cartoon...I loved watching the original Transformers and I loved watching the newer shows when my boys were young. And I know that sometimes the cartoon dialogue is so cheesy and preachy and over the top...But they really didn't have to go there with the movie. Many eye-rolling moments during some of the big speeches.
This movie coulda been an A if they would've cut it by about 30 mins. They could've easily done that. Hell, they coulda just cut 10 mins from one of the last fight scenes and I would've been happy.
Oh, and if the
re had been more Josh Duhamel, then it would've been an A+.You guys see any movies this summer that you've loved, hated or could care less about?
Labels: movies
posted by Mel Francis @ 8:27 AM |
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Tuesday, July 03, 2007
pretty in pink...
I never knew pink hair could be so subtle.
It's not exactly how I had imagined it, but I really like it. And I love the cut, my hairdresser is the best!
Labels: hair, lurve, pink, pink hair
posted by Mel Francis @ 1:34 PM |
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Monday, July 02, 2007
man, sometimes life is hard...
I don't know how these guys kept their hands off me. Somehow they managed. I'm sure it had everything to do with the fact that Fishdog was standing right there...Right? (work with me people...)
Yes, this is Del and Rob...the two British coaches who stayed with us last week. It's a tough job, but someone has to do it. I will volunteer to host as long as Challenger continues to sends quality coaches to the states...
Here's the whole crew...plus Fishdog... Rob, Chris, Del, Fishdog, Danny, Eddie, Blaine.
The last night they were with us, we went dancing...Well, Fishdog and I danced, the lads spent time with a couple of tennis players. I guess my continuous rejection was just too much for them so they had to lower the standards. Poor lads.
Okay, so we're having a good time... Chris, Clay (local boy) Blaine, and Mel
After camp Friday, the lads said goodbye to Rader with a loving hug.
They packed up their roomy car...
And drove away.They were great guys. We hope to cross paths with them again. Soon. Very soon. :)
posted by Mel Francis @ 9:13 PM |
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Sunday, July 01, 2007
miss me?
Sorry.
I've been really busy. REALLY busy.
Mark had his 20 year reunion, so we were in Little Rock for that. We were busy all weekend long and frankly, I could've used another couple of days to recover.
The next weekend we drove the boys to camp, also in Ark