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| Vampire kitty dares you to tell him that he sparkles in the sunlight. |
1. Before I give you the few carefully cultivated gems I've been hoarding up over the weekend, let's get a few important (and fun!) housekeeping items out of the way.
2. First, the winner of the "Friend Me on YABC and Win the Book of Your Choice" contest is Lori M. Lee! Congratulations, Lori. Please send me your book choice ($20 or less, please choose from Book Depository), along with your shipping info. :)
3. Second, today is the last day to enter to win a signed copy of Brenna Yovanoff's amazing THE SPACE BETWEEN. Brenna is a fabulous writer. You don't want to miss this!
4. Okay, housekeeping items dispensed with. On to the gems.
5. We spent this past weekend in Florence, Kentucky (just across the border from Cincinnati) with three other families from our China travel group so we could celebrate the girls' Gotcha Day together.
6. It was a fabulous time. We went to the aquarium, let the kids swim in the hotel's indoor pool, had a terrible dining experience at the local Cheddar's, had an incredible dining experience at the Oriental Wok (where we had our Gotcha Day dinner), and truly enjoyed seeing the girls together again.
7. Naturally, I noticed a few things I thought you would enjoy.
8. For example, despite the fact that we were far enough north that when I ordered "unsweetened tea" I was corrected and informed that it was just "tea"--apparently "sweet" tea is the anomaly here--the huge water tower at the entrance to the city said, in giant letters, "Florence, Y'all."
9. Florence.
10. Y'all.
11. You can't say that without sounding both perky and slightly demented.
12. Go ahead. Try it.
13. I've traveled all through the south (where sweet tea, buttermilk, grits, okra, and biscuits are KING), and never once seen this on any water tower.
14. Clearly, Florence, with its regular tea and stunning lack of okra, is trying to upstage us and be both northern AND southern.
15. I might take up a petition to add "Y'all" to our local water tower just to even the playing field.
16. And then I'm going to take the "You are now entering Nashville" sign and change it to "Y'all are fixin' ta enter Nash-vull" and Florence will weep with envy.
17. On our way home from Florence, as we were driving through Kentucky, we saw a sign advertising the following:
18. "Used cows for sale."
19. I'm not sure I want to ask for an explanation.
20. I mean, clearly the cows are not brand new.
21. But unless the farmer is putting a bunch of has-been milkers up for sale, I don't know how a cow could've been used ...
22. You know what? I'm not actually going to pursue that line of thought. *has a fertile imagination*
23. Suffice it to say, if you're in the market for used cows, Kentucky is your mecca!
24. We also stopped at Mamouth Cave during our trip. I was grateful to discover the cave is both dry, roomy, and free of nasty creatures who enjoy swarming mouthy red-heads.
25. Not that I've heard of nasty cave insects that like to swarm mouthy red-heads, but with my track record, if there HAD BEEN any in existence, I would've found them.
On the blog this week:
Tuesday: Book trailer
Wednesday: Interview and giveaway w/author Victoria Schwab
Friday: Help Wanted
