Yay! I won something!

So, sometime last spring (I don't exactly remember when), the Jasper's Darlin's held a little contest called "Everything's Bigger in Texas."






Thanks to y'all who read, loved, and voted for "Show me a Garden (that's bursting into life)," I can now say that I've officially won something in this fandom.

Audio Tease: Someday You Will Be Loved

So, I'm currently working on (amongst a few outtakes for some FGB winners) my new fic, Someday You Will Be Loved.

Summary: Bella’s 18th birthday party passes without incident, but a week later, Edward leaves, giving her a very surprising explanation for his departure. With enemies lurking around the corner, Bella finds herself once again in danger. With the family once more there to protect her, the bonds between them only grow stronger as they face challenges new and old.

Here's kind of an audio summary of the fic. Enjoy!

Prom in the Garden

A few prom pics:

Jasper's boxers





Alice's dress:






Rose's dress






Bella's dress:

Images from the Garden

Here are a few of the charms Esme got for Mom's day:

Ch 53 links and photos

Here are some links and photos from ch. 53: Second Date

Butchart Gardens' image gallery

Above is the link to Butchart Gardens' image gallery. Our favorite trio spent most of their time in the Japanese Tea Gardens and Sunken Gardens. It's spring, though check out the full gallery if you've got the time. I haven't been up to the Gardens since the spring of '98, and I'd love to get back sometime. :)




These images are from the ferry company website. One's the ferry itself with the mountains in the background, and the second is a picture of the Victoria Legislature Buildings as seen (I believe) from the ferry. I'm pretty sure this is the ferry we took the last time I went to Canada with my high school marching and jazz bands. I've got a couple of the same pictures in a photo album somewhere. :)

Pictures from Chapter 50

Emmett's chocolate molecule tattoo. I'd post Bella's dress from the gallery, but it didn't save. Here's a link instead: Bella's gallery dress

Music references for ch. 47

Wow, I haven't posted here in awhile. There's a ton of music I had in my head for chapter 47, and I wanted to leave some links:

Karine Polwart: Daisy, Terminal Star, The Good Years (these songs aren’t on youtube, but search for her and you can find some of her others).

Secondhand Seranade: Fall for you.
Creed: Six feet from the edge

Finger Eleven: change the world (already on blog)

Martin Sexton: Glory bound, , hallelujah

Marc Broussard: Gavin’s Song

Garth Brooks: If tomorrow never comes


Don McLean: American Pie

Todd Haaby: Rattlesnake

Rodrigo y Gabriela

Billy Joel: so it goes

Jeff Buckley: Hallelujah

Title Inspiration ch. 41

Here's the song that provided the inspiration for the title for ch. 41.

links for ch. 40

Here are the links for the toys that Edward purchased, and Jasper used on Edward in Ch. 40: Valentine's Day:

the toy: Ripple
the vibe: the vibe

Musical Inspiration for Ch. 39

For Chapter 38

Here's the video for Ch. 38. Lyrics below.



Turn Me On

Like a flower waiting to bloom
Like a lightbulb in a dark room
I'm just sitting here waiting for you
To come home and turn me on

Like the desert waiting for the rain
Like a school kid waiting for the spring
I'm just sitting here waiting for you
To come on home and turn me on

My poor heart, it's been so dark since you been gone
After all, you're the one who turns me off
You're the only one who can turn me back on

My hi-fi's waiting for a new tune
The glass is waiting for some fresh ice cubes
I'm just sitting here waiting for you
To come on home and turn me on
Turn me on

Video Post

Here's the audio for the inspiration for the title for ch. 35:

Teaser for Ch. 32: Vacation in San Francisco

Here's a look at what's coming up for the boys' trip to SF:

They had planned most of the five day trip together, though it appeared that they’d unleashed a monster in letting Jasper anywhere near maps, brochures, and train schedules. Though he teased Jasper about it, Edward had to admit that Jasper was good at putting together a trip that allowed them to do everything, but not so over-scheduled they drove themselves into exhaustion. Through the process of putting everything together, Edward had learned that Jasper’s MOS (military operational specialty) was logistics with a secondary specialty in intelligence.

Since they knew they’d have seven hours of travel between the flight and catching the train into the city, Jasper had suggested an easy day of sightseeing. After they checked into their hotel and got settled, they were off to Golden Gate Park and from there, catching dinner and calling it an early night. The four days following were similarly planned, and their sixth day was for sleeping in and traveling home. They’d have one more week to themselves before classes started once they got back to Forks.

Edward was both dreading and looking forward to the new semester. He was excited for the plans he’d made for his band, but dreading what the travel and living arrangements meant for his relationship with Jasper. But he pushed the thoughts away as they both purchased $20 in BART fare and entered the gate to the platform.

**

Happy Thanksgiving to those in the US. Look for a post on Monday or Tuesday after the holiday.

So, it just came across twitter that Fandom Gives Back has raised a total of $22,630.79. The auctions haven't even finished yet!

This just goes to show how dedicated our fandom can be to a good cause. Alex's Lemonade uses something like 89% of the funds raised for their cause - using only 11% for admin expenses, etc. That means of the $22k raised, $20,141.40 will be put towards funding a cure for childhood cancer. What can this money do? Read A Researcher's Perspective on ALSF at The Fandom Gives Back.

I know I'm likely preaching to the choir of my admittedly small audience, but that's okay. This whole fandom has just shown that we're capable of moving past the drama that's been known to happen in some of the larger fandoms, and that even though I consider myself on the periphery of the fandom a lot of the time, I was able to support this auction through donation of items which, as of right now, have a total of $150 in bids (you can see my auction here). It makes me feel good to know not only that I'm helping to raise money for a great cause, but that I'm a part of an incredible group of fans who can make anything happen.

There's still today to go, so if you haven't donated yet, please do. If you'd like to bid, please check out the auctions. If you're not in a financial place to bid or donate, please keep passing the message along in your blogs, tweets, etc, and lets see how far we can surpass the goal of 10k.

No Teaser this week

Loyal readers, I'm sad to say there's no teaser available this week other than the review reply.

Why, you ask?

Because Ch. 31 is fairly short, and next week is a holiday week for us here in the States, I may post a few days early over the weekend and take an extended break so I don't get yelled at for spending time on the computer when I should be with my family. ~_^

Anyway - see y'all around the end of the week. :D

This? This is why I do this.

Somedays, I really love being a part of fandom.

Fandom Gives Back raises $10,007.39 in the first half-day of the drive.

There's still four and a half days yet to go, so if you haven't donated yet, please do. If you'd like to bid, please check out the auctions. I'm too insecure to put myself up as an author for auction, but I've got some crochet items up for auction in the handcrafted arts section.

Garden Chapter 30 Preview

Here's a peek at what's coming up in Chapter 30:

Esme greeted him with a kiss on the cheek when they returned home and he delivered his one bag to the kitchen counter. “Thank you, sweetheart.” He turned back to go out for another, but his mom stopped him with a light touch on his arm. “Let Emmett get them,” she suggested, while Emmett settled his bags next to Edward’s.

Edward nodded, shifting his weight to lean on the counter. “What’s up, mom?” he asked as Emmett ducked back out.

“Is everything alright between you and Jasper?” she asked quietly, beginning to unload the bags and organize the contents on the counter.

“Yes. Why?” He frowned. He loved that his family was so sensitive to their moods, and he was trying not to find it overbearing that they wanted to make sure everything was alright.

“He’s seemed very closed off since you guys went out yesterday,” she answered. “He came down awhile ago and barely said two words, then went and played in the music nook for awhile.” She turned to him, a soft frown marking her face. “Did you fight?”

“No,” Edward said on a sigh. “It was a misunderstanding, and I think I shook up his worldview a bit more than I should have, but it wasn’t on purpose.” He ran his fingers through his hair. “We’re okay, I promise,” he assured her, moving to kiss her on the cheek. “Did he eat?” He asked, thinking he’d take something up with him.

Esme nodded. “It looked like his fever broke; his eyes didn’t look so bright. I made him some toast and tea. There’s still hot water on,” she said with a wave to the kettle. “He went back up about an hour ago.”

Support Stacie

Many of you have probably heard about Support Stacie and the author auction that has happened a couple of times (April and September) to help raise money for Stacie to fight cancer.

This holiday season, Support Stacie is running a new auction: I'll Be Homemade for the Holidays, an auction of hand made items just in time for the holiday gift giving season.

I have donated four items for auction, including "Rosalie's" watercolor scarf, and "Esme's" hat, scarf, and glove combo.

The auction starts Nov. 28 at 12 noon CST. and runs through the 29th at noon. If you'd like to think about some hand made creative ideas for gifts for people in your life, please consider checking out this auction and supporting another great cause.

Fandom Gives Back

As many of you may know, the lovely ninapolitan, lolashoes, and tby789 have organized The Fandom Gives Back, a drive to raise money to donate to Alex's Lemonade Stand.

Nov. 15-20, there is a huge auction running to raise money. There are authors up for bid, and artists and crafters and many other things.

I have huge problems writing to other people's prompts (one gift fic I wrote turned into a multi-chapter epic instead of the one-shot I'd planned), plus, I just don't have the time to commit to another story right now.

but I crochet. So, I've offered a couple of items for auction in the crafty section. Please check out my auction as well as everything else Help the fandom support a great organization helping to fund the fight against childhood cancer.

Update status

Hi guys - So the good news is that I not only finished the chapter I was struggling with, but I made pretty good progress on the one that comes after.

What does this mean for you? It means that I'll update sooner than I expected, though it's still not going to be Thursday. Look for an update on Monday.

I still say I've got the best readers in the 'verse. Y'all rock my socks.

<3