Friday FaBOOolousness – December’s MarvelOoous Holiday Mashup

It’s that special time of year – a time when families join together to eat, drink, and be merry.  It’s the time of year when most family traditions come into play, and the time of year for celebration.  For one, it’s Christmas; for another, it’s Hanukah; yet for a few it’s simply the end of the calendar year.

To celebrate this time of year, here are a few links that might just help us get in the true holiday spirit.

Holiday Traditions

What says Holiday Tradition better than the music?  Shannyn Schroeder shares a few of her favorite holiday songs like a rocked out version of Santa Claus is Comin’ To Town, and Julie Glover translates a few of the Christmas Carols for us.

Sonia G. Medeiros talks New Holiday Traditions, including watching movies in pajamas while drinking hot cocoa.  Sounds lovely, doesn’t it?

Kathy Owen poses the question, is Santa Claus a Man of Mystery?

 

Sarah at Classy with a Twist catches the Christmas Spirit and tackles the age-old question – do you believe in Santa?

Donna Newton tells a story from her childhood of Father Christmas and Jingling Bells.

Read about Christmas Down Under with Katy Hulme over at Angela R. Wallace’s blog.

Want to spend Christmas at the Happiest Place on Earth?  Tameri Etherton shares her magical holiday at Disney.

 

Deborah J. Hughes wishes everyone a Merry Christmas or Not over at Ghostly Dramas.

Is the term “Merry Christmas” cultural or religious for you?  See Piper Bayard’s thoughts in Merry Christmas or Happy Water Buffalo Day.

Staying Merry with Parties, Food and Beverage

Jillian Dodd mixes up some tasty Holiday Cocktails.

Kate Wood isbaking up a storm in her kitchen this year.  Check out her Yummy Holiday Treat Ideas.

Tameri Etherton shares her Super Easy and Delicious Holiday Treat with us!

Marji Laine offers up her Top 10 Christmas Party Tips.

Giving Gifts

Alica McKenna Johnson asks, do you give Passive Aggressive Gifts?  I might fall into this category with my nieces and nephews….

Kathy Owen blogs an instructional wrapping video in What’s Your Greatest Gift Wrapping Challenge?  Here, Kitty, Kitty.

Crafty?  Lynn Kelley shares her scrapbooking ideas for anyone who is in the mood to make some Homemade Gifts this holiday season.

Ellie Ann Soderstrom lists out her Holiday Gift Guide.  Now this is just too funny!

Stacy Green provides a few off-the-wall holiday gift ideas in her Glovers for Lovers post.

What does Jillian Dodd want for Christmas?  For Sexy Santa to come to town…

Holiday Fun

A girl after my own heart, Liz Schulte reminisces about five of her favorite holiday TV episodes.

Julie Glover asks, Are You a Christmas Person?, in this fun quiz…

What’s your favorite holiday book?  Jennie Bennett guest blogs over at Jess Witkins’ Happiness Project and shares a few of her favorite Holiday Books that actually inspire her to be a better writer.

Catie Rhodes started it, and the idea is just too fun to pass up!  So here’s Ten Random Holiday Things About Catie…

And now, me…

1. I look forward to midnight every Christmas Eve so that I can put baby Jesus in the manger of our family’s Nativity Set.
2. I love egg nog.  With alcohol.
3. The only time of year I actually bake is Christmas.  This year, I made my mother’s famous Walnut Muffins and I tried a new recipe – Chai Sugar Cookies.
4. I love to watch the holiday two-hour movies on Lifetime, LMN, and Hallmark with my mom as we wrap Christmas gifts.
5. I’m hesitant to drive home on Christmas Eve now, courtesy of a snow storm a few years back that pushed me seven and a half hours off course.
6. Spending time with my family is the most important thing to me when it comes to holiday celebrations.  I love to watch my nephews play, fight, or whatever it is they feel is necessary to do, and this is my niece’s first Christmas – that’s special in itself.
7. When I was a little girl, my grandmother gave me a new music box or snow globe every Christmas.  To this day, I look forward to seeing all of my collectibles displayed in my parent’s living room and enjoy remembering one of my favorite people in the world.
8. I like the idea of giving a child one gift to open on Christmas Eve to help ease their anticipation of Santa coming.  My cousin and I couldn’t wait to choose our one gift to open while the adults partied the night away.
9. I may be in my mid-thirties, but I’m dying to go have my picture taken with Santa at the mall.  I think my parents have at least twenty-one pictures of me and Santa.  I have no idea why I stopped going…
10. I love midnight mass – the candles, the smell of incense, and the organ.  There’s nothing quite like hearing a mass of hundreds sing O Holy Night and Ave Maria with the music playing through the organ’s pipes.

Now share a random holiday related thing about yourself. If you’d like to do this as a blog post, consider yourself tagged. 

What are some of your favorite holiday traditions, recipes, and gift giving/wrapping ideas?  I’d love to hear from you!

Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays!

Friday FabOoolousness – June’s MarvOoolous Mashup & Blog Awards

This month, fellow writer & Twitter friend, Raelyn Barclay awarded me with my second blogging award – the Versatile Blogger Award.

THANK YOU, Raelyn!  Winning this award for my Tele-Tuesday and Friday FabOoolousness posts means so very much to me.  I hope to share the things that make me say Ooo with others out there, whether it is television, movies, authors, novels, mysteries, or other bloggers.

From now on, anytime someone clicks on the Versatile Blogger Award icon on my site, they will experience Raelyn’s fabOoolous blog!

This award comes with a few fabOoolous rules:

1. Thank and link to the person who nominated you.
2. Share seven random facts about yourself.
3. Pass the award along to 5 new-found blogging buddies.
4. Contact the winners to congratulate them.

Before I share seven random facts about me, I first pass the baton.  The Versatile Blog Awards go to:

1. Amber West
2. Ellie Ann Soderstrom
3. Sonia G. Medeiros
4. Catie Rhodes
5. Jess Witkins

 Congratulations!

In addition to these 5 versatile blogs, click on these fabOoolous sites in my June edition of MarvelOoous Mashups!

What’s the first rule of Author Club?  WRITE a GOOD story! Oh, what a great post by Andrew Mocete.  Brad Pitt even helps him out with the rules….

If you are your TV like Catie Rhodes suggests, I’m in trouble.  My DVR is jam-packed full of random programming – does that mean that my head is jumbled with complete randomness?  Uh-oh…

Bond, James Bond.  Who doesn’t love 007?  Piper Bayard and her partner Holmes break down some of the Bond films in their new series: Classic Spy Films.

Trapped in a city surrounded with zombies, what do you do?  How about Vote Your Own Adventure by Mark Lidstone.

Let’s flip the switch now to grammar.  Remember that class?  Take the Homonym Hell test issued by Girls with Pens.

Sticking with the writing theme, check out the writing series by Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi, aka The Bookshelf Muse – 7 Deadly Sins of Writing.

My last mashup goes to the great Jenny Hansen.  This week, we celebrated the release of James Rollins’ new novel, The Devil Colony.  On Tuesday, we partied like it was going out of style on Twitter, and Jen deserves a prize for all of her fabOoolous posts.  Check out a few of the devilish blogs she put together for the event:  Devilish Snacks, Devilish Movies, a Devilish Playlist, and a fabOoolous Devilish mashup.

In addition to my awards & mashup, I was “tagged” (kinda like – Tag; You’re It!) by two fellow Twitter friends & bloggers this month.  It may have taken me a while to get to the game, but sure, I’ll play….

First up, Angela Wallace:

Angela tagged me and the rules state that I must answer these questions & tag eight other bloggers.

1. Do you think you’re hot? I’ve never considered myself hot, like most girls I’m sure.  However, when I darkened my naturally blonde hair to a deep red (not fire engine red), something happened.  Blondes have more fun, but men like red heads!  My new hair color definitely compliments my fair skin and light eyes better than the blonde, but I miss my pretty highlights.

2. Upload the picture or wallpaper that you’re using at the moment.

Having fun in a picture booth….

3. When was the last time you ate chicken? Last night; we eat chicken a lot in my house.  This time, I served chicken with cream of mushroom and sautéed garlic & green beans.  It received rave reviews.

4. What song/s have you listened to recently? “Independently Happy” by Blue October.  BO is my motivational music at the gym.

5. What were you thinking as you were doing this? Holy Toledo this is taking forever….

6. Do you have nicknames?  What are they? I’m T-BRAT for those of you who don’t already know.  T-Brat stands for a few different things: Tiffany-Brat (my brother refused to call me Tiffany growing up, I looked more like a Brattney); Tech-Brat (Guns’ Up, Red Raiders!); and, T-bird-Brat (my very first car was a cherry red Ford Thunderbird).

I have another nickname, but in order to keep the blog clean, think the Meredith Brook’s lyrics….”I’m a _____” – You fill in the blank.

Now, I tag 8 friends: Tymothy Longoria, Robyn Sadler, Jennifer Starks, Haley Whitehall, Mia Castile, Nichole Chase, Leah Lozano, and Elizabeth Sogard.

Next, we have Julie Glover

This tag requires me to type the phrase, “Writing is like…..,” and finish it, post it on my  blog, and then tag three other bloggers.

Writing is like….staring out the window and dreaming of all the wonderful things in this world that you’d like to accomplish but having the ability to transcribe those thoughts into words.  Writing is capitalizing on your imagination, taking the journey you’ve always wanted to travel, and silencing the voices in your head.  (Okay, other writers will understand that this doesn’t make me crazy!)

Now I tag –

Amy Thomas, my friend Wordluster on Twitter, and the creator of my Facebook writing group Young Adult Sisters (and Brothers).

Shellie Sakai, my WANA alumnus, and fellow writer in the fabOoolous Round of Words in 80 Days challenge (aka Row80).

Liz Schulte, another fellow writer and Twitter friend who graciously invited me to join HP’s Writing Group on Facebook, as well as the proud author of the new thriller, Dark Corners.  Check it out!  I’m pretty sure Liz is still up in the clouds….as she should be!

Finally, to my 7 fun facts – This time I tackle the top 7 travel destinations on my bucket list:

1.        Italy – specifically Positano, Rome, and Vatican City.  I want to experience the history, the architecture, the food, and the wine – Now, that’s a vacation!

 

2.       Hawaii – any island, just take me to the beach!  Perhaps a trip while Hawaii Five-0 is filming would be best….it might increase my odds of meeting Alex O’Laughlin. 

 

3.       Canada – I’d like to travel at least once to the west (Vancouver) and once to the east (Prince Edward Island).  Anyone with me?

 

4.       The Caribbean – specifically Jamaica and The Bahamas.

 

5.       Paris – do I really have to explain?  What female doesn’t want to travel to Paris?  See the Eifel Tower?  Eat a fresh macaroon and drink a cup of black coffee at a Parisian café?

 

6.       Germany – my great-grandfather emigrated from Germany to New York.  I’d like to experience the land of my ancestors, and participate in the real Oktoberfest.  Beer & Frankfurters, please!

7.       London – like most Americans, I’m infatuated with the Royal family.  I’d like to see Buckingham Palace, the changing of the Queen’s Guards, ride the London Underground, and experience a culture and history we’ll never quite understand in the states.

 

Who are your favorite fabOoolous bloggers? Do you have a bucket list of places to travel?  If so, please share!  Leave a comment; I’d love to hear from you!

One final note, if any of the award recipients or tagged bloggers don’t feel like playing, no worries!  I realize this isn’t everyone’s cup of tea.