Way Back Wednesday - Sea Urchin Edition

Look at that...I made up my own swanky little title for this post. Anywho, as I was perusing through the saved items on my phone the other day I came across the following videos of my good friend Sheriff eating sea urchin. If memory serves me correctly, Paul told us he heard it was good. Yeah, um, we were lied to (and this from a sushi loving crowd!) Oh, and ignore the voice of the person doing the interview. She doesn't get out much.

And now for his reaction to the sea urchin:

Oh, and if that isn't enough, I also found this note in my phone describing said sea urchin. And I quote, "It tastes like a baby ate a jar of pureed sweet potatoes followed by a chaser of sea water and then regurgitated it."

The Red Siren

*** Read to the end: My first ever blog give-away is at the end. ***

Ok readers. I am super ecited to tell you about this book. "Why, RandomCarrie?" you may ask. Because this book takes place in my newest hometown: Charleston. Way back when before it became as it is today. Way back in the day when the city had a wall around it to keep out the indians. M. L. Tyndall visited Charleston a few years ago and decided to write a series of books in this fine city of mine. (Yes, it's mine. Deal with it and move on to the review.) So here goes.

Lady Faith Wescott is the daughter of an Admiral in the Queen's navy (I told you this was a long time ago.) While raised to be prim and proper, by night she haunts the local waters as The Red Siren, a female pirate. When her father is called away to Spain, he asks Captain Dajon Waite to watch over his daughters to keep them from harm. While Captain Waite agrees reluctantly to take on this resonsibility, his major focus is on capturing the pirates in the local waters and bringing them to justice.

Will Faith and Dajon be able to live under the same roof? Will their paths cross in the water or on land? I highly recommend you read this book to find and and learn more about Charleston when it was still Charles Town.

Leave a comment and one lucky reader will receive a copy of this book courtesy of me! If you don't want to read it, you can always use it as a gift for someone close to you who reads a lot. Contest ends at midnight, Friday, January 30, 2009. Winner will be announced on Saturday, January 31, 2009.

But if you don't win, you can always link on over to Amazon and pick up a copy for yourself! Good luck to all!

Stand-In Groom

This week, the
Christian Fiction Blog Alliance
is introducing
Stand-In Groom
Barbour Publishing, Inc (January 2009) 

by
Kaye Dacus

I have not been this excited to tell you about a new author I have discovered in such a long time.  Kaye Dacus did an incredible job with this book.   When Kristen Billerbeck wrote the Ashley Stockingdale books I wanted to be an attorney.  Kaye makes me want to be a wedding planner.  

Stand-In Groom is the story of wedding planner Anne Hawthorne.  Anne Hawthorne is a life-long resident of Louisiana with family ties that are strong.  When Anne meets George, her latest groom-to-be, there is immediate chemistry that must remain unrequited.  The story of planning the wedding as well as Anne's adventures (and misadventures) makes me want to move in next door and cheer her along.  From her cousins who live in the same building, to the actually story behind George, Kaye takes you on an adventure you wish you could be there to experience.  

See what the following authors had to say as well:

“Absolutely delightful! I enjoyed Stand-In Groom from cover to cover! Ms. Dacus’s clever story and wonderful prose will draw you away to a place deep in the heart of Louisiana, surrounding you with the scents, sounds, and sights of the deep south. A story filled with romance and intrigue, betrayal and forgiveness, I found myself laughing, crying and rejoicing right along with the characters.”
–M.L. Tyndall, author of The Falcon and the Sparrow and the award-winning Legacy of the King’s Pirates series

“Stand-In Groom is as sweet, beautiful, and chaotic as a perfectly planned wedding. Anne is a bright and wounded heroine you’re going to care about for a long time. George is a hero to capture your heart. Kaye Dacus will take you along for a fun, poignent ride in Stand-In Groom.”
–Mary Connealy, author of the Lassoed in Texas series and Of Mice...and Murder

To buy this book for yourself head on over to Amazon.  

It Happened One Friday

Well, actually it happened last Friday. I turned thirty. It seems better to type it out than to write 30. Less invasive somehow. How, might you ask, did I celebrate such an occasion. Well, to begin with my Facebook wall exploded with well wishes from friends, old and new. My phone beeped with text messages from those I would not see that day. Emails came from friends as well as phone calls from family. (And yes, Doodlebug told me she was working on my Christmas present. Last year she wished me a Merry Christmas. I guess I remind her of Christmas. Not sure what that means.) Mom came down so we could relax. And relax we did. It was a spa day for us girls. We had mud wraps, hot stone massages, and a microdermabrasian facial. And I know I proabably misspelled that but who cares. I'm old. Give me a break. Anyways, those 3 hours were amazing. I'm not sure yet if it was the pampering or the fact that I had no access to my cellphone or work email for 3 hours. Bliss. Pure Bliss. Saturday night, Grace joined us and we went to eat at South End Brewery. Yes, it is still one of my favorites, but I will not be going there again when the termperatures are cold. They apparently have no heat. It was miserable, but the food and the company were the best. So, my blog header has been re-worded because I am not longer twenty-something, but my life is still random and I don't see that changing because I added another year to my age. So here's to the adventure we'll call the 30s. May it be more than I deserve.

You're Safe, I Promise

I'd like to take a break from the ever-so-exciting posts from this week to let you know you are safe. How do I know this? Because I went to the Charleston County building today and put my purse and jacket through the x-ray machine. The ever-so-observant security guard quickly made me remove this item from my purse as I might poke someone's eye out with the file. (He actually demonstrated how I would do such a thing.)

I willingly gave up my "weapon" because it would have cost more to take it back to my car and pay for the additional time in the parking garage than it would to buy a new "weapon." However, as I stood in line in the tax assessor's office, I became relieved to know the dangers of the above "weapon" because I would have assumed the below (which was in my jacket pocket) was more dangerous.

Yes, I still have the Leatherman. Mr. Security Guard did not pay attention to my jacket for fear I would extract my anger at county government with my "weapon."

30 Items I've Purchased in the Past 30 Days

1. Gas – BP is my preferred provider these days
2. This t-shirt
3. A gift for my cousin’s graduation (you get no link because she reads this blog)
4. A new phone for my mama
5. An iPod for the Doodlebug and her mom (that would be my sister for those who care)
6. Taylor Swift’s new CD
7. Milk
8. Chex Mix makings because it isn't Christmas without Chex Mix
9. Cute Wallflower holders
10. Approximately 50 spools of nice Christmas Ribbon (at 50 cents a spool it was a steal at the Wal-Mart)
11. P.S. I Love You
12. This t-shirt
13. Lingerie for Arynda (you get no link because it’s lingerie)
14. Amazing food at restaurants such as Ya-Yas and EVO
15. Chick-Fil-A chicken biscuits and sweet tea
16. A gift for the dad to give the mom for her birthday
17. Cute Fall pumpkins to decorate with next fall on clearance at the Pottery Barn outlet
18. Halloween pancake molds at the William-Sonoma outlet
19. Shampoo – Garnier-Fructis is my current obsession (don’t worry, it’s still Aveda products to finish off the straight or the curly hair-do)
20. Notebooks for work – 1 for each company so I can keep things straight
21. New sweaters – it’s cold at the beach!
22. Cool new glasses with clip on sunglasses
23. Prescription safety glasses because I’m a nerd like that I would rather wear them than the bulky ones that go over the cool new glasses
24. Bittersweets - I got the dejected tin
25. Dog Shampoo – It’s not all about me around here
26. Containers to put all my Christmas cookies in next year
27. One year’s worth of HOA dues
28. Wii Fit
29. Fun, black flats
30. Caesar salad with friend calamari

Yeah, that was random. Oh well. Come back tomorrow for another wonderful list. I'm sure it will be as entertaining as this one was. Ok, so I lie. It may be even more boring. We'll just have to wait and see where the randomness leads.

30 Places I've Spent the Night

And the list goes on... here are 30 places I've spent the night in the course of my life. Trust me, I could have bored you and listed many more, but I stopped myself.

1. Jefferson City, TN <-- I was born there
2. Talbott, TN <-- I grew up there
3. Port Charlotte, FL
4. Atlanta, GA
5. Daytona Beach, FL
6. Gulf Shores, AL
7. Silver Springs, FL
8. Myrtle Beach, SC
9. Chattanooga, TN
10. Hilton Head Island, SC
11. Cookeville, TN
12. Bristol, TN
13. Gatlinburg, TN
14. Pigeon Forge, TN
15. Livingston, TN
16. Nashville, TN
17. Murfreesboro, TN
18. Memphis, TN
19. Powell, TN
20. Cleveland, OH
21. Appleton, WI
22. Mount Pleasant, SC
23. Galway, Ireland
24. Dublin, Ireland
25. Edinburgh, Scotland
26. Glasgow, Scotland
27. London, England
28. New York City, NY
29. Naples, FL
30. North Charleston, SC <-- Current home