June 5, 2015 by Lori L MacLaughlin

Celebrate the Small Things!

Celebrate the Small Things is a weekly celebration created by VikLit and now hosted by Lexa Cain to celebrate the happenings of the week, however small or large. You can learn all about it and sign up for it here.

I can’t believe another week has flown by. Today, I’m celebrating:

Final editing and proofreading work on Book 2 has begun! Yay!
I attended a seminar on cyber security for small businesses. That was an eye opener.
One of the libraries we go to will be giving away free books this weekend! We are so there.
National Donut Day! This year I celebrated with a maple crème filled sugar donut. Absolutely delicious! (The Boston Crème wasn’t bad, either.) 🙂

What other celebrations are going on out there?

May 29, 2015 by Lori L MacLaughlin

Celebrate the Small Things!

Summer weather is definitely here, even if the calendar says it’s still spring. Whichever it is, I’m just happy it’s warm and not snowing. Celebrations for this week:

My daughter was presented with a certificate for being chosen Student of the Month for May!
My Mom’s birthday get-together is this weekend!
School is almost out! I think I’m as ready for it to be done as my kids are.

What other celebrations are going on out there?

May 22, 2015 by Lori L MacLaughlin

Celebrate the Small Things!

The month of May continues to whiz on by. I’m starting to think I might get my spring yard work done before winter sets in again. 🙂 This week I’m celebrating:

Being able to attend and learn from author events.
Finally getting my lawn mowed.
The long Memorial Day weekend, with a moment of silence to remember those who are no longer with us.

What other celebrations are going on out there?

May 15, 2015 by Lori L MacLaughlin

Celebrate the Small Things!

Wow, this month is flying right by! I can’t believe we’re halfway through it already. This week I’m celebrating:

Another Indie bookstore, The Flying Pig in Shelburne, VT, agreed to carry my book! Whoo, hoo!
My two flowering crabapple trees have blossomed, and my yard smells heavenly.
A trip to IHOP to celebrate surviving the A to Z Challenge. Love those apple-cinnamon pancakes!

What other celebrations are going on out there?

May 8, 2015 by Lori L MacLaughlin

Celebrate the Small Things! and A to Z Challenge Reflection

This week, I’m celebrating the wonderful warm weather! (Finally!) It has been sunny and 70s-80s all week. I’ve been raking like mad to get all the leaves off my lawn before the grass gets too tall. I can’t believe how fast it’s growing. The trees are leafing out, and two of my flowering shrubs are in full bloom. It’s so nice!

My overgrown forsythia bush.

My I-think-it’s-some-kind-of-rhododendron shrub.

I’m also still celebrating surviving the A to Z Challenge! This was my second year with it, and it definitely was more of a challenge this time around (sorry, no pun intended), because I didn’t get many posts written in advance and ended up writing most of them on the day they were to be posted, which didn’t leave me much time for visiting other blogs. The general crazy busyness of life didn’t help, either.

In spite of that, I enjoyed the Challenge and look forward to catching up with all the amazing A to Zs that I missed. So many interesting themes! Not only am I entertained, but I learn a lot, too. Thank you to all the co-hosts and their teams for monitoring and visiting everyone during this huge undertaking! What an awesome job!

What other celebrations are going on out there?

May 1, 2015 by Lori L MacLaughlin

Celebrate the Small Things!

Today, I am celebrating that I survived the A to Z Blogging Challenge! Whoo, hoo! Hooray!

Congrats to everyone who participated! It’s fun, but it can be exhausting.

I’d like to say a huge Thank You! to everyone who stopped by! Over the next few weeks I’ll be around to catch up on all those blogs I didn’t have time to visit during the Challenge. I’m looking forward to reading up on all the amazing topics. Road Trip!

What other celebrations are going on out there?

April 24, 2015 by Lori L MacLaughlin

Celebrate the Small Things! and A to Z Challenge: More Fictional Favorites! Day 21: Lt. Uhura from Gene Roddenberry’s Star Trek

Today, I’m celebrating that I’ve almost made it through the A to Z Challenge! Only five more days to go after today. I haven’t been able to do as much visiting of other blogs as I’d hoped, but I plan to make the rounds after the Challenge. A to Z Road Trip!

Moving on to A to Z —

U is for — Lt. Uhura from Star Trek

Imagine America in the 1960s, torn by racial tension and violence. In the midst of it all, the creators of Star Trek did the unthinkable. They cast a black woman in an important role, equal to her white male counterparts on the bridge of the Starship Enterprise.

Lieutenant Uhura, played by Nichelle Nichols, was chief communications officer aboard the Enterprise, but her skills didn’t end there. She also took over the duties of helmsman, navigation, and science officer when necessary. Her competence in these areas was relied upon without any doubt. No one ever questioned her abilities.

The original series episode, Who Mourns for Adonais?, revealed another of Uhura’s skills — she rewired the entire communication system of the space shuttle to restore contact with the Enterprise. Very delicate work, in her words. Mr. Spock replies that he “can think of no one better equipped to handle it.”

Uhura rose to the rank of full commander in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Kahn and continued to be a vital member of Captain Kirk’s crew in subsequent movies. She became a Star Trek icon, a role model for an oppressed African-American nation. According to Nichols, when she was going to leave the show after the first season, Martin Luther King, Jr., told her how important she was as a role model and inspiration to the African-American community and encouraged her to reconsider. Because of this, she stayed.

Later, she campaigned for NASA in their effort to recruit more women and African-Americans to join. I read that Dr. Mae Jemison, the first African-American woman to travel in space (aboard the shuttle Endeavor), credited Star Trek as an influence in her decision to become an astronaut.

Nichelle Nichols as Lt. Nyota Uhura
Photo Credit: http://thevalkyriedirective.tumblr.com

From the episode Who Mourns for Adonais? Photo Credit: http://thevalkyriedirective.tumblr.com

What other celebrations are going on out there?

April 17, 2015 by Lori L MacLaughlin

Celebrate the Small Things! and A to Z Challenge: More Fictional Favorites! Day 15: Olaf from Disney’s Frozen

Today, I’m celebrating independent bookstores! Here’s my book, Lady, Thy Name Is Trouble, on an actual brick-and-mortar store bookshelf! Phoenix Books (in Vermont) is carrying it at both their locations, the Burlington store on Cherry Street and the Essex store in the Essex Cinemas shopping plaza. Yay! (Happy dancing!)

Phoenix Book Store

And now for today’s A to Z —

O is for — Olaf from Disney’s Frozen

“Hi, everyone. I’m Olaf and I like warm hugs!” Olaf, the animated snowman, stole the show in Disney’s hit movie, Frozen. Talk about comedy relief. Just about everything he said and did had me in stitches.

From the beginning when he meets Anna and Kristoff on their way to find Elsa, to his receiving his own personal snow flurry at the end of the movie to keep him from melting, Olaf infuses the story with warmth and humor and a childlike innocence that makes me smile even now as I’m thinking about it.

So many hilarious moments — that first meeting with Anna and Kristoff; Olaf’s middle and bottom parts running away from the snow monster and leaving his head behind; when Olaf tells Anna to run from the “rocks” Kristoff is talking to; and when he slides down the hill toward the town after being told by Kristoff to keep a low profile and you hear a scream from someone as Olaf says hello to them.

Olaf is one of the funniest and most endearing characters I’ve ever met. My favorite Olaf moment is when he tells Anna that “some people are worth melting for.” Wise words from a true friend.

Photo Credit: http://wondersofdisney2.yolasite.com

Photo Credit: Amazon.com

What other celebrations are going on out there?

April 10, 2015 by Lori L MacLaughlin

Celebrate the Small Things! and A to Z Challenge: More Fictional Favorites! Day 9: Indiana Jones

This week, my son has been home sick with a bad cold for three days, but he’s finally feeling better, so I’m celebrating that and the fact that it looks like spring may finally be getting here. The temps are reaching into the 40s and 50s, and the snow is almost gone. Yay!

And now for today’s A to Z —

I is for — Indiana Jones

When I first saw the ad trailer for the movie, Raiders of the Lost Ark, I didn’t really catch what it was about, but thought it looked like it might be a good action movie. I went to see it, not expecting anything special, and got wowed. The adventure, the stunts, the humor, the snakes — I was hooked right from the first scene. In fact, I liked the movie so much I went back and saw it again the next day.

Indiana Jones, played by Harrison Ford, is such a cool character. He gets to travel the world to seek out priceless antiquities and live the adventures that people like me dream about. He survives by his ingenuity, his daring, and his bullwhip. He’s not one of those perfect characters who always wins, either. He’s had his share of heartbreak and defeat. He keeps going, though, with dogged determination, saving the treasures of the world for posterity.

My favorite quote from the movie is when Sallah asks Indy how he’s going to get the Ark back from the Germans. Indy utters his classic, well-thought-out line: “I don’t know. I’m making it up as I go.”

I’ve never been able to decide which movie I like better — Raiders or The Last Crusade. Sean Connery is excellent as Indy’s father, and their exchanges make the movie. I didn’t care for Temple of Doom. Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was better and marked the return of the awesome Karen Allen as Marion Ravenwood. Now, there’s another favorite character…

Photo Credit: Wikipedia

Photo Credit: http://www.moviesofhollywood.com

What other celebrations are going on out there?

April 3, 2015 by Lori L MacLaughlin

Celebrate the Small Things! and A to Z Challenge: More Fictional Favorites! Day 3: Chief Inspector Jacques Clouseau

This week I’m celebrating getting my book into a local independent book store! I’ve always wanted to see my book on an actual brick-and-mortar store shelf. I’m really excited about it!

And now for today’s A to Z —

C is for — Chief Inspector Jacques Clouseau from Blake Edward’s Pink Panther films.

Jacques Clouseau is a police inspector in the French Surete. Dimwitted, bumbling, and hilariously inept, he, nevertheless, and usually completely by accident, manages to solve the case. At least, most of the time.

Anyone who has ever watched any of the Pink Panther movies starring Peter Sellers knows he is a slapstick comedic genius. The first time I watched the movies, I laughed myself to tears. The silliness of his clumsy antics and his over-the-top disguises still bring fits of giggles. And his warped French accent is priceless. How he did all that with a straight face, I’ll never know.

The movie series with Sellers includes The Pink Panther (1963), A Shot in the Dark (1964), Return of the Pink Panther (1975), The Pink Panther Strikes Again (1976), and Revenge of the Pink Panther (1978). Other Pink Panther movies were made with other actors, both before and after Sellers’ death in 1980, but in my book, Sellers owned the character, and none of the others even comes close to equaling his portrayal.

Here’s a brief example of Sellers’ inspired lunacy from The Pink Panther Strikes Again: