Wow ... What a Weekend!

It's hard to explain this last week, but I'm going to try, with the aid of lots of pictures.

Tuesday, this happened:

Um, did I mention I'm not an artist?  This is my rendition of me falling on the ice.  My son could have drawn it better, but he's not here right now.  But yes, I fell, and hurt myself.  Nothing was broken, but I threw out all kinds of bones and muscles and ligaments and all those other little gadgets and gizmos that make up the human body.  My chiropractor says a few more visits, and I'll be fine, thankfully.

But then things got a lot better.  Friday was Book Launch Party time!

Me with the awesome Taffy.  She brought me some socks for Arlette's Operation Sock Hop. 

The superlative Angie Lofthouse.

The incredible Andrea Pearson, who was the designated party
 animal for the night,and kept things going with door prizes.
Thanks to her and her sister-in-law

Alicia for all they did!

Good friends and talented authors Nichole Giles and Don Carey.

Good friend and scrapbooking buddy Sherry Woodard.
She and I like to cut pretty paper into pieces and then
glue it back together. And yes, I do have a 

really bad propensity toward shutting my eyes when flashes
go off.  I'm working on it.

The ultra-generous Cheri Chesley, who not only came out 

from Tooele, but brought me her fabulous homemade
cheesecake.I'm not sure why I'm pulling this face.
I must be saying, "Hey, check me out.

I have cheesecake."

Highly excellent sister-friends Jill Swensen and Shari Bird,
who also came out from Tooele, but did not bring me
cheesecake.  However, they did
help me load up the car after the event,

which was awesome.

The ultra-cool Canda Mortensen - who is going to be a best-selling

YA author someday.  Mark my words. 

And the very sweet Debbie Cranberryfries, who does have
a legal last name, I promise.  James Inman
is in the background.

Left to Right:  A really good-looking guy I picked up on the
foreign languages aisle, me, Keith Fisher, Karlene Browning,
Rebecca Talley, and Nichole Giles.  Oh,

and a cute little boy.  

This is Karen Dupaix and her husband.  Karen won the drawing held

just for people who brought me socks. There are rewards in life for 

doing good works ... and this was proof ...

Bethany, my good friend Autumn, and her darling little baby girl,
who is doing a great job showing off the book. 

Now, this is fun.  Here we have three dragon ladies.  On the left is
Jaclyn Weist, who owned the bookstore Dragons and Fairytales
in Eagle Mountain. Then we have me - I was born in the Chinese
year of the Dragon. On the right is Paulette Inman,
who uses the name Pendragon on her blog.
Very, very cool indeed.

Nichole and Keith are in my critique group, and support me in
everything I do. I love these guys. 

There were some other random pictures taken throughout the evening, many of them showing the backs of people's heads and things like that, but I figured you probably wouldn't want to see those. 

All in all, the evening was a fantastic success.  I had a constant flow of traffic entirely comprised of friends and supporters, and I really appreciate everyone who came out or who sent me their best wishes through Facebook or e-mail.  It all made my new book release that much more fantastic.

And an additional thank you to those who brought socks to participate in Arlette's Operation Sock Hop.  Check this out: 

This pile is comprised of 72 pairs of socks for the homeless.  Isn't that incredible?  When people work together on a common goal, and they each do what they can, be it one pair or a whole package, it really adds up.  

And that wraps up the documentation of my amazing book launch.

But I'm not done telling you about my weekend!

Early the next morning, I met up with my good friends Daron Fraley, Rebecca Talley, and Don Carey and we headed up north to Logan for a signing at the Book Table.  

L-R: Don, me, Rebecca, and Daron

Gregg Luke, who is totally awesome and has helped me
figure out how to make people ill (for my books ... he's a
pharmacist in addition to being an LDS
suspense author) came in to see us. 

And Don played his ukulele for us.  

My sister Daira came in, as did our cousin LuAnn. My other

sister, Leigh, came too, but she was a party pooper and wouldn't have her
picture taken.

Gillian is an aspiring author, and she is not a
party pooper, thereby having her

picture taken.

Rebecca and Daron chatting with Gregg.

After our signing, my sister made up for her party-pooper ways by feeding us an awesome lunch, and then we drove home, scattering sunshine (and bookmarks) at libraries and bookstores all the way home.  It was a great day.

And now I'm sure you will fully understand when I say I think I shall now sleep for a week.