The "Beary" Cool Perks of This Job

My friends and I went out to lunch yesterday to celebrate my good friend Janet's sale of her first book to Love Inspired Historicals, my other good friend Elizabeth Guest's impending release of her really cool paranormal, Night Life, and my little visit to the bestseller list. One of us mentioned to the waiter the reason for our lingering and laughter-filled lunch, and he was so impressed (or maybe so anxious to get us out of his table ;-) that he gave us a free mud pie for dessert.

Very nice perk, if I say so myself! We tipped generously and thanked him profusely. It was a very nice thing to do and we will be back to that restaurant for our Christmas get-together, for sure.

Last night, I had a book signing with a great friend of mine, Mary Lou Rigdon, who writes fabulous faith-based fantasies. She had a rose plant waiting for me with a nice little Congratulations card attached. She apparently hadn't heard about my black thumb (thankfully I have a little boy who is far more aware of my plants and their need for water, which is the only reason we have three thriving green things in my house :-). It's now proudly displayed on my desk, with three tiny blooming and lightly scented pink roses. I absolutely love it!


The piece de resistance, though, has to be this DIVINE and ADORABLE! Vermont Teddy Bear that my dad's girlfriend sent to me. It's a Good Wishes Bear and she is so totally cute, I can't even capture it in this picture. She even came with a bear shaped chocolate bar! It was so sweet, and so cute, and I am definitely keeping her on my desk (the bear, not the girlfriend, who is on the East Coast :-).


But this bear needs a name, for sure. So, I thought it'd be fun to have a mini-contest among my loyal blog readers. Submit a name and be entered into a drawing for a Shirley Jump travel mug. I'll post the names here and choose a winner. Totally subjective, you know, because it is my bear and I have to live with the name, as does the bear, for a very long time :-).


If you don't like posting to Blogger, that's okay, you can e-mail me, too, and I'll post those entries, too. There's the mug in the photo (that's the view from my keyboard in case you're curious...cordless phone not included; wet stone that says Live, Love, Laugh, not included; scissors, not included; they're in my big huge pen holder from Levenger, which is also not included, legalese, yada-yada :-).) By next Saturday I'll pick a winner, then ship off the mug in time for hot chocolate this winter :-)


Shirley