All These Things That I Love - September 2017

...to Taylor Swift. Yes, I’m basic. So what. Yes, people are now on the Taylor hate train. Well, so far, I’m still Team I HEART TS. The two singles she’s put out went instantly on my writing playlists for my current WIPs.

 Get Taylor's music here --> Amazon | iTunes

...with Yayoi Kusama, the internationally renowned Japanese artist, known for painting, um.. polka dots.

A few weeks ago my darling Alexandra Haughton invited me to the Dallas Museum of Art’s exhibition of Kusama’s pumpkin room.

The experience was… wild. You go into a small mirrored room and for forty-five seconds you just stare at the glowing polka dot pumpkins and the reflections of glowing polka dot pumpkins. 

Yeah, we do pumpkin season in a sophisticated fashion round here.

What I’m obsessed with though, is that this woman has dedicated her life’s work, almost the entirety of her art to polka dots. And you can laugh at how ridiculous that sounds but then when you see it? It strangely makes sense at a very atomic, elemental level.

Obviously, it’s weeks later and I’m still thinking about polka dots and what *my* polka dots are. Cranky sexy heroes? Murder by stiletto heel? Liberal consumption of gin and tonics?  Don’t laugh. I could be in a museum one day.

I mean, that's a statue that should be in a museum. Me with Cheryl Etchison's RITA award. For law of attraction purposes.

And of course, I’m still obsessed in the last week of the third annual #ReadWritePlan challenge on social media. Follow the hashtag #ReadWritePlan for all the planner peeks and inspiration.

Loving Trader Joe’s for my liquids these days. Their grapefruit-flavored sparkling water gives me life.

And this TJ’s wine is very drinkable. I forget how much it was, definitely under $10. But hubs and I have pretty much become total Paso Robles converts so I shouldn’t have been surprised.

There’s still time to enter our #ReadWritePlan giveaway here. We're giving away a Kindle Fire, a May Designs gift card and books!

One more note… Since I’ve started my podcast, Women With Books, a lot more of my time is eaten up and I’m considering moving a lot of my blog content to my newsletter. If you like my reading lists and my recommendations like above, please consider subscribing to my newsletter because all this might be exclusive to subscribers by the new year.  Maybe. I’m still trying to figure all this out, y’all. Productivity is hard. 

Speaking of which, back to the books. xoxo

All These Things That I Love - August 2017

To Kesha's Rainbow

I’ve got Kesha’s new album on repeat here. If you love fun, feminist pop with a country twang and rock swagger, this album is for you. I’m loving Learn to Let Go and Woman (fair warning, there’s quite a few F-bombs so I fast-forward for the little Emorys) on my playlist for my current WIP.

Amazon | iTunes

With Micron ultra fine pens & Gray Mildliners. And when I say “ultra fine” I mean .25mm. ULTRA FINE, y’all. Somehow using these pens and a gray highlighter were the last key to total planner peace. You know, that zen-like calm when you have the perfect system in the midst of life’s craziness.
 

Are you a paper planner?  Alexandra Haughton and I are hosting the third annual #ReadWritePlan challenge on social media. Follow along for all the planner peeks and inspiration.

Buy Microns on Amazon

Buy Mildliners on Amazon

Peeling Feet Booties.

It’s that time of year again. After a few months of summer sandals, I need another foot peel. I’ve blogged about it here and seriously, if you have summer sandal feet, just trust me and get a few for you and those you love.

Buy on Amazon

Project Runway is back!  My girls and I love watching this show together (I’ve blogged about the similarities between publishing and fashion here) and this season, they’re featuring models with a variety of body shapes which is inspirational and just good business sense for anyone wanting to get started in today’s fashion world.

One of my favorite mantras, courtesy of the amazing Tim Gunn.

I'll be talking about books I've read and loved lately in my newsletter this month, so if you're not already signed up you can do so here. Subscribers who open the newsletter within three days of me sending it are automatically entered to win a monthly giveaway!  Or if you just want to hangout and chat on my Facebook page (about peeling foot booties? Kesha? Project Runway?) join the party here! 

All These Things That I Love - June 2017

A monthly roundup of things that give me life…

Wonder Woman!!!

After writing about it last month, I got to see Wonder Woman two weeks ago! We took the kids (part of a birthday week (c) celebration) and I really can't stop thinking about it. Gal Gadot as Diana was luminescent, and strong, and brave and vulnerable and smart.

As an author, the movie and the characters have given me a lot of inspiration, but then I read this quote by the director, Patty Jenkins in the New York Times and I wanted to share it:

Cheesy is one of the words banned in my world. I’m tired of sincerity being something we have to be afraid of doing. It’s been like that for 20 years, that the entertainment and art world has shied away from sincerity, real sincerity, because they feel they have to wink at the audience because that’s what the kids like. We have to do the real stories now. The world is in crisis.

I wanted to tell a story about a hero who believes in love, who is filled with love, who believes in change and the betterment of mankind. I believe in it. It’s terrible when it makes so many artists afraid to be sincere and truthful and emotional and relegates them to the too-cool-for-school department. Art is supposed to bring beauty to the world.

I agree with Patty but now I'm wondering... what kind of stories should I be telling? What's my responsibility to be sincere and truthful as a fiction writer? How do I show heroes and heroines that fight for right and love and justice in an unapologetic way?

It's a great discussion around a great movie and a great start to Summer 2017.

Grapefruit Cocktails

If there's a grapefruit martini or margarita on a menu at a restaurant, I usually order it. So this summer, I decided to start trying out faux-Paloma recipes at home to enjoy in the pool.  This one I invented and it's currently my favorite.

Lindsay's 2017 Pool Drink

2 oz. gin (or blanco tequila) (or vodka) (I'm not picky)

half a lime, squeezed

2 oz. pink grapefruit juice

8 oz. ICE calorie free grapefruit soda

With My Hobonichi

After years of using my personal size planner, I realized at the end of May that I just needed more space. Writing all the deadlines and various publishing related notes didn't fit in my old planner anymore so I decided to spring for an April start Hobonichi Techo.  It fits great in a Louis Vuitton desk agenda and it gives me TONS of ways to plan out my life.  I'll share more about my system in the 2017 version of #ReadWritePlan, coming in September but for now you can get peeks on my Instagram.

If you follow me on Facebook, you'll know that I'm doing something crazy this week... I'M WRITING A BOOK IN A WEEK!!! (WHAT?! HAVE YOU HAD YOUR HEAD CHECKED, GIRL?)

I know, I know, I just wanted to see if I could do it. I started a Christmas novella yesterday and all week long I'll be posting snippets of un-edited 100% fresh book parts to keep me accountable and at the end of the week, hopefully I'll have a book that I'll be publishing later this year.

Check out my Pinterest inspiration board here.

If you're interested in getting updates about my Christmas novella/ Book in a Month click here.

If you want into my monthly update newsletter to get information about giveaways, new releases and sales, click here.

Let me know if you try my cocktail recipe or if you have a better one to recommend - or what you thought about Wonder Woman! I'd love to hear your thoughts!

She was warned, she was given an explanation. Nevertheless, she watched a movie.

As I talked about on Facebook recently, my family took me to see Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 for Mother's Day (which I thought was fun, creative and funny). Love 'em or hate 'em, we got to see lots of preview trailers for all the upcoming shoot 'em up superhero action movies. The one  I found myself weirdly engrossed in was this one: The Mummy trailer:

Now I loved the first Mummy movie, it's my favorite kind of romantic adventure crack. Ancient curses and a bookish, stubborn heroine and a wise-cracking hero. FLOVE. So I was watching this new trailer to see if/how they were referencing the original.

Strangely, I found myself completely rooting for the evil woman who was wrongly entombed and is now returning to wreak revenge on the world (using Tom Cruise as her pawn. As one does.)

I mean, come on. Go girl.

Then on Twitter a few days ago other women authors were also reporting feeling... feistier than normal. Their heroines started kicking dudes, their manuscripts were getting a little bloody, that kind of thing.

So I started making a list of movies to watch, to capture this girl power in the air, when you feel like resisting... something... everything...

Women with Guns. Swords. Trucks.

Spy: Amazon  || itunes   

Mad Max Fury Road: Amazon  || itunes

Mulan: Amazon  || itunes

Women with Smarts

Legally Blonde: Amazon  || itunes

Erin Brockovich: Amazon  || itunes

Hidden Figures: Amazon

Women with Plans

9 to 5: Amazon  || itunes

Elizabeth: Amazon  || itunes

There are some upcoming girl power movies I'm really excited to see, too.  I already got my Wonder Woman (in theaters on June 2!) stamps and gleefully used one to post a card to The Ripped Bodice (a woman-owned independent book store. Shop here!)

And how amazing does this trailer look for Battle of the Sexes? It's one of my favorite tropes to write although... maybe not with Steve Carrell as the hero... but it still looks like a great movie.

So what do you think? What gets you pumped up?  What's your favorite girl power chick flick?  Are you rooting for the nasty woman who's going to bully Tom Cruise into doing her bidding? Answer below or connect with me on Facebook - we've always got something fun to discuss there.

All These Things That I Love - 2016 Gift Guide Edition

Murphy is very tired from 2016.

Most of us feel a little worn out, huh?

No matter what side you were on, I think we're all exhausted from a long, nasty election cycle. Many people are hurt, confused, scared. I'm doing a lot of praying these days. Last Sunday, my pastor said some stuff and I'm sort of stealing the gist of it for this post.

Love each other like lambs so that tomorrow we may be warriors.

It went along with what I was feeling as we rolled into December. I had this cautious optimism creeping back into my bones. Mostly because we're all here together.  November (hell, all of 2016) was rough, but we can still fight together and laugh together.

obama + biden= 4eva

I have faith in us. Because we're a people who can make up really great memes. But we still need to take care of each other's hearts. With simple comforts. So here are some simple things I'm loving, that maybe people in your life would get some joy from.

Yeti highball

There's a good chance this is tea.

I mentioned the Yeti before but this is the one I use in the winter for tea.  It keeps it at a perfect temperature while I'm running around town and also confuses the other moms in carpool line who think I'm drinking booze.

Nuxe Reve de Miel lip balm.

photo2-3

There's a really long story about how I first bought this lip balm in Paris. But I rebuy it on Amazon (in stick and pot form) to luxe up a basic necessity. I keep the pot next to my computer and sometimes I dab it on my dry cuticles, too.  Because cuticles need French love, too.

You know what makes everyone feel good? A really awesome hardcover book.  For me, I'd love a classic that feels like an old friend who makes my heart sing.

pride-prejudice

Or a different classic that I've reread four hundred times.

anne

Or something that makes you laugh until you pee yourself on a cross-county flight. Hypothetically.

sedaris

There's also alternative gift giving. My heart is always with women, children and families and so those are the causes that I support. Environmental, health and animal causes are also in need. The organizations I'm supporting this year are:

Ronald McDonald House - I give to the one in Houston, because that's the one that helped my family when my nephew was in the hospital, but you can give to your local house. You can call to see if they need other items - like toilet paper, soap or a homecooked meal!

Planned Parenthood - because all women of all income levels deserve health care

Fisher House - like Ronald McDonald Houses, this organization provides housing for military families to be close to loved ones during their medical treatments

International:

Clinton Foundation - I supported this organization long before it was a hot button topic this year because it is consistently a leader in initiatives that help girls, women and education around the world.

Heifer International in Haiti - the recent hurricane wiped out a lot of the progress that the country has seen in the past five years. Help them restock with goats and hens, small livestock that can feed families for years.

Basically, take care of yourselves. Take care of each other. That's pretty much all we ever need to do. And why I'm leaving you with this gift. My favoritest Christmas music video. Turn it up. Sing along with someone you love.  See you in 2017.

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