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Tulips are my favorite flower. Their blooms usher in spring and Easter and the smell of warming earth as the days get longer and green returns to our world. They are also one of my mom’s favorite flowers – she planted them around the outskirts of our lawn so that they pop up splendid splashes of color when the weather turns temperate. I carried all colors of them, long-stemmed and wrapped with ribbon, on my wedding day as I let go of my father’s arm and took my husband’s. And Rich gets them for me sometimes, like yesterday for Valentine’s Day, because he remembers they are my favorite…

With the myriad things he has on his mind, on his schedule, he always remembers that tulips are my favorite. He always tells me he loves me. He always plays when Sam wants to, even for the 1000th time. He always smiles at Lena when she’s gazing at him, even when he’s exhausted from a long day. He always kisses me goodbye in the morning and hello in the evening. He always cooks scallops perfectly. He always spends his time with us. He’s always patient with me and my neuroses. He always does the laundry when I just don’t have the energy. He always feeds Sam his dinner. He always works hard to provide for us. And he always has enough of himself left for us afterward. He always loves us.

He’s the most compassionate and doting dad. He’s the most loving and respectful husband. He’s Rich. He’s the greatest.

Three Beautiful Things

1. Memories, photos, videos and lingering Bob Evan’s heartburn from a perfect Valentine’s Day spent with my favorite three people in the world – Rich, Sam and Lena.
2. The cheapo gas station coffee that I only allow myself to have on work mornings and car trips: tastes like hot chocolate, is fat free and is 77¢ - the antithesis of Starbucks.
3. Ghetto nachos.

Great New Booking Coming Out - Followup to Shiver

In Maggie Stiefvater's Shiver, Grace and Sam found each other.  Now, in Linger, they must fight to be together. For Grace, this means defying her parents and keeping a very dangerous secret about her own well-being. For Sam, this means grappling with his werewolf past . . . and figuring out a way to survive into the future. Add into the mix a new wolf named Cole, whose own past has the potential to destroy the whole pack.  And Isabelle, who already lost her brother to the wolves . . . and is nonetheless drawn to Cole.

At turns harrowing and euphoric, Linger is a spellbinding love story that explores both sides of love -- the light and the dark, the warm and the cold -- in a way you will never forget.

Comes out in stores everywhere July 20th. Pre-order here.
Enter to win an advanced review copies of LINGER, Sisters Red, The Dead-Tossed Waves, and The Replacement on Maggie's blog

We Heart Cosi

Happy Valentine's Day!

We're off to Cosi this afternoon - kind of a Valentine's Day tradition for us. I'll fill you in on our scientific discoveries later.

Hope you're surrounded by loved ones today!

Walk a Mile in My Chucks

These worn out black Cons of mine have trekked many miles with me. Among my collection, they’re my oldest pair, my favorite pair. They accompany every outfit I own from dresses to jeans and, no matter how torn and sodden and battered they get, I will keep them. It’s the bleach spots from scrubbing down my grandparents’ shower, the doodling I drew on the soles during theology class, the dirt and grime from countless travels over sidewalks and yards and parking lots and fields and amusement parks and airports and beaches from Columbus to Maui…it’s these things that make them my favorite.


This is not to say that I don’t adore all of my other Chucks – the flame pair that my nephews think make me run faster, the pink pair I wore ‘walking in Memphis’ with Jen, the red pair Rich got me for Christmas, the blue camo pair I bought at Marshalls just because they were my size...they all hold a special place in my heart and always will.

I picture myself as an old woman, gray hair piled on top of my head and Chucks on my feet. It’s not vanity or an attempt to cling to my youth that fans my flames for Chucks. It’s that I feel most like me, like the woman I most enjoy being – quirky, a little eccentric, joyful – when my Cons are snug on my feet. There’s power in those shoes, surely imagined, but potent nonetheless. I think every woman has a material object she feels that way about, be it a necklace, dress, shirt, ring, high heels, jeans, husband’s shirt…some thing that projects their inward self to the world, that pulls confidence or comfort or sensuality from them as soon as they put it on. My Chucks are that some thing for me and, thus, my ode to Chucks.

When Did I Have Twins?

Is there a medical explanation, some genetic mutation, as to why my kids are 21 months apart but look like twins? Clarification - they don't look like twins right now. But look at these pictures of Sam at 5 months and Lena at 5 months. It's kind of freaking me out.

Three Beautiful Things

This is a tough task today, as we had a long night with Lena and I’m grumpy and tired. But what better time to remind myself of beautiful things…

1. The sun is shining on the trees outside my boss’s window, making their snow covered branches glisten in its light.
2. The roads were fairly clear today, despite the barrage of snow, which allowed Sam and Lena to arrive at the sitter’s safe and sound, where they’re surely having fun with Tyler and Krista.
3. Lori’s blog made me laugh this morning, on a day when I didn’t think I’d be doing much of that.