Klingon - My New Rose Bush

I am filthy. Seriously, I'm now covered in dirt and proud of it. My favorite Aunt gave me a rose bush for my birthday and I've just now planted it. Sorry for not having pictures, it, sadly never occurred to me to take pictures while it was blooming and now it's current blooms are either gone or somewhat demolished thanks to my efforts today. If it blooms again I'll be sure to take pictures.

I have named her Klingon and she is a vampire plant. Barefoot gardening... yeah. Anyway she drew blood twice and for a plant with pink flowers that smell quite lovely, she's quite fierce in her rather large thorns *grin*.

My MotherTongues / Prissy Green Prize!

Awesome! I won a $50 gift certificate to MotherTongues in a recent giveaway hosted by Prissy Green to honor World Fair Trade Day!

MotherTongues' motto of Wear Words, Celebrate Cultures fits their company to a T. They take words that cannot be directly translated into English, define them poetically and print both on their products made with organic cotton using fair trade practices.

Now on to the good part... what I got with my winnings *grin* well, it wasn't an easy choice. On the one hand there is the Women's Zen T-Shirt Simple. Classic. Made with a 100% organic cotton in India.

One the other the Ubuntu Hoodie in black.

Edgier. Unique and fantastic philosophy. Made with 80% organic cotton, 20% recycled polyester in Pakistan. Plus it has the added benefit of everyone thinking I'm touting Linux... Yeah, you can guess how hard this decision was :P

I am now a proud owner of a Ubuntu hoodie just like the one pictured above. It is warm and comfy, very soft, and fits just right. The material is heavy duty, as is the hardware, and I foresee lots of use that it will take on admirably in its future. Added bonus, there was no plastic bits used in the packaging so I didn't get annoyed and have to pull out scissors. I also really loved that shipping was only $3 and it let my gift certificate apply to it, which was really nice.

My one and only issue is that sometimes the hood covers up the awesome design on the back, but overall I am exceptionally pleased with my gift and choice *happy dance*

Thank-you MotherTongues & Prissy Green!

iPod Touch Giveaway on Bitten By Books!

The original post on Bitten By Books:

The Last First Book We Ever Wrote

Hello there! My name is Bree, and I’m one half of the romance-writing, virtual-crime-fighting duo known as Moira Rogers. I’m here today because Bitten by Books was kind enough to agree to help us celebrate something really exciting that only comes once in an author’s lifetime: the release of the first book we ever wrote.

Awesome, right? We sure think so! Of course, the part that takes a little bit of explaining is the part where Crux is, in fact, our sixteenth ebook to be released. A lot has happened to us since fall of 2007, when we first sat down to try and tell the story of Mackenzie and Jackson, the heroine and hero who have to fight an evil supernatural conspiracy spanning generations to win their chance at a happy ending. We scampered off to hone our craft on short stories and novellas and learned from our experience. But we always came back to this story, because in the end we loved our tough determined heroine and her smooth talkin’ detective hero too much to leave alone.

Today, in honor of Crux’s release, we’ve teamed up with Bitten by Books for a chance to make someone else just as excited as we are. We have in our possession a NEW Apple iPod touch 8 GB (1st Generation) (Retail Value $229.00), perfect for listening to music AND reading books through the awesome application Stanza. The Apple iPod touch 8 GB also holds 1,750 songs or 10 hours of video. Go here to read all about it. We’re also going to give $50.00 and $25.00 Visa Gift Cards to two lucky runners up! All you need to do is read the rules below and enter this awesome contest. And if you happen to pick up a copy of Crux, we hope you’ll love Jackson and Mackenzie as much as we do!

Book Excerpt: “Jackson Holt makes a decent living as a private investigator in New Orleans, home of one of the largest underground supernatural populations in the United States. He and his partners have never met a case they couldn’t crack…until a local bar owner asks him to do a little digging on her newest hire.

New Orleans is the fourth destination in as many months for Mackenzie Brooks, a woman on the run from a deranged stalker. After all, any man who shows up on her doorstep claiming to be her destined lover has more than a few screws loose. But crazy doesn’t explain why he always finds her no matter how far she runs.

When her well-meaning boss puts a PI on her case, Mackenzie comes face to face with the incredible truth: magic is real, and whatever spell has kept her hidden and separate from the paranormal world is rapidly deteriorating.

With time running out, she has no choice but to trust Jackson as he struggles to uncover the truth of her past-and her destiny.”

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Moira Rogers is one (well, they are actually two, lol) of my favorite authors and I hope you check this out *grin*. Not only are they offering up fabulous prizes, but Bitten By Books has a ton a ways to enter, including buying Moira Roger's e-books! Have fun *evil grin*.