Monday, February 23, 2009

High Maintenance People

Congratulations to Susan Chaballa, you are the winner of Lori Devoti’s Unbound. I’ll be contacting you for your snail mail address (or you can email me on skully at skullybuzz dot com if you see this first) and mailing out your prize!

This time I’ve got Lord of Desire by Paula Quinn. As you know, I love historicals. So, post a comment, (you must type in your email address) and I’ll enter you in the drawing for Paula’s book. I’ll also add you to my newsletter for updates on all the fun stuff and releases, too. I’ll announce the winner on the March 9th blog! Good luck!

So, high maintenance people. A friend and I were talking about what this actually means. She said it was spending tons of money to have your hair done, your nails, cosmetic surgery, Botox, shopping addictions, etc, etc. I, on the other hand, felt it was more about emotional high maintenance. After all, if it’s hair and nails, why, that applies primarily to women. Hmm, maybe I also wanted to deny it because I have my hair and nails done, although I haven’t done any surgery, honest. But really, to me, a high maintenance person is one who always needs emotional sustenance. There’s always a problem, at work, at home, boyfriend, girlfriend, kid problems. One spends a lot of time on the phone listening to the same issues, different day. These people tend to see everything negatively instead of positively. The glass is half empty instead of half full. Something good does happen, and they’re waiting for the other shoe to drop. You want to help them, but there’s nothing you can say that will make them feel better. You have to be very careful about what you say, too, because they take offense easily. Especially on email. And when you hang up the phone or shut down your email, you’re emotionally exhausted. This, to me, is high maintenance. It knows no gender barrier. I do love writing about high maintenance people, because they make a story very interesting. But in real life, they’re exhausting.

So let’s talk about your definition of high maintenance. What do you think it means?

Jasmine, Jennifer and JB!
http://www.skullybuzz.com/
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Monday, February 9, 2009

Hearst Castle



Congratulations to Dena Walton, you are the winner of Virginia Kantra’s Sea Witch. I’ll be contacting you for your snail mail address (or you can email me on skully at skullybuzz dot com if you see this first) and mailing out your prize!

This time let’s do a Silhouette Nocturne, Unbound by Lori Devoti. I love the Nocturnes, they remind a bit of the old Shadows Silhouette did back in the 80s. I have a complete set of those! So, post a comment, (you must type in your email address) and I’ll enter you in the drawing for Lori’s book. I’ll also add you to my newsletter for updates on all the fun stuff and releases, too. I’ll announce the winner on the February 23rd blog! Good luck!

So remember, I went to Hearst Castle with my family? Here’s the scoop.

We took two tours. The first one was the main tour that shows you the downstairs rooms, including the dining room. I love all the tapestries Hearst collected, especially as I do needlepoint myself. Hey, maybe in 500 years, they'll be saying "and this is a 20th century tapestry by Jasmine Haynes." The second tour was up the upstairs, Mr. Hearst's personal suite that he shared with Marion Davies, plus we saw various other bedrooms that famous people slept in, like Clark Gable, and the kitchen.

Fascinating. Did you know that you could "rent" the Neptune pool (see photo) for an afternoon's swim for $5000? A family from Texas paid $9000 for two evening swims. The foundation that supports the renovations also had an eBay auction for a one-night stay at the castle. It included a breakfast out on the terrace. And it went for $28,000! But you don't stay in Mr. Hearst's room. The auction was for a room in the servants' quarters, up in one of the towers! I still thought it was totally cool, and you just might see a story about that in one of my courtesan books! In fact, ideas having been brewing. BTW, the auction and the benefit dinners they have, not the tour ticket cost which goes to the state, fund all the restoration efforts.

And that's my trip report!

Jasmine, Jennifer and JB!
http://www.skullybuzz.com/
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