Unfortunate typo!

Have just been alerted (via Twitter) to a rather unfortunate typo in my latest book, Swept Off Her Stilettos! (Reminding me of the recent Susan Anderson news story.) On page 186, it says:

 

Sorry, folks! It was supposed to say pantry! I've chekced the ebook version, the print version... Yup it's there in every single one. No much to do now but cry...or laugh. ;-)

Drool, drool...

Ever coveted some shiny new item, even though you know you shouldn't? Well, I'm in the grip of such a desire right now. Probably not going to do shell out for either of the two things I'm drooling over, but a girl can dream, can't she?

Object of desire no.1: Spotted this gorgeous handbag while just causally browsing thought the Radley online store. Have always wanted a lovely green handbag. Unfortunately, Mr H might just have a coronary if I suggested this as an option for my upcoming birthday.

Object of desire no.2: Sony reader. I have one of the older models and I do love it, but I've discovered the new ones allow you to highlight, scribble notes on the page and add text memos. Since I use my Sony Reader to read through my books when I'm editing, the ability to make notes and cross words out would be very useful. I actually have wished mine had that function many a time. But no one needs two eReaders, do they?

Sigh.

Cupcake chaos

Today I attempted to make a tower of groovy little cupcakes for my eldest daughter's birthday. Quite a brave move, actually. My baking skills are pretty good. But let's just say that when it comes to decorating cakes...well, let's just say I'm still in kindergarten. Slapping buttercream on is about my level.

Anyway, ever since I went to Greenwich market to do some research for Invitation To The Boss's Ball, I'd fallen in love with pretty little cupcakes. There is a baker's in one of the side alleys that leads to the market and I couldn't resist taking a photo of their window display. Cupcake baker. What a great profession for a heroine, I thought. I haven't got around to writing that book, and I've seen plenty of other cupcake-baking romance heroine's since, but it isn't an idea I've quite let go of. Perhaps she's just waiting for the right hero to come along...

Well, cupcake-baking heroine I am not. But I was pretty pleased with my first efforts with a piping bag and vanilla/strawberry cream cheese frosting when I'd finished, so I thought I would put a pic up here and brag about it!


Let's not mention the state of my kitchen, though. I am not a tidy cook, believe me. I must have used every bowl and spoon I owned. Take a look for yourselves:


Devastation. At least I'm as good as clearing up after a post-baking hurricane as I am in creating the chaos in the first place. Now...where did I put my rubber gloves?

Now there's something you don't see every day...

There are some days I'm pleased I took the bus rather than the tube, and today is one of those.

Never mind the temperature is only just above freezing in London today, as I was sitting on the top deck of a no.38 this morning, I saw this:


Yes, that's right. A whole herd of semi-naked men jogging along New Oxford Street, wearing only trainers, swimming trunks and hats (and smiles!). Sorry about the blurry picture, but I took it on my phone and I was laughing like a drain at the time - as were the rest of my fellow passengers. It caused quite a to-do!

Anyway, when I got home I did a little research on who these brave British lads might have been. (Never thought I'd have cause to type the words "swimming trunks fun run london" into a search engine in my life, but life often surprises you, doesn't it?)

It turns out this was the annual Smugglers' Run - link to a news article about it here. These brave/eccentric/barking mad (delete as appropriate) souls are raising money for male charities at the same time as raising female temperatures across the captial. Good on yer, lads.