Board Games - Quick 5

by Anna Sugden

The other night, we were discussing the fad of playing board games. It used to be that everywhere you went, from family visits to dinner parties with friends, the board games would come out and off everyone would go. [We won't mention the whole wives falling out with husbands, brothers and sisters not on speaking terms thing .]

Though many of us remember the days of Life, Monopoly or Scrabble, and Kerplunk, Mousetrap or Operation, there was also Trivial Pursuit, Pictionary and variations on the Charades theme.

Two of my favourites were Celebrity Taboo and PSI.

In Celebrity Taboo, you had to get people to guess which celebrity you were, but couldn't use certain key words eg how do you get people to guess you're Groucho Marx when you can't use words like cigar, mustache, brothers etc.

In PSI, again people had to guess which celebrity you were but this time it was by answering questions as if you were the celebrity. eg If you were a flower, what would you be?

So, for a bit of fun today, I thought we'd do a Board Games Quick 5.

1. Favourite board game

2. Most detested board game

3. Best and worst Trivial Pursuit category (Geography, Sports & Leisure, Entertainment, Art & Literature, Science & Nature, History)

4. If you were a flower, what would you be? If you were a drink, what would you be? If you were a type of shoe, what would you be?

5. Complete the following sentence: Imagine trying to get people to guess you were (insert name of celebrity) without mentioning the following words ... (insert words)

Here are my answers to start you off:

1. I used to love Mousetrap because it had all those different bits and contraptions!

2. Sorry, but it's Monopoly.

3. I was always terrible at Geography, but really good with Entertainment, Art & Literature or Science & Nature.

4. Flower: Red Gerbera daisy, Drink: Mojito, Shoe: something red, high-heeled, strappy, with zips, studs or a bow.

5. Imagine trying to get people to guess you were "Dolly Parton" without mentioned the following words ... boobs, country music, platinum blonde, high heels.

Over to you!

Make-Up Bag Secrets - Quick 5!

by Anna Sugden

One of the problems (or joys, depending on your perspective!) of working at home is that you don't have to wear make-up. Personally, I'm very happy about this, as that means extra time in bed before my long commute to my office (approx a dozen steps *g*).

There is, of course, a down-side, in that you don't use up your make-up as fast as you used to, so it goes out of date. Some people may be surprised, but even make-up has a 'best before', even if it's not on the package. Logically, of course, you should be careful about anything that goes next to your eyes or on your lips.

A quick internet search came up with recommendations for various make-up products. Some of them will surprise you!

Mascara: no more than 4 months!
Nail polish: 12 months
Lipstick: 1-2 years
Liquid Foundation: 12 months
Powder foundation/concealer/blush: 2 years
Eye-shadow: liquid - 1 year, powder - 2 years
Eye-liner: pencil - 2 years, liquid - 1 year.
Perfume: As long as you keep it cool and out of the light, it can last several years. Otherwise, 1-2 years.

Looks like it's time to clear out my make-up bag!

The next eye-opener is just how many things there are in my make-up bag! Given that I don't use a lot of make-up when I wear it, I seem to have an awful lot of 'just in case' items, freebies and 'I'll give this a try' products.

Which brings me to my Quick 5 for today. Don't worry, I won't ask you to out yourself about how much of your make-up needs tossing ;). But, out of curiosity, and to prove that I'm not alone in my make-up hoarding, I'd like to know:

1. How many lipsticks, lip-liners, lip-glosses?
2. How many bottles of nail polish?
3. How many eye-shadows?
4. How many eye-liners and mascaras?
5. How many compacts of blush or other face powder?

And a bonus question, how many different perfumes do you have?

To play the game and start you all off, here are my answers ... *gulp*

1. 12 (but I only seem to wear the same two or three!)
2. 12
3. 8 (again, I wear the same three or four)
4. 4
5. 4

Bonus: 2 - I've worn Chanel No. 19 ever since I was 16, but occasionally I also wear CK1 by Calvin Klein. I have also been tempted by Ralph Lauren's Romance and DKNY's Be Delicious.

Over to you ... share the secrets of you make-up bag (or, for you fellas, if you're brave enough, the secrets of your lady's make-up bag!)

Quick Five - Book Fun!

by Anna Sugden

G'day! Yes, as you read this, I'm Down Under! I'll have been having a faboo time with fellow Banditas, Anna and Christina, and a number of our favourite Lair authors and BB's. I promise to share all the details and pics when I return!

I'm writing this before I go, as I don't know what my internet access will be like where I am, plus I'll be travelling a lot.

So, knowing how much you enjoy Quick Five posts, I thought I'd do a Book Fun post today.

Share with us:

1. The last book you read that wasn't a romance and did you enjoy it?

2. The book you're currently reading.

3. What are the opening line and final line of the book you're reading?

4. Turn to page 51 and tell us what the sentence in the middle of the page is.

5. Turn to page 105 and tell us what the fifth sentence from the top is.

Here are my answers:

1. Thomas Perry's The Butcher Boy. I love Thomas Perry's books - especially his Jane Whitefield series - he writes great thrillers. This was his debut novel about a mafia hit man and the female agent from the Justice Department who is hunting him. It was really clever, especially the way he made the reader empathise with a cold-blooded killer. Can't wait to read the sequels Sleeping Dogs and Informant.

2. My dear friend and Lair Favourite, Julie Cohen's latest book, Getting Away With It.

Funny coincidence about this book - Julie did her ice cream research with a company in Dorset called Purbeck Ice Cream. My husband's nephew has a charcuterie business called The Dorset Charcuterie Company at the Purbeck Larder. What's even more fun is that in this photograph of the ice cream developed in honour of Julie's book, you'll see that the ice cream is wrapped in meat from ... you've guessed it, The Dorset Charcuterie Company at the Purbeck Larder! Check out Julie's blog for the background to horseradish and beetroot ice cream!

3. The opening line is ... I sat on the cliff edge with my legs dangling over the drop, in a gold lame dress barely long enough to cover my arse.

The final lines are ... okay, I cheated a little *g* ... And this kiss, definitely, was the best one of my life. Except for the next one. And the next.

4. "You'd have fun if you let yourself."

5. The carpet here was some sort of natural fibre, jute or whatever, woven into a tight herringbone.

Over to you. Share your Quick Five!

Quick Five - Top Travel/Packing Tips

by Anna Sugden

The summer holidays are upon us, or very nearly! For the romance writers among us, it's conference season. There's going to be a lot of travel happening over the next few months, starting for many RWA members this weekend as we descend on NY.

By the way, hope those of you in the NY area will pop along to the Literacy signing on Tuesday June 28th - it's open to the public and you'll get a chance to catch up with the Banditas and many of our guests, as well as over 500 favourite romance authors. It's all for a good cause too as the money raised from the sales of books will benefit literacy charities in the area.
Anyway, back to today's post ... I thought it would be a useful time to share hints and tips for packing and travelling. Even veteran travellers like myself are always keen to pick up useful ideas to make our trips easier!

So to start you all off, here are my 5 Top Tips:

1. Don't throw away those plastic dry cleaning covers - use them to cover dresses, skirts, shirts and/or trousers. This will keep them from getting too wrinkled and, if you pack them on the hanger, means you can go from case to wardrobe with ease.
2. Pad out your shoes with rolled up underwear, tights (pantyhose), swimsuits or socks. Keeps the shoes from crushing and it's a great way to save room in a tight suitcase.

3. Mix and Match - so many of us over-pack (holds up hand!). We take so many things that we never end up wearing. It's all very well saying to lay out what you're going to take and halve it, but we all know how well that works if you're an over-packer! To get round this, I try to take clothes that I can mix and match. That way you can take fewer of the bulky items like skirts and trousers and you know that you can wear any of your tops with those you do take.

4. Pack an extra flat kit/duffle/sports bag. It's often cheaper to pay for an extra bag than it is to pay overweight charges! Also, get flat rate boxes from the post office, which you can pack flat in your case. These can be much cheaper, especially for shipping books home, than paying the extra luggage charges.


5. Write down the emergency numbers for your credit cards on a slip of paper and store somewhere safe, but separate from your purse or wallet. If the worse come to the worst, and your purse or wallet is stolen, you'll have the emergency numbers to hand.

While we're on the subject - empty your purse or wallet of all the usual junk/cards etc and limit yourself to one or two general cards that you can use anywhere. Credit cards are better than cash/debit cards as they don't access your bank account. If you don't like credit cards, take travellers cheques - they're not just for travelling abroad!

And make sure you don't have your PIN numbers written down anywhere or stored in your cell phone, or that you're not carrying identifying info like your social security card. You'd be amazed how many people do!

For an extra tip - pack any essential medication in your hand luggage. If you need a prescription for your medication, it's worth taking an extra prescription from your doctor in case of emergencies. That way you can get to a pharmacy and get it filled, even if you're miles away from home. That's a good idea too if you need glasses - carry your prescription info around with you - you never know when you'll lose/break your glasses!

What are your Quick Five Travel and Packing tips?

Quick 5 - You know it's a bad day when ...

by Anna Sugden

Hopefully, you're all having a great weekend; the weather is glorious, the flowers are blooming, the kids/furry babies are in good spirits and your sports teams are winning.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it isn't one of THOSE days. You know the ones I mean ... where nothing seems to go right.

There is always a little harbinger of doom to tell you that this is one of THOSE days. As I said to my lovely hubby, the other day, you know it's going to be a bad day when the only yoghurt flavour left is apricot *blech*.

Which got me to thinking ... what clues do I have that it's not going to be a great day? And wouldn't that be a cool topic for a Quick 5?

Since it's a weekend and we're all having great days *g*, I thought I'd ask you to give me five signs that it isn't a good day and one sign that it's going to be a great day.

Here are mine.

You know it's a bad day when ...

1. The only yoghurt flavour left is apricot

2. The little internet icon on your computer says no connection

3. You're woken by a loud thud or crash.

4. You get one of those brown envelopes with a window in the post

5. Your two little feline hunters are camped out by the wine rack, ready to pounce, and growl when you come near.

You know it's a great day when your hubby brings home a bouquet of your favourite flowers for no reason! (check these out!!)

Over to you! What's your Quick 5 for sign it's a bad day? What's your one sign that it's going to be a great day?

Quick 5 on Reading

by Anna Sugden

It's the weekend! I know from last Saturday's post and your comments that many of you enjoy reading at the weekend, so I thought I'd do a Quick 5 on reading and your TBR pile/mountain/room.

So, without further ado ...

1. What are you reading at the moment?

2. What's next on your TBR pile/mountain/room?

3. Is there an order to your TBR pile/mountain/room?

4. Where is your TBR pile/mountain/room?

5. Where is your favourite place to read?

To start you all off, here are my answers.

1. I'm reading Anne Gracie's The Stolen Princess.

2. Next up is a choice between the next Anne Gracie book (yes, I do like to read them all in order and in one go *g*), Molly Ringwald's Getting the Pretty Back and Allison Brennan's Love Me to Death. Also lurking are the latest JD Robb, the latest Lisa Gardner and Eloisa James' When Beauty Tamed the Beast. (and that's just on one pile!) Oh and after Anna's post earlier in the week - Anne Lamott's Bird by Bird. Decisions, decisions!

3. Uh ... sort of. The contemporaries are separated out from the romantic suspense and the historicals. The category novels in separate piles by line. I also have piles of hockey books and movie star biographies. I kind of have a 'must read next' pile, but as you can see, I'm not too good about sticking to it.

4. My TBR mountain is in one corner of my office and spreads over a few shelves, a box and the floor. There's usually a cat sleeping in amongst the piles of books.

5. I love reading in bed, especially with my cats curled up next to me. I also love reading in my favourite chair in our conservatory.

Over to you!

Quick 5 for the Weekend

by Anna Sugden

Welcome to the weekend!

It's a funny thing. I write full-time at home and my lovely hubby is retired, so there's no valid reason why we should treat a weekend like a weekend - we could have Monday and Tuesday as our weekend or Wednesday and Thursday. Yet, for some reason, we still treat the weekend like a weekend.

Obviously some things can only be done at that time eg going to a football game, seeing people who work outside the home, seeing kids who are at school, watching the family in their sporting events.

Some things too, we've taken to doing during the week eg going to the cinema or a matinée performance at the theatre, going out for dinner, shopping!

But other things, we still keep for the weekend eg brunch, sleeping late, Sunday roast.

With that in mind, here's a special weekend Quick 5!

1. Do you sleep late on the weekend or are you 'up and at 'em'?

2. Do you have special weekend meals eg Sunday roast, brunch?

3. What's your favourite weekend activity?

4. Is there anything you do on a weekend that you wish you were able to do during the week?

5. If you could have any two days as your weekend, which ones would they be?

Quick Five

by Anna Sugden
Apologies for the brief post today.
I'm actually up in London, running a 5k race for charity - in my case, Guide Dogs for the Blind. But I couldn't let the day pass without a new post.

I know those of you in the US will be celebrating a last summer blast with the long Labor Day weekend. We in the UK had our last Bank Holiday for the year this past week. How about the rest of you in other countries?

Anyway, I thought we'd have a bit of fun this Sunday with another Quick Five.

It's very simple ... all you have to do is answer the following five questions ...

1. Sweet or Savoury?

2. Breakfast, lunch or dinner?

3. Favourite snack?

4. Must-watch TV show?

5. Next two books on your TBR pile?

To get you all started ... here are my five:

1. Savoury

2. Breakfast

3. Hmm a tie between hot, buttered popcorn and cheese and onion crisps with sour cream dip.

4. Thanks to Beth, I've become a Leverage addict!

5. The latest in the Mr and Mrs Darcy Mysteries - The Intrigue at Highbury by Carrie Bebris, and Maggie Shayne's Killing Me Softly.