Cupcakes and baby feet

Some of us Blue Rose Girls got together this weekend to celebrate a number of birthdays, discuss books and publishing, and eat cupcakes prepared by guess who. This batch of chocolate gluten-free were delicious. It was so lovely to revive our weekend traditions (it has been a full year since I was able to attend a gathering since I was away). Thank you ladies!

This year there were some new attendees, my Tilda and Juniper (daughter of the über-talented Alissa Imre Geis). Juniper has bigger feet, but I believe Tilda has chunkier knees.

All things blue rose

This weekend some of us Blue Rose Girls got together to do some celebrating. There was a lot to celebrate... birthdays for Libby and Alvina, Grace finishing the first draft of her new novel, and my little BRG baby on the way.

There were of course blue rose cupcakes created by Grace:



And blue flowers on the table:



Baby on the way was given the most adorable little blue rose outfit, complete with headband (!):





Then we went out to do some shopping. I've been wanting to make a mobile to go over the baby's crib, something like this (pic via Greyhood):



When we were out and about Libby, Grace and I spotted these lovely Vietnamese "prosperity hens":





Aren't they sweet? We all got some to hang around the house. I am working on how to convert mine into a mobile...

BRG Weekend

This weekend some of us BRG met up at Libby's new place in Stonington, CT, a small coastal village with water on three sides. The town looks like it comes right out of a children's novel with its sweet little manicured gardens, historic houses from the 1700's, and city center with an old church whose bell rings to mark every hour. Alvina will have better pictures (as is usually the case), but I got a couple on a walk by the water:





We ate gelato and sang happy birthday to Grace and wandered along crooked rock walls. A nice break from painting to say the least. Some topics discussed:

*If you could wish for any other author or illustrator or editor's career, whose would it be (that is who has a path you relate to and hope for)?

*What are the differences between a chapter book and a middle grade novel?

*Do most writers have just a small number of truly great books in them? Does it matter?

What do you think?

Trip to Montreal

This weekend we had a little BRG get together up in Montreal. Sadly not everyone could make it, but we did manage most of the group:



Montreal is a beautiful city, the weekend was full of wandering down charming cobblestone streets and catching up on all our current and future projects. We had the privilege of getting a sneak preview of the art for one of Grace's upcoming novels WHERE THE MOUNTAIN MEETS THE MOON (she posted about it here) that is INCREDIBLY beautiful.

While I didn't get any pictures of any of that stuff, I did document our other main activity: eating. Lots and lots of eating. I think Alvina has some better 'before' pictures, but this is what our table at an all chocolate restaurant looked like after we descended... we managed to consume an order of chocolate fondue, profiteroles (chocolate covered cream puffs with hazelnut ice cream), whiskey chocolate pudding, raspberry cheesecake and two different kinds of thick old fashioned hot chocolate.



Breakfast the next day was strawberry pavlova (hand made by Grace), chocolate croissants and brioche.



Sigh, good times. And yes I will be going to the gym today.

Loungy BRG weekend

As Alvina said, the Blue Rose Girls had a little getaway at Libby's this weekend. It was the first time we managed to have all of us in the same place at the same time, with the exception of our lovely poetry BRG, Elaine. First there was lounging, snacking, and talking about books.



Then more lounging, some drinking, and talking about books...

Then at some point we realized that without planning it, we were all wearing stripes (didn't mean to steal your thunder Longstockings, we are just THAT fashionable).



A more formal portrait:



And lastly, there was roller skating. Lots and lots of roller skating. Could there be a better weekend? Stay tuned for pics from Meghan and Alvina who took their cameras onto the roller rink floor... there are sure to be many extremely embarising pictures of us doing the hokey pokey on skates and trying to avoid tiny kamikaze child roller skaters darting in our paths...