Since I last posted, I:

* Drove 12 hours from the beach to Kentucky for Christmas
* Took down all the Christmas decorations and shoved them in the attic
* Marked as many things off my to-do list as I could
* Watched Avatar again, this time in 3-D, as well as DVDs of Push (confusing, not as good as I’d hoped) and Knocked Up (okay)

Speaking of movies, I keep a spreadsheet each year of all the movies I see and another of all the books I read. Yes, I’m odd. Anyway, here are my top 5 movies I saw and books I read in 2009:

Movies

Avatar
Star Trek
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Up
Gran Torino

Books

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
Graceling by Kristin Cashor
As Shadows Fade by Colleen Gleason
Lover Avenged by J.R. Ward

What were your faves of 2009?

It was beautiful here today, sunny and warmer. I went for another walk and enjoyed the sea breeze and the sound of the palm fronds swaying. Here’s the view out the window about mid-day.

When I returned from my walk, I found hubby chilling and reading on the balcony.

I finished my proofing job and ran it to FedEx, then went to an area Books-a-Million to set up a book signing for March since the book I have coming out then, The Family Man, is the second book I’ve written set in this area. My hope is that since it’ll be spring break all those spring breakers will need a good beach read.

While I was out, I also bought the soundtrack to Avatar. As usual with James Horner’s work, it’s beautiful. I’m listening to it now. Hubby took this shot while I was out and about.

We went to Floyd’s Shrimp House for dinner. We ate there last December and really enjoyed it, so it’s the only place we’ve gone back to for a repeat visit this trip. We played a game of Perquacky, a word game, and have been playing on the Internet since. Hubby is reading the book I got him today as an early Christmas gift, The Art of Avatar.

It’s the end of Day 2 at the beach, and I’m already wishing I could win the lotto so I could buy a place here and just stay. I woke up this morning to another sunny day, and I looked out the window to see several dolphins rolling in the waves. They were too far away for a good photo, so I decided not to grab the camera and stumble onto the balcony in my pajamas.

We went for a walk (hubby for half an hour and me another half hour on top of that), and just chilled around the condo. But, hey, when you’ve got fun paintings like this on the wall, it’s a happy place to hang out.

I even did a little work. See, here’s proof. For all you RWA members out there, I was proofing the February issue of the RWR. Good stuff in there.

Hubby played some guitar, and later in the afternoon we headed to the movie theater in Destin to Avatar. Loved it! We both agreed it’s very re-watchable. I’d love to see it in its 3-D incarnation. Even without it, I enjoyed the story, the acting, the tremendous visual beauty. It made me want to be a blue Na’vi and live on Pandora. If you have not seen it, go.

Photo: 20th Century Fox

I tried to get the soundtrack after dinner, but Barnes & Noble was sold out. May check somewhere else tomorrow if I venture away from the condo for anything other than my walk.

The hubby finally got some time off from work, so we decided to take a spur-of-the-moment trip the beach — aka Place That Is Warmer Than At Home. So, yesterday afternoon, after he was done with band practice and I got home from my local RWA chapter holiday party, we loaded up the Versa and headed south through a cold, windy, rainy, just plain icky day. We got as far as Prattville, Alabama, before deciding to stop for the evening. We got into our hotel and walked across the street to the Cracker Barrel, where we might have had the best Cracker Barrel meal every. Yay Prattville Cracker Barrel, and yay to Jennifer, our waitress. We were so tired that we turned in early. I cannot remember the last time I went to sleep at the insanely early hour of 10:15 p.m.

After a casual morning, we hopped in the car again for the rest of the drive to Fort Walton Beach, Florida. We made our usual stop at Florala State Park in Florala, Alabama, so we could add to our collection of goofy pictures of the hubby posing with Spanish moss in some fashion. Today it was crazy hair guy.

I posed for a quick picture in front of the park’s Lake Jackson. If I look cold, it’s because I was. The wind was blowing across the lake. Being that close to Florida, I stomped my foot and said, “I demand it be warm!” in my best queenly voice.

We rolled into Fort Walton Beach around 2:45, and I uttered my usual greeting of, “Hello, ocean!” Yes, I’m a dork. But the beach always makes me happy — the relaxed atmosphere, the sound of the waves, the bright colors you can get away with painting your home here. This is me posing on the balcony of the condo where we’re staying. I’m looking forward to one of the warmer days this week so I can sit out there and read a book.

And here was the first sunset of our stay here. Gorgeous, yes?

After appreciating the sunset, we went to Publix and stocked up on some groceries. Then when hubby discovered he had forgotten to bring a cable for his computer, we drove over to Destin and hit Target, Radio Shack and finally Best Buy before we found it. Then we came back and hubby made shrimp scampi, brown rice and mixed veggies for dinner. I love shrimp, so count this as something else that made me happy.

While eating dinner, we watched the Pixar movie, UP. Really good movie, though it made me cry a couple of times.

And now here we sit across the table from each other working on our respective computers. Guess that’s all for tonight. I’ll post again tomorrow.

If you had been at my house at 11:12 p.m. tonight, you would have seen the not-so-world-famous Trish Milburn Happy Dance. That’s right, fair readers, I got my revisions that had kept me away from blogland done! I sent them off to my editor and agent, and breathed a ginormous sigh of relief. Even though I still have plenty on my plate, including another book deadline Sept. 1, I hope to get back to regular blogging.

Today (Monday), I’m blogging at Nobody Writes It Better about my trip along the Tennessee River aboard a paddle-wheel riverboat. There’s even a picture of me at the wheel!

My trip to Washington, D.C., for the RWA National Conference began July 10 when I spent the day driving to Charlottesville, Virginia, where I was to catch the train into D.C. the next morning. Long day of driving, but my trusty iPod loaded with music and PotterCast podcasts kept me company. I also got a call from my pal Mary (aka MJ Fredrick), and since, shall we say, she’s not a phone person, I knew the reason she was calling was because she’d contracted another book! Woohoo!

I really like driving through Virginia. It’s very pretty and so full of history — the perfect combination, in my opinion. I didn’t have time to stop to see anything, but someday I want to take a vacation to Virginia and just spend a week or two traveling around the state seeing all the sights I’ve not had the opportunity to visit yet. Plus, Charlottesville is in the mountains and significantly cooler. Good thing in the height of summer.

Saturday morning, I was up early to catch the train a bit after 7 a.m. (6 a.m. at home). I, my nearly over-the-limit luggage, and my pumpkin muffin from Panera headed toward D.C. I spent the time reading L.J. Smith’s The Awakening, the first in the Vampire Diaries series. I’m planning to review it in my August YA News & Reviews column on RomanceNovel.tv. I arrived at Union Station, hauled said luggage out to the taxi stand, and was off to the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel. After unpacking, I called my good friend Michelle Butler, who is from the area. Michelle is one of my two oldest writing buddies, the other being Beth Pattillo. That’s oldest in that I’ve known them the longest, not that they’re old. Michelle and I had plans to go to dinner to celebrate her finishing her first manuscript

This is Michelle and me, a bit later in the week during the conference:

Michelle arrived bearing a gift. She knows I love Deadliest Catch, so she brought me this awesome T-shirt. Here’s the front…

and here’s the back.

After an afternoon of just catching up, we were off to Filomena’s, a lovely Italian restaurant in Georgetown. We had time to kill before our reservation, so we perused the offerings at Banana Republic. Michelle got a cute top, and I determined to lose weight so I could buy more cute tops. We had a very nice dinner, then walked through Georgetown to the nearest Metro station to catch separate trains back to our final destinations of the evening.

Wow, the RWA National Conference and recuperating from it have blown a hole in my blogging, haven’t they? Eek. Since getting home on Monday, I’ve been eyeball deep in revisions that are due Aug. 3. But I plan to start putting up some of my pictures from conference week sometime later today or tonight. Must hit my revision goal for today first.

In the meantime, I would love for you all to check out and comment on my latest YA News & Reviews column over at Romance Novel TV. It’s also my blog day at the Wet Noodle Posse, and in keeping with our summery theme of the month I blogged about my memories of going to the drive-in theater in my little hometown.

I still owe everyone a final “road trip to Wisconsin” post, and I hope to get that posted in the next couple of days. It’s just been a crazy week of getting ready to leave for Washington, D.C., and the RWA National Conference. Hitting the road in the morning, but I wanted to share a few photos of what came via FedEx today. I had this purse made to take to the conference. It’s made from the cover and some of the insides of my first YA book, Heartbreak River. How cool is that!? Karla at Bagitude! made it. Check her work out on the Web here.

After leaving Rochelle, Illinois on my trip north, I headed to Madison, Wisconsin, where my agent is located. On the way out to dinner, she drove me through the University of Wisconsin campus. I know it’s cold in the winter, but the campus has some lovely lake views. We ate dinner at a place called Nau-ti-Gal on one of the lakes. We sat outside and listened to the live band that was set up and playing under the trees in the yard. The place was packed, and I had some absolutely delicious stuffed grouper. We talked business for awhile, then just some fun non-business stuff. After leaving there, we went to a Madison landmark, Ella’s Deli and Ice Cream Parlor. This place is amazing — not just the ice cream but also the decor. It’s full of old toys everywhere, even moving back and forth across the ceiling, and a carousel.

The next day, I headed to Green Bay for the WisRWA conference. I’d never been to Green Bay, and pretty much all I equated with it was the Packers and being really friggin’ cold. I made my way to the hotel attached to the Oneida Casino, where I checked in and found this in the lobby:

Let me just say it’s still very weird to see my name listed as a featured speaker, especially with New York Times best-selling author Sherrilyn Kenyon. Now, I know Sherry, and she’s as down to earth as they come, but it’s still a little squee moment to be listed with her. Here we are together.

I spoke at the conference on Making Your Setting Come Alive, and I was also able to reconnect with writers I’d met at this conference 2-3 years ago when it was last held in Madison.

Here I am with Meagan Hatfield and Ann Voss-Peterson.

And with Lori Devoti.

With fellow guest author Karin Tabke. We were next-door neighbors at the book signing.

With Rachel Berens-VanHeest.

I was also able to have a nice meeting with Harlequin Executive Editor Birgit-Davis Todd. She’s not my editor but does work closely with my editor.

With fellow writers Ann Curtis and Cat Shield (who won the WisRWA Fab Five award for best YA manuscript).

With Publishers Weekly blogger Barbara Vey.

I’ve got one more Wisconsin trip post in me, about my post-conference trip through the lovely Door County and the journey back south. Be sure to check in over the weekend for the final installment. And for those of you in the U.S., Happy 4th of July!

Back in early June, I took a trip north to Wisconsin to visit with my agent and to speak at the Wisconsin RWA chapter’s conference in Green Bay. Over the next couple of days, I’m going to put up photos from my trip.

The first stop was my hometown in Kentucky, where I had a book signing at the local library for my two newest books. Before the signing, however, it was annual Take Mom to the Cemeteries Day. We drive to several cemeteries in two counties to place flowers on the graves of family members. OMG, it was hot! I think I heard the grass screaming for mercy. Prior to heading out on our excursion, I sold a couple of books to my mom’s next-door neighbor, a very sweet lady who is 90 and is constantly on the go. I caught her on her Red Hat Society day, so she was dressed all in red and purple. Make note that this transaction took place around 2 p.m. That will matter later in this story.

After returning from traipsing over two counties, it was freshen up and change time. Then off to the library. This lovely flower arrangement from high school friend Kim and her mom, Tammy, who has a floral shop in town, was waiting for me. Isn’t it pretty?

Kim wasn’t able to make the signing, but Tammy did. I probably hadn’t seen her in 20 years and she looked the same! Kind of like Kim does. I, um, do not look like I did on graduation night.

During the signing, my cousin, Debbie, told me she had stayed up until 1 in the morning to finish my latest Harlequin American, Her Very Own Family. To which I said, “Yes! I’ve done my job.”

After signing books and chatting with friends and family, I took Mom back home. Helen poked her head out her door and said she’d already finished reading Her Very Own Family and really liked it. It was about 7 or 7:30 p.m. at this point. She also said she was getting ready to go back inside and start reading my YA novel, Heartbreak River. Did I mention that Helen is cool?

I drove to a town about an hour away next to the interstate so I could just hop on I-24 in the morning and head farther north.

Illinois is tall. The next day, I got a bit of a late start but I was still able to cover most of the Illinois miles. I even got a totally out-of-the-blue story idea that I was excited to get down before I forgot it. I also saw the oddest thing — a police officer had someone pulled off to the side of the road (wasn’t the interstate at this point; I took a little scenic detour). When I came up alongside them, it was a team of mules pulling a covered wagon with “Jesus Saves” written on the canopy. I couldn’t for the life of me figure out why he was pulled over. I seriously doubt the mules were speeding.

In the northern part of the state, you start seeing wind farms with lots of enormous windmills like these. They’re oddly mesmerizing. If you’ve ever passed a truck on the interstate hauling just one of the blades for these things, you know how huge they are.

I also had a chuckle and had to take a picture at the rest area where I stopped at one point. It was called Willow Creek Rest Area. The original title for Her Very Own Family was The Willow Creek Cafe.

I stopped for the night in Rochelle, Illinois. I even got there early enough to go for a walk in the lovely, shaded neighborhood next to the hotel. Although I did get chilly. Remember the hot trek through all the cemeteries the day before? It had been about 90 degrees then. When I went for my walk to get out the driving kicks in Rochelle? 60 degrees.

Curious when I got back to my hotel, I logged on to Weather.com to check the temps in Wisconsin. When I saw they were going to be in the 40s at night and I’d only brought summer clothes, I e-mailed my agent and said, “I’m going to freeze to death!” Okay, obviously I didn’t since I’m typing this, but there were some shivering moments ahead. Come back for those moments and the rest of the story.