Samantha Hastings

I love attending book club because I inevitably learn something new.  Last week, I learned about a new word: pulchritudinous .   Although it sounds like warts or something growing on a mole, it actually means  a person of breathtaking beauty.  I'm tempted to use it in conversation, but I'm afraid that it's true meaning would be lost.  "Hey, Livvy, you're looking pulchritudinous today..."

Selected for Publication by Swoon Reads:  July 9, 2019. 1861.   Miss Lucinda Leavitt is shocked when she learns that the author of her favorite serialized novel, Mrs. Smith, has died before completing the story.   She sets out to discover who the mysterious author was and how she would have finished the novel.   Lucinda reluctantly asks for assistance from her father’s much younger business partner, Mr. David Randall.   David is wealthy and successful, but overwhelmed by too much work.   He’s trying to prove something to his dead father and to himself.   He doesn’t have the time, nor interest, to find a deceased author, but Lucinda is not the type of person to take no for an answer. Their search for the elusive Mrs. Smith will take Lucinda and David around the country and the truths they discover about themselves, and each other, are anything but fictional.   See updates at:  Swoon Reads  

My friend Megan is expecting her first baby--a girl!  I googled for food ideas for a baby girl shower and oh my goodness!  There were plenty of great and some over-the-top food items out there.  I'm afraid that I passed on all the food ideas that made vegetables and fruit resemble diapers or strollers.  But I did love the idea of PINK food.  So the PINK food I bought: -Pink and White Animal Cookies -Pink and White Wafer cookies -Pink and White Wafer Rolls (look like striped candy canes) The PINK food I baked: -Strawberry banana bread -Rice Crispie Treats with Strawberry marshmallows and drizzled with white chocolate -Cupcakes with Strawberry frosting -Brownies with drizzled chocolate -Strawberry cake bites PINK fruit (not pictured-another friend brought it): -Watermelon -Red Grapes I wrapped my mini water bottles in cute white and pink papers and made a banner.  I think PINK was the  perfect way to go.