Luna

We are big time animal lovers at our house and giving our Siberian Husky, Skye, to another family was heartbreaking. At the same time I know she has a better life full of long hikes with outdoorsy people in the Washington wilderness.

Lizzie and I went on the search for a dog that would be a better fit for our family. We looked at a multitude of dogs and did a lot of research on behaviors and breeds. Among the types we checked out Havanese, French Bulldogs, Pugs, Poodle mixes, Yorkys, and Pomeranians seemed to be the best for us.

After visiting a multitude of shelters and pet fairs, out of the blue we came across a female runt in a litter of "Porkys" (Pomeranian/Yorky) and we absolutely fell in love. Upon seeing her picture, we both knew she was the one.

An amazing 9 week old puppy, we snatched her up and named her "Luna" after Luna Lovegood from Harry Potter. She's a typical puppy, full of energy, tiny play growls, naps and pure unbridled love. Being that she probably won't get over ten pounds, she's manageable and eternally cute.

Meet Luna

The Haps

So what's the haps? I figured I'd give you all the scoop on what's been up in Liz and mine's lives. First off the blog tour is going super well. Thank you for EVERYONE that's hosted me so far. My next one will be live this Friday on Cabin Goddess.

Presale Thomas Riley and The Maelstrom
I have to apologize for the delay in the presale books. So far they have not reached my door but I am assured that they are on their way. So, if you've ordered a book or three, I thank you and I whole heatedly apologize for the delay in getting you your signed copies. I promise, I'll have them to you ASAP.

For this blog I'm going to take a little break from book stuff and give you all a glimpse into our lives. We've been busy between work.

Leavenworth WA
I've been hearing about this Bavarian themed town for quite some time. I've been to Hellen Georgia which is very similar but I have to say, Leavenworth is even cooler and bigger. We went with Liz's side of the family and had a great time. Pretty mountains, good German food, and of course, Hoffbrau beer! We also got treated to the water park which was about two hours from our home base but wow was it fun.

       Everything is Bavarian in Leavenworth

        The girls on the way to the pool

             Lizzie and I downtown Leavenworth

Lizzie and her brother Brian at the playground before the Beer Olympics

Skye and Goulia
When we got home from our trip, we had a little incident with our pets. Skye, our Siberian Husky who for some reason was not getting along with her dog sitter decided to break a window to get inside the house and flush our cat, Goulia outside. Note that Goulia is not an outside cat at all. Skye is kind of a crazy dog. Anyway, after having a missing cat for a while we finally found Goulia in the middle of one of our huge (and very complex) bushes in our front yard around midnight. We then took tree clippers and hacked the bush until we could get to the traumatized kitten. She's doing good but it made us realzie that as much work as we put into Skye that sadly another family might be better suited for a more active and outdoor oriented family. Much to our sadness, we gave her to a wonderful couple that love to hike and camp. It killed me to do it, but I really had to consider her happiness over mine.

                                 Goulia says hello to the Internets

                            We will always love you Skye


Rattlesnake Lake
Liz and I also took a Sunday and worked at one of Northwest Trail Run's events. We basically hung out at an aid station providing water, snacks and information for runners doing half and full marathons. Again, pretty mountains and good times with my girl hanging out with runners.

               The starting line for the half marathon

          There are no rattlesnakes at Rattlesnake Lake

                Lizzie manning the aid station

Stanely and Seaforts
We got a huge surprise gift from my cousins so that we could celebrate the release of Thomas Riley and The Maelstrom. A night out at the famous, Stanley and Seaforts in Tacoma, WA. We feasted on a multitude of dishes, (we like the tapas style of dinning) so we got a bunch of things to try, Salmon, Steamed Clams, Steak, Oysters, Scallops, Lobster Mac and Cheese. It was awesome and such a blast. We also had some good beverages. I had a Dark and Stormy and a Spiced Long Island Iced Tea. Lizzie had a Moscow Mule and a glass of white wine. Great times, great place and a killer view of the port of Tacoma. Thanks so much Jim, Beth and Nate!

           Here's Lizzie with her Moscow Mule

Random Updates

Today I'm going to do a general update. It's a little more on the personal side but you can get a glimpse into life which is always fun. 


Travel and life
We'll be heading back to Nashville at the end of the month for my mom's wedding! We're super excited to get back and see everyone. It really will be kind of shocking for me. After living there my whole life, the place almost seems like a dream. I feel like I've lived in Washington for years now and it'll have only been 7 months by the time we get in the plane. On the other hand, it also feels like we moved here last month... strange how that happens huh? So, we'll be in Cashville for 4 days at the end of the month. Hope to see everyone!

Books and Work
As book stuff goes, there's not a lot more to report since my last update a few days ago. I'm chipping away at new projects while editing Thomas Riley 2. I can give you a fun hint and tell you that I did find a Day of The Dead book I'm excited to read as research for Tribes. ;) Also, as I may have mentioned before, Liz and I have been approached to write for a really awesome steampunk RPG game. Stoked!

Animals
Skye and Ghoulia are doing awesome. Skye is crazy as ever but slowly learning the rules around here. The key word in that last sentence is "slowly". She's a sweetie but also note that she's earned the nicknames: Snacks, Crack Head, Corneus, Torpedo, Woo Woo and Tornado since her sort of short time with us. I've never had a big dog and never anything close to a seventy pound one year old Siberian Husky before.

TV
As you know we like our shows. So far, we're knee deep in Project Runway (Go Chris! well, and Dimitri!), The new season of Castle is one of the best so far. We're really hoping to have another Halloween episode as they are our favorites. Face Off is another Tuesday night staple. We're routing for the dude in the cowboy hat. And of course we love our House marathons! There's some really good stuff to come too! American Horror Story is starting up like next week along with The Walking Dead and new Top Chef in November which is in Seattle! Awesome!

So that's sort of a quick personal cross section of fun going on in the Valentino house right now.

The State and July Blog Stats

The Steampunk world is in quite the uproar right now. I thought I'd take a break from the drama to give you...The July Blog stats! I know it's still one of your least favorite posts I make every month but I love to see it and record it for posterity. Close race last month! This month the most hits went to the ultra cute Siberian Husky, Skye, while the completion of the first round of TR2 edits got second and the last place was stage combat class. People just love their cute puppies.

In other news I have some fun info about some shorts coming up and I'm going to be knee deep in some second round edits for Thomas Riley 2 very soon. Also, I should get some info on the cover art that I'll be sure to let you in on as soon as I'm allowed to. All I can tell you now is that it's awesome. I can't say a bunch right now but I'll be sure to post everything as soon as possible. The ole' blog is always the first to know.

Skye

In the quest to continue the crazy life, Lizzie and I got a wonderful and sweet puppy! She may not look like a puppy exactly as she has to be about fifty pounds but we're so happy to share our lives with a ten month old Siberian Husky named Skye. We like the name Skye but we were going to rename her in honor of a Arya's Dire Wolf, Nymeria from Game of Thrones but we figured she was happy with her name and a little old to be confusing her more. So we stuck with her given name.

She's an absolute sweetheart and she seems to be adjusting very well even though she's only been here for about twenty hours. While she'll need a little leash training and socialization, she has an amazing disposition. She's a snack hound and LOVES to run. You should see her, she can fly! We really love her and are so excited to have her in the family. I'm sure you'll get the occasional update on Miss Skye as I like to share tidbits of my personal life with my blog readers from time to time.