Five Delicious Tips For Self-Love

I’ve got an extra-special helping this Tuesday with special guest blogger Barbora Knobova who is giving us some tips for self-love! With the holidays upon us and some people feeling pressured or depressed, this is a timely post.

So without further ado, here is Barbara.

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TALES FOR DELICIOUS GIRLSMy book Tales for Delicious Girls encourages women to love themselves truly, appreciate and respect themselves, put themselves first. I believe in the power of self-love because we cannot be loved unless we love ourselves. Therefore, I would like to share with you the following five tips that might help you fall in love with yourself.

1. Treat yourself like the most precious person in your life.
Think about all the people you love. I bet there are so many wonderful people in your life. How do you treat them? With love and respect? Treat yourself the same way. You are the most important person in your life so treat yourself as such! You deserve it.

2. Be perfect in your own eyes.
We women tend to be overly critical to ourselves and very often we focus on what we don’t like about ourselves. Guess what? No one is perfect so let go off those negative feelings and statements. Stop making lists of your imperfections once and for all. Start making lists of your virtues instead!

3. Look into the mirror of your self-love.
Your relationships with other people reflect the relationship you have with yourself. They are the mirror of your self-love. If you don’t like the way your friends, family or colleagues treat you, look at the way you treat yourself. Change your attitude to yourself, show yourself lots of love and respect, and your relationships with other people will change too.

4. Cherish your inner and outer beauty.
You’ve heard it a thousand times: Beauty comes in all shapes and sizes. Your real beauty comes from within – and this is not a cliché! Attitude is everything. Be proud of yourself and decide to feel beautiful now. Because if you feel like the most beautiful girl in the world, that’s what you will be.

5. Decide to love yourself truly.
It’s all in your head. You can decide now to start loving yourself just a little bit more and it will turn your life around. Be your own best friend and treat yourself as such. Put yourself first and for once in your life focus on what you want and on what makes you happy. Your happiness is in your hands and the key to it is your self-love.

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Barbara KnobovaBarbora Knobova is a writer, love coach and expert in Delicious Life. A world traveler, she is one of those rare world citizens who live everywhere and nowhere. Barbora is a firm believer in female friendship, loyalty and bonding. She writes hilarious, sharp-witted, caustically apt, ironic, moving, true books for strong, independent, smart, fearless women. Barbora has also written several self-improvement books and teaches women about the importance of self-love in relationships and life in general. Barbora speaks eight languages and has found her home away from home in New York, London and Milan. She is always on the move, accompanied by her beagle Brinkley, the nasty dog from her new book Tales for Delicious Girls.
For more information on Barbara, please visit http://www.barboraknobova.com.

Still making those lists, checking them twice!

Sorry, Dee. I know you probably didn’t want to see those words again!

I’m still making lists, one of the best ways to avoid missing something I must do for Christmas Eve. So there’s the gift list and the wrap list. One is done the other is slowly being whittled down.

There’s the food list which I haven’t even begun, but must do so that I can start the food shopping this weekend. Then there’s the Cuban food list because to get a lot of the things I need for Christmas Eve I have to head up to Union City, home of La Roca grocery store and El Fenix Bakery!

But while I am making all those lists and checking them often, I’m still taking time out to enjoy this holiday season. In spite of the cold, it’s one of my favorite times of year.

This morning I walked through Bryant Park where The Pond is open for business. Skating is free if you have your own skates. There are also a number of food and gift kiosks all around The Pond. Hope you enjoy this photo below or if you can’t see it, click here to see The Pond at Bryant Park.

I’m making my list, checking it twice…

snowglobe1I’m in denial that Christmas Eve is exactly two weeks away!!

I’m having a crew this year and excited about sharing it with all my friends and family but in panic mode because not only do I have to still decorate the house, buy the gifts, do the food shopping and cooking, but also finish revisions on the next book in THE CALLING.

Luckily I’ve got lots of support from family and I know that when we gather around the table in two weeks, we will all have an awesome time.

Our Christmas Eve tradition is a melding of traditions from Italy, the North of Spain, Cuba and the good ol’ U.S.A. Lots of shellfish, fish, roast pork and other goodies.

How about you? Do you have any special holiday traditions? Do you celebrate on Christmas Day or Christmas Eve?

Wicked Wednesday – Jamieson Wolf

HardToday we have with us a very special guest blogger, my friend and fellow author Jamieson Wolf. Jamieson has an excerpt for us from his new male/male novel HARD. I hope you’ll take the time to check it out down below.

As you can also see from the calendar, I’m a busy little bee today while my buddy Jamieson is here with you. Take a moment to visit me at one of the following blogs for some fun talk and possible giveaways:

  • Bitten by Books Virtual Release Party (giveaway ends at mid-day so stop by soon!):
    http://bittenbybooks.com/?p=13412
  • RomCon FF&P Blog (I’ve heard a lot of good things about the RomCon Convention and hope to go there soon!):
    http://www.romconinc.com/index.php/conversations/post/127

Now without further ado, my good friend and fellow author, Jamieson Wolf!

***Excerpt – Warning PG 13***

More than anything, Owen remembered the taste of him.

You never forget the first one. Nineteen and horny, they did what guy friends did together. Daniel and him used look at porn in Owen’s bedroom. He could smell it even now: the scent of fresh paint, sweat and heat. He remembered the way Daniel smelled sitting beside him: spicy, as if his skin was burning.

Sometimes, after they were really turned on, they would lie next to each other, rub their crotches together. Sometimes, Daniel would even lie on top of him, pressing his crotch into Owen’s.

He remembered how good it felt to rub his body against Daniel’s. How flushed he got in his cheeks, his crotch so hot it felt as if it would go ablaze. He knew that it wasn’t right to get hard when fooling around with another boy.

But Owen wanted to, needed to, anyways.

It had been an eye opener. He had not been able to get an erection while thinking of girls, but one thought of his friend’s body pressed against his and he felt hard all over.

Daniel always said he was straight. “I don’t think I could ever sleep with a guy,” he’d say. “I wouldn’t know what to do.” But there would be a look in Daniel’s eyes that had made Owen wonder.

At night, after Daniel had gone home, Owen would lie on his bed and think of Daniel. He pictured Daniel’s straight brown hair that framed his face in crude spikes, the greenness of his best friend’s eyes.

These thoughts would take him into sleep. In his dreams, he was able to do what he knew could never happen; he was able to touch Daniel. He was able to run his hands all over Daniel’s hard body.

After the euphoria, a slight sadness would settle in. Owen knew that dreams could never be reality. Daniel would reject him if he knew how Owen felt. Owen knew Daniel would never talk to him again if he had any inkling of Owen’s feelings.

If Daniel found out, he would leave Owen and Owen would lose the man he loved. He had been friends with Daniel so long that the boy he had been was a thing of the past. Instead, all Owen could see was a gorgeous man.

But Daniel would never love him back.

All that Daniel worried about came into sharp focus on a hot summer afternoon. The windows were open and a light summer breeze filled the air. Owen’s parents were at the cottage and he had the house to himself.

Except for Daniel that is. Knowing that Owen had the house to himself, Daniel had rented some porn and was brining it over with a few stolen beers. Owen wondered if it was wise to drink something that would lower his inhibitions around Daniel.

He had enough of a hard time controlling himself around his friend as it was.

But Owen could never say no to Daniel. Not for anything.

***About the Author***

Jamieson WolfJamieson has been writing since a young age when he realized he could be writing instead of paying attention in school. Since then, he has created many worlds in which to live his fantasies and live out his dreams.

He is the author of The Valentine Series, The Written Word Series, The Hunted Series, The Owen Diaries, The Gods of Love Series, The Wishing Star Series and The Queen of Egypt Series and more!
Jamieson is also an author of non-fiction including the best selling Letting the Mind Wander, Write Now and The Muse.

He currently writes book reviews for The Book Pedler and writes non fiction pieces for The American Chronicle.

Jamieson is also an accomplished artist. He works in mixed media, charcoal and pastels. He also runs a book trailer design company titled Night Wolf Design.

He currently lives in Ottawa Ontario Canada with his husband Robert and his cat, Mave, who thinks she’s people.

Learn more about Jamieson at www.jamiesonwolf.com or www.jamiesonwolf.blogspot.com.

Surprise Saturday!

It’s a Surprise Saturday blog because I was so busy yesterday with an assortment of things that I didn’t get to do the Fun Friday blog. Had to take my daughter to her job at 2 a.m. because she was working on Black Friday. Then headed to the shore to start filming a Director’s Cut I am doing for you so that you can see some more Behind the Scenes of SINS OF THE FLESH.

Then back to the outlets to pick up my daughter, visit family and then return to the shore for some Black Friday shopping. My daughter and I got almost all of our Christmas shopping done which is great! Now I can focus on getting ready for the holidays and also some revisions I have to do on ARDOR CALLS, the next book in THE CALLING Vampire Series.

Hope you all had a nice Thanksgiving! Mine was wonderful. Good food and family times. I’ll have some photos for you next week.

Before I take off for the rest of the weekend, here’s some happenings for you!

Visit me today at the Borders True Romance blog for a chance to win one of 5 copiesof SINS OF THE FLESH. Just visit this link: http://bordersblog.com/trueromance/

Don’t forget to get 25 extra entries into the contest at Bitten by Books on December 1. You can get the extra entries by RSVPing for the event. Just use this link: http://bit.ly/4TCKcE

Only two days left in the SINFUL THINGS CONTEST. Just tweet the info below or post it to your Facebook profile for a chance to win a $50 gift certificate.

    Celebrate Release of Caridad Pineiro’s SINS OF THE FLESH! RT for a chance 2 win a $50 Gift Certificate. http://bit.ly/2AZWlC

Thanksgiving Thoughts and a Giveaway

I hope all of you are having a wonderful Thanksgiving Day! Through the wonders of technology, I am able to share these Thanksgiving Thoughts and a giveaway while I am probably busy whipping up a batch of Cranberry Maple Muffins to take to my sister’s house for the holiday celebration.

I mentioned a few weeks ago that I’ve got a new blogging gig over at PowerfulLatinas.com and this month’s theme at Powerful Latinas is sisters – La Hermana. It only seems right to broaden that discussion to families in general.

Families often play a role in what we read and write and so this week’s blog at Powerful Latinas is about incorporating family into our writing. In preparing the article, I had the opportunity to chat with my dear friend and fellow author Julia Amanta – EVENINGS AT THE ARGENTINE CLUB. Julia offered up her thoughts on why family is important in our writing and also graciously offered a copy of her book as a giveaway.

So please take a moment to stop by and visit with me there to learn about sisters and family in our writing. Just click here to visit and remember to leave a comment to be entered into the giveaway for a copy of EVENINGS AT THE ARGENTINE CLUB.

Things for Which I am Thankful

I know it’s Wicked Wednesday, which usually means an excerpt, but I wanted to get a headstart on the Thanksgiving holiday and share those things for which I am thankful. I hope you’ll forgive me this indulgence. Here are those things for which I am thankful:

  • My Family: To my hubby who always makes me laugh and my beautiful daughter who is the light of my heart, I am thankful. I am also thankful for my sister, brother, in-laws and all my nieces, nephews and cousins who bring such joy into my life.
  • Our Military and their families: Thank you for the sacrifices you make so that we can continue to be safe and enjoy the many freedoms which we enjoy.
  • My Friends: Where would you be without friends? I want to thank all of them for always being supportive and I want to thank all of you, my cyber friends, for always visiting and writing.
  • The Liberty States Fiction Writers: After a year of darkness, a bright light emerged. You are that bright light, filled with optimism, good will, diversity and innovation. I thank you for our first wonderful year together and give a big WOO HOO that we’ve reached 150 members in our inaugural year.

Last, but never ever least . . .

  • The United States of America: You opened your doors to me and provided me the opportunity to live the American Dream. You gave me Liberty and allowed me to pursue through hard work those things that have made me happy and which I hope have contributed to the overall good of this Nation. I am forever indebted and thankful.

What about you? What are the things for which you are thankful this Thanksgiving season?