Category Archives: Vintage Jane

VINTAGE JANE: Book-Inspired Cocktails

I admit it: when not pregnant or nursing, I love fun, fruity cocktails.  I also love sharing recipes for book-inspired drinks with my readers just because they’re fun.  One of my favorite drinks to order when I first arrive in Hawaii is a Mai Tai.  I love the pineapple, the tangy juices and that float of rum.   And when writing Flirting With Forty, I pictured Jackie sitting poolside and savoring a Mai Tai or a Honolulu Sensation, one of the tropical cocktails I shared as a Flirting book extra. These drinks, as well as those I included in the exclusive Flirting With Forty cookbook get me in the Hawaiian spirit with every sip. But the Flirting receipes weren’t my first.  … Continue reading VINTAGE JANE: Book-Inspired Cocktails

VINTAGE JANE: Revisiting San Francisco & The Frog Prince Launch Party

As you all know, I love parties, and way back when, to celebrate the release of my first trade paperback, The Frog Prince, I threw my first-ever book launch bash at La Barca on San Francisco’s famed Lombard Street. The Frog Prince is about Holly Bishop, who, after a failed marriage to a failed Prince Charming, moves to the city by the bay in search of her happy ending. San Francisco was a natural setting for this novel because I used to live there while attending grad school at USF and teaching junior high in Belmont at the Immaculate Heart of Mary School. The launch event was an absolute hit. Read my post-party blog post, titled The Party, for more … Continue reading VINTAGE JANE: Revisiting San Francisco & The Frog Prince Launch Party

VINTAGE JANE: Mango

This is for my boys who heard that I had shared my post about Lima Bean the gecko, but not the post about Mango the hamster.  They still talk about the stories I used to tell them about Mango, stories inspired by the noise she made at night running on her wheel in her cage. All night long. I had to shut three or four doors to try to block out her parties, her dates, her bad boy boyfriends showing up at all hours of the night to take her out. So in memory of Mango, and to make my boys happy, here’s her story: Mango originally posted to the JaneBlog on February 7, 2006 Somewhere in the spectrum of … Continue reading VINTAGE JANE: Mango

VINTAGE JANE: Gecko Love

I’m more of a people person than an animal person. In fact, I struggle with being a pet owner because a) there’s a lot of responsibility to owning pets and b) pets eventually die, and I hate death and grief.  However, being a mom to boys means we have pets, and since moving into our own house back in 2004, we’ve been owners of a hamster named Mango, a gecko named Lima Bean, and a one-eyed English bulldog named Abi. Of the three, Mango is the only one no longer with us, although there was a week back in December 2006 when I thought Lima Bean was a goner for sure. Gecko Love originally posted to the JaneBlog on January … Continue reading VINTAGE JANE: Gecko Love

VINTAGE JANE: Humble Pie

I love writing about being a mom. Motherhood isn’t for the faint of heart as this, one of my favorite mom-oriented blogs, shows: Today’s Special: Humble Pie originally posted to the JaneBlog on February 17, 2006 I love my kids, I really do. They’re different, and very entertaining. Growing up in theater, I always enjoyed watching rehearsals–the drama, the staging, the frustration, and then the excitement of opening night. Living in my house is like living with a small theatre troupe. I really never know what’s going to happen but it’s always going to be big.Big tears. Big fights. Big scenes. It’s always big around here and so are my headaches. The kids are nudists, and I can say that … Continue reading VINTAGE JANE: Humble Pie

Vintage Jane & Guest Bloggers

With a new baby and absolute chaos all around, I thought I should use the free time I have to nap and maybe, just maybe, cook dinner now and then for the two boys that eat real food. Which means, I won’t be writing very much for awhile. I will still be on the JaneBlog, but I’m introducing a couple new features to mix it up a bit (and to work a little better with my new crazy schedule). What are these new features?  Well, I’m going to show off some of my website, and highlight some vintage website features that I love, and then I’m going to bring back a handful of favorite blogs I’ve written during the past five years, as … Continue reading Vintage Jane & Guest Bloggers