Memorable New Year’s Eve (A Personal Anecdote)

To kick off the new year, I would like to wish everyone a happy, healthy, and prosperous 2015. As my initial 2015 blog post, I will share our very special New Year’s Eve with you.

This year, my husband and I are escaping a portion of Canadian winter by fleeing to Puerto Vallarta and renting a condo in Gringo Gulch, overlooking the Bay of Banderas. Okay, so we’re chickens and wimps, eh?

Not knowing many people nearby (and unwilling to drop a huge chunk of change to ring in the new year with a bunch of tipsy strangers), we hosted an afternoon New Year’s Eve Happy Hour with two of our condo neighbors and our Mexican landlord. The get-together was low-key and we a fun time getting to know one another better. After promising to join our landlord and some of his friends later, we then wandered down to the Malecon and into the Old Town, where we found a table in a very nice Chinese restaurant near the beach. Had a delicious and relatively inexpensive dinner, scaled the three blocks of steep stairs to reach our condo, and settled in, waiting for midnight by watching Netflix.

A few minutes before midnight, we climbed the five flights of stairs to the roof to join our landlord for the fireworks display. The sight was breathtaking. A hundred or more small boats had anchored in front of the city, most decorated with Christmas lights. Dozens of paper Chinese lanterns filled the air. They floated up into the sky, buoyed by an open flame inside until they disappeared into the darkness (hopefully the candles would be extinguished by the altitude). On the stroke of midnight, the cathedral and other churches started clanging their bells, people hooted and hollered, cars blasted their horns (more than usual), and all the boats joined in. Then, the fireworks started. All around the entire bay. Spectacular. I’ve never seen anything quite like it. Because it was the culmination of the International Fireworks Festival held this year in Puerto Vallarta, we didn’t know where to look first. The show lasted 20 minutes and was fabulous.

All and all, it was a memorable New Year’s Eve. I hope yours was too. Please feel free to leave a comment about how you rang in 2015.

MY BOOKS

THE JAGUAR LEGACY:

The Jaguar Legacy

A reporter on a mission to salvage her career and save her mother’s life …
With her reputation in tatters, acclaimed journalist Charley Underhill invades a remote archaeological dig, determined to unravel rumors of an ancient curse. If it means avoiding hairy, hungry predators or lying to a charismatic archaeologist with a sexy Scottish accent, brilliant scientific mind, and gaudy Hawaiian shirts, she’s up for the challenge. She needs the money to pay for her mother’s life-saving treatment.

A brilliant archaeologist determined to safeguard his discovery …
Hell-bent on guarding the secret of a ruined Olmec city hidden deep in the Mexican jungle, Dr. Alistair Kincaid fears a premature press leak will destroy his last chance at success. He won’t let a snoopy reporter, even one with a quirky sense of humor, smarts, and a heartwarming smile, ruin his career. Or steal his heart.

But ancient danger stalks the jungle on velvet paws …
Secrets collide as strands from past lives intertwine with the present, drawing Charley and Kincaid into a legacy of danger and murder, shape-shifting and mysticism, romance and redemption. Is history doomed to repeat itself or is a new path possible?

Amazon (US): http://amzn.to/MscwTW
Universal Amazon URL (all countries): http://amzn.to/13PIvaQ

FUR BALL FEVER:

Fur Ball Fever (96dpi - Grey Border)

An impulsive pet spa owner loses her client’s prize pooch …
After a lifetime of impetuous mistakes, Jersey Shore pet spa owner Grace Donnelly outdoes herself when a client’s prize poodle, a shoo-in to win the annual Fur Ball, goes AWOL while in her custody. With money, careers, and lives in jeopardy, Grace is not afraid to strap on the leather to go undercover in a fetish club looking for clues. Too bad her helpers consist of an aging hippie aunt, a renegade schnauzer, a drag queen, and a dominatrix or two. Worst of all, the only man truly qualified to help is her former flame, the most domineering male on the eastern seaboard.

A smokin’ hot bodyguard with his own agenda …
Texas-born security specialist Nick Jackson faces his worst nightmare when Grace’s amateur investigation nearly blows his covert operation. Unless he nails the con-artist who scammed his home-town’s seniors and whacked a witness, his homicidal granddaddy will take justice into his own liver-spotted hands. To salvage his case, his sanity, and his ex-lover’s velvety skin, Nick joins forces with the sassy crusader who rubs him the wrong way–and so many right ways too.

Together, they weather an explosion of murder, mayhem, mystery, & smokin’ hot romance …
Action bounces from the upscale Shore community of Saltwater Estates to a beach harboring washed-up corpses, a fancy yacht no honest preacher could possibly afford, and the bawdiest nightclub in Atlantic City. Hazards multiply like bunnies, culminating in fun, danger, romance … and a Fur Ball extravaganza the locals will never forget.

Amazon (US): http://amzn.to/QqYdOC
Universal Amazon URL (all countries): http://amzn.to/150fiHb

I would love to hear from you. Please leave a comment, let me know you’ve read this post, tell me how you rang in 2015..

 

 

 

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