The first time I ever visited Boston was spring break 2000 with my mom and my sister and we went all over Massachusetts seeing American History first hand. Despite the extensive history lesson, which in all reality I really enjoyed, I fell in love with that part of the country.

If you saw my collection of Kate Spade products you’d see I have an affinity for anything “Kate.”  As I was growing up, I could never find anything with Kate written on it, Katie yes, but not Kate.  Thus with the popularity of the name Kate, I swoon whenever I read or see my name.

As I was poking around on the Internet one day looking for sites that talk about Chicklit and might want to talk about Creative Chaos, I found an awesome site that increased my reading list by at least 50%.  So…if you’re looking for some great reads, because of course you’ve already read Creative Chaos, then I recommend you head over to Chicklit Is Not Dead!

This site is run by Liz Fenton and Lisa Steinke, self-published (I believe) authors of I’ll Have Who She’s Having. They also wrote The D Word, I haven’t read it yet, but will soon!

So, back to why I started this post about the name Kate, I’ll Have Who She’s Having is the story of 2 sisters Kate and Kelly. Now it makes sense, huh? This book was very relateable to me because I am the oldest of two sisters and, my name is Kate!

Kate is in her 30′s and single while Kelly, her younger sister is a stay at home mom and wife. As you read the story you might think the two sisters have a terrible relationship, but unless you have a sister, I’m not sure you can understand it. Yes sisters can be cruel to each other or even dishonest with each other, but I think if you asked any sister they’d tell you the opinion and acceptance they want most can only come from their sister. Hope that made sense, I realize with all the talk of sisters here you might think I’m talking about Sister Wives.

This week’s Instagram, photo a day challenge:

May 19 – Day 140

Day 19 – a favorite place

It may be cheesy but my house is one of my favorite places to bed!

May 20th – Day 141

Day 20 – something you can’t live without

Caffeine is most definitely something I can’t live without!

My mom has been making this recipe for as long as I can remember.  In fact she has a “special meal,” each of us kids get on our birthdays and this is what she fixes for me.  According to mom this recipe originated when she and her dad were having a cook off of some sort one night.  Basically Tijuana Tort is Mexican Lasagna.

I don’t know that this recipe could ever be deemed “healthy,” but in an effort to make it more healthy, here is my recipe and my alterations.

1 onion chopped

1 bell pepper (I added to get more veggies)

I chop these up and put them in a skillet pretty low just to soften while I get the meat browning.

1 lb ground beef browned, but I sub in a package of Jennie-O Mexican style ground turkey.

I drained the turkey then added the onion and bell pepper to the meat skillet.

Next mix in:

2 tsps chili powder

16 ounces tomato sauce

I also added in one can of Rotel just to spice up the Tijuana Tort a bit.  You let it simmer for 15 minutes, if you’re like me and never remember what that means, I just let it slightly bubble for 15 minutes until it looks like this:

Being a first time novelist and self-published, I want to throw my support toward other authors in the same position.  With that said, I downloaded from the Kindle store 150 Watts of Awesome by Anna Zimmerman.  I don’t know Anna but we have a friend in common, Libby Koch.  Libby lived across the hall from me freshman year in the dorms at Texas A&M and after a bout as a lawyer, she is now also chasing after her dreams as a musician based in Houston.  Go check out her music!

But, back to the book review…I went to Anna’s blog and it looks like she’s maybe reworking the book a little bit so be sure and follow her along; but I read it as she originally wrote it.

First I should probably say I have no clue about anything cycling related.  I know some people really into it, I’ve heard of Lance Armstrong and the Tour de France, but that’s where my knowledge on the subject ends. With that said, even though the book does have quite a bit of cycling talk, you don’t have be an avid cycling fan to enjoy this book.

The book is written in first person, and let me just say, Anna I am beyond jealous of your European adventure!  The book starts out with Anna deciding to leave behind all of her worldly possessions, with the exception of those that fit in her backpack, bike box and computer bag and heads to Europe for about 6 months.

This week’s Instagram, photo a day challenge:

May 12 – Day 133

Day 12 – something that makes you happy

Hanging out with this dude always makes me happy!

May 13th – Day 134

Day 13 – mum

This is my mom! Who we love to call Fancy Nancy!

I know I’ve said it before, but sometimes I buy/try wine based on the label and this week’s wine find is no exception to that.

I was walking down the wine aisle in my neighborhood grocery store when I spied a bottle that said Hey Mambo and described itself as a sultry red wine.

This wine is produce by The Other Guys, Inc. who make this Sauvignon Blanc we found at Costco for about $8 that was delicious that is bottled under the Lesse-Fitch label, just as an FYI.

Remember the B-Side wine I posted about 2 weeks back?  Well this wine is made by a family member, though I have no idea how they are related.  But needless to say they have a history in making wine and know what they are doing!

I thought this wine was good…but not one particular thing stood out.  This wine is a blend of Syrah, Zinfandel, Barbera, Petite Sirah and Alicante Bouchet grapes.  Those are some powerful grapes!  Though I’ve never heard of Alicante Bouchet, have you?

I have to start this post with a confession…I stole this recipe…my roommate in college said this was a family recipe, however I have no found it on sites like All Recipes and Cooks.com, so I am in no way claiming this is MY recipe.

But I will say, this is the best chocolate chip cookie recipe in the world! Unless you like your chocolate chip cookies crunchy, but then you’re just weird (jk Mom!).

When making these first I let the butter sit out to get soft.  On the All Recipes site a woman said she melted her butter entirely to make the cookies more moist; but these cookies don’t really need any help in that department.

After months, dang, I can actually say that Creative Chaos has been out for months…time really does fly; you can finally purchase Creative Chaos in Paperback online!  You can simply click here and a paperback copy of Creative Chaos will be on it’s way to you!

It is also available in PDF format.  I’m not sure how many of you will actually want this type of version but I’ve been told I need to offer it, so I did!

I am new to the whole eCommerce scenario on a personal level so please let me know if you have any problems order Creative Chaos in paperback or PDF format.  My email is: kate@kateolynch.com

If you live in the Dallas area and you see me, odds are I will either have a copy on me or in my car and thanks to my nifty little Square card reader, you can buy a copy off of me in person!  (I can’t promise I’ll have a sharpie on me to autograph it though because I still fill a little silly autographing the book.)

Of course it is also still available for purchase in the Kindle Store and the Nook Store.

This week’s Instagram, photo a day challenge:

May 5 – Day 126

Day 5 – bird

On my way down to visit the Davis’ I stopped at Bucces and these birds absolutely cracked me up.  I can only imagine how long that beading took.

May 6th – Day 127

Day 6 – you

I love this picture of me with Wesley, even if my brother thinks Wesley looks scared.  I think he looks adorable!

I purchased and tried this Mettler Family Zinfindal because a wine rep friend suggested it, and it was amazing!  I went to a wine tasting event at Corner Wines in Plano.  If you haven’t been to this cool wine shop you really should check it out, they’ve got a great selection to chose from.

Since I had never heard of the Mettler Family Vineyards before I went and checked out their website.  Apparently they really know their wine.  Their family has been a part of the wine industry back to the 1770s in the Lodi Valley.

To ensure the wines they produce are of the highest quality they only produce Cabernet Sauvignon, Petite Sirah and Zinfandel.

This Zinfandel was full of flavor or as they say on their website, full of personality.  Being the bad wino I sometimes am, I haven’t used my decanter in forever, but decided to get it out for this wine.  Each glass got better and better!

I will definitely be buying this wine again and highly recommend you give it a try as well.  Now I just need to track down their Cabernet and see if it is as good as the Zinfandel.

Thanks Rino for recommending this wine I really enjoyed it!  Sorry I drank it without you!

Okay, yes I have read the Twilight books (and have seen the movies) and I do watch Vampire Diaries, but I swear I am not a Vampire nut!  More than anything I would have to say it’s the peer pressure of pop culture that has me into Vampires.

With that said, I drove to Houston this past weekend and I share an audible account with my friend Emily and I decided to see what books she had on there I might want to listen to as I drove.  It’s amazing how fast a drive goes by when you’re listening to a book.  I decided to go with “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter.”  I saw the preview for this movie when I saw the Hunger Games and while the movie looks a little odd and evoked laughter from 90% of the theater crowd, I actually heard the book was pretty good.

Author Seth Grahame-Smith also wrote “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies,” which I also could have listened to.  But somehow Jane Austen and Zombies just don’t go together in my mind.

Believe it or not, “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Slayer” is actually pretty interesting.  Now, I’m only about halfway through the book and with no road trips planned in the near future, I’m not sure how quickly I will get through the rest of this book.

I have to say, the concept of this book seemed odd to me, but as I listened to the story I could see how Grahame-Smith could come up with such a concept.  I have no idea how many of the “facts” in the book are actually facts or just details added to help the story line, having never really spent much time studying Abe Lincoln I don’t know much about his history.  The things I believe to be true about Abraham Lincoln: he was really tall, he had a beard, abolished slavery, was president, is from Illinois, was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth and his face is on the penny.  Good thing I’m not a history teacher!