Soon, At a Bookstore Near You

I found out my Solvang book officially will be released on April 1. Copies may be available earlier and I plan to have some book signing (stay tuned). I say "my Solvang guidebook" because I wrote it. And, I hope to sell a lot of them.

Solvang, located in Santa Barbara's Santa Ynez Valley wine country, is a small town settled by Danish immigrants. I came to know the town and some of its townsfolk on an intimate level last summer while I was researching the guidebook.

The book will be available at bookstores, amazon.com, and the publisher's Web site touristtown.com.

Think about a trip to Solvang. It is a wonderful place to visit for a day, a weekend, a month, or a season. Lots of great food and wonderful wine.

At top is the cover of the Solvang book. I hope you like enjoy it. Really, think about a trip to Solvang.

Counting the Days Till My Calendar Comes

Along with wallet, keys, and lip gloss, a pocket calendar is part of my purse repertoire. I write down meetings, deadlines, coffee dates with friends, my sister's arrival time on the train, doctor appointments, and life's other "special" occasions. Usually, a collage of sticky notes fills the pages. Grocery lists, DVD titles, phone numbers, a funny road sign, gift ideas, and a hodgepodge of to-do items dot monthly landscapes.

My pocket calendar is very important to me. Not only does it keep me on track, but it also serves as a souvenir of the year. I must have at least 25 years worth of past calendars. Every once in a blue moon, I look through them. I can decipher most of my scribbles, and, I, must say, the appointments and dates I found important enough to write down back then are still as important to me now.

Into the third week of the year and I still don't have a pocket calendar. This is why: I gave a donation to national nonprofit and I was supposed to receive a pocket calendar. It hasn't arrived yet. I don't want to buy one, even though I know they are really cheap right now.

At the right is my most recent pocket calendar. I really like the two-year calendars.