Things are ramping up around the MKA ranch these days. My latest book, SUMMER RENTAL, comes out June 7. Yay! It’s been a two-year stretch between novels (THE FIXER-UPPER came out in 2009) and that’s a loooong time in the life of a person who writes commercial fiction. We are busily planning a fun launch party to be held at our favorite local restaurant, Feast, in Decatur, GA. on June 6, as a benefit for the Girl Scouts of Greater Atlanta. You can buy tickets here.

Also, we’ve got what I think is an especially sweet deal for all you moms (and others) who got ereaders (like a Nook, Kindle, Sony or iPad) for Mother’s Day. How’s this? For the four weeks leading up to publication of SUMMER RENTAL, you’ll be able to download one of my favorite earlier novels, HISSY FIT, for only $1.99! (It’s usually priced at $9.99)That’s less than a Big Gulp from the Toot n’ Tote, right? Let’s see, what else? Oh yes, plans are moving along for the Summer Rental book tour, which kicks off here in Atlanta on June 7, taking me to places like Mt. Pleasant, S.C., Raleigh, Fairhope, AL, Houston,Chicago, Cape Cod, the Outer Banks of North Carolina–where the book is set, the Jersey Shore (do you think Snooki reads?) Rehoboth Beach, DE, New Orleans, and finally, New York and the Romance Writers of America national conference. When I come home from the road, I’ll do a round of signings in Atlanta and Savannah. In between, I have to finish writing the next friggin’ book and turn it in so that it can be published next summer.Doesn’t sound like I’ll have much time to spend at our own Summer Rental on Tybee Island, does it?

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By the time I got everybody in the family to agree we should spend Easter on Tybee this year it was too late to book The Breeze Inn! Undaunted, I just emailed my peeps at Mermaid Cottages and booked a house I knew would be just right for our gang-Southern Cross Cottage. As an official house voyeur, I’d toured Southern Cross last year when Diane at Mermaid began managing it. I think my family would agree it was a great decision.

Southern Cross is a classic 1930s-era Tybee raised cottage, and was completely restored a few years ago by the owners, who kept the distinctive knotty pine walls and floors, but updated everything–including baths and a kitchen. As great as the interiors were, our favorite feature of the house were the porches–the perfect people-watching perch to look out over a towering live oak–or to take an after-dinner nap.

Last year, we worked like crazy getting our house ready for the Tybee Tour of Homes. This year, Diane tells me, Southern Cross will be one of the featured homes on the tour, which takes place Saturday, June 4. The website still features our house from last year’s tour–but I promise you–we are NOT on the house tour this year. My new book,SUMMER RENTAL publishes June 7, plus next summer’s book is due to my editor in July. Yikes!

This year we had a crowd for Easter, including Katie and Mark, 21-month-old Molly, Andy, aka Boomerang Boy and his friend Laura, and our niece Sarah and her friend John. Since the house has four bedrooms, I knew it would easily accomodate all of us. We loved the fact that it has wrap-around porches on the second floor, and an outdoor spa, firepit and grill area, not to mention the fact that the younger kids could hang out on the first floor–playing cards and watching movies until late while some of us turned in earlier. We checked in Friday and started the weekend with Mr. Mary Kay’s famous crabcakes for dinner. After dinner, the family continued their favorite beach tradition of strolling over to Seaside Sweets on nearby Tybrisa, for our friend Jimmy’s yummy gelato. On Saturday, Mr. MKA and BB went fishing, while everybody else but me hit the beach. What was I busy doing? Oh, just a little fluffing over at The Breeze Inn, which only had a 24-hour vacancy over the long holiday weekend. I found a fabulous set of 1920s reed furniture at an Atlanta estate sale a couple months ago, and it was truly a fixer upper. The set had been left out in the weather, and at least four different coats of paint were flaking off it like a bad case of dandruff.

It took a couple weeks of diligent wire-brush scraping, plus a power wash to rid the settee and two armchairs of all that flakey old paint. Then Mr. MKA went to work, re-wrapping and nailing some of the rattan strapping. Andy then gave it a couple coats of glossy white paint. And in the meantime, I had some spiffy new lime green, pink and white striped covers made for the cushions.

On Saturday, we installed the new furniture on the Breeze Inn porch, then trucked the old wicker, still serviceable, over to Seaside Sisters–where the whole set sold in less than two hours! Last night we had ribs on the grill here at

Southern Cross, and then the gang–including Molly, hit the spa. We were all up early today for a true Easter miracle–we got all eight of us dressed and sitting in church at St. Michael’s here on Tybee with minutes to spare. Of course, Molly only made it seven minutes before her daddy took her on home for the beauty sleep she insists upon. But she looked adorable in her easter finery for those seven minutes. Because the kids needed to head back to Atlanta early, we had Easter lunch instead of dinner–balsamic cherry glazed lamb chops, herbed new potatoes, poached asparagus, fruit salad, dinner rolls and Tacky Jacky’s delish pineapple casserole. Of course, no Southern Sunday dinner is complete without devilled eggs, and we discovered that Molly adores them.

Now that the kids have taken off, Mr. Mary Kay and I are enjoying a lazy afternoon, and yes, a nap. I’m thinking a dip in the spa will be just the thing for our last evening at Southern Cross.

I’ve been a very bad blogger, I know. But there are reasons. I was writing. I was junking. I was baby-sitting Molly. I took a trip. But I’m back now, and I’ve missed you and hope you missed me. To make it up to you, I’ll tell you about my very junky weekend.

Extended weekend, really. We went out to Scott’s Antique Market Thursday, roamed around and had a jolly old time. I picked up a wicker-wrapped bottle for my booth at Seaside Sisters on Tybee–or maybe for me. Also a trio of vintage German seashell prints. And some sea fans–again for me. I am changing out my living room for a spring/summer beachy feel.

On Friday, after writing a little, off I went again, this time with junk posse member Jinxie, for a couple of estate sales. The first one was in Buckhead, and run by one of our favorite dealers, Vicki. I scored a great shabby chic aqua painted potting table–which will go to Seaside Sisters. Also a funky little upholstered loveseat, for $20, which will probably stay here until I figure out where she is headed. And I scored a pink Pyrex casserole dish, sans lid, but it’ll be perfect for the booth. At the next sale, run by another favorite dealer, Myrtice, I found a sweet pinwheel quilt in decent condition, and a funky vintage turquoise bowling shirt–it has “Gloria” embroidered over the breast pocket. I’d keep it for myself, except Gloria was apparently a six four, the little bee-yatch.

And then, I met two more friends and we journeyed back down to Scott’s. Again. I know, it was a junk overdose. We had a splendid time catching up, and I snagged some more excellent treasures for the booth, including a vintage flamingo-painted mirror with mirrored frame–those always sell in a snap, and a pair of funky porcelain parrots, which would make adorable lamps. And a pair of beachy pastel lime green and pink needlepoint pillows. Am a sucker for needlepoint.

That should be enough junk for any normal being–but I never claimed to be normal. Back out again I went this morning, with Katie, for a neighborhood-wide sale a couple miles away. Small wicker table, cute wooden Paris bistro set–the chairs are rickety, but I think Mr. MKA can fix. And then–I spotted a Sanford & Son look-alike truck cruising slowly down the street–its bed piled high with junk scavenged from the streetwide clean-up campaign. I flagged down the elderly driver and asked if he’d like to sell the two AWESOME red, chippy vintage wrought iron armchairs perched perilously on the top of his towering stack. “Sure,” he said. “I was just taking them to the scrapyard.” For $10 they were mine–and now they belong to posse member Susie, who was looking for the very thing.

Ah, spring. Doncha just love it?

P.S. As I was starting to leave home to head off to North Carolina for my writer’s retreat, Katie pulled up and mentioned that she’d spied a yard sale just down the block. I went, I saw, I found a great antique wicker desk and a pair of cute boudoir lamps. And then, on the way to Southern Pines, I stopped in at Old Tyme Market antiques outside Charlotte. And I snagged a great beachy aqua quilt and a vintage tin litho sandpail. See? It was just that kind of weekend.

We had a lil’ shindig at Seaside Sisters on Tybee Island today. Three years ago, Seaside Susan opened the shop in just one storefront of the Sundance Shopping Center on Highway 80. Over the next few years, the business grew, and so did her ambition to make it the best little shop on the island. Today was the big reveal. She pulled out all the stops–hired a makeup artist to give makeovers–I got one! Magazine stylist Liz Demos–whose work has been published in many national magazines–like Southern Living and Better Homes and Gardens, gave a demonstration of how to make gorgeous table settings with what you have on hand, and yours truly had a “junk from my trunk” show. I also read a couple selections from SUMMER RENTAL. As we say here in the South, a good time was had by all. A fan from Canada even dropped by with her beautiful black and chocolate labs–they are search and rescue dogs who do border patrol and anti-terrorist work on our border. You just never know who’s gonna turn up on Tybee. If you missed the party today–don’t worry! This is Tybee, the party just keeps goin’ and goin’…

Sometimes, when I speak to a book club, they’re kind enough to give me a little gift–usually it’s a nice aromatherapy candle, note cards, chocolate (always a winner)like that. But when I spoke to my friend Martha’s book club in Atlanta a couple weeks ago, she gave me the best book club bribe/gift ever. An antique upholstered bench. Martha assured me that if I didn’t take the bench, which was a family piece, she was going to have it hauled off to Goodwill. Couldn’t let that happen now, could I? If you look past the dirty, rotting upholstery fabric and the old, alligatored black varnish on the wood frame, she’s an adorable little bench, with her sexy curved legs and sweet scalloped apron. And a useful size, to boot.
The bench rode around in the back of my car until this past weekend. Finally, Saturday, I decided to tackle that sucker. I found a nice Robert Allen cream twill fabric on sale at Hancock’s and grabbed a yard-and-a-half of it–which was probably double what I needed, and also purchased some (on sale) gimp braid as trimming. I deconstructed the upholstery, removing the filthy old fabric on top, the equally filthy padding (one layer of which consisted of straw!) and the also rotting scrim on the underside of the top. I set the bench up outside and using Formby’s Refinisher and three different grades of steel wool, I stripped off the old blackened varnish. In its place, I rubbed in a coat of Briwax in a finish color called Tudor. And then came the hard part.
Upholstery. Ugh! I’ve stapled my share of dining room seat cushions in the past, but the bench, with its padded top, was a much bigger challenge than it seemed like it should be.

I finally had to call in the heavy guns–i.e. Mr. Mary Kay. We managed to replace the scrim with some muslin I had in my fabric stash, and then we covered the old padding with more of the same muslin, stapling everything in place with the electric staple gun. On to the upholstered top. We measured. I cut. We measured, I trimmed.We stapled, and then unstapled. The corners of the bench nearly undid us. Turns out we probably should have put some additional batting in there. Finally, I made the decision it was “good enough for government work.” As a final touch, I hot-glued a ribbon of gimp braid to cover up the staples.

The finished product isn’t exactly professional quality. I may still attempt to make a fitted slipcover to protect that snowy linen top. Here she is auditioning for a spot in the sun-room, where I like to sit and write on sunny days–like today.

But in the meantime, it’s done! And from now on, I’ll be expecting antique furniture hand-outs at all my book club appearances.

I never set out to become a vendor of vintage and antique finds. As newlyweds, my husband and I lived in Savannah, and our tiny little attic apartment was sparsely furnished with cast-off pieces my mother, a real estate agent, had squirrelled away from houses she’d sold. We were living on my pitiful salary as a newspaper reporter and banking Mr. Mary Kay’s, because we knew he would be going back to school for an engineering degree. So I started junking in Savannah, going to estate sales and junk shops on Saturday mornings, scooping up little treasures that appealed.I made friends with dealers I met along the way, and they gave me hints about antiques and vintage stuff, and I got hooked. In a bad way. When we moved to Atlanta I continued my junking habits. At one point, when Katie was a baby, I attended an auction in our neighborhood on a weekly basis, taking her along in her stroller while I indulged in what was becoming a passion. Dealers befriended me, and I learned a little more. The dealers running estate sales came to know me, and eventually, one of them asked me if I was a dealer. “Not a dealer, just a user,” I said. Raising an eyebrow, she replied sadly, “yeah, that’s how we all get started.” It only took me about 30 years to finally admit my addiction, and take a booth to sell my vintage wares at Seaside Sisters on Tybee Island. Three years into it, I still love “piddling around” with old stuff. People always ask me why I don’t rent a space in an antique mall in Atlanta, where, after all, we live full-time. And I tell ’em–because if I did that, I’d never write another book. I’d just piddle away all my time playing with junk. This way, I junk in “moderation”–hah! Try telling that to Mr. Mary Kay. We go down to The Breeze Inn around once a month–except during the summer, when the house stays rented, and that’s when I re-stock my booth at Seaside Sisters. One of the best things about junking is when you can finally manage to practice what I’ve come to call “catch and release.” I really never buy anything I don’t love, and I very rarely buy anything incredibly rare or pricey. So I’ve gotten a little promiscuous with my junking. I’ll buy something, take it home, live with it a few weeks or months or years even, and then, eventually, when the infatuation wears off, I’ll rotate it down to my booth and hope that somebody else will fall in love too. Because then, I’ll have money to spend on my next great love affair.

Yesterday was a fine day to indulge my love of vintage, strolling around Scott’s Antique Market. A beautiful sunny day, and the place was packed to the rafters. I strolled and munched–tiny little cinnamon donuts! I ran into old friends and laughed and chatted with dealers. And I bought a few things. Scouting around the outdoor vendors at the South building, I ran into a man who’d bought out an estate in Columbus, Georgia.

Little League jersey

The deceased had been a Little League coach for many, many years, and the dealer had a great pile of vintage ’50s kid’s baseball shirts and pants. Not the yucky polyester baseball jerseys Boomerange Boy wore during his 18 years of baseball, but the good stuff, wonderful, heavy cotton flannel uniforms, with real machine embroidery for the team sponsors, and real ground-in Georgia red clay. I had to bring a couple of those home with me!

Popcorn megaphone

The coach must have run the concession stand at his ballpark, because he’d left behind a huge stash of old waxed cardboard soft drink cups, and popcorn containers that can become a megaphone when the popcorn’s gone. And he was a Shriner too, because there was also a stack of vintage circus posters.

Circus poster

Ah, winter. No better time to find yourself a snug place to hideaway and read. I’m one of those people who always have at least one book going at any time, and now, with the Kindle Mr. Mary Kay gave me for Christmas, the possibilities for new books seem endless. So, what have I been reading these past few months? Just finished the ARE (advanced reader’s edition) for my friend Patti Callahan Henry’s new book, Coming Up for Air. I think it’s her first set outside of the South Carolina Low Country, with a theme of lost love and family secrets, and I know her readers are going to love it. Not due out til September, but you can pre-order here. I do love a big, juicy biography, and this fall was fascinated by Jane Levy’s ambitious and revealing The Last Boy: Mickey Mantle and the End of America’s Childhood. Susan Elizabeth Phillips is always on my auto-buy list, so I bought Call Me Irresistible the day it was released last week,and gobbled it right up. Last summer when I was staying in Nag’s Head, writing Summer Rental , I discovered the work of Elinor Lipman. Can I just tell you that she is my new book crush? I loved all her books, including And Then She Found Me, (which was made into a meh movie with Helen Hunt and Bette Midler), but if I could only recommend one it would be, hands down, The Family Man. Funny, droll, heart-warming, this is a book about acceptance and forgiveness and late-blooming love. How I wish I had written this book! Another day while I was writing away at the Nag’s Head library, I discovered the Regency Romances of Eloisa James. I hadn’t read a Regency since my teen years, but what a delight it was to find Eloisa–who is, in real life, a Harvard and Yale educated Shakespearean scholar who teaches creative writing at Fordham. Don’t be shy about those “clinch” covers, either. After all, if the guys can buy all those thrillers with submarines, stealth bombers, guns and knives, why can’t a girl buy a book with a bare-chested hunk on the cover? Just sayin’…I flew through her Desperate Duchesses series, and then last week, downloaded her eNovella, Storming The Castle. Great fun. I got to meet Eloisa at a romance convention last summer, and through her was introduced to the steamy Regency Romances of Lisa Kleypas, which I actually listened to on audio. Have mercy! What else have I been reading? Oh, you know. A little Michael Connelly, The Reversal–awesome, as always. Some old Jennifer Crusie re-issues,if you’ve never read Crazy For You, or Tell Me Lies, boy, are you missing out. I received Nora Ephron’s, I Remember Nothing for our book club Christmas swap, and I love Nora, so that’s next on my TBR stack. And then there’s a new novel getting a lot of buzz, The Weird Sisters, that I’d like to read. And my pal Laura Lippman has a new Tess Monaghan mystery novella called The Girl in the Green Raincoat. By the time I finish those, that should bring us to March, when oh happy day, we will have both the movie of Connelly’s Lincoln Lawyer, and his next Mickey Haller mystery. Oh yeah, and I’m supposed to be writing a new book of my own. Details.