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In addition to the usual blog posts every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday about our eccentric travel adventures and day-to-day life living aboard a sailboat, I also occasionally post on Saturdays, focusing on things related to writing such as cover reveals, book launches, reviews, interviews with authors etc. So if you're a bit of a book nerd like I am, check in on Saturdays - you never know what might pop up. * * * Today, I'm featuring three sailing-related books focusing on quitting the rat race for a simpler existence living aboard a boat. Even if a sailing and cruising lifestyle isn't for you, you may find inspiration in these books to make changes in your own life and lead a life less "normal" and more fulfilling. LEAP OF FAITH: QUIT YOUR JOB AND LIVE ON A BOAT by Ed Robinson The author describes himself and his wife as carefree boat bums and beachcombers and in this book he tells you how they went about achieving a simpler life. He walks the reader thr...

Flashback Friday takes place on the last Friday of the month. The idea is to give a little more love to a blog post you've published before that maybe didn't get enough attention, or is something you think is still relevant or even a something that you really love and want to share again. Many thanks to Michael d’Agostino for starting Flashback Friday and inspiring me to go back and revisit some of our earlier blog posts. * * * This is a flashback to when we lived in Auckland, New Zealand. We didn't have a car, so we walked everywhere. We lived in city centre (downtown) Auckland, so everything was convenient and we were a hop, skip, and a jump away from the waterfront. When I looked back at this post, I noticed that I only used metric. Hard to believe that once upon a time, I functioned in kilometers, kilograms, and hectares. This was originally published in December 2013 - you can see the original post here . * * * Wynyard Quarter is one of the new hot spots in the A...

Wordless Wednesday is supposed to be about posting a photo(s) without any words. But, I'm a rule breaker, so here are a few words: 1 - How did I not know about cakewalks before? If you walk around a circle and land on the lucky number, you win a cake!  2 - When I was in Atlanta earlier this month, I went to the Cabbagetown Reunion outdoor festival where they held a cakewalk as a fundraiser for the local Patch Works Museum . In exchange for $5, I walked around a colored chalk circle and when the music ended I landed on the number eight and had my choice of donated cakes. 3 - There were all sorts of great looking cakes - including a creative one that looked like a plate of spaghetti and meatballs - but I had eyes for only one of them, the chocolate cake with chocolate frosting. Yum. What words does this picture(s) bring to your mind when you look at it? For more Wordless Wednesday fun, click here .  Thanks for stopping by our blog - we love it when people come visit! We're al...

Image via The Graphics Fairy This is rather a short post today because why would you want to spend your time here when you could be over visiting all the other cool blogs participating in the Murder at the Marina Blog Tour & Fiesta ? Last weekend, I was sitting in the patio area at our marina doing some laundry when I happened to overhear a conversation between some boaters. Yes, yes, I know - you call that eavesdropping in your neck of the woods. But if they didn't want me to overhear, they wouldn't have been talking right next to me, would they have? So I'm just going to stick with my description of it as some casual, run of the mill, overhearing . Anyway, I won't repeat the conversation to you, because: (1) that would be rude - it was a private conversation after all (and no, for the last time I wasn't eavesdropping); and (2) it was kind of boring, like most conversations about boating are. Basically, all conversations between boaters who meet for the first t...

In addition to the usual blog posts every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday about our travel adventures and day-to-day life living aboard a sailboat, I also occasionally post on Saturdays, focusing on things related to writing such as cover reveals, book launches, reviews, interviews with authors etc. So if you're a bit of a book nerd like I am, check in on Saturdays - you never know what might pop up. Today, Guilie Castillo is joining us to tell us about her new book, It's About the Dog: The A-to-Z Guide for Wannabe Dog Rescuers as well as offer some insights about how to handle dogs who hate the water. * * * Ellen, thank you so much for inviting me to be a part of your Saturday Spotlight series! I’m thrilled to talk a bit with your crowd about my new book, It’s About the Dog: The A-to-Z Guide for Wannabe Dog Rescuers . I know several of your followers are into sailing and water-based lifestyles, as are you, so—although the book is about actual rescue (the process of iden...

So yesterday was kind of a big deal. It was the start of summer in the Northern Hemisphere. Oh, yeah, something else happened—I released my debut novel, Murder at the Marina .  Have you ever been curious about the day in the life of a book release? If so, you're in luck! That's what today's blog post is all about. Or maybe you're one of those people who has no interest whatsoever in that type of thing, but you don't feel like working on what it is you're supposed to be working on. You're in luck too! This is the perfect time-waster. Read on! Here's how it all started—oatmeal and a cup of coffee. But not just any cup of coffee. Coffee in this amazing mug that my mom sent me. It has my book cover on it! Possibly the coolest gift ever. Then it was time to check the sales reporting. So exciting to see those pre-orders turn into actual live sales. Someone even bought the paperback version. I didn't really think those would sell, so that was a nice surpris...

Can you believe it, tomorrow is the release of >>Murder at the Marina<< ! I'm torn between being really excited about the big day and wanting to curl up in a fetal position while downing a really large bag of M&M'S because the thought of anyone reading my book is really scary. Fortunately, I've got the upcoming >>Murder at the Marina<< blog tour to distract me. Some very kind folks have agreed to spread the word about my book on their blogs starting tomorrow and running through July 4th. In fact, so many people signed up to help out that it's not just a blog tour, it's a. . . . . .blog fiesta! I'm absolutely blown away by how many people volunteered to pitch in. Have a look at the schedule below, check out these fabulous blogs, and make some new friends. I'll update here with their blog fiesta posts as they go live, as well as do updates on Facebook and Twitter with links to each day's posts. Thursday, June 21st (release day...

I've lived on a sailboat for so long that sometimes I forget just how weird it is. But then there's the bilge to remind me that's it's a weird life. And the turkey baster. That's weird too. This is the bilge on our boat. It's usually covered up by a floorboard because it's scary inside. Wires, hoses, bilge pumps, keel bolts and the thing you don't want to see. . .water. Water belongs on the outside of your boat, not the inside. We're in the rainy season and there's been a lot of thunderstorms. So much rain. So much water. So much water that isn't content to drip off of the decks, but instead likes to worm its way inside and drain into the bilge. Where exactly it's coming from is anyone's guess. Every day, I've been monitoring the bilge and draining water out of it. When it gets too high, the automatic bilge pump takes over. But because our manual bilge pump is acting up, I do my part too, by emptying it out myself with a tiny cup ...

Paul at Lat43 does these hysterical Morning Tea blog posts which are a brain dump of whatever pops into his head while he's writing them. I decided to steal his idea. Except, I'm drinking coffee while I write this and he drinks tea, so it isn't really stealing, is it? So, here we go - all of the random nonsense floating through my head while I sip on my morning coffee. I stayed at a house in Atlanta earlier this month that came complete with two cats, one dog, and an Alexa. I loved the cats, the dog was sweet, but Alexa creeped me out. The thought of an object in the corner talking to me was weird. As much as I love reading scifi, I don't think I'm really cut out for a world populated with androids and AIs.  Of course, I'm one of those people who has the camera on my computer covered up with blue tape. You know that they're watching, don't you? Some raccoons got on my boat in the middle of the night and made a terrible racket. I'm assuming they...