ICRS, part 9

Captain’s Log, Supplemental

Blog book giveaway:
My Thursday book giveaway is WEB OF LIES by Brandilyn Collins.
My Monday book giveaway is BE MY NEAT-HEART by Judy Baer.
You can still enter both giveaways. Just post a comment on each of those blog posts. I won’t be drawing a winner this Thursday, but on Monday, July 31st, I'll draw the winner for BE MY NEAT-HEART and post the title for another book I'm giving away.

ICRS, part 9 (continued from part 8):

Mary DeMuth had arranged for a bunch of us to have a night of karaoke at a local bar. I don’t know who picked it, but it was a small bar with lots of locals getting drunk.

MaryLu Tyndall, Marilyn Hilton, Danica Favorite-McDonald, Jeannette Hanscome, and I walked into the place to see Chip MacGregor on stage belting out “Brown-Eyed Girl” with two women dancing on either side of him.

Good old Chip.

He sang two more songs during the rest of the night, although I think that “Twist and Shout” killed his vocal chords. What a ham. I don’t even think he can blame the margaritas.

Mary’s a pretty good singer—she has a deep, sultry voice.

Susan Meissner did a TERRIFIC rendition of The Rose.

Randy Ingermanson sat quiet—yes, you read that right! He might have been tired from the long day, because I rarely see Randy at rest.

There were other people there whose names I didn’t catch because it was so dang loud. Probably important people like editors and best-selling authors. I have got to learn some trick on how to remember people’s names.

Meredith Efken and her husband Jason came later.

I sang “I Can Only Imagine” by MercyMe and Jeanette and Marilyn sang “Amazing Grace.” In a BAR.

Danica sang “The Animaniacs.” Even the DJ said he’d never heard that song done in his karaoke bar before.

Afterward, while talking with Chip, Danica discovered that they are long-lost cousins, because the MacGregors are supposedly cousins of the McDonalds. Okay, I said this before on Danica’s blog but it bears repeating—Danica and Chip being related is just scary.

Danica drove me and Chip back to our hotel. Plus Danica had left her laptop in my hotel room.

We walked to the hotel doors and saw this soft-spoken guy there (with his friend). Chip chatted with him briefly and then turned to us. “Let me introduce Camy and Danica—Stephen Baldwin.” As in, one of the Baldwin brothers, who just published a book with Warner Faith (newly renamed FaithWords). I would never have recognized him. There’s no blinding charisma or “Hey, look at me!” in his demeanor. It was a majorly cool moment, in every way.

Am I just easily impressed? I’m such a dork. I told Danica, “I don’t know why you hang out with me, I’m such a nerd.” She replied, “That’s the thing, Camy—I am, too!” :)

Tuesday morning—time to go. My feisty Italian-American friend Tina Russo and her new hubby Tom picked up MaryLu and me and took us to Ted’s for bison burgers! Actually, I had a burger while MaryLu (she’s so sickeningly self-disciplined) had a salad.

Then we walked through LoDo Denver (the Lower Downtown Historic District). It’s got really cool shops, just like downtown Saratoga but with more space, larger buildings and shops. They also took us to the Tattered Cover bookstore, which is all old wood and antique décor. The coolest bookstore. My only gripe is I wish they had larger Romance and Christian Fiction sections.

After a tiring few hours traveling, we arrived at the San Jose airport where MaryLu’s hubby picked us up and drove me home. It was sooooo nice to be greeted at the door by my dog, licking and wiggling her butt. My husband didn’t quite lick me and wiggle his butt, but I knew he was happy to see me, too.

The End