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Archive for 'Samoa'Saturday, February 12th, 2011
My photo today was taken in Samoa. Hubby took this one in a marine reserve while snorkeling. I love both the color of the starfish and its relaxed pose. He looks as if he’s chilling out and taking in the scenery.
To view more animal photos visit Camera Critters Saturday, July 24th, 2010
The theme for this week is vacations and exotic locations. If you’re a regular visitor to my blog you’ll know that I love to travel. I’m all about vactions and exotic locations. (Check my photo album to see some of the places I’ve visited.) My snippet this week is from my recent release Tiger By The Tail, and the heroine, Ambar is in Samoa for a short holiday.
Ambar ambled to the swimming pool, pausing at the poolside shower to wash the white sand from her feet. The days had slid together and she hadn’t looked at a clock since leaving New Zealand. She’d come to a decision about her mates though. In the end, it hadn’t been difficult because she’d pined for Jake and Hari even more than she’d missed her brother and Kiran. She’d made a list as Isabella had suggested, going for total honesty since no one would see it apart from her. The big disadvantage was the possible restrictions on her freedom. She considered her friends who were in relationships and had officially mated, acknowledging they all seemed incredibly happy. Somehow, she would work things out too. When she returned to Middlemarch, she needed to discuss the future with Jake and Hari and lay out all her fears. She’d discuss things calmly without panicking. Ambar scanned the pool area. Due to a camera crew preparing to film a tropical version of a popular reality show, there were lots of people her age staying at the resort. She’d made friends quickly, although without Jake and Hari it felt as if a part of her were missing. The anger and confusion that had hovered like a storm cloud when she left New Zealand had cleared, a few days helping her to see things at a distance. She had feelings for both men. Whenever she’d considered her future, she’d hoped to have a mate. She just wished it had happened when she was older. “Ambar! Over here.” Anna, one of the girls she’d met on the first day of her holiday hailed her. “We saved you a lounger.” Ambar smiled and waved, heading in her direction. She dropped her orange straw basket on the ground and shrugged out of her coverall to reveal her lime green bikini. “Ambar, are you sure you don’t want to go out with me tonight?” Sam, a cameraman from Texas leaned close, his face full of expectation. “I told you. I have someone in my life.” She waved her left hand at him to flash the gold ring she’d inherited from her mother. Normally it resided on her right hand, but instinct had made her transfer the ring to her left soon after her arrival. Another telling action, she realized. She thought of herself as taken. “I’m not sure I believe you,” he drawled as his gaze did a smooth trip from her head to toes and back again. “If Sam can ask you out, then I want to throw my hat in the ring too,” Gary, one of the soundmen said. “Tell us about your man,” another woman said. Ambar blushed, thinking the relationship she’d become embroiled with was hardly traditional. “It’s too hot for a chat. I’m going for a swim. Anyone up for a game of volleyball?” She indicated the volleyball net strung over a portion of the pool. “I’m knackered after trudging halfway around the island scouting for film locations,” Anna said in her English accent. “I’m staying right here.” A punch of longing hit Ambar, the accent reminding her of Hari. Did she miss them? Yes. Did she want to give up her dreams? Definitely not. A dilemma, that’s for sure. Hopefully they could reach some sort of compromise. “I’m in for some volleyball,” Sam said. “I’m on your team, Ambar.” Ambar jumped into the pool, the water slipping over her skin in a cool kiss. Like most tigers, she loved the water and felt perfectly at home in it. With a whoop Sam and several of the others, both male and female leapt into the water. They were soon embroiled in a hard-fought volleyball match, shouts and victory cheers filling the air. Ambar watched the ball sail over the net and called it. She jumped from the water, doing a perfect spike over the net. “Woohoo!” Sam shouted, pumping his fist in the air. With each successive point they scored, the man became more exuberant. He hugged her, copping a feel at the same time. The first time she ignored it. The second time she started to get pissed. “Knock it off, Sam.” He shot her an innocent look, as if he didn’t know what she was complaining about and moved away. Ambar held her breath and counted swiftly to ten. The next time he touched her she intended to deck him. Purchase from Ellora’s Cave, All Romance eBooks or Amazon Kindle To read more Snippet Saturday excerpts follow the links below: Mari Carr Tuesday, December 8th, 2009
Travel-Ready Packing: Pack Light, Dress Right—Anytime, Anywhere Any of my friends or family or people who visit my website knows how much I enjoy traveling and exploring different parts of the world. Since my marriage, my husband and I have spent months in Africa, America, Europe, Central America, India, Asia and Australia. Sometimes we traveled with our backpacks, and at other times, we went more up market. You’d think with all my experience in traveling that packing would be a breeze. Not so. It’s one thing that remains a bit of a trial for me, so when I saw that Ms. Martin’s publisher was offering Travel-Ready Packing for review, I grabbed the chance to learn from an expert. Travel-Ready Packing has an intro which discusses things such as culture in different countries, fabric types and types of climate. The next part of the book is split into sections for each country or region of the world. Each of these sections gives the temperatures for different months of the year, a list of recommended clothing for both males and females, the risk of danger at the destination, recommended colors to wear and how casual or formal the dress-code is in the country being visited. There are also sections for business travelers and those who travel to adventure destinations, multi-climate packing and also a list for expatriate packing. At the rear of the book there’s a world map, which makes it a simple matter to find the country you’re visiting and look up the corresponding page reference. In fact the book covers everything I could think of from clothes to bags to accessories. When I decided to “test” the book and relive my trip to Africa, the packing list was spot-on—exactly what I should have taken for my trip. It was also very accurate for my recent trips to Samoa and Phuket, Thailand. The only gap I could see was for a cruising holiday, but I think the lists for the South Pacific, which is where my cruise holiday is taking place, will do the trick nicely. I found the book easy to use, very readable, and as I mentioned very accurate with the suggested packing lists. No more back-breaking suitcases for me! I recommend this book for anyone who intends to travel for work or pleasure. And romance writers, if you’re heading to a conference and you’re not sure what to pack, this is the book for you. You can see from above that I’m all sorted with my packing now since I have this book to refer to. How do you approach packing for a trip or a holiday? Are you a good packer or do you forget half the things you need? I’m doing a guest spot at The Rainbow Studio (part of the Romance Studio) and talking about reality shows and Fallen Idol. Here’s the link to my post at The Rainbow Studio. Tuesday, June 9th, 2009
A tattoo is an indelible mark or figure fixed upon the body by insertion of pigment under the skin or by production of scars. ~ Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary.
During the last couple of years many authors have included heroes and heroines with tattoos, myself included as you can see by the cover on the right. (Just a quick promo – Make That Man Mine comes is due for release from Ellora’s Cave on 15 June!) Author, Marjorie M Liu has her Hunter Kiss series featuring a character with living tattoos. The first book, The Iron Hunt is almost at the top of my to-read pile, and I hope to dive in very soon. In real life it’s quite common for people, especially younger people, to have one or more tattoos. Personally, although I admire them on other people, I’ve never felt the urge to get my own tattoo. I’m not big on pain and needles. Also, I don’t like the way some of them fade. I think that some people jump into the idea of tattoos without much thought. A tattoo is usually for life, and it needs to have meaning. The traditional Samoan tattoos certainly have meaning, although I hear the process is very painful. If a Samoan man doesn’t complete his tattooing it’s considered very shameful, the shame extending to his entire family as well as the individual. What do you think about tattoos? Do you have a tattoo? Do you like your fictional characters to have tattoos? Do any tattooed ficitonal characters stick out in your mind? Saturday, May 16th, 2009
I’ve updated my photo album with fifteen photos from my recent trip to Samoa. Just click on the photos tab above and start exploring my album. Sunday, May 10th, 2009
Saturday, May 9th, 2009
Friday, May 8th, 2009
Wednesday, May 6th, 2009
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Tiger By The Tail by Shelley Munro
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It’s said that after Captain Cook visited Tahiti, the art of tattoing traveled to England via the sailors. Certainly the word “tattoo” came from the Tahitian language (tattau). But humans have been decorating their bodies with art of some type for thousands of years. Check out the photo of a tattooed mummy 
