C, C, what begins with C? C is for Cookie, that’s good enough for me . . .
Today we’re playing the alphabet game here in RomanceMama Land! My dear friend, Jillian Chantal, is not only one of the most talented and prolific writers I know, she is my absolute heroine when it comes to blogging. Day in, day out, when I am staring at a computer screen, whimpering, “But what can I say?” Jillian is in there faithfully and consistently writing witty, informative blog posts. If you don’t follow her, go to http://www.jillianchantal.com and correct that problem right now. I’ll wait here.
Ok, you’re back. So, today I’m picking up on one of Jillian’s recent blog posts, wherein Liv Rancourt assigned her a letter of the alphabet, and Jillian had to discuss ten things she loves, all beginning with that letter. Italy, Inuit, Independence — our Jillian rocked the letter I’s world.
Luckily for me, Jillian assigned me a much easier letter — the classic, convenient, comprehensible letter “C.” So, below you will find my favorites — and yes, a certain Oscar-winning British actor does figure prominently in my “C-list.” I’m sure you’re shocked at that.
If you wanna play the alphabet game, as handed down from Shay Fabbro to Liv Rancourt to Jillian Chantal and now to moi’s own self, just post a comment. I’ll send you a randomly selected letter and we’ll see how creative you can be with it!
And now with no further ado, let’s C my list!
Constitution – Look, in the day job, I am a lawyer (and a damn fine one, too, if I may say so!) My career has been spent in criminal and family law, and now I have the pleasure of being General Counsel to a local educational agency. If one must have a job (so middle class, don’t you agree?), mine is about as good as it gets. I get to spend my time thinking about important questions like Freedom of Speech, Due Process, and all those other goodies we as Americans take for granted. The Constitution of the United States is an amazing document. If you don’t know what it contains, you should. There are people all over the planet taking incredible steps, at great personal risk, to obtain those rights. Don’t ever forget that.
Champagne – Enough with the seriousness, though. Champagne is what angels drink. When I worked at a private law firm several years ago, one of the partners won a major big trial, and he celebrated by buying all the employees a bottle of Dom Perignon. The real stuff. As old Dom himself said, it was the equivalent of drinking stars. Some people would refuse to drink the cheap stuff after experiencing such glory, but not me. I’ll take all the champagne you’ll give me, anytime. Like they say — always keep a bottle of champagne in the fridge in case you have something to celebrate. And sometimes, you just need to celebrate having a bottle of champagne in the fridge. Not only that, but my first novel, PROOF OF LOVE, was published last year by Champagne Books. How cool is that?
Chick lit – No, chick lit is not dead. As long as women enjoy light-hearted stories about the crazy world we live in and how a spunky heroine deals with the chaos on her way to finding Mr. Right (or Mr. Right Now), there will be chick lit. And now that e-readers let you go stealth with your reading material, I think a few guys will be enjoying the adventures of Bridget Jones and her spiritual descendants.
Cupcakes – Ok, seriously. What is not to like? They are cute, they are sugary, they are just enough to be a treat without making you feel like a glutton. Truly, cupcakes are nature’s perfect food.
Carbohydrates – And since we are talking food, let’s get one thing straight. I will not be listing chocolate in this little exercise. I may have to turn in my official membership card for the female gender, but I am not that enamored of chocolate. I mean, I like it. But I don’t crave it. What do I crave? CARBO’s, baby! I’m talking pasta, bread, potatoes ….
I love ’em all. Sweets are not my downfall, but these hips don’t lie — I have tucked away some carbs in my time.
Charm Bracelet – Like many of you, I got a charm bracelet when I was a little girl. But unlike many of you, I have held onto mine, and I have added to it through the years. I started with a little silver church, a flute, and a “happy birthday” charm. Now, these (ahem, clearing my throat) years later, I have just about everything I’ve ever done on my charm bracelet. A sweater, because I knit. A Fiestaware pitcher, because I collect Fiesta. A sardine can from Monterrey. A Jerusalem Cross from Jerusalem. Handcuffs — no, get your mind out of the gutter. They were a memento of my time as a probation officer. If you ever have a few hours free, let me know, and I will tell you the history of each and every one of my several dozen charms.
Comic Books – I had an older brother — well, I still have him, but we don’t live in the same time zone anymore. We were incredibly close growing up, though. And he was the king of the comic books — Superman, Batman, Thor, The Fantastic Four, Wonder Woman, of course. But also the more obscure ones — Tales from the Crypt, Golden Classics, and Sgt. Rock. My favorite, oddly enough, was Sgt. Rock, not because I liked the army stories so much, but because whenever Sarge was fighting the Nazis in France, he would team up with Mlle. Marie, the famous Resistance Fighter. (Poor benighted redneck children that we were, we called her “Mill Marie.”) Even in my pre-feminism days, I loved that Mill Marie was a kick-ass heroine, who could out-fight, out-think, and out-class all the guys. Whilst wearing seamed fishnets, stiletto pumps, and blood-red lipstick, no less. I still want to grow up and be Mill Marie.
Church – Oh y’all know I was raised backwoods, hard-shell, Fundamentalist Southern Baptist. Give the Baptists a child til she’s seven, and for the rest of her life, she will get scared if she comes home to an empty house, certain that everyone got raptured and somehow she got left by mistake. (True. Several of us in the Baptist Student Union at my college reported the same fear.) I can sing every verse of Amazing Grace and Just As I Am, I know the books of the Bible by memory, and can tell you exactly who did what with whom in the Lake Yale Youth Camp Rose Garden in Summer, 1979. And I still won’t watch The Exorcist.
Crown – Oh, the dear Queen. I love the Royal Family. I get a little weepy every Fourth of July over how really ugly we were to poor George, and I think we could have worked the whole thing out with a bit more understanding. I mean, taxation with representation isn’t working out so well for us, either. I read everything I can get my hands on about every royal from Boadicea down to Kate Middleton. (Except for Camilla. Hate the bitch. And seriously, they aren’t going to let her ever wear the Queen Mum’s crown, are they?)
Colin – Oh, Mr. Firth. Yes, I will run away and be your love slave. No problem. Now, y’all, I have watched some women’s talk shows. I read The Secret. I took my fair share of Cosmo Quizzes. And Oprah says you can have anything you want, if you just make up your mind on the one thing you want and you live expectantly, waiting for the universe to fulfill your desire. So I am here to tell you — I am expecting to see Colin Firth, at my front door, tickets for our getaway to England in hand. And it is going to happen. It is. Oprah doesn’t lie.
That’s the C list for me, my loves. And a great big thank you to Jillian for not giving me Q, X, or U.
Arabella Stokes 