Hooray for good company! On Tuesday afternoon, before I could get too sad about Eastercon being over, one of my wonderful sisters-in-law came to stay with us. Unfortunately, it was only a flying visit - she left again this morning - but all of us absolutely loved having her here. Mr Darcy and Maya both got cuddles and attention, Patrick and I got to have great company AND help with MrD, and yesterday my SIL and I discovered the honest-to-God wonders of the Harvey Nichols Food Hall in downtown Leeds, which turns out to be full of exotic imported Italian chocolates, a delicious-smelling (and surprisingly cheap!) sushi restaurant, and, best of all, a really wonderful cafe with a huge range of non-alcoholic cocktails. After a totally girly and wonderful shopping afternoon (buying makeup for my author photos, mostly!), MrD, my SIL and I all had a great time hanging out in the cafe. I looooved my Ginger Nut cocktail (made up of ginger beer, pear, lime, and apples - ohhhh so yummy)! Look out, all my future American guests - you too will be dragged to the Harvey Nicks cafe with me! But you will enjoy it, you really will. :)

Not only is my SIL great company, but she's also a fantastic photographer, and this morning I finally, finally got my author photos taken for my book! I'd honestly been dreading it, because I hate having my photo taken, I always find it impossible to relax, etc., etc...and since my earlier plan of getting them done with my friend Justina had turned out not to be feasible (too many scheduling issues that month), I'd been dreading them even more. But having them done by my SIL was perfect, because not only did I know the photos would be great, but I was laughing throughout most of the shoot, just having a fabulous time with her.

Patrick and I narrowed the selection down to 17 possible photos, any of which could work (and that fact alone just blew my mind, btw - I've NEVER had 17 photos of myself that I actually liked!). These three are my personal favorites, though, so now I'm trying to decide among them. What do you think? Which of them would work best at the back of my books?