Stress soothers – Kandy Shepherd

It’s been quite a stressful time for me in recent weeks. Our house is on the market and it was a frantic time getting it ready. Now there’s the constant pressure to keep it really tidy! 

Amidst all that I had my next story to finish for Harlequin Mills & Boon. A severe bout of the flu took me out of action for a month, which put me behind on my deadline. (I caught the flu before I’d had a chance to get vaccinated.) 

Thank heaven, I finally finished (just last night!) after long hours of BOC (butt on chair) and being very anti-social. Now I go through the nail-biting time of hoping my lovely editor likes the story...

Other stressful things have been happening too. So I thought I’d share some photos of things I love and think looking at might help to keep the blood pressure down!  (Of course that's apart from the obvious stress releases like exercise, meditation, massage, binge TV and so on!) I’d love to hear what are your favourite stress relievers.

The first thing I turn to at stressful times is chocolate, which I really, really shouldn't do. All those stress-relieving nibbles and all that sitting down leads to a new stressor – getting fatter! Deadly, my dietitian daughter warns...

Chocolate is not what I should be turning to!

I love to have flowers in the house, from my garden ideally. While my house is open for inspections I indulge in some flowers arrangements from my favourite florist. We go way back to my magazine days, and she knows just the flowers to lift my spirits!

The colours of these flowers soothe my soul! (Love the little cabbages.)

I absolutely love the water, swimming in the sea and walking along a beach are among my favourite past-times. Both these beaches are in the far northern suburbs of Sydney and easily accessible. One reason this particular LoveCat likes living DownUnder!

This is Bungan Beach on Sydney's northern beaches, view from a house for sale  (that we couldn't possibly afford, sadly!)

Too chilly (winter Down Under) for me to swim but others are braving the waters at Mona Vale, another Sydney  beach.

Who isn't cheered up by a rainbow. This one was taken on a walk around our little farm when I was seeking inspiration for a plot point. 

Stormy weather and a rainbow in the Blue Mountains

Food I haven't had to cook myself (or clear up afterwards) is a cheer-up treat. This cafe breakfast of corn fritters really hit the spot. 

That gorgeous green is a pea puree

Of course my cats always bring joy, just looking at them makes me feel happy. Stroking them and listening to them purr are proven stress releasers.

My precious kitties taking up my entire side of the bed! From left: Alfie, Tabitha, Ivy

Then there's spending time with my wonderful husband and gorgeous daughter. But they don't much like me posting pictures of them on social media!

What works for you when you need to distract yourself from stress? I'd love to read your comments!

Release Day for Bidding on Her Boss

Tuesday is the 1st of September, and the release day for my second Hawke Brothers book, Bidding on Her Boss. 

And what's the most appropriate way to celebrate the release of a book about a florist? Why, a bunch of flowers of course! So my plan on Tuesday is to duck out and buy myself a lovely flower arrangement. 

But that begs a question: when you receive a bunch of flowers, either from the shop or handpicked, do you stuff them in a vase, or do you rearrange?

I'm a chronic rearranger. Though, if it's clearly an artistic arrangement in the first place, I try to make as few changes as possible and really only move them around a little to match the vase shape (after trimming the bottom of the stalks, naturally).

When I was researching Bidding on Her Boss, I watched a lot of clips on Youtube. (Well, I told myself it was important research. It might have been a little bit of me indulging a hobby...)

My heroine, Faith, is a florist who works in one of the Hawkes Blooms stores. Dylan Hawke is one of the three brothers who run the company, and Dylan's area of responsibility is the retail arm - the florist stores. So, you see, with all that flower action there was a very real need for me to keep watching these videos...

And it's possible that now I'm a little addicted to flower arrangement clips...

Of course now that Dylan and Faith's book is done and will be out in the world tomorrow (and the third brother's book, His 24-Hour Wife, will be out in October), I don't really have an excuse to keep watching them. Perhaps I need to write a new series about florists...

How about you - do you plop your flowers in the nearest jar of water, or do you have an urge to play? And most importantly, do you have any flower arrangement tips for me? I'd love to hear them! 

Florist Faith Crawford has a brilliant plan—win her company's CEO at a bachelor auction and use their "date" to show him her designs. But her plan backfires when the focus of their meeting shifts from flowers to a floor-tilting kiss. 

For Dylan Hawke, it's time for damage control. Promoting the talented Faith is a no-brainer, but fraternizing with her is strictly forbidden. Dylan must remain professional—the fate of his business rests in the balance. Too bad Dylan won't rest until he gets another kiss…