Thanks to the many fabulous women who attended the Book Club meeting and dinner Friday night in Newbury Park, California, hosted by Leah.

It was such a joy to discuss our lives and love of books at the home of Leah and Jim on Friday night. (Jim made his escape, but appeared near the end of the evening to greet us!)

I had the pleasure of meeting some new friends and seeing former colleagues from Amgen at the event. What a group of intelligent, fun, talented and inspiring women. Mary Ellen arrived directly from the airport!  I felt every fortunate to have the opportunity to drink wine, break bread (my homemade sourdough!) and dine with these fascinating women.  I had a chance to talk about writing, answer questions on my first book and give the attendees some information on my second book, which will be out in August.

Thanks to Mihaela for sharing her photos with me.

Leah and Rekha cutting the homemade sourdough I made that morning to share with the group. You can see the rest of the women in the dining room enjoying a wonderful dinner provided by our host, Leah.

That’s me autographing my first novel, Hostile Takeover:  A Love Story for these wonderful women.  I can’t thank Leah and Jim enough for their friendship and support of my writing.  It has been tremendous and means so much to a first-time author like me.  And thanks to all of the women who attended–you all inspire me so much.  Thanks again for everything!