We here at ADF are a friendly, helpful bunch!

If you have a request for a type of story or a book,
this is your spot.

If you are unsure about something that has to do with ADF,
ask here.

If you have amnesia about a fic,
this is the place to ask about it!

If you are unsure about something that DOES NOT have to do with ADF,
ask here as well!

Diving Deep for Fan Fic Treasures

Each week I will brave the treacherous waters of Fan Fiction for untold treasure. Below are the trinkets I've found this week!

This week I read 13 and found 7!

Great haul this week and I am so excited for some of these to update!

I apologize for not being able to tag this campfire. I get an error on all of my computers when I try to add it.  Hopefully, the rangers will help me out! ;)

Also, a little bonus treasure at the bottom. :)

Don't forget to read, review and tell 'em ADF sent you!

Tough Break by hollstar
Edward Cullen is a successful Australian Rules Football player. After a bad tackle he is left injured and contemplating his future. Could childhood friend Bella Swan be a part of that future?
Aussie B & E. Updates frequently.

Eurotrip by AnnaLoco
They say you find yourself when you travel. After graduating from college, Bella Swan sets off on a two month adventure around Europe with her friend Alice, hoping to get a break from Seattle and some perspective on life. Meeting Edward Cullen wasn't part of the equation. BxE. AH. Lemons.
British Edward. Lots of scenic Europe.

Love To Lay You Down by Twiddler83
Crickets singing, fires burning. Moonlight dances, secret glances. Waiting is a game you play, but one spin can make or break. Grasshoppers jump and frogs sing. How long can you wait for your one special thing when you’re not sure how long it'll be around. ExB Rated M EPOV - UST - Lemons - HS Love
Sweetest country boy ever. Atypical high school fic so far. Loving this writing style.

The Sun Must Set to Rise by DazzlinSparkle05
Edward, a wealthy CEO hits a snag in his life. He is given a do over and learns that maybe second chances really are enough, but there are consequences. A/H, A/U
Great story. CEO turned islander Edward.

That Moment by mezy
Bella is a recently separated, very busy, single mom. She has relocated back to Forks for a fresh start, but has vowed to herself to never listen to her heart again. Can Edward change her mind? B/E, AH
Good read. A Bella with some spine. Beware the author seems to be a slow updater. But I have lots of time and patience because I'm totally sold on this one.

Under The Microscope by annasier
When her brother Emmett signs for a new club, moving to Madrid turns out to be more than Bella Swan bargained for when she ends up running in the same circles as the notorious Edward Cullen, Real Madrid's star striker. The outcome is something she never would have predicted. AH.

Big fan of Sportswards. Cocky Brit Soccer player Edward. For some reason, I am always a sucker for when Em and Bella are siblings.

Girls Gone South! by Kayleigh Cullen1918
When romance writer Bella Swan finds a letter from her husband saying he's leaving her, Bella decides to take action. She's going to get healthy and get happy. When she receives a letter to say her divorce is final, she and her two best friends head south to find some fun, booze and sexy cowboys. A sweet grandmother, a buisness man, a mechanic and a vet change their lives forever.
Made me chuckle a few times. Love southern boys. Needs a little bit of beta work.

Bonus dive into my Completed Story list! Thanks to PNW Luna for letting me steal her idea! This is a good way to bring some older stories back for newer readers!

The Bigger They Are by LadyExcalibur2010 

Confirmed bachelor and career soldier, Edward Cullen was perfectly happy with his life. Until a young punk busted his windshield. Suddenly, he finds himself drawn to a beautiful widow with a LOT of baggage- four rambunctious sons. AH/AU - COMPLETE

I love this family so freakin' hard! This is definitely in my Top Ten faves along with it's sequel/outakes. I love when the original Twi characters are cast with a twist.

DIVE ON IN!!

Welcome to the Monday Morning Hot Guy Campfire. What better way to start your week than a hot guy?

Every Monday, I'm going to dedicate a CF to the Hot Guy of the Week. The catch? The CF can ONLY be about the current nominated guy.

We all have different tastes in men, so please don't yuck anyone's yum. If you have a man you'd like to see crowned for the week, PM or hit me up on twitter (@ffcherry) with his name.

Do you write fan fiction?

Give us a little peek!

excerpt / pictease / music / poem / banners

~ Don't forget to include a link to your story! ~

If you can't yet buy cigaretts with a legal ID, this campfire is not for you.

If you are in a room full of people who will see your screen, this campfire is not for you.

If you have a problem with people sharing TMI, this campfire is not for you.

If you are the type of upstanding citizen who turns away from all things unsavory, this campfire is not for you.

If, however, you are a little bit bad, a little bit dark, and a little bit nasty, this campfire is ALL for you.

Main post inside....

The #1 Google search in the world Sept 23-24, 2011: 62-year-old Diana Nyad's valiant attempt to swim the seemingly impossible 103 miles between Cuba and Florida, without a shark cage. 1.3 million Twitter fans followed Diana as she lived out the message of living life large and chasing our dreams, no matter our age. Despite potentially deadly Box Jellyfish stings, Diana courageously continued toward the other shore for 41 long hours, eventually compromised by the physical effects of the stings.

Diana is not one to quit. August 2012, a year later, she again faced the seemingly impossible, this time with a secret weapon: a jellyfish suit, a thin nylon covering that prevents stings. But again, Diana's Xtreme Dream was not to be. She swam 51 hours, 5 minutes, much of the country following her every stroke. Again the jellyfish attacked, striking her repeatedly on the lips, where the nylon suit opens to allow her to breathe. There were life-threatening lightning storms. Large sharks circled below her. The powerful Gulf Stream current literally spun the Teams fleet compasses in circles, shoving Diana on a winding route of nearly 100 miles through the water.

The overwhelming response to Diana's courage, and the professionalism and heart of her 35-member Xtreme Dream Team, has been rousing applause for her daring reach for the stars. Thousands of fans write Diana via Facebook and Twitter and share their own stories of motivation after witnessing Diana's unwavering commitment.

And it is a safe bet that Diana just won't quit on this Dream until she at last walks up onto that Florida shore.

Back in the 1970's, Diana Nyad was the greatest long-distance swimmer in the world. Her world records, such as circling Manhattan Island and crossing the 102.5 miles between the Bahamas and Florida, have led to inductions to many Halls of Fame, such as the International Women's Sports Hall of Fame.

**If you click the photo it will take you to her blog

 Charlie Hunnam Cast as Christian Grey in Fifty Shades of Grey Movie

Dakota Johnson To Star as Anastasia Steele in Fifty Shades of Grey

THOUGHTS?

I am at my wits end with my preteen. She will be 13 in 2 weeks and I honestly do not know how I will survive this next year. It seems I am constantly yelling and getting nowhere. Being an older mom I thought I would have more patience. Nope there's none. Any suggestions or guidence would be greatly appreciated. I love my daughter more than anything but I swear some days I feel like Joan Crawford.

Update: She cleaned her room today with only minor "AAGGHH" but I'll take it.

Hey you guys :)

Can you believe summer's almost over already? I certainly can't. It's gone by so fast it's almost scary.

I've spent the past 6 ½ weeks in Africa (again, I know) and I've been asked to do a CF (again... I'm probably going to bore you to death with this....).

ETA:

Made this video, in case anyone is still interested :)
 

So yeah, here we go :)

I went to Tanzania and lived in Dar es Salaam for a bit over 6 weeks. I was supposed to do an internship / social / voluntary work. My project was supposed to be Gender and Health improvement or Human Rights Promotion but both of these project collapsed and I had to switch. I finally joined a Micro-finance Project and even though I don't know anything about economics it ended up being a great project for me. I could learn about the topics myself and taught presentation and power point skills to the students.

Again I should say here that volunteering for me is not something I do to inspire people or change the world. Frankly, if I hear people say this it makes me sick to my stomach. I get in the worst fights about this. For me it is simply a way to see and experience a country in a way I could otherwise never do. I was surrounded by local people who took me to their families, explained their culture and showed us around.
Still, the feedback we got from this course was 99% positive. The only negative feedback (if you can even call it that since we agree fully with our students) was that the course was too short.

This was, however, only for 2 weeks. So for the rest of the time I had to find other things to occupy my time with. So I went to Safari (Serengeti, Ngorongoro.... too beautiful for words), I've hiked on Kilimanjaro, I went to Zanzibar for a weekend and even more than the trips I had, I made new friends, cooked with our neighbours, lazed around the beach and so on.

I've been blogging about it from the start so if you want to back read some of the entries to get more details, here's the link standardofgrace.net

This trip has been great for me. I've learnt a lot, saw a lot, experienced a lot. I was angry, I was sad. I cried and laughed so much that I had tears running down my face and my stomach hurt. I got drunk, I watched movies, I took pictures. I slept in tents in the Serengeti surrounded by buffalos and hyenas. I drove a car in the Serengeti as well. I swam with wild dolphins and went on a sunset ride on the beach in Zanzibar – full galopp through the waves.

I ate good food, I ate bad food, I met nice people and horrible people – good and.... well bad seem to be so close in this country I had the hardest time forming an opinion myself.
For every moment where people there touched my heart there was another with which I just could not deal. I grew up surrounded by european and asian mentality and while asia and africa are similar in a a lot of aspects they are also completely and utterly different.

Going to this side of Africa and doing all these things has been on my list of things I was dying to do for years. I'm not kidding. I feel so blessed and lucky that I got the chance to go. This trip has been everything.

In any case, there are pictures inside this CF (I'm trying not to post too many but I was there for 6 weeks after all and... ahem.... I took a ton).
They are also not edited. I apologise but there are just too many of them for me to make that effort right now (free for all is ending soon after all ;))

To make this interactive what (destination, or activity) is/was on top of your (bucket) list? If you have crossed it off already come in and share your story (and pictures, always pictures ;)).

/ full galopp on the beach in Zanzibar
/ gate to the Serengeti
/ dinner, anyone? Yumyum.
 

For the all important question...:

Apple or Microsoft?

I know this may be a controversial topic, but I am going to try it.

 I was goign through old CFs and one thing really surprised me.

I read stuffs like, "Kristen's cheating is okay if Rob is a jerk."

Really??????

If he's a jerk, couldn't have she broken up with him? Why a cheating?

And then there was, "Rob has humiliated her many after time after the cheating"

Are you kidding me? Give me ONE incident where he has humiliated her. He could have done so many things, but he handled it with  class.

I am not saying that he's a perfect guy. Hate him if you want, but give valid reasons at least!

To me, it looks like certain women had bad experience with men and they think Rob is one of them.

To make it interactive, what are your thoughts on it?

http://rutube.ru/video/48611b9c312f23dfdba0a54c436a6a4d/?ref=endroll

So I think this is the video!

Your thoughts?

As promised last weekend (see here) we're posting our first ADF Cook-along today! The ingredient list for Coq Au Vin is below. Inside you will find the recipe. I know we are all on different time zones here, so find a time that suits you and get going! Post pics, questions, what have you. 

Our fearless leader in this endeavor is SouthernCharm, who so kindly provided both the recipe and the idea of the cookalong. She will be checking in as she prepares the meal, and I hope that all of you will do the same! It's 4am here in the Eastern time zone, so I've got to get my butt to bed...I just wanted to get this posted for our friends outside the US who are a few hours ahead of us.

Ingredients

3 lbs bone-in chicken (boneless bird can be used as well, it's just that the bone gives the stock more flavor)

1/3 lb pancetta or bacon (pancetta can be found in your grocery deli)

3-4 carrots

3 celery stalks

2 onions

2-3 garlic cloves

1 bottle red wine

2 cups chicken stock (can be found in the soup aisle)

1 bay leaf

1 tablespoon herbs de provence (if none on hand, just add a combination of thyme, sage, and rosemary)

3 tablespoons room temperature butter

2 tablespoons flour

1 lb mushrooms (if you hate shrooms it's okay to leave these out)

salt/pepper

peas or baby carrots are optional and can be added to the dish

rice or potatoes or egg noodle to serve over- your pick!

Supplies

You will need a large pot, like an 8 quart stock pot

sieve or collander

blender or food processor or stick mixer

I clicked on "last" at the very bottom and found an old "roll Call" CF. I thought it might be cool to do one. Tell us what you are comfortable with - name, alias, age, where you are from...you get the idea!