Kirthi Strikes again

Now in addition to my ultra-fab button....Kirthi jazzed up my blog header too! How fabulous do I look now?

Look At My New Button!

I am so excited about my button. I have been wanting one for weeks now and didn't know how to go about getting one. I got lucky. Kirthi contacted me and offered to make me one. Really! She did. I thought it was beautiful (which it totally is!) and she did a great job. As my way of thanks I thought I would publicly thank her and sing her praises in the street. It was a fleeting thought though...I mean not the publicly thanking her...that's a done deal, but the singing her praises in the street. I don't live on a hugely busy street but busy enough that anything other then quickly running across it would be dangerous so, street praise....nixed.

Kirthi is an amazing young adult. Yep, young adult. I said it, it's true. She not only can make incredible buttons she reads like a demon, her reviews are impressive and she is very passionate about the environment. You have to check her out. Kirthi's Blog

Thank you Girl!

New Layout!

Well, As you might have noticed I am now sporting a new "Do" on my book blog. Due to a series of unfortunate events (although I didn't find him I suspect the Lemony Snicket was behind it all) my original layout disappeared. It might have had something to do with the new layout I was trying on for size and clicking save instead of preview....but I am still going to blame Snicket anyway.

So anyway, my beautiful old layout/background left me without a forwarding address even so I went back over to The Cutest Blog on The Block (where I found it to begin with by the way) and instead of finding my old friend I found a new looking website that has very limited free things now. I mean don't get me wrong. I did find a pretty black and purple background but when coupled with the 3 column layout I wanted, the poor  blog looked like I tried to scrapbook...... again. (I tend to have creative ambitions but zero artistic ability.)

I did find an interesting downloadable program that is for a free trial which will help you create your own stunning (I inserted that word myself) blog look. Now this would have been the way to go had I not tried it yesterday when I was creating a second (do I really have that much to say???) blog. That was met with disasterous endings by the way but, alas, it is another story (one I might share as my first post on said second blog at a later time.)

So at this point I still couldn't find my long lost love (still talking about my missing layout by the way.....not the guy I have been stalking for 3 months)(just kidding....it's only been 6 weeks) and refused to download Artisteer (again). So I thought "What the Heck." So I just hopped on over to the blog hop and randomly started pulling up some book blogging sites connected with the blog hop.

After viewing a few I found an interesting link that one of the ladies was following. Lenatoewdesigns is Lena's awesome site. She has free layouts, she will design for you and she also has some seriously fantabulous tips on how to make your blog better. I'm in awe. I found my new Creative Goddess. If I could afford to spend money on my random thoughts at blogger I would totally opt in for her to design me something spectacular. But alas...I make far less money then I am worth (don't we all?) and until someone offers me money to spout out my thoughts and feeling about books I shall go the free route.

So there it is....the whole sordid tale of a girl who loved her blog but realized her love was based on the blog's appearance. It was a hard lesson to learn....One day you are in love and staring at beauty....next thing you know it's gone. Luckily there are thousands of people out there creating beauty (but really Lena is the Bomb!) for fickle people like me....er...I mean the girl.

Forgot to blog hop (and other thoughts)

Well, I didn't get to blog at all this last week and getting online after midnight and realizing that technically the Friday Blog Hop was over I was a little sad. Thankfully Crazy For Books does the blog hop every Friday and I will join back in next week.

So, what have a done or read this last week.

I read Taming the Highland Bride by Lynsay Sands. Overall, an average book that while reading it I had that "I already read this" feeling....which couldn't actually be true because it just came out, copy written 2010 even. I will spend more time discussing my thoughts and such when I get around to reviewing it.

I also read Wake by Lisa McMann. A very short YA paranormal about a teenage girl who gets sucked into other people's dreams no matter what she happens to be doing at the time. I thought it was so refreshing and new that I read it all in one sitting (of course being just a little more then 200 pages probably helped too.) I am looking forward to the second book Fade soon.

When I finished that one I read The Renegade Hunter which is part of Lynsay Sands's Argeneau Family series. The last three (this is the latest one by the way) are still part of that series but they are technically called Rogue Hunter books. Oh well, there were Argeneaus in this one so what the heck....call an orange an orange. Overall, a decent addition to the series. I liked Jo a lot. Nicholas....not as much as some of the other Argeneau men but he was ok. I didn't like that the book kind of aburptly stopped. Jo and Nicholas got their HEA but.....well, I will spill more when I do my review.

I also finished Running Hot by Jayne Ann Krentz this week. This is part of her Acrane Society and I thought it was pretty good. I liked it better then I did Sizzle and Burn but not quite as much as I did White Lies. I think characters within the books had a lot to do with this but Sizzle reminded me of one giant conspiracy theory after another and it was a little annoying. This one carried on that tradition but it made me think that there was something more to it then some whack job thinking the government is secretly adding tracking devices in our paper money (this is not in any of the books by they way....but seriously I do know someone who believes this). Once again....more thoughts and details when I get around to reviewing this book...oh and Sizzle and Burn too since I never did that one either.

Finished reading the second installment of The Morganville Vampire books The Dead Girls' Dance by Rachel Caine. Enjoyed it....yup...I sure did. Thought it wasn't quite as "OMG" as the first one...no WTF cliff hanger which pleased me but it did take away some of that compelling "I have to read the next book right away" thoughts.

One more...Mackenzie's Mountain. I read the last one in Linda Howard's beloved Mackenzie family series first (A Game of Chance) which I loved loved loved. Then thought...I better get to reading the rest. Fascinating family. Overall I thought although this one was good (nice to see where it all started...as this is the first in the series) I did think it was dated though. And not because it was written in the late 80s either. It felt extremely old fashioned even being only 20 years old or so. Weird I know. I do have some more to say about this book (and the others for that matter) but it is getting late and I have to work tomorrow. So, until later....buh-bye.

My latest random rambling....

While getting reading for tomorrow's new Blog Hop I finally realized that I picked up one or two new followers since the last one I participated in. Not only was I giddy with excitement upon seeing that I then got an excellent message from a pip of a gal named Bella over at paranormal-obsession. She is not only following me, she gave me a blog award. It's my first. Its a super special gift that I will always treasure. When she has someone bestow an award upon her blog (which is uber fab by the way) she spreads the love and gifts others with awards too. How cool is that???

Anyway, I am now the proud recipient of The One Lovely Blog Award. Granted many people have been given this award but, really....how many Oscars have they handed out over the years? It's still pretty awesome. So I'd like to take this time to say Thanks to all the people who have helped me reach this point. Wonderbunny and Angel for trying to help me make pretty links, Candace for sharing a special thread just to promote ourselves over at our Shelfari paranormal group, my 11 other fabulicious followers (Bella, Kathy, Lisa, Morgan, Mae, Beth, Tweezle, Pabast, Reyshy, Heather and Chrissie), my family who thinks I spend way too much time online (this is me sticking my middle finger up....sister dear), all the amazing authors who write books just for me to read and review, Blogger for making easy to follow blog start up directions that even a caveman can do it. And finally Thank You to Al Gore for Creating the Internet. Without you I might still be watching movies at home on Beta and playing video games on my Commodore 64.

National Procrastination Week

Yep, the second week in March starts National Procrastination Week. I meant to post this on Monday but I put it off. What cracks me up is this is National Return Borrowed Books Week too. So, make sure you take your borrowed library books back. Better do that next week though...wouldn't want to mess up Procrastination Week.

Another "article" filled with romance bashing....

So on Heather's blog which you can find here she commented about an article written for the Berkley Beacon from Emerson college. I think the author (and I use that term loosely) was trying to be funny. You want funny...make sure you go to SmartBitches and read their comments here.

So the gist of the blog is that this woman, I am actually assuming the author is a woman based on the name on the byline but in all actuality that would be a little narrow minded of me, so maybe Kimya Kavehkar is actually a dude. Oh anyway, the gist of the "article" is that this person took 4 books and judged them by their cover and did a mini-review of the books. Or at least that is what it appears to be at first glance. There is no introduction as to why Kimya chose these particular books, there is little to the reviews other then a paragraph that appears to be the back blurb synopsis rewritten in snarky text, and the entire article seems to be more about romance author/reader bashing then anything.

By reading the comments it is very apparent that I am not the only romance reader that was insulted by the blog. Many of the comments are wonderful and although I did have to put my two cents in I couldn't have stated my thoughts as elloquently as many of the ladies did.

If you are interested in the actual article you can find it here.

Quote of the week

Anyone notice that I have a little widget to the right with famous (or not quite famous) quotes? Found a real gem that I thought should get a permanent spot among my blogs.

The very existence of flamethrowers proves that sometime, somewhere, someone said to themselves, "You know, I want to set those people over there on fire, but I'm just not close enough to get the job done."George Carlin

Yes, some days you just feel like spreading joy.....some days you feel like spreading warmth literally.

Book Lovers Unite

So I was taking a gander at my followers, which I am pickled tink to say that I now have 4 people who think I might have something that just might be entertaining enough to read. One of them mentioned in their profile that her husband just doesn't understand her love of books. I have found this to be true in my life also. I don't have a husband but in general no one really comprehends the absolute thrill I get from reading books. I bet I am not the only one who feels this either.

My friends give me that "look" a lot. You know the one....that one that says you are one step away from visiting the local nut ward. If you grew another appendage these people wouldn't give you this look. As if my love for the written word was something inconceivable. A third eye could get you sympathy I suppose....but surrounding yourself with books is beyond weird.

Not one of them fully comprehends the contentment and pure joy I get from just walking into a bookstore and taking a whiff of that "book" smell. Come on...you know what I am talking about. Nothing smells quite like it. Even the Starbucks at the local Barnes and Nobel can't mask this wonderful scent.

Picture this....me moving. Me moving with 50 boxes of books. Me moving with help from non-bookies to move 50 boxes of books. At one point one of them said..."Christina....you really need to get a hobby."

Really?!?!?!?! A hobby? Um....wouldn't reading qualify as a hobby? It certainly isn't a chore. Nor is it a job that I get paid to do. Some people think gardening is a hobby. Personally I think this is a terrible hobby. It's tiresome, dirty and hard work. I know a lot of people love it, but I would rather have my bikini hairs pulled out one at a time on a daily basis then garden. But never would I say it wasn't a hobby.

Ok, so there is my story. I know others of you have similar stories too. So share. Or not. Whatever floats your boat. Just remember when in a boat make sure to store your books in water tight containers. Water damaged books are the worst.