Category: Meanderings

Morning Meanderings… Sunday Salon Bloggiesta Style!

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)42 Comments

WAIT!!!!!!  Don’t go!  It’s me Sheila!  You are at the right place it just looks different around here.  Ummm…. here is what happened. 

So I am doing Bloggiesta this weekend and if you don’t know what that is it is a weekend set aside to catch up on reviews and bloggy maintenance type things as well as learning new things like SEO and HTML, and how to bring traffic to your blog.  What happened was I was going to clean up my sidebars, you know… take out old things, put in new, update…. stuff like that.  Something I have been meaning to do for a while.  I then thought, are two side bars too much?  Is that too busy?  A lot of blogs I read have one sidebar…. so I chose a new theme…. that really goofed things up for a while and I am still not happy with where my header lies, and I still have to update the sidebar.

*sigh*

The mad side of Bloggiesta…

So anyway…Good morning!  WOOT! As you can tell from what I have said so far the weekend has been busy – but fun.  I love going around and seeing what other bloggers are doing.  I love participating in the mini challenges and learning new things.  My own mini challenge, which is about driving blog traffic, is still active for the rest of today.  Stop by, check it out… you may find something useful as well as the other challenges too.

As for what arrived bookish like this week, that is a two-part story.  Below are the books, and the DVD I received in the mail for review:

The Thirteen, Aleppo Code, More Like Her, We Heard The Heavens Then, Sunday Salon

Yes.  That is Alvin and The Chipmunks, Chipwrecked.  Do not judge.  😛  And the creepy cover of Thirteen calls to me… so what does that say? :LOL:

The second half of this story is I received a SWEET box of YA books from a publisher this week that had me dancing around the house.  I posted about this on Friday and you can check it out, shooose what I read first and you could win it!  😀   Seriously!  Go check it out.  😀

As far as today, I have church here in about mmmm….. 15 minutes.  And then I am coming back to Bloggiesta until late morning when hubby and I have to deliver a trailer to another town so I will be MIA for about an hour… but then back to the blog.  Things I still want to accomplish today.

What is your Sunday plan?  Are you on the Bloggiesta wagon?  If so what are you LOVING?  If not, watcha doing today?  Anything fun?

 

Morning Meanderings… My VERY OWN Book Fairy!!!! + Giveaway!

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)58 Comments

Good morning!  *yawn*  How we all doing today?  I missed the afternoon and evening of Bloggiesta yesterday as I was trying to get some errands done, then came home, changed and we had dinner with friends and then Hunger Games (yes, a second time!) and home around 11 pm.  Then…. I slept a little later than usual but I am here now and I have exciting things happening here.  😀

About a month ago I was contacted about the book club I am in by a publishing company.  They had read my Making Of A Book Club post and were bouncing ideas off me for a YA on line book club.  I was happy to help as Sheila + talking books = Happy Sheila.  😀

We had some conversations back and forth where we discussed ideas, promoting, etc… and in the end she offered me some books as a thank you.  I chose three from her list but she added to it and my very first mystery box of books arrived yesterday on my door step:

 

and in this group would be the very first April on Line Book Club pick:

Are you just LOVING that cover?  I am!!!  SO more on this hopefully going into this next week… I will give you info on the book club, the who, the what, the when…. I am just waiting on an email first to make sure they are ready to launch!

 

 

AND in honor of Bloggiesta happening right now this weekend (info below) I would love you to tell me which of these gorgeous books to read first and then I will read it and send it to one lucky random.org winner.  Yes, you pick the book for the picture above, I read, then send to you. 

 

This year Bloggiesta is being hosted by It’s All About Books and There’s A Book, and you can see all the mini challenges here – and there are giveaways!  :D

Here is my “work in progress tasks for the weekend” :  (which I will cross off when I complete them):

1.  A new blog header

2.  New blog widget

3.  prep posts for upcoming reviews

4.  Write posts for movie/book reviews that I have completed  (five written and drafted!)

5.  Participate in mini challenges  (three done!)

6.  Clean up/update side bars

7.  Send out author chat questions to 3 authors

8.  Prep a blog survey to use in April

9.  Draft some fun discussion posts (one drafted… two more ideas formed….)

Happy Bloggiesta!!!  Don’t forget my mini challenge this weekend with gift card giveaways 😀 

Morning Meanderings… Bloggiesta KICK OFF!!!!

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)47 Comments

Good morning!  Happy Bloggiesta!!! Doesn’t that make you just think of great things like nachos and taco’s and enchiladas…. hmmmmm.. maybe it is too early to think of those things.

Bloggiesta is an event that was started by Natasha from Maw Books in 2009.  It was designed as a time that we as bloggers can learn more about our blogs, how to make them look appealing, how to drive traffic, HTML, side bar links, post writing,social networking, embedding pictures and video, search engines, how does your blog rate… and more!

Bloggiesta holds a special place in my heart as it was June 2009 when I started blogging and well… I knew nothing…. NOTHING about blogging.  A week after I started book blogging, the first Bloggiesta was happening and I jumped at the chance to participate.  Bloggiesta really saved me.  I signed and participated in every mini challenge.  I learned so much that weekend, and from the start of Bloggiesta to the end, my blog looked completely different. I was thrilled.  😛

Now here we are in 2012 and I am so excited to not only be participating in Bloggiesta, but I am also a Mini Challenge host.  This year Bloggiesta is being hosted by It’s All About Books and There’s A Book, and you can see all the mini challenges here – and there are giveaways!  😀

For the kick off, I am posting my weekend to do list :  (which I will cross off when I complete them):

1.  A new blog header

2.  New blog widget

3.  prep posts for upcoming reviews

4.  Write posts for movie/book reviews that I have completed  (as of noon on Friday three written and drafted!)

5.  Participate in mini challenges  (two started)

6.  Clean up/update side bars

7.  Send out author chat questions to 3 authors

8.  Prep a blog survey to use in April

9.  Draft some fun discussion posts (as of noon on Friday one drafted… two more ideas formed….)

Hope to see you on the blogosphere this weekend – and stay tune, not only am I offering the giveaway involved with the mini challenge, but I also am planning giveaways all weekend long as part of the Bloggiesta Fiesta!!!  OLE!!!  Find me on Twitter at:  bookjourney

Are you participating?  Let me know and I will be sure to stop by and cheer you on!  😀

Morning Meanderings… My Book World Has Turned Upside Down

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)30 Comments

Good morning!  😀

I think I am having some Freaky Friday moments… and yeah, it is only Thursday!  😯

Recently I have read two books I really thought were going to leave me raving… Carry The One and Weird Sisters.  Both books I have reviewed in the last 10 days and both books left me feeling…. feeling…

well not really much at all.

Then I start hearing about plot driven books vs. character driven books (and yes there is a blog post in that alone and yet I have already put a draft and a pin in that one for later use) and I start to think… am I a plot snob?  Do I need a plot that keeps me guessing keeps my heart pumping for the entire book?  I do like me some strong well-developed characters as well… (I did not find these in the two books either)…. so anyhow…

what?

And then… a couple of days ago I finish a book I was reading just for fun… just for comic relief, to clean the palate so to speak and that one… THAT ONE is the one I like.  Out of the three… it is I’ve Got Your Number by Sophie Kinsella that keeps me up late at night to know what is going to happen, to know how it will all end, that makes me laugh out loud.

What?

😯

Any hoo… in recap…. I don’t know what I like so don’t ask me… apparently I can not pick a book for the life of me these days… 😆

Later today my review of I’ve Got Your Number is going up.  I hope you will check it out.

Does that ever happen to you (please tell me it does!).  Do you ever find books you think you will love but you do not… and books you are just reading for fun and they speak to you?  Can we start a support group?  Will you lead it?  😛 

Morning Meanderings… HUNGRY???

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)18 Comments

Good Morning!  I am scraping in for a QUICK Morning Meandering and then that’s a wrap… as my day is FULL of delightful “to do’s” and “what nots”.

Hunger Games has now been at the theater for 5 days and I am planning a second viewing hopefully Friday evening with hubby and friends….  I had a few things I had hoped to share “pre-movie” release but alas… that time has come, and passed and I did not post…

until now. 

With a current thirst for all things Panem, and apparently staying in this Hunger Games theme for at least another week as to when April will be here and I plan to go all things Titanic….. (*sigh, I do so love that movie)… I bring thee…

(*cue the trumpet)

The map:

Mmmmmm hmmmmmm…. that’s right.  Panem in all its glory.  There’s little district 12, *waves at Katniss!*. 

I am currently reading and enjoying The Girl Who Was On Fire which is a mix of authors sharing their thoughts on the phenomenon that is Hunger Games.  I just started it and I am LOVING it…. expect to see the review yet this week.  Oh and if you have not read the book, what are you waiting for?  AND if you have not seen the movie… please, treat yourself to this one. 

Book lovers…. rejoice! 

Ok… that’s my time.  Have an awesome day and READ a little something.  😀

I

Morning Meanderings…. What NOT To Eat, ooh and Book Winners!

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)26 Comments

Good morning and Happy Tuesday!

About a year ago my cousin told me about My Fitness Pal.  It is a free on  line site where you can plug in “all about you” and then daily, type in what you have eaten and drank, and calculates it for you.  It’s actually pretty cool when I use it.  It even tracks exercise and then gives you more calories to eat (woo hoo!) when you work out.

I have dabbled with this site off and on the last year and just recently trying to do it daily.  And of course, I have a story.

Last week I had a crazy busy day (shocked, I know…) and after working out and living life at the end of the day I still had around 500 calories yet to use.  I was reading around 9 pm and was craving chocolate.  The only chocolate in the house was some Ghiradelli chocolate chips I had recently used in banana bread (oh yeah… that is awesome!).  There was not many left, maybe a cup worth and I sat down with a cup of coffee and those chips.  Mmmmmmm….

The next morning I thought I should plug those chocolate chips into my fitness pal for my previous days calculations.  I was guessing it to be around 300 calories.

Nope.

Any guesses?

………………..

…………………

……………….

647 calories.

I blew it on chocolate chips.  😯

I will not be doing that again.

SO again, my plug for My Fitness Pal, holds.  Sometimes it tells you things yo do not really want to know… but on the flip of that… it is good to know the damage one can do while “innocently” snacking. 

Ok.. .on to funner (yes. my word) things.

Remember last weeks Library Sale?  And I offered up for you to make a choice of what book to read for me and then I would go from there and read them and pass them to you?  I chose one winner on Sunday and now here are the other two and the books you chose for me to read:

#92 Judith at Leeswammes’s Blog

#96:  Barbara from Freedom Acres chose for me to read:

YAY to the winners, please email me your addresses to:  journeythroughbooks@gmail.com and once I read these books I will pass them on to you!  😀

Have a great day everyone… it is windy and gloomy here which is a bummer, but I am at work all day, the gym, and then a meeting tonight so I guess better today than a day I have off 😀

Morning Meanderings…Sunday Salon

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)29 Comments

 

Good morning.  *YAWN!*  *STRETCH*

*sips coffee*

So, whats happening out there in the world of books and bloggers and beyond?  Yesterday morning I posted about my week with friends, so doing that again seems like repeat so just a brief recap:

Fargo

Book Sale

Police

Gifts

Hunger Games!!!

Chinese Food

Tired!

If you want to know more about that, you will have to read yesterdays post.  😀

As for current conditions… I am sitting in my quiet house this morning with no sound but the light tap on my keyboard and I am basking in it.  Soon, too soon, I will be getting ready for church, a meeting following, set up for IHN (serving the homeless this week), buying food for our IHN week, brief time home in afternoon to hopefully catch up with Jane Eyre, floor hockey play offs are four, orientation for new group with homeless tonight following,figure out supper and then Amazing Race.

Yup.  My week has started.

In books this past couple of weeks (I did not post last Sunday as I was out of town), here is what came in:

Out of this group that came in I ordered Memento Mori fro the Faith N Fiction discussion that will take place the end of this month with My Friend Amy.

I was sent two copies of Reunion so oh yeah…. Giveaway!

I am not sure what Breakout Kings is going to be like but I was sent this first season for review so I will check it out.

I am most excited for The Snow Child, and thank you for the win Lori at Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book.

 

A couple of days ago I put up the library sale books and an offer for you to choose which one I will read and after I read it I will send it to that winner.  I am going to pick three winners out of this first group but today I am only picking one out of the three, I will pick the other two Tuesday morning.  I am choosing one today so I can add it to my books to read this week. 

SO…. that winner is: (using random.org)

True Random Number Generator Min: Max: Result: 106 Powered by RANDOM.ORG
Yup, I am adding Ryan’s suggestion to read Brave New World to my reading group for next week and then I will mail it to him after I have read it.  I have never read it, so it should be an adventure in reading.  😀
It’s not too late for you to choose from the books, I will be choosing the other two winners Tuesday morning. 
And finally, so I do not forget, last night I posted in Team Kickin It all the bike rides and adventures I hope to, plan to take place in this coming season.  If you have a minute, please pop over there and check it out… Team Kickin It is a fairly new project for me and I have not been loving on it like I should…. it needs encouragement.  😀

Morning Meanderings… Fargo, Birthday, Christmas… FRIENDS

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)36 Comments

Good morning!  I think after a sluggish day yesterday that included a late nap in the recliner, watching The Descendants, and really nothing more… this morning I feel… good.

Last week I missed out on Alyce’s Saturday Snapshots which I love to do, but I was out of town and not that organized prior to leaving.  As I thought about this past week and what pictures I could post this morning, I realized my week really had a strong theme to it.

Friends.

Last weekend I was in Fargo North Dakota with three friends.  We shopped, hung out, talked, went out dancing and laughed.  It is about a 3 1/2 hour drive from where I live but it was a blast!

Deb, Amy, Paula... waiting at Granite City in Fargo ND for dinner.

Last Sunday, when we arrived home we had to all quickly change as three of the four of us who went away for the weekend play floor hockey and so after a quick change, there we were:

Our Floor Hockey Team picture on Sunday

That game was followed by a quick shower and then I went to a friend’s birthday party that evening. (Sadly – no pics!)

On Thursday as I blogged about, was the library sale and while hanging outside and chatting it up with new friends and old, I had a blast.

Suzette and Mari standing outside the Brainerd Library with me - pre sale.

Thursday afternoon I had a lunch date with Julie, Key, and Sandi, it was for my birthday (that was last month) and for Julie’s which is this coming Sunday. Julie picked me up a CUTE bag that I told her I wish I would have had earlier that day for the book sale, Key gave me an awesome book, and Sandi a beautiful necklace.

Thursday evening was the midnight showing of Hunger Games and Wendy, Heidi, Amy, Dee, Jodi, and myself all attended.  We ordered pizza from Dominos while waiting in line (because that was funny!) and had a great time!

Wendy picking up the pizza from the movie theater

Then a very tired version of me that had come home at 3 am on Friday, worked at 8 am to noon and then met Heidi, Cindy and Sara at my home at 12:30 to celebrate…. you will never guess…

Christmas.

Life… had been busy, yes we had got together these past few months but we had other agenda’s – so finally… we met for lunch (mmmm Chinese takeout) at my home yesterday afternoon, talked, caught up, laughed, and exchanged Christmas presents.  I have the cute moose in an outhouse for the cabin, a few gift cards, a purse hanger, and a fun ornament.

All in all the week was busy, but looking back… I am blessed for a person who has very little family, I am surrounded by a lot of great friends.

Stop by Alyce’s Saturday Snapshot and see what everyone else is taking pictures of.  😀

I have a commitment this morning and not sure about this afternoon yet.  I may go for a bike ride, or to a movie, I may just come home and read.  😀

Morning Meanderings… A Library Sale, The Police, and Hunger Games

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)42 Comments

 

Good morning!

As days tend to go, yesterday was a FULL one.  I woke up at 5:30 am and set a little Rocky Theme in my head while I prepped to go to the annual Spring Library Sale.   It has become this fun and ridiculous thing for me and a few friends to arrive SUPER early like we are waiting outside for tickets to an amazing concert. 

Except this year – I did it alone.  People had to work, plus a few of them that would normally sit by my side drinking coffee and laughing in the early morning light were also part of the crew that was getting together at midnight to see the opening night of Hunger Games, myself included.  But I could not choose one or the other of the great events.  Stubborn me… wanted to do both.

After arriving at 6:30 am and setting up my lawn chair, blanket, cell phone, and book… I promptly popped on to Facebook to let people know I was at the library 2 1/2 hours before it opened and to feel free to drive by, point, and laugh.  😀

By 6:45 am… a police car slowly drove by the library parking lot…. hesitated, then pulled in.  I think, he may have thought I was loitering, or some hopped up on I don’t know…. adrenaline (?) book junky ready to vandalize… either way, I stood up and plastered a smile on my face as he got out of the car.

“So what is going on here this morning?”

I explained the sale, my tradition, the craziness of me and my awesome friends… errrr… minus the companions this morning.  His face broke into a smile, “I think,” he said, “My wife comes to this every year too – but at a later time.”

Other than that – the other highlight was Mark (*waves!) friend/ employer/Pastor, called me at 6:50 am after seeing my Facebook status and offered to bring me coffee.  Of course, I accepted, 😀 

By 7:30, person #2 arrived (later I would find out his name is Tom), and slowly they trickled into the line on a lightly rainy morning at the Brainerd Library. 

I think… I enjoy the pre- sale comradery often even more than the sale itself.  😀

ANd then… at 9 am the doors opened and I was in.

The Line prior to the doors opening

 

Just a small SMALL section of the books at the sale...

 

They said they had record amount of books this spring.  At 50 cents a book – I left spending $29.00.  😯

I think… I may be a book hoarder. 

HIghlights of the sale:

There were a few specialty books for $1.00 I could not resist.  This lovely copy of The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane caught my eye.  To the right, someone had donated some lovely old copies of Fairy tales and A Tale Of Two Cities dating back into the early 1900’s.  The covers were gorgeous!

I will post the books this afternoon so be sure to stop back as in tradition of my library sale postings.. there is a little fun in it for both of us!  😀

 

At noon yesterday I had lunch with three amazing friends, after work I came home and tried to rest but it did not happen, at 10 pm I went to the movie theater and waited in line for two hours (it was a line waiting day!) for Hunger Games…. which was amazing – and more on that later.  😀

 

I also need to announce the winners of the Finn book from a couple of days ago!  Using random.org, congratulations to:

Justin (#4)

Laurel  (#2)

Congrats to you both!  Please email me your address to journeythroughbooks@gmail.com and I will pass the information on to have this book sent to you right away!

I need to get ready for work, I have dinner with friends here this afternoon and then I think I may just crash for a bit.  😀

Morning Meanderings… We Interupt This Blog Post…

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)27 Comments

Good morning!

Today is the spring Library book sale.  I think I am alone on this one this morning.  I got up at 5:30, heading out the door now at 6:20 am, I have my lawn chair, a blanket, my phone, and a book.  Sale opens at 9:00 am.  Tomorrow morning I will post the treasures.  YAY!!!  Treasures!

In the meantime, if you did not check out my fun giveaway I posted yesterday, please do so now.  😀