Morning Meanderings… Lessons From The Outdoors

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)48 Comments

Good morning!  Happy Saturday.  I have coffee brewing and outside, it looks a little gloomy out and that for once, is actually ok… I have some indoor things that need to be done and have been neglected as the  weather has been pretty awesome this week and I have been biking!  😀

Yes the 2012 maiden bike voyage happened on Tuesday of this week and it was a glorious 14 miles!  On my way back to my car I seen something BIG in a tree:

Mmm hmmmmm… WHAT is that?

At this point, I determine it is a beaver.  There is some wetland near the bike trail in parts and I was near that now.  In fact as a couple of rollerbladers  passed by while I was taking pictures I pointed out the beaver in the tree.  They were not as impressed as I was, they smiled politely and kept on blading. 

It was kind of cool, his little paw would reach out for some of the leaves and I watched him for about ten minutes.  He started to climb down and I thought I would video that but he sensed my presence and FROZE and finally I waved him good-bye and good luck getting out of the tree, and moved on.

 

Coming home Wednesday evening I had this vision close to my house. 

That’s common, but I still like to look at them.  That night our dog Bailey was going nuts around 3 in the morning.  He was on the bed with us and staring out our big bay window we have in the bedroom.  Of course it was pitch black aside and I had no idea what he was seeing so I got up and went and stood by the deck doors that look over out back yard.  I could see two large darker shapes so I stepped out on to the deck and it was two deer.  I wondered if they were the same deer…

 

Now back to the other thing in the tree.  On Friday my awesome friend Amy (awesome as she agrees to do CRAZY things with me!) and I decide to go on a bike ride to the town of Nisswa, a 36 mile loop.  It’s a straight stretch on the trail and she will be doing some rides with me later this year so this is good training.  About a mile in, I see out friend in a tree again.  We stop, try to decide what it is, and eventually I start calling it a Bechuck (beaver woodchuck combo) and eventually that lead to Bebird (beaver bird combo).

When I got home last night I Googled if beavers could climb trees.  You probably already know this, the answer is no.  (I flash back to Tuesday when I told those rollerblading girls it was a beaver in the tree… no wonder they kept on blading… they probably thought I had something stronger in my water bottle than water.  😳

The verdict is….

a groundhog.

According to wikepedia: Ground hogs (also known as woodchucks) will climb trees for escape.

 

So there you are boys and girls.  Out wildlife lesson for today.  😀 For more fun pictures around the world be sure to pop over and see Alyce with her awesome Saturday Snapshots meme.  I love to see what people ate taking pictures of!

My day is going to consist of some household duties,blog visiting, a couple calls to friends, audio books, and some reading.  I have a few books going that I need to finish, one being the 19th Wife that is our book club read and we are discussing this coming Tuesday. 

Thankfully our weekend here is pretty quiet.  College son has to work so will not be coming home for Easter.  That is a huge bummer… but we understand.  I don’t mind quiet holidays, my life seems to go extreme so often that time to just hang is always welcome. 😀

How about you?  Any awesome plans for the weekend?  Fun traditions?

Oh!  One more thing – This weeks Monday What Are You Reading is going to have a special bonus to it.  I thought we would have a little fun since we are celebrating Easter!  Really, you are going to want to participate so be sure to plan on connecting what you are reading this week if you are a regular to the meme, and if you are new to it, stop on by Sunday evening and check out what I am talking about. 😀

Morning Meanderings.. Pinterest Interest and The Blog

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)65 Comments

Good morning!

Yes I am here, just a little late this morning.  I have been up since 6 am, but I have been reading emails I was too tired to get to last night, chatting it up a bit this morning with bookish peeps on Twitter, and cautiously looking into Pinterest.

Why the caution?

Any one that reads Book Journey on a regular basis knows I have no trouble at all filling up my time.  I love to read, to blog, my job, hanging with friends, rollerblading, biking, the gym, volunteering with teen and the homeless, movies, and really…. honestly…

I was afraid (and still am a little) that Pinterest would become a time suck I just could not afford unless I gave up sleeping, which as hard as I like to run…. I do look forward to hitting the pillow at night to re-energize.

Friends invited me to join it, talked about it, I hear it’s praises on the blogs, but for me…. Pinterest was off the table.

And then…  (gah… I am really starting to not like those two words…)

Jay at Joy’s Book Blog had a Pinterest Challenge for Bloggiesta.  Not one to back down from a challenge I checked it out.  What Joy talks about is how to use your blog with Pinterest… in other words, I could connect books on Pinterest that would draw attention to Book Journey.

I do like talking about books…

I did not do the challenge – I did not have time.  But I did ask Joy to hook me up with an invite and she did, and this morning… I registered.  Anyhoo… that’s why I am really late this morning 😀

Source: sandrakavital.blogspot.com via Jacinda on Pinterest

Oh yes, you can plan on seeing these pop up in a post as soon as I find a book to theme them… 😀

 

I am registered but currently there is nothing on my board.  I need to figure out how to do it, does it link back to the blog, etc….  maybe this evening I can look more into that and probably in the next day or two I will put up a link on the sidebar.  Until then… yeah.

So let the time suck begin.  😛  If you do not hear from me for a while check Pinterest, I may be pinned to a board.  “Help!  I’ve been pinned and I can not get free!” 

My day today is blog post writing, group power, hopefully a bike ride, reading, cooking, and some sort of low-key plan for hubby and I tonight… like a rented movie.

 

Questions to you:  Do you use Pinterest?  If so in what ways?  (to look up things?  What things?) Inquiring minds (ok, me!) want to know.

Morning Meanderings… TITANIC Happenings!

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)24 Comments

Good morning and HAPPY THURSDAY!!!!  (Yes, I have had coffee, why do you ask?)

There is a big event coming up that I have yet to really talk about here but have wanted to.  It is the 100 year anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic, April 15, 1912.

Remember when they came out with the movie with Leonardo and Kate?  Well I have a story…

Sheila, don’t you have a story for EVERYTHING?

No… No I don’t for instance… I have no stories about frogs.  Oh… wait, that’s not true… I do, and it’s a sad one…

Ok…. ummmm…. Unicorns!  I have no stories about unicorns. 😛  See?  Not everything has a story…

BUT – this one does.

So it’s 1997, I think.  I am working at Wal-Mart (yes, yes,…. I was that cool!) and my friends were talking about going to the movie Titanic.  AND no way was I going to see a movie about a ship that sank a long time ago.  And I am pretty sure I said so in so many words.

NOPE.  Not gonna happen.

But, as seems to happen to me often, the chatter, the discussion around the movie, the excitement,  peaked my interest and I went with Hubby one night and …

LOVED IT. ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

Seriously, from the moment she is being lowered off the ship in the life boat and jumps back on the ship, I had to go to the bathroom sooooooo bad but refused to miss a moment.  (I may have injured my bladder during that movie, just saying!) AND I had cried so much I actually left the theater with a headache.

I went on to see the movie another 5 times in the theater.  And yes I know, it is over 3 hours long and yes, I know I probably should not tell people how many times I went to it.  But, its out there now, and I know that over 18 hours of my life in the 90’s was spent in a small town movie theater watching Titanic.   😯 I kept going, because I became an evangelist for the movie (oh you know the type….. talking it up, persuading you to go, offering to go with you even….) I brought people to the theater.  I sat with groups as small as 3, and as large as 12 (*waves to co-workers and assistant manager who said she would NEVER waste her time on the movie… and then did.  With me.  :razz:)

At that point I became obsessed with knowing more about Titanic.  I read books (don’t, be shocked… occasionally I do read), I watched movies, and I found my way a few years later to the Titanic exhibit when it was in Florida – which was amazing and heartbreaking all together.

Now that you have the back story – here is modern day, today in fact…. now in fact… and here is what is happening that I know about.

My friend Reagan (if you have not met her you must, she is a hoot), is having a challenge:

"Miss Remmers Reviews", "Titanic"

Stop over and check it out.  It’s completely doable and you may learn something about Titanic in the process. 

AND

Kelly At The Written Word and I have been conversing about her upcoming Titanic week and we are working out a thing… details to come, but in the meantime here is the link to what she has going on:

Titanic 3D hits the theaters tomorrow, April 6th.  I am not excited about the 3D part… in fact, I think that might just irritate me a bit just because of the subject matter and while it is a fictitious movie, it is based on actual events.  However, after watching the trailer this morning and tearing up… I will be going to see Titanic in the theater again because it still affects me so much I am surprised.  I guess I could then count that as 7 times I seen it in the theater….

If you know of any other Titanic happenings please let me know here, and I can add them to this post. 

How about you, did you see the movie it the Theater?  Would you go see it again, why or why not? 

The Shoemaker’s Wife by Adriana Trigiani

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)39 Comments

The Shoemakers Wife, Adriana Trigiani

It is the early 1900’s, and Ciro, who lives in a covenant with his older brother, first meets the breathtaking beauty names Enza when they are teenagers living in the Italian Alps. When Ciro witnesses something he should not have, he is sent to America to be safe, where he works as a shoemaker.  Enza is left not knowing what has happened to Ciro.  When Enza’s family also experiences troubles, she and her father travel to America to seek out a better future.

Fate is a funny thing and the two do collide again now living very different lives then what they once had.  Ciro at this time is on his way to fight in WWI and Enza busied herself in her work, working as a seamstress at an Opera House, and eventually meeting Enrico, an international singer, and begins to love again…

Will love win out or will it be war?  And what of Ciro and Enza, who had found each other a second time against all odds… against space and time.. was it ever meant to be?

From the stately mansions of Carnegie Hill, to the cobblestone streets of Little Italy, over the perilous cliffs of northern Italy, to the white-capped lakes of northern Minnesota, these star-crossed lovers meet and separate, until, finally, the power of their love changes both of their lives forever.

Adriana Trigiani

As if I did not already love Adriana’s beautiful writing, she comes up with this breathtaking Historical Fiction novel that made my heart leap from the very first time I seen it!  Cover, title, synopsis, all three captivated me and made me want to drop everything and read it right away.

As always Adriana writes characters so delightfully detailed and three-dimensional that I feel as though I would know them anywhere. Family also seems to play a large theme throughout Adriana’s writing, something I bask in – the warmth the commitment, and it is shown to run deep in Ciro and Enzo as well. 

Written in alternating chapters, as the reader we are able to enjoy seeing the story unfold from both Ciro and Enzo’s world.  I followed the story line closely feeling as though I too was hanging around the corner watching what was about to unfold.   The fact that a part of this book lands in Minnesota, of course, just makes me happy! 

As Adriana tends to do, this story is inspired by a true story, and in this case it is molded from Adriana’s own grandparents who grew up in the Alps, but met in the United States after they emigrated. 

My final thoughts:  I have read and enjoyed many of Adriana’s books and this one is no exception, in fact I think this one rates as one of my favorites of her ten books.  If you start this book, you are not going to want to put it down.  Consider yourself warned and allow yourself a good afternoon or evening to really sink deeply into this powerful story that will cause your heart to swell and your mind to explore the possibilities…   This is a book I will read again.

You can check out who else is on this tour here and check out more about Adriana Trigiani at her website.

Amazon Rating

Goodreads Review

Thank you to Adriana Trigiani for sending me this book!

And to TLC Book Tours for allowing me to gush on their tour!

Morning Meanderings… Meet the real COFFEE CUP

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)26 Comments

Good morning!  😀 

After the BIG Book Journey facelift a few of you commented that the coffee cup was missing, part of my trademark blog icon since pretty much day one.  Yes, as I think back, I did talk about COFFEE CUP a lot in the mornings…. 😛

I was going to switch things up a bit but your comments gave me pause; and I was impressed that the little right sidebar cup that had graced the blog all of these years was noticed when I pulled it.

WHICH led to this post.

There is a real COFFEE CUP and I thought today I would share his story – AND before you think how could a story about a coffee cup possibly be interesting Sheila?

Well…. I think it is…

A little Minnesota history for you in the mix too.  Mink Lake Camp is what I call a little known secret of Grand Marais Minnesota.  It is 14 miles up the famous Gunflint Trail.  (f you have kids that ever complain about being cold, I have some books I could recommend you about the Gunflint Trail in the early years before they had electricity that will make them never complain of the cold again!  Here’s a hint:  icicles hanging off bed frames… TRUE STORY. :shock:) 

Anyhoo… this is a wilderness camp.  No electricity, everything is by oil lamps, beautiful cabins, and breathtaking SILENCE.  Yup, cell phones hold no power this far into the wilderness.

In 2007, friends of ours decided to help restore this old camp and a bunch of us went to help out in June of that year.  There was a stream through an overgrown area and after some hard work of clearing, we made a rock trail and places to sit and enjoy this space.  It became a garden where we planted wild flowers along the stream, and well… its one of my favorite places in the world. 

This is Mink Lake as taken from the dock at camp.

One day while I was there, raking out the garden spots, creating benches out of fallen logs… my rake clicked on an item deep in the ground – so deep in fact I had to get a shovel to dig out this item.

It was an old blue coffee cup, in perfect condition – not a chip on it and I loved it.  It became my camp cup and that was all I drank my coffee out of.  Every June from 2207 – 2010, I would go up to the camp to help and dig through the cupboards until I found where I had stashed this cup I had fondly called “Blue”.  Last year my friend Sandi who runs the camp said I should bring him (yes it is a him!) home so he did not get broke at camp.

And I did, where now he sits on a book shelf in the reading room with this memory of finding him over 225 miles away in an overgrown campground called Mink Lake. 

"Blue" or COFFEE CUP

And today, as I talk about COFFEE CUP, I brought him out and I am having coffee in him this morning.  Can a cup make you smile?  Sure!  Have I had too much caffeine and off my rocker?  Perhaps…..  😉  I am thinking of designing a new blog button using him…

As he looks this morning, on my kitchen table

Anyway – got to run – I have to get ready for work and I am hoping with enough time I can bike to work this morning… but I need at least 15 minutes to do so… and what a surprise – I am pushing it.  😀

Any items in your home you hold dear?  That have a story?  That to anyone else look like just another whatever… but you know the real story?

Shanghai Girls by Lisa See

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)33 Comments

It is the mid 1930’s in Shanghai and May and Pearl are beautiful, sophisticated, and well educated.  When their father gambles away all the family owns, they are on the verge of losing everything.  In order to save their home, May and Pearl’s father arranges for his daughters to be married to two brothers who live in Los Angeles and within a few days of making this decision the girls are shocked, horrified… and married.
When the girls went on the boat to be delivered to their new home in the states, they are detained, interrogated, and humiliated for months along with many other women trying to get to the US.  It is as thought the lives they once knew had crumbled right before their eyes.  When May discovers she is pregnant the girls make a pact that no one can ever EVER know.

Once in the states they find that life is not as they had been told, their father in law is not the rich man that he portrayed himself to be in Shanghai.  Instead he is close to poverty, relying on what his sons, and now his daughter in laws can provide him by working and giving him the money.  Together May and Pearl learn to survive in a new world, in new ways.

My first experience with Lisa See was Snowflower and The Secret Fan.  I devoured that book and knew I wanted to read more of her work.  That time has come with Shanghai Girls which has turned out not only to be an incredible fiction experience. 

What at first I thought was going to be mainly about their new lives and how they adjusted to this new life (much like A Buddha In The Attic), I was surprised to find that Lisa See winds a much deeper story within the story and when I caught on to what she was doing, I was really thrilled.  As this book is about two sisters from Shanghai and their lives, it is really about the sisters Pearl and May.  While Pearl narrates what she sees and how things are, you get a very strong feeling of who they are.  Here in lies the beauty of Lisa See’s writing.

I also learned a few things I did not know before.

Like what?

Certificate of identity issued to Yee Wee Thing certifying that he is the son of a US citizen, issued Nov. 21, 1916. This was necessary for his immigration from China to the United States.

Have you ever heard of paper sons?  It really is a fascinating (and sad) topic of how during the Chinese Exclusion Act (read more about that here on Wikepedia) immigration to the US was restricted.  That being told, false papers were being drawn up where US citizens would claim children and even adults  as their own and these papers could create access to the states for these people.  The people would then live with the American families under their US family name to ensure they were not found out, forever giving up their true ancestors and name.  Thus the term paper sons came to be as they were truly only sons on paper. 

The experience the girls, May and Pearl have on the boat the states is heart wrenching.  Not only as I listened to this on audio, but also as I suspect this is actually what happened when women traveled alone to get to the states on these boats.  They were raped repeatedly.  They were beaten and starved. 

One moment that sticks out for me is later in the book May refers to some women she sees as FOB’s.  I kept wondering if she was swearing at them, only soon to figure out that FOB meant “fresh off the boat”.  LOL…. I am going to use that some day in a sentence…. 😀

Shanghai Girls is a look into two girls lives from their youth as beautiful girls to their experiences lives, marriages, and more in the United States.  Lisa See does a wonderful job of making this book feel more fact than fiction.

Check out a few other reviews from awesome bloggers:


Devourer Of Books

She Is Too Fond Of Books

Books On The Brain

Always With A Book

Amazon Rating

Goodreads Review

Borrowed from my local library

Morning Meanderings…. I BLEW UP The Blog

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)34 Comments

Wait for it…

Good morning.  In care you are wondering what happened around here…

I happened.

Give a girl a Bloggiesta weekend and well..anything can really happen.

I wont bore those of you who have already been here since Saturday afternoon but for those who have not here is the short version of what happened:

1. Went to change from 2 sidebars to one

2.  Seemed easier to change who theme to a single sidebar

3.  Became a CRAZY BIG project

4.  Changed theme.

5. Changed theme again.

(* note:  I may change it again, there is one more layout I want to look at so just bear with me while I go but more dynamite.)

 

Now – like the header, still trying to get used to the pink (not really me but it is not changeable except to powder blue), not sure I like the comment boxes either but I think it is growing on me.

There is the story. 😀

A few of you have asked where Coffee Cup is (used to sit on the upper right sidebar).  I was actually going to switch out that blog widget BUT- now I am so impressed that a few of you asked about it and realized it was missing that I think tomorrow morning I am going to introduce you to the real Coffee Cup.  To the average reader that may just seem a little C R A Z Y, but hey, first of all don’t judge 😛 and second of all Coffee Cup actually comes with a great story… one so good, I think I will add it to my About Me page after that post goes up tomorrow.

Ok…. moving on… I need to announce winners from the Bloggiesta weekend.  Give it up for the winners of my mini challenge, using random.org they are:

$20 Amazon Gift Card:  alexia561

$10 Amazon Gift Card:  Tanya Patrice

next up… winner of the Descendent movie:

Pinkim35

and last but not least the winner of the YA choose what I read contest and win it for yourself:

Mary Preston

 

All winners have been notified by email and gift card winners have been sent out this morning.  😀

How super fun!  Congrats all!  I have work, and hopefully play, and then I want to READ.  😀

The Buddha In The Attic by Julie Otsuka

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)24 Comments

 

How does one describe The Buddha In The Attic?  It is a narration of the collected voices of young women brought over from Japan to San Fransisco as brides nearly a century ago. 

The Buddha In The Attic traces their lives as they travel by boat (I wonder what it will be like to live in the states?), meet their husbands (he is not rich as I was believed he would be!), face uncertain futures (what will become of us?), becoming new wives (what does he expect of me?), working the fields (other men will not leave us alone), mastering a new language (do I pretend still not to understand?), child birth (what if my child is born under the wrong sign?) and eventually to war.

Japanese Brides, Buddha In The Attic
The year is 1920: 20,000 Japanese brides came to San Fransisco on boats to meet a man they only had a picture of to call their husband. In some cases, the picture they had and the man who sent for them were completely different.
This, is their story.


It really is hard to explain The Buddha In The Attic, which is really why prior to listening to this on audio… I still did not fully get what it was about even by the synopsis.  What I did know:

1.  The title made me want to know more

2.  The cover led me to think of things hiding, secrets of the unknown…

So here I am after listening to this short audio book (4 cd’s) and now kind of basking in the experience. 

The Buddha in the Attic as narrated by Samantha Quan and Carrington MacDuffie is told as a collective “we” and never an “I”.  There is no sole character.  In 8 chapters a different aspect of Japanese immigrant life is unfolded for us to view in the raw:

“Home was a bed of straw in John Lyman’s barn alongside his prize horses and cows. Home was a corner of the washhouse at Stockton’s Cannery Ranch. Home was a bunk in a rusty boxcar in Lompoc. Home was an old chicken coop in Willows that the Chinese had lived in before us. Home was a flea-ridden mattress in a corner of a packing shed in Dixon. Home was a bed of hay atop three apple crates beneath an apple tree.”

and so on… each chapter reading out like that, a description of their life in this new world and then told in 20 or more different ways.  Yes, at first it was a little hard to follow, my bookish mind kept waiting for the story, but the sharing of information, IS the story. And as this went on, from having children, to losing children, to what they did with the children, and so on….

I found a rhythm. 

It is safe to say this is poetry.

It is raw.  It is real.  At times it is painful.  At times it will make you mad. In the end… I find that I am better for having listened to it and I an appreciate the collective whole. 

No I would not seek out this style of writing, but a sampling of it like I just had is good.  I am glad I listened to it over reading it.  The narration is beautiful, the words, and the undertones, I thought were brilliantly read. 

Side note:  It is interesting that I am also listening to Shanghai Girls at this time and the stories and time frames are similar.

Here are a few other reviews from great bloggers:

nomadreader

Fizzy Thoughts

Take Me Away Reading

Reading On A Rainy Day

Amazon Rating

Goodreads Review

Borrowed from my library!

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)80 Comments

Hi all!  First off, don’t run away!  Yes it’s me.  I have been busy with the Bloggiesta (pretty much like an online Blog maintenance seminar) all weekend and yeah… I made some changes.  😀

Welcome to It’s Monday!  What Are You Reading?  This is a great way to plan out your reading week and see what others are currently reading as well… you never know where that next “must read” book will come from!

I love being a part of this and I hope you do too!  As part of this weekly meme I love to encourage you all to go and visit the others participating in this meme.  I offer a weekly contest for those who visit 10 or more of the Monday Meme participants and leave a comment telling me how many you visited.  **You do not have to have a blog to participate! You receive one entry for every 10 comments, just come back here and tell me how many in the comment area.

This past weeks winner:

Lori from Escape with Dollycas

WOO HOO!!!!  Please choose an item out of the Reading Cafe Grab Shelves  and email me your choice with your mailing address as well!   journeythroughbooks@gmail.com

You are getting a mini version of this meme this week as honestly… I am a little wiped out.  I put in about 23 hours on the blog this weekend, prepping posts, fixing links, organizing, running a challenge, yeah I am wiped.  😀

This past week I did not get a lot of reading done as I had meetings Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday went into Bloggiesta mode until ummm…. about 30 minutes ago. 

The Weird Sisters by Eleanor Brown (review)

I’ve Got Your Number by Sophie Kinsella (review)

My Very Own Book Fairy sent me a box of books!  Want to win one?

The Descendants movie review with giveaway

Bloggiesta Finish Line (want to know what I did this weekend?  Check it out here.

If you participated in Bloggiesta my mini challenge is still open until midnight on Sunday (central time)

 

I’ve got a few giveaways going on so be sure to check them out.  As for this week – I have some books i need to finish so bare minimum:

The 19th Wife
Our book club read for April
John Green, The Fault In Our Stars
Library audio
Alan Bradley
Library rental

Thats it.  Add your What Are You Reading to the linky below and I as well as other will try to stop by and see what you are reading! My hours at work drops back to normal this week so I should have more time to get around.

Powered by Linky Tools

Click here to enter your link and view this Linky Tools list…

and those of you who read mainly childrens through YA reads – please also link your post here:


Bloggiesta Finish Line!!! WOO HOO!!!

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)52 Comments

*GASP*  *dragging myself across the finish line*   *raises a pinky to tap the finish line ribbon then passes out and trampled on by other Bloggiesta participants*

LOL

I am here! CHA CHA CHA!

What a weekend eh?  I logged in a whopping 27 hours on Bloggiesta.  (Pretty impressive as I only put in 5 hours on Friday and then was gone the rest of the day and evening.)

My to do list was:

1.  A new blog header

Done.  In fact you may come to Book Journey and go “OMG Becky, LOOK AT HER BLOG!” and uh…. yeah…. I pretty much changed the whole thing.  😯

2.  New blog widget

Not yet.  Not sure what I want to do yet.

3.  prep posts for upcoming reviews

I prepped 8 upcoming reviews, pretty much everything I have had my hands on this week and what coming next.

4.  Write posts for movie/book reviews that I have completed  

Done.  5 posts written and I have a few more ideas to create draft posts.

5.  Participate in mini challenges

I participated in ALL the new 2012 challenges (with at least a comment if I could not participate)

Promoting your blog on Facebook:  While I do not want a Facebook page for Book Journey, I did learn a few things about social media and put a LIKE Facebook button on my posts.

The Mr. Linky How To was great!  I use linky every week for the Monday meme but I know a lot of bloggers do not know how to use it. 

Top Ten Basics for HTML was very useful and bookmarked for the future.

How To Embed a YouTube Video, with wordpress.com I do not have any problems with that but it was interesting to see how it works for other platforms.

Themed Pages was BRILLIANT and I tool away a lot from this one.  I never thought about how those pages could be draws to my blog if named correctly.  My new layout allows me to add many pages in a “non cluttered” looking way so I will be working on this more later tonight.

The Pinterest challenge and how to use it with your blog intrigues me.  I asked Joy to hook me up with a Pinterest invite (something I have avoided until now due to I was afrad of the time suck and my body would be found years later stuck on a Pinterest page….) However, if it can promote Book Journey I am willing to take a look. 😀

My own challenge, referring to increasing your blog traffic through comments is still going on here until midnight central time.  Throughout the weekend I have commented on at least 100 blogs.

  Twitter Me This and Blogging was a fun post.  I do have my posts linked to go to Twitter automatically.

Five Ways To Make Your Reviews Stand Out introduced me to Fyrefly which is pretty sweeeeet!  I totally saved that link too!

Windows Live Wire (or from this point forward known as WLW) looked really interesting.  I have not heard of that before.  I am going to check it out more later.

Get Noticed By Search Engines taught me a lot!  While it appears that SEO and wordpress.com are already bosom buddies, I did not know about tagging photos in the additional space or the importance of key words in our posts OR The Google ad words Key tool which like I said…. I learned a lot about this! 

Sidebar Help chewed me up and spit me out the other side.  (Thus the major blog changes)  😛  Actually this challenge pointed out what I already knew… I had too much going on taking away from the blog itself.  I cut from two sidebars to one and tonight I will be organizing them yet more and making pages for those who do not need to be on the sidebar…. clean clean clean!!!

Five Tips To Writing Fast Reviews, gave me tips on how to be more proactive in my writing and cut out the distractions.  This is something I need to continue to work on. 

Eight Ways To Freshen Up Your Content reminded me that it is ok to bring up those old posts again that drew in great discussion. AND she mentions J Kaye… who was awesome.  And a true blogger icon that I learned a lot from.

MOBILIZE!  Says Florinda and I have been interested in knowing more but not sure if I am there yet.  I am going to go back to this post again but I think wordpress has a widget that links you right up.

Social Media Icons hooked me up with some pretty cool buttons that I downloaded and plan to work on later tonight for the sidebar 😀

Plug Ins and Widgets for WordPress sites is mostly (plug ins) for wordpress.org but interesting to know what i would be dealing with if I ever decide to self host.  Widgets however… I love.  😀

Goodreads challenge was a reminder of all of the awesomeness of Goodreads.  I use that and liked hearing more about it.

What Is Rafflecopter?  This challenge not only let you know all about it, you are linked to how to use it… which I did.  Which was fun.  😀

Blog events anyone?  This was a smart idea for a challenge.  We were asked to connect to an upcoming bookish event and there were choices.  I chose Book Chick City’s 100 Books in A Year Challenge, signed up and I am in.

Policies!  Always important, I learned about these on the first Bloggiesta but we do need to be rmeinded to update them to current every few months or so.  Also the idea of a giveaway policy I found to be very helpful.

Back Up That Blog!  Another great reminder.  Easy to do on wordpress.com (a button and a download!) but looks pretty easy on other platforms too.  Read this post and you will want to be sure you are backing up that blog!

6.  Clean up/update side bars

A work in progress, thanks to the mini challenge on this as well I received some great ideas!

7.  Send out author chat questions to 3 authors

Did not happen… not sure when it will honestly.

8.  Prep a blog survey to use in April

Not yet but this is staying on the to do this week.

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

I drafted two ideas and have written down three more.  Excited to move on these.

Overall I am extremely pleased with the results of Bloggiesta spring 2012.  I did more than I planned and I am walking away with a totally different looking blog.  During my visits to other blogs I picked up some pretty sweet ideas I hope to implement and plan to go forward with a neater more organized, easy to follow blog.

Did you participate in Bloggiesta?  If so what was your favorite part?  If not, looking at my links above so any of those topics interest you?