Taking a Break

Yes, you all read that right. I've decided to take a mini-ish break from blogging. It's mini because it's only a week and a half, and ish because I'll still be doing some posts.

I guess really what I'm doing is taking a break from reviewing. I'm backlogged and just not on top of things right now because it's been a hectic last few days. I simply can't keep going at the pace I'm going right now. I was supposed to have a review up of The Trust right now but I'm only 80 pages into it (and it's 356 pages). This break will help me catch up on everything and be able to stay ahead of my reviews by a week or so, if not a bit more.

So you'll all still get Cat Friday tomorrow and next week, my continuing series on books for boys on Monday, and a Waiting on Wednesday. I'll be officially back on April 4 when I do Fresh New Voice of YA, which will feature Through Her Eyes by Jennifer Archer and The Lipstick Laws by Amy Holder. So Fragment Friday for that month will be on April 8.

Please stick around and comment on these upcoming every-other-day posts. I love getting comments; they fill my heart with joy. :) Also, thanks for all the birthday wishes yesterday- I had a great day- and be sure to enter my Birthday Contest to win advance copies of Where She Went by Gayle Forman and Abandon by Meg Cabot!

*sigh* I've been dared...

So just when I thought I had escaped all this "I DARE YOUUUUUU!!!!" business, I am sucked in. Both Harmony and Chelsea have dared me to do the following 9 things (#10 is forthcoming- am scared as to what it will end up being). Also included is my fun commentary in bold!

James, Chelsea and I dare you to accept this challenge and complete ALL TEN of the items on this list.

1.) Read all of the Twilight series (Not so difficult. Was planning on doing this anyway. Will probably review them as I go as well.)

2.)Write a blog post confessing your love of Edward Cullen (MUST be at least 10 sentences!!) (I'm sure I could do this too. Hell, I might even ACTUALLY love Edward after reading the books. Especially since I will be imagining him as Robert Pattinson. Though I do think Taylor Lautner is a bit hotter- I like guys who are tan.)

3.)Make a vlog of yourself singing/dancing to Lady Gaga. (This will prove a bit more difficult, as this will be HIGHLY embarrassing. What's actually funny though is that I DID record a tiny video a while back where I sang along to Lady Gaga. I sounded HORRIBLE in it. Will have to pick a better song or something. Requests?)

4.)Drink 5 cups of coffee in one morning. (I'm hoping for a reprieve or change on this one, as I don't drink coffee. And neither does my roommate so it's not like I could bum off her or anything. I don't want to buy 5 cups of coffee either.)

5.)Make a vlog about how awesome we (Chelsea and I) are. (This will be easy enough. Will probably make it as soon as I get home. I wish I had my cable with me or else I'd just do it in my car and post it as my SevenBookBabes post for this week. Unfortunately, I don't have the cable, so that also means no SBB post whatsoever. Sorry everyone. :( But more vlogs are coming!!)

6.)Dress up as Harry Potter (as in put a lightning bolt on your forehead), take a picture of yourself, then say hello to 5 random people on the street and blog about their reactions. (This is probably going to be the HARDEST one because I am extremely shy in public and therefore will probably die of nervousness and embarrassment from doing this. Maybe half points if I dress up and take picture? Although I could just wait for Halloween and then it won't be so bad. Yeah. I think I'll do that. AND YOU CAN'T CHANGE THE DARE NOW JUST BECAUSE I FOUND A LOOPHOLE! MWAHAHAHA!)

7.)Watch an episode of Supernatural and draw a picture of Sam and Dean. (This will also be easy, esp. since my roomie and I are getting cable soon. Is the show still on? Are there reruns on sometime? I'd rather start with the first season. Does someone have the DVD of it that they'd let me borrow? As for the picture, it will turn out suckily. I am no artist.)

8.)Write an essay using only Linkin Park lyrics. (How long does this essay have to be? I'll have to read their lyrics at some point... I only remember like one song from them and I'm not even entirely sure it was them. That song "In the End"? Is that even the title? I don't know. Linkin Park is not a band I listen to, as you know if you've seen my CD collection.)

9.) Read the whole Harry Potter series. We *will* be quizzing you on these so cheating will not be accepted. (Not liking the quizzing thing. But I was also planning on reading this at some point anyway. Guess it'll just be sooner rather than later.)

10.) We are still debating on this one and shall let you know when we come up with it. Be prepared to do something BA. (What does BA mean? Bear Attack? Bean Angel? BARN ANIMALS?? Please tell me I don't have to do anything with barn animals...)

This challenge must be completed by BEA 2010.

If you fail this challenge, you must do something embarrassing AND carry all of our books for us.

If you complete this challenge, we will carry all of your books at BEA.

To join the fun, visit the I Dare You Blog.

Update on In My Mailbox

I just now threw up and am still recovering, so I don't have the patience to upload my video to my computer then wait for it to be uploaded to Youtube. It will be posted eventually (prolly tomorrow after I've rested). But here's the list of stuff I got:

Say the Word by Jeannine Garsee (ARC)
Miss Match by Wendy Toliver
Shrinking Violet by Danielle Joseph
The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan (ARC and hardcover- funny story here)
Swoon by Nina Malkin

See you all tomorrow.

PS Is anyone going to that 40 Author NYC Teen Signing thingy on March 22 or thereabouts? If so, let me know. I haz favor to ask.

Good + Bad News and Blog News

Good News: I had a fantastic date the other day. I went to the Ann Brashares signing and met up with someone. He was a bit out of place (well, so was I, I guess) with all the pre-teen girls around, but he took it all in stride. His name's Davin and he is so adorable and quite the hottie. He took a picture of me with Ann Brashares, which I'll be posting tomorrow or Saturday. Anyway, we went to Red Robin afterward for dinner, which was SO GOOD. I'd never been there before and it was great. I then followed him back to his place, did some stuff online, watched Mythbusters and spent the night. He had to leave for work early in the morning, but he let me sleep in as long as I wanted. Had IHOP for breakfast with a friend and then drove all the way back to my apartment. Hopefully, this will turn into something more. I really like him a lot.

Bad News: I got a call today from my temp agency. There's no more data entry jobs, but I am now on the list for a 3rd shift position doing document prep for the same company. However, it doesn't start until February 23. So now, I'm looking for a more steady job. But at least I've got a job lined up now. This sucks.

Although, on the plus side, I can get lots of reading done. I just won't have any income coming in.

Ugh.

Blog News: Over at the Myspace blog, I've got A.S. King there as part of a Feature Week. Check out the interview with her and my review of Dust of 100 Dogs. The guest blog will be up Saturday.

I also have a vlog up on Jocelyn's Teen Book Review site. Go check it out here! It's all about how I got into blogging.

And check out my review of The Navigator and City of Time by Eoin McNamee over on GuysLitWire!

As for this blog, another picture post will be up either tomorrow or Saturday. In My Mailbox vlog will be up on Sunday. Still no idea when the final part of the VCA Vlog Trilogy will be up- I still need to figure out how to split the video into two parts. Does anyone know how to do that?

Good/Bad News and VC Andrews Vlog Trilogy Part 2

So, some good/bad news- I found out yesterday that a shipment didn't come in on time at my workplace, and so therefore they have nothing for me and my co-data entriers to do. And so we've been given a temporary break until Feb. 9 while they work everything out, and then we'll be back at full force. Now, it's bad news because I won't be getting paid for another month (after next Thursday's paycheck for the 3 days I work this week, I won't have any more until Feb. 19) and so need to keep an eye on my budget, though luckily I have enough to last me. The good news though is that I've got a break and that I will now have lots of time to read books, so I'll be stocking up on reviews so that I can keep posting on the myspace blog when work starts up again. And I may also be going to the Ann Brashares signing in Bethesda, MD or Annapolis, MD in early Feb since I've got the time off now! That should be fun if it happens. I'm heading home this weekend for my uncle's birthday and am staying there for a few days to get my car serviced at the dealership and have a dental appt (ugh).

Anyway, earlier today, I posted reviews for What Would Emma Do? and Take The Reins on the myspace blog as well as posted a contest! Click here to read the entry!

And now, the second part of the VC Andrews vlog trilogy!:

We Interrupt This Blog for a Special Bulletin

Hey everyone,

Just a quick note to let you all know that there may not be an In My Mailbox post today or even tomorrow. My computer refuses to turn on and probably won't until I get a new power cord. At least, I hope that'll work. And the computer I'm using refuses to log me into Amazon Associates so I can't provide the links I want to provide as part of my post.

So check out other blogs' In My Mailbox posts. You can find a whole bunch here: http://www.thestorysiren.com/2008/12/in-my-mailbox_14.html

I will do my best to try and get them up as soon as possible, perhaps by using a friend's computer instead of a school computer. But whatever.

Wish me luck in getting my computer up and working again!!