Birthday Phenomenon at Cleverly Inked

I normally don't post about giveaways.  Mostly because I am pretty competitive and blogging just adds to the competition and I don't like it.  However, I stumbled upon this giveaway today and it is seriously to awesome to pass up.  You better check it out with a quickness!!

It's the Birthday Phenomenon <-- there's the link, over at Cleverly Inked.  And dude, it is awesome.

It's Monday, What Are You Reading? {7}

Another Monday is here, so time to fill you in on what I've been reading!  Here is installment 7 of It's Monday, What Are You Reading? Inspiration from Sheila, you can find her blog here.

It's Monday, What Are You Reading?

Just Finished Reading: The latest in the Sookie Stackhouse series.  I love Eric.  That's probably what keeps me coming back for more.  Dead Reckoning ended very abruptly, and not even with some big cliff hanger.  I'm hoping that maybe this was the required set up for an awesome ending to the series.  I did enjoy it though.

What I Am Reading Right Now:  So, as you are reading this (well, depending on your time zone and when you actually get to this) I'm either on my way or in California.  I love that I occasionally get to travel for work, it changes things up.  So in order to be fully prepared for travel, I'm going to have 3 books ready to go.  I have The Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss on my Nook.  It's the sequel to The Name of the Wind, that I surprisingly loved.  It's over 1,000 pages so I figured my Nook would be the best way to tote it around with me.  In case I can't handle the take off and landings when electronics must be turned off, I am also bring my paperback of The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern.  I am ridiculously excited about this book.  It's one of my Goodreads giveaways and so far the reviews have been amazing.  I really can't wait for this one!  And lastly, I have the audio book Something Blue by Emily Giffin to listen to during my drive from LA to the base I'm going to be training at.  I don't think I've listened to an audio book since I was a little one, so we will see how this goes.  I feel sufficiently prepared for my upcoming trip.

What's Up Next: I had a bit of a book buying binge last week... No worries, everything I bought was on sale.  We got this nice little set....

I'm super excited about this series because it will be the first one that John and I are both going to read.  John doesn't read much, but he is interested in this so I jumped at the chance to get these!  We'll see how it goes.  I have a ton of other books on my Nook as well, so who knows, I might pick up one of those.

I'm always up for new book recommendations, so let me know what you are reading!

It's Monday, What Are You Reading? {6}

Happy Monday! Here is installment 6 of It's Monday, What Are You Reading?  Inspiration from Sheila, you can find her blog here.

It's Monday, What Are You Reading?

Just Finished Reading: I finished The Name of the Wind  by Patrick Rothfuss and it was awesome.  For real.  This is book was out of the norm for what I usually read and I am so glad I gave it a shot.

I HAD to pick up Divergent by Veronica Roth.  I am pretty leery of the dystopian young adult novels that are crazy hyped up.  (For example, Matched didn't really live up to what it was cracked up to be and I am still a little bummed).  Not the case with this one.  It was amazing!  I absolutely couldn't put this down and stayed up all night reading.  Lots of action, a unique storyline and characters you can't help love or hate.  It's being compared to The Hunger Games, I of course do not believe it is "as great" as it has been said in reviews.  However, this is Veronica Roth's debut novel at the old age of 22.  Yeah, I have big hopes for her and I am sure the next in the series is only going to get better!  Seriously, you must read this one! 

What I Am Reading Right Now: I preordered Dead Reckoning by Charlaine Harris and am easing into it. (I'm working on a certification so I'm trying to focus on it and not so much on reading).  I had some Borders Bucks and ended up getting this book for a whopping $3.45.  A bright, shiny, new hardback book to add to my selection for a steal.  That always makes me excited.

What's Up Next: Next Monday I'm heading back to the west coast, so that means some serious quality reading time on the plane.  I have so many books in my possession that I want to read so this is really difficult for me to decide. I'm probably going to pick up The Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss, the sequel to TNOTW.  It's over 1,000 pages, so I'm sure it will take me some time to get through.

I'm always up for new book recommendations, so let me know what you are reading!  Hope you have a lovely week!

Thin Girl Thursday {11}

In hopes to get my hiney in gear, I got some new kicks.

Now, I've never been a big fan of running and I still can't say I love it, however these shoes make running so much better!  No lie.  My thighs and calves are screaming at me, but no knee pain or shin splints in sight.  Basically, these are what I needed to keep me from making some lame excuse for not exercising.   So bring on the cardio! 

It's Monday, What Are You Reading? {5}

Happy Monday! Here is installment 5 of It's Monday, What Are You Reading?  Inspiration from Sheila, you can find her blog here.

It's Monday, What Are You Reading?

Just Finished Reading: This was the week for authors in the UK.   Actually, Stolen and Numbers fall into this category as well.

  Forbidden by Tabitha Suzuma.  Honestly, I cannot put how that book made me feel into words.  It was a great book on an extremely difficult subject and I'm still thinking about it. 

I won The Mistress's Revenge by Tamar Cohen on Goodreads and it came in last week.  Another book with a touchy subject, infidelity.  This is a story from ex-mistress, Sally, to Clive, the man she had a five-year long affair with.  After Clive leaves his mistress, we see Sally spiral deeper into depression and the things Sally is driven to after being left by Clive. Initially it was difficult to follow and often times stories of infidelity are difficult for me to get through, but once I got into it I was anxious to know what would happen next. Sally was witty and funny at times and other times she was clearly incapable of rational thinking. It was impossible not to empathize with her at times and other times be completely shocked at what she was doing next. The ending came as a total surprise and really pulled everything together.  I thought this was a great book from a new author, definitely worth checking out!  It will be released June 7, 2011.

What I Am Reading Right Now: Finally really getting into The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss.

Reading, boating and drinking wine; 3 of my favorite things resulted in an awesome day.

What's Up Next: This is really difficult for me to iron down.  I'm more of a, what do I want to read right this second kind of person, so it's hard for me to plan.  I preordered Dead Reckoning the latest Sookie Stackhouse book.  It is released tomorrow, so we'll see when Border's will get it to me!  I'm still planning on reading Water for Elephants, I just still haven't gotten to it....

Have a lovely week!