Sorry!

I know, I know I disappeared for two whole days. Did you miss me? Those posts from earlier were scheduled, so I really haven't posted anything since Monday. I had a really huge deadline at work that was due today, and I barely made it. I cut it really close. In fact, in the last 48 hours I probably have a total of 8 hours of sleep. Between the two days.

Anyway, the Christmas fun will be back tomorrow. First off we'll have another great contest from the 12 Blogs of Christmas. Are you having fun entering those? And for the next two days I have some really great guest posts going up from some international bloggers. So be sure to come back for those. And of course I might throw in a holiday surprise or two myself. You'll just have to wait and see.

In other news, we're about ready to start the first round of the Shady Glade Virtual Swap. Look for the post on that Friday if you signed up for that. Those of you who didn't sign up, you can still jump in anytime. Just read over to the rule page (linked above) to sign up.

That's all I have for updates as of now. Come back tomorrow for more Yuletide cheer!

Some Updates and Holiday Cheer

Hey, sorry I've been a little absent this past week. As I mentioned on Monday, I did get over my cold, but my Mom caught it, so I've been playing nurse the past few days. Not to mention I've been spending a lot of time planning a certain upcoming event in December... but you'll have to wait to learn more about that.

And although you have to wait for that, there's another big announcement coming up next week that will be posted on Tuesday. So if you're not a subscriber, you'll want to come back for that. Also, a new contest will be posted Monday, so keep your eye open for that as well.

Tomorrow will be another Fall Into Reading Update. Despite my best intentions, I have not been doing those weekly as I planned. I blame it on the Cybils reading. And speaking of which, my posting may become more and more spotty as we get closer to December. Some people blog about their reading as they go, but I find I'm more the kind of person who blogs after the whole thing is over. During I just focus on reading. :)

For those who can't wait until December, here's a quick notice for you before you go. Some of you may have heard about this already, but there are two book swaps going on for bloggers during the holidays.

First off is the Book Bloggers Holiday Swap. I participated in this one last year and it was lots of fun. So of course I'm doing it again this year too. Deadline to sign up for this one is November 12th. Head over to the website to check out all the details, FAQs, and of course to sign up!

The next swap is a Secret Santa swap brought to you courtsey of Kate at The Neverending Shelf. Deadline to sign up for this one is November 15th. You can sign up for this one even if you're not a blogger. I also signed up for this one, so I may get one of you as my partner. That is, if you sign up too...

Anyway, that's it for me right now. Going to go check on mom.

Are You Ready For This?

Just a quick update for you before the festivities start. I hope you like author interviews, contests, and giveaways because there's going to be a lot of them in the next month to celebrate my blogoversary. You may have also noticed the sticky post has now been removed. However, if you still want to help out, I'd love to have. Just send me an email and let me know.

So at this point I'm still not sure how the blogoversary as a whole is going to go. I just sent off my last interview questions this morning, so hopefully those will start rolling in. Of course, there's going to be a lot of prizes announced in the next few days too. Also, I'm not sure whether or not I'll have time to do contest roundups, so those may be suspended for the month, or maybe not. We'll just have to wait and see at this point.

So celebrations will actually begin on August 31st with an announcement of the winners of the last Contest Monday and August's Comment Contest. This means I'm ending both contests a little earlier than originally thought, so if you want a copy of How to Steal a Car then you need to enter now. And if you want a copy of Chasing the Jaguar, you better comment like crazy before noon PST on the 31st.

Then things will really get started on September 1st, my actually blogoversary. And everything's looking up from there. I can't wait to show you everything I've worked so hard on the past couple weeks, and I hope I don't disappoint.

So have a good weekend, and get ready to party!

Getting a Little Slow

As I mentioned yesterday I'm busy preparing for my blogoversary. Which brings me to the fact that there are two reasons for this post.

1. It might get a little slow around here the next few days. I'm sure what I'll have time to post or not. Just realize that while you may miss me (hopefully), what comes next month will be worth the wait.

2. Those of you who are feed readers of the blog may have not noticed the sticky post up at the top of the page, so I'm posting the information in an actual post so everyone gets the message. To celebrate my third blog anniversary, I'm having a month-long celebration, but I need help getting it together. If you'd like to participate by doing an interview, guest blog, or helping out with prizes, send me an email (shadygade AT mail DOT com) and let me know. I'd love all the help I can get.

Slowing Down a Bit

Just a quick notice to let you know things might be a little slow around here for the next few days/weeks. I've had things pick up with work lately, so that's cut into my blogging time.

Right now, I'm concentrating my efforts on getting my first Travelling Book Swap off the ground and going smoothly. So far so good! Also, my blogoversary is next month, so I'm spending a lot of time behind the scenes preparing some cool stuff for that.

So, in the meantime, I'm not sure how much I will be posting in the next few days. It's kind of a "wait and see" thing. So if you don't see me, that's where I've gone.

Updating Sidebars

So I felt like it was time for a little bit of mid-month cleaning. So I've updated a few of my sidebars. First off, the winners circle is now updated over in the left sidebar. So if you've one something recently, you can look for your name to be displayed in all it's glory. Come on, you know you want to gloat to your friends. :)

Secondly, I've updated the contest sidebar to take out a few things that have expired since my last roundup. Be sure to check back Monday or Tuesday for the full update on that one though. There are so many good contests coming on Monday I almost can't wait to share them with you! But, alas, you will have to wait until Monday to see what's in store. But it's going to be good. And big. I promise.

And last but not least, I've finally updated my Librarything widget over in the right sidebar. The last one had stopped working very well and so I decided it was time for a new one. This one is much better. It scrolls through three pages of random books from my library every 15 seconds. And rather than waiting for the next time I post to get a new set, this one shuffles every time you refresh the page. Neato. So if you have ever wondered what books I have sitting on my extensive network of bookshelf, you can check out that.

Anyway, that's it for now. I have some work I have to go finish up. Blah.

June Updates

Okay, so here's the post of updates I mentioned yesterday. Hopefully I'll have the sidebars finished and updated with this stuff soon!

First of all, let's start with the sidebars I do have done. The Books Completed in 2009 in the right sidebar, and Winner's Circle in the left sidebar have both been completely updated. So enjoy looking at those.

Next, here's a list of books featured pre-release date in the month of June that are now available for order. Only two this week, since most of the books featured lately still haven't reached thier pub dates yet!

These books are now available at a store near you:
A Sweet Disorder by Jacqueline Kolosov (Read original post here)
Prada and Prejudice by Mandy Hubbard (Read original post here)

And lastly, here's my updated wishlist for this month (up in the sidebar soon). If you want to sew what I have available to trade, you can see this post or send me an email and ask.

Added to my wishlist this month:
Betraying Season by Marissa Doyle
Eyes Like Stars by Lisa Mantchev
Hannah (Daughters Of The Sea) by Kathryn Lasky
Winter's Child by Cameron Dokey
Time of the Witches by Anna Meyers
Sphinx's Princess by Esther Friesner
Nobody's Princess by Esther Friesner
Hawksmaid by Kathryn Lasky
Rapture of the Deep by L. A. Meyer
Lady Macbeth's Daughter by Lisa Klein
Ice by Sarah Beth Durst
Warrior Princess #2: Destiny's Path by Frewin Jones
The Pale Assassin by Patricia Elliott
Pichi Pichi Pitch 1: Mermaid Melody by Pink Hanamori
Emma: Volume 2 by Karou Mori
Beastly by Alex Flinn
Enter Three Witches by Caroline B. Cooney
Envy by Anna Godbersen
Splendor by Anna Godbersen
Gateway by Sharon Shinn
The Art of Reading by RIF
Dragonfly by Julia Golding
Forest Born by Shannon Hale
River Secrets by Shannon Hale
Rapunzel's Revenge by Shannon Hale
Dragon Slippers by Jessica Day George
The Walls Have Eyes by Clare B Dunkle
ArchEnemy by Frank Beddor
Devil's Kiss by Sarwat Chadda
Geek Charming by Robin Palmer
Cindy Ella by Robin Palmer
Doomed Queens by Kris Waldherr

And last, but never least, I want to thank everyone who's very, very kindly nominated me for an award since I last rounded these up:

Celi.a has nominated for the Heartfelt Award.

Jessica granted we with the coveted Lemonade Award.

Cracking Spines & Taking Names has given me the beautiful Proximade Award.

Diana, The Book Pixie, and Kristen have all nominated me for the Kreativ Blogger Award.

Liyana has also nominated me for the Literary Blogger Award.

Genevieve also nominated me for the Splash Award.

Thank you so much everyone! I didn't know you cared. :) I'm all full of warm fuzzies now. If I missed one, I sincerely apologize. I've been so disorganized about keeping up with these. Leave me a comment below and I'll make sure you get your full (and deserved) gratitude.

Working on updates

So as I (finally) have a little time to work on the blog, I'm trying to get a few updates done. Looking over my archives, I noticed I didn't post any of my monthly updates except site searches. So I'm working on those, as well as updating/adding stuff to the sidebars. You'll also notice I finally had time to put the background to how it was pre-4th of July.

More soon when I get done!

Mondays and Contests

Hi everyone!

Sorry for the lack of updates recently. The past week was extremely busy because of some company that was visiting. I kind of threw a wrench into my blog updates.

So while I try to get back on track, I want to make an important announcement. Due to my changing schedule for the summer, Contest Monday will now be extended for two weeks indefinitely. This also helps with postage, because costs are getting a little steep lately. I want to discontinue this after the summer, since I know most of you enjoy seeing a new contest every week, but we'll have to see how my schedule works out. So a new Contest Monday will be posted today, and it will run for two weeks instead of one.

I still want to try and post something contest-related every week. So I'm alternating weeks with contests and contest roundups. Since a new contest will be posted later today, a new roundup will go up next week. And so on.

If you have suggestions, I'd love to hear them. See you back here later today for a new Contest Monday!

Updating posts

I'm currently updating the tags for some of my posts, since I've finally switched over to the new Blogger. If you're following this blog in a reader, you might notice a lot of old posts popping up. Just a heads up!

So Where Have I Been?

My blog has been a little neglected lately. So where have I been? Well, to make a long story short, I was at Disneyland. :-) We went there for my aunt's birthday on January 19th, and so that trip cut into my blogging a bit.

Plus I just got a new job. Part-time freelance, but hey, it pays some bills! So with my working at the store and that, and one other project, I have the equivalent of two full-time jobs. It's a bit exhausting, but there you go.

Anyway, we're back to our regular Contest Monday as of yesterday. And I know I'm behind on posting Cybils nominees, so I'll be sprinkling those in throughout the week rather than just on Thursday. And tomorrow will have a Waiting on Wednesday post, so look for that.

By the way, whoever used my Amazon link to order my recommendation from my last Waiting on Wednesday, thank you. I love it when people use my Amazon links (it pays for essentials such as milk and bread), but it makes me feel so warm-fuzzy when someone orders a book I've featured or reviewed. So thank you! (If you want to learn more about why I use Amazon.com links, you can see the post on that here.)

And here's a preview of something else you can look forward to. I really am going to try and get through the stack of books that is sitting on my floor waiting to be reviewed. It's like 50+ books, I'm really kinda embarrassed about it. So look for more reviews (hopefully) coming soon. Not only am I behind on my blogging, but also my blog-reading, so maybe I'll throw up some links I've found interesting in the past few weeks. Some of them are quite old, I should've posted them a while ago.

And I also want to start a new feature! I'm not going to say much here at this point, because I don't know when I will be able to get the first post up. But keep an eye out on Saturdays for a new regular post. Speaking of regular posts, I just learned about Audiobook Fridays, so I may be participating in that soon too.

Well, that's it for this update. Hope to be back on my computer soon!

Back Up

Alright, I'm done playing with things for now. Just a few tweaks to the template. I know Blogger has had the new gadget design for about two years, but I still hadn't converted over yet. So it's changed now, and you can now follow this blog, and subscribe via RSS and all sorts of cool things. You'll find them over the sidebar. I'm still going to tweak things around, so let me know what you'd like to see.

Meanwhile, don't forget to enter the contest for a free copy of The Debs. Check out the sidebar for the link.

Under Construction

I'm going to be playing around with my template in the next few hours. Things will be moving around, and links might be broken. Just to give you a heads up! I'll be back in a few hours. :-)

A Blog Update

Hello everyone! I'm back. Well, sort of. I know I've been scarce lately. Things have been crazy with graduation and the holidays and moving back into the room my brother commandeered while I was off at school. Plus, I've been furiously trying to get through as many Cybils nominees as possible, as the deadline fast approaches. I know, last minute, but in my defense there were over 160 nominees in my category this year.

Anyway, I'm gong to try to get back in the swing of things. I have a lot more Waiting on Wednesday posts to put up, as well as about 50 book reviews (give or take) that are just waiting to be written. I'll get them up when I can!

But this post is also to announce (another) new feature. Starting this afternoon, I am announcing the addition of (drumroll please)....

Contest Mondays!

See, I've got all these books that I will never be able to read again, and some that haven't been read at all, and probably never will. So I'm going to be having a giveaway on Mondays to pass on all those new and gently used, wonderful books to other people who will have the chance to enjoy them. Why Monday? Well, Wednesdays are already scheduled, and lots of people already do giveaways on Friday. I wanted to be different, and I don't know about you, but I'd like a pick-me-up on Mondays! So it's going to be Monday afternoons for free books at the Shady Glade, and look for that post later today!

News and Updates: June 2008 Edition

Hello everyone!

I've actually got some free time tonight, so I thought I'd actually take an oppertunity to do a little catch up posting and let you all know what's going on. So if you find these kind of posts boring, I apologize. You can just skip over this one. I don't mind, I promise.

Now, I know I've mentioned my new Disney blog before, and my regular readers know that I'm a bit of a Disney nut. Well, if you're into that sort of thing, my brother just started his own Disney blog called Disney on the Brain. Check it out if you're inclined.

So here's what else is new. I've discovered the wonderful ability of Blogger's new (well, for me anyway) feature to schedule future posts. So hopefully I'll be able to set up a few future posts for you here. I've just found a file with some miscellanous book reviews I've missed, including a bunch I wrote for YABC but never cross posted. So look for those coming soon. Of course, I'm also working on some new reviews too, but hopefully these will help keep you busy. :-) I also have about 3 memes and two or three other posts that I have planned out, so look for those as well.

The last piece of news is that I'm planning on starting a new feature soon too. I'm sure most of you have noticed I love YouTube, and part of that comes from my love of movies. So I'm going to have random movie clip posting days, where I'll post a movie clip for your viewing pleasure. Yeah, it may be a silly idea, but I'm having fun with it.

Anyway, I think that's about it. But now it's really late, so I am going to bed for tonight. But look for the new stuff coming soon!