New(ish) Features & Some Good News!

Greetings again! So things seem to be moving right along on Blogger, thank goodness. I'm extremely excited about a couple newish features that I'm testing out. I have decided to do a weekly quote in the sidebar. The quotes will be pulled from books, songs, movies, famous people, not so famous people... you name it! I'm a huge quote lover, so this is very exciting to me; hopefully somebody else will enjoy it as well. I am also going to do a song feature (located in the sidebar under the quotes, naturally). I haven't decided if I want it to be a weekly feature, a daily thing, or just a whenever-I-feel-like-it kind of deal. Currently, it's the last one. Anyone who knows me knows that I am a HUGE music fiend, so there will be no shortage of awesome music to share with the world, I assure you. Music makes me so happy. *sigh*

Another thing I'm excited for is a new Page! Some might not consider it a big deal, but I find it very helpful for me personally. To go along with the song and quote features, I have created a Quote Archive page where I'll post items previously featured. Man, I have to find another word for "feature!" Anywhoozle... So, yes. I have added a link to this new page on the bottom of the sidebar. As I am an organized(ish) person, I'm going to keep them in order of the date they were featured. Now why am I doing this? First of all, it's my blog and I want to. So there. Secondly, I sometimes find random quotes or get a song stuck in my head & I want to share that with others. Thirdly, I have an absolutely AWFUL memory. Seriously. They should write a book about how awful my memory is. One day I may be like, "what was that song I posted last week? I can't for the life of me remember the title and I wanted to check out the rest of the album. Curse this awful memory of mine!" With this handy new page, I'll be able to go to the archive and look it up. Tada! Problem solved.

Now that I've shared some of my excitement for new features (there's that word again!), I wanted to share some fun and totally awesome news! Remember when I posted that I won a prize pack from Cynthia Leitich Smith? Well, I got my package on Valentine's Day! How sweet is that? Everything is so awesome and cute and I can't wait to read the books. Another item of total awesomeness came today when a FedEx guy knocked on my door. No, I didn't meet the man of my dreams. Sheesh, people! He gave me a white puffy envelope. My first thought was that the package was for my sister, since I wasn't expecting anything. Then I saw my name on it. I grabbed my handy dandy scissors and sliced that surprise package like it was, well, a surprise. What do you think I found inside?? A book! And not just any book, but a personalized, autographed copy of *pause for effect* Across the Universe by Beth Revis! And and and... some super sweet little buttons from the Breathless Reads book tour! I have absolutely no idea how I got this awesome gift, but I'm not complaining. My guess is that I won it in some sort of giveaway, though I don't remember entering one for this particular book. However, that's not saying much since, as I've said before, I have an awful memory. I did win a signed Galley (Advanced Reader's Copy) of Across the Universe earlier this year (which I posted about on my other blog)... maybe that's how Penguin books got my address? Hmm... Regardless of how I came into possession of this awesome book, I am so ridiculously happy that I finally have a finished (and autographed!) copy of Across the Universe. I can't wait to dive into it and see if it's all different from the ARC. Want to know why I'm so excited about winning a copy of this book? Check out this trailer and find out!

Man, what a good read!

Well, that's it for announcements. I suppose now is as good a time as any to get going. G'night!

 To purchase a copy of Across the Universe, simply click on the gorgeous cover or go to a bookstore near you!