A To Z Challenge 2014 Is Open For Business

Let the joyous news be spread!

The wicked old witch... wait... that's something different.

Anyway the sign up list for the Blogging From A To Z Challenge 2014 is now open.

Spread the word!

To sign up and for more information click here.

Teaser Tuesday

I'm still reading the same book as last week however I am reading another book at th same time - this one non-fiction. So this week's teaser will come from that.

All you have to do to take part in Teaser Tuesday is:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Then head over to Should Be Reading and add your link to the comments.

Here's mine:

When you think about it, the sneaky marketing tactics employed by skin care manufacturers are almost identical to those used by the food industry. Just as you can't walk through the ground floor of any department store without being accosted by an overly eager saleswoman, supermarkets are organized in a way that flaunts the stuff you don't need, urging you to splurge.

Page 51, Feed Your Face by Dr Jessica Wu

Random Quote #167

Nobody ever figures out what life is all about, and it doesn't matter. Explore the world. Nearly everything is really interesting if you go into it deeply enough. 

Richard P. Feynman

Reading Challenges 2013-14

I meant to post this not long after the new year but PS3 games life got in the way... but better late than never.

So last year I took part in three reading challenges... and here are the results.

I took part in two challenges that were hosted by Book Chick City. The first of which was the Zombie Reading Challenge.

There were 4 levels to choose from: one chomp (6 books), two chomps (12 books), three chomps (18 books) and four chomps (24 books).

I opted for one chomp... and managed to read a total of two zombie books... so I failed that one :(

The second Book Chick City challenge I took part in last year was the Urban Fantasy & Paranormal Romance Reading Challenge.

Again there were 4 levels to choose from: one howl (12 books), two howls (24 books), three howls (36 books) and four howls (48 books).

I opted for one howl and ended up reading a total of ten urban fantasy books... so I failed that one as well but not quite so drastically.

The final reading challenge I took part in was hosted by Literary Escapism - the New Authors Challenge.

With this challenge the 'new' authors have to be new to you rather than new to the publishing world.

The options for this challenge were 15, 25 or 50 new authors. I went for 15 and I read a total of...

...drum roll please...

...17 new authors! Yay I managed to complete a challenge!

This year I'm sticking with the New Authors Challenge, again hosted by Literary Escapism, and I'll try for 15 again.

Teaser Tuesday

After some time I have finally got back in to some kind of blogging routine. And with it comes the return of Teaser Tuesday.

All you have to do to take part is:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Then head over to Should Be Reading and add your link to the comments. 

Here's my first teaser of 2014:

Mrs Massey was gone, Horace Derwent was gone, they were securely locked away in the boxes he kept far back in his mind, but the Overlook was still not done with him. Written on the mirror, not in lipstick but in blood, was a single word:

REDRUM

Page 75, Doctor Sleep by Stephen King

Random Quote #166

Everyone sees what you appear to be, few experience what you really are.

Niccolo Machiavelli

Random Quote #165

Ghosts don't haunt us. That's not how it works. They're present among us because we won't let go of them. 

Sue Grafton

Your Friendly Neighbourhood Pound Shop

I've never really been one for frequent pound shops. But I kept coming across bloggers who would get really good bargains from them.

The pound shops in my area never seemed to have such good bargains... until recently (and I'm talking specifically about Poundland here - although there are other pound shops out there).

One of the bloggers that first alerted me to the goodies to be found at the pound shop was Terri Lowe who actually blogged recently about one of the products I recently bought.

So here is what I got on my last couple of trips:

I got the Revlon Chroma Chameleon polishes in 'Aquamarine', 'Cobalt' and 'Topaz'. And the Sally Hansen Nail Polish Strips in 'All-A-Flutter' and 'Checker Out'.

Now I had a couple of the Revlon polishes already and I've used the Sally Hansen strips before as seen in this post.

The Revlon polishes retail at £6.49 and the Sally Hansen strips should be £7.99.

So if I had bought these products at a regular cosmetic selling place it would have cost me £35.45 instead of £5.

I love a good bargain!

Random Quote #164

I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes. Because if you are making mistakes...you're Doing Something. 

Neil Gaiman

New Year Resolutions

So 2014 has arrived and with are the expectations of making resolutions... whether we keep them or not.

I tend to stay away from resolutions that involve eating better or exercising more... as I know they won't last very long - healthy eating and exercise tends to be something I do subconsciously so consciously trying to do this stuff won't go well.

But although I try to steer clear of 'I will not eat...' and 'I will drink less...' resolutions I have still made some resolutions.

In no particular order:

•  Wear dresses/skirts more often (I have quite a few but mainly wear trousers/jeans).
• Get rid of any clothes that make me feel 'meh' - I only want clothes that make me feel awesome!
• Wear jewellery more often (I have jewellery but tend to forget to wear any of it).
• Get things done - you know the things that you need to do but aren't urgent so you just put them off... forever.
• Draw/sketch more
• Write more
• Create more in general 

 I had better get to work then!

Do you have any resolutions this year?

Happy New Year!

The Graphics Fairy