Happy Holidays~!

Whoooo it's December!

Anyone else wonder why they call it the happiest time of the year when it's probably accurately more like the most stressful time of the year?!

This year I'm spending the holidays with Nick and his family. His tradition? A real Christmas tree. Which is currently sitting pretty with its app controlled blinking lights behind me. That's causing me a crap ton of allergies. And the house doesn't even have a ridiculously overbearing scent of pine. I feel lied to. Also it requires to be watered. And it leaks sap. But it doesn't shed like my mom always told me it would! It's pretty cool. Totally different. But pretty cool (see Nick setting it up above).

To get in a more festive mood, I dyed my hair a color I've never tried before... Teal. Well it's more Turquoise but I love how it turned out! Besides, I needed a change. Also, I got that dress off Amazon for like $15. I'm in love with it!

Got my gifts from my Secret Santa too~! I'm so excited to open them! But I'm waiting until Christmas. Like I do every year. I also mailed out my SS gift yesterday! Wish I had taken a picture of it. I put a lottttttt of effort into it. Also, Nick did a good job with picking the packaging box. So cute that he helped me every step of the way and he got really into it too.

So SS, my boyfriend picked out all the quirky chocolates for you and the pretty box it's coming in!

Also I think it's worth it to mention that after TWELVE YEARS I finally got my white Christmas tree with its pastel glitter ornaments. 

But then Sophie stole it.

It's okay, we'll share.

How are your holidays going so far?!

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I know it's Monday, but let's just talk

It's been awhile since I've just rambled on this blog and I kinda just... feel like talking to you guys today. Whoa, totally out of my super organized-ness right? But oh well :)

So it's been cold and raining here in Florida which is insane because it's Florida. The whole reason why I moved away from California was to be somewhere warmer. But at least the air isn't super dry. My eczema has been good to me this winter. Still can't get down with the rain though which kinda sucks since it is Florida and we'll be into hurricane season too... oh I hate those months lol. 

I was hoping to read a few Valentines Day titles in January so I'd have my reviews all nice and ready and bow tie pretty for February but... that didn't happen lol! Mostly because while I have a general list of books I'd like to read, when I actually scroll through my library I still manage to get a little overwhelmed. Like... LET'S READ ALL THE THINGS AT THE SAME TIME. Yeah. No. Don't do that. I keep accidentally requesting books on NetGalley that I'm unaware are part of a series so that sucks. I should really stop getting excited and start looking up the titles. But why can't they mention it's part of a series on the page... like... what?

Hubby decided to switch phone companies because we were getting ZERO service in all of Orlando but we got PERFECT service at home which is fine by me except I just upgraded my phone in October so I had to get a new phone again which should be exciting, right? Not when it's an iPhone and your whole life is on it lol. At least my cloud backed up most things but my cloud also hit max capacity and so I wasn't able to back anything up for like... months lol. Whoops. So imagine the frustration when stuff was missing. Is anyone else like that? Like, you think it'll magically just be on your phone even though you know that's not how it works? 

Speaking of! Because of my cloud problems I decided to give in and try out DropBox. Do any of you guys use it? I don't really know how it works... I usually save a bunch of stuff to my Google Drive which is also pretty easy but I wanted to see what the fuss about Dropbox was. Then I found another app called Box. Just Box. And apparently it gives you 50GiGs of space but I don't get how it works. Is it a cloud or just an app?? 

Hubby had the flu last week but he's better now, thank goodness. Thank goodness it was just the flu too and nothing awful and thank goodness I didn't catch it after him for once! That neverrrrrrrr happens! He doesn't usually get sick, ever. But working at Disney can get you sick since everyone over there is sick too. Now he's just in that coughing-it-out phase lol.

So what have you guys been up to this week/month? What are you most looking forward to in February?

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Happy Thanksgiving!

It's warm today, which is strange since it's been freezing and raining all week! I can't believe Thanksgiving is here, that means that the holiday are just around the corner and then it'll be 2013. I swear the older you get the faster the year goes!

This year has been a struggle and especially with my OCD. But there is still much to be thankful for. 

I'm thankful for my husband who drives me insane but makes sure I'm fed, happy, smiling and safe. Who stays by my side no matter what and no matter how hard I push him away. Who drives me to book signings rain or shine no matter how far or near, who'll stand in line with me for hours, who'll hold my books and take my pictures. Who always thinks of me even when I think he doesn't. Who never forgets to tuck me in, put away my glasses when I fall asleep with them and kisses me every night. I'm thankful he's literally my best friend. I would be lost without him!

I'm thankful for the 3 little fuzzy faces that drive me crazy every night with their crying and their unknown demands! But I'm thankful to come home with them and cuddle and kiss them even if they cry and try to claw their way out. I'm especially thankful for Snow (the one on the left) for trying to cheer me up when she knows I'm stressed out. She's literally our baby!

I'm thankful for my puppy who will always be my sunshine on a cloudy day.

I'm thankful for books for being my escape and for keeping me inspired. They definitely make my life better and provide the perfect escape on those nights you just want to get away! Books, I love you!

I'm also thankful for my family (my brother especially who came home from work at 3am this morning and has been cooking an amazing meal since 6am. I can't wait for dinner!), my friends, my health (the fact that my ear infection is gone, yay!), being able to go to college, my next adventure! I'm thankful for life and everything it has to offer and take away. It can be a struggle but it can be beautiful if you want it to be too.

I and thankful for you, my readers and wish all of you readers a happy thanksgiving filled with family, friends, happiness, laughter and I wish you a relaxing night after the festivities to curl up with a book too!

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Holiday Book Swap 2012!

Christmas is my favorite time of the year. Christmas however is not my favorite holiday. I like setting up and getting ready for Christmas and all the Christmas-y stuff that goes on but I've always felt like the holiday itself was always a bit of a let down.

I almost always participate in holiday swaps since I started book blogging and this year is no different. I've signed up for the Holiday Book Swap 2012!

I seriously look forward to this :P anyone else signed up or want to sign up? It's fun! And you'll know at least one gift under the tree holds books!

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Happy Veteran's Day!

Well, I feel lame. I wasn't aware that today was Veteran's Day.

But, I do want to take the time to say Thank You to all of those who have, who are and who have attempted to serve their country. 

My grandfather was a sailor when I was born, I'm not sure exactly what that means, but I do know my mom grew up without her father being around most of the time. He would tell me stories about wars he's witnessed and the jobs he did on the ship. Of course, I was really young at the time and never really thought about it. It wasn't until now that I wish he were still here, so I could ask him more questions about his experience.

Last year, my husband enlisted into the United States Air Force. This time last year he was in Basic Training and it was the first time in our whole five years together that we were that far apart from each other. Unfortunately he was discharged exactly one week before graduation because someone decided to misdiagnose a medical injury. But within the time he was there, I learned so much about the military life. About the sacrifices other people have made, and all the things you never really think about. Sadly I never got to see my husband in his uniform or his blues but he did bring me back his uniform hat. Smells just like... sweat lol. Even though he didn't graduate, I'm still so proud of him for even attempting to go, he has much more courage than I do!

I have many friends in the military in all branches. Some who have been deployed multiple times and every time I'm happy they're home and safe. My best friend who is in the Army was deployed and I can't tell you how worried I was the whole time he was in Afghanistan for nine months. I'm happy he's home and he's safe and I'm hoping he won't have to go back. 

So thank you, to all the men and women who have the courage to do what others (like me) can't do. I admire you all!

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Would anyone be interested if I had a book sale?

I'm moving across the country in a few months and my husband has already made it clear that I will not be able to take all of my books with me for the first few months. So I was going through them (well some of them, over the last year I've collected more books than I thought I had...) and wondering if anyone would be interested in buying any of them.

All books that I plan to let go of will all be $5 with $2 shipping. I will not be selling ARC's. 

I haven't made a complete list but some of the ones I'm letting go are:

• Generation Dead by Daniel Waters (paperback)
• Sea Change by Aimee Friedman (paperback)
• Bloom by Elizabeth Scott (paperback)
• Prada and Prejudice by Mandy Hubbard (paperback)
• Butterfly by Sonya Hartnett (paperback // UK cover)

That's all I have so far, but I'll be combing through my collection and adding more. If you're interested in any of the titles I've mentioned please leave a comment with which one and your email address. 

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Time is never enough!

*sad face*

So we had a two week break from school and we had a ton of homework to do, one was a team paper (at University of Phoenix, we're put into teams every class) and my husband and I were trying to contact our team member the whole two weeks. Well she didn't respond. So I posted a thread on our class forum, still, no response. Well she did respond the first day saying she was having problems opening the file but we never save it in anything but .doc... anyway, she finally responses... a few hours before class saying she still couldn't open the file. Keep in mind we had about 3 team papers to write and she just now decided to respond?! My husband, being frustrated, saved it in every format Word lets you and sent her every file. THEN! About an hour later she emails again saying that she's been dropped from our class. What in $*&$*&%#!!! I'm sure she knew sooner and didn't bother to tell us, UoP doesn't usually wait until the last minute to tell you these things. And it would explain why she didn't respond to us all break.

I don't think I really need to say more. 

The point of this blog wasn't to rant. But I just had to tell someone! I hate how I haven't been writing reviews (I guess this is still ranting, isn't it?) and I haven't had much time to read. And when I do, my husband wants me to play Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep with him. Not that I mind, I like playing games with him, but sometimes I just wanna read!! I'm figuring out some sort of stable review day thing so I don't feel like I'm so far behind all the time. Finishing two or three books a week shouldn't be that much of a challenge, I guess it's just finding time to read that is.

So... I applied for a program that would require me to move across the country for a few months and I'm very excited about this. I have my interview really really soon and I'm stressing over it a bit. I hope I get accepted, and if I don't... I would be lying if I said I wouldn't be crushed. My husband applied too, which I thought was cool, I didn't think he'd be interested in it too, but I guess he is lol. So, yes, wish me luck! I won't mention more until I know I'm accepted. But ahhh! I'm excited :)

Okay, off to take some headache medicine and read more of Ash by Melinda Lo. I like it so far, but I'm kinda confused lol. I'm hoping to make sense of it all soon, but it is really interesting!

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Update!

I know I've been a bit MIA this week... my parents went on vacation and I took it as a chance to finally get some cleaning done (I'm more productive when people aren't home). So I swapped my summer clothes for my fall ones (I'm so excited! I love fall) and I cleaned off two book shelves in one of the bookcases in the room. So now I have two shelves with my books on them! Finally they're not piled up everywhere. But even then... I still have a good amount of books piled up and not to mention books still in bins in my room. I'm starting to think I have a series book buying problem... yeah... lol. I told my husband I have almost 200 books in my TBR list and he freaked out, now I'm limited to only buying five books a month LOL! I guess I deserve that haha! As long as I get my Aug 31st releases, I'm happy!

So aside from trying to figure out how to de-clutter this room and make room for my books on the shelves, school is still kicking my butt. We have our last class for this current class on Monday (and two essays due, talk about going out with a bang)! Buttttt.... we got straight into another writing comp class! Seriously, all these writing comp classes are getting on my nerves! It's always so stressful *sigh. I think the most stressful part is that every teacher is different... so one will want one thing and another won't... and since the classes are only five weeks long (each), it's hard to remember who wanted what and who didn't. Oh University of Phoenix why couldn't you believe in vacations?!

I have a few reviews that are going up this week (hopefully), let's hope I remember what I wanted to say about them! I know I missed Top Five Thursday yesterday, I was busy running around the house cleaning and doing laundry and everything. My legs and feet hurt! Why is cleaning always so tiring?! 

Okay, I'm done complaining lol. Now to get some reading done and finally go to sleep!!

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New blog!

I decided to make a new book blog!

So welcome to marie LOVES books! My goal this year is to read 3 books a month and so far in March I've read 2. I wasn't able to finish any books in Jan or Feb due to life so I'm trying extra hard this month to catch up! Expect reviews soon on both books!

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