Birthday Bash - Today's the Day!

BIRTHDAY BASH COUNTDOWN: TODAY! :)

Thank you so so so much to everyone who participated and commented (authors and bloggers) during this past week's Birthday Bash! I'm so excited that today I'm finally 16 years old.

In case you didn't see one of my BB posts, here is the list:
"Birthday Girl" e-book Giveaway - 10 winners! - Ends 10/8
Interview with Janette Rallison
"Just One Wish" Giveaway - Ends 10/8
My Sweet 16 Party Plans
Interview with Mandy Hubbard

Again, thanks for the birthday wishes and comments! I love you guys - and get ready for a great month of October coming up. There will be LOTS happening... :)

*P.S. some of you might have read my post 2-3 weeks ago about how I extremely wanted Catching Fire for my b-day present.... I GOT IT! My grandparents are the best, and I'm currently reading it now. (:

Birthday Bash - Interview with Mandy Hubbard

BIRTHDAY BASH - COUNTDOWN: 1 DAY!

Today's BB post is an interview with young adult author Mandy Hubbard! Mandy has written the debut novel "Prada and Prejudice", and has two other books in the making.


Can you tell us about your own Sweet 16 party (if you had one) OR If you didn't have a Sweet 16 party, how would you have imagined it to be?

I didn’t have one. I was never one of those girls with a giant group of friends, but rather a handful of close ones. So I probably went out to eat with my family and a friend or two and kept it low key. J

What was the best thing about being 16?

The freedom of driving for the first time! I remember how amazing it was to cruise around with my friends… of course now they’ve changed the laws in my state and you have to drive solo for 6 months before you can have teenage passengers. But the day I got my license, I loaded up four people in my tiny Toyota Tercel and we cruised around. SO fun!

The worst thing?

You’re old enough for your first real job. Blech. I worked a day a week at a Chinese restaurant before this, but once I was sixteen I became a Subway slave. Yes, I became a ‘sandwich artist.’

What are some of your favorite memories of being a teenager?

That same summer that I worked at Subway was the summer I spent every spare moment at the river. I SO wish I could do that again—head down to the state park every afternoon and just lounge around or swim. Makes me nostalgic just thinking of it!

What was your first car like?

Oh, it was terrible. I bought it for $10 on a car lot. See, they were doing this special sale, where you had to choose the car you wanted and sit in it, and then at 10AM, they walked around and knocked all the prices down, and if you were the one sitting in the car, you got first stab at buying it. ONE car would be marked to $10. I arrived at 6Am with a sleeping bag, a book, and a couple donuts, and picked out the obvious $10 car—a 12 year old Toyota in a sea of shiny late model cars. It was fun and we got the car, and I drove it for about a year. It was red, two door, and had a leaky sunroof.

Remember your first high school crush or boyfriend? Care to go into details...? ;]

My first real boyfriend was the boy next door. It took him a month to kiss me and he did it by walking up to me while I was riding my horse and saying, “come here.” I leaned down and he kissed me and then said he had to go home, and I whirled my horse around and galloped off, a huge grin on my face. We broke up a few weeks later, but the memory lives on. Also, I am still friends with him!

Explain your version of the most perfect girls' night out?

Dinner and a movie! I am a total foodie. I loooove good food and think about what I’ll have for lunch while eating breakfast. It’s terrible. But it makes nights out all the more fun. If I have my 2 year old daughter with me (she IS a girl, after all) we’d probably skip the movie and go hang out at home. Otherwise I’m a sucker for romantic comedies, so I’d go see whatever the latest Rom-Com is!

Thanks so much for the interview Mandy! Readers - go check out Mandy's website or read her debut novel "Prada and Prejudice."

Birthday Bash - My Sweet 16

BIRTHDAY BASH - COUNTDOWN: 3 DAYS!

For today's BB post, I'll share a little bit about what my Sweet 16 party will be. The theme is Alice in Wonderland! I love this classic story, and the Disney movie of it, not to mention - I can't wait for the Tim Burton version coming out in March! The movie trailer is awesome, and Johnny Depp makes the most perfect Mad Hatter, I think.

I've done hours of research and googling, trying to plan the party. So far, I've filled up almost 8 pages in a notebook with just decoration ideas. Alice in Wonderland is full of so much wacky, bizarre, colorful things, that I'm going to go overboard on decorations!

I've also planned a few party games including an elaborate Scavenger Hunt, with huge twirly lollipops for the winners. Now, all I need to focus on is FOOD. I have no idea what to serve! I've seen a lot of web sites (with Alice in Wonderland party ideas) with food and cake suggestions, but I just don't know. I plan on serving dinner, cake, and a tea party with little desserts. I'd love to hear your ideas or suggestions!!

One other thing - I'm in desperate need of tea pots! As we all know, the Mad Hatter tea party is crucial to include at my party, but I don't own any tea pots. I've looked on e-bay, the dollar store, etc. but can't find any cheap ones. Help??

I'll let everyone know how the party went once it's done! I might even post some pictures? Right now it's planned for October 10th, but that might change.

Birthday Bash - "Just One Wish" Giveaway!

CONTEST IS CLOSED, WINNER CHOSEN!

BIRTHDAY BASH - COUNTDOWN: 4 DAYS!

For today's BB post, I am excited to say it's a giveaway for the novel: Just One Wish by Janette Rallison.

Description of Book:

Seventeen-year-old Annika Truman knows about the power of positive thinking. With a little brother who has cancer, it’s all she ever hears about. And in order to help Jeremy, she will go to the ends of the earth (or at least as far as Hollywood) to help him believe he can survive his upcoming surgery. But Annika’s plan to convince Jeremy that a magic genie will grant him any wish throws her a curveball when he unexpectedly wishes that his television idol would visit him. Annika suddenly finds herself in the desperate predicament of getting access to a hunky star actor and convincing him to come home with her. Piece of cake, right? Janette Rallison’s proven talent for laugh-out-loud humor, teen romance, and deep-hearted storytelling shines in a novel that will have readers laughing and crying at the same time.

How To Enter:
-All you have to do is comment leaving your email address and tell me if you had a genie, what your 3 wishes would be!
-There are additional things you can do for extra entries. These are optional, but give you a better chance of winning.
-Please try to put all of your entries in ONE comment, it makes it easier to count them all up.

Contest Rules:
-Open to USA only!
-I'll use Random.org to pick the winner.
-Leave an email address in your comment, please! No email = No entry. Sorry, but I have to have a way to contact the winner!

Extra Entries:
+3 If you already follow my blog.
+2 Become a follower of my blog.
+3 Put on your sidebar.
+1 Each time you Twitter about this giveaway. You can do this up to 3 times. - Must leave links!
+5 Blog about this giveaway - must leave link!
+1 Enter my e-book giveaway.
+2 Comment on my interview with Janette.
+4 Go to Janette's site and tell me which book you'd like to read.

Total number of entries you can have: 22!


I'm not sure when this contest is going to end yet, it depends on how many people enter! But for now, it ends on October 21 at midnight. The winner will be chosen and posted/emailed on October 22.

Good luck! And don't forget to check back each day for the rest of the Birthday Bash posts this week! :]

Birthday Bash - Interview with Janette Rallison

Birthday Bash - Countdown: 5 days!
Today's BB post is an interview with author Janette Rallison! She has written many young adult books including: Just One Wish, My Fair Godmother, It's a Mall World After All, and How to Take the Ex Out of Ex-Boyfriend.

Can you tell us about your own Sweet 16 party (if you had one) OR If you didn't have a Sweet 16 party, how would you have imagined it to be?

I didn't get a Sweet 16 party. The only worse than not getting a Sweet 16 party, is not getting a Sweet 16 party because your parents are in another state looking for houses, where they will move you to right before your senior year. Yeah, that day was a lot of fun.

But if I did have one, I would have liked to hang out with my friends, my current crush (whoever that was at the time) and lots of chocolate.

What was the best thing about being 16?

I wasn't allowed to date until I was sixteen, so definitely the best thing was dating . . . followed closely by kissing. Which is perhaps why I write romances into my teen novels. I was really boy crazy at that age.

The worst thing?

I crashed into a parked car. I obviously wasn't going very fast, but it was still traumatic. I went home in tears and was stressed out about driving for awhile after that.

What are some of your favorite memories of being a teenager?

I loved the social life. I got to see my friends every day and flirt with boys. I even liked shopping because hey, school was just one big fashion show. Oh, and I could eat anything I want and not gain an ounce. If it weren't for the fact that during those teenage years I constantly felt like my ego was up on a chopping block--anyone can take a swipe at you when you're in that high school hierarchy--the teenage years would have been really great.

What was your first car like?

The family car was a brown station wagon. Really cool. Then I went to college and didn't have a car. When I married my husband, he drove a yellow Oldsmobile sedan. That's how you can tell it was true love, I married him despite the fact that he picked me up for every date in a yellow Oldsmobile sedan. Now I drive a mini van. Maybe some day I'll get that Jaguar.

Remember your first high school crush or boyfriend? Care to go into details...? ;]

I don't remember the first crush because I had so many and went through them so quickly. If the guy was cute and not obviously headed to jail, at some point I would be in love with him. This is not a good way to screen boyfriends, by the way. Luckily all the guys I dated were nice and didn't take advantage of my flakiness.

One of my old boyfriends just emailed me that he came across my old letters to him. (You remember I moved my senior year.) He said he'd send them to me. I'm afraid to read them. I'd like to pretend they were all well thought out, meaningful, and written with perfect spelling--but I'll have the proof soon that they were otherwise.

Explain your version of the most perfect girls' night out?

Hmm, how about this: Said girls go out to dinner and run into Robert Pattinson, Zach Efron, and Orlando Bloom at the restaurant. The guys are so taken with the wit and charms of the girls, that they whisk them off to Hollywood to see the premier for New Moon. (I'm sure Zach and Orlando are big Twilight fans.)

Hey, it could happen . . . at least it could happen in one of my books--in Just One Wish it sort of does happen, but in a more realistic and funny sort of way.

Thanks so much for answering my questions Janette!

*Check for tomorrow's Birthday Bash post, for a chance to win a book of hers! :)

Birthday Bash - Win a "Birthday Girl" e-book, 10 winners!

CONTEST CLOSED - WINNERS CHOSEN

BIRTHDAY BASH - COUNTDOWN: 6 DAYS!

For today's BB post, I am thrilled to announce... it's an e-book giveaway for the novel: Birthday Girl by Diane J Wright! Diane has generously offered 10 free e-books to put on your Kindle, iPhone, Blackberry, iPod Touch, Sony Reader, etc.

*Note: There is a free application to read e-books (with step-by-step instructions) to put on any of these devices, in case you don't already know how to read the electronic book. I'll provide the winners with this.

Description of Book:

Sixteen-year-old Tracey Burns has been confined to a single room for two years. One night, amid chaotic spring winds, she slips to freedom and inadvertently sets herself on a journey that takes her further away from the one thing she wants most: to find the mother who left her behind.

Determined but starkly naïve, Tracey plunges into a harsh and confusing world where she is no more than a headline, a case file, another ragged face on the side of the California highway asking for change. It's only when she stumbles upon an enclave of irrepressible epicureans tucked in the flatlands of the Mojave that she begins to uncover the truth of her world, of herself, and of her missing mother.

How To Enter:
-All you have to do is comment leaving your email address and your favorite birthday gift you've ever gotten!
-There are additional things you can do for extra entries. These are optional, but give you a better chance of winning.
-Please try to put all of your entries in ONE comment, it makes it easier to count them all up.

Contest Rules:
-Open to anyone! Since I don't have to mail the book out, instead just send you an internet link via email to get your free book, it's international!
-I'll use Random.org to pick the 10 winners.
-Leave an email address in your comment, please! No email = No entry. Sorry, but I have to have a way to contact the winners!

Extra Entries:
+3 If you already follow my blog.
+2 Become a follower of my blog.
+3 Put on your sidebar.
+1 Each time you Twitter about this giveaway. You can do this up to 3 times. - Must leave links!
+5 Blog about this giveaway - must leave link!

Total number of entries you can have: 15!


I'm not sure when this contest is going to end yet, it depends on how many people enter! But for now, it ends on October 18 at midnight. 10 winners will be chosen and posted/emailed on October 19.

Good luck! And don't forget to check back each day for the rest of the Birthday Bash posts this week! More contests to come. :]

Birthday Bash - Introduction

BIRTHDAY BASH - COUNTDOWN: 7 DAYS!

Since some of you probably don't know - I'm turning 16 next Tuesday, September 29!! I'm soo excited because your Sweet 16 is one of the most important birthdays of your teenage years. I decided to celebrate it on my site, too, with a Birthday Bash!

Every day this week, leading up to my birthday, I'll have a Birthday Bash post. There will be interviews with some girly authors sharing stories about their own Sweet 16, a couple of contests/giveaways of cute chick books, and on the last day I'll be having my first ever big swag giveaway, just for the ladies! Because I don't want to be the only one to get presents at the end of the month... I wanna spread some love! :]

So be sure to check back here every day for the Birthday Bash post! There will be lots of prizes and fun things going on, and you don't want to miss out. Please become a follower if you aren't already, (plus you'll get bonus entries in the contests if you are!)

Thanks, and have a greatttt day! :)