Lisa Loves Literature: Can You Believe It's Been 10 Years?! Help Me Celebrate My Blogoversary with a Giveaway!

You guys, it has been ten years since I began Lisa Loves Literature! I can't believe it!

Time sure seems to fly lately. In fact, I'm actually about a week late in getting this post up. Blame it on my crazy summer and this crazy month of August. I actually was attending the awesome Book Bonanza Convention when my blogoversary date happened. You can check out how much fun I had HERE. If you've been a follower, you know that I also moved this past June, and have been slowly settling into my new house since then. Then school started back, this year on August 1st for the teachers, so time I would probably normally have spent getting my blogoversary stuff ready was spent getting ready for school and such.

That's the way I've felt since school started. Just totally overwhelmed.

However, I still love blogging. While I've gotten so much better with keeping my schedule in my planner, I am getting to where I've got to really stop taking on so many tours and even not asking to review so many things. It's not that I'm not in the mood to read, it's just that I'll never run out of things to read, including a whole bookcase full of unread books that I really do want to read! I'm so behind and so overbooked, that I actually did NOT sign up to review a book by Meghan Quinn, who is one of my automatic sign up to review ALL her books author. I'm so sad that I can't fit it in due to all the other reviews I've already got on my calendar. But I will definitely fit her in, later, on my own, after I buy the book, or maybe an audiobook of it.

I do feel like I've really made some progress with being more regular about things on my blog though. I've been doing the Wednesday posts almost all year long, although I've changed it a bit to a post I call "Lisa's Looking Forward To" and I am highlighting all the books in my planner that are coming up the next week and I may not have gotten around to. I've also been working on clearing out books that I have read but won't get to again, or with my move, even some books I had on my TBR book case that I am just finally realizing I'll probably never get to them. So I'm going to either add them to my giveaways, take them to my school library, or see what I can get for them at Half Price Books.

Last February I decided to go seasonal at the above mentioned bookstore where I work part time and it was glorious! But I figured I'd go back and work a bunch this summer to make money for all the things I had going on, to buy new stuff for my new house, etc. I worked a ton of hours this summer and made a lot of money. All of which has been spent on things like going to Book Bonanza and new furniture for the house. So I'm still doing two days a week even with school back in, because I'm not done with things I want for my new house. I really wanted to be done before another Christmas season, but I don't see that happening just yet.

Now, last year I shared all the cool people I got to meet and I've already linked you above to my Book Bonanza post so you can see them, but I did get to meet a few cool people at ComicCon this year:

I got to meet the Weasley twins! Well, get my picture taken with them anyway.

I also got to meet one Supernatural actor, the guy who plays Lucifer. He wasn't that friendly actually. Not rude, but not very outgoing or talkative.

My sister went to her first Comic-Con being a big Smallville fan, she wanted to meet those actors, and then decided to go ahead and meet Dean Cain as well, and he was so nice, and even had her get me in for a picture with him and her as well!

This summer I also go to meet the awesome writing duo of Christina Lauren:

New Kids on the Block came again, and we had awesome seats this time. I could swear that one time Donnie actually smiled right at ME!

They also put in a Wahlburgers close to my house, within the "Greater Kansas City Metro" area, which actually means almost a 30-45 minute drive for me based on traffic, over in Kansas as opposed to Missouri. But I loved it, still love it, just wish it was closer so I could go more often. We went to their grand opening, my friend Shannon, my cousin Margaret and I, same people I went to the concert with. And I got to meet Paul Wahlberg! We were even interviewed by the local news, and while people said they saw me on the news, they never replayed it or posted it online, so I didn't get to see it sadly.

Earlier in the year I got to meet a survivor of the holocaust when she came to talk at a school nearby. It was incredibly inspiring to listen to her talk.

I also got to be the moderator for a panel with some awesome YA authors at the bookstore where I work last year. That was the coolest thing ever!

I actually sold my townhouse last October, and rented from the new owner until this past June when I was able to get a house loan and found a house I wanted to move into. This picture is from when I sold my house.

And here is a picture of my new house:

Honestly, I'm looking forward to getting a little area set up for my dogs to run and play in the back yard so I can sit out back and read while they play, or write while they play, or even sit outside and blog while they play. Of course the summer was too hot to really do that anyway, so this fall will be perfect!

Okay, you all want a giveaway, right? Well, being a bit poorer with my new house and all the things I want to add or do to it, my prizes will be pretty simple. If you can receive a Barnes and Noble or Amazon gift card, I will be giving away one of those for $10. If you are international and cannot use one of those, then I will let you pick one of my 5 star reviewed books listed below that I can get for you from the Book Depository, as long as they ship to your country. Hint: There will be an option in the Rafflecopter to comment on the reviews below for an entry, one a day!