Showing posts with label Follow Friday Fun. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Follow Friday Fun. Show all posts

Friday, December 16, 2011

Follow Friday Fun (22) & TGIF @ GReads (18)

Weekly recap - what's been going on at Ramblings of a Daydreamer:

Reviews:

Memes:

Other:
Flame of Surrender Trailer

Today's my birthday!!! I usually freak out a little over birthdays, but I'm not this year...at least not yet...hopefully it doesn't happen later today lol. I just have a feeling that this year is going to be great. :-) Today's the last day to enter my 400 follower/birthday celebration giveaway - the link is at the top of the blog and in the sidebar if you haven't entered already!

Follow Friday Fun Week 22: This weekly meme is hosted by Parajunkee and Alison Can Read.  Check out their blogs for details/rules, and to join!  Also, be sure to check out this week's featured bloggers on each of the girls' sites!


This week's question: When you've read a book, what do you do with it? (Keep it, give it away, donate it, sell it, swap it..?)  
 
Well, most of my books come from the library, so I obviously return them. I’ve just recently started buying books again, but I try to only buy books I’m pretty sure I’ll love and want to keep. Same with books I win…I only enter for books I really, really want. Right now, I have a big pile of review books I’ve read that I’m going to donate to my library or the Diabetes Association for their next pick-up. I’ve also sold books to the used bookstore for credit and then bought new (used) books with the credit. I’d love to do giveaways for books I don’t want to keep, but can’t really afford the cost of shipping. Hopefully next year that'll change!
 
What do you do with your books once you've read them?
 
 
TGIF at GReads Week 18: TGIF is hosted by Ginger at GReads - be sure to check out her blog and join in the fun!


This week's question: Most Popular: What blog post has gotten the most comments/activity on your blog this year?
 
That would be the post about the 2011 Spooktacular October Paranormal Reading Challenge. I had 74 comments on that one, and an unbelievable turnout for the challenge (270 paranormal reviews in the month of October). I was so thrilled. I can’t wait to do it again in 2012 and hopefully have more in the way of activities and giveaways!

What was your most popular blog entry?

 
Happy Friday, everyone! I hope you all had a terrific week!


Posted by SweetMarie83 at 2:09 AM 7 comments
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Friday, December 9, 2011

Follow Friday Fun (21) & TGIF @ GReads (17)

Weekly recap - what's been going on at Ramblings of a Daydreamer:

Blog Tours:
Memes:

Other:
 
Reviews to come next week:
The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson
My Soul to Take by Rachel Vincent
Hushed by Kelley York


Follow Friday Fun Week 21: This weekly meme is hosted by Parajunkee and Alison Can Read.  Check out their blogs for details/rules, and to join!  Also, be sure to check out this week's featured bloggers on each of the girls' sites!


This week's question: Keeping with the Spirit of Giving this season, what book do you think EVERYONE should read and if you could, you would buy it for all of your family and friends?

That would be my new favorite book, Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins. Everyone raved about this book and I was curious, so I finally read it last month and LOVED it. I’m so glad I own it because I know I’ll definitely read it again. I won’t go on and on, but if you want to know what I thought, you can read my review. If you haven’t read it, but you’ve been thinking about it, BUY IT. Seriously. I’d buy it for you if I could, I loved it that much lol. 

 
TGIF at GReads Week 17: TGIF is hosted by Ginger at GReads - be sure to check out her blog and join in the fun!


This week's question: Book to Movie: Which book turned movie do you feel did the best adaptation? What about the worst?

Hands down, best book to movie adaptation is Harry Potter. I think they did a fantastic job with the movies. They followed the books very closely, the casting was perfect, and I think the movies did the books justice.

Worst…I know a lot of people will agree with me, but there’ll be some who don’t…feel free to state your opinion, but let’s not start a war here please lol. Twilight. I loved the books and I’m not ashamed to admit it. But the movies…oh god, the movies…the acting is so bad, it hurts me. It physically hurts me. Rocks show more emotion than Kristen Stewart. She’s so awkward, watching her makes me squirm in discomfort. I swooned over Robert Pattinson in Harry Potter, but he doesn’t do much for me as Edward. I like Taylor Lautner and I like the guy who plays Charlie, but that’s about it. And yet, I continue to see the movies. I’m a masochist, what can I say? Right from the very first episode of Vampire Diaries, I’ve said they should have cast the VD actors in Twilight. I could totally see Nina Dobrev as Bella and Paul Wesley as Edward. We’d need to find a role for Ian Somerhalder too because damn that boy is hot…and he can actually act. 
Taken 2 weeks ago in Niagara Falls. That wax figure could probably do a better job playing Bella than Kristen Stewart. BTW, I lifted up wax Taylor's shirt and he had a six-pack. That kinda made me giggle...and take some slightly inappropriate pictures that I'm not sharing with you guys.


 
Happy Friday my darlings! Just FYI, the Blue Sky Days Blog Tour is officially booked - woohoo! It's going to run from January 17th until February 14th. Be sure to check out the amazing line-up of bloggers here. I'm so excited, I can't wait! I hope you all had a terrific week. There's one week left to enter by 400 follower/birthday celebration giveaway, so be sure to enter if you haven't already! Have a great weekend!

Posted by SweetMarie83 at 12:01 AM 10 comments
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Thursday, December 1, 2011

Follow Friday Fun (20) & TGIF @ GReads (16)

Weekly recap - what's been going on at Ramblings of a Daydreamer:

Reviews:
 
Memes:
Top 10 Tuesday: Winter TBR List

Other
2012 Standalone Challenge
Blue Sky Days Teaser #4


Follow Friday Fun Week 20: This weekly meme is hosted by Parajunkee and Alison Can Read.  Check out their blogs for details/rules, and to join!  Also, be sure to check out this week's featured bloggers on each of the girls' sites!


This week's question: What is your biggest pet peeve when it comes to books? Maybe you don't like love triangles or thin plots? Tell us about it!

Hmmm…well, I’m pretty easy to please when it comes to books. There are a few things that annoy me, though…like whiny, woe-is-me characters. Suck it up, get over yourself, and move on! A little bit of angst and self-doubt is to expected in books about teens, but some characters are just too busy having a pity party for one to really develop beyond that. 

I also really hate build-ups that fizzle out. You get really excited waiting for this big fight, or for a character to get their comeuppance, or a couple to get together, and then the story just fizzles and leaves you with a bad taste in your mouth. Also, characters who learn absolutely nothing or don’t grow emotionally or learn anything leave a bad taste in my mouth. What was the point of the story?

 
TGIF at GReads Week 16: TGIF is hosted by Ginger at GReads - be sure to check out her blog and join in the fun!

This week's question: Writing Reviews 101: What's your process for writing book reviews? Any tips or suggestions you would recommend to other bloggers?

 
My reviews are pretty general - they’re more my thoughts on a book than an actual review. For the most part, I don’t go too in-depth, I just basically talk about what I liked and what I didn’t like. One of my main focuses is usually the characters - if I could relate to them, if I loved them, hated them, wanted to slap them, formed a crush, etc, etc. And since I read a lot of romance books, I also like to focus on the romantic aspect in my reviews. 

As a writer, I always pay attention to the writing style, and sometimes comment about that, especially if the author had a unique writing style, or if it was strange and hard to follow. 

If I didn’t like a book, I will never bash it or the author. Even if a book is poorly written, has plot holes, or is just plain bad, writing a book isn’t easy, and authors work hard. When I read a book I don’t enjoy, I always try to say at least a few positive things about it, and not dwell on why I didn’t enjoy it. I absolutely hate writing bad reviews...I like to make people happy, and writing bad reviews makes me feel really icky and guilty lol. 

 
Happy Friday and happy December! I hope you all had a great week! I went away last weekend and still haven't written a blog about it...I haven't even uploaded my pictures to Facebook yet, which, if you know me, is unusual, especially considering I took like 500 pictures in 3 days lol. Anyway, be sure to leave a comment...I'm way behind in visiting people and commenting, but I'm going to catch up this weekend!

Posted by SweetMarie83 at 11:13 PM 15 comments
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Friday, November 4, 2011

Follow Friday Fun (19) & TGIF @ GReads (15)

Weekly recap - what's been going on at Ramblings of a Daydreamer:

Reviews:

Memes:

Other:


Also, I did my first interview this week! Sharon from Obsession With Books interviewed me about Blue Sky Days. I hope you guys will check it out! :-)



Follow Friday Fun Week 19: This weekly meme is hosted by Parajunkee and Alison Can Read.  Check out their blogs for details/rules, and to join!  Also, be sure to check out this week's featured bloggers on each of the girls' sites!




Today's Question is something new, an activity. We want to see what you look like! Take a pic with you and your current read! Too shy? Boo! Just post a fun pic you want to share.

Yes, I am hiding, because it's almost 1am and I have no make-up on and I'm in my jammies lol

I'm reading What Happened to Goodbye, by one of my favorite authors, Sarah Dessen. I'm hoping to finish and have the review up tomorrow.

I can't wait to see all your pics! Seriously...I love looking at pictures.

TGIF at GReads Week 15: TGIF is hosted by Ginger at GReads - be sure to check out her blog and join in the fun!

This week's question: Gateway Books: Which particular books opened you up to a new genre? 

The Hunger Games trilogy definitely opened me up to dystopian. Previously, the only dystopian I had read was The Host by Stephenie Meyer. As much as I enjoyed it, I probably wouldn't have continued to read those types of books based on that one. Growing up, I was terrified of the concept of the end of the world, so I didn't think I'd ever be able to enjoy books that were post-apocalyptic, but I loved The Hunger Games, and there are so many great-sounding dystopian books out now that I can't wait to read more. They were also what started my love affair with young adult books...before this year, I thought I was too old to read YA (with the exception to Harry Potter, of course), but then I read THG, and saw tons of other bloggers who were my age or older reading and loving YA, so I jumped on the bandwagon and haven't looked back!

Also, Heather Graham's books opened me up to the mystery genre. A few years ago, I pretty much just read romance with a few paranormal and fantasy books thrown in once in awhile, but when I discovered Heather Graham, that's when my tastes really started to evolve and I started to branch out. Her earlier books are fantastic, and have a bit of everything - action, suspense, romance, steamy sex scenes (one thing I miss in YA lol) - and I think there was only one book that I guessed the murderer before they were revealed. Her books the last few years haven't been as good as they once were, but I still give them a shot, hoping she'll return to her former awesomeness.


 
Happy Friday! I hope you've all had a fantastic week. The Alzheimer's Society had a 3-day book sale this week and I went all 3 days, so I'm going to have a ton of loot to show you this Sunday in my IMM vlog! Be sure to leave a comment and I'll visit you in return. :-)

Posted by SweetMarie83 at 1:00 AM 20 comments
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Friday, October 28, 2011

Follow Friday Fun (18) & TGIF @ GReads (14)

Weekly recap - what's been going on at Ramblings of a Daydreamer:

Reviews:

Memes:
In My Mailbox Week 12
Waiting on Wednesday (9) & WWW Wednesdays (19)

Other:
Keeping it Real Reading Challenge
Wonderfully Wicked Read-a-Thon
Farsighted by Emlyn Chand - Chapter 1 Excerpt


Follow Friday Fun Week 18: This weekly meme is hosted by Parajunkee and Alison Can Read.  Check out their blogs for details/rules, and to join!  Also, be sure to check out this week's featured bloggers on each of the girls' sites!
This week's question: If you could have dinner with your favorite book character, who would it be and what would you serve?


The first character that came to mind was Anne Shirley from Anne of Green Gables. I can totally picture having her over for a fancy high tea. She'd love to dress up in her best clothes and hat, and pretend to be a society lady. And she'd probably bring me flowers. If I had a parlour, that's where we'd sit, and we'd be very ladylike and civilized and pretend to be very serious (if you've read the Anne books or seen the movies, you'll understand why I say 'pretend' to be serious). It would be a lot of fun. And I might just serve cordial. ;-) 

TGIF at GReads Week 14: TGIF is hosted by Ginger at GReads - be sure to check out her blog and join in the fun!

This week's question: Spooktacular Reads: Which books do you consider festive Halloween reads? Which stories have chilled you to the bone?


I love reading anything paranormal during October, which is why I came up with the Paranormal Reading Challenge. For people who are into ghosts and mysteries, I'd definitely recommend Heather Graham's Adam Harrison Investigations series. They were my introduction to mystery books a few years ago, and some of them are pretty scary (for me anyway, but I'm a total wuss when it comes to scary things lol). Because I don't really read horror, I can't talk too much about that...the only Stephen King book I've read is Carrie, and I didn't see what was so scary (or great) about it, even though some people have said it's really scary. I'd love to read The Shining, but I need to gear myself up for it, I think haha.



Happy Friday, and happy almost Halloween! I hope you've all had a great week. Be sure to leave a comment below, and if you participate in either of these memes, leave a link to your post.


Posted by SweetMarie83 at 12:31 AM 13 comments
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Friday, October 14, 2011

Follow Friday Fun (17) & TGIF @ GReads (13)

Weekly recap - what's been going on at Ramblings of a Daydreamer:

Reviews:
Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead
Christopher Meeks Blog Tour - Review of Love at Absolute Zero + Giveaway

Memes:
In My Mailbox Week 10
Tune in Tuesday Week 5 - Soundtrack Edition: Rattle & Hum
Waiting on Wednesday (7) and WWW Wednesday (17)

Other:
My Bookworm Santa
Happy Canadian Thanksgiving!
Blue Sky Days: my very first author spotlight & info about excerpts 

*On Obsession With Book's blog: Author Spotlight / Book Trailer - Blue Sky Days by Marie Landry
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Follow Friday Fun Week 17: This weekly meme is hosted by Parajunkee and Alison Can Read.  Check out their blogs for details/rules, and to join!  Also, be sure to check out this week's featured bloggers on each of the girls' sites!


This week's question: If you could have characters from a particular book meet and form an epic storyline with characters from a particular TV series, which would you choose and why?

Mmmmm, Spike <3
I'm having a lot of trouble with this one...I've been sitting here forever wracking my brain, but none of the combinations I'm coming up with would really work. I have vampires on the brain because my two current favorite TV shows are Vampire Diaries and True Blood, but I'm not nuts about the book versions for either...and I keep thinking about Buffy, which is my other favorite vampire show...maybe a combination of Buffy and the Southern Vampire/Sookie Stackhouse books? Sexy, bad-ass vampires, werewolves, shifters, demons, all kinds of other creatures, and a slayer thrown in for good measure? Buffy and Sookie as BFFs? Hmm...how about you, what would you choose?


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TGIF at GReads Week 13: TGIF is hosted by Ginger at GReads - be sure to check out her blog and join in the fun!

This week's question: Show & Tell: Where do you grab a book and get lost in it? Show us your favorite spot you like to read at.

<--- This is my favorite chair in my library. My library is beautiful - just 5 years old (as much as I loved the history of my old library, the place was literally falling apart, so a new one was built 5 years ago right across the street. It's extremely modern looking - you'd never know it was a library from the outside, but it's really nice inside), and filled to the brim with books. There are huge floor-to-ceiling windows along two walls, and there are chairs like the one in the picture all the way along one wall. There are also chairs at the end of the stacks near my chair, a gas fireplace, and a gorgeous grandfather clock. That chair is my favorite - it's in a corner between two windows so I get tons of natural light, and it looks out on the street, so I can watch people coming and going. I love being surrounded by all those books, it makes me a very happy girl. You can find me there almost every Saturday immersed in a book with a pile of books at my feet. 

I just happened to take this picture on my phone back in April so I could tweet it, so I don't have pics of my other reading spots, but they are: my corner of the couch for long reading stints since it's comfy; my bed, where I sit to read before going to bed; and my computer, where I read all my ebooks. I was going to take pictures, but they all just happen to be horrifically messy right now, so you'll have to be content with my library pic lol. 


Where's your favorite reading spot?

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Happy Friday, book lovers! I have a giveaway going on right now for a copy of Love at Absolute Zero by Christopher Meeks. The link to that is at the top of the blog under my header. Tomorrow, I'm going to be posting another giveaway, this one for a signed copy or ebook of Being Human by Patricia Lynne, so be sure to come back for that!

If you participate in either of these memes (or even if you don't), I'd love to hear from you, so please leave a comment and I'll be sure to visit you in return. :-) Have a great weekend!
 
Posted by SweetMarie83 at 1:21 AM 11 comments
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Friday, October 7, 2011

Follow Friday Fun (16) & TGIF @ GReads (12)

Weekly recap - what's been going on at Ramblings of a Daydreamer:
Reviews:

Memes:

Other:

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Follow Friday Fun Week 16: This weekly meme is hosted by Parajunkee and Alison Can Read.  Check out their blogs for details/rules, and to join!  Also, be sure to check out this week's featured bloggers on each of the girls' sites!
 
This week's question: If you could pick one character in a book, movie or television show to swap places with, who would it be?

You probably saw this coming, but like most other weeks, this week's question leads to one obvious answer: Harry Potter. If I could trade places with one character in a book, it would be Hermione. I'd love to be friends with Harry and Ron, go to Hogwarts, have amazing magical powers, and I'd happily end up with Ron. <3

A less predictable answer: Jude from Jewels of the Sun by Nora Roberts. I've read a ton of Nora Roberts books and would be happy to switch places with most of her female leads, but the Gallaghers of Ardmore trilogy is my favorite, and I absolutely adore Jude and Aidan. I'd love to move to Ireland the way Jude did and meet a super sexy, wonderful, sweet Irishman and live happily ever after. 
 
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TGIF at GReads Week 12: TGIF is hosted by Ginger at GReads - be sure to check out her blog and join in the fun!
This week's question: To-Be-Reads: How big is your pile? Which book keeps getting pushed down the stack, but you keep meaning to read it?

My physical pile isn't that bad because I can't afford to buy books, so my pile is either books from the library, books I've won, or books I've been sent for review. Probably about 10 books right now. My 'virtual' TBR list...well, a few years ago when Facebook had the virtual bookshelf, I had over 1,000 books on my TBR list. Since joining GoodReads in April, I've added 424 books, so that doesn't even begin to skim the surface. I add books every single day, and never seem to make a dent in it! There are a lot of books that keep getting pushed down, and for no particular reason. The first that come to mind are the Mortal Instrument series by Cassandra Clare. I really want to read these books, but just haven't gotten around to it yet. No idea why!
 
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Happy Friday, book lovers! Sorry it's been quiet around here the last two days, but I've been even busier than usual. I'll be back to my normal posting starting tomorrow though (hopefully), with a review of Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead. Happy Thanksgiving weekend to my fellow Canadians!

If you participate in either of these memes (or even if you don't), I'd love to hear from you, so please leave a comment and I'll be sure to visit you in return. :-) Have a great weekend!
 
Posted by SweetMarie83 at 12:33 AM 10 comments
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Friday, September 30, 2011

Follow Friday Fun (15) & TGIF @ GReads (11)

Weekly recap - what's been going on at Ramblings of a Daydreamer:


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Follow Friday Fun Week 15: This weekly meme is hosted by Parajunkee and Alison Can Read.  Check out their blogs for details/rules, and to join!  Also, be sure to check out this week's featured bloggers on each of the girls' sites!




This week's question: What book that hasn't been turned into a movie (yet) would you most like to see make it to the big screen, and who would you like cast as your favorite character? 

The first one that comes to mind is Amy & Roger’s Epic Detour by Morgan Matson, because I just finished reading it earlier this week and loved it. I pictured it as a movie in my head, so I’d love to actually see it on the big screen. As for the cast, I have absolutely no clue. I hardly ever picture characters in books as actors, so it’s really hard for me to cast characters. If I heard suggestions, I could tell you whether I thought they fit or not, but it's really hard for me to actually come up with possibilities on my own...weird, I know.

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TGIF at GReads Week 11: TGIF is hosted by Ginger at GReads - be sure to check out her blog and join in the fun!

This week's question: Banned Books: How do you feel about the censorship of the freedom to read? Do you think the education system needs to be more strict on what children are exposed to in books?

As a reader and a writer, I don’t agree with censorship. Hell, even as a music lover and a TV/movie watcher, I don’t agree with censorship. I think we should have the right to read, watch, and listen to what we want, and to speak our minds about all of it. 

I’ve read a bunch of banned books. Some of them were part of the curriculum in high school (The Diary of Anne Frank, To Kill a Mockingbird and Of Mice and Men, to name a few). A lot of books that have great lessons and messages also happen to have some questionable content. I think it all evens out in the end, and I know that a lot of the mandatory books I read and loved in high school, I probably never would have read on my own just for pleasure. Other than curriculum books, I think libraries should carry a wide variety – if kids want to read, that desire shouldn’t be hindered, it should be encouraged and nurtured.

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Well, happy Friday, book lovers! Hard to believe tomorrow's the 1st of October. With this being banned book week, how do you feel about banned books? If you participate in either of these memes (or even if you don't), I'd love to hear from you, so please leave a comment and I'll be sure to visit you in return. :-) Have a great weekend!





 
Posted by SweetMarie83 at 12:14 AM 12 comments
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Friday, September 23, 2011

Follow Friday Fun (14), TGIF @ GReads (10)

Weekly recap - what's been going on at Ramblings of a Daydreamer

Memes:

Other:

Also, I did my first ever guest post yesterday at Keith Worth's blog. I talked about why I decided to become an independently published author instead of a traditionally published one. I'd love if you headed over there and checked it out! :-)

Today's the last day to enter my 200 follower giveaway. The link is on the right hand side of the blog.

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Follow Friday Fun Week 14 - this weekly meme is hosted by Parajunkee and Alison Can Read.  Check out their blogs for details/rules, and to join!  Also, be sure to check out this week's featured bloggers on each of the girls' sites!  






This week's question: Do you have a favorite series that you read over and over again? Tell us a bit about it and why you keep revisiting it.

Alison, one of the hosts of Follow Friday said that all the FF questions seem to lead back to Twilight and Harry Potter for her…well for me, it’s Harry Potter. It seems like I mention HP almost every week, and this week will be no exception. I love Harry Potter more than I can say. I’ve read books 1-6 multiple times, and I just read book 7 for the first time this year because I wanted to read it before I saw the movie. Even though I bought the book the day it came out, I put it off for years because I was so afraid of what would happen, and I knew that once I finally read it, it would really be the end. You can only read a book for the first time once. Yes, I can re-read them and watch the movies (and I will), but it’ll never be the same. 

A series I would like to re-read but haven’t yet is The Chronicles of Narnia. I loved those books, and they’re definitely worth a re-read.

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TGIF at GReads Week 10: TGIF is hosted by Ginger at GReads - be sure to check out her blog and join in the fun!

This week's question: Reading Challenges: Did you sign up for any this year? How has your progression been?

I only signed up for one reading challenge this year – BCC's Summer Romance Challenge – because I didn’t start book blogging until May. I definitely want to participate in a bunch for 2012 because I think they're a great way to make reading goals and stick with them.


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Happy Friday, book lovers! I hope you all had a spectacular week and that you have a wonderful weekend. If you participate in any of these memes (or even if you don't), I'd love to hear from you, so please leave a comment and I'll be sure to visit you in return. :-)



Posted by SweetMarie83 at 12:13 AM 9 comments
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