One Year Ago...

Hello everyone!

I am very excited to be posting this today, because tomorrow is...

THE ROMANCE BOOKIE ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY!!!

 I can't believe it's already been a year, since I started The Romance Bookie.  It's become one of my hobbies, posting here.  I've enjoyed writing reviews, discussing books, movies (based on books), and music.  I find myself every time I'm reading a new book, figuring out different things to write while I'm reading :).

Tomorrow is going to be very exciting!  It's not only the One Year Anniversary of The Romance Bookie, but also my first day of WINTER BREAK!! That's right, finals are over!! "Schools out forever!"...okay, at least until the middle of January :), and then it's back to studying.  And then I am also going to be going to the Ronald Reagan Library tomorrow; which I'm SUPER excited about!! I have wanted to go there for a while now; it's a library after all, which is almost as awesome as bookstore!! :)

So anyway, I really wanted to Thank Everyone whose read my blog!  I hope you've enjoyed it so far, as much as I have had writing and creating it.  I was brand new to the blogging world when I started The Romance Bookie last year on December 12th, 2010; and I probably wouldn't have started it without my mom.  She was the one that suggested that I start a place where I could write down how I feel about the books I read.  No one ever listened before, so The Romance Bookie makes me feel like at least a few have listened.

Before I go, I also wanted to let everyone know that I've spent today (practically ALL day!!) adding some stuff to The Romance Bookie.  She's (yes, The Romance Bookie is a "she") become sort of like my baby.  I like maintenancing her :).  So today I decided to add a couple of pages:  An About Me page; there you'll find some information about me.  And then I also added the 2012 Reading Challenges page, where you'll find all the challenges that I'll be taking apart in this New Year.

Not only did I add these two pages, but I also found myself making a list of things that could be added to The Romance Bookie:

I've been reading quite a few other blogs over the past year, and I have come across some great ideas!  I have seen a lot of post titled In My Mailbox.  I found out it was started by The Story Siren, and it involves a little showing off to our fellow bloggers and readers ;), by letting them know what books they got.  I am hoping to start this when the New Year starts, so in a couple of weeks.  Also, for the New Year I want to start Music Tuesdays, where I'll be sharing with you all the song(s) I am listening to that week.  

Then also, something I have been thinking about for some time now, is Book Age Ratings.  I read a pretty wide age range of books; and I feel that some of them just aren't appropriate for certain age groups.  So I'm hoping to remember, but from now on, I am going to be posting Age ratings for the books I read.  I'm going to try to post these in the "tags" so look out for those!

Then (almost done here, I promise!!), I don't really know yet if this is going to work, but I have started working on a Blog Button for The Romance Bookie.  I don't know yet, if I'll be able to use it, because I am as technically savvy as others, but I really felt like sketching some options today.  So far my favorite it:

What do you think??

And then, seriously the last thing, I am hoping to do a giveaway at some point next year.  Unfortunately, I just don't have the resources and money to be doing any HUGE giveaways; especially since shipping and handling is just purely RIDICULOUS! But I was thinking, depending on how many followers I get next year, of doing some kind of Giveaway.  Right now, it's between doing it at the 50, 75, OR 100 mark.  I have some extra bookmarks and little knicknacks that have been sent to me by some awesome authors, that I would love to give to a fellow book lover :). I don't know if I'll even reach those numbers next year, but I just don't find it worth it to host a giveaway yet.  That being said, I ABSOLUTELY 100% appreciate all of you who have signed on to Follow The Romance Bookie. I know it sounds lame, but I get very excited when I see I have gained a new follower (but then again, admit it fellow bloggers, YOU DO TOO!!).

So that's everything, I believe.  I hope everyone is having a great weekend, and has a great week.  I will 100% have a book finished this week, one I'm really looking forward to posting about, so I'll write again soon.  And also I want to post an entire post dedicated to my favorite books of 2011, which I'm hoping to post either the day before or after the New Year starts.

Thanks Everyone!

XOXO

The Romance Bookie :)