CONTEST! Yup, you heard that right

GUESS WHAT!

I am going to Italy in like 19 days!

I am going with a class from my university led by two professors, both of whom I had this semester and loved, so I am really psyched. Also, two of my TA friends are also going and we are going to have a blast! We are flying into Rome and also going to Florence and Siena! Woohoo!

And I thought you might like a little taste of Italy for yourself!

So, this is just a little prize, but someone did this a year or so ago and I loved getting a postcard from Spain so I thought you guys might like getting a postcard from Italy!

What do you think?

All you have to do is leave a comment and be willing to e-mail me your address if you win.

AND (here's the best part) I will probably announce multiple winners (depending on how many enter) AND I will put up a post right before I leave for a second half of the contest where anyone who enters will get a little prize pack FROM ITALY and maybe even an Italian owl. So what do you think of THAT?!

The postcard part is open to ANYONE, but the prize pack will sadly be limited to US and Canada because I will have no money for shipping when I get back from this trip :)
And here's a little Italy for your week :)

Cover Love Thursday: Rosebush by Michele Jaffe

This cover is so gorgeous.

In fact, it's the reason that I picked this book up at all. Once I started reading it I couldn't put it down. The story is as startling and painfully beautiful as the cover.

Quick, unspoilery review:

Jane wakes up in the hospital, broken and bruised and paralyzed without any idea of how she got there. As she remembers bits and pieces of the days leading up to the accident, regains mobility, and talks with friends and family Jane tries to put together the events she has forgotten. Strange phone calls and threatening events convince her that whoever put her in the hospital hasn't given up and won't give up until she's dead.

A terrifying and heart-rending story of popularity, friendship, and love, Rosebush will keep you turning the pages and guessing and second-guessing as you try to solve the mystery along with Jane.

Retail Wednesday Injured Thumb Edition

FIRST I'm sure you noticed my fabulous new HEADER with the owl and the books and the fancy writing! It's courtesy miss Mia Hayson who made it for me, because I won the contest she had. Isn't it amazing?! Aren't you jealous?!

SECOND

Yeah! The cast is off! The pin is out! My thumb still won't bend, but it's SO much better and I am slowly regaining mobility. Thank you all for the prayers and well wishes!

I don't really have time to do a full blown Retail Wednesday post today, so I thought I would list some of the ridiculous jokes and responses I got from people when my thumb was all bandaged. Because people are continually weird.

Note: if you are shopping and one of the salespeople has a cast or bandage 1)don't STARE AT IT 2)Don't ask how it happened 3)Don't ask if it hurts 4)TREAT THEM LIKE A NORMAL HUMAN BEING

Bad Jokes:
Don't hit me! (from a middle aged woman. Yes.)

Did you have a hitchhiking accident? (okay, this was pretty funny)

You're about ready to break your other hand on me, aren't you? (after saying something rude about the store to set himself up. LAME.)

Who won? (To which I responded, "The Sidewalk!")

Awkwardness:
Customer: I'm looking for a book.
Me: What book?
Customer: Oh! What did you do?
Me: I hurt my thumb.
Customer: You broke it?
Me: No, dislocated it. (just tell me what book already)
Customer: How did you do that?
Me: Tripped on a sidewalk.
Customer: And they had to put that big a cast on it?
Me: well, I needed surgery. They put a pin in it.
Customer: That's terrible. Does it hurt?
Me: Not really.
Customer: Well, it's got to be really hard. Are you right handed?
Me: Yup. (what BOOK DO YOU WANT?!)
Customer: That's really bad. You seem to be doing all right.
Me. Yup.
Customer: I bet it's hard to write and things.
Me. Yup.

Or the woman that stared at my arm the ENTIRE time I was helping her. Never looked at my face, only my bandage as we had a fairly extended conversation about the type of book she was looking for. She starts to walk away, gets about fifteen feet away then turns and calls back over her shoulder, "Oh, what did you do?"

Guy: How did you do that?
Me: Tripped on a sidewalk.
Guy: Is that like *air quotes* "I ran into a door"?
Me: (I can't believe you just asked that) No, I literally tripped on a sidewalk *death glare*

Most people were decent. It just does get tiring to have everybody ask, "Oh, how did you do that" Especially when I knew I was never going to see them again.

So it's nice to have my hand back and to be able to type and function a little more normally! Thanks for stopping by! Hopefully next week I'll have a "real" Retail Wednesday post :D

It's a Tell the Truth Tuesday Extravaganza!

So the ever fabulous Lisa and Laura Roecker do this very entertaining post most Tuesdays where they admit some sort of hilarious truth. Maybe it's not supposed to be so hilarious as I find it, but I'm easily entertained. Also I can so see my sister and I in a few years every time I read a post.

But today they are doing something different and having us post our tell the truths on our blogs rather than in their comments. I figured, hey, WHY NOT.

so here goes:

1. My arm looks like something out of a bad horror movie called "Lizard Arm" or something. I just got my cast off from my thumb surgery and the skin is dry and peeling and... well, you get the idea.

2. I am writing this post in order to procrastinate reading more feminist literary theory for my class tonight.

3. I am TERRIFIED that one of the customers I make fun of in my Retail Wednesday blogposts will read it and come after me.

4. I am so not a poetry fan, but I am finding it the easiest section to teach in my English Composition class.

5. I must end all lists like this on a multiple of five or the WORLD MIGHT END.

Hey, you never know.

So what's your truth today?

Shatter Me, Possession, Liar Society, Supernaturally etc, etc, etc

There are so many cool contests going on right now that you need to check out!

Tahereh Mafi, sweetness personified, is FINALLY giving away ARCs of Shatter Me. So Exciting! Check it out! It's super easy to enter! Contest ends April 24!

THEN Elana Johnson, who's totally frawesome, is giving away swag and a signed ARC of Possession and all kinds of totally amazing stuff if you'll just play TAG, or rather NOT TAG. Um, I'm not explaining that very well. So check out the link or click the button on the sidebar.

Do you like mysteries? Because the iClue contest is made of so much WIN! Lisa and Laura Roecker, Beth Revis, Kimberly Derting, Adele Griffin, Mandy Hubbard, and Lee Nichols have teamed up to provide 6 mysteries YOU get to solve and each one correctly answered gets you an entry to win an iPod touch loaded with all 6 of their books! Click on the button on the sidebar to see more! There's a mystery a week for 6 weeks and we're only on week 2!

Are you as stoked as I am about Kiersten White's (who's like one of my heroes and a fellow Damon eye admirerer) Supernaturally? Do you want to win an ARC, plus an ARC for Jon Skovron's Misfit? Cindy Pon is doing a giveaway! Ends April 22.

And that's all I've got for now!

My thumb pin comes out on Monday for those of you following my progress. Thanks for all the well wishes!

Death, Dying and Purple Destruction?

Hi there! Long time no anything, huh? Man do I miss you guys. Like a lot. I miss posting, I miss reading *sigh* Just typing my school assignments is strenuous enough, so blogging has to go on the very back burner. I still manage to tweet, though. And I started a Tumblr. Shh... don't tell anyone. It's easy to post tiny things there.

But anyways.

Okay, there isn't any literal death going on in our house, but Naomi, my Dad, and my brother are ill. Brother got diagnosed with type A influenza and by all signs my dad and sis have it too. ugh.

This is why I am holed up in my room and taking copious doses of Elderberry.

Yesterday I went in for my two week post op appointment. They took out the stitches and did x-rays and said that everything is looking good. I go back a week from Monday for them to take out the pin and then I'll have physical therapy.

THEN.

They put my hand in a cast. For real.

Never ever trip on an uneven sidewalk. Or if you do, don't use your thumb to break your fall.

So we're just a hot mess right now, but there is a bright side... Things can only look up from here :)