I don’t know about you, but in my family we always listened to the same Christmas CDs every year. It was always super exciting to pull out the CDs the day after Thanksgiving and start dancing as we baked, decorated, wrapped, and sat by the fire. Here are some of my favorite Christmas tunes that I’ve been listening to since I was little.

Neil Diamond – Joy to the World
I love both his Christmas albums!

David Lanz – The Christmas Waltz/The First Noel
Ahh… David Lanz… This guy is amazing. I went to a concert of his, and melted.

The Beach Boys – Little St. Nick
Yes, I grew up listening to the Beach Boys. (I saw them live on the 4th of July this year, actually!)
And I love their Christmas album!

Andy Williams – The Most Wonderful Time of the Year
Is this not the most amazing Christmas song ever? Yeah, I thought so too. Every time I hear is I smile like a little kid.

Kenny G – The Christmas Song
Christmas Eve dinner was always spent listening to Kenny G’s Christmas albums by candlelight!

Wham! – Last Christmas
And honestly. Wham! had to happen. Every time I say the word “special” I say it they way they did in this song.

So, what Christmas songs did you grow up listening to with your family? Do we have any in common?

 

Hi guys!

I know it’s been about a week since I last posted, which is really out of character for me. I have been incredibly sick for the last two weeks, and just had abdominal surgery on Halloween to get my gallbladder removed. We’re all hoping this fixes things, but I have not gone to work, and I have hardly read anything because the meds I’m on make me very weird. I can’t even focus on words right now. I’m on the road to recovery, though, and am extremely confident that this surgery will drastically improve my life.

In other news, I have been busy getting posts together for my Bookish Little Christmas event, which is happening all next month! If any of you: bloggers, authors, publishers, and/or readers are interested in doing anything on my blog in honor of my Christmas celebration, please let me know! I’ve got spots available for guest posts about Christmas topics, Christmas book reviews, book features, giveaways, etc. Let me know soon, though, because spots are filling up! Thanks to all of you who have contacted me so far. I’m super excited to have you on my blog. :)

Keep your eyes open for normal life back again on the blog soon, and I’m still on Twitter because that takes very little thought. Come talk to me! I’m bored in bed, and will eventually run out of episodes on season 3 of Vampire Diaries!

Hi! Today, you can find me over at Little Red Reads as part of her “Blogs to Talk About” feature. Stephanie is super nice, and I loved the interview questions she gave me! Some of them were really tricky. Anyway, click her blog button and head over to check out the post, learn some more about me, and spend some time at her blog!

 

Armchair BEA is a fun online event that those of us who could not attend BEA in New York City can participate in! There’s ways to network with other bloggers, posts on blogging tips, giveaways, and happenings at BEA from people who are there. Visit the Armchair BEA blog to see a schedule of events!

Today’s topic is tricky for me. The creators of Armchair BEA have asked us to, “share your top tips for getting beyond your blog! Have you done any freelance writing? Are you monetizing your blog and how so? How do you make connections outside the book blog community on the internet?” I haven’t freelanced, I’m only an Amazon Associate, and there’s not a lot of ways to get involved in the bookish community where I live. Since none of these really apply to me, I’ve been encouraged to talk about a fun aspect of my life, separate from books.

There’s not a lot I do that’s separate from books! Haha. I’m a graphic designer, and I own my own business called Enchanting Simplicity Graphic Design Studio. Throughout my design career, I have freelanced for Microsoft working on some XBOX things, created a brand identity for a motion picture company, designed websites for schools and small businesses, done a lot of wedding announcements, and designed t-shirts, album covers, advertisements, and books for various performing groups and organizations. I love, LOVE what I do. In the future, I plan to get beyond my blog by designing book covers for self-published authors (and maybe someday I can get on a design team for a major publisher like Harper Collins, Random House, Macmillan, etc. That’s my dream!). Book covers are very exciting things to design, and I already know I love working with authors and other people in the book industry! If you’re looking for a book cover, let’s talk!

When I’m not designing, I love making jewelry, watching re-runs of my favorite shows (like Friends, Saved by the Bell, Wings, etc.), hanging out with my friends and family, and going to MOVIES. I am a major movie-lover. I also love traveling around the world. Reading has really opened my mind and taken me to amazing places. I’ve got this constant hunger to find the locations I read about, and if they don’t exist I like to find places that remind me of them.

Well, this is my life beyond the blog! What’s your life like when you’re not reading or blogging? And what are you doing to achieve the goals you’re hoping to achieve through book blogging? Link me up, and I’ll come visit!

 

Armchair BEA is a fun online event that those of us who could not attend BEA in New York City can participate in! There’s ways to network with other bloggers, posts on blogging tips, giveaways, and happenings at BEA from people who are there. Visit the Armchair BEA blog to see a schedule of events!

Today, I get to talk all about my life with books, networking outside the book blogosphere, and what I have done to impact the bookish community locally, rather than just online. This is a topic I simply adore, just because doing this helped me discover that my love of reading is even stronger than I had thought.

After I graduated college in December of 2009, I kind of went through a mini “what now?” crisis. I had my degree, but just didn’t know where to go from there. I knew I wanted to own my own graphic design business, which I do now, but I didn’t know if I wanted to only do that, or if I wanted to do that as a side thing and find something else to do as well. Long story short, I had to feel useful until I knew what I was going to do with my life. I decided to start volunteering at a local elementary school, teaching children how to read and/or speak English. The school I chose did not have enough employees to reach every child who was in need of extra help. Most of the children come from low-income families, and almost all of them are Spanish-speakers. I knew this would be a wonderful use of my time.

I started working with children one-on-one for several hours a week, and really enjoyed it. My kids and I bonded, and it was amazing to see the transformations they went through. It was so fast! I had one little guy in particular who had just arrived from Mexico. Not only did I have to try and teach him to read, I had to teach him English! We went through the alphabet every day, and he would get so excited when he got things right. It was an amazing experience. I ended up being offered a job, and I snatched it up. I spent the whole next year tutoring in reading, teaching English and phonics to different classes of youngsters, smiling every time I heard “Miss Jana!!!”, and getting lots of hugs.

In a way, this blog is dedicated to them. I constantly think of my littles, and all the amazing things we learned together. They made me realize how important reading is, and how exciting it can be. I watched the tears fall when it was too hard, and we jumped up and down together when it all of a sudden became easier for them. Those breakthrough moments made me grateful for my education. I think about them every time I close a book. Some of them have excelled far and beyond beyond their grade levels, and some are still working. I like to think I was able to give something back to them, though, as they all changed my life forever.

Please, PLEASE link me to your awesome posts for today’s topic! I’ll come visit as soon as I can!

Oh, and can I just thank all of you? I hit 500 followers tonight, and could not be more thrilled! I love you all!