Happy Halloween!

I just wanted to write a quick post to wish you all a super Happy Halloween!

Today is the day where we can dress up and be awesome and no one will give us weird looks. Mostly.

I am writing this at about 2 am, sickness and I haven’t quite decided what I’m going to wear yet. I’m either going Shadowhunter black with runes OR I’m just going to throw my Ravenclaw stuff on and call it a day. I love Halloween so I hope I see a ton of cool costumes tomorrow.

AND I want to see all of YOURS too. So please Tweet me or share on Facebook, or email me at whatanerdgirlsays [at] gmail [dot] com, because I want to see them. I’ll do a special Halloween post and share them with all the followers!

I just wanted to remind you guys of the most important thing about Halloween!

Well, the TWO most important things.

The first one is…be careful and be safe! Halloween can make some people kind of crazy. Be aware, don’t drink and drive, call a cab, don’t eat candy thats already opened, don’t go to houses that aren’t lit, all of that safety stuff. Please all of you be absolutely careful this Halloween, and every Halloween.

And the second thing is…HAVE FUN! Make it the best Halloween ever, at least until next year!

Happy Halloween guys!

Sara, Christina Marie and Kat

Fierce Reads Tour Kicks Off in San Diego!

Yesterday was another epic author event under the belt for me, viagra 40mg down at Mysterious Galaxy for the first stop of the Fierce Reads Tour.

This fall Fierce Reads tour features authors Gennifer Albin and Ann Aguirre, what is ed with Jessica Brody and Leigh Bardugo as special guests.

Now, I’m already quite familiar with Jessica and Leigh. I mean, when Jessica Brody tweets you because she saw that you were interviewed in the CBS interview with Cassandra Clare, that’s pretty awesome. Jessica is the author of several contemporary YA novels, like My Life Undecided and The Karma Club, and the Unremembered trilogy, with a sort of Bourne identity storyline but with a kickass girl and a hot guy. Can’t deny that one can you?

Leigh Bardugo is the author of Shadow and Bone, and Siege and Storm, following the story of Alina Starkov in this immense and dark fantasy world, who finds out she has special powers and must be taken under the wing of the mysterious Darkling in order to learn them.

Gennifer and Ann are new authors to my ever growing list. Gennifer writes a sort of fantasy-dystopian where girls called Spinsters literally weave the reality of the world on looms. I just bought the first book of Ann’s trilogy, but I’m very excited to dive into it.

Authors at Fierce Reads

The adventure getting to Mysterious Galaxy was super fun, with my friends Cassandra, and Sylvia from FanGirlFeeels, and when we got there, I was SO happy to be there! I enjoy meeting authors and I love Mysterious Galaxy. They are such fun indie bookstores and they’re great. The authors had arrived at the same time, and both Jessica and Leigh said enthusiastic hellos to myself and to Sylvia, and thanked us for driving to see them.

Fierce Reads Books

The event was SUCH a blast. I already knew that Jessica and Leigh were super fun to meet. Each one of them has their own brand of humor, and I always have such a great time with their events. Add in Ann and Gennifer and it was literally a laugh fest the entire time. Seriously, I swear I want to be an author just to hang out with these super cool ladies. I was literally laughing, with a little bit of tears, every time they were talking. This was the first stop of the tour, and I know that the rest of the stops are going to be just fabulous, because they obviously have a fun and awesome chemistry going on.

Leigh Bardugo

All the authors shared a lot about writing, and about their books. I always love coming to these things because I feel like I get wonderful insight to the authors’ books and I also get priceless writing advice, which is always helpful to me. I gobble up all possible writing advice, anything to help keep me motivated and inspired.

Gennifer Albin

They also addressed the sort of controversy and issues going on with Allegiant. Each author sort of agreed that readers have the right to react as they please, but the reactions can be dealt with in other manners. Ann said she knows that not everyone is going to love her book, but she’d hope they wouldn’t bring it to her front yard. Leigh was extremely passionate about it, and said she would hope that readers understood where authors are coming from when they are writing their novel, and that they’re going to write the novel they set out to write. She also said that expressing all those emotions, like hate and anger, won’t change anything so its a waste of time. I liked what Jessica said, that love and hate come from the same place, and you know you’re doing something right if you get either of those.

Jessica Brody

I’ve also learned from these authors that the second and third books were harder to write. Gennifer Albin said that her first book seemed like a breeze to her, but the second one was a lot harder. Both Leigh and Jessica lamented over their third books, and jokingly called Jessica’s third book “stupidly awesome.” Ann talked about the difficulties of having a successful first book, and translating the story and the audience into the second and the third book.

Ann Aguirre

I found that SO interesting. She really explained how each of her books in her trilogy sort of represented something different: the first book was the quest, the second book was the emotions and building of relationships, and the third was the war. I really bought into that, and I really loved it. I’m writing a standalone sci-fi so I’m not frazzled at how to fit all of that into one book. But I thought it was a good way of thinking of it, and its something I’m definitely keeping in mind!

Then came meeting the authors, which is always fun because you get to interact with them, and I’ve gotten to know Jessica and Leigh, we’ve bonded and can joke with each other. When my friend Cassandra met Jessica Brody, she was like “you came with these clowns?!” and I couldn’t stop laughing. But she was extremely helpful with writing tips, and I’m going to be checking out this book called Save the Cat and creating a book bible for my sci-fi book. I’m going to start working on that now!

Lastly, I LOVED talking to Gennifer about Harry Potter and Doctor Who. She had the cutest Doctor Who lunch box/purse thing, and I showed her my Doctor Who tattoo and she was so excited about it, and she was like “I need to get my Deathly Hallows tattoo” and I just held out my other wrist, and she laughed, and was like “You stole all my tattoo ideas!” I love author bonding ;)

Here is all the awesome swag/signed books I got!

Fierce Reads Bag

Signed 52 Reasons Book Signed Crewel Book Signed Enclave Book Signed Fierce Reads Poster

OH! And of course I had Gennifer and Ann sign my poster of writing advice :) Check out what they had to say!

Gennifer and Ann Writing Advice

I also was really stoked to meet one of my followers, Kayla, who is the blogger over at The Thousand Lives. We talk a LOT online, especially about books, and it was her VERY FIRST book event. You can read about her experience here, and I am so glad to have met her IRL and to be part of her first author event experience!

Last night was just the first stop of their tour (they’re in Albuquerque tonight), and there are SO many more stops. Check out this link to find out if they’re coming near you. You definitely do NOT want to miss out!

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Fierce Reads Tour Kicks Off in San Diego!

Yesterday was another epic author event under the belt for me, viagra 40mg down at Mysterious Galaxy for the first stop of the Fierce Reads Tour.

This fall Fierce Reads tour features authors Gennifer Albin and Ann Aguirre, what is ed with Jessica Brody and Leigh Bardugo as special guests.

Now, I’m already quite familiar with Jessica and Leigh. I mean, when Jessica Brody tweets you because she saw that you were interviewed in the CBS interview with Cassandra Clare, that’s pretty awesome. Jessica is the author of several contemporary YA novels, like My Life Undecided and The Karma Club, and the Unremembered trilogy, with a sort of Bourne identity storyline but with a kickass girl and a hot guy. Can’t deny that one can you?

Leigh Bardugo is the author of Shadow and Bone, and Siege and Storm, following the story of Alina Starkov in this immense and dark fantasy world, who finds out she has special powers and must be taken under the wing of the mysterious Darkling in order to learn them.

Gennifer and Ann are new authors to my ever growing list. Gennifer writes a sort of fantasy-dystopian where girls called Spinsters literally weave the reality of the world on looms. I just bought the first book of Ann’s trilogy, but I’m very excited to dive into it.

Authors at Fierce Reads

The adventure getting to Mysterious Galaxy was super fun, with my friends Cassandra, and Sylvia from FanGirlFeeels, and when we got there, I was SO happy to be there! I enjoy meeting authors and I love Mysterious Galaxy. They are such fun indie bookstores and they’re great. The authors had arrived at the same time, and both Jessica and Leigh said enthusiastic hellos to myself and to Sylvia, and thanked us for driving to see them.

Fierce Reads Books

The event was SUCH a blast. I already knew that Jessica and Leigh were super fun to meet. Each one of them has their own brand of humor, and I always have such a great time with their events. Add in Ann and Gennifer and it was literally a laugh fest the entire time. Seriously, I swear I want to be an author just to hang out with these super cool ladies. I was literally laughing, with a little bit of tears, every time they were talking. This was the first stop of the tour, and I know that the rest of the stops are going to be just fabulous, because they obviously have a fun and awesome chemistry going on.

Leigh Bardugo

All the authors shared a lot about writing, and about their books. I always love coming to these things because I feel like I get wonderful insight to the authors’ books and I also get priceless writing advice, which is always helpful to me. I gobble up all possible writing advice, anything to help keep me motivated and inspired.

Gennifer Albin

They also addressed the sort of controversy and issues going on with Allegiant. Each author sort of agreed that readers have the right to react as they please, but the reactions can be dealt with in other manners. Ann said she knows that not everyone is going to love her book, but she’d hope they wouldn’t bring it to her front yard. Leigh was extremely passionate about it, and said she would hope that readers understood where authors are coming from when they are writing their novel, and that they’re going to write the novel they set out to write. She also said that expressing all those emotions, like hate and anger, won’t change anything so its a waste of time. I liked what Jessica said, that love and hate come from the same place, and you know you’re doing something right if you get either of those.

Jessica Brody

I’ve also learned from these authors that the second and third books were harder to write. Gennifer Albin said that her first book seemed like a breeze to her, but the second one was a lot harder. Both Leigh and Jessica lamented over their third books, and jokingly called Jessica’s third book “stupidly awesome.” Ann talked about the difficulties of having a successful first book, and translating the story and the audience into the second and the third book.

Ann Aguirre

I found that SO interesting. She really explained how each of her books in her trilogy sort of represented something different: the first book was the quest, the second book was the emotions and building of relationships, and the third was the war. I really bought into that, and I really loved it. I’m writing a standalone sci-fi so I’m not frazzled at how to fit all of that into one book. But I thought it was a good way of thinking of it, and its something I’m definitely keeping in mind!

Then came meeting the authors, which is always fun because you get to interact with them, and I’ve gotten to know Jessica and Leigh, we’ve bonded and can joke with each other. When my friend Cassandra met Jessica Brody, she was like “you came with these clowns?!” and I couldn’t stop laughing. But she was extremely helpful with writing tips, and I’m going to be checking out this book called Save the Cat and creating a book bible for my sci-fi book. I’m going to start working on that now!

Lastly, I LOVED talking to Gennifer about Harry Potter and Doctor Who. She had the cutest Doctor Who lunch box/purse thing, and I showed her my Doctor Who tattoo and she was so excited about it, and she was like “I need to get my Deathly Hallows tattoo” and I just held out my other wrist, and she laughed, and was like “You stole all my tattoo ideas!” I love author bonding ;)

Here is all the awesome swag/signed books I got!

Fierce Reads Bag

Signed 52 Reasons Book Signed Crewel Book Signed Enclave Book Signed Fierce Reads Poster

OH! And of course I had Gennifer and Ann sign my poster of writing advice :) Check out what they had to say!

Gennifer and Ann Writing Advice

I also was really stoked to meet one of my followers, Kayla, who is the blogger over at The Thousand Lives. We talk a LOT online, especially about books, and it was her VERY FIRST book event. You can read about her experience here, and I am so glad to have met her IRL and to be part of her first author event experience!

Last night was just the first stop of their tour (they’re in Albuquerque tonight), and there are SO many more stops. Check out this link to find out if they’re coming near you. You definitely do NOT want to miss out!

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What A Nerd Girl Says Celebrates NaNoWriMo with a Twist!

So I’ve learned fairly recently that November is National Novel Writing Month, physician also known as NaNoWriMo.

And I thought, discount wow, symptoms that’s REALLY cool. A whole month dedicated to the writing of a novel.

There’s a whole website for it too, which you can check out here.

However, the more I checked it out, the more that I realized…its just not for me. I don’t really agree with it.

See, the idea of it is to write any entire 50,000 page novel in the span of one month. And I just really understand that. For one thing, I’m a busy girl. It will never take me only a couple months to write a novel. Ever. It just won’t. I have this blog to run, I have friends and my boyfriend. I love going to various events like book signings and movie premieres, and I like watching my television shows. Plus, I’m a full time student and November is a big month, with finals just right around the corner. I can’t risk that kind of crazy haha.

But I also just think the idea of writing a novel in one month is silly. Now maybe you don’t agree with me, and you’re taking part in the official NaNoWriMo and that’s okay! More power to you. But its just not me. I don’t agree with the idea of rushing a novel, and a short one at that.

And okay, I can see you all getting snippy at me. I know that the sort of novel you’re writing can determine the word count that you typically would write. If you’re writing a middle grade, 50,000 probably tends to be on the higher end. If you’re writing a YA, it *could* be okay, but its on the low end, definitely. If its an adult novel, its definitely too short.

Plus…like I said, it just feels WAY too rushed to me. There doesn’t seem to be any emphasis on actually writing a GOOD novel, more just writing to reach the finish line of 50K words. You get a nice little certificate and all of that. But you could literally just write the same paragraph, hell, even the same word, over and over again and that could be counted. There’s no judging. There’s no learning or growing or anything. Its more…who can writing 50K words that show some resemblance to an actual story in a month long period. It just doesn’t seem to be…productive or efficient or really helpful in any way.

Now I’m not insulting it, so I hope the people of NaNoWriMo don’t come after me, but I just don’t really like the idea of it. Its not me, and its not a lot of writers.

But I decided that as an aspiring novelist, as a writer, I couldn’t just ignore the idea. Even though its an internet based thing, I think its a great idea. Even though writers should write, write, write, all the time, any day and any month of the year, a month to refocus and regroup on a novel, and set those goals and meet some goals is a great idea.

So I’ve kind of created my own NaNoWriMo. My goal for November as a novel writing month is to focus on my novel, to set a goal of a certain amount of words that I want to reach and then focus on different parts of writing a novel. I want to test my characters, I want to develop strategies for writing and overcoming writer’s block. I want you guys to get to know my story, and in turn, I’ll become more confident in my own story.

So basically I’m going to spend this month, honing in on my focus on my novel, and getting better at it, and hopefully helping you guys to get better too!

My goal is to be at 20K words by the end of the month, and to have developed most of the story, in my head, or in a plot outline, so that I’ll have direction for the rest of it. I’m aiming on about 80K words, so I definitely think I can do this, and I already have about 5,000 written so let’s see if we can do this.

Throughout the month, I’ll be posting updates on my own novel writing, here and on Facebook and Twitter (so follow me on both!) and I’ll be exploring different strategies, advices and ideas to help get over some of the bumps in the road in writing a novel.

I hope you can join me on this journey! Feel free to write along with me, as I spend the month of November working on my novel and becoming a better writer :)

My Posts for NaNoWriMo

November 1st: Where I Write

November 4th: Meeting the Main Characters of my Novel: Katy, Ash, Madison, Frank, Jennifer, and Razi

November 6th: Best Writing Advice I’ve Been Given

November 8th: Having a Book Bible

November 11th: Character Interviews

November 13th: How to Deal with Writer’s Block

November 15th: Its the Halfway Point! Update, Struggles/Successes!

November 18th: Writing Inspirations

November 20th: Character Playlists

November 22nd: Free Write: My Characters Celebrate Thanksgiving

November 25th: Meeting my Characters in Artwork

November 27th: Setting up and Meeting Goals

November 29th: My Experience with NaNoWriMo

November 30th: Excerpt from my Novel…So Far

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Happy Writing Everyone!

Crewel Book Review

Crewel by Gennifer Albin

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You Can Find the Book At:

GoodReads

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

Author Website

GoodReads Summary:

Incapable. Awkward. Artless. 
That’s what the other girls whisper behind her back. But sixteen-year-old Adelice Lewys has a secret: She wants to fail. 

Gifted with the ability to weave time with matter, abortion she’s exactly what the Guild is looking for, tadalafil and in the world of Arras, try being chosen to work the looms is everything a girl could want. It means privilege, eternal beauty, and being something other than a secretary. It also means the power to manipulate the very fabric of reality. But if controlling what people eat, where they live, and how many children they have is the price of having it all, Adelice isn’t interested.

Not that her feelings matter, because she slipped and used her hidden talent for a moment. Now she has one hour to eat her mom’s overcooked pot roast. One hour to listen to her sister’s academy gossip and laugh at her dad’s jokes. One hour to pretend everything’s okay. And one hour to escape.

Because tonight, they’ll come for her.

My Review:

I am truly amazed at Gennifer Albin’s world building skills in this novel.

World building impresses me so much. Its one thing to be a good writer, but its another to be able to build a world, and make it so incredibly real. I have always admired writers that are able to do that and this is exactly what makes this book so good. Its only part of it, but its a huge part of it.

She creates this world that can seem kind of familiar to ours but it isn’t. The world is hanging by a thread literally. Without the talents of the women (Spinsters) who weave the world, like food and weather, life and death, the world of Arras would literally cease to exist. They hold the power and yet…they have no power, no control. They are regulated, and trained and are hidden behind elaborate dress and make-up. Its so beautiful, and scary at the same time. She builds this world that could potentially be beautiful and enviable. The idea of beautiful threads on a loom, woven together to create and destroy is breathtaking. Being revered, and primped to look beautiful, every single day. But its also incredibly scary. The control they have over human life and death, in form of mere threads is so much power for any one to have, and that’s why the control of Arras is so dramatic.

I’m not going to lie, though. I’m a little confused. The world can be a little daunting, the idea of weaving the existence, and Adelice’s power. Sometimes, I had to read a page over again, to sort of understand what that was going on. You have to be really able to picture the world that Gennifer creates, in order to understand it. I’m planning on reading it again; now that I’ve absorbed the story, I can focus on the world and understanding it more clearly. Its a little confusing and daunting so if you’re not into worlds that are unfamiliar, I would avoid it. This is not for the occasional dystopian/fantasy reader. It works definitely if you’re used to being thrown into fantastical worlds.

But I honestly loved it. I think that she makes her world so real. While the world can be daunting, and the weaving ideas can be a little confusing, the story is easy accessible. Adelice has the same sort of worries and problems that other characters have, and that we can relate to. She’s worried about her little sister, Amie, and is immensely protective of her. She’s headstrong, afraid to give up her will so easily, not when her parents fought so hard to keep her from becoming a Spinster-a special title for those gifted with weaving. She is confused, by her own beauty and her own sexuality and her attraction to two incredible boys, when she hasn’t been allowed near boys for her whole life.

Plus she’s so confused. She doesn’t know who to trust, and she can barely trust herself and her own powers. Every move that she makes is in order to keep herself safe, and in order to find out what happened to her sister, but she makes enemies at every turn, and its difficult for her. She’s only sixteen years old. She’s so young and unsure. You’re connected to her so fast, from page one, when you realize how scared and unsure she is. But the reader can see a strength in her, so you keep turning the pages, hoping that she’ll figure things out.

The sequel to the novel, Altered, will be releasing TOMORROW, and I can’t WAIT to read it. Its going to be absolutely wonderful, and I can’t wait to see where else in this world that Gennifer takes us. This first novel really captivates the audience, and I’m grateful that I only have to wait a couple days!

Rating:

4 out of 5 stars

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Starting tomorrow, Gennifer Albin will be on the Fall Fierce Reads Tour with Ann Aguirre, and guests, Jessica Brody and Leigh Bardugo. Check out this link to see if they’ll be heading your way!

Blogger Spotlight-Kayla from The Thousand Lives

One of the best parts about running this blog is having the ability to meet some really cool people, drugs and some of the coolest people that I have met have led me to really cool blogs. I’ve said it before, no one’s blog is 100% original but everyone’s voices are different so there are blogs that I love to read because I love the writer, and I love the passion that they show for what they are writing. They are fun and interesting to read and they inspire me to get better and better in my blog.

So I decided to do a feature (inspired by Megan at the Nerdy Girlie’s Geek Girls Gab), where I profile the bloggers that I love. Not only do I get to find out more about them, but I also get to share them with you guys! Most of the bloggers that I follow are like me, nerd girls, fan girls and they enjoy the same things as me, and you! Every blogger that I profile is one that is super important to me and I urge you to check them out!

If you are interested in being featured on the Blogger Spotlight, feel free to contact me, please! I would love to hear from you, to feature you on the blog and to help spread the word about it!

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This week’s blogger is Kayla from The Thousand Lives

You Can Find Her At:

Her Twitter

Her Good Reads

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Sara: Tell me a Little Bit About Yourself:

Kayla: Kayla, 18, graduated with a Bachelor’s in English (yes, yes I know it’s a long story but the short answer is online college), currently a high school literature teacher, Algebra II teacher (both at a homeschool program), and a chiropractic assistant. Habitually introverted and hermit-like. My dog is my constant companion in my blogging and reading adventures. I’m fluent in English, Spanglish, sarcasm, and fangirl. I can also read Shakespeare quite easily and most of my friends cheated off my papers.

I’m afraid I’m quite uninteresting after that! I work a lot, and in my spare time I try to recuperate by reading books or catching up on/rewatching my favorite tv shows (Supernatural, Sherlock, Doctor Who, Avatar: The Last Airbender + Korra, Spongebob, and Criminal Minds). I love teaching, and sometimes (okay, 99% of the time) I’m far more excited for the books we read in class than my students.

Sara: Tell me about your blog: 

Kayla: My blog is to mainly categorize the books that I’ve read, and the thoughts I had about them. Too often I forget everything after I put the book back on my shelf! It’s just an extra bonus that I get to meet so many people and actually talk about my interests with them :) My original feature is called Standing On My Soapbox, and it’s basically my discussion posts, every Thursday, where I talk about what’s been on my mind (bookish or not). I also take part in a few memes like Top Ten Tuesday, WWW Wednesday, and Stacking the Shelves.

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Sara: What inspired you to start your blog?

Kayla: Originally I was going to have it as a platform for my writing, but then I discovered so many amazing blogs and bloggers that I switched over to book blogging. I have them to thank for my return to reading!

Sara: What is your favorite nerd memory?

Kayla: Definitely the first season finale I watched (Supernatural season 8) while I had a tumblr. Knowing that so many other people were freaking out at the same time as me was just amazing. I’ve never felt a part of something like that before!

Sara: What are you most looking forward to, as far as new books/movies/etc?

Kayla: Sherlock. Series. Three. January 19th. My body is ready. I can’t afford/travel to cons. And as far as book releases, I’m most looking forward Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo (June!). I don’t know much else, since I’m still getting into all this. I rely on my friends to get me on the ball as far as releases go! OH wait!!! And then Tuesday October 29th I get to meet Leigh Bardugo with the lovely Sara :)

(I am so excited to meet Kayla at the Fierce Reads stop on Tuesday! Its going to be awesome!)

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Sara: As my blog is mostly about books and reading, what are some of your favorite books or authors to read?

Kayla: I don’t really have a favorite author, to be honest. But some of my favorite books are The Hobbit, Left Drowning by Jessica Park, Backward Glass by David Lomax, Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo, Eragon, Catching Fire, The Raven Boys… and so many more it’s not even funny.

Sara: What are some of your favorite blogs to follow?

Kayla: Flip That Page, Books for  Delicate Eternity, Adrift on Vulcan, Books and Beautiful World, Andi’s ABCs, Respiring Thoughts, Chrissi Reads, Always Lost in Books, In Italics, Talking (Blogging) Bookworm, Effortlessly Reading.

Sara: Who is your fictional crush (what, we’re nerd girls, we all have one!)

Kayla: Are you actually ready for this answer? Because I think we could be here all night. But I’ll keep it to five: Peeta Mellark, Eowyn (girl crush ftw), Dean Winchester, Stormhund, Finnick Odair. I lied. We’ll go for five more: Etienne St. Clair, Tobias Eaton, Raffe (from Angelfall), Fear (from Some Quiet Place), and Ryan (from the Hybrid Chronicles).

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I hope you all enjoyed this week’s Blogger Spotlight and that you are able to check out Kayla and her blog. Her blog is awesome, and way super adorable. I enjoy following.

Don’t forget that you can check out old Blogger Spotlights here.

Happy Blogging Everyone!