Last Month on the Blog - February 2019

Hello friends! Happy March! How are things in your neck of the woods? It's been wet here in California. Whole lotta wet... We just had a week or so of sunny skies and now we're looking forward to rain again this week. Give me a book, a blanket, and a coffee... I'm good to go.

Last Month on the Blog - January 2019

Hello friends! Welcome to the first monthly/weekly/daily... To be honest, I'm not quite sure what I'm going to call these posts and how often I'm going to do them. So, we're going to start off with my normal Last Month on the Blog for January 2019. I'm still settling into things around here, so we'll see how things go. I do hope to have a bi-monthly update system this month.

Last Month on the Blog - September 2018

Happy Fall! This is one of my favorite times of the year... When the weather starts to cool down and it gets darker earlier each night. There's a crisp in the air and people are looking forward to the holidays. I'm excited for my upcoming craft fair in December. Things started to clear up on the blog. I'm finally through my blogging slump. I'm ready to tackle October.

Speaking of October, I'm going to start doing weekly or bi-weekly updates so I can focus on sharing my challenge progress in the monthly update. I haven't decide how often I'll update, but I'm looking forward to the change.

Last Month on the Blog - August 2018

 

Hello friends. Happy 1st day of September! Can we just celebrate that fall officially begins in 21 days? That doesn't mean much here in California, but I am loving the fact that it now gets dark at around 7:30. 

August was insane here, both on the blog and IRL. Guess what! Crystal Blogs Books turned 6 yesterday!! I'm sad that it passed without fanfare, but that'll happen when I'm stuck in a blogging slump. I am starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel, so here's hoping I'm able to get back on track this month.

Last Sunday was the 2018 CHOC Walk in the Park at Disneyland. This year was my 4th time walking. Joining me this year was Ezrah from Eye Heart Romance & YA and her husband. Tons of people and I was beyond sweaty. It was so much fun and we raised money for the Children's Hospital of Orange County. I couldn't think of a better way to spend a Sunday morning. I might do a separate blog post on it later with pictures and such.

So, that was my August. September comes with a couple celebrations. My dad turns 63 on the 8th and my folks will celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary the following day. Hopefully my blog will be back on track. And we're so close to fall, I can almost taste it. Oddly enough, it tastes like a Pumpkin Spice Frappuccino. :o)

Last Month on the Blog - July 2018

Hello friends! Wow... July kinda sucked here. Here's the story... June in Southern California was on the tame side. We had the normal June gloom and all was well. Then July 6th came... Let's just say Mother Nature made us her bitch. In one day, the temperature rose nearly 20 degrees. It went from mid-80's to over 107. In. One. Day. For reference, I live less than 10 minutes from the beach by car. We rarely get above 100, so 107 was hell on earth for us. I don't know how people can live in the desert. Mad props to those that can handle the desert sun.

So what does that have to do with my blog? I get heat insomnia to the point where some nights I'm lucky if I get 3 hours of sleep. Since I typically work on my blog at night, I'm about ready to crash when I should be working on the blog. I was worried about the last of posts early on in the month, but by the time July 15th rolled around, I decided to embrace it and move on. I'm setting up a new schedule that I hope will help me work on posts during the summer. Going to try my best to work on my posts for the week each Sunday afternoon. We'll see how that goes. In the meantime, please bear with me. Hopefully August will be more productive.

I hope you are having a fun summer. Stay cool and happy reading!

Last Month on the Blog - June 2018

Hello friends! Happy 1st day of July. So much happened in June...

My dad and I had our last weekend trip to Laughlin, Nevada. My dad bowled in a Sunday travel league that sweeped in Laughlin twice a year. For those non-bowling folk, sweeps is a term for the last night of league bowling where you bowl for money. While he bowled, I was the league's sweep tech (I ran the computer program). My dad and I made the 5 hour drive twice a year since 2014. It was always a fun trip for us and I'm sad that it ended. He actually bowled really well this trip and ended the league off with a bang. He may join another travel league for us, but he's enjoying his Sunday smoking a little too much right now. That man loves his new smoker like I love a new book.

I also went to a lovely Saturday tea outing with a local Christie Caldwell book group. Met some lovely ladies. Drank some tasty chocolate tea. Ate some tasty scones. And I'm going back in a couple weeks with a couple friends of mine. 

Blog-wise... I passed 600 reviews!! #crazy I also stumbled a bit with all of the shenanigans. It was mostly going out of town for the weekend than put me a couple days behind. I felt like I spent the rest of June playing catch-up. It was so worth it, though. Let's take a look at June and what's coming up in July.

Last Month on the Blog - May 2018

Hello friends! Happy almost June! Can you believe that tomorrow is June 1st? What?!! My dad and I will be leaving for our last bi-annual trip to Laughlin, Nevada in just over a week. This is a bitter-sweet trip. The 2 of us have been going to Laughlin with his Sunday bowling league for at least 6 years. He bowls while I do computer tech work for the league's sweeps. It's all very boring, but it is always the most hellish 3+ hours of handling money, imputing scores, and getting my shy ass to announce winners. And you know what? I'm going to miss it all when this is over. If you want to follow along, I'll be sharing pictures on my Instagram stories throughout the weekend. 

May was the 2nd month in my blog schedule trial run and I am loving the results. Of course, it's also kicking my ass into gear and I'm a bit worn out. Ideally, I'd love to be a week ahead, but that hasn't happened yet. I'm getting there, but it's taking a while. In the meantime, I'm busting my butt getting next week's reviews done ahead of time so I can focus on what I have to do in Laughlin. Of course, we'll be driving on Friday so I need that blog post done early. Anyhoo, I'm loving the new schedule but I decided to tweak it a little bit to open up another day for reviews (if I have an extra review to post). That extra day will be the occasional Tuesday. I'm still keeping Saturday and Sunday's open for now, but that might change in the future.

Wow, I've been babbling along. Sorry about that! Here's Last Month on the Blog for May.

Last Month on the Blog - April 2018

Hello friends! And happy May! April was quite the fun month between used book shopping and then the Festival of Books... Wow, I'm tired just thinking about it. April was also a month filled with some pretty freaking awesome books. I did hit a bit of a reading slump the week after Festival of Books, but I think that was just because that weekend zapped all of the energy out of me. I'm back into the swing of things now. Yay!

April was also the first month of my new blogging schedule. It might sound a bit weird, but the schedule has given me a lot more freedom and I am loving it. My goal for May is to try and be a week ahead of schedule. I doubt it'll happen because I'm still very much a mood blogger, but I'm going to give it a shot. I'll report back in June.

Last Month on the Blog - March 2018

Hello friends. Happy April! I feel like we say this every month, but can you believe it's April already? This month is going to be insanely fun for me. The Los Angeles Times Festival of Books is this month! I've been looking forward to the LATFOB all year. I wish they had more romance representation, but that's a rant for a different post. There's also a couple library book sales coming up. I even purged some books to prepare for all the goodies I'll bring home. It's going to be a fun month!

Last Month on the Blog - February 2018

Hello friends! I want you to be honest with me... How sad is it that it's barely March and I already need a re-do? Can we please go back to the end of January so I can kick my butt back into gear? I don't even know where the heck February went! Sigh... I need to sit down to figure out which books need reviews and get them done. No more procrastinating! 

On a plus side, I did just complete a preliminary book purge. My book shelves got out of control and it was time to weed through it. I filled 3 bags to donate to a local library. I had hoped to take them down today (Saturday), but it looks like it is going to rain so I may hang on to them until next weekend. Not idea, but I don't want them to get wet. I still have to go through my shelves and organize them, so I may end up getting rid of some more. Once it's done I may do a mini bookshelf tour.

So, that's what is going on here. Hopefully March will be calmer... fingers crossed!

Last Month on the Blog - January 2018

Holy cow! The last couple of days here have been quite interesting. In case you haven't noticed, I had to take a bit of an unexpected hiatus from the blog for the past couple of days. I haven't had internet since Sunday night. And let me tell you, these past two days haven't been easy. I have a fun blog post planned for next month that will revisit the whole ordeal. 

I say ordeal, but it actually wasn't that bad. Okay... Yeah, it was.

Even with the unscheduled hiatus, I still managed to review 8 books, which included 2 blogger shame books! Whaaa? Only 7 of those reviews appeared on my blog since one of the blogger shame books isn't available at the moment.

Here's a glance into what I read in January and what I'm going to be reading in February.

Last Month on the Blog - December 2017

Happy New Year friends! Welcome to the last Last Month on the Blog for 2017 and the first with the new format. Yay! I've been tossing around the idea of switching up how I do this post and I kinda like how it came out. It takes a bit longer to put together, but good things take time. Right? Let's do this!

Last Month on the Blog - November 2017

Hello friends! And hello December! November took me on quite a roller-coaster ride both personally and on my blog. I started off strong only to lose steam towards the middle of the month thanks to a quick trip to Nevada. Now that it's almost December (I'm working on this post a few days early... hello future me), I'm back on track and ready to end the year on a high note.

As far as December goes, I've got lots to look forward to this month. I'm doing my first craft fair in two years on the 2nd. Stupid excited for that (and it's one of the reasons why I'm doing this post ahead of time). And I'm actually looking forward to sitting down and work on my goals/challenges for 2018. I am insanely focused right now and it's freaking me out a bit.

Anyhoo, here's what happened in November...

Last Month on the Blog - October 2017

Hello friends! How are we on this fine November day? It's a bit gloomy and chilly here in Southern California. Blissfully chilly, especially after that horrible heat wave we had towards the end of October. Summer certainly had one last punch left in her. October kinda sucked blog wise. I tend to get a little bit worn out towards the end of the year and that certainly happened in October. On the plus side, I did get a huge update done on the review archive and it is now (finally) up to date. Huzzah! 

November and December are going to be insane around here. I'm doing my first craft fair in two years, which is super exciting. I'm going to be busy this month working on my inventory, but I am really looking forward to it. Plus I'm going to Laughlin with my dad in just a few weeks. It's like a daddy/daughter weekend where he bowls and I do computer work. 

How about you? Any fun plans for November? Are you reading for the holiday rush?

Last Month on the Blog - September 2017

Hello Friends! Happy October!! I know I say this pretty much every month, but how the heck is it October?! I don't know about you, but I'm ready for some Fall weather. Not that we have much of a season change here in Southern California... It does get cooler, though! *grins* Bring on the Pumpkin Spice everything!

Not a lot happened on the blog in September. I did finally passed 100,000 page views! Woot! I've been watching that counter for the longest time... Don't do it, Crystal! *hums* I'm hoping that I will remember to switch up the layout of my monthly rewind posts for next month. Until then... Here's what happened on the blog in September.

Last Month on the Blog - August 2017

Guess who turned 5...

Yep! Crystal Blogs Books turned 5 on August 30th! I meant to do a celebration post, but time got away from me. I'm going to continue with the "Celebrate 5 years with 5..." for a little while longer. In honor of the blog's 5th birthday, I decided it was time to re-design. Again... While I loved all of my previous designs, this one is more me. It has everything I love... It's whimsical, fun, and blue. Not totally done with the switch over, but it'll be fully finished this weekend. I hope you like the new look as much as I do. 

Welcome to the Last Month On The Blog post for August. Can you believe it is September?! Holy smokes! So much happened in August. Not only did the blog turn 5, I also posted my 500th review. And I have my fingers crossed that we'll hit another milestone in September - 100,000 page views.

Last Month on the Blog - July 2017

August! How on earth is it August already?! Sorry, I got a bit ahead of myself. Hello friends! Welcome to July's Last Month on the Blog. July has been a crazy month! From introducing two new features on my blog to reviewing some amazing books to planning a blog re-design, I can't say how insane it was. Yep, I am re-designing my blog! Crystal Blogs Books is turning 5 years old at the end of August and what better way to celebrate than to have a new look? Nothing drastic, though. Just some new graphics and a couple snazzy new things I learned from my friend Anna. I've been working hard on it and I can't wait to show you. 

Last Month on the Blog - June 2017

Hello friends! Can you believe that it is July? Where the heck did the first half of the year go? Welcome to Last Month on the Blog - June 2017 edition! June was a much happier month than May. My Mom celebrated her 61st birthday. I went to Laughlin, Nevada with my dad. We do this trip twice a year for the past couple of years. He bowls while I do computer work for the league. Then we spend the rest of the weekend wilting in the hot Nevada sun. Did some gambling. Lost some money. Good times! Finally, I got to meet a dear friend of mine (and favorite author) Codi Gary at The Ripped Bodice. Busy month, but it was lots of fun.

Last Month on the Blog - May 2017

Hello friends! Welcome to Last Month on the Blog for May. If I'm being completely honest, I'd rather forget most of May. After dealing with the headaches from hell for several days, my energy and desire to read were zapped. I was running on fumes for a good couple of days. I'm happy to report that I'm feeling better and I'm actually reading again! Hooray! Hopefully that means I'll be back on the reviewing track soon.

Until then, here are the few books I did read and review in May.

Last Month on the Blog - April 2017

Hello friends!

Welcome back to Last Month on the Blog where I go over the books I read in the month of April, share review links, and take a quick look into the books I'm looking forward in May. Thankfully April was a bit more productive than March. I wouldn't say I am fully out of the slump, but I am definitely working my way through the cobwebs. I was able to review 9 books in April, most of which were mini reviews that I added onto scheduled release blasts. But hey, it's still a review. I actually may introduce a new series of mini reviews in the future. We'll see how that goes. Anyhoo, let's take a gander at the progress I made in April.