New Year, New Books, New Goals and More!

Wow! I haven't posted in a LONG time!  I apologize for that, but there is good reason for my absence.  I was super busy almost everyday of my holiday break with family, friends, and travel.  Now that I am back at work and the New Year is in full swing, I decided it was time to set some goals for 2011! One of my main goals is to become a better blogger!  I tend to blog in spurts.  I will have a month that I am pretty consistent with reviews and posts and then I will get caught up in my day to day life of juggling motherhood, marriage, and teaching and the blog takes a backseat for weeks at a time.  I know that there will still be lulls from time to time, but I am going to TRY to post at least three times a week.  Reviews are another area that I have to improve on.  I am soooo behind in my reviews now that it is a little overwhelming.  I am going to try and catch up, but I've also decided not to let blogging, reviewing and reading stress me out.  Reading is my escape and I never want it to feel like a job.  Hopefully this new outlook will ease the stress I feel when I gaze upon my review/tbr stack!  In celebration of the New Year I also have an exciting contest on the horizon.  Make sure you stay tuned because you DON'T want to miss this one!

I haven't done an IMM post in a few weeks and I really hope that Santa treated all of you as good as he treated me!!  I have so many new books to read that it makes it hard to decide what to read next!  In addition to all of my new books, I also received a fabulous camera from my wonderful husband.  So hopefully there will be some better quality pictures on my blog.  Santa wasn't the only one giving gifts this year, I also received some holiday goodies from the notorious 'A' from Pretty Little Liars (ABCFamily)!

So here is what I got: 

Beautiful Darkness by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl
The Scorch Trials by James Dashner
Entice by Carrie Jones
Heavenly by Jennifer Laurens
Penitence by Jennifer Laurens
Enchanted Ivy by Sarah Beth Durst
Zombies Vs. Unicorns edited by Holly Black and Justine Larbalestier
Banished by Sophie Littlefield
Rosebush by Michele Jaffe
Tempestuous by Leslie Livingston
Room by  Emma Donoghue
Bleeding Violet by Dia Reeves
Sapphique by Catherine Fisher
**I did some bargain shopping**
Jinx by Meg Cabot
The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson
The Monsters of Templeton by Lauren Groff
The Debs by Susan McBride

Here are the wonderful gifts that I received from 'A' from Pretty Little Liars and ABCFamily (Thank you so much!)  Be sure to watch the new season that debuted this week!  It is a great show based on the super popular book series by Sara Shepard.  I received the digital photo frame, which contained sneak peek photos from the new season, for Christmas.  I received the beautiful calla lillies along with the bag of 'A' confetti and picture puzzle for New Years.  How awesome is that?!!

I hope the New Year brings happiness and prosperity to all of you.  Thank you for supporting my blog and bearing with me during my frequent absences!  I look forward to another year of blogging and I am really going to focus on making my blog a better place to visit.  Happy New Year!!!