Books, Zombies and a Great Week

Hope you all had a wonderful past week!
While I still ended up taking it pretty easy, I did get up and around much more than last week.

I finished the drug treatment, and the good news is, it has lessened the pain in my lower back considerably and almost all the swelling has gone down. I think I even lost an inch off my waist just from the reduced swelling, LOL I'll take it!

I am starting to get used to what "manageable" levels of pain are. I'm to young to be on drugs and pain killers daily, so going forward I will only be taking them as needed during really bad times.

I'm also adjusting my mental game.
If I believe I will be in pain, I likely will. But if I believe the pain is leaving, or not that bad, then it won't be. I know not every day will play that way, but I really am trying to adjust my thoughts to the positive, because I think that will help the most!

I taught the community beginning blogging class on Wednesday, and I have to say I think it went pretty good. There was double the turnout that I thought there would be. Those who attended seemed to enjoy it, they asked a lot of questions and a few told me it was very beneficial for them.
Several asked if I would be doing another, and a few more contacted the library when they couldn't attend to see if I would come back to do more. Not sure if more will happen yet, but I am glad it was enjoyed!

I didn't get quite as much reading in this week as I did the previous week.  But enjoyed tackling 3 books that have been on my "to read" list for quite a while.

Defy by Sara B Larson -This is one of those girl power type fantasy's where the heroine has to hide her true identity, so she can save the Hero. I really liked it!

Perfected by Kate Jarvik Birch - This one really surprised me, definitely not what I was expecting. It's future world in America where rich politicians pass laws where it is okay to breed the perfect human clones. Young girls, with talents who are then sold as pets to entertain the rich. I wanted to re-write a few parts of it, but over all I enjoyed it!

Sweet Evil by Wendy Higgins - I think Kaiden, the male character in the book might have just nailed my 4th place spot for best book boyfriend. Yup, pretty sure he did! But I am a sucker for the perfect bad boy. If you like a little Heaven and Hell mixed together with a little romance that keeps you guessing the entire way through, ya this is it. I could hardly put it down. I can't wait to get my hands on book 2.

FYI, if you're wonder who make my top 3 lists of best book boyfriends. Prince Maxon from The Selection Series - Noah Shaw from The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer -  Bishop Lattimer from The Book of Ivy

It's actually been a beautiful week, we got a bit more snow several days this past week. I know this isn't the best shot, because I took it as I was leaving my neighborhood from inside the car and the football stadium lights are in the way. But I really am lucky to be surrounded by so many beautiful mountain peaks! When I do go out for a run, this is my 5 mile loop, when I run up to the base of these mountains and back.
I'll have to remember to take a picture on the next clear sunset day we have.  The mountains around me turn a beautiful pink in the evenings, it's quite stunning actually!

I took one of my nieces and two of my nephews out for a date night, and we went and saw the Peanuts movie. I bought a large popcorn and my 3 year old nephew pounded that down like no other, I kept looking at him wondering where he was putting it all. I think he ate over half of it on his own, LOL But ya know, you go to the movies you gotta have popcorn right!

I took myself to the new Pride and Prejudice and Zombies movie.
Don't laugh, well okay you can laugh. I actually really enjoyed the movie. Ya, it was Elizabeth and her sisters kicking some serious zombie butt, they definitely aren't the weak girls that need saving. But then you've got Mr. Darcy who of course dismisses her until he witness her impressive fighting skills. The zombies are a different than most zombies, they are actually sophisticated and intelligent enough to know what is going on. But ya, they are pretty gross. So ya, you've got those two worlds mixed, and it's lovely, gross and funny at the same time. So yup, I enjoyed a little movie morning out by myself on Friday!

That was my week. I am still itching to get out and be more active. This week, if the snow holds back, I plan on a little running daily outdoors.
I have an opportunity to go snowboarding in a few weeks, I haven't been in so many years. I am not sure if it is the wisest thing to do with my back right now, but then again if I don't fall, I would probably be fine. Of course, I've put on a little weight, so I am not even sure if my boarding snow pants will even still fit, if they don't that may be the deciding factor, LOL But ya, I am just itching to get out for a little snow adventure, if you can't tell!

I want to welcome any of the Grow Your Blog Participants, who are visiting my blog and reading a post for their first time. Looking forward to getting to know many of you better!

I am linking up with HoHo Runs and MissSippiPiddlin today for their Weekly Wrap!

Did you see the Pride and Prejudice and Zombies movie? Or is it something you could careless to see?
Have you read any good books lately?

Why I Host Blog Hops, What Do I Get Out of Them?

Why I host blog hops, and do I get anything out of them? If I am in conversation with someone about the subject they often do come up.  So I figured why not just tell you my exact reasons and give everyone the answers.

It all started when I first started blogging, I was more of what you'd call a personal/journal type blogger at first. I mostly only wrote posts after each marathon so my friends and family no matter their location, could check out what I am up to and keep tabs on me and my goal progress.

Sure, I had this huge background in online advertising and marketing as well as website building. You would have thought that would also fall true into blogging. While some did, not everything I knew prepared me for what needed to be done to grow a blog.

Why? Well frankly I didn't know exactly how to go about finding other blogs out there that had similar interests. I also had this weird assumption that all bloggers were personal journal type bloggers.

I'll skip all the details of how I discovered other bloggers. But let's just say, once upon a time it started to happen.


A lot of how I built my blog was by trial and error. I always say if I started blogging now, I would do things SO much differently.
But I can't start over, at least not with this blog.


Through all that trial and error, I started realizing what worked and what didn't. I quickly discovered blogging alone, without any networking or blogging friends, was very boring. But with blogging friends, it really does become an incredible experience.
I also learned its not exactly possible to take a small blog and grow it without networking.

So I told myself if I ever built my blog up enough, I would share my knowledge and help others.

Clearly I don't have the biggest blog out there. I still have a long ways to go from where I have dreams to take it. But I do have a fairly decent combined reach of over 12K, which isn't too shabby. So the time came, I decided to give back a little and help others who may be like I was, when I was still trying to figure it all out.

I've met bloggers who have joined in these hops I host who've told me they'd been blogging for years, and never had any idea how to get anyone to read their blog.

After participating one of my hops, my hope is bloggers walk away from the experience with a little more knowledge on what they can do going forward to get people to come to their blogs. Not only that, but those who play by the rules of the hop walk away from it finding a few new relationships from it. If kept up they even can become long term followers.

I do not do these for financial gain.

Several bloggers have asked me why I do not charge a small fee to participate. I'll be honest, I have considered it in the past. Especially when it's pretty obvious a few bloggers who have joined were in it entirely for their own benefit, with no intention of playing by the rules and giving back to others with my (Comment for a Comment Rule System.)  It's possible, charging may weed out a few of those. (Of course that is also the beauty of being the host. I can disapprove any of those types from joining in future hops.)

Additionally, I won't lie, these do take a considerable amount of my time. Which is why I only intend on ever hosting these twice a year in February & Oct/Nov. I do the Giveaway hops during other times of the year, because they take considerably less time to put together.

But honestly I do these to help bloggers as well as for the fun experience of it all. So no, I do not require or accept financial payment to host these.

Instead I enjoy hearing about other success, I enjoy hearing about the fun they have during them. I myself also always seem to find a few new awesome bloggers to follow with them too. Honestly, those reasons are payment enough!

If you're wondering why I picked today of all days to share this post. Well truth is, this evening will be my first Community Blogging Event or maybe it would be better put Beginners Blogging Class.

I've done presentations in small groups with people I know before. But this will be my first with mostly complete strangers in my community and I am a little excited about it. (I'm sure the nerves will kick in about 10 minutes before it's to start, ha ha.)
I look at it as another fun way for me to help others by sharing my online background and what I have learned as a blogger. It's a really fun hobby, I enjoy sharing that fun part with others.

Additionally, the February blog hops are starting soon, and I am excited to meet the new participants and get to know some awesome new bloggers.

If you have ever read my blogs mission statement (At the bottom of my About Me page.) Then this line from it will sound familiar. I believe not everything you do, should be about yourself.

That is exactly why, I host blog hops, and that is what I get out of them. I probably should have said that at the beginning and spared you all the reading, ha ha.