Third Annual!

Ok, I've been so far under the rocks these last several months (can you tell I've emerged by all this crazy posting?), that I'd MISSED Mother Reader's announcement of (and all references to) the Third Annual 48 Hour Book Challenge. I did pretty good last year, but this year I've got a WLA/CAYAS meeting all of Saturday. There's no way to work around that, so I'll just have to include it in the tally. Perhaps I can read through the boring parts. No, I should probably network. Sigh.

Either way, I may come in dead last, but I'm in.

Maybe my box from Random will come with shiny new things! oo! Or my hold of Schmidt's Trouble! OR Big Fat Manifesto! OR Northlander OR Feathered! ooo - and I have Justina's North of Beautiful! I wish I wasn't #6 waiting for Princess Ben. That would be a quick, fun one...

I'm a little excited.

Oh, wait. I just remembered. I don't have internet...I have to walk to the cafe...crap. Oh well.

Couple Things:

So bff Sarah sent me the link to the cover. What do you guys think? It kinda freaks me out. Very ominous. But, if I'm honest? It just makes me think of the first Harry Potter. I think any larger-than-life chess will now always have that connotation for me. Interesting that the pawn is the red/bloody one, and the queen is white. Does that mean Bella is the Queen? The one that matters most? heh. Of course it does.

But she is so not going to be turned into a vampire.

(I'm prepared to eat my words, but I don't think she'll turn.)

No matter what issues there are with the series, I'm DYING to know what makes her so special that Eddie can't hear her thoughts, Alice can't see her future, and why the creepy Italian vamps find her so interesting.

IN OTHER NEWS:

Colleen Mondor has started another... project. View it as an answer to Reader Girlz: Guys Lit Wire. It's live today, and will have posts connecting teen boys with books 5+ days a week. She's assembled a LARGE panel of posters, digging up many of the very rare males for an authentic voice for teen lit for guys. It's worth checking out.

I'm technically involved, but I haven't done anything more than a random email or two. I'm more of a swing poster there. I'll do little tidbits when I feel like it (that's my kind of arrangement, btw. No Deadlines!).

Sarah Stevenson (aka a.fortis at Finding Wonderland) has pretty much done all of the site - including the graphic you see above. Pretty dang awesome.

For some inexplicable reason...My hair.

Ok, this marks a *cough* historic event. I've never placed any pictures of me on this blog... Now there will be, well, a handful of them in this post... For those of you who were curious about what I was going to do with my hair. Which, should be relatively few of you. After tonight, I promise I'll leave personal stuff out of the blog for a while. I've read quite a few really good books lately, and I really want to share them with you all. Soon.

Here's how I started off this morning, well after walking through the weirdly chilly and windy streets of Seattle. Nothing at all wrong with my hair. It's just been the same way for too long. I'd normally never allow such a double-chin focused picture to be seen in public, but I love that t-shirt. I bought it for Kyle (for Valentine's Day), but he didn't get it - he does not understand how Candy Corn Cannibalism is hilarious. He thinks broccoli might be funny though. So, I reclaimed it. And wear it proudly. How many of you agree that it's a funny tee? Seriously, maybe if we all disagree, he'll see the light. *nods*

Mid-process. Turns out the Henna I had fun with last summer was still in my hair, and is apparently very difficult to get out. She needed to bleach the hair if there was to be any hope of getting some dimension. Or something. Clearly, I'm a little concerned - as I've no desire to be blond. In. Any. Way.

And, there we are. In my bathroom. All self-portraits should happen in the bathroom, yes? That's my Christmas cactus in the background, there. It's a good plant. It even blooms occasionally. It's a little hard to tell what my hair looks like here, but it's bright red on dark red. I really wasn't comfortable with the idea of a bob. I don't want anyone to think that I like Katie Holmes OR V Beckham. So I'll stick to my vaguely rocker-chic thing I've now got going (I'm so not a rocker chick, so we'll see how this goes...). It's got a lot of layers. Which you really can't tell here. But there are. Really. I swear. 

*nods*