Happy First Birthday to Books Etc.!

I can hardly believe it...I've been writing Books Etc. for a whole year now! I think that deserves a lovely, er, electronic cake...

There, I think that does the trick, doesn't it?

Now, I don't have any fancy giveaways or anything, but I wanted to take the time to thank all of you who have been with me from the start or stumbled upon Books Etc. sometime in the last year. Sometimes it's surreal to think of all of you reading my ramblings. I hope I've managed to keep you entertained and introduce you to some great books (and some TV shows) along the way.

I started this blog as a way to talk about one of favourite things - books. I can't get enough of them (seriously, ask anyone who knows me). I am happiest when I have time to read on breaks at work or am able to suggest titles to people. It means so much to me that you guys are reading this and commenting and I hope I can come up with reviews and other posts that inspire you to get more involved.

My very full bookshelf!

My hope is that I can keep growing Books Etc. over the next year. There are so many great blogs (like Chick Lit is Not Dead and Chick Lit Plus) out there and I hope to get up to their level someday. I'm going to start doing some weekly memes hosted by other blogs (stay tuned for "In My Mailbox" and "Top Ten Tuesday"). I love doing challenges (I've adored the Chick Lit Plus Challenge and hope Samantha hosts another one next year!) and have been introduced to some amazing novels through blog tours (also hosted by Samantha). As much as I love those things, I may try to cut back because I have a massive amount of books on my shelf that I haven't had time to read yet. I feel like the books that I've bought for myself aren't getting the attention that I wanted them to get. I also haven't visited the library nearly enough lately and that makes me sad. Must change that! Another goal of mine is to write more posts that aren't strictly reviews. I feel like I have more to say about books, authors, genres, and other happenings in the book world and want to try and incorporate that into this blog.

So now you know where I'd like to go with this blog and how I plan on shaking things up a little bit. I hope you all stick with me to see where this crazy blogging journey will take me in the next year. Thank you. Really.

Happy reading :)