Happy Blogoversary to Me!

If you follow the Facebook page for Books Etc. you'll know that last week marked two years since I started writing this blog (and if you're not following the page, what are you waiting for? :) Click here to be led to it!). You'll also know that I almost completely forgot about it!

I can't believe it's been two years. It seems like just yesterday that I decided to start a blog to talk about my favourite thing - books. I thought it was such an original idea as I had only come across a few book review blogs. Needless to say, I now know that there are so many fellow book lovers and bloggers out there. Not only that, but I've had the pleasure of becoming friends with many of them and have even been able to meet some of them in person!

I had grand plans of doing a giveaway for all of you lovely readers but things have been a little nutty in my world for the past few months. Well, really the last year. It's crazy to think of what's happened just since November 2011. I'll give you a quick rundown, which will help you see why things have or had been sporadic throughout the year...and also give you a little more insight into me as a person! I hope. Either that or it'll be TMI and/or I'll bore you :)

November - I became an associate reviewer for Novel Escapes AND got to meet the lovely ladies behind the blog when I was in Toronto for a conference.

December - Discovered (after many tests and doctor appointments) that the pains I had been having since the end of August were due to a defective gall bladder.

January - Three days into the new year I was in the hospital to have my gallbladder removed. Cue two weeks off of work, one of which I couldn't do anything but watch TV because looking at a computer screen or a book gave me the world's worst headache, and a painful first few weeks back at work...well, painful to do just about anything!

February - This was a doozy month, especially considering I was still recovering. I had a job interview in another city, got hired three days later, worked four days, went on a cruise to the Bahamas and spent three days at Universal with my sister (thanks to my awesome grandma!) and then came...

March - Went back to work for four more days, packed up my apartment on a Friday and Saturday, moved  on Sunday, started a new job on Tuesday. Phew! (Side note: I do not recommend travelling or moving less than two months after surgery...ouch)

April - It appears April was pretty boring. Definitely a relief after the previous months.

May - I celebrated my quarter of a century birthday! Woot woot!

June - It was a busy month as I participated in Armchair BEA. So much fun and I hope to actually attend BEA next May!

July - Another busy month. According to Goodreads I read 12 novels and 2 short stories.

August - Emily Giffin came to Toronto and I ventured to the big city by myself to go to the talk and signing. So glad I did!

September - I started taking two online courses in publishing. They're interesting and I'm really hoping it leads to a job in publishing. But - it's seriously cutting into my reading and blogging time. This is why things have been a little slow lately! I also went to the Random House/Chatelaine Bookstravaganza event and got to meet fellow blogger Lindsay from Turning the Pages and Lindsey from Random House. So much fun!

October - Finally feeling like my old self, which is such a relief. More school work, more reading, more balancing. I truly had a lot to be thankful for this Thanksgiving (PS I'm Canadian, in case you didn't know!)

Which leads us to this past month when I went to the 2nd annual Ontario Blog Squad Meet-Up in Toronto and got to meet so many amazing fellow bloggers and a couple of people in the publishing industry.

I'm getting a lot more emails from authors asking me to review their books, as well as a couple of publishing houses. It's so weird to think that I'm just sitting here blogging about books because I love it and people are taking notice.

Finally, I want to say thank you to you guys. All of you who keep coming back to Books Etc. to see what craziness I have to say. I cannot tell you how much I appreciate you reading my reviews, leaving comments, and liking my Facebook page (created that this year, too!). It means a lot more than you know. So thank you. And as always...

Happy reading :)