The Sunday Salon (06.21.09): The Insomnia Edition

Happy Sunday, Saloners (and non-Saloners)! Unfortunately for me, my three-hour nap to recover from my walk in the heat and humidity (despite the early hour of said walk) has left me with a severe case of insomnia! So I figured, what better use of my time than to write a Sunday Salon Post--a week in review, no less. It seems odd to me to do that, as I've had a rather slow reading week (compared to some) but there are a few things I wanted to share with those of you who may only see my Sunday Salon posts...

First up, my latest (HUGE) giveaway... You can win a set of the first seven books in the Sookie Stackhouse series by Charlaine Harris! I'd been planning this giveaway for awhile, and with Beth @ Beth Fish Reads starting the Sookie Stackhouse challenge this week, I figured the timing of my giveaway couldn't be any better. So, be sure to check that out and enter for your chance to win--there are many ways to earn entries, so good luck!!

And I suppose I ought to note this week has been sponsored by the number 200, it seems. I wrote my 200th post (wow!) and thanks to the Sookie contest, I also reached 200(+) followers (double wow!). Thanks to everyone for your support, I wouldn't be here without loyal readers--you make it fun for me to share this blog with all of you!

I had an OK week as far as reading goes. Just two books and an audio book completed, and of the three, the audio book, Priceless Memories by Bob Barker, was my favorite. I also completed The Jewel of Gresham Green by Lawana Blackwell and That Summer by Sarah Dessen--that one at least helps me with the Sarah Dessen Reading Challenge!

Speaking of Challenges, this week's Weekly Geeks question was a great one, and it was about a topic I don't tend to cover too much in my posts. I probably should be better about mentioning my progress in my reading challenges in my monthly wrap-up posts, eh? Anyway, check out my thoughts on challenges and a progress update!

Lastly, you all know how I love to play with my blog and tweak it to make improvements. Lately I've been giving a lot of thought to having someone do a complete custom redesign but to be honest, I haven't wanted to shell out the money to do that. I wish I were capable of doing it myself, but it would be a pretty big undertaking and honestly, it's just not something I feel like trying to learn to do right now. Not to mention, I have kind of built my blog on its current theme as it is, complete with a grab button, favicon, and custom header links, so I hated to undo what branding I have done in my blog's infancy. Anyway, about three weeks ago, I downloaded a trial of Photoshop Elements (stick with me--this has a point, I promise) and fiddled around with it for a few days. At that point, I was feeling even less confident about trying to do anything with my blog on my own so I gave it up for awhile. Then today, I was browsing iStock Photo and came across a very cute graphic of a girl in a chaise lounge reading a book, and it just happened to blend very nicely with my blog's current colors. So, I went out on a limb, purchased the picture, and played with adding it to my existing header in Photoshop Elements to see if I could blend it all together. It's not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but I have to admit I'm pretty pleased with the results! I'm just glad that it brings at least a little something related to reading to the look of my blog... Take a peek and tell me what you think :-)

So that's been my week in reading and blogging! Not outstanding, as far as the book count goes, but I am looking forward to what promises to be an awesome reading month in July! This week will be my last at my current job, and after that I will have five weeks off until I start my next job, so I am going to do my best to work my way through my stacks of unread books during that time!

What about you? Read any good (or great!) books this week?