Life Of A Blogger #53

Weekly feature created by Jessi at Novel Heartbeats to discuss one non-bookish topic per week. For more information about this feature click here

This week’s topic: 10 Things I’ll Never Do

1. Read The Fault In Our Stars – Never ever gonna happen. Sorry, I know there are tons of fangirls for this, but I flat out refuse. That book would not make me happy.
2. Own A Hummer – I just can’t get passed the horrible fuel efficiency. Hell, my Jeep isn’t fuel efficient, but a Hummer makes her look like a damn Prius.
3. Smoke cigarettes – Most of my family consists of smokers and I absolutely hate it. I hate the smell, I hate the stains on everything, and I hate the endless need to throw away money on a pack a day. The health thing goes without saying. I was never even tempted to try.
4. Do any form of drugs (unless you count caffeine) – I like my brains cells and I have better things to spend my money on….like books and crazy trips to meet authors. I don’t even think I’d take a hit off marijuana if it became legal.
5. Work in the fast food industry again – I worked at McDonald’s for 4 months while I was in high school and I hated every minute of it.
6. Starve myself to be skinny – I like food. I’m very self-conscious of my weight and size, but in the end, I will only be here once and I see no point in denying myself what I really want.
7. Drink diet soda and enjoy it – Soda is bad for you either way, so I might as well have the real sugar. Besides, I hate the overly sweet taste of fake sugar. ::shudders::
8. Prefer ebooks over physical books – Don’t get me wrong, I like ebooks. All the ARC’s I get are digital and I download quite a few others to my kindle, but there is something to be said about having the physical copy. There is something to be said about needed to have an additional room in my house just for the books. Plus, it’s hard to get ebooks signed.

Those are all I can come up with on my own, but I’ll pilfer two from A Girl That Likes Books.

9. Go hunting – I like a good burger as much as the next girl, but there is a difference between enjoying the meat and having the desire to kill an animal. I can’t do it. I once got weepy because I accidentally ran over a lizard in my Jeep.
10. Get Plastic Surgery for non-medical reasons – As self-conscious as I am about my appearance, I can’t see myself getting a procedure to change that. I’d rather work it off and be proud of that than pay someone to fix it. Besides, my weight issues wouldn’t really be fixed. My luck, I’d get lipo or whatever and just gain the weight right back.

That’s it for me! What are some things you’ll never do? Let me know in the comments!

Life Of A Blogger #52

Weekly feature created by Jessi at Novel Heartbeats to discuss one non-bookish topic per week. For more information about this feature click here

This week’s topic: Unpopular Opinions

I have a lot of unpopular opinions! I actually did a few long posts on some of them.

• I think classic novels are overrated. I hate most of them. You can read a bunch more on that here
• I have decided to start reading the books after I see the movies, if at all possible. I wrote a longer piece on that here, but the gist is that reading the book first ruins the movies for me. Stardust is the prime example. I love that movie and didn’t even know there was a book until much later, but after reading the book, I know I would have hated the film if I had read the book first. They change so much! But the movie is fantastic with the changes.
• I hate bad endings. I will never, ever read The Fault In Our Stars. Never. I know how that ends and I would be unhappy. Same goes for the Divergent series. That’s a big fat NOPE.
• I have a big issue with character death. I mean, I know that when a beloved character dies, it makes a lot of people unhappy, but people say I blow things way out of proportion. There are books out there that I demote star ratings down solely because of character death. I read to be happy and character death isn’t happy. I refuse to watch the second Sherlock Holmes film or the second Amazing Spiderman films ever again due to character death. The second How To Train Your Dragon film had me sobbing so badly that I didn’t see the end of the film due to character death. I don’t read or watch shows or movies to sob. I don’t enjoy sobbing.
• I have absolutely no interest in sports. I couldn’t tell you the first thing about Football or Soccer or Baseball. I don’t have a clue.
• I think Christopher Eccleston is the best Dr Who, not Tennant. I like Tennant well enough, but I think Eccleston is better. There was an amazing romantic tension between The Doctor and Rose while Eccleston had the role and that was utterly lost when Tennant took over.
• I can’t make myself be interested in The Walking Dead. I watched the entire first season on DVD and I just found it to be incredibly boring.
• I don’t like coffee. I like the smell of it, but no matter what I do to it, it never tastes good….except Joe Muggs intense dark mocha, which is like heaven in a cup
• Despite being a nerd to the core, I don’t care for Star Wars or anything Lord Of The Rings/Hobbit related.
• I kinda hate Taylor Swift. I don’t like her voice, I don’t like her sound, and I absolutely hate the fact that she rose to fame perpetuating the idea that Romeo and Juliet was a romantic happily-ever-after type story.

I’m sure there are more, but these are all I can seem to come up with! What about you? Do you agree/disagree with my opinions? Any unpopular opinions of your own? Let me know in the comments!

Life Of A Blogger #51

Weekly feature created by Jessi at Novel Heartbeats to discuss one non-bookish topic per week. For more information about this feature click here

This week’s topic: Concerts (that you’ve been to)

That’s a long list! I was once a pretty bad concert junkie. I haven’t been a lot lately due to the fact that they aren’t cheap and most of my money has gone to running all around the eastern part of USA to get to book signings.

My very first concert was Britney Spears. In my tween years, I was a pretty big pop junkie and Brit was the queen. It was in her Oops! I Did It Again tour, so before she went crazy and shaved her head. We were so far back that Britney was about a inch tall. Thank goodness for those massive screens or we wouldn’t have seen anything at all. I was pretty excited about it at the time. Now I wonder what the hell was I thinking in my pop days, but it is what it is.

After that, it was a big Nickelback/3 Doors Down show. Yeah, I’m not much of a Nickelback fan anymore because their music has gone hill rather drastically. It’s all sex, sex, sex now and I find that annoying. If I wanted that, I’d listen to rap or country. I don’t. But, at the time, I was a big fan. It was right after The Long Road (which is still my favorite of their albums) came out and 3 Doors Down’s Away From The Sun. I’ll admit it was a pretty awesome show. I was 15 and so excited to have the opportunity to go. My cousin actually bought the tickets for himself and his girlfriend, but couldn’t go due to work conflicts, so YAY me.

My next one was Nickelback again. My then boyfriend now husband, Russell, bought me tickets to their All The Right Reasons tour. It was them and Trapt and Chevelle. I actually wish I could go back and relive that concert because I’m a much bigger Trapt fan now than I was then. It was awesome all around.

Then I bought tickets to a Breaking Benjamin/Seether/Three Days Grace show for Russell as a birthday gift. All three bands were amazing. It was an experience I loved immensely.

Somewhere in between those three concerts, I saw 3 Doors Down and Seether and Three Days Grace at a local NASCAR event called Speed Street. Basically downtown Charlotte is closed down for three days for street vendors and shows. It’s completely free. It was awesome. The first time I saw TDG was the best. They were so full of energy and amazing. 3 Doors Down was epic because I was right up front. Nowadays, no one good comes or it’s all country acts that I don’t care about, but when I was in high school, it was my favorite time of year. It’s always in the middle of May.

I wasn’t truly bit by the concert bug, though, until my first Sick Puppies show. This is actually difficult for me to think about and talk about since their recent split. How the hell Mark & Emma plan to move forward after more or less kicking Shim out of the band is beyond me, but I wish you luck. Anyway, I’m a huge fan of their Dressed Up As Life album and when I saw they were coming to a local concert hall, I couldn’t resist. When I saw that tickets were only $14 per person? Nothing on this Earth could have kept me away. They played at Amos’ Southend, which is this little hole in the wall bar and I was hooked instantly. Not just to them, but to concerts in small bars. Suddenly I’m not just a face so far back in the crowd that I couldn’t even see the singer’s face. I was right in front. I can’t describe it perfectly, but it’s a much more intimate experience. And the band’s almost always have signing sessions after the shows. Beyond that, Shim is just amazing. He has so much energy and they whole band was just so excited to be there and had so much enthusiasm. Even the opening acts were better. They were preceded by Dropping Daylight, a band that never got commercial success but is awesome and completely unique. And between DD & SP, was Saving Abel, a then unknown band with an amazing sound.

After that, concerts were all I wanted. Concerts at small venues if possible. Amos’ is still my favorite venue, though not many bands I want to see show up there now. There is also this place called The Visulite Theater where I saw The Pretty Reckless that was cool. I saw so many shows between then and now I couldn’t even name them all. I’ve seen Sick Puppies over and over and Theory Of A Deadman and Shinedown and My Darkest Days and sssooo many amazing bands.

Then there was the big one: the first annual Carolina Rebellion. It was the Saturday before my wedding. Theory Of A Deadman, Seether, My Darkest Days, Cavo, Skillet, and Three Days Grace. Plenty of other bands I don’t even care about. It went all day long. Dumbass me didn’t realize it would be outside with no shade and $5 per bottle charge for a 20 oz bottle of water. In the middle of the day, I would have paid more for it if they had demanded it. I literally almost passed out from a head stroke and I was so sunburnt by the end of the day that my strapless wedding dress didn’t look so great. But it was so worth it and I don’t regret a moment of it.

What about you? What concerts have you been to? Let me know in the comments!

Life Of A Blogger #50

Weekly feature created by Jessi at Novel Heartbeats to discuss one non-bookish topic per week. For more information about this feature click here

This week’s topic: Halloween

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. I love the decorations. I love the costumes. I love pumpkin everything. I love going to stranger’s homes and demanding candy. This year, however, I don’t think I’ll be doing anything special. I *might* go to Scarowinds, which is Carowinds amusement park with scary decorations and new scary attractions, but it’s a long shot. I don’t have any kids and I’m not really a party person. Plus, I feel like I’m too overweight to really get behind the whole costume thing. The ones you buy are so damn small, even if you get a large, and making one is a pain in the ass. 😦 Well, this year it would be easy. Just get a big box, cut holes for my arms and head, write “Fragile” on it in read letters and BAM! Costume! I’m Fragile, the boxtroll. But I have no where to wear said costume.

What about you? What do you love about Halloween? Let me know in the comments.

Life Of A Blogger #49

Weekly feature created by Jessi at Novel Heartbeats to discuss one non-bookish topic per week. For more information about this feature click here

This week’s topic: Origin Of Your Name

Oooo….an easy one! My name is Tabitha Elaine and the origin is pretty simple. Or, at least, it is theoretically. Tabitha comes from the old TV show Bewitched. Samantha’s daughter is named Tabitha and my mom always liked it. If I could only learn how to wiggle my nose, I could rule the world.

::clears through:: ANYWAY. My middle name is after my mom’s little sister. I’ve always disliked my middle name. I just don’t feel like it suits me. Then my last name was my dad’s last name and now it’s my husband’s last name!

That’s it! Pretty simple, right? What about you? Where did your name come from? Let me know in the comments!

Life Of A Blogger #48

Weekly feature created by Jessi at Novel Heartbeats to discuss one non-bookish topic per week. For more information about this feature click here

This week’s topic: Favorite Toys

Ummm? I don’t have many toys? I have some random plushies from shows and movies. Like I have a Twilight Sparkle plushie and Blue from Rio and things like that. On the more adult side of things (get your mind out of the gutter), I guess some people refer to their electronics as toys? On that end, I have a lot of those and they are all my favorites. My ipod touch, my ipod classic, my laptop, my kindle (duh), and my tablet. I love them all!

What about you? What are your favorite toys? Let me know in the comments!

Life Of A Blogger #47

Weekly feature created by Jessi at Novel Heartbeats to discuss one non-bookish topic per week. For more information about this feature click here

This week’s topic: Scents
I used to be a strictly berry scented type of girl. Any type of berry scent made me happy. Blackberry, Blueberry, Mountain Berry, Strawberry, I wasn’t picky. I’m still not when it comes to berry scents. I love them all.

I’ve evolved a bit now. I also love the smell of apple cinnamon or pumpkin pie because they both make me thing of food. I like the smell of coffee even though I hate the way it tastes. I’m also pretty obsessed Cake Beauty scents right now, especially the Lemon & Cream one. It smells just like lemon cake. It makes me hungry every time I smell it, but I love it a bunch.

Basically, I love food smells. I’m not big on floral scents, they just aren’t for me. What about you? What are your favorite scents? Let me know in the comments!

Life Of A Blogger #46

Weekly feature created by Jessi at Novel Heartbeats to discuss one non-bookish topic per week. For more information about this feature click here

This week’s topic: Most Prized Possession

I don’t know that I can pick just one thing. If I had to limit it down, I’m pretty proud of having an original copy of The Secret Of Ella & Micha by Jessica Sorensen. It’s one from before the book was picked up by a publisher, the one with the gorgeous cover, not that crappy generic one the publishers gave it. This cover:

I really wish they could have kept those covers. The Callie & Kayden series got to keep their original covers, so I don’t understand why Ella & Micha had to change.

I think I’m pretty proud of all of my library stuff. Lauren & I have been traveling around a lot lately to go to bookish events, so I’ve managed to get quite a few things signed and I’m ridiculously happy with all of that. I have my entire Pushing The Limits series signed, which I’m over the moon about.

Beyond bookish things, I also have quite a few posters and such stuff signed by bands I love. Mostly Sick Puppies stuff because I’ve seen them a lot, but also Evans Blue, Saving Abel, and a handful of others.

What about you? What’s you’re most prized possession? Let me know in the comments!

Life Of A Blogger #45

Weekly feature created by Jessi at Novel Heartbeats to discuss one non-bookish topic per week. For more information about this feature click here

This week’s topic: Clothing

I used to be a strictly jeans and T-shirt kind of girl, but lately, I’m really into dresses and skirts and tights and all that. Or rather, on work days, I’m still a jeans and T-shirts girl, but on weekends, I walk on the wild side. One of the great things about the weather getting cold is I can pull out my sweater tights, which I’m overly obsessed with. I also want to clarify that I’m not one of those girls who wears tights in place of pants. PANTS ARE IMPORTANT. I wear a skirt or dress of a decent length with the tights underneath. I love looking down at my legs and see a bright color or strange pattern. It makes me happy for some indescribable reason.

I also have an obsession with boots. I used to be obsessed with heels, but the older I get the more I know that I never wear them for more than half an hour before I kick them off because they are fucking painful. So now I stick to what I know I’ll wear and that is flat(ish) boots.

Then there is the fedora obsession. I love them. I have way too many of them, but I keep buying more. I can’t help it. They just look so awesome and they make me feel like Neal Caffrey. XD

What about you? What are your clothing habits? Let me know in the comments!

Life Of A Blogger #44

Weekly feature created by Jessi at Novel Heartbeats to discuss one non-bookish topic per week. For more information about this feature click here

This week’s topic: Languages

Obviously, I speak English, the butchered American version…sometimes I even lapse into that deplorable southern accent that I hate. I’ve always been fascinated other by languages. When I was a kid, I wanted to be a translator and learn as many languages as I could. I took French in elementary school, though I don’t remember much of it. One of the biggest bummer’s of taking band in middle school was it meant I couldn’t take French. In high school, I took both Spanish and Japanese. I did much better with Japanese, surprisingly!

Unfortunately I don’t speak anything other than English. I took 3 semesters of Japanese and I wasn’t half bad, but those things fade with time and I don’t have anyone to practice with. I also don’t have the patience or discipline to self-teach more. 😦 I could take local Spanish classes, but my accent is horrible and I can’t roll my r’s to save my life. Plus, I’m just more fascinated by Japanese. It’s such a complex, but logical language. I love it, a lot. Had I gone to a traditional University, I would have minored in Japanese, that’s how much I loved it. In fact, my dream school was Wake Forest because they had the best Japanese program in NC at the time.

What about you? Can you speak any other language? Are you a Japanese enthusiast like me? Let me know in the comments!