Demeter Giveaway!

In an effort to get get more traffic to my blog, and make it better, I'm hosting a Demeter Fragrance Library giveaway. I have a set of four fragrances: 2 Pick Me up Sprays in Wet Garden and Honeysuckle and 2 fragrance splashes in Chocolate Chip Cookie and Rye Bread. All are the 1/2 oz size. They are all new, and have never been used. I haven't opened the Wet Garden or the Honeysuckle as I don't do flower scents, but the Chocolate Chip Cookie smells amazing and the Rye Bread smells just like fresh baked rye bread.

Winner will be selected by random number generator on November 15th. Winner will have 1 week to respond to my winner notification and then an alternate will be chosen. Winner will also be announced in a blog post after prize is accepted. This giveaway is not being sponsered or supported by Demeter in any way.

**Due to the cost of shipping, this contest is only open to residents of the United States.

There will be multiple ways to enter, and each entry should be left in a seperate comment so that random number generator works correctly.

IMPORTANT: First Entry: In order to enter please look around my blog and tell me something that I can do to improve it. I haven't spent much time blogging lately and I know I could use some work. Please be constructive - not mean (Keep in mind I work a full time job, go to school full time, and am a part time mom, with limited knowledge of html). I will be reading each and every comment, and I really would like to improve. This entry must be done for any other entry to count. Anyone that doesn't first do this step will be deleted.

Additional entries:

1 entry - add me to blogger favorites
1 entry - follow me on twitter
1 entry - tweet about my givewaway then come back and post the link
2 entrys - add my contest to a contest site or mr linky and leave me the link to the entry
2 entrys - read one of my other blog entries and leave a meaningful comment on the entry then come back here and tell me which entry you commented on.
3 entrys - Blog about this contest and post a comment with the link to your post.
1 entry - suggest a bath and body company not listed for me to try
1 entry - suggest a handmade site or company that you think I might like
1 entry - suggest a book for me to read, and tell me why you think I would like it
2 entry - I like baking, so email me your favorite cookie or cupcake recipe to rasberryswrlgirl@ hotmail.com then come back here and tell me you did it. Be creative - no chocolate chip or peanut butter unless there is something extra special about them.
1 entry - go to the Demeter site and tell me what your favorite scent is from their library
1 entry - suggest a scent that you would like to see Demeter make that they don't already make.

Daily entry - Tweet about the contest Daily or Come back daily to suggest a book for me to read or a handmade/indie site for me to try

Any questions, send me an email and I will be happy to answer. Thanks for reading and entering!

The coolest candles ever!

I just got an email from Bath and Body Works showcasing their new autumn collection. I love, love, love! the new candle collection. I haven't smelled them yet, but I want one of each of these just for the adorable holders:

The acorn shaped candle in the Leaves scent, The pine cone shaped candle in fresh balsam,

And the Pumpkin shaped one in sweet cinnaomon pumpkin scent.

They are each 3 oz and only cost $12.50 each.

Banned Book Week

September 23rd thru October 3rd is Banned Book Week. Banned Book Week is a yearly event that celebrates the freedom to read and the importance of the First Amendment.

For more information about Banned Book Week check out The American Library Association website. You would be surprised by some of the books that have been banned or challenged including The Kite Runner, Harry Potter, The Great Gatsby, Where's Waldo?, and James and the Giant Peach. Also on the list is one of my favorites, To Kill a Mockingbird.

Every year during banned book week, I try to read a book that has been banned or challenged. I will list books as I read this week, but I'm going to start with A Light in the Attic by Shel Silverstein and The Giver by Lois Lowrey.

New Books!

This weekend my boyfriend and I took a day-trip to Flagstaff to go to Bookmans. My boyfriend's mom raves about it, and I've been saving all my books up for a year. It was a nice trip, but out of the whole box I brought they only took about 8 books. I was a little disappointed about having to haul them back home but there is always Hastings and some of the privately owned used book stores.

One thing I did like about Bookmans is how much more I got for my used books than other bookstores offer. I was offered $9 in cash or $46.68 in store credit. Obviously, I took the store credit. And then when my books totaled $48, they gave me a discount and I didn't have to pay a dime out-of-pocket.

So, my new treasures are:

Skin Trade (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, Book 17) by Laurell K. Hamilton

The Idiot Girls' Action-Adventure Club: True Tales from a Magnificent and Clumsy Life by Laurie Notaro

206 Bones: A Novel (Temperance Brennan Novels) by Kathy Reichs

A Million Little Pieces by James Frey

Two for the Dough (Stephanie Plum, No. 2) by Janet Evanovich

Three to Get Deadly (Stephanie Plum, No. 3) by Janet Evanovich

It's Monday! What are you Reading?

It's Monday! What are you reading?

Books I Completed This Week:

Magical Thinking by Augusten Burroughs 268 pages. More autobiographical short stories from the author of Dry and Running With Scissors. I enjoyed reading more of the crazy true life experiences.

For This Week:

The Idiot Girls’ Action-Adventure Club by Laurie Notaro

American Gods by Neil Gaiman

Next week will be a good week for books. I’m off to Palm Springs for a week long break from work and school to lounge by the pool and read.

It's Monday! What are you reading?

Books I compled this week:

Hey Nostradamus by Douglas Coupland. This one was read as part of the Read Your Own Books Challenge and the 100 Book Challenge. It's one of Couplands more interesting books. The characters were likable and I enjoyed his interesting perspective on religion and loss.

Strangers by Dean Koontz. This is a reread for me and is also part of the above two challenges as well as the Suspense/Thriller Challenge. I remember loving this book when I was younger and thinking it one of Koontz's best works. While I no longer think of it as his best book, it is still well written and a great story.

Books on the list this week:

Cunt: A Declaration of Independance by Inga Muscio. The book gives the history of the dreaded "C" word and how it fell from it's noble path.

American Gods by Neil Gaiman which will go towards the reading your own books challenge and the 100 books.

Forthcoming Reviews

Drew at Eden Fantasys was nice enough to send me some products to review some months ago. Due to some health problems I wasn't really able "try out" the products in order to give them a fair review. So, coming up soon I'll be posting my review of the Fetish Femme babydoll and the 101 Nights of Grrreat Sex Boardgame. In the meantime head over to Eden Fantasys for all your romantic needs.

I finally broke down and spent the close to $4 on the Yes to Carrots lip balm. Give me a few days to try it out and I'll have a review for that.

My order from Gold Canyon Candles arrived yesterday so I will have something to say about those in the next week or so as I try them all out.

Finally, I have a review on soap rocks coming up as well.

Stay tuned! And I'm back!!!

Free Book Fridays

Check out Free Book Fridays. Every week they give away several books. There is a teen site as well. A few weeks ago I won 1 of 5 signed copies of Sorrow Wood by Ramond Atkins. Look for my review when I finish reading it.

Demeter Home Fragrance Library

I recently won a gift certificate to Demeter Fragrance in a giveaway hosted by
Grocery Price Books. Head on over and check out some of her other giveaways. I used my gift certificate this morning to order the following fragrances: chocolate chip cookies, funeral home, beet root, string bean, and rye bread. I can't wait to get them and start sniffing. I've had funeral home before and I love it. It's a carnationy fragrance. I'm interested to see how the others smell as they are different than your normal perfumes. I love the smell of fresh green beans as I'm cutting off the tops and preparing to cook them. Demeter Fragrance has some normal fragrances such as rose and violet but also some more interesting ones like glue, playdough, paperback books, dirt, crayons, and Hersheys chocolate.



If you'd like to win a fragrance for yourself check out the contest hosted by
Pour Some Sugar on Me. She is giving away a 1 oz cologne spray in one of the following scents: watermelon, Bulgarian rose, fuzzy navel, raspberry jam, gardenia or Kahala coconut.

July Books Log

I only read one book for the month of July, "The Dogs of Babel" by Carolyn Parkhurst, 261 pages. I have to say, it's one of the best books that I have read all year. This brings my year count up to 46, with a total of 11,801 pages to date. I'm way behind on my goal for the year. This year I've been incredibly busier than I thought I would be. Many things have happened and it seems I'm behind on everything.

I'm currently reading "Hyperion" by Dan Simmons, "The Immortal" by Christopher Pike, and "Strangers" by Dean Koontz. All of these are rereads for me. I'm trying to get as many books finished from my bookshelf as possible as we will be taking a trip up north to Bookmans soon.

I also got about half way through "Act like a woman, Think like a man" by Steve Harvey. My mother insisted I read it, but I personally think that most men don't act as depicted in the book. I lost interested and she needed the book back.

In other book news, "The Time Traveler's Wife" has finally been made into a movie. It's one of my favorite books and I'm interested to see how it turns out. I'm not 100% in love with the actors that were chosen for the roles, but we shall see how they do.