Goddess Girls #10 – Pheme the Gossip

Get to know Goddess Girl Pheme…the original “gossip girl”!
As the goddess girl of rumor and gossip, Pheme prides herself on being “in the know” and having the most up-to-date info on anyone and everyone at Mount Olympus Academy. To make sure that people really get her VIP messages, her words tend to linger in cloud letters above her head—just in case people don’t catch what she says!

But not everyone is thrilled with Pheme’s insider knowledge on everything MOA—including the Goddess Girls. Can Pheme ever be trusted? Or will this “gossip girl” find herself on the other end of the rumors?

Author Suzanne Williams

Suzanne Williams is the award-winning author of nearly 40 books for children, from picture books and easy readers to chapter books and middle grade fiction series. A former elementary school librarian, she lives near Seattle. Her picture book Library Lil (illustrated by Steven Kellogg) won the New Mexico children’s choice award in 2000 and was on several other state award lists. She is co-author (with Joan Holub) of the popular Goddess Girls series(for ages 8 – 12) and Heroes in Training (ages 6 – 11). Other series include Fairy Blossoms and Princess Power.

Author Joan Holub

I graduated from college in Texas with a fine arts degree, and then freelanced as an art director at a graphic design firm for eight years. I dreamed of working in children’s books, so I moved to New York City and became associate art director in Scholastic trade books, where I designed books for children and worked with editors and illustrators. It was a great job.

I illustrated my first published children’s book in 1992 and soon began illustrating full time. I began completing manuscripts and mailing them out to publishers in the early 1990s. In 1996, I sold my first two manuscripts — Boo Who? A Spooky Lift-the-Flap Book (Scholastic) and Pen Pals (Grosset & Dunlap). Yippee!

Now I write full time and have written and/or illustrated over 130 children’s books. Creating books that entertain, inform, and interest children (and me) is a fabulous job that I truly love.

Book Blast Giveaway
$100 Amazon Gift Card or Paypal Cash
Ends 4/21/13

Open only to those who can legally enter, receive and use an Amazon.com Gift Code or Paypal Cash. Winning Entry will be verified prior to prize being awarded. No purchase necessary. You must be 18 or older to enter or have your parent enter for you. The winner will be chosen by rafflecopter and announced here as well as emailed and will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen. This giveaway is in no way associated with Facebook, Twitter, Rafflecopter or any other entity unless otherwise specified. The number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning. Giveaway was organized by Kathy from I Am A Reader, Not A Writer http://iamareader.com and sponsored by the author. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW.

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It’s Spring Cleaning time and I’m getting rid of things I don’t need. With it comes a feeling of freedom. After all, if I haven’t worn/used it in a year, there’s a really good chance I don’t need it!

I hate clutter yet somehow manage to fill spaces pretty easily so I really have to stay on top of things.

I find doing a room at a time and not taking on too much prevents that overwhelming feeling.

Another aspect of Spring cleaning for me is to focus on the air in my home and changing air purification filters.

Air purifiers help with germs, allergens, odors, and humidity.  I found that they really improved the quality of air and improved my family’s health. My Mom used to cough all the time at night until I bought one for her room and then that changed significantly. She slept better at night as well.

Air purifiers work quietly in the background to remove pollutants such as dust, pollen, mold, pet dander or cigarette smoke from the air. They also help remove unpleasant smells.

We have them in various rooms in our home and I am thinking of buying another. I just found out recently that Best Buy, one of my favorite stores, has a great selection of air purifiers. They even have a family and friends coupon right now with which you can save 20% off on air purifiers in store until 4/15.

You can check out the air purifiers at Best Buy right here!

So, why not have clean fresh air for your home and breathe easier? For me, personally, it’s a small investment towards improving myself and my family’s health and well-being.

Disclaimer: The reviewer has been compensated in the form of a Best Buy Gift Card. All opinions are strictly my own.

One of the best gifts we can give is the gift of education! Now Grad Save has come up with an Easter Egg surprise.

Simply visit Grad Save’s Easter Page and fill out the easty form. You can then download and print up to 20 $10 GradSave Gift Certificates FREE that you can put into Easter eggs as a prize. They are redeemable for new GradSave customers, one per household. This is a fun way to introduce GradSave to families who may not know about them yet.

GradSave is an online college savings registry that helps parents, friends and family save for a child’s future education. With college costs on the rise and many graduates stuck with huge debts after graduating, GradSave offers a new and better way to give the gift of learning.

You can also find some tips on How To Throw An Easter Egg Hunt here! 

Happy Easter from Strange Daze Indeed and welcome to the Lucky Bunny Giveaway Hop!

BloggerPR is hosting this event so that we can bring all of our readers some fun as we await the arrival of the Easter Bunny!  Each blogger is giving away a prize valued at $20 or more.  This event will run until Easter (March 31st), which gives you lots of time to hop down the list like a bunny and enter as many giveaways as you’d like!

I’ve got a fun giveaway for you! First up is a $25 gc to See’s Candies! Some of my fondest memories of See’s are going in and being able to sample whatever I wanted. I found some of my favorites that way. Mmmm buttercreams!

Recently, I tried their Chocolate Walnut fudge and was very impressed. It wasn’t too sweet like some are. It was very creamy and had a delicious chocolate liquor flavor. With the fresh English walnuts and a hint of vanilla, it didn’t last very long at my house. I would definitely order this again.

See’s has quite a few flavors of fudge including Vanilla Walnut and Bordeaux Pecan. Yum!

My favorite, though, were the custom mixes they have! What could be sweeter than creating your own collection of See’s Candies hand-picked by you with the pieces you love most or most want to try!

You can get all one flavor, all different treats, or multiples of your favorites. Have a friend that loves buttercreams or raspberry truffles? Send them a box you know they will be crazy about. 

My just opened custom mix

It’s really fun too. Just choose the size you want at See’s online and all these tempting treats show up. Then just click on the one(s) you want and fill up the box.

In addition to my beloved dark and milk chocolate buttercreams, I loved the Raspberry Truffles, Ginger, California Brittle, Scotchmallow, and Dark Bordeaux. They arrived superfresh and with high quality chocolate. The smell alone was intoxicating.

I can’t wait to order these again and try out some new flavors.

 So, dear readers, you have the chance to win a $25 gift certificate to See’s with which you can purchase anything your heart desires.
 

Next up, is a lovely and whimsical piece of jewelry. One of my favorite artisans and friends, Laughing Vixen, has added to the prize with some really unique Easter necklaces that can be worn anytime. You get to choose which one of the four you would like out of these gorgeous vintage ones.

I love all of them.

You can choose either bunnies or chickens (check them out here among the Easter selections) and square or round for the pendant. She’ll also customize the chain color or you can choose a ribbon in a color of your choice.

One lucky reader will get both the $25 See’s Candies gift card and one of the pendants of their choice shown above from the Laughing Vixen Lounge.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclosure:  I received a gift card to See’s Candies in order to facilitate my review, however all opinions are strictly my own.

Do you love going to concerts, sports events, the theater, circuses? I can remember just about every concert I’ve been to with friends, all the plays my Mom used to take me to when I was small, my first Cirque du Soleil Performance which blew my mind, and all the Red Sox games I got to enjoy with my Dad.

Each event was special but buying tickets isn’t always such a great experience. I can remember searching different sites and being charged exorbitant fees and shipping!

But ScoreBig.com is a totally different animal! It’s the best place to get sports, theater and concert tickets at below box office prices. And it’s fun too, because you decide how much you want to pay for your tickets. Also, there are never any unwelcome fees or shipping charges. Every ticket is also 100% guaranteed.

ScoreBig has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Billboard Magazine, Techcrunch, Fast Company, Forbes and more. They were recently recognized by Forbes as one of America’s Most Promising Companies and by Billboard as one of the ten most interesting Startups of 2012.

Right now, ScoreBig is giving one lucky fan $500 worth of tickets to any sports, concert, theater or family event on ScoreBig.com. You can find events in your city and it will show you events that are close by as well. There’s no better way to enjoy a live event than with friends or family from some of the very best seats in the house.

Entering is easy. Just go here, enter your email address and you’re in! 

• One lucky fan will win $500 in sports, concert, theater, or family tickets of their choice from ScoreBig.com
• To enter, simply visit the URL above. A valid email address is all that’s needed to enter.
• The promotion closes 4/2/13 and a winner will be drawn on or about 4/4/2013.
• Open to US residents 18+ only. One entry per person.
• Prize is for the tickets only. Pick from any event on ScoreBig.com this month. Transportation to and from the event is the responsibility of the winner. 

Now that Spring is here, my mind is on all the upcoming concerts and baseball games. I’ve found some really cool events at ScoreBig I didn’t even know were happening in my area. I feel like I’ve been cooped up for way too long this winter. I imagine some of you have cabin fever too or are just ready to get out there and have some fun!

Best of luck to all!

I recently had a chance to peruse Shari’s Berries and was amazed at the wide variety of gift possibilities. They have delicious baked goods, fruit baskets, flowers and, of course, their famous chocolate covered strawberries.

How could I resist those berries when they beckoned to me in all their tempting splendor. Enrobed in chocolate – dark, milk and white – with various different toppings, they were completely irresistable. I also wanted to try their cake pops. I’ve only had cake pops once before and wasn’t that impressed, but, perhaps that was a fluke. So, I found this very reasonable deal with a full dozen swizzled strawberries and 3 Easter cake pops.

They were very easy to order and I was informed every step of the way as to their whereabouts which I loved. I knew exactly when they were going to be delivered.

On the day they arrived, I had family over and they couldn’t wait until I opened the box! They and I both loved the strawberries. They were packaged with great care and arrived in perfect shape. The chocolate was delicious and the berries were large with a great combination of sweetness with a hint of tartness. These are perfect for almost any occasion. Shari’s often has specials and their coupon codes can be found here. Also, do a Google search if you’re ordering and you may find more.

And then, of course,  the cake pops! Wow! Not only were they seriously almost too adorable to eat, but, inside, they were the fudgiest chocolate cake I’d ever had. Just one pop is completely satisfying – if you can bring yourself to eat these adorable chicks or bunnies. Shari’s has lots of other cake pops as well. Check out the selection! These make such a great unique gift!

So now I’m left with just memories. Sigh. But with the great specials and new products for each holiday, I know I’ll be ordering again soon! Shari’s is one of my favorite sites whether I’m treating my friends, my family, my co-workers or myself!

Disclosure: I was given a gift code to purchase items of my choice from Shari’s Berries to facilitate my review, however, all opinions are expressly my own.

Like any parent, I’m sure you want the best for your children, and think about their future, so I wanted to let you know about the awesome  Gerber Life “Bring Dreams to Life Video Contest”, a video contest with a $10,000 Gerber Life College Plan grand prize. 

Do you ever wonder what your child will be when he or she grows up?  Have they told you their hopes? Might they want to be a teacher?  A musician? A dancer? A doctor? A baseball player? A rockstar? Gerber Life is  encouraging parents to share their child’s dream with them through video! The Gerber Life Bring Dreams to Life Video Contest gives parents the perfect opportunity to both tell and demonstrate their story and earn a chance to win a $10,000 Gerber Life College Plan.

I wish you all the best of luck! 

During another of our New England blizzards, in the midst of snow, sleet and icy temperatures, these arrived this morning.  I thought of Camus.

In the midst of hate, I found there was, within me, an invincible love.
In the midst of tears, I found there was, within me, an invincible smile.
In the midst of chaos, I found there was, within me, an invincible calm.

I realized, through it all, that…

In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer.

And that makes me happy. For it says that no matter how hard the world pushes against me, within me, there’s something stronger – something better, pushing right back.

– Albert Camus, The Stranger