Blogoversary Winners

So, I’ve been a very bad blogger. I completely forgot to actually change my day 7 post of my blogoversary from a draft into an actual post, and only just now realized it when someone asked me about the winners. *facepalm* I swear, I’m not normally this brain-dead. That being said, here are the winners (who have all been contacted, so check your emails)!

Day 1 – Ebook of The Brush Whistler’s Song – H.B.

Day 4 – Ebook from a blog hop – Jbst

$30 Amazon GC – Alexandra E.

So congratulations to all the winners and thank you so much to all of you who stopped by and joined me for my 3^rd blogoversary. And here’s to another awesome year!

3rd Blogoversary Day 6 - Cringe-worthy Posts

First, I would like to start by saying that though I've been having difficulties with Blogger not posting scheduled posts before...it probably helps if I don't accidentally schedule them for dates in July instead of June. Yeah...that would definitely help. So now a whole bunch of posts are going to show up since I fixed the dates now. I've also decided to extend the giveaway for another week due to the mess-up (though I won't be doing more posts about the blogoversary most likely). Anyways, now back to our regularly scheduled program.

Since it’s Monday (and not going so well for me already), I decided to share a little something that’ll hopefully cheer you up (or at least make you laugh). So if you have a bad day, just remember…we’ve all been there. Part of taking a walk down memory lane means admiring the good, the bad, and the ugly. So, for your enjoyment today, I present my (IMHO) most cringe-worthy posts formatting/design wise.

Hart Attack Tour -  So many different fonts, sizes, and coloring! I still have no idea how I ended up getting the white background on certain parts but not on others, even when I tried to remove them all.  Blogger was not working with me on this day.

Laura & the City of Angels Interview - Another post for the same author…I feel like I should write her an apology for this…in my defense, this was me in my very early days as a blogger. In retrospect, most of my early blog tour posts weren't very great formatting wise, but these two stuck out the most to me.

Oh, and my 3 year long struggle to figure out what color my writing should be when I need to differentiate who’s “speaking”? Is it blue? Green? Pink? How about purple? Do I even need to differentiate colors? I’ve gotten better about sticking to just blue or red now (mainly blue). But darn. I just realized that the first three colors I listed were all on different posts about the same book series. *facepalm* Well, I am a rainbow supporter, so I guess that’s a good excuse for my abundance of choices (though really, I’m just indecisive at times and like all the pretty colors, but let’s just keep that between you and me).

Though at least I’ve pretty much gotten past choosing impossible to read colors for no apparent reason (at least, not one that I can remember). But I do still stick by my Christmas themed color scheme.

Oo, oo! Here’s a personal favorite of mine…forgetting to make sure the photo is facing the right way. 99.99% of the time I caught it…this just happened to be the .01%.

There are plenty more I’m sure I could go on about, but these are just the top 3 cringe-worthy-offenses that stuck out to me. So in conclusion, I hope this helped cheer you up a little and made your Monday a little more bearable. After all, laughter is the best medicine.

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3rd Blogoversary Day 5 - Reflecting

While celebrating this milestone, I’ve found that I’ve been doing a lot of thinking and reflecting on the past. For example, looking back at some of my cringe-worthy earlier posts (see tomorrow for more details). I’ll admit, I was a newbie starting out with no clue what I was doing. What looked okay to me 3 years ago makes me cringe now. I’ve thought about going through and re-formatting my old posts to make them match my current layout, but I’ve decided against it. Why? Because it’s not just a timeline of my posts, it’s a timeline of my maturation and personal growth. When I started blogging back in 2012, I was going through a rough period in life. I didn’t really know what the heck I wanted or where I’d end up. I started blogging as an outlet (and on a bit of a whim to be totally honest). Yet I’ve grown personally these past 3 years, and I think it shows through in my posts. And as a wise soul once said, we learn from our past. And my past has shaped me into the woman I am today. So by keeping my posts the way they are, I feel like I'm honoring myself; both the girl I used to be and the woman I'm turning into. Plus, it'd be a pain in the ass to have to go back and fix all those posts :P

Wow, this turned into a much more inter-reflecting post than I thought it would. But hey, it's one of the reasons I started blogging, so it's nice to know I'm still true to my roots 3 years in :)  So thank you to all of you who have followed me and my blog through all the ups and downs, the missed posts, the crazy formatting, my ramblings, etc., etc... I truly appreciate it.

So I'm curious, how long have you been following my blog? Are you a new follower? If so, it's great to have you! Have you been following since the beginning? And if so, YOU ACTUALLY STUCK WITH ME??!! THROUGH ALL THAT??!! Are you crazy? It's okay, I'm crazy too. Must be why you stuck with me all this time. :)  Let me know in the comments, I'm genuinely curious to know. And have a wonderful Sunday!

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3rd Blogoversary Day 4 - Blog Hops

I’ve participated in several hops throughout the years, but two of the most memorable were the first hops I ever participated in. The first hop I participated in was the Hot in Handcuffs Hop hosted by Under the Covers. I had recently won a pair of furry handcuffs I had no need for, and I got to talk about one of my favorite BDSM authors, Kim Dare, so it was great. But the most memorable part of this hop happened when I posted about it on my personal Facebook page. What I did not realize was that when I had recently friended my mother, she apparently somehow started getting emails whenever I did anything on my personal page. Can you see where this is going? Yep, my mother got emails about the Hot in Handcuffs blog hop, including one where her daughter mentioned giving away handcuffs…oh, and she didn’t tell me this until about halfway through the hop. Oh, and she dropped the “I’ve checked out your blog a few times” bomb at the same time, leaving me sweating what she’d seen or read. Yeah…talk about VERY awkward. Now I keep my blog related posts to the fan page, and let my mother know when there are safe-for-mom-to-read posts, and it works :)

The second hop I participated in was the Virtual Zombie Walk 2012 (followed shortly after by the Zompacolypse Blog Hop). However, this walk was fun, because I got to go all out sharing some of my favorite zombie reads and movies. Plus, I spent like an hour looking up humorous cat zombie photos. I don’t think I’ve ever had as much fun creating a post as I did then (though I’ve had a pretty fun time with my Wellness Wednesday posts lately…). And then a week later, I was able to participate in the Zompacolypse Hop, through which I met and befriended another great author who had previously been unknown to me.

So, while these were both the first blog hops (and walks) I was a part of, they are some of my fondest blogging memories as well. What about you? Have you participated in any of my hops in the past? Which was your favorite? (If you need help with looking them up, just click on the blog hop tag at the bottom of the post).

For today, I'm offering one lucky winner their choice of any of the books I've offered as prizes during a blog hop. So leave your book choice in your comment along with your email address for your chance to win! Also, don't forget to enter the grand prize giveaway!

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Happy 3rd Blogoversary Week Starts!

As some of you may know, this month marks my 3rd year blogging as Sharing Links and Wisdom! Due to being insanely busy (not to mention without my computer for most of this month), I decided to just do a week-long celebration instead of a month long celebration. So this week, I’m doing a look back at these past three years blogging, and offering a few giveaways along the way (so keep your eyes peeled!).

Starting today, for the next week, you have the chance to win the overall grand prize giveaway: a $30 Amazon gift card!! You can earn entries every day, so be sure to stop by daily for more chances to win! 

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