Welcome back after the long weekend!

Hey bloggy friends! Sorry about the lack of postings during the long weekend. My husband decided we should make Labor Day weekend a labor-filled weekend, so it was a busy one filled with home improvements and hefty cleaning. Not fun.

Welcome to all our new followers we got over the weekend! I have followed everyone who left me a link in the comments. Thanks for checking us out and hope you like what you see! Spread the word about the contest I've got going on so you get a bigger shot at winning!

I was hoping to have a book review up today for you guys, but the insane business of the weekend made it nearly impossible to finish the ARC I got in the mail Friday. I promise that I will review it this week.

I want to warn you ahead of time, this week will be a short one here on the blog. It's my anniversary on Thursday (five years!), so the husband is taking Thursday and Friday off work to spoil me. I'm super excited, but that means that I'm taking a long weekend as well. Forgive me for the impending blog silence! I'll see if I can get Stephanie to handle a post or two for me.

When I post the review tomorrow, be ready to enter a new contest! I'm going to give the ARC away, so if you love ARCs, get ready!

You guys ROCK!!!

Ongoing Contest starts NOW!!!

I decided, enough waiting to post the entry form! It's time to kick off the ongoing followers contest! Here's the rules:

The entry form will be available to fill out at the end of this post and on the Contests page. ONLY FILL OUT THIS FORM ONCE! There will also be a form to add extra entries after you submit your initial form, so do not despair! You can continue to earn entries over the life of the contest.

Your initial entry is for just putting your name and email on the form. Extra entries can be earned for linking to the contest through a blog post, Tweets or sidebar links. You can also earn extra entries for following me and Stephanie on Twitter, being a Facebook fan and being my Goodreads friend. Links to all these pages are available through the Wibiya toolbar at the bottom of the page and the Contact Us page.

If you do more blog posts or tweets later, you can fill out the Extra Entries form and they will be added to the drawing. You can earn extra entries for referrals as well, so tell people to note that you sent them! Those don't need to be put on the Extra Entries form.

Winners will be selected randomly at regular intervals. $20 Amazon Gift Cards will be awarded when we hit 50 blog followers and again at every 100 followers (so one at 50, one at 150, one at 250, etc.). Other winners will be chosen for other prizes when the Facebook page gets 250 fans and when my Twitter hits 500 followers. More prizes will be added later for other intervals. So there are TONS of chances to win!

This contest is open INTERNATIONALLY, since the gift card will be an e-gift card. Just make sure Amazon ships to you!

Fill out the initial entry form HERE.

Extra entries can be added HERE.

Good luck!

UPDATE!!!
You can now earn 10 extra entries for donating to the Gulf Coast Oil Spill fundraiser I'm hosting! You earn 10 entries for every $5 you donate. I can track who donates through the Razoo page, so all you have to do is click the 'Donate' button in the right hand sidebar. To make it easier for me to match up, use the same email address that you put on your entry form for the donation. This goes for any giveaway I'm running from now until February of next year, so there's a great way to earn extra entries and help a good cause! NOTE: Each donation earns extra entries for one giveaway at a time. If I'm running multiple giveaways and you want to specify which giveaway you apply the extra entries to, leave a comment on the original post for the contest and I will document the request.

UPDATE: The blog follower count has grown exponentially, and it's honestly gone up much faster than I expected it to. While I wish I could afford to give tons of stuff away all the time to my awesome followers, the truth is that I can't. So, the 150 follower gift card winner will be the last one of this particular contest, and I will have to lower the amount from $20 to $10. I hope this doesn't make any of you angry. I just don't have the means to provide a $20 gift card right now, and 150 followers is not far away. The new amount of $10 is still enough to buy a hardcover book from Amazon, and they ship internationally. I feel terrible that I can't continue this contest beyond 150 followers, but don't worry. There will still be plenty of contests on the blog, and I will do my best to hook you guys up as often as possible. I really appreciate each and every one of you and I hope I can help you see how much you all mean to me. Thank you so much for your support!

Friday Blog Hop!

I threw my hat into the ring of the weekly Follow Friday Blog Hop for book bloggers! Yay!



Follow Friday is a meme hosted by Parajunkee, where people spread the book love by following around the blogosphere.

Book Blogger Hop is a meme hosted by Jennifer at Crazy-For-Books, where book bloggers can "connect with other book lovers, make new friends, support each other, and generally just share our love of books!"

Question of the Week (Follow Friday): What is your favorite brick and mortar bookstore?

I don't really have a favorite. I love the feel of any book store. The quiet, the selection, the way I can discover something I never thought I would enjoy because it's stocked close to something I do. So I guess the answer is all of them. :)


Question of the Week (Blog Hop): Do you ever judge a book by it's cover?

I try not to, because you never know what you could find inside, but it's hard not to let my innate consumerism drive me to books that have prettier covers. That's part of the reason it took me so long to read The Hunger Games. I just wasn't grabbed by the cover the way I am by some books, but once I did read the book, I understood the cover a lot better.

Comment below so I can check out your blog and follow you back! And add yourself to the linky list!

Help out the victims of the Gulf oil spill!

I tweeted this earlier, but I figured it warranted a blog post to get the word out and encourage some giving. I have started a fundraiser over at Razoo.com to help out the victims of the oil spill and rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico.

The charity that the proceeds will be donated to is the Gulf Coast Oil Spill Fund, which is maintained by the Greater New Orleans Foundation. One hundred percent of the proceeds will go to the families affected by the oil crisis, and the fund is accredited by the Council on Foundation and has gotten the highest possible rating from CharityNavigator.org. You can learn more by visiting their website.

It is my goal to raise $5,000 by Valentine's Day of next year. This amount could make a big difference in the lives of the people affected by the oil spill. So please, do what you can to help out. Spread the word about the fundraiser if you can, and donate to the cause by clicking the "Donate Now" button in the right-hand sidebar. The button will be up till Valentine's Day of 2011. Let's make a difference!

Stephanie's Thursday Pick: Machete

Here's the first post from Stephanie, my sister and newly authorized poster on Things Liz Loves. She's my slightly nerdier, more cynical counterpart in life. Enjoy her postings!

My Thursday Movie Pick: MACHETE

So I'm a total Robert Rodriguez movie addict. I even sat through all 3 Spy Kids movies. So, of course I want to see Machete. It has all the elements of a successful Rodriguez flick: Danny Trejo, lots of chicks with guns, and big explosions.

It all started as a fake trailer for the Grind House double feature by Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino. It has definitely evolved since the original concept to include a tragic back story for our main character. The cast has also had some very interesting additions, most notably Steven Seagal. The cast also includes Don Johnson, Jessica Alba (I know) and Michelle Rodriguez along with quite a few of the staple cast members of a Rodriguez movie.

I'm glad they decided to keep the original trailer a large part of the film. Who doesn't love the line "They f*#@$d with the wrong Mexican."? And Cheech Marin is totally going to rock as the gun-toting priest.

This is the movie for the haters of the romantic comedy. You bring the popcorn.

Thursday's Picks: Upcoming Releases

Thursday's Picks is going to be a weekly meme that will feature a couple of upcoming releases for the next week that we here at Things Liz Loves are excited about. It's possibly going to be a double feature, meaning it will have a post from me and one from Stephanie (my sister and new poster on TLL). So let's get it started with this week's picks!

Movie Pick: It's a tie...MACHETE and GOING THE DISTANCE

The lady in me is really excited to see Going the Distance this week. I love a good rom-com as much as the next chick, and this one looks like it might actually be funny, which is more than I can say for many of the romantic comedy releases of late (*ahem* The Backup Plan, Leap Year, waste of my life *ahem*). Here's the trailer.




The action-loving movie geek in me, however, is more excited for Machete. As I mentioned in my post about the film offerings of September, I think Machete has the potential to be a really exciting movie that will keep a large audience entertained. It's not a family friendly film by any means, but the grown-ups catching this film that have a good sense of humor should really enjoy this one. Remember the fake trailer from the Grindhouse movies? Absolutely worth making a full feature film. WARNING! The fake trailer is absolutely NSFW or for children's eyes. I won't post the actual trailer, just a link. You have been warned. Machete Fake Trailer


Book Pick: CLOCKWORK ANGEL by Cassandra Clare

I know, Clockwork Angel isn't coming out in the next week, it's already out. All the more reason for you to go buy it and read it! Clockwork Angel is a YA urban fantasy novel that's set in 19th century London, so it has a cool steampunk element to it. It's a prequel to Clare's Mortal Instruments series and the first book in a three part Infernal Devices series. You can check out her website for more information on all her work. I haven't read it yet, but all the reviews scream awesome. I will definitely be making a point to pick this one up this weekend.


DVD Pick: MACGRUBER - Release Date 9/7/2010

MacGruber is my inner movie nerd's dream comedy. Spoofing 80's/early 90's uber-popular TV series? Check. Hottie Ryan Phillipe playing the straight man to the comedic lead, thus being really funny by default? Check. Val Kilmer in anything on film? Check. MacGruber is everything this lady needs in a DVD rental. Check out the trailer.





Be sure to check these out over the next week. Also, we're very close to starting to accept entries for the ongoing $20 Amazon gift card contest, so spread the word and get us some more followers!

Time to pick September's Blog Spotlight...

YAY! First month for the new Monthly Blog Spotlight!

Now, since the blog is still a baby, we didn't have any applications this month. That's okay, though, because I picked the winner from our awesome followers!

And the winner is...

Carol's Prints!

YAY!!! You Win!!!

Carol is an awesome blogger and author (just like me!) and her blog is always interesting. She's also really nice and has helped spread the word about our little blog-a-log over here.

So, head over to the Monthly Spotlight page and check out the full spotlight featurette. And head over to Carol's Prints and congratulate her!

If you want to be October's spotlight, start sending in your applications now!