Last day for Giveaway!, Nicholas Sparks and GTKYS

Today is the last day that you can enter my DaVinci Beads Drop Necklace giveaway!  Click here for details.  I will announce the winner via my blog and Twitter tomorrow! Good luck to all of those who have entered!




I watched the Last Song last night, and it was a little less gut-wrenching than when I watched it in theaters last spring - but still gut-wrenching, nonetheless.  I love reading Nicholas Sparks' books, love watching the movie adaptations, and apparently, love to feel sad and cry!  I totally think the little boy steals the show (I am completely too lazy to look up who "little boy" is on IMDB.) He's a sweetie!  The Last Song is so worth watching for his adorable performance.  
Speaking of Mr. Sparks, he is headed to West Virginia in October!  My mother-in-law, sister-in-law, and I are planning to attend the West Virginia Book Festival (yes, West Virginians can read!), listen to him speak, stalk him, etc.  I'm taking my copy of his newest book (comes out Sept. 14th!) in hopes of getting an autograph!


I hope you all are having a great weekend.  I've been napping, snacking, reading a little bit here and there, and hanging with the hubs - we went "back to school shopping" yesterday (no, it never stops as long as you're in school - he's 27, it's his last year, and we're still buying school supplies! ha ha.)


Thanks for stopping by today.  And now, it's time for a little bit of my Sunday blogging ritual, Getting to Know You!


1. If you could host a Reality TV show, which one would it be?
I have no clue - a dating show.  Those seem to draw in the most *interesting* people, IMO! Plus, I'm just a sucker for Bachelor/Bachelorette and even the nastier shows on VH1.  (Someone tell me why Ocho Cinco need help finding a girlfriend?)

2. Do you put your seatbelt on before or after you start the car?
I honestly have no idea.  But I always wear it! And sometimes it gets caught on the seat adjuster thingy, and my seat will all of a sudden start moving while I'm driving.  SCARES me to DEATH!

3. Shave or hair removal cream?
Shave - hair removal cream smells nasty!

4. What's your favorite feature in a house?
A tie between the living area and bathroom - I like for both to be cozy, I like to be comfortable when I'm in both of those rooms!

5. What is your favorite "Fall" scent?
I just figured that out yesterday.  I burned a new candle, Slatkin & Co. "Creamy Pumpkin", a new scent for 2010. I. am. HOOKED.

6. What tv show are you looking forward to seeing the most this Fall??
I used to be hooked on Desperate Housewives, but now that I've kinda fallen out of interest w/it, I look forward to Dancing with the Stars the most!  New contestants will be announced during Bachelor Pad on August 30th, and I CANNOT wait!!!  I've heard some great rumors - Jennifer Love Hewitt, the Situation from Jersey Shore, etc.

7. Personal Shopper or Personal Chef?
Oh Gosh, CHEF. PLEASE.  I can't cook worth a d?mn!

8. What is the first word that comes to mind when you think of "Fall"?
FOOTBALL! (GO HERD!)

"Safe Haven" by Nicholas Sparks

Maybe I've missed the boat somehow, but I just found out that Nicholas Sparks' newest book will be released in bookstores nationwide on September 14th!  "Safe Haven" sounds like a great love story, as is usual with Sparks' novels. 

I first got into Nicholas Sparks' books last summer. In fact, it was around this time last year that I decided to jump on the NS bandwagon.  All of my closest girl friends and female family members were completely smitten with Sparks' writing, and I didn't understand all of the fuss. I hate feeling out of the loop, so I spent my July 4th holiday weekend reading, then later watching, the super popular Nights in Rodanthe. I was hopelessly hooked!  Hopelessly hooked led to feverishly hooked, and by the end of the summer, I had read every single Nicholas Sparks novel, cried buckets of tears, and  diagnosed myself temporarily with every form of terminal illness that NS's characters suffered from - because there's almost always at least one important character that's sick and dying. I watched all of the movies, too - which, i.m.o., are nowhere as near as good as the books (I think most Nicholas Sparks fans will agree - just too much detail in the books to be covered in a screenplay!)  The movies were fun too, though - my favorite was the Notebook, followed by A Walk to Remember (which was a completely disgusting snotty nosed sobfest of an experience! Ugh... how heartbreaking!) 
I'll never forget my summer with Nicholas Sparks. There's just something cozy, calming, and heart warming about his writing - it's easy to understand, it flows well, and the books never take more than a few days to read.  I also love that his novels are set in N.C. - always so summery and romantic!  In celebration of finding out the news that his newest novel will be coming out in just two short months, along with the anniversary of my discovering the world of Nicholas Sparks, I present:

Steph's Nicholas Sparks Top 10

10. The Last Song (movie)

9. A Walk to Remember

8. Nights in Rodanthe

7. The Last Song

6. The Guardian

5. The Lucky One

4. Dear John

3. The Choice

2. The Wedding

1. The Notebook

So...any other Nicholas Sparks junkies out there?

P.S. Today, I'm linking up at Buzz on by Thursday, hosted by The Two Savvy Sisters and Fashionably Organized - Check their blogs out to get the rules, then play along and meet lots of new bloggers!