Goals and Resolutions for the New Year!

I know that everyone's feed is blowing up with lists of favorite books, covers, authors, releases, hot male characters, goals, resolutions, and everything in between, so here is one more to clog it up. :) No really, I LOVE seeing all the lists, goals, and plans. I am a list person by nature, so it makes my little heart happy to see everyone excited about things for 2011.

I also have a lot in store for the coming year. I am ready and focused to make a significant dent in my project list. Some of what I have planned is already in motion, and some will require some work. Here are a number of goals, resolutions, and plans that I have for 2011.

Readalongs:

1. Host 12 one-month readalongs on books chosen by fellow bloggers (already in motion)
2. Host 6 two-month readalongs on books chosen by me (already in motion)
3. Be successful in completing my reading assignments for each day of the readalongs
4. Send bloggers who complete the readalong novel their "surprise"

Books to Read:

1. Continue to have a balance between those books I am excited to read and some of those titles I am not so excited to read
2. Aim to get to at least 160 books read off my project list by December 31, 2011 (this means I need to read about 90 books from my list)
3. Allow for 5 "fun" reads throughout the year (not an entire month like I did this past year)

Blog Appearance:

1. Decide whether to move the blog to Wordpress or stay on Blogger and carry through by the end of March
2. Continue to keep the blog organized, pages updated, and links fresh

Blogger Interactions:

1. Continue my account on Goodreads.com (you can find me at Allie Danielson) and keep updated
2. Continue my account at Twitter (@alliedanielson) and keep updated
3. Continue to comment as much as possible on as many blogs as possible daily (this is something I have been working on the last few months)
4. Continue to branch out to other bloggers and reading communities that are directly tied to my classics project
5. Keep meeting new people! :) And continuing friendships with bloggers I already know and love!

Blogging and the real life:

1. Set a time limit per day to focus on blogging activities and stick to it
   
2. To keep my sanity, maintain a block of extra time on the weekend to spend more time blogging and interacting
3. Continue to write reviews as I read and schedule ahead so I don't "fall behind."

What goals and plans do you have for the coming year? Or are you one of those people who think resolutions are silly? ;)

Some Page Edits.

Just a little PSA here. I got a little crazy organizing and changing things, so there are a few things different with my pages.

I combined my "About Me" page with my "FAQs" to put all that boring information in one place. I also added a new page with detailed information about readalongs for you all to take a gander at. And lastly, I removed my 2010 Challenges list (since I haven't been paying attention to them and I've won anyway) to add in a "2010 Books" page with each book I completed this year.

There are a couple of small organizational things that were tweaked. I officially removed "The Dead" from my TBR list, as it is a part of The Dubliners which I am reading anyway. I added in The Painted Veil by Maugham, which I am reading now, in its place.

Everything else has been updated and should be current to what is currently going on. I hope you all enjoy those little tweaks!

Sunday Salon: March 28, 2010.

This was definitely a more calm week than last week. I would say that it was needed!

The weather changes have really been bothering me. I am susceptible to migraines, and I have had quite a few this week. With fronts coming in, the temperature changing, my head has been pounding almost all week.

I am glad to say that starting tomorrow I got back to full time hours working at the park and my supervisor pay! Matt and I are really looking forward to me working more and I can't wait to have more time to be out of the house and doing something. I love working at the park!

Unfortunately, no sub jobs for this week. I rarely saw anything posted and when I did, it was something I am not qualified to sub in (special education resource rooms).

There are rumors circulating in Michigan that there is a bill in question forcing many teachers of retiring age to retire, or they will be forced to start paying their own benefits. As an unemployed educator, I'm not sure what to think about this. There are a LARGE number of retired-age teachers still working, so having those jobs open would mean great things for the thousands of people in my situation! But, I don't know if this bill is the right way to do that. Who knows!

In reading news this week, I had another great week. I managed to get through a Holmes novel and Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf. Woolf always takes a little more concentration than I think it will, but it is always worth it. I even went to the library to check some things out and get small paperback copies of each of the Holmes novels. I have rheumatoid arthritis and my big, hardcover edition of the complete Holmes stories and novels is too heavy to hold up. Unfortunately, my library is lacking in the individual novels. All they have are the big compilations which doesn't help my situation. I did find a large print edition of A Study in Scarlet and The Sign of Four. I read A Study in Scarlet out of it and the huge letters actually made my eyes go a little batty. All of the other novels and story collections I am trying to get through inter-library loan. We'll see how that goes.

I also made some big changes here on the blog. After an e-mail from blogger letting me know they were revising some templates and editing options, I decided to take advantage of their new 3-column look with a total blog makeover that is completely different from what I had (hopefully you noticed). It makes things easier for me since I don't have to scroll way down to see some vital pieces of information. I also think the template is little more custom to my blog-the whole "odyssey" theme. I am loving it, but expect to see a few small tweaks and changes as I get used to it.

I also added another page at the top. I have been getting a lot of e-mails recently with questions about my blog, so I figured I should answer them. Rather than have one big post, I thought it would be easier to have an easily seen page with the answers. Feel free to check it out!


This coming week I am hoping to get through another Sherlock Holmes novel, as well as The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde. I am also hoping to start one of the 2 Dumas novels I am reading for my stop on the Classics Circuit. My giveaway for two signed, hardcover copies of Carrie Ryan's books ends Thursday at midnight.

I am hoping for another good reading week, so keep your fingers crossed!

Happy reading everyone!

Blog Makeover.

I wanted to make a quick post to acknowledge that yes, my blog looks a little different. Don't worry, you are in the right place!

I am not at all computer literate and have no idea how to do anything with HTML, let alone customize my blog to make it a little more me. But when I got an e-mail from Blogger announcing they had new templates and better options for creating columns, I figured it would be worth a shot to take a look.

Lo and behold I found this wonderful template, which is very much in keeping with my "odyssey." I am still tweaking some of the fonts, colors, and placement of items, but I think this will be a permanent change. I hope you all like it!