Hello, hello, all!
I hope this update finds everyone enjoying spring! Now that the weather has finally decided to more or less clear up, Hedgie and I are enjoying April very much. The winter clothes can go back in the closer and out comes the spring and summer stuff! Dresses and sandals and short sleeves - oh yes, I am very happy. Sweaters are nice and all, but I was getting tired of them.
April actually has a lot in store for me. I turn 22 this month (happy birthday, me!) and I already know what I'm getting for my birthday - all four seasons of Downton Abbey! And maybe a few other things; my mum is always very good about having extra surprises. I'm hoping that maybe one of those surprises might (?) include a video camera so I can start vlogging as well as blogging. Probably not, and if that's the case (which is very high), a video camera may just have to be a birthday present to myself.
There's also some other exciting news. A few weeks back, I featured the first book in The Kingdom of Wrenly series on one of my Waiting on Wednesday features. Out of the blue, the illustrator - Robert McPhillips - contacted me, to let me know that he was happy I was excited for the books, and so also express his love for hedgehogs and Bilbo's namesake. As a further surprise, he sent me hardcover copies of the first two books - The Lost Stone and The Scarlet Dragon!!! Not only that, but he did custom illustrations in both of them! Pictures are below.
| The Lost Stone doodle. He signed it to both me and Bilbo! Isn't that the most adorable reading hedgehog ever?! |
| The Scarlet Dragon doodle. Also signed to Bilbo! Bilbo and my Library Dragon are very good friends, too. :) |
Thank you, thank you so, so much, Robert, for sending those to me! They are the new prize of my collection.
Added onto this super-exciting news, Book #4 will feature an illustration of a hedgehog hidden in one of the scenes. I have it on good authority that the hedgehog was inspired by my very own Bilbo! Hedgie is going to be in a book (more or less)!
My book-buying this month has been moderately tame (I say that now; I probably just jinxed myself). Other than one or two books, I have only bought what I planned on getting, and I have been flying through my ARCs and library books and books that I own. I defied the TBR Jar the other day, but only because I was desperate to read something new - and not do another re-read. Hopefully The Jar will forgive me. ;-)
That brings you up to speed on Hedgie's and my life! See you next month!

OH, those are SO adorable!! I love it! I'm going to have to read these books, they look really cute for the illustrations alone :) So so exciting!
ReplyDeleteAren't they just precious? They are adorable books; I wish I had had them as a kid.
DeleteThey look just like the kind of books I would have loved too. (Who am I kidding, I still do :P)
DeleteAn early happy birthday! And those are some seriously awesome book signings. Congrats to Bilbo on his literary debut!
ReplyDeleteVideo-wise, you may just want to mess around with a smartphone camera or web camera first. The phone video quality is pretty decent now, and certain video cameras have odd file formats.
Thanks! :)
DeleteMy sister's camera actually takes really decent videos, so I've been using that. My first video will be up with the guest post next Saturday! So exciting!!! :)