2009 in Review: Highlights Month by Month

2009 was a great year in many ways. Here are some of the highlights.

January

AS King delivered probably my favorite author interview of the year in the guise of DUST OF 100 DOGS character Saffron.

Adele of Persnickety Snark launched the Young Adult Read Carpet Podcast, which unfortunately only lasted two episodes. Read transcripts of my contributions: Dystopias Part 1 and Dystopias Part 2.

February

For Valentine's Day, I posted a love letter to my collection of signed books. I should do this again in 2010 with all the signed books I've acquired since then.

I was one of the first bloggers featured on Cathy's awesome feature Scene of the Blog at Kittling Books.

Steph of Reviewer X and I got together to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the publication of SPEAK by Laurie Halse Anderson including a post where four awesome authors speak up about SPEAK.

March

Alea of Pop Culture Junkie and I invented the Zombie Chicken Award (button by Daniel) and gave it to each other, sparking a viral phenom that spans the blogosphere. Google it today and find over 1 million hits!

April

Daniel and I met new kitteh Finn for the first time. See first kitten pictures of Finn.

I went to the Greek island of Rhodes for 5 days with friends Heather and Tracy. (Rhodes update)

May

I traveled to Lisbon, Portugal for a week to attend a design conference (OFFF 2009). (Lisbon recap)

My first time in NYC and at BEA where I met a ton of authors, publicists, and fellow bloggers. And of course, got a signed copy of Catching Fire. (BEA recap 1) (BEA recap 2)

June

We picked up Finn and brought him home. Emmy was none too pleased!

I participated in the Nerds Heart YA Tournament - the brain child of Renay at YA Fabulous -with a bunch of other cool bloggers and made a tough decision in my first round berth. The eventual winner was MY MOST FABULOUS YEAR by Steve Kluger.

July

I traveled to Barcelona for a wedding which gave me the perfect opportunity to take a NOTHING BUT GHOSTS field trip!

Went to Brussels for Florian W.'s wedding. Congrats!

August

I visited my best friend Sommer in Ohio and then went to Kansas for the first time in 2009 where I picked up 8 months worth of books that had been sent to me.

September

Presenting Lenore is shortlisted for Most Eclectic Taste during Book Blogger Appreciation Week. Thanks to everyone who nominated me and voted!

I attended 3 Tori Amos shows (Basel, Zurich and Luxembourg), and was in the FRONT ROW for two of them! (Tori shows recap)

October

I confessed that LIAR Author Justine Larbalestier and I are best friends in my review of LIAR.

I attended 3 more Tori Amos shows (Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, and Berlin), was in the FRONT ROW again for one show, met Tori for the second time, and finally heard Northern Lad live.

Rocked the Frankfurt Book Fair. (Recap day 1) (Recap days 2-5) (Shaun Tan book signing recap)

I participated in Dewey's 24 hr Read-a-Thon as a cheerleader and left 500 comments!

November

My new (non-paranoid) book club had a phone chat with THE HERETIC'S DAUGHTER Author Kathleen Kent.

Daniel and I traveled to Kenya and Tanzania for nearly three weeks. (Africa recap 1) (Africa recap 2) (Africa recap 3)

December

The blog got its 700th follower, 1000th subscriber, and 108,000th visitor. Thank you everyone for reading!

Daniel and I visited DC, LA and Wichita. (Partial DC and LA recap)

Have a great 2010 everyone!