Giving thanks for a day of awesome!

This is a very special day

The breeze swept the clouds all away

It swept the sky like a broom

And got ready for a very special day

-- "This is a Very Special Day" by Peggy Lee

I don't usually treat my blog like an honest-to-goodness journal. While it's true that I am journaling my adventures with books, I usually don't sit here and tell you guys what's going on from a day-to-day timeline. Well, today is an exception. Because today has been so all around awesome that I simple have to stop for a moment and give thanks to whatever's out there that lets little coincidences line up so that the universe can catch my attention.

As some of you may know, there is a great book group called Bookurious and part of that is an opportunity to be part of Blog It Forward. Today I received a copy of My Beating Teenage Heart, the first book I'll be reviewing for this program. (I took part in last month's review for Dearly, Departed but I'd already read it so I admit I got to cheat a little there.)

Not only am I super excited to read this book -- it sounds totally fabulous -- this is the first time I've been sent a book for review that I get to keep. I've *won* books before. And I absolutely loved being part of Bloggerhood of the Traveling Book. But the idea that I get to read this, tell people what I thought of it and have it on my shelf (even if my shelves are going "Oh my God, stop!") is really thrilling.

So that was a pretty epic start to the day.

Something some of you might know about me, but most of you probably don't, is that I collect Monster High dolls. I was hugely into dolls when I was a kid and a couple years ago, having admired them at stores but not making any purchases, I finally asked myself "What's stopping me?". I now have 14 Monster High dolls. I think the only characters available that I don't have copies of yet are Clawd Wolf and Abby Bominable. (Correction: Toralei Stripes has been released. Want. Now.)

Today's new doll was definitely a big surprise, though. And I hadn't even gone out to look for her. I actually managed to get ahold of Spectra Voltergeist. I've wanted her for months. Where was she? Sitting at the book table in WalMart, as if someone knew I was going to come along and pick her up. In an even freakier moment of "Yeah, that was suppose to happen" the theme I chose for Kyden, In These Arms by Bon Jovi, started playing. I love when odd things like this happen. They keep me optimistic.

Then we went to the grocery store. My mom wanted to get steaks for dinner and was taking a bit longer in there then I thought she would be. This turned out to be because she was chosen as a winner who got her groceries for free in some kind of holiday promotion.

When I got home, I checked my e-mail to find that I've been added to a contact list for an upcoming YA imprint, Strange Chemistry. (Thank you. Very excited!) and to put a cherry on everything, my amazon order has shipped, which means I'll likely get it tomorrow and if not it should get here on Friday. (Wondering what I got? Well, I'll tell you ... When I get it. :p )

So, has your day been blessed with any awesome little surprises? Just look around you. Little moments of joy are everywhere, just waiting for us to notice them.