Third Annual Half-Birthday Bash Wrap Up

It is that time again when the fun must end and life continues on. The past week and half flew by for me. I have been getting the goodies all saved up for a few months now, only for it to be over within the blink of an eye. But isn't that just how things go? Anticipation, preparation, and execution of plans, and then BOOM! it's all over. But we do what we do because it is worth it, right? My love for getting people together amidst all the craziness of our lives is what keeps me planning parties, traditional as well as these ever festive online half-birthday bashes.

I can't say it enough: I really am so grateful to have an audience--YOU--to write to and share my world. Every day that passes on here, I am able to realize more dreams turning into reality. And I owe it all to you. That is the author life though. Without readers, there is no one to share my work with. Thank you for being part of my transition from writer to author.

I would also like to give a big thank you to all the sponsors of prizes. Silver Spoon Catering has been a contributor for all three half-birthday bashes, and so Darcy deserves and extra big thank you for seeing my potential and riding it out with me. Next, we have Shannon, author of The Luckiest who is a second time sponsor. I hope you will take a minute to visit her blog. You will make fast friends with her if you do. And then we have my friend, Kat, who contributed the amethyst healing crystal. It feels good to have a vote of confidence from your friends. I'm so glad she could be part of this year's festivities. Lastly, the folks at Shadow Mountain who entrust me with the privilege of being a book reviewer for them were the fine sponsors of the books giveaways. I feel very fortunate to review books for them and be enabled to offer a copy of those titles to one of you. This little perk makes life more fun, in my opinion. Win or lose, I hope you will show thanks to these donors of fun things by stopping by their websites for a visit or two.

So onto the business part of the party.

All of the raffles will end Sunday evening, so I hope you take these last hours to share the fun and take advantage of the tweet option to get in more last minute entries to win. Winners will be selected within 48 hours of the raffles closing, and each raffle will have the winner announced on the Rafflecopter widget on each individual posting so that the winner and everyone else can see who won. Winners will be notified via Twitter, Facebook, or email, whichever I choose, but if you see that you have won and have not been contacted, please contact me! You can leave a comment on the giveaway day you won or drop a line on Facebook or Twitter to flag me down.

Thank you for showing up for the party. It is always a great pleasure for me to highlight some fabulous finds/friends while handing out gifts, especially with such a large group! World wide parties are quite a lot of fun. I look forward to the half-birthday tradition on All Things Purple ever since I brainstormed the very first one. So, here's to next year!

To make things simple for you to share the love and make last minute entries, here is the week in review:

Third Annual Half-Birthday Bash Introduction

Day ONE

Day TWO

Day THREE

Day FOUR

Day FIVE

Day SIX

Day SEVEN

Day EIGHT