~Sunday Stew - May 1st, 2011~

Sunday Stew is a Weekly Meme hosted Here at Books Devoured

Bookmark of the Week:

 

Okay, so my photography is obviously as bad as my memory. First of all, I cannot, for the life of me remember which blogger sent me this AMAZING bookmark. And I SO BADLY want to remember, because I do want to give them due credit, and thank them! So, dear, blogger who sent me this, if you see my post, please DO send me a virtual SLAP! to remind me of your generosity! And second of all, I keep forgetting to take my pictures of the bookmarks during the day, and then end up taking them at night - and since my bedroom has really dim lighting (a personal choice, perhaps I am a Vampire!?!? *wink wink*) they turn out to be quite crappy, as you can see. But Alex Pettyfer STILL manages to look completely beautiful, doesn't he? How freakin' GORGEOUS is Alex Petryfer? I mean, look at that manly Adam's apple - you know why they call it that, right!?!? Because it's SO gosh-darn tempting! *Rawr*

Around The Web:

I know you're wondering why it is that I keep posting these links to "Blog Hops", well, I want to clarify as to why. First of all, I want all my readers/followers to be able to avail the wonderful opportunities that these blog hops present - not just to win prizes, but to come across some WONDERFUL blogs that you may otherwise have ignored. The point of these blog hops is not merely to win stuff, it is really to promote the bloggers that so generously offer such magnanimous giveaways! :D 

This wonderful "Spring  Blog Carnival" is an extremely fun blog hop hosted by Pure Imagination, Reading Angel and Candace's Book Blog (love these ladies), with some other amazing bloggers hosting fun carnival challenges such as Reading Teen, The Mod Podge Bookshelf, Lovely Lit, The Book Swarm, Actin' Up With Books, Awesomesauce Bookclub, Books R Us, Colloquium, Minding Spot & Miss Remmer's Review.  Make sure to check the blogs out, and be gracious to these immensely generous bloggers. In fact, I am so inspired by these bloggers that are so big-hearted, I've decided I'm going to be participating in a blog hop soon! So thank you, fellow bloggers, for being such an inspiration - and also for being so generous and wonderful.

Around Me: 

First of all, I got my first blog award. I have seen many sites be "award-free" sites because they cannot do the awards justice, or cannot keep track of them. I do not have that problem yet, because I most certainly will be gracious every day of my life for this amazing honor, and also because I don't have very many that I may lose track of them! LOL :P That being said, my first blog award, was presented to me by the ever-lovely, unbelievably generous, sweet and kind Margaret at Lovely Lit Blog. When this darling lady is not generously hosting giveaways (check out the amazing giveaways on her blog), she is creating AMAZING widgets (she created this lovely widget for "The Eternal Sea" on my page of ~Upcoming Books~) or making wonderful awards, one of which she awarded me, for which I simply cannot thank her enough. THANK YOU Margaret. Here is the beautiful award (you can also see it on my sidebar, as well as on the ~Blog Awards~ page)

 

Okay, onto the next order of business. I also wanted to take this opportunity to thank Ms. Laurel Ann Natrress of Austenprose - A Jane Austen Blog (If you're a Jane Austen fan, this site will become your personal haven, please do visit & follow!). Some time ago, she hosted an amazing contest on her blog, a "Z" Day Celebration in honor of the release of "Dreadfully Ever After" by Steve Hockensmith which required for the participant to write a short essay saying why it was that you deserved to win. Ms. Nattress specified "Creativity counts. I will pick the winners based on your partial and prejudiced replies." The prizes being offered were either a copy of "Pride & Prejudice & Zombies", "Dawn of the Dreadfuls" or "Dreadfully Ever After" and (the jackpot), a limited press item which was a Pride & Prejudice & Zombies Apothecary Kit (the picture will take you to the actual Etsy store it was bought from):

I decided I was going to channel my (almost non-existent) creativity, and instead of providing a reason why, I would write a fictional account of how medicine, and especially an apothecary kit, helped me assuage the pain of a loved one in need. I am presenting my entry to you:

It was the late hours of the night, and the early hours of the morning – the time when the sun, swallowed whole by the darkness of the night, is ready to escape its confines and greet the world. Slivers of sunlight had begun to brighten the horizon and stream though the curtains, creating shadows on his face. A beautiful, angelic face now marred by rotting flesh, and scars – I held his hand tight, and caressed his cheek soothingly. 

How helpless was I, not being able to do a thing more for the love of my life! I could not leave the house, for I knew that the moment my foot hit the threshold, I’d be faced with those monsters – a horde of savage, brutish beasts controlled only by the virus streaming through their blood, making them desire nothing more than the flesh of another human being, turning them into zombies. I wanted to run for help, but I knew that the doctor himself had been contaminated. I had no hope, and I had no choice, I could either let him turn into a freak like them, or end his misery. 

I lifted his head up so that he could sip the herbal tea that I had made him. Fennel, licorice and ginger root when boiled together made for a medicinal tea, known for its analgesic and anesthetic properties – I’d learned this while I was an apprentice for Dr. Dashwood. I’d added peppermint because I knew he loved peppermint tea best, but unbeknownst to him, I had also been adding small amounts of arsenic to my concoction. As he sipped the tea he elicited a sigh, the sound of which sounded exactly the same as my heart breaking. 

“Help me, Lizzie!”, he cried out in pain. “Oh, Darcy,Darcy,Darcy.”, I said, cradling his head in my lap, bending down to kiss his feverish cheek, while I could smell his breath beginning to smell faintly of garlic. I did not know how else to alleviate his pain, so I picked up my favorite book, “Pride & Prejudice” and read to him. The sun had finally, come up now, and I could hear his breathing getting shallower. I held his callused hands in mine and tried to keep him with me, hoping the romantic words would make his last few moments pleasant – that such beautiful words were what he would remember me by, always. 

When the moment finally arrived, I recognized it. But I was not alone, I could tell by the look in his eyes, so had he. He pulled me close, and hoarsely whispered these words into my ear, words I’d just earlier read to him, “In vain have I struggled. It will not do. My feelings will not be repressed. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you.” – and as a silent tear escaped my eyes, trailing down my pale cheek, he closed his eyes, and was gone.

~The End~

As fortune may smile upon me, I won! I won, I won, I won *dances around with glee*, and darling Laurel Ann sent the beautiful Apothecary Kit to me. I cannot thank her enough for her generosity, and I will always cherish this present. I received it and have had it for a little while, and it sits proudly atop my small bookshelf. It brings me such joy, especially since (as most of you may know) I am a student of Medicine - I thought I'd share the pictures with you. 

On a completely random side note, the "Unmentional Preparedness Kit" was listed on the Etsy shop on November 19th, 2010 which, coincidentally happens to be my birthday! Funny coincidence, huh? :)

Okay, so I went overboard today, and completely bombarded you with all this stuff. I am sorry the post was so long, but I hope you enjoyed it. Feel free to leave me any comments/feedback you may like. I hope you have a glorious Sunday, a blessed rest of the week, and that you'll continue to visit! :)