23 Things You Don't Know About Me! - A Birthday Special

Hi guys! So today it's my birthday :) If you read my previous post, you already know that on the 18th I was also celebrating my blog anniversary. If you want to also check out that post, you can do so by clicking here.

So, today I turn 23. I wasn't quite sure what to write in today's post but since I'm a relatively new blogger around here, I thought I would take this opportunity to tell you a little about me. So in honor of my 23rd birthday, here are 23 things you probably didn't know about me!

1. My earliest memories go back to when I was 2 years old.

2. My two biggest fandoms are Alice in Wonderland and Harry Potter.

3. I wish I could wear boots all year round because they are my favs. 

4. My dream birthday party would be an Alice in Wonderland themed one.

5. I’ve known my two best friends, Laetitia and Meghna, for 11 years. We still talk almost everyday!

6. My favorite songs are the Swan Lake theme by Tchaikovsky, The Color of the Wind from Pocahontas, the Phantom of the Opera theme song and anything by Evanescence. Yes, my tastes are all over the place, I know. 

7. And yes, I absolutely love ballet. My favorites are Swan Lake and Giselle.

8. My favorite dessert flavors are salted caramel, chocolate and crème brûlée.

9. Sailor Moon was my earliest favorite character. I was 4 or 5 years old at the time.

10. In books that have love triangles, I always root for the guy the main character ends up ditching…

11. Back during my teen days, my hair used to be so long it reached well past my knees!

12.  Tea and water are pretty much the only things I’m allowed to drink due to a stomach condition I have. No milkshake or wine for this girl!

13. I’m a huge Disney fan. My favorite movie is Pocahontas and my favorite male and female leads are John Smith and Ariel respectively.

14. I live on an island but I don’t know how to swim.

15. I love Christmas and board games so much that last Christmas I made my own Christmas-themed board game, complete with a board with actual tiles, a wheel you can spin and playing cards!

16. Lestat, from Anne Rice’s books, was my first literary crush. He remains to this day both my biggest literary crush and my favorite book character.

17. My dream Halloween costume would be of a gender-bent Mad Hatter.

18. My favorite season is winter but if I lived in a country where you actually have four seasons, Fall would be my favorite season. I love my boots and warm clothes and really, really can’t stand the heat of the summer months. 

19. I named our first dog, a German Shepherd, Zazu after the bird in The Lion King. I won’t apologize. I was 4…

20. My favorite time to read is in the morning during my breakfast.

21. Each time I watch the Hobbit, the Lord of the Rings and the Harry Potter movies, I close my eyes at the spider scenes and wait for my little sister to tell me when I can open them again. Yes, you read that right: My little sister.

22. My favorite TV series is Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

23. I love Halloween but I have actually never seen a pumpkin in real life!

So those were 23 things about me I thought I would share with you today. As always, your comments are most welcome. Later guys ^^

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P.S. On a completely random note, who else loves Charmed?! I would say it's my favorite TV series right after Buffy. Yep, I love me my 90's shows ^^

My 1 Year Blog Anniversary: Thank You Notes!

Hi guys! Today it's my 1 year blog anniversary ^^ Woohoo! In today's post, I want to say thank you. Simply and honestly :) 

Whew, I can't believe it's been one year already! When I first started this blog, on the 18th of February 2015, I didn't really know what I was doing. I kind of sleepwalked my way into creating this blog. I'm not kidding. It was like 1 o'clock in the morning or something. Just a few hours less and my anniversary would actually be on a completely different date XD

My Thank You Notes

To: My Lovely Fellow Bloggers

Firstly, I have to thank my fellow blogger friends. It's from you guys that I learnt the gist of blogging! Many of you were very forthcoming with tips and encouraging messages, which was really lovely of you. It took me some time to get the hang of things but your support and comments definitely gave me the push to keep learning and posting, so thank you lovely bloggers ^^ 

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To: My readers and followers

I must also thank you, my readers and followers. After all, without all your comments and feedback, writing and posting wouldn't be as meaningful as it now is. So thank you for taking an interest in what I have to say and for following Of Stacks and Cups!

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To: The loveliest of families and my friends 

I can't complete this round of thank you notes without mentioning my family and friends. Thanks dad for often being the first person to read my newest post. And thanks mum for listening to my troubles and encouraging me, even when you have no idea what I'm blabbing about. And of course, thanks Pooja for being such a lovely and supportive sister ^^ 

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Thanks Kenita for making me believe I could do it! Thanks for sharing my posts and being such a supportive follower back when I had almost no followers. Titia, Megs, Ashna and Jess, thanks for being among the first visitors on my blog! Titia, I wasn't sure my reviews were actually helping anyone until you said you enjoyed reading them. I had even temporarily given up on them but following one of our conversation, I started writing them again. Basically, thanks for being there ladies! 

So that's it for this blog anniversary post guys. Can you guess what my next post will be? My birthday post!!! Yep, my blog and I actually have our birthdays just a few days apart. So look forward for that post and as always, your comments are much appreciated!

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Cover art by Of Stacks and Cups via Pagemodo

The Book Courtship Tag

Happy Valentine's Day ^^ Okay, so I'm not actually celebrating it this year or anything but I still thought it would be fun to do something a little special for today's post. So I'm doing the Book Courtship Tag. This tag is really cool in that it's broken into 10 phases to represent an actual courtship.  

This tag was created by YouTuber Leah and you can check out her channel by clicking here. And now, let's start!

Phase 1 - Initial Attraction: A book that you bought because of the cover

My bind-up edition of His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman. The books are great but honestly, it was the beautiful cover that gave me the push to actually buy them in this edition.

Phase 2 - First Impressions: A book that you got because of the summary 

After Alice by Gregory Maguire. While I'm a huge fan of Maguire and his books now, back around the time After Alice was first published, I had no idea who he was. What got my attention was the blurb on this particular book which pretty much promised an Alice in Wonderland retelling. And frankly, you don't really need much more to hook me in. 

Phase 3 - Sweet Talk: A book with great writing 

The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter. Actually, anything by Angela Carter. This is a collection of adult fairy tale retellings, all with a dark and often violent twist. Her prose is very poetic and often contains different layers of meaning. Her books often carry magical realism elements or whimsical elements spun into hard realism scenarios. Her books are really beautiful and I would highly recommend you check them out.

Phase 4 - First Date: A first book of a series which made you want to pursue the rest of the series

Cinder by Marissa Meyer. It is the first book in the Lunar Chronicles series and is basically a Cinderella retelling set in a futuristic world full or galactic action, androids and really, really good world building. This and all the other books in the series are simply great and you should definitely check them out if you aren't already a fan.

Phase 5 - Late night phone calls: A book that kept you up all night long

Winter by Marissa Meyer, which is the last book in the Lunar Chronicles. As far as series finale go, this book was simply perfection. It was action packed and superbly written. It's the kind of book that keeps you on the edge of your seat and I couldn't help staying up all night to read it.

Phase 6 - Always on my mind: A book that you could not stop thinking about

Tiger Lily by Jodi Lynn Anderson. This is a very unique Peter Pan retelling with Tiger Lily as the main character and narrated by a very unique version of Tinker Bell. It follows the love story between Tiger Lily and Peter, long before Wendy's arrival at Neverland. It's one of the most poignant YA novels I've ever read and it stuck with me long after I finished it. I highly recommend it. See the quote in the picture below? Gives me the feels every time *sigh*

Phase 7 - Getting Physical: A book in which you love the way it feels

I'm going with my copy of The Tenant of Wildfell Hall in the Penguin English Libary edition. Not only does the cover had a nice, smooth texture, but the inside, the pages are bound in such a way that they get crinkly when you turn them. I love it when books have crinkly pages.

Phase 8 - Meeting the Parents: A book in which you would recommend to your friends and family

A Haruki Murakami book, especially Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and his years of pilgrimage. All of the Murakami books I read so far were great but I feel Colorless Tsukuru is a good place to start when you've never read his books before. It's one of the least weird of his books but at the same time, it still carries the unique and beautiful writing that is characteristic of his books.

Phase 9 - Thinking about the future: A book or series that you know you'll re-read many times in the future 

I'll definitely re-read The Lunar Chronicles and the Harry Potter books again and again in the future. Can you see how worn out my Harry Potter books are? That's the sign of a well beloved book right there. And if you were wondering, those Harry Potter books are in French, which is actually my main language. I also want to re-read Percy Jackson and the Olympians and The Heroes of Olympus, both by Rick Riordan, at some point. And of course, I absolutely need to re-read Tiger Lily.

Phase 10 - Share the love!!! Who would you like to tag?

If you wish to do this tag too, feel free to do so 'cause I'm tagging you, yes, you reading this ^^ If you decide to do, don't forget to link it back to my post and leave me a link to your post so that I can read it.

And if you're celebrating this year, Happy Valentine's Day ^^