Update + a GIVEAWAY!

Hellooooo! How are you? Life as a student teacher is flying by and I cannot believe that two weeks are already over and done with it. I am loving every second of it, and I just my class. I am so lucky that I have a wide range of ability levels and differences in this class, as it is giving me some great experience!

I thought I would update you all once again, but it will be in easy to read bullet form! :)

• This past weekend was a busy one with Bacon Fest, a Skype date with Jane Porter, lunch with a friend in town and .... me falling ill with a nasty sore throat/cold. 
• Bacon Fest was ... interesting. I can't say I will be jumping to go again next year, but I am glad I experienced it once. A lot of the bacon was really good (even if it did need to be cooked more) but the effects the next day were not so great. I am pretty sure I retained so much water I looked like a balloon. 
• Sunday afternoon about 8 friends and I gathered for a book club meeting and Skype date with the lovely Jane Porter! It was so fun to talk books and about her writing process with her. I am blown away at how nice and generous she is! We all read The Good Woman and we cannot wait to get going on The Good Daughter that just came out! 
• In 12 weeks I am running my second half marathon and third long distance race. As we speak I type this, my boyfriend is putting together a running plan for me. Should I be nervous? (I think so. He's gonna kick my butt).
• Saturday after Bacon Fest I decided to skip the Zumbathon I was supposed to participate in and opted to spend the rest of the day and night in bed nursing this cold. That seemed to do the trick, until Sunday when I decided drinking mimosas while chatting about books with my girlfriends would be a good idea. The champagne immediately went to my head and I feel icky the rest of the night. 
• After the book club chat I met up with Lesli for a lovely dinner out. It was good to see her! I cannot wait to see her again when I head up to Minneapolis for Jodi Picoult's signing and Lisa's going away party.
• Student teaching is going *amazingly* and I am loving it! I hope I can blog some stories soon, because, oy... do I have 'em! My little Nicki Minaj (which is what I call that little girl that asked me if I was NM) provides the best material to retell! She is a total hoot! 

I am signing off for now, but first, I would like to giveaway a copy of Jane Porter's first book in the Brennan Sister's trilogy. Comment below with your email address and you will be entered to win a signed copy of The Good Woman along with some other goodies! Giveaway ends Friday night at midnight and I will announce the winner sometime over the weekend! Good luck!