Hello Dear Followers, Andra's Back!

Hello adoring followers! I know you must have missed me terribly over the past few weeks! Though I've had several reviews pre-scheduled to go live, I haven't done ANYTHING when it comes to memes, personal posts, contests, read-alongs, etc. I probably should have told you that I was going MIA for a while, but it was kind of unintentional on my part. I got super busy, got a job, started seeing an old flame, and simultaneously hit a book rut. (Please, for the love of god, DON'T read the Fifty Shades Series one right after the other...you will end up wanting to find one of Christian Grey's ties just to strangle yourself with it...)   After all the crazyness that I've gone through over the last few months, it's a good thing to know that you all have been pining for me and awaiting my return to blogging with the anticipation of flowers towards Spring! What was that...you haven't missed me at all? You say you haven't noticed I was even gone??... No? Well that makes me cry a little on the inside :(

Well, I'm going to at least pretend that there are those of you who are interested in just what Miss Andra has been up to for the last month or so, and just WHAT has kept her away from her amazing bloggy friends and followers. If you don't care, don't tell me...my fragile ego can't take that kind of blow! Just ignore this post and go about your everyday life...but if you have missed me even a bit feel free to catch up with everything in the life of Andra :)

So first of all, at the beginning of the summer, I started my 9-5 job again. Bleh...I know...not fun. Especially because there seems to have been an inter-office shuffle going on while I was away and I now have new boss. This new boss does NOT approve of listening to audiobooks at work, which I found out the hard way when she threatened to fire me if she caught me "goofing off" again. I should probably slow down and tell you all a little about my job, especially for those new followers and people I haven't heard from in a bit. I work as a clerk/secretary for the HR department of my town. I file things. I answer phone calls. And I document when people bring in things to be filed. SO exciting...I know...but it puts money in my pocket and food on my table while I look for something better. Now, in the past, my old boss didn't care what the clerical staff did as long as we got our assigned tasks done that day. This gave me a TON of free reign, as I could blog, read, or listen to audiobooks in my free time (while I waited for the phones to ring). Understandibly...this was a TAD bit unproductive and the new boss put the kabosh on these practices for me and all of the other clerks. We now have to find something to do, or risk being fired. This leads to me spending a lot of time re-alphabatizing files and such, when I used to be blogging or listening to audiobooks and writing reviews. SO...I have been restricted to about 6 hours a day NOT working or sleeping...not very conducive for me to be blogging when I have a few other things on my mind...for example...

I have also recently become a gym rat...more specifically, a girl addicted to work outs, videos, and especially group fitness classes. When I moved into my house, I also made sure to join up at the local gym, and then an even more scary thing...USED IT...I made some really great workout buddies who keep me motivated and trying to better myself. Then, I started the Insanity fitness program in May and the results have wow'ed even me! I've lost 15lbs in 60 days, as well as gotten the booty that Sir Mix-Alot must have been singing about in his I Like Big Butt's song. After having a REALLY difficult time losing weight for the past 4 years, it is really nice to find something that works...even though it is completely, 100% insane. I kid you not, every day of the workout I ended on the floor practically crying. It physically hurt to get up in the morning for the first month...but because of those dedicated friends and some tough love from an ex, I ended up sticking to it until the end and now have TONS of energy...still, spending at least an hour a day working out with the Insanity video, and then also running outside in preparation for the 5k's I've been running really cuts into reading and blogging time.

The third and probably most distracting thing in my life is I seem to have caught myself up in the spider's web that is my ex-flame once again. For a bit of a look into our past, see my "Book Boyfriend" post I did several months ago on Doyle from Laurell K. Hamilton's Merry Gentry series. This boy has been in my life longer than anyone other than my family. He played baseball on my brother's little league when we were three, he's lived three houses down from me since we were six, he was my first love in high school, and we've had a continuous on and off relationship since I was thirteen years old...that means this has been going on literally for half of my life. HALF.OF.MY. LIFE. For a while, I was determined to stamp him out of my life for good...my friends and family seem to think that I am missing out on chances to meet the man of my dreams because I'm preoccupied with the man-down-the-street. But, something always brings me back to him and him to me. It never takes too long (the longest we've been apart is about 6 months) and we're back in our drama fest of a romance. Well...nothing distracts me from my book boyfriends more than a real-life one. (Too bad...he could seriously take a leaf out of some of my books and it would make me freaking estatic...) So though my Summer Lovin' has had me having a blast...it definitely distracts me from you guys and blogging. (Sorry Loves!)

Now that you all are caught up on my life...I must offer my sincerest apologies for neglecting you! You have to know that all my bloggy friends, followers, and just random people who find the blog now and then really mean a lot to me. Blogging is an amazing part of my life and I love that I get a chance to know people so much like me that it's like we're all long lost siblings.  Sometimes you just need a bit of a break and I think I needed that especially from a bunch of the crap books that I had been reading. I needed some regrouping, some time with someone I love, and a little me time that didn't involve reading constantly. Now that I've had my fill of the other stuff in life, I'm back to reading, writing, and reviewing! I've gotten that energy and excitement for the blog again and look forward to getting caught up with everyone and everything! You should all be prepared because I'm going to be charging full-steam ahead from now on and this week will have lots of surprises in store with giveaways, blog tours, and just plain Andra-awesomesauce! I've missed you all, hopefully some of you have missed me too...and we can now get together and have an awesome "I-Missed-You-So-Much-Never-Leave-Me-Again" love fest!