Tuesday, March 30, 2010

A Sparkling Surprise


Jingle Dangle Earrings from LuShae Jewelry



I am not the sort who was ever chosen for teams or who wins things. I don't tend to stand out in a crowd (which is fine by me. Sometimes, although Fate may seem to be in charge, we carefully plot and plan what happens to us, and, being shy by nature, I can't stand to have all eyes on me, usually because it means at least one person will be commenting on how red I am), and I am pretty certain that I don't make much of an impression on people. This means I am quite envious of those of you who do get chosen for teams. In the world of book bloggers, that translates into being sent copies of books by publishers and authors to review on your blog. I know that this is such a common occurrence for some of you that you actually find it to be a bit of a nuisance. Oh, to have such "nuisances" in my life.

Imagine how happy I was when I was asked last year to review a couple of books on my blog. I patted myself on the back for somehow managing to draw the attention of Oneworld Publications, because, well, if you are going to draw the attention of a publisher, this is a pretty impressive one to draw. Somehow, I'd managed to show up on the radar screen of an international publisher, one that is quite classy. My little blog that pretends not to be a book blog while doing nothing but screaming "BOOKS!" must be doing something right.

If you can imagine how happy that made me, you now must imagine how completely shocked I was to open my email one day to find a message from Sarah with this subject line: "A quick idea to run by you." I thought it was from a friend of mine, so I was not expecting it to be from someone I didn't know at all, but I soon discovered it was. This Sarah explained that she had just been on my site and that this might seem like an unusual request, but could she send me some jewelry to review on my blog. Jewelry?! I figured she must have been thinking of someone else. Have I ever even mentioned jewelry on this blog? I mean books make sense, but jewelry?

Still, she must have read enough of my blog to know how insatiably curious I am. She knew I'd check out her site, LuShae Jewelry, and she was right: I did. Immediately. I soon discovered that I very much liked what I saw. Oh my! I got to choose any of these offerings free? How to choose. But really, even though I perused the entire site, I knew I was just wasting time. I knew that when it comes to selecting jewelry for myself, that no matter how beautiful a pendant is or how bangly a bangle, I am an earring kinda gal. I could have skipped all that other stuff and headed right to this page. (Well, actually, I did do that, but then I went back and looked at all the other stuff.)

I was sure this was too good to be true, but it seemed quite legitimate. I emailed Sarah, told her what I'd chosen (the jingle dangles you see pictured), and she sent me an online coupon that allowed me to order them for nothing. I didn't even have to pay for the shipping. I didn't have to give a credit card number. Then, I did what I so often do: I forgot all about it until this small box arrived in the mail one day.

To say I was pleased would be an understatement. I loved these earrings immediately. They are sparkly, but not too sparkly. They dangle, but not too far. They have lots of colors, so I can wear them with many different things. And they are nice and light. I don't like heavy earrings (my ears, like everything else about me, being delicate). I have only had them for about month, and I have worn them multiple, multiple times.

So, thank you, Sarah, for getting in touch with me. I will soon be back for more.

5 comments:

Stefanie said...

Pretty! She does nice work.

Hannah Stoneham said...

What a surprise for a book blogger! they are very pretty I must say.

thanks for sharing
Hannah

Susan said...

They are beautiful earrings!

I thought about reading arcs - I got asked once in a while, but I discovered I didn't want to commit to having to read a book by a certain time, whether or not it was free. I knew I'd then start resenting the ARCs on my TBR shelf, when I already had books I really wanted to read there! So I decided not to.

Courtney said...

What great jewelry! I bookmarked the site - seems like a great place for gifts for oneself and others! And how fun - I BARELY blog about books and get offers all the time to do reviews, which I turn down - but I would so, totally review jewelry! Or makeup!

Emily Barton said...

Stef, yes, she does very nice work.

Hannah, you're welcome.

Susan, smart of you not to commit yourself like that. I can imagine I'd feel quite quilty, actually, if I were to start getting a lot of ARCs and then never getting around to reading them.

Court, reviewing jewelry isn't nearly the time sink that reviewing books is. More people ought to take advantage of blogs this way.