50 % Off Photography Session

Utah & (South East) Idaho friends! Do you still need to get your family pictures taken for Christmas cards and such?

Archangel Photography (or check out their blog ) will be traveling from California through our area the weekend of Nov 1-4. 

Check out the site and prices and let us know if you're interested. If at least four of us book appointments they're willing to offer us 50% off the family pricing!!!

*All photos used with permission.

Book Club: Everneath (Special Guest Brodi Ashton)

For book club this month we hosted author Brodi Ashton for her book Everneath. I have been looking forward to having Brodi as the guest of honor at my book club for a while so I was thrilled when the night was finally here and I got to see how all of our plans came together! My friends have serious talent people. Let me highlight them for you. :)

Dinner was The Soup Kitchen (from scenes in the book) where we feasted on homemade soups, salads, bread sticks, artichoke dip and more.

The dining room was the Park City High, home of the Miners. These are home made lockers (made out of cardboard. How cool, right!? --Shauna I'm still in awe!) that are of course near the drinking fountain where Nikki ate lunch everyday while she knitted.

The party favors part 1 by Dano: Filled w/ seed packets so we could create our own 'evermore', crackled guitar pics, candy and cinnamon bears (Brodi's favorite treat). 

After dinner we played games. This was part of our 'purse game' where we had scenarios dealing with the book places/characters and had to get ourselves out of a sticky situation using only the items in your purse.

"Cole is screen printing at the park city TShirt company and has run out of supplies. AND his tools have all broken. He’s got a large order of custom shirts to fill in the next few days. Whats a guy to do?" 

(You may note that there is an actual screen--we were at Christie's house so we gave her some leeway with the props she used. Haha!)

This one was pretty hilarious.

Becks dad is running for Mayor. Make a catchy campaign poster using items you have.

Emily & Dano did a great job complete with an actual parade cheer around the room and noise makers. (And yes that is a sanitary napkin used as an adhesive.)

Or here's one more just for fun:

 Jacks brother Will is drunk again and needs to be occupied in the backseat so he doesn’t throw up while they try to get him home. How would you entertain him with items from your purse? 

Party favor part 2: Actual water bottles from THE Park City High School. Our own Fancy Nancy drove up and got us each our very own!

We also played a great game of Mad Libs Persephone -style created by Shauna. We went around the room naming the fill-in-the-blanks (it's best to go crazy and wild with this) and then read the story aloud for us all to laugh at. Brodi's posted it on her blog if you're interested. 

And of course the group shot with all the party folks! 

(Aka: the best book club in the world!) 

And if you look closely behind the row of those standing you will see our 

black curtain ala entrance into the "Everneath". 

Everneath by Brodi Ashton

Happy day of official release to Brodi's book EVERNEATH! If you're at/near Utah be sure to come over to The Kings English tonight at 7pm for the launch party!


Title: Everneath
Author: Brodi Ashton
Genre: Young Adult
Release Date: January 2012
Publisher: Balzer + Bray ( Harper Collins )
ISBN: 0062071130
Pages: 370 pages hardcover


Buy it: Amazon | The Book Depository
Add it: Goodreads | Shelfari

Synopsis: Last spring, Nikki Beckett vanished, sucked into an underworld known as the Everneath, where immortals Feed on the emotions of despairing humans. Now she's returned- to her old life, her family, her friends- before being banished back to the underworld... this time forever.

She has six months before the Everneath comes to claim her, six months for good-byes she can't find the words for, six months to find redemption, if it exists.

Nikki longs to spend these months reconnecting with her boyfriend, Jack, the one person she loves more than anything. But there's a problem: Cole, the smoldering immortal who first enticed her to the Everneath, has followed Nikki to the mortal world. And he'll do whatever it takes to bring her back- this time as his queen.

As Nikki's time grows short and her relationships begin slipping from her grasp, she's forced to make the hardest decision of her life: find a way to cheat fate and remain on the Surface with Jack or return to the Everneath and become Cole's.

More info on Author: Brodi's blog & facebook & twitter

Edited to add others now available; Neverfall & Everbound.

  

Giveaway: Christmas Angel

I am so excited to get to share this AMAZING music with you. I've been a fan for a few years now and really think you'll love it too!

Archangel Records presents Christmas Angel

and I have one to GIVEAWAY to a lucky reader!!

Entries:

(Please leave a comment for each entry so I can be sure to enter your name for each item. Thanks!)

+1 Like Archangels Records on Facebook.

+1 Listen to any of their music samples and comment here and tell me which one you listened to.

+1 (daily) Tweet about the giveaway (If you want you can copy/paste this: "I just entered to win Christmas Angel holiday music CD by Archangel Records from @Cranberryfries http://bit.ly/uQgD2c .")

+1 Follow @Cranberryfries on Twitter.

+1 Follow my blog (Google Friend Connect or Networked Blogs-both are --> to the right)

Terms & Conditions:

Open to US residents only. Winner will be notified via email within 48 hours of the giveaway. Giveaway will end Saturday, December 10, 2011.

**You can also order your own (or one for a great gift!) from Archangel Records.**

Also if you're going to be in Southern California area check out their concert series! They will be be joined by vocalist Robin Harper and pianist Marvin Goldstein as special guests at their Christmas concerts on December 16th and 17th, 2011 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are only $10 each, and will sell out quickly.

Uncommon Criminals Signing (Heist Society Giveaway)

I think we're a little spoiled here were I am as we have an INCREDIBLE library with the ability to host huge/awesome events. This latest one was no exception. They brought in the fabulous Ally Carter author of the Gallagher Girls series (which I am on a waiting list for the first one at the library) and Heist Society (so fun!) and her most recent Uncommon Criminals (sequel to Heist Society).

Me & Jenni waiting in line to get in. Like I said the library is able to host a huge group, I think last I heard it was Ally's largest group at over 200+ people.

I love booky people! Friend, Me, Rachel, CA, Tawnya

Jenni (Jenni Elyse), Emily (Emily's Reading Room)

Ally's motto is to just leave out the boring stuff so she stood up to speak to us and just jumped right in with Q&A. It was SO fun to still get to hear all her stories and get almost an entire hour of fans questions.

Seriously she's adorable! Cute dress, cute accent, she just seems like we could be friends and go out to lunch. (I wish! Haha.)

A few videos for you to enjoy:

Ally tells us how she decided on Hale's name on her last visit to Utah.

(Sorry the end of the video is shaky, I was laughing and gasping, haha.)

Ally Carter on how she manages her time so she can write.

GIVEAWAY:

Enter to win a SIGNED copy of Ally Carter's Heist Society.

FYI I'll use random.org to pick a winner so please leave a separate comment for each entry.

Mandatory Entry:

Comment w/ your email address so I can contact you if you win.

Extra Entries (pick any or all):

+1 retweet this "I want to win a copy of @OfficiallyAlly Heist Society from @Cranberryfries http://bit.ly/msHbNH"

+1 friend me on Goodreads

+1 follow me on twitter @Cranberryfries

+1 follow @OfficiallyAlly on twitter

+1 follow my blog

+ 1 friend me on facebook Debbie Cranberryfries

+2 share this contest on facebook (include link)

+2 share this contest on your blog (include link)

Other info:

Open to US residents only.

Contest will end July 9th.

FYI Two other contests!!!

**You can also enter to win Ally's latest book Uncommon Criminals over on my friend Jenni's blog by July 9th.

**Enter to win an ARC of EVERNEATH from Brodi Ashton (ends June 30th).

It's No Sacrifice To Love You*

Happy Mothers Day!

*(I know this isn't the title of the song but I adored this line!!)

This video is from Archangle records. You can view more of their songs here.

Clubbing at The Depot (The Lost Saint Party with Bree Desapin)

A few of you may know that I was on Bree Despain's street team for The Dark Divine so I got the opportunity to meet with Bree a few times and even had her come out to my book club last year.

Well I couldn't pass up the chance again when The Lost Saint came out.

My cute friends Shauna and Emily helped me out in planning this fun party! Here's a little taste of what we did.

(If you've read the book hopefully you'll get more of the details we threw in there.)

A group shot of us girls clubbing at The Depot.

You may notice a few extra folks. Nancy kindly brought a version of the Markham Street Monster (plus they fit in nicely with our Halloween theme in the other room) and the other boys in the picture were there volunteering in one of the booths you'll see later.

First things first. In order to get into The Depot we needed our card key to gain access. Nancy was up to her tricky ways again and brought us each one of these snazzy necklace key cards to wear!

We had the party divided into The Depot and the Halloween Carnival. Dinner included Halloween themed food and decorations. Complete with a Caramel Apples dipping station and an assortment of toppings. (I forgot to grab a photo of that.)

We had a few booths for our street fair carnival party. :) This one was palm reading.

Another booth. Trunk or Treat as mentioned in the book. A fun variation of Trick Or Treating.

I think this was my favorite. The Kissing Booth. We had a few Hollywood actor cutouts we had dressed to play Daniel and Talbot as guests in our kissing booth. And the treats were cool minty and hot cinnamon. :)

Our make and take booth was bedazzled stake bookmarks.

Here's our finished projects.

Did I mention that my name appears in the book?

Awesomesauce!

Lets Eat Cake (Winners Announced)

With almost 100 votes we had some pretty close races folks! I had so much fun hosting this cake contest! Thanks again to Camiba, Jessica L, Jana, Jessica G., and Tonya for sending in your amazing cakes!

You can see all the cake entries here.

If you were interested in participating check back next week when I announce my next cake contest (so you'll have time to prepare) that I'll be hosting in May!

But now on to the winners!

Just a reminder what was up for grabs.

Chocolate Never Faileth by Annette Lyon

Just Breathe by Susan Wiggs

Defensive Tactics by Steve Westover

Bumpy Landings by Donald Carey

Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater

The Sapphire Flute by Karen Hoover

Summer In Paris by Michele Ashman Bell

The Hourglass Door by Lisa Mangum

The Diamonds by Ted Michael

Airhead by Meg Cabot

Uglies by Scott Westerfeld

Swoon at Your Own Risk by Sydney Salter

Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead

(Those titles that are bolded are SIGNED by the author.)

**A note to the winners. In the original post I said I'd give away a book to the winner and a small prize box to the runners up. I've decided to give you all your choice. So just email me (or leave a comment) with your choice of book or my 'favorite thing box' (I hope that made sense).

Here we go!

Are you ready?

Voted best overall was

Harry Potters The Monster Book of Monsters

created by Jessica G. from the blog Duck Duck Cow

Voted best in the book category was

Dr. Suess Green Eggs and Ham

created by Jana from the blog Hobbies Make Me Happy

Voted best in the 'other' category was

Yoshi

created by Jessica L.

Congratulations!

Taylor Swift Today Was a Fairytale

Check out this music video my neighbor Paul and his son Ethan helped to make.

(Today is a Fairytale by Taylor Swift)

Then watch this. :)

They'd love a little comment love. Go their webpage, Mainstay Pro and click on "Taylor Swift Music Video" up in the top right of the page to leave a quick comment. :) Thanks!!

Online Friends to the Rescue!

I got a brand new shirt and at the end of the day I noticed a fun pink line down the middle of the front. ACK! So of course I enlisted the help of my wonderful Twitter and Facebook friends.

A lot of GREAT responses!

Seems like everyone was on the same page.

So many good ideas but I decided to try the one I had on hand first. If that didn't work I'd move along to the next one.

It worked!

I used a little hair spray and viola!

Thanks you guys!

Meeting Markus Zusak

I've been to a lot of author events and had the chance to listen to a lot of great people speak.

So with that in mind, let me tell you just how much I LOVED getting to hear Markus Zusak speak last week. When I got a chance to talk to him I asked him if while he was in the states (he's from Australia) if he was able to visit any other places or having any other signings and he said Pennsylvania and Ohio (I think it was).

I'll be honest. I've heard A LOT about his more popular book The Book Thief, but I haven't read it. Yet. I own it. And I plan on reading it this year. I even started another one of his, I am the Messenger and I'm really enjoying it!

He was so engaging and funny and cute and that accent. I love accents.

He told this great story (some video below) of a childhood memory between him and his brother and at the end told us he used that story to make a point of how he writes. He said the details he included are important to writing and creating a story because it's what makes you own the story. It's also important because it's what makes it believable and real to the person listening /reading it.

I can not believe how long he stayed to sign books. He finished his talk around 7pm and I was in the first 75 people and we finally made it through in about 1.5 hours or so (and that was with everyone only getting to have 2 books signed). My friend Karen's son was there and was one of the last few people to get signed and left around 1am! He was so so nice though and wrote a few sentences (and even drew pictures) in everyones books.

Plus it was fun to go with a bunch of people I knew!

Pictured above (front row: me, Jenni, Rachel, Jamie back row: Becca, Amy, Esther, Olivia)

And just so you can enjoy his accent as much as I did I got you all some video to watch.

(If the videos are too big for my blog you can click on here for video 1 and here for video 2.)

Blogger Meet Up & Blickenstaffs Review

Just a reminder:

Please dont forget about the Cake / Book contest!

On Saturday the Utah Bloggers Meetup held their first social at Blickenstaffs. It's funny that I mainly went to get to socialize with some awesome people but came away with no pictures of the lovely gals I talked to and instead got a billion pictures of the AMAZING store that hosted our gathering.

So hopefully a little shout out to those that came will suffice while I show you pictures of Blickenstaffs.

April (Sweet Life in The Valley), Lindsey (Cafe Johnsonia), Carlee (Living the Scream), Jaimie (Just-Jaimie), Camille (Make It Work Mom), Susan (Freshly Picked), Kim (Kim Orlandini), Nicole (Cute Culture Chick), Karen (Surviving the Etsy Madness), Pamala (French Knots), Lindsey (the r house), Brittany ({Love Stitched}), Leslie (Little Mookie), Liz (Cotton and Curls), Diana (Livy Love), Molly (Fluer de Bee), Sarah (Cable Car Couture) Gayle (Mom and Camera). I know there were other great women there, but I didnt get a chance to meet them all (if you were there let me know though and I'd be happy to include a link to your blog!).

After we were all introduce into the store we were told there were 10 golden eggs hiding somewhere. If we found one, inside was the name of a prize. And check it out! I totally found one. Our host, Kyle, told us that this was their most popular selling game last year. My kids were thrilled I came home with a new game.

 

You can also find them on Facebook, Twitter, and on their Website.

The store kindly sent us all home with a bag full of our choice of candy (we had SO much to choose from) and believe me when I say my kids were more excited about the bag I was holding than to see me coming home. Haha.

I just had to include this. I didnt actually even ask how much it was since I'm sure it'd be more that $5 :) but if I could afford it, I'd love to get this for my husband!