Trip Around Thursday - Happenings in the Blogosphere

I couldn't do my "What's Up Wednesday" yesterday due to work (at my other job, where I don't have access to a computer), but I really wanted to look around at the blogs I followed. So, here's my trip around the last 24 hours on the blogs that I follow:
- As usual, there were plenty of great book reviews to read from Stepping Out of the Page, A Pocket Full of Books, Reading by Kindle Fire, From the TBR Pile, and Tonight's Reading.
- Living the Creative Life shared some inspirational words about happiness, while AJ Arndt shared the frustration of dealing with Mother Nature and My Eclectic Bookshelf explored motivation (or lack thereof).
- For authors and readers alike, Big Al's Books and Pals set the record straight about the world of Indie books. All-On Writing also shared an opinion on the use of secondary characters in writing.
- A random act of kindness giveaway was presented on The Write to Make a Living and Peace from Pieces.
- Jason Matthews shared a story about a young soccer star recently diagnosed with Leukemia that could use your donations, while A Beer for the Shower shared a similarly sad story about the recent paralysis of his dog (I happen to have a very soft spot for animals!!). 
- Zoe's Bag Boutique shared some cute tablet cases that I think would look lovely as Nook cases as well.
 - If you are into vampires, Always Writing offered a deal for a discount on a collection of Victorian vampire stories.
- The Olivia Reader got tagged and had to share some interesting details about her book obsession.
- An author interview was shared by Jeanz Book Read N Review, while The Fairytale Nerd had a guest post up about love triangles and Tumbling Books had a guest post up about becoming a writer.
- My pal from my former Etsy days (ok, so I'm still "a little" on Etsy, but not as much as I used to be) Elephunk's Trunk shared a gorgeous treasury in my favorite of colors. Queen Kat Designs showed off her craftiness by sharing a scissor charm she created.
- Finally, one of my fave authors Amanda Hocking relived watching This Means War, which just makes me want to see it even more.