My Must See TV

In what's become an annual tradition at From L.A. to LA, I'm posting my fall tv schedule. Yes, I do this partly so you all know what I'm watching, but a lot of it is also for my own sanity so I can remember what to watch when. Especially with tv shows changing their normal day (I'm talking to you Amazing Race!).

We don't have a dvr either, at least not yet, which makes things more difficult. Although the plan is to have one before the baby arrives, since I know after that there's no way I be able to sit down and watch at my normal times. But for the next few months at least, here's what I'll be watching. All times listed are Central, and if there's no premiere date listed it's because it's already on. (Plus if you're looking for a blast from the past you can see my schedule from 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, and 2009.)

Sunday
7-8pm: Real Housewives of New Jersey
I'm not sure how much longer this season will be on, but I'll definitely be watching. It is interesting considering all the drama with Theresa, that it actually has been a somewhat weak season. I guess I just would rather be watching Jacqueline and Caroline than Amber and the twins. Actually now that I think about it, I believe Caroline's new tv show premiers at this time once RHONJ ends.

Monday
There isn't actually anything I want to watch on Monday. Although I know the boy will be watching The Big Bang Theory so I may wind up watching a few episodes with him.

Tuesday
8-9pm: Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D 9/23
8-9pm: 19 Kids and Counting
I really loved last season of S.H.I.E.L.D, especially the way they were able to tie it in to all the Marvel movies, and can't wait to see where they go with it this season. While the Duggars are on at the same time, they do normally repeat their show, so I should be able to manage till we have a dvr.

Wednesday
7-8pm: Survivor 9/24
9-10pm: Nashville 9/24
9-9:30: I Heart Nick Carter
9-10pm: Top Chef - New England 10/15
Clearly the show of the night here has to be I Heart Nick Carter (airing on VH1 if you're curious). It is kind of a crazy night, but both Bravo and VH1 are pretty good about repeating their shows over and over. Plus Top Chef doesn't actually premier for about a month.

Thursday
7-8pm: Grey's Anatomy 9/25
9-10pm: Parenthood 9/25
Overall, this is the night of tv I'm most excited for. It is a little sad knowing this is Parenthood's last season, but hopefully knowing that they're able to go out strong.

Friday
7-8pm: Amazing Race 9/26
8-9pm: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders: Making the Team
DCC is by far my biggest guilty pleasure, but I just can't stop watching it! And while I'm not sure I'm ok with Amazing Race moving to Fridays, I'll still make the move for it.

I realize there aren't any new shows here, at least besides I Heart Nick Carter. Part of that is because there aren't really any I'm dying to watch, but also I figure now isn't the time to pick up anything new. I guess we'll have to see how I make it through this next year, and I'll be really curious to see what this post looks like next year.

What are the tv shows on your must watch list? Do we have any in common?

March in Review

Normally I write these monthly recap posts about how quickly the month flew by. Except that wasn't quite the case with March. I'm not quite sure why, maybe it was the cold weather, maybe it's because nothing too exciting happened. But either way, here's a look back at the last 31 days of March.

In March...
...We went to our first LSU baseball game of the season. Of course the Tigers lost, I only took 2 photos, and when we were ready to leave our car was double parked, hence the reason why you haven't heard about it till now. Hopefully if we make it to a second game this year the experience will turn out a little better.
...I bought Frozen on dvd. I've yet to actually watch it though, but I'm sure the time will be coming soon.
...The boy made chicken fried chicken with mashed potatoes. This was pretty much an awesomely delicious meal that even tasted great as leftover.

...I posted reviews of 6 books and 4 movies.
The Runaway by Terry Kay
The Highlander's Reward by Eliza Knight
Cover Me Boys, I'm Going In by Keith Hirshland
Pilgrim Footprints on the Sands of Time by Sylvia Nilsen
Round the Bend by Alistar McGuinness
Where'd You Go Bernadette by Maria Semple
The Monuments Men
300: Rise of an Empire
Veronica Mars
Muppets Most Wanted
Without question, my favorite of them all had to be Where'd You Go Bernadette.

...2009, I posted my reflections on The Bachelor finale where Jason left Melissa for Molly. Coincidentally, 1 year later, in March 2010 I wrote my thoughts on Jason & Molly's wedding.
SourceAnd just because it's fun to share Bachelor news, this week Ashley and J.P. announced that they're expecting a baby this October! While they are one of my favorite bachelor couples it still is a little absurd how excited this makes me.

What are some of your highlights from this past March?

January in Review

Last year I used Lisa's approach to recapping a month, where I'd highlight the meals, moments, reviews, and remembering from the month before. Except there were times where I didn't have an exceptional meal to highlight, or nothing too out of the ordinary happened to mention in my moment. Instead this year, I want to use the same basic idea, but in a free-er form where I don't need to highlight each single item. Which leads us to...

In January...
...I spent a week in California visiting with family and friends.
...the boy made burritos with mole sauce using a specialty seasoning mix he had purchased in California.

...I posted reviews of 5 books and 3 movies.
Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater
Somewhere in France by Jennifer Robson
The Gods of Heavenly Punishment by Jennifer Cody Eppstein
Degrees of Courage by Shari Vester
Splintered by A.G. Howard
47 Ronin
The Wolf of Wall Street
I, Frankenstein
Out of all of these Somewhere in France was without question my favorite.

...four years ago, in 2010, I recaped the first episode of Jason Mesnick's season of The Bachelor including this gem,

"I liked Melissa, the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleader. "

Of course, while Melissa wound up being the winner that season, Jason later choice Mollie who he married and now has a daughter with. And Melissa is also now married with a baby of her own!

What are your highlights from this January? And would you rather recap a month with defined guidelines or without any?

My Fall TV Time

With colder weather (hopefully!) on its way, Fall it coming. With it comes all that lovely fall tv. I do this more for myself so I can remember what to watch when, but hopefully you'll find it fun as well. All times are Central since that's where I am, and if there isn't a premier date listed it's because it's already started. (If you're curious to see how this year is different from year's past, here are my line-ups from 2009, 2010, 2011, and 2012.)

Sunday
7-8pm: The Amazing Race 9/29
7-8pm: Real Housewives of New Jersey
I'm not sure how much longer RHONJ is going to be on for the season, so by the time the Race premiers it could be pretty much over. But even if it's not, Bravo normally replays episodes immediately afterwards, so I should be fine here.

Monday
7-8pm: Bones 9/16
9-10pm: Teen Mom 3
Bones is really the boy's show, but when I can I watch it with him I will. Although while this is when it premiers, starting in, I beleive, November they're moving it to Friday nights, which seems a death sentence to me.

Tuesday
7-8pm: Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D 9/24
This normally wouldn't be on my must watch list, but knowing that Joss Whedon is involved... well that's enough for me to tip the scale in its favor.

Wednesday
7-9pm: The X-Factor
8-9pm: Survivor 9/18
9-10pm: Nashville 9/25
9-10pm: Top Chef Masters/ New Orleans
I really fell in love with X-Factor last season, but not enough to stop watching Survivor. And I can't wait for Nashville to come back especially given the way last season ended. Although given that it's on the same time as Top Chef means some hard decisions will need to be made.

Thursday
7-9pm: The X-Factor
8-9pm: Grey's Anatomy 9/26
8-9pm: Glee 9/26
9-10pm: Parenthood 9/26
What an awesome night of TV! I'm so glad Parenthood got picked up again, and I'm loving Grey's lately. I'll probably be flipping to Glee during commercials since it's the one I'm least excited about.

Friday
7-8pm: The Carrie Diaries 10/26
8-9pm: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders: Making the Team
DCC is probably my biggest guilty pleasure currently. If you don't believe just try watching it and you'll see how addictive it is!

What's on your fall tv line-up? Is there anything you think I need to watch and should be adding to mine?

A Memoir of Life Through Events

I Never Promised You a Goodie Bag by Jennifer Gilbert
When I first knew I would be reading this I was really excited. After all it was from an almost RHONYC, who was a fabulous event planner. I figured I was in for an amusing read, with stories of brides throwing fits and elaborate parties. And yes, the book did actually deliver on that.

Except what I had no idea about going into it, was that at 19, Jennifer Gilbert was brutally attacked and almost died. Most of the book deals with how that impacted her and dealing with the aftermath. Her life definitely didn't go as planned, but one has to wonder, if she never had that life changing moment would she have made a point to be as successful as she became?

One subplot I really identified with was the amour Jennifer tried to shield herself with. She wants so badly for others not to realize that inside she may be feeling insecure, that friends and coworkers have no idea how she's actually feeling inside. There's one point where she realizes she actually needs to say hi and make more of an attempt to be friendly to those working for it. It's not that she doesn't have friendly feelings towards them, but that she was so worried about being perceived as weak, that she had no idea how she actually came across. I think this made sense because so much of this is how I feel. I'm always so worried about how people perceive me, especially at work, that I make a point to sound confident. Except more often than not, I come off as unfriendly, even though that's never intentional.

I wound up really enjoying my time with this book. Which I wouldn't necessarily have believed if I had been told that what happens to Jennifer within the first few chapters. Instead the book wound up being the perfect mix of events, personal growth, relationship drama, family life, and entrepreneurship that really resonated with me. My only complaint at the end is that I wish Jennifer Gilbert was given more of an opportunity to have her scenes aired on RHONYC (although I'm guessing with all the Bethany and Jill drama that season, they had crazier things to air).

4.5/5

Disclosure: I was provided this book through TLC Book Tours. All opinions expressed are my own.

Project 365: Days 68 Through 74

Another week, and one that felt crazy busy, hence the lack of posting. Yes, the time change hit me hard, but I definitely feel adjusted now, so hopefully normal posting will resume this next week! Of course,starting with the photos of the past week...
March 9, 2013 - 68/365: Saturday we went to our niece's t-ball game. Here she in hopping her way home. And since you must be worried, she wasn't in any danger of being tagged out. Instead each player bats and they switch sides, and play 2 innings this way.
March 10, 2013 - 69/365: For even more baseball, the boy decided to join an adult league and Saturday was his first game. I'm pretty sure he'd rather not have me post photos of him playing, but instead here's the field before the game.
March 11, 2013 - 70/365: Yes, I definitely watched The Bachelor this season, and I love that Sean picked Catherine. I know I say this every season, but I really hope it works out for them! Anyways, the photo above is of Chris Harrison & Desiree, the next bachelorette.
March 12, 2013 - 71/365: The boy made NY strip steaks with garlic rosemary mashed potatoes. Everything was delicious, although the house was filled with smoke for hours afterwards because of the way we wanted to cook the steak. But I guess I'll forgive him, especially since everything tasted so good.
March 13, 2013 - 72/365: Whole Foods salad bar for lunch.
March 14, 2013 - 73/365: Banging Birdwich from Threes Bones for lunch.
March 15, 2013 - 74/265: An awesome, St. Patrick's-y, trailer I saw on my drive home from work.

And speaking of St. Patrick's Day, do you have anything special planned for today to celebrate?

I'm linking this post up with Random-osity & Kleinworth & Co. for Project 52!

Real Advice, Real Family, Real Love

Secrets of a Jewish Mother by Gloria Kaen, Lisa Wexler, and Jill Zarin
I liked Jill Zarin when she was on Real Housewives of New York. At least I liked her, as much as you can when you're Team Bethany. So when I saw this book I was excited to pick it up. (I may have also been excited about the fact it was 90% off at a Borders closing sale, but that isn't really the point here.)

I did want to like this book, but overall I wasn't a huge fan. I thought that the title was clever. But reading over and over "This is what a Jewish mother does... This is how a Jewish mother does it... Every Jewish mother does this..." just got really repetitive, and in some ways made me resent the phrase Jewish mother. I'm Jewish and I felt this way, so I can only imagine what's it's like for someone whose not Jewish who reads this book.

I did enjoy the personal stories within and the different viewpoints, since it was written by Jill, her mother and sister. In a lot of ways think this would have been better as a memoir with more family recipes included. (Although the recipes included don't seem very appetizing.) Unfortunately it was much more of a self-help book, and within each chapter there are lists of questions to get you thinking about the topic their discussing. I do get what they're trying to achieve with these lists, but in some ways it just felt too preachy.

This is the first book I've read by any real housewife cast member, and in some ways it makes me want to stay away from the others. Although maybe next time I'd be better off choosing more of a memoir. (I'd probably want to start with Kyle of Beverly Hills, but the better choice would probably be Carol of New York who would an author first, housewife second.) I think that unless you're absolutely in love with Jill and you're Jewish, this might be one you'd want to stay away from.

3/5

Today I'm linking up with Blonde Undercover Blonde for Book Club Friday!

TV Time

It's that time of year again! Time for fall tv to start. This is mainly for my own benefit, so I remember which shows I want to watch when. But hopefully you enjoy it at least a little bit too. All times are Central, since that's when I watch TV, and if there's no premier date listed it's because it's already on.

Sunday
7-8pm: The Amazing Race 9/30
I realize I should probably be watching Revenge this night as well. But I didn't watch it last season and I don't really want to start in the middle. Although I'm sure I'd love it, since Ive haven't been watching I'm going to stick to that.

Monday
7-8pm: Bones 9/17
This is really the boy's show. But it's one I enjoy watching too, so it's probably one of the few (aka only) shows we'll be watching together this fall.

Tuesday
8-9pm: 19 Kids and Counting
9-9:30: Abby & Brittany
9-10: Parenthood
About 5 years ago I remember watching a documentary on Discovery Health showing Abby & Brittany, a pair of conjoined twins, on their 16th birthday. I've been curious how their lives turned out ever since then, so I LOVE that they have their own show on TLC. Granted it's on the same time as Parenthood and I don't have a DVR, which means I'll be flipping back and forth. But still I love that they have their own show now.

Wednesday
7-9pm: The X-Factor
7-8pm: Survivor: Philippines 9/19
9-10pm: Nashville 10/10
I didn't really watch The X-Factor last year. More like flipped to it during commercials of other shows. But knowing that Britney is on it this year makes me want to watch it. And speaking of singing, I'm really excited for Nashville. It's basically the only new show I have plan on watching and just wish it premiered sooner.

Thursday
7-8pm: The X-Factor
8-9pm: Glee Tonight!
8-9pm: Grey's Anatomy 9/27
I really hate that Glee and Grey's are on at the same time, and as much as I hate to say it, Grey's is probably going to be my primary show.

Friday
8-9pm: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders: Making the Team
I absolutely love this show! It's just one of my guilty pleasures. Plus from the overview during the premier, their actually planning on continuing the show through the season instead of just tryouts, to show what it's actually like once the season gets started.

So I realize there is a lot of reality tv here, but that's my obsession. I haven't listed any of the Real Housewives shows though, but only because New Jersey & New York seem to be almost finished, and I'm not sure when Beverly Hills will be back on. And besides Nashville I don't really have any new shows, I guess the new editions just don't impress me that much.

Are there any new shows that you're just dying to watch this year? And are there any shows that you think I NEED to be watching?

Behind the Process

Or alternately titled, How to do everything wrong, and still pull off diy invitations

I knew I wanted to send out invitations early. Our guest list as it currently stands is over capacity, but there a still a few people we'd love to be able to add to our list. My thought was to send out invitations 3 months early (aka the start of June), that way we'd have a better idea who was coming and who else we could invite. I started the actual design process in early May, at that point I thought I was slightly behind schedule, but still thought I could make it work and make my deadline of early June.

In April, I had gone to various store, so I knew what paper & envelopes I needed, and where to find them. I just hadn't actually ordered them. Come May I was ready to finally start gathering my supplies. Unfortunately on my first trip to Office Depot to pick up paper, they were sold out of velum. And instead of just going somewhere else, I waited a week for them to restock.

If you remember, I went to go but the scrapbooking paper for the pocketfolds to find they didn't have enough in the color I wanted. But instead, purchased a wide range of colors, since I was quickly approaching my self-imposed due date.

Then when I went to buy my purple envelopes the didn't have as many as I needed. They said they would talk to the person in charge and have her call me about ordering them. But when she called I didn't hear it ring,and instead she left a voicemail. I called back to confirm that, yes, I wanted them and to order them. Except that message never got passed on, and when I called the Friday after Memorial Day to see when they arrived, I was told they never ordered them because they never received my confirmation.

All the advice I've read says to design your invitations based on your envelopes. Except while I knew their approximate dimension, I didn't have an actual envelope to design to. (Yes, I could have bought a single envelope, but where's the fun in that?) But I was ready to make invitations now, so I made about half before I even had the envelopes and crossed my fingers they would fut. And thankfully they did!

I finally got the envelopes two Fridays after Memorial Day, and spent the entire weekend making the other half of the invites while watching television.

Watching Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders: Brides in the living room and crafting invitations.
Watching Don't be Tardy for the Wedding in the bedroom and crafting invitations.And yes, I watched more than wedding themed shows while crafting. There was also episodes of The Bachelorette, Dallas, Real Housewives of New Jersey, and Melissa and Tye to name a few.

One thing I left till last was lining the envelopes. I knew I wanted to do it, but I wasn't sure if I'd have the time. And while I did find the time, I ran out of the polka dotted paper I wanted to use, so instead lined with paper I had in the house leftover from my scrapbooking days.

Most of the envelope iners I used.Sunday night I realized I had made exactly the number I needed to mail out. I had originally wanted to mail myself one, just to make sure that it got through the mail alright, except I didn't have the patience to make even one more. So instead just mailed them out, and crossed my fingers that they would make it to their destination. (I have since made more so I have a few I can keep. I guess that's an advantage of making your own invites. You can really make as many as you want.)

I guess the point I'm trying to make here, is even if you think there's no way you could pull off diy-ing your invitations, if you want it enough, you can make it happen!

Did anyone else miss their deadline for when they wanted to send out invitations? And which show would you watch if you were crafting invitations?

Bridal Shower Weekend

While I've already posted about the shower, I've yet to post what else I did while in California. So finally here are a few highlights.
Sunday we went to the Renaissance Faire which is where my brother is currently working. (At least on the weekend while it's open.) For the first time in forever, I didn't wear a costume to the faire. My costume was (and still is in Louisiana) and while I thought about flying it back with me, I decided not to. But even costume-less we still had a great time. We saw the queen,
saw a few shows,
and of course, ate!
To start with I had a steak and mushroom pie, which doesn't make for the best picture, but was delicious. Then I had a mango ice. (Hard to tell, but served in a mango peel.)
Then we all split a royal crepe, which was filled with strawberries, bananas, and nutella, and topped with chocolate sauce and whipped cream.And Monday night, for my last night in California we went to WP24, which is Wolfgang Pucks newest restaurant on the 24th floor of the Ritz Carlton.

View of Downtown L.A. from the restaurantThis wound up being a really interesting restaurant. To start with it, they only offered a fix price meal, but had several options to choose from for each course (as well as a few side options). And while we were deciding what to order they brought out a few small plates for the table.
This is two (of three) small plates. On the left is a fried seafood dish and the right is a pickled cucumber. For my first course I went with peking duck rolls,
and had some of the best lamb chomps I've ever eaten for my main course.
When we got the dessert menus I was surprised to see that Sally Camacho of Top Chef Just Desserts was the pastry chef. Sally was one of my favorites last season, and I was so excited to finally be able to eat official top chef food. While she did have one of her quickfire challenges on the menu (an Ovaltine based dessert) I instead went with her caramel apple themed dessert. It included cinnamon doughnuts, ice cream (if remember correctly it was star anise flavored), plus apples, whipped cream, and of course bits of caramel. (The congrats is because my dad told the waiter I was in town for my bridal shower.)
Along with my actual shower it wound up being a great weekend back in California, and all too soon I was back in Louisiana.

And for a little have you ever... Have you ever been to the Renaissance Faire? Or eaten at a Top Chef's restaurant?

On Display, On Display

Maybe it's a little early to be posting about what to do with the dress after the wedding, especially since I've yet to actually buy a dress. But even so, here we are. There are options that are fairly mainstream. You could preserve the dress and keep it in a box. You could sell the dress. Or you could take inspiration from real housewife Adrienne Maloof and display your dress.

sourceSeriously how awesome is this? I remember seeing it in the background during an episode of Real Housewives of Beverly Hills and thinking it was amazing. This isn't the scene I remember, and it's obviously a styled photo shoot, but it just looks so natural. I would absolutely love to be able to display my own dress this way. It's a perfect way to save and preserve your dress, but without leaving it up in the attic where it's never actually seen.

Except I'm not sure I could actually pull it off. First I don't think there's a wall big enough in our house where it would fit. Second even if we had the room, I don't think our house is grand enough for this to work. Maybe you have to be a Maloof to pull it off, but I'd still love to find a way to make it work.

Although if you really want to keep your wedding on display there are other ways beside the traditional picture, to do it. I also love Mrs. Cola's shadow boxes.

sourceNo it isn't grand as grand as Adrienne's dress, but it is a little more practical, and I great way to preserve all the hard work you went to to pull off all of your various projects.

If you've already had your wedding, what mementos, if any, are you currently using to decorate your house? And do you think you could pull off displaying a wedding dress?

My Fall TV Line-Up

In some ways I've been dreading writing this. Not because I'm not looking forward to tv shows, but because there's so many I want to watch I'm not sure how I'm going to fit them all in. Of course we don't have a DVR which makes watching shows on at the same time a little difficult. But I'll survive.

All shows are Central time, since that's when I watch them, and if there's no premier date shown it's because it's already on.

Sunday
7-8pm: The Amazing Race 9/25
8-9pm: Desparate Housewives 9/25
9-10pm: Pan Am 9/25
9-10pm: Real Housewives of New Jersey
So RHONJ and Pan Am are on at the same time. But the Housewives season is about halfway over. The the plan is to switch during commericals and once RH ends I can watch Pan Am full time.

Monday
7-8pm: Terra Nova 9/26
8-9pm: Heart of Dixie 9/26
9-10pm: Real Housewives of Beverly Hills
The boy will probably be watching House and Castle this night, so depending on how I feel about Rachael Bilson's show and after RH ends, I might instead be watching those two with him.

Tuesday
7-8pm: Glee 9/20
7-9pm: The Biggest Loser 9/20
8-9pm: Ringer
9-10pm: Teen Mom/16 and Pregnant
Obviously this is a busy night for me. And I would also love to watch The New Girl as well as Parenthood. I don't know for sure, but assuming MTV keeps their current pattern 16 & Pregnant will premeier after Teen Mom ends. Although if it doesn't I could instead fit Parenthood into my schedule.

Wednesday
7-8pm: Survivor
7-9pm: X-Factor 9/21
9-10pm: Top Chef
A fairly calm night. Although I would love to be able to fit in Up All Night and Revenege. There's just scheduling conflicts for me though.

Thursday
8-9pm:Grey's Anatomy 9/22
How is it I only have 1 show on Thursday, but so many on others. Especially when Thursday used to be my top night of tv?

Are there any shows on my list you'll be watching? Or are there any others you think I should try to fit into my schedule?

In My Mailbox (23)

I'm linking up to The Story Siren's In My Mailbox. For more information on what it is and how it got started, you're more than welcome to visit The Story Siren.So my last trip to Borders. Still can't believe it. This was actually taken last weekend, except I already had last Sunday's post ready. All of these were marked down 70-90%, which means my receipt was under $20 and showed a savings of over $100. By this point there were out of a lot of books, but I still managed to find a few I was in love with. Now onto the books!
The Autobiography of Mrs. Tom Thumb by Melanie Benjamin
This was the first book I picked up in the store and I'm so happy they still had at least one in stock. I've been lusting this one for a while now and I'm so happy to finally be able to read it! It is a historical fiction about the wife of P. T. Barnum's General Tom Thumb. I'm assuming it will be similar to Water for Elephants at least with the circus aspect and I'm really hoping to love this one.

Four Kitchens by Lauren Shockey
This one actually jumped out at me as something my parents would really enjoy. I'm sure I'd enjoy it too, but they tend to read these food-memoir type books more. Of course the fact that one of the kitchens mentioned on the cover is Tel Aviv has a lot to do with why it caught my eye.

How to Eat a Small Country by Amy Finley
Another food-y type memoir, except with a reality tv spin. This was written by one of the winners of Food Network's The Next Food Network Star. There's only been 1 or 2 seasons I've watched by Amy's was one of them. The basic plot line of this seems to be that being a celebrity was everything Amy expected. So instead Amy quits her show and moves her family to France to find out what's really important to her.

Snow Day by Billy Coffey
So I went to the register to check out and was told, "If you buy 1 more book you get 15% off your entire purchase." This is the book that was closest to me at that time. Basically it means I spent $1.50 on this book and got $3 back, or I was paid $1.50 to buy this one. Of course it's not the best deal since I could have done this with a book I would probably enjoy more. But even though this book doesn't look like the type I normally read I might force myself to read it just to prove that it wasn't that bad of a decision.

The Darling Strumpet by Gillian Bagwell
I've seen this book several times and always thought about picking it up, but never actually followed through. It's a story of Nell Gwynn, one of Charles II's mistresses. Everything I've read about Charles II and his court I've enjoyed, so I'm hoping this will follow that trend.

Paris, Baby by Kristen Lobe
Yes, another memmior. This seems to be a mash-up of several other books I've previously read, but it's basically a memior of a single American girl who finds herself pregnant in Paris. Plus how cute is this cover?

Sweet Date of Basra by Jessica Jiji
This is another historical fiction that takes place in Iraq in the 1940s. I've never really read anything historical about Iraq but I'm more than curious to try this one out.

Secrets of a Jewish Mother by Gloria Kame, Lisa Wexler, and Jill Zarin
I probably would have picked this one up based only on the title. But the fact that it's written by Jill Zarin of Real Housewives of New York, meant this was an automatic yes. While Jill may not be my favorite housewife I'm still excited to read her book.

Definitely an excellent mailbox for me this week! Let me know if yours was as well.

Observations on Life from the Shallow End of the Pool

You Don't Sweat Much for a Fat Girl by Celia Rivenbark
I've never read anything be this author, but I've definitely noticed her books before. With previous titles as Stop Dressing Your Six-Your-Old Like a Skank and Bless Your Heart, Tramp, how could you not notice them? I think this book is officially considered to be a collection of humorous essay, but she reminds me so much of Jen Lancaster that I'm thinking it could also be considered a memoir. She does mention her family as well which helps the memoir classification, plus I don't currently have a "Humor" tag on my blog so I'm officially tagging this review as s memoir.

While their are a few essays on the author life, such as going to her daughter's science fair, most of what jumped out to me was her reflections on pop, specifically reality tv. It's probably because I'm a little reality tv obsessed, but I loved reading all her comments on the Duggars, Kate Goselin, and Toddles & Tiaras. However even though I read an ARC, and the official publication date was only August 16 parts of it feel a little dated. For example, when discussed Real Housewives of New Jersey she references Dina and Danielle, both of whom are no longer on the show. I understand that's a problem you accept when dealing with pop culture because it changes so quickly. I also see how in a few years it could be seen more as nostalgic, but now it comes off as dated to me.

Overall it was a really amusing book that I'm glad I had the chance to read. I don't think I would have actually gone out and bought this book if I hadn't won it. But now having read her work, I'm a little intrigued and would love to read her other books.

4/5

Disclosure: I was provided this book through a Goodreads First Reads giveaway. All opinions expressed are my own.

More Teen Moms

I silly as it may sound, I really can't wait for Teen Mom 2 to premier tonight! Yes, it's my guilty pleasure. I've watched every episode of 16 and Pregnant and every episode of Teen Mom. And well will probably watch every episode of Teen Mom 2. I know there's rumors of girls trying to get pregnant to be on the show, but I know there was a study down recently showing that these shows are actually helping bring down the teen pregnancy rate, so I can feel at least a little good about watching. And now since I can't wait any longer he's my thought on the girls from Teen Mom 2.

Chelsea: What I found really interesting about Chelsea is that she was living only with her dad and that, if I remember correctly, her mom had left the two of them. Her baby daddy was awful to her, one of the worst in my opinion, so I can't believe that the previews show them moving in together.

Jenelle: She's the one with the potential to be the train wreck of this season. Rumor has it that her mom has already taken custody of her son. While you can't help but feel sorry for her watching, I guess this is what makes good tv.

Kailyn: When Kailyn's mom pretty must abandoned her after getting pregnant she moved in with her boyfriend's parents. Those parents were actually what you would want if you were trying to picture the perfect parents of the boy who got you pregnant. Without those people, Kailyn would have practically had no one. What was surprising is that they didn't just take their son's side. Instead they called him and did their best to make him responsible for the baby and his girlfriend. They were definitely not the typical parent of the boyfriend on the show.

Leah: She is my all time favorite teen mom. Of course there's the fact she had twins which appeals to my obsession with multiple birth. But more than that she just seemed like a girl who had it all together. And Corey seemed like almost the perfect guy. While he had his faults compared to all the other Teen dads, Corey is the one I would choose. I actually loved Leah's episode so much I tracked her down online after her show aired. She recently took her formspring offline due to MTV's request, but I do still follow her on twitter (@LeahDawnMesser).

Overall I just can't wait for tonight and the rest of the season. Anyone else in love with Teen Mom? Do you have a favorite mom?

10-10-10

Happy 10/10/10 everyone! I've only been looking forward to this day practically forever. The reason being not only was it a fun day mathematically, but it's my 26th birthday! Originally we thought the boy was going to be working most of the day, so had thought about maybe doing breakfast. But yesterday we found out he had much of the morning off so a quick change of plans was in order.

To start off we went to go see a movie. (Review to come later this week. And yes, I realize it's been forever since I've posted a review, but only because it's been forever since I've seen a movie.)
After the movie we headed to Zea's Rotisserie Grill for lunch, which I believe is a Louisiana chain. I've heard great things about this place, but haven't had the chance to try it until today. One thing I knew I needed to try were their duck empanadas. The verdict?
They were good, but not as earth-shattering as I'd been told. I think the mayo on top (most of which I wiped off), and the fact they were a little too cheesy for my taste through me off. Don't get me wrong, they were still good enough for me to finish. But I think next time I'd been willing to try something else.
For our main courses the boy went with a beef with a mushroom and burgundy sauce paired with Zea's potatoes and red beans (above), while I went with a pesto crusted trout with sweet potatoes and dirty rice.
Well I really enjoyed the pesto crust, and think the high for both of us were the sides. And of course since it's a birthday I had to go with dessert.
Enter the cupcake trio, with carrot cake, chocolate cake and red velvet cake. I'm not normally a huge fan of carrot cake, but this one was really good. It was all cinnamon-y, and I want to say there were even chunks of apple inside. It was probably one of the best carrot cakes I've had, but still played second fiddle to the red velvet.

Then on the way home I decided we needed to stop at the pumpkin patch. As silly as it may sound, I'm really looking forward to the first Halloween at our new house when we actually have treak-or-treaters. And it we're going to have trick-or-treaters I definitely need a jack-o-lantern to show off.
As for the rest of the night, I'm planning on curling up on the couch with Amazing Race, Desperate Housewives, and Brothers & Sisters. Overall I think it's been a pretty good way to celebrate 10-10-10 and of course enter into my 26th year!

~Shoshanah

Fall TV Line Up

It's that time of year again. It's starting to get cooler (although not really in Louisiana), the leave are changing colors (again not really in Louisiana), and my tv shows are coming back. (This is actually happening in Louisiana.) So for your viewing pleasure he's my tv line-up. All times are central because I live in the central time zone. Can you tell you that when I was trying to decide if I should move to Louisiana one of the cons was getting used to watching things in central times? Also if a show has already started airing, a premier date isn't listed.

Sunday
7pm - 8 Amazing Race (Premiers 9/26)
8pm -9 Desperate Housewives (Premiers 9/26)
9pm -10 Brothers & Sisters (Premiers 9/26)
Although I don't normally look forward to Sunday night, these shows change that a little. Housewives has been a little weak lately, but I'm too far into the show to turn away. And I love Brothers & Sisters, but I'm a little sad Emily VanCamp will be leaving the show.

Monday
This night's actually open for me. If the boy gets home on time I'll probably be watching House with him. And there's a good chance I'll be tuning into Kate Plus Eight and Quints by Surprise on TLC while their on, but overall it's looks pretty empty.

Tuesday
7pm - 8 Glee (Premiers 9/21)
7pm - 9 The Biggest Loser (Premiers 9/21)
8pm - 8:30 18 Kids & Counting
9pm - 10 Teen Mom
9pm - 10 Parenthood
Anyone else see a problem this night? This is the reason I really need a DVR, because I'm going to wind up watching one main show during each time period and flipping to the other during commercials. Not really an ideal solutions.

Wednesday
7pm - 8 Survivor:Nicaragua (Premiers Tonight!)
9pm - 10 Top Chef Just Desserts (Premiers Tonight!)
Sometimes I feel like the only one still watching Survivor. But I seriously love it. It's probably one of my favorite shows! And I just can't wait for this new Top Chef. I'm getting hungry just thinking about it.

Thursday
7pm - 8 My Generation (Premiers 9/23)
8pm - 9 Grey's Anatomy (Premiers 9/23)
After last season's finale of Grey's I can't wait for the new seasons. And My Generation is the only new show I'm planning on watching. I think it looks really promising. Plus it's about former high school classmates 10 years after graduating, and somehow, not really sure how it happened, my own 10 year reunion is going to be coming up in just over a year!

So that's it! Well besides Friday & Saturdays but I tend not to do a lot of tv watching those nights. Anyone watch the same shows as me? Is there anything you think I should be watching? And what's your must watch show?

~Shoshanah

Sweet As Candy

L.A. Candy by Lauren Conrad
This book tells the completely fictional tale of Jane, a girl who just moved to L.A., winds up being discovered, and shooting a reality show with 3 of her closest friends. Except she never realized this silly little reality show would make her famous, and what being famous would be like.

But let's get real. Even though the start of the book includes a disclaimer that "characters and all incidents and dialogue are drawn from the author's imagination and are not to be construed as 'real,'" it's pretty obvious that the book is based on Lauren Conrad's experience with both Laguna Beach and The Hills. It isn't exactly what happened, but most definitely is based on reality. (Probably in the same form that The Hills is based on reality.) It's interesting to read about how Lauren Jane receives text messages from the producers telling her things like to repeat herself or to act more into her date. Or how they would have to wait enter or leave a place just so the production had time to set up. I get the feelings that these small things definitely happened.

It was also interesting to read in the book how the tv show set them Jane and her roommate Scarlet up with two other friends. I'm pretty sure that's close to what happened on the show as well. I was a little surprised that there wasn't really a Whitney character in the book. Instead Heidi seemed to be split over 2 of the casts members.

Overall, it was a fun book. I would definitely be willing to read the sequel.

~Shoshanah

P.S. And speaking of Lauren Conrad, I can't wait to see the season premier of The Hills tonight. I'm really curious as to how the whole reaction over Heidi's surgery is going to good. It wouldn't be surprised in there's pretty record high numbers this season with what happened, and it wouldn't surprise me if that was part of the reason why Heidi had her surgeries in the first place.

Calling All Gleeks

Anyone else excited that Glee returns tonight! I can't wait to watch it! Along with all of my other shows tonight. Somehow Tuesday night has turned into my prime tv watching night. I don't own a Tivo, or any other live recording device, which means I'll be trying to flip back and forth between as much shows as possible. I had gotten it down to an art, knowing to change the channel during Biggest Loser work-out scenes, and that by listening to one judge on American Idol I pretty much knew what they all said. But adding Glee into the mix, changes things up a bit. But at least it's a change I'm excited about! Here's my schedule, so you can try to follow along! (All times central, since that's my current time zone.)

7:00-9:00 - The Biggest Loser
7:00-8:30 - American Idol
8:00-8:30 - 19 Kids & Counting
8:30-9:30 - Glee
9:00-10:00 - Parenthood
9:00-10: - 16 and Pregnant (Although this repeats immediately after, so it might make more sense to watch it on the second airing.)

Anyone else planning on watching any of these shows? Or even maybe them all?!?! And of course, whose excited to watch Glee tonight?

~Shoshanah

Rain on my Parade

Who else was sucked into Jason's & Molly's, The Bachelor wedding last night? Although if I'm being honest, I loved their season for The Bachelor and was really excited about last night. The whole first half of the show, they were showing clips of the two of them together planning, and it was all being introduced and hosted by Chris Harrison. Now Chris Harrison was doing this intros at the wedding site in Ranch Palos Verdes, California in light rain. The whole time attempting to make the audience wonder, will it or won't it rain.

They kept speaking to the event planer, trying to get her grasp on the situation. If you read through the lines, you could almost tell she wanted to be inside. But it seemed like ABC wanted to have the wedding outside no matter what. Finally there was a break in the clouds, and they decided to go for it and start seating the guests.

Now by guests I do mean Jason and Molly's family and friends, but also every potentially successful Bachelor couple. There was Trista & Ryan, Charlie and Sarah, Jillian & Ed, Deanna & the twin brother of a bachelor from Jillian's Bachelorette season. But finally it was time for the wedding to actually start. I was curious as to whether they would be doing a Jewish ceremony since Jason's Jewish. But aside from a few scattered kippah, it was pretty secular.

But back to the weather. It looked like it was going to turn out beautifully. The rain had blown over, and had even left a rainbow behind. Until Molly started reading the vows she wrote. She started talking and the sky opened up into a torrential downpour. The two of them wound up soaked. Molly's hair was practically ruined. Her make-up was practically ruined. Pretty much a worse case scenario for a wedding day.

But did Molly let the showers ruin her day? Not at all, she laughed through it all and seemed to be completely stress-free. Granted ABC was paying for and had planned most of the wedding, so she didn't have a lot to worry about. But even so, I was impressed. Just to show you here's a shot of them soaking wet walking down the aisle more excited than anything else.
SourceWhile I'm not planning on getting married any time soon, when I do I hope I'm able to appear as cool and collected as Molly. Who cares that if you're soaking wet, and cold, and your hair and make-up are practically ruined? Its your wedding day, there's still reason to be happy.

Even more than that you could apply this same principle to your everyday life. Even if everything seems to be going wrong, chances are there's still something that you can be happy about.

What were everyone else's thoughts on the wedding special last night? I'm guessing no, but did anyone else learn any life lessons while watching?

~Shoshanah