The Blonde Diaries

So here is the premise behind Teaser Tuesday:

Ack! October already. This year has flown by. I was just thinking about my reading challenges and I need to get a move on them. The problem is that I have grabbed other books along the way and read those books instead of the books I’ve been needing to read. Guess I just need to speed up and read both books on my list and books not on my list. I’ll be updating my status later today.

So today, I am featuring a teaser from a book I am planning to start tonight. This is one of those books not on any particular list but one I found at Target one day during my wedding planning frenzy and thought it might be interesting to read. It is called The Other Woman by Jane Green. The cover teaser for this book is “What can a bride do when her mother-in-law becomes… The Other Woman.” Did it get you?

“Linda and Michael had asked me a few weeks ago if they could be present at the birth, had said how much it would mean to them, that this was a moment they had always been waiting for. And I had been completely thrown.”

~p142

Well this chapter should be interesting. I had picked another 2 sentence teaser from the next page but due to language I didn’t want to post it here. I have to say I liked both teasers and this book seems full of drama!

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I decided to try out Mike and I’s first big purchase together together -> our new television. We’ve been discussing purchasing a larger television as mine was just 19 inches and rather pathetic when hosting friends and family for gatherings. So we religiously watched the ad papers and jumped on a sale at Best Buy last week. We found a lovely 47 inch LG television that I am in love with.

So now that I’ve digressed, I’m going to get back on track. I am hanging out at home while Mike works away in Beaumont so I have full control over the television. I found my latest Netflix movie rental -> Confessions of a Shopaholic. I have to admit that I love the book series so much more than the actual movie. The movie just goes off on such a wild tangent from the books that it can be frustrating at times but nevertheless it is such a funny and cute movie on its own that you have to laugh while watching.

One of my favorite parts comes from the beginning of the movie where Rebecca is watching young 20-somethings at the department store (she’s about 10) and they are buying all of these beautiful clothes with their “magic cards”. Everyone is so happy and everything is just beautiful and perfect. If only credit cards were more like magic cards that allow you to buy things and not pay for them. Instead, if you miss a payment it follows more closely to my second favorite line, “They said I was a valued customer, now they send me hate mail”.

My Teaser Tuesday post this week was from the book The Cinderella Pact by Sarah Strohmeyer. I found this book back in January when I was selecting books for the Chick Lit Reading Challenge I am participating in.  The description on Amazon.com was intriguing enough for the book to make it onto my list and then into my shopping cart when I was placing a book order back in May.  I couldn’t quite remember what the book was about when I picked it up last week but I started reading and just fell right into this book and couldn’t put it down.

The Cinderella Pact follows three friends as they vow to lose weight once and for all.  All three friends are overweight and at their wits end with dieting.  The tipping point was when they were turned away from sitting at a table in front of a window at a restaurant at lunch – assuming it was because they were fat.  So all three decide to tackle their weight loss in a different manner – 1 underwent gastric bypass, 1 hired a personal trainer, and the other used a combination of diet and exercise.  By the end of the book they had all lost the weight and were much happier with their bodies and their lifestyle changes.  It was very motivating to read their struggles throughout the book and read about how they kept pushing to continue their journey and not give up.

So that was the first “story” of the book.  There is also another part of the book which was pretty funny and what drives it into the chick lit category.  Our main character, Nola, is a magazine editor (well column editor) and she had applied to be a columnist for the magazine’s new ethics column and advice column.  Of course she is passed over based on her looks.  So she does something you really shouldn’t do when you are applying for an ethics position, she copied her resume (and added a few fibbers) and submitted it with a photoshopped photo of her from college when she was skinnier under the name of Barbara Apple.  Of course she got the position and now must lie about it.  Why?  Because her company and the big boss is starting to question this “columnist” who is in Britain (they’ve never seen her) and because a few of the fibs in that resume have be followed up on.  So now Nola, is in a pickle but can’t say anything because of her new love interest who is on the case of finding out if Barbara exists, who she is, and why she lied on her resume.  See definite chick lit plot line here.  I’m not going to tell you what happens but I’m sure you can figure out that in the end, everything works out just fine.  Along the way you just have to laugh and roll your eyes at the sheer irony of this story.

I highly recommend this book if you are in need of a light read or want some motivation on your weight loss journey.

I feel like it is time for another update. We are in the 8th month of 2009 and I signed up for the Chick Lit Book Challenge back in January.  The challenge was to pick 10 chick lit books to read in 2009.  Since Chick Lit is my favorite book genre, I didn’t think this would be too bad of a challenge to participate in.  In fact, I thought it would be rather easy except the fact that I didn’t own 10 books that were not previously read so I would either have buy 10 or join the Houston Public Library and borrow some.  So far here is my progress:

1. Size 14 is Not Fat Either! ~ by Meg Cabot Finished!
2. Big Boned ~ by Meg Cabot Finished!
3. She Went All The Way ~ by Meg Cabot Finished!
4. The Blonde Theory ~ by Kristin Harmell  Finished!
5. Cause Celeb ~ by Helen Fielding In current TBR stack
6. Ransom my Heart ~ by Meg Cabot Need to purchase/borrow at library
7. Miss Match ~ by Erynn Magnum Need to purchase/borrow at library
8. Accidentally Engaged ~ by Mary Carter Need to purchase/borrow at library
9. The Cinderella Pact ~ by Sarah Strohmeyer In current TBR stack
10. I Do but I Don’t ~ by Cara Lockwood Finished!!

So it seems I am halfway done. I have 2 more books in my To Be Read pile (TBR) that are part of this challenge so I think I will start on one of those tonight as I just completed two other books yesterday. One thing I have found with my book challenges is that I didn’t anticipate purchasing and reading other books along the way so I am a tad behind. Case in point – the two books I just finished are not on this challenge list but luckily one is on another list but the other just came out of the blue. I really need to stick to these lists for the rest of the year so I meet my goals.

So where are you with your book challenges?

So here is the premise behind Teaser Tuesday:

Tuesday already.  I have to say I am hoping this week goes slightly fast and slightly not so fast.  We have exactly 2 weeks left to have 4 audits done and one hasn’t really been started.  I am a tad nervous about that one wondering if it will get done in time.  I am sure it will but at what cost.  Even with game plans, things don’t always work out like you want them to.  But enough about work.  It is Teaser Tuesday and I started a new book on Sunday – What A Girl Wants by Kristin Billerbeck.  It is the first book in a 3 book series about a young 30 something single girl just looking for a normal guy.  How hard can that be?

Seth doesn’t help me out, which is fine and expected by now, but disappointing just the same.  I thought we had shared a “moment.”  But then, I’m thirty-one and single, so what do I know.

~p 170