Top 10: Reasons I Can't Wait For Finals To Be Over

Ok, I'll admit the is a bit of a cheap post, but I'm stress and need to vent a little!

1.  I can read romance novels again!!! I cannot even say how much I miss my babies :(  I knew how much work I had to do, so with the exception of Lover Unleashed I packed up ALL my books in a box, taped it up, and put it under my bed.  Ugh.
2.  I can blog again.  Once I start reading again I'll actually have something to blog about.
3.  I can read other people's blog's again.  My RSS feeds are currently piled sky high.
4.  I can sleep without feeling guilty.  I haven't given up sleeping, but yea, I wake up feeling bad about doing it.
5.  I can start making some moolah.  My summer job (which is working for the college) starts less than two weeks after exams, and I'm actually pretty excited.  The house I'm living in is decent (which is nice since they're paying for it!), the people I'm working with are cool, and a few of my good friends live nearby.  Score!  The one downside is that it's a lot of physical labor and I'll have some pretty strange hours.
6.  I can watch more TV.  True summer activity there!
7.  I can go swimming.  I don't know if I'll get to go to the beach this year, but I'm sure I'll get to hit the local pool a few times.
8.  I can work on my tan.  I tan pretty quickly, so this should be an easy on to knock off.
9.  I can eat better food.  The downside of working for the college is that I'll still be eating at the dining hall, but you know people will be throwing picnics and bbqs from time to time!
10.  I can go to summer parties.  Love these the best.  Tend to be more laid back, relaxed, and chill then parties during the rest of the year when people are stress out.

In conclusion- bring on the summer, the sun, and the fun little drink umbrellas!

April Wrap-Up

Sorry everyone, April was definitely a sloooow reading month for me, so almost nothing to report here.

1. Top Book of the Month: He's Just Not That Into You by Greg Behrendt and Liz Tuccillo

I know it's not a romance novel (and therefore not the sort of thing I'd normally review) but I loved it! Review here.

2. The Royal Wedding!
I didn't watch the whole thing, but I did watch snippits of it over breakfast. There's been so much speculation over Kate's dress (I guess now we have to call her Catherine). I liked it.

The shorter train (heck, it's still long!) and modern touches fit her signature style much more than say Princess Diana's fairy tale wedding dress would have.

I didn't like her dress for the reception as much. What's with the fuzzy sweater? Please don't say those are making a comeback...

3. Glee!

Back for the second half of the season and making me happy again :)

Top 10: Royal Wedding Mania!

Ever since the Royal Engagement was announced, memorabilia has been popping up left and right.  For the most part it's the smiling couple's faces on pieces of china, coins, and stamps.  But of course, there are those few pieces that are a bit more... out there.  Add in the internet, where we can now make videos either honoring or spoofing the royal couple and you're bound to get some interesting odds and ends.  In honor of Prince William and Kate Middleton's nupitals tomorrow, here's a list of my Top 10 favorite crazy knick-knacks and videos that have been spawned from the Royal Wedding Mania!

1. The T-Mobile Royal Wedding.  Remember that fun dancing down the aisle video that went viral?  T-Mobile did a spoof using Will and Kate as models.

2. Royal Romance- TheTheOtherGuys.  This is by far my favorite video made for the royal couple.  It's a parody of Bad Romance made by some of the guys who went to St. Andrew's with Will and Kate.  If you haven't seen it yet, take a minute to watch it.

3. PEZ Dispensers

4. Beer.  While not exactly high brow, I love the name.

5. Royal Couple Nails

6. Ash Trays

7. Toilet Seat Cover.  Is this supposed to be one of those sitting-on-a-throne references?

8. The Royal Refridgerator.  Is this just in case you ever forgot who your future monarchs are?

9. Heritage Condoms.  I thought royals wanted heirs?

10. Sick Bags.  After everything I've just showed you, do I really need to explain?

Marines Making My Day

How is it that men in uniform can make any day better?

Top 10: Favorite Heroes

Last week I did my Top 10 Favorite Romance Novels, so this week I thought I'd add my Top 10 Favorite Heroes.  It's also based off my list at DIK- I had eight heroes listed there, so I only had to pick two more, though I changed one on the list so I guess that makes three additions total.  Once again these are in no particular order.

Favorite Heroes:

1. Marc “Hunt” Hunter from Unlawful Contact by Pamela Clare

2. Hardy Cates from Blue-Eyed Devil by Lisa Kleypas

3. Matthew Swift from Scandal in Spring by Lisa Kleypas.  Originally I had Kev Merripen on my list (omg Barbara, look, another LK I'll-love-you-from-afar-but-do-nothing-about-it hero!), but that was mostly because I wanted some diversity between my "Favorite Books" list and "Favorite Heroes" list.  Matthew Swift holds a special place in my heart and just might be my all time favorite hero.  If I met him on the street today I would be his Daisy in a heartbeat.

4. David Masters from Wed Him Before You Bed Him by Sabrina Jeffries.  I think this book made a great finale to the Heiress series.

5. Spike from A Man in a Million by Jessica Bird.  He's a BDB Brother in disguise.  I swear his real name is Spihke.

6. Nick Romeo from Romeo Romeo by Robin Kaye.

7. Julian Sinclair from The Duke of Shadows by Meredith Duran

8. Devin Freedman from What the Librarian Did by Karina Bliss.

9. John Matthew from Lover Mine by JR Ward.  I wanted him with me on the Island, but it wasn't too bad since I did get Lover Mine on my list of books.

10. Lloyd Dobler from Say Anything.  If you have not seen this movie, go watch it- now!  Seriously, I'll wait.

Milking The Cash Cow

I don't have anything against Taylor Lautner.  Anyone who can go from this...

to that...

seriously gets some credit.  (Give me a call, kid, when you hit twenty-five.)  But, despite his ability to harness puberty better than 99.9% of the population, he's not the best actor out there.  I mean there's a reason we've got meme's like this one popping up:

So I wasn't quite sure whether to laugh or cry when I saw this trailer:

Milking the cash cow are we?  No, Taylor Lautner isn't the best actor, but casting him in action/thriller films that blatantly bank on the Twilight crowd wanting to see them isn't going to help his career.  There's a reason actors like Jason Statham and Bruce Willis usually take those roles- because when a nineteen year old does it, it looks kind of dumb.

Review: He's Just Not That Into You

Title:  He's Just Not That Into You
Author: Greg Behrendt and Liz Tuccillo
Genre: Self Help
Series: none
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Summary:
For ages women have come together over coffee, cocktails, or late-night phone chats to analyze the puzzling behavior of men. Greg Behrendt and Liz Tuccillo are here to say that —despite good intentions— you're wasting your time. Men are not complicated, although they'd like you to think they are. And there are no mixed messages.

The truth may be, He's just not that into you.

He's Just Not That Into You —based on a popular episode of Sex and the City— educates otherwise smart women on how to tell when a guy just doesn't like them enough, so they can stop wasting time making excuses for a dead-end relationship. This book knows you're a beautiful, smart, funny woman who deserves better.

Review:
I loved He's Just Not That Into You (the movie).  I thought it was funny and smart and had a great ensemble cast.  However, I had never thought to pick up He's Just Not That Into You (the book).  I'm not a fan of self-help books.  Normally I'll start reading them and diligently nod my head at what I assume must be such sage and wise advice (after all it did manage to get published).  But somewhere around a fourth of the way through I always end up setting the book down because, as awesome as the advice sounds on paper, it doesn't seem feasible in my life.  Sort of like a crash diet- maybe I could keep it up for a week or two, but down the line I'd be right back to all my old habits.

I started He's Just Not That Into You with even lower expectations than that.  To be honest, I started it with a bad attitude, fully planning on hating it and making fun of it.  A few weeks ago while surfing the interwebs I came across an excerpt of this book that had me up in arms.  The very first chapter (and the excerpt I read) says that if a guy is into you, he'll ask you out, no ifs, ands, or buts.  In otherwords, stop asking men out and wait for them to ask you.  The whole idea sounded so infuriating and anti-feminist to me!  What could this book possibly say that's worthwhile?  Let me get this confession out of the way early: I was wrong.

The whole point of the book is summed up in a phrase use right in the intro: don't waste the pretty.  You're pretty, you're smart, you're interesting.  So don't waste the pretty on men who don't reciprocate, or who make excuses, or who don't make you happy. Don't waste the pretty on men who waste your time.

He's Just Not That Into You is divided into a series of chapters all starting with "He's Just Not That Into You If..." and then tackling a specific issue such as asking you out, calling, and seeing other people.  Within each chapter Greg responds to letters that have different dating and relationship dilemmas where, you guessed it, he's just not that into you.  Each chapter ends with further remarks from Greg and how Liz (the single girl like the reader) is handling the subject, and then a silly "exercise" to drive home the point.

The book really had a way of punching me in the gut then making me stand up straighter.  I'll start with the feminist who-aks-out-who debate.  Greg points out that men have been given all these advantages in our society, so despite what many would have you believe, they are fully capable of asking someone out, especially if it's someone they're into.  It's painfully logical.  He doesn't say everytime a gal asks a guy out is bad- the point of the chapter is more to push the point that there is no reason to ask out (and continue to call) a guy who has not proven that he is into and therefore worthy of your time and prettiness.  We have a right to expect better for ourselves.  Way to go Greg for reminding us.

Greg deals out a lot of tough love in the book. Most of it is harsh and hard to swallow. If it had only been his opinion, I still would have thought it was a good book. Liz's sections added the gal's perspective, voicing all of our worries and doubts and acknowleding the complexities of the situations, ultimately concluding (using Greg's advice) all we can do is make the best choices based on what we know. This dual perspective made the book not just good but great.

That sounds really sad and depressing, but it's not, it's empowering.  What I realized is if I hadn't been wasting all my time with all those guys who weren't that into me (and who often I wasn't that into either) I probably would have found or noticed a guy who was into me!  Clearly I'm not the only woman who felt this way.  The library copy I got was thoroughly dog-eared, even before I checked it out.

The final chapter is the only place with a serious exercise.  It's where you have to create standards for yourself- actually write down concrete behaviors you will not tolerate.  I thought hard over this one, so here's what I came up with:
1. I will not go out with a guy I have to ask out beyond the first date.
2. I will not go out with a guy who doesn't make clear he's dating me.
3. I will not go out with a guy who doesn't regularly communicate with me.
4. I will not go out with a guy who already has a girlfriend.
5. I will not go out with a guy who cannot speak openly about sex or deal with with sex-related issues.
6. I will not go out with a guy who uses drugs or drinks excessively.
7. I will not go out with a guy who whose political or religious views make me uncomfortable, or who makes racist or homophobic remarks.
8. I will not go out with a guy if making me happy isn't one of his priorities.
9. I will not go out with a guy if he won't show me off to his friends or won't stick up for me in front of his frineds.
10. I will not go out with a guy if I cannot see myself having some sort of future with him.

Liz (sans Greg) wrote a section at the end of the book about life and dating after writing He's Just Not That Into You.  It's about the process that went with putting these ideas into place.  Obviously some of it can be intimidating.  Why be alone when you can be with someone who's good enough for now?  She suggests waiting a year or two before reading the section.  Normally I'd disregard that statement and read it anyway, but for once I did what I was told.  Yes, I thought the book was that worth listening to.

I know a lot of people who read this blog are happily married, but I'd still recommend this book because we all have at least one friend who needs to read it.  5 out of 5 stars.