The Girls From Ames

My heart goes out to everyone that lost a loved one this week. Several people around the world are grieving and I can't help but be reminded of how precious life really is. I could keep going and blog about all the death that touched my life last week, but I am not going to.

Instead I want to tell you about this amazing novel I discovered this weekend.

It's called The Girls From Ames and it's by journalist Jeffrey Zaslow. This book tells the story of a forty year friendship between eleven women. The women (or "girls") are from Ames, Iowa which is the home of my alma mater, Iowa State University. They all met as children and to this day are still close friends although they are now into their mid-forties.

The book was given to a good friend of mine for her birthday, and after hearing about it I knew I had to go buy it. I bought it Saturday morning and am already almost halfway through it.

On several levels these girls remind me of my own circle of girlfriends, but on several other levels it reminds me of how different we are from these women. I can only hope that our bond withstands all of the struggles we are going through, like the girls from the book, but sometimes it's hard to be optimistic.

From what I have read so far it seems that the girls struggled the most through their twenties. During this time they are figuring out who they are, what they want and where they are going. This is the time where we, as women, are most selfish and put ourselves first. Maybe because we know that this may be the only time in our lives to do so, being as after marriage and children your own personal well-being isn't the most important thing in your life anymore.

Regardless, during this selfish phase we call our twenties the relationships with our close girlfriends tend to suffer. Hurtful words are thrown and unconditional love is taken for granted.

It's difficult moving down the totem people on the level of importance you are to someone else. Being replaced with husbands and children can be heartbreaking and confusing, but so far this book is teaching me that we're not being replaced in our girlfriends eyes. We still fill a place in their lives that can only be filled by the women in your life called your friends.

I am the youngest of my group of friends, and many times it is very evident. I'm not ready to give up our carefree ways and I'm definitely not ready to take a step down. This book has come along at the perfect time for me.

Summer Swap and other goodies!

Awhile back Angela over at Sweet Tea Diaries very graciously hosted a Summer Swap for her readers! I eagerly signed up and was really excited to have received Ashley from Perfectly Pleasant as my Swap partner!

Here is what she spoiled me with! :)

Ashley sent an amazing package of fabulous summer goodies! Super cute pink and green plaid plates, a Battle of the Sexes card game, an ADORABLE beach towel, a watermelon notepad, a blow up cup holder in the shape of a flamingo, a bag of Goldfish crackers and a bag of sour watermelon gummies. This was so adorable, I loved every bit of it!! :) I wish I would have taken a picture of what I sent her, but you can see it here! Thank you so much Ashley!! :)

I also won this contest on Amber's blog! She sent me this fabulous assortment of Cliff Bars, Larabars and a little jar of honey that is SO AMAZINGLY good! I love honey and haven't had it in probably years, so it was a nice surprise! :) Thank you so much Amber! I'm totally hooked on Cliff Bars now! Here's a pic:

Here's Libby sniffing around. Of course the queen of the household had to inspect it first!

Hope you all have a great weekend! :)

Sunday Funday Quiz!

I completely agree with She Wears a Red Sox Cap about these surveys, I love doing them but not exactly sure why. I don't think I like talking about myself, but maybe I really do? Hmmm... anyhoo, hope everyone is having a lovely Sunday and an even lovelier Father's Day! :)


What is your current obsession? Books. I have been checking out/buying more books than I can keep up with. Seriously, I should just become a hermit and stay home reading all day, everyday.

What is your weirdest obsession? Ok, this is strange (well, at least I think it's strange), I like to listen to the audio books of my favorite novels in the car. Not just on long car rides either. Sometimes I will start them and listen to them during my normal daily commutes. Weird, right? (I may or may not take the long way home if we're at a good point of the book)

Starbucks or Caribou? Actually, neither. I'm happiest with my own coffee from home in my pretty pink travel mug! If I get coffee somewhere else I will usually go to the gas station, Kum and Go (yes, we have gas stations called Kum and Go) and get their hazelnut coffee, it's SO good!

What’s for dinner? Today we went out to Texas Roadhouse for Father's Day (yum!) and last night I had a taco salad. Has anyone tried the ready made salads in a bag from Dole? They have Caesar, Asian and Southwestern options and I LOVE them. They are so yummy!

What would you eat for your last meal? Oooh, goodness. My last meal. This requires some thought. I would start with a nice garden salad that has tomatoes, carrots, black olives shredded cheese and croutons with ranch dressing. Then I would eat half my weight in crab legs dipped in melted butter (mmmm....) with maybe a nice loaded baked potato on the side. For dessert, cheesecake topped with strawberries... heaven! :)

What was the last thing you bought? A Father's Day card! Happy Dad Day! :)

What are you listening to right now? Keeping up with the Kardashian's is on... sort of watching.

What is your favorite ice cream flavor? I love Bunny Tracks or any Cake Batter ice cream

What do you think of the person(s) who tagged you? Nobody tagged me, but I got the survey from She Wears a Red Sox Cap who I found via Amber!

If you could go anywhere in the world for the next hour, where would you go? Definitely the beach!

Which language do you want to learn? I would love to know Spanish. I regret not pursuing it further in school when I had the chance.

What is your favorite quote (for now)? "Sometimes you have to forget what you want and remember what you deserve."

What is your favorite color? Pink!

What is your favorite piece of clothing in your own wardrobe? A pair of black wedges that have silver/blue detail on the front. I wish I could find a picture of me wearing them, but here they are. They actually need to get repaired because the middle part that goes between your toes broke off! I hope someone can fix it for me!

What is your dream job? A writer. I would love to be creative enough to come up with great tales about people like Harry Potter, Bella and Edward or Becky Bloomwood. When I was younger I had such a wild imagination and would write "books" all the time, now that I'm older my imagination has calmed down quite a bit and it kind of makes me sad!

What is your worst habit? Eating at night. It's awful! I can't resist the urge to snack after the sun goes down and it's usually sweets I want!

If you had $100 now, what would you spend it on? Some new summer clothes! I'm in desperate need of cute clothes good enough for work (and play!)

Do you admire any one’s style? Yep, I love Londyn's style, it's timeless and always chic. If you haven't checked out her daily wardrobe blog, you should!

Describe your personal style. Casual and sweet. I love anything trimmed in lace. Anything pink, but not a lot of it at once. I like things that are classic and versatile. Things that I would wear for years and years. My favorite places to shop are Von Maur, Express, Forever 21 and American Eagle.

What are you going to do after this? Probably a little reading then off to bed!

What are your favorite movies? Almost Famous, Across the Universe, Miracle, The Parent Trap (random, eh?) and Elizabethtown. Clearly I love movies with good music! :)

What is your favorite fruit? I looooove fruit and I cannot pick just one! I like strawberries, pineapple, oranges and mango the best. The only fruits I don't like are melons. Yes, I do not like watermelon. Strange, right?

What inspires you? I feel like I'm inspired daily. Sometimes it's the oddest things too, like last week I was the musical Mama Mia! with my mom and grandma and was totally inspired by the finale. It was so extravagant and well done, it had me almost in tears! I can't pinpoint what it was exactly that inspired me or what it inspired me to do, I was just inspired!

What is your favorite book? Again, I can't pick just one! I love books way too much. My favorites are the Harry Potter books, My Sister's Keeper, the Shopaholic series, Summer Sisters, American Wife and Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld and The Shack by WM Paul Young.

Do you collect something? Not really, unless you count books, bags and shoes!

What is your favorite smell? Lemon! It smells so clean and fresh!

What are you most proud of? Being young and successful. I have finished school, have my degree and am in a career that I love and get paid well to do.

How many times do you press the snooze button before you get up? Too many times to admit! Ha!

Cats or dogs? I love them both! I have Libby, my cat, but would love to have a dog too! Maybe this year I will get one! :)


Complete the following: Love is… when you feel like family together. When you can't imagine your life without that other person.

What do you like best about yourself (can be a physical characteristic and/or a personality trait)? I am a very loyal person, especially in my career. There are very few jobs I have had that I didn't have for a long time. Even when I was younger!

What do you dislike about yourself? I'm extremely sensitive and am constantly worrying about what others think of me. I know I need to stop it, but by now I don't think I'm going to change!

I'm tagging anyone that wants to do this quiz! :)

The Time Travelers Wife

I am about a hundred pages into this book, and so far it is absolutely phenomenal. The story is so intriguing and unique!

I know that a movie based on the book is coming out soon (with Rachel McAdams as Clare!) and I can't stop imagining each scene in my head. It's going to be a great movie, I can't wait to see it.

Has anyone else read this book? What did you think?

Twilight, recommended ages?

Almost daily I have tween girls in my store drooling over magazines with the Twilight stars on the covers or picking up the Twilight dvd and staring longingly at it while her mother snatches it out of her hands exclaiming, "No! You're too young!"

Each time it gets me thinking and I can't help but wonder. Would I let my tween daughter read Twilight? Would I just let her watch the movie? Would I let her read the books and watch the movie? Would I read the books first?

It seems like each time I have girls in the store talking about Twilight, they are younger and younger. Maybe it's my imagination, but they just seem so young! Perhaps it's because I likethe books and I feel ashamed? Although, on the other hand, I loved Harry Potter (more than Twilight) and never felt one ounce of embarrassment over obsessing about Harry and his adventures at Hogwarts.

Back to the point though. Why would I not let my daughter read Twilight? There are several reasons why, 1.) It starts out young and innocent, but quickly morphs into a more adult relationship, which leads me to my second point, 2) The subject of pre-marital sex is there in the "will they, or won't they" sense, and 3.) What kind of message are we sending to young girls? To give their lives to a boy?

Now for the reasons I would let her read Twilight... 1.) It's just fantasy, and as long as she understands that, I am fine with it, 2.) I would rather her be reading then watching tv or worse, messing around on the internet, and 3.) Knowing myself, I would be reading it right along with her so it would be great mother/daughter bonding time! Oh wait, and one more (SPOILER! Stop now if you haven't read it!) 4.) The fact that Bella and Edward waited until they were married to have sex sends such a positive message to young girls.

So, my conclusion is I would let my tween daughter read Twilight, although I would want to read it first and perhaps restrict the final installment, Breaking Dawn for when I felt she is mature enough for the sex scenes.

How about you? What age is too young? There are girls aged 8 and 9 currently reading the series, do you think that is too young?

Facebook... at work?

I'm kind of on a roll on the subject of work, so let's keep it going, shall we? ;)

The women in my company are all on Facebook. My boss, my boss's boss, my colleagues, and my staff. They're all friends on the site (well, most of them) and I think it's weird. The only people I will make friends with on FB is my management, just because we're already so close. We kind of have to be, we're together 40 hours a week!

I'm 99% sure I DO NOT want to be friends with my boss on Facebook.

It's not that I'm "hiding" anything or that I put on a sort of false facade when around my boss, colleagues or higher ups. I am always myself and my Facebook is page is very... me. It just strikes me as borderline unprofessional to befriend them on social networking sites.

Today we were in meetings all day, and my regional manager shouted out something regarding pictures on Facebook (I think it was during lunch) and I just sort of pretended I didn't hear here and ducked out of the conversation.

There's just something about it that strikes me as odd. Am I behind in the times? Is Facebook more than just a social networking site for your friends? Have colleagues and employers joined the bunch? Is it appropriate? Thoughts?

Oh you know, just the typical office gossip...

Awhile back I stumbled upon a a rumor circulating my "office" that was partially targeted at me.

Let me start with how much I do not tolerate gossip. The company I am working for is 99% women and the company I worked before that was also 99% women. In those circumstances, gossip is unfortunately unavoidable, but I believe there is a proper way to handle such distaste.

The proper way is to not contribute, period.

Now, don't get me wrong. I am female. I like to talk. I like to gossip about Heidi and Spencer, Angelina and Brad and ohmygod I can't believe she said that! Although, I'm very careful with who I confide in and make sure to never say anything that I would not say directly to someone. I've traveled this road before and I know that following this rainbow does not lead to a pot of gold. It only makes the gossiper look like a busybody with nothing better to do, and almost always ends with someone's feelings being unnecessarily hurt.

Well, this rumor is something that our boss (a district manager) allegedly said in regards to my staff and I. My instincts are telling me it's not true. If it were true, things would be very different right now. I know it. There are certain parameters in place right now that would not exist if these thirteen words were stated.

There's still that tiny voice in the back of my head that says, "What if it is true? What do you do then?"

Well, if it is true then all I can do is my job, right? If it was said, I will only let this fuel my fire to prove them all wrong. Although, bottom line, I will probably never know if it was truly said because I wasn't there. Not knowing is probably the healthiest alternative.

All I know is I am capable and strong in my position, otherwise I would not be in it. I will continue to do my job and do it well. Tolerating this nonsense is a waste of time and I will not condone this behavior in my "office" nor will I give anyone the satisfaction of a response.

Well, except for my smug smile when I continue to do what I'm doing and sit on top.