My Guilty Pleasures

Yep, guilty pleasures. We all have them; some are childlike, others may be frivolous. Some are embarrassingly nerdy while some are just goofy. No matter who you are you have at least a few guilty pleasures.

If you don't, just pretend that you do. It'll make me feel a whole bunch better. Thanks.

After a little contemplation, here are five of my top guilty pleasures.

1. Taylor Swift




Apparently, I haven't been able to let go of my inner teenager yet. Swift's unabashedly love-struck teeny-bopper lyrics still resonate within me somewhere. I'm particularly partial to "You Belong To Me" right now. She's not exactly known for deep, life changing songs, but she's just got a fun, spunky attitude and I think she's a kick.


2. Twilight



Yes. I am one of THOSE people. I've read the books a few times. I've seen the first movie and am working on getting to the second. A friend and I actually took my boys to watch the filming of New Moon. (Missed them by a few hours and got stopped coming back across the border because of KinderEggs, but that's another story.) I can't explain what the draw is for me, other than the inner teenager I talked about above. I'm just a sucker for a love story.


3. Bejeweled Blitz



I am such a nerd; I have spent countless hours busting up these little jewels on facebook. There are so many more necessary and worthy activities I could be doing, yet I find myself shifting these little boogers around trying to beat my previous score. It's truly addicting.


4. Starbucks Hot Chocolate


$3.00 for a hot chocolate. It's excessive. It's frivolous. And yet...I love these things. I live near Seattle--we have coffee stands on opposite corners in many places and quite a few of them are open 24 hours. But I don't care for coffee and after trying all of the various shops, I have to say that Starbucks makes the best hot chocolate. Calorically and financially speaking, this is definitely one of the "guiltiest" of my pleasures...but I can't seem to kick it just yet!


5. SpongeBob SquarePants



Yes, it's a child's show. True, the first time I saw it I couldn't understand the appeal of what looked to be a talking piece of cheese. But I've grown to love him. I have been known to watch him by myself long after my children have left the room to move on to their next adventure. I love his innocence and naivety; I snicker at the way he can annoy Squidward without even trying. Maybe he makes me feel better about myself by getting into even crazier situations than I seem to find myself in. Who knows...but he makes me laugh. And laughter is always a good thing, right?

So those are some of my nerdy guilty pleasures that I know I'm probably too old for, but will enjoy anyway. I hope you won't think less of me because of them. I wouldn't blame you if you did, but at least I'd have the big yellow sponge to cheer me up. :)

Holy Happy Cookbook Batman!!

I love my dear friend Rebecca.

I love her more than my favorite pair of jeans; more than my sweet, slobbery bulldog; even more than my favorite chocolate fudge ice cream from Baskin Robbins. We're talkin' serious depths of my heart best friend love.

We've helped each other through many tough spots and plotted evil plans against unruly children. She's mothered my children while I was out of town and I've made sure the doctor knew the fentanyl needed to happen immediately regardless of what centimeter they were measuring.

Birthdays are especially fun for us. It's become a personal challenge to top the last years present. Some have been easy; others have required a bit more planning. We've stood front row at a Bryan Adams concert; rocked along to Richard Marx; been manicured, pedicured and pregnancy massaged. We get giddy when we find the perfect thing for the other.

So when Rebecca glided into my house this evening with a grin as wide as she is tall (okay, she's only 4'11", but still--it was BIG grin) I knew she had found "the gift". And she did. Oh, how she did. Did I mention I love her?

I've become a huge fan of Pioneer Woman this past year. If you've never experienced PW, you must go and check out her blog. No, really, go now. The link is over to the right and it's of global importance that you acquaint yourself with her. She's truly amazing and completely hilarious and she's a new hero of mine.

Anyway, back to "the gift". Here is what Rebecca brought with her:



Yep...it's Pioneer Woman's actual cookbook. It's full of amazing recipes, gorgeous pictures and sweet stories from her life on the ranch. I've ogled it at the bookstore and drooled at it online (my computer may never be the same) but I hadn't bought it yet. I was holding out hope that PW might somehow, sometime include Seattle in her book tour and we'd be able to road trip down to meet PW and have her sign our books. So far, Seattle hasn't been added. It was pretty sad.

Rebecca is so good though, she asked her aunt in Arizona if she could attend the signing there and get a copy for me. She couldn't. But my dear, sweet friend didn't give up and was able to arrange a little somethin' with the bookstore. So this is what the inside of my copy looks like:



That's for me! It's a Happy Birthday for me from Pioneer Woman!!

So, to Rebecca and to Ree, I say: Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!! You are both amazingly awesome women. And this is a new high for a birthday present. I'd better start planning for Rebecca's present now!!

Literature Heathen

Yep, a heathen. I absolutely love reading. It has always been one of my favorite activities. No matter where you are, you can pick up a book and dive into exotic worlds and live through other people. Well, until your husband tells you that you're starting to develop a Twilight obsession. Then you have to put the books down. For a while. But we probably shouldn't go there.

The problem is that there seems to be quite a distinction between "literature" and reading. Some of my favorite books are great stories; but they don't exactly fall under the fine literature category. I (obviously) enjoyed Twilight a bit more than maybe a girl of my years should have--but hey, it was a good story. The same goes for my favorite sappy Nicholas Sparks love stories and food driven Diane Mott Davidson mysteries. I DO read classics; I just finished Pride and Prejudice with the lovely ladies in my book club. I did enjoy it, but I admit, the Pride and Prejudice Zombie version sounds even more entertaining than the original!

Maybe I should just call my self a literature anti-snob? I'm not sure. Until I figure it out, here's a few good non-classical books that you should check out when you get the chance. (Unless you really want to read the zombie Pride & Prejudice book first. I won't hold that against you.)

• The Doomsday Key by James Rollins
• The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
• The Choice by Nicholas Sparks
• The Shop on Blossom Street by Debbie Macomber
• Catering to Nobody by Diane Mott Davidson