What Women Want

No, it isn’t a review of that horrible Mel Gibson movie and it also isn’t another post on obtaining the perfect shade of makeup or the cutest new designer fashion items–It’s an amazing project that gives women a platform to speak their minds and tell politicians and the media what is important to them.

This Is What Women Want is an incredible project timed perfectly for this election season in the United States. It lets all women post what matters most to them, whether it be reproductive freedoms, civil liberties, flexible laws for the LGBT population, more affordable health care for families and so on. It’s about time that we, as women, stand up for ourselves and reclaim our voices. It is the time for unity, as it is incredibly crucial to unite as women and tell lawmakers that skewed political polls do not represent us and what we desperately need. We must speak up, loud and proud, until the media and politicians can’t ignore our voices any longer. Best of all, This Is What Women Want will be sending the top rated entries of what women want straight to the media and candidates every single week.

So, what does this woman want?

Real justice for rape victims.

It is appalling that a person carrying an ounce of weed gets a tougher prison sentence than a person convicted of rape. Women are never “asking” to be raped and by eliminating terms from being used during trials, badgering a woman who had the courage to report her rape, and ultimately giving a rapist a less severe sentence than someone being made an example of in this imaginary “war on drugs” makes women, in particular, more apprehensive about coming forward and pressing charges against a rapist. Women make up a significant part of this country and by treating them like liars and second class citizens, you are helping a widespread pandemic.

Women never “asked” to be raped, it does not matter what they were wearing, how much alcohol they consumed or what her “body language” said to her rapist. It does not matter if that woman is married, is a virgin or what her previous sexual history is. Give women the security and safety they need in order to come forward and report their rape. Stop promoting silence!

Now it’s your turn! Head on over to This Is What Women Want and tell the media and candidates what you want!

Make Dieting Easier: Diet Food Delivery

Disclaimer: Woman Tribune and its staff does not condone “crash dieting” particularly because it has been proven not to work long-term and is extreme in its nutritional deprivations, typically severely restricting calorie intake. We love each and every woman just the way they are. No matter what size you are, we think you are fabulous. If you are currently crash dieting or are thinking about starting a crash diet we hope that you are doing so for health reasons and are treating your bodies with the respect that they deserve. This post is about dieting, but if maintained correctly, these diet resources are in no way deemed as “crash diets” and have the ability to work long term. If you do choose to start a diet, we strongly suggest you follow your diet correctly and maintain a healthy calorie intake with nutritional value.

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Dieting is perhaps one of the hardest acts to carry out effectively. Women particularly have a hard time losing the weight they wish to lose because women lose weight very differently than men. If you and your partner have decided to start a diet together, you may find him losing weight at a much escalated rate than you, lowering your confidence and will power to be able to carry your diet out long enough to see changes to your own physique; I know, I’ve been there.

The key to effective weight loss is to do it right–In the healthiest way possible. When most people hear the word “diet” they immediately start thinking that they must give up the foods that they have come to love and are apprehensive about it even working to begin with. Most women who diet have also tried two or three other diets in their lifetime, all proving to be ineffective long term. The key to success is your determination to lose weight and also to treat your diet (and your body) with respect. You should not be giving up the foods you love or treating the act of eating as a chore. Food is what makes so many people happy and while this leads to portion control is some cases, the key is to limit your portions, not give up the food you love completely, ie: you can still have a piece of chocolate cake (Oh the love I have for chocolate cake…) but you can’t have an entire chocolate cake.

Grocery shopping, especially for me on a personal level, is a chore and a half. For one, I live in a strictly residential area in the middle of nowhere; I have to drive for at least a half hour to get to the nearest grocery store and because it’s the one grocery store for an entire three small cities, they hike their prices up to a degree where you feel as if you are being robbed by the time you’re ready to check out. Because of this, I usually drive over an hour to get to WalMart, which is the only other option I have for cheaper groceries. If you go through a similar ordeal when it comes to grocery shopping and also feel that purchasing the foods for your diet cost you an arm and a leg and after a few weeks have to quit your diet because it’s easier to order off the McDonald’s dollar menu than buy nutritional, healthy foods for yourself, I have a secret to share with you.

There are many diet programs who offer diet food delivery for a price cheaper than buying it in the store. This is an excellent option for people who, like me, find it difficult to get to a grocery store or find their bank accounts fast approaching zero because of what it costs to buy them in the store.

Medifast knows that dieting is all about choosing health, they believe in choosing health over anything else so much in fact, that it’s their motto. Medifast has a great food delivery service that will ship you the best possible diet foods making it easier for you to diet and not have to give up the delicious foods you love. Medifast is also a highly trusted company when it comes to weight loss, so what you receive from them is simply the best and by using their diet regimen, you will be losing weight and going about the process the healthiest way possible.

The foods you will receive from Medifast are high in nutritional value and are given to you in well controlled portions. While they are about portion control, which is what every diet thrives on, their foods will not leave you hungry afterward, eliminating the temptation of overeating. Their menu is highly diverse with a menu that will please everyone–Even those of you who are vegetarian will be surprised by their extensive menu.

For an entire breakdown of Medifast, their diet plan and diet foods as well as some of their success stories, be sure to check out the Medifast diet reviews.

Nutrisystem is a diet plan that helps you not only lose weight and keep it off long-term, but it will help you lose weight fast. For any of you who need to lose those 10 or 15 extra pounds before your wedding, high school reunion or any other event where you really want that wow factor as soon as you walk into a room, Nutrisystem is for you. Nutrisystem will also work at the same fast pace for people who want to lose up to 100 pounds or more. It has been said to be the fastest working diet plan out there right now, so it is definitely worth looking into and hey, if it’s not for you, they offer a 30 day money back guarantee if you don’t get what you expected or were looking for. With a money back guarantee like that there’s no reason not to try it!

Nutrisystem ships you prepared and packaged food right to your front door. They understand that people who are instructed to eat the same, bland meals every day aren’t going to stick with that diet, so their plan is all about choices giving you a myriad of food choices to fit your particular lifestyle. They offer over 120 different products for you to choose from to help satisfy your hunger and cravings for delicious food.

The Nutrisystem has many different systems to choose from including omnivores, vegetarians, different programs specifically for men and women because women tend to lose weight very differently than men and they also cater to men and women with type 2 diabetes. This system is so healthy that your need for insulin if you do have type 2 diabetes may even decrease over time while using Nutrisystem.

For an entire breakdown of Nutrisystem, their diet plan and diet foods as well as some of their success stories, be sure to check out the Nutrisystem reviews.

Help Support Locks of Love with Social Media

Heavy As Hell, a social media site for music of the rock, metal, punk, industrial and goth variety was relaunched at the beginning of this month. Not only is this good news for all music lovers, bloggers and followers everywhere, but it is also good news for Locks of Love.

Locks of Love helps financially disadvantaged children in the United States and Canada suffering from long-term medical hair loss from any diagnosis. Most of the children helped by Locks of Love suffer from a medical condition called alopecia areata, which has no known cause or cure. Locks of Love provides hairpieces to children to help to restore their self-esteem and confidence, which can of course be hard because children their own age are most of the time a child’s worst critics. By receiving a prostheses from Locks of Love these children are rejuvenated, feeling like just another normal child free to live their lives free of ridicule and feelings of insecurity.

Mark Carras, founder of Heavy As Hell has designed a challenge for the members of the Heavy As Hell community and also for people who may have never heard of the social media site in hopes of inspiring other music lovers to jump on board and help out a great cause. Because this challenge launched in the very beginning of August and has yet to take off as much as we would like to see, Mark has extended the challenge. First of all, here is the original challenge video:

Changes in the challenge since then include getting 250 on topic stories on the front page of Heavy As Hell by the end of this month, which gives us 9 more days! If 250 on topic music stories get on the front page of Heavy As Hell by August 31, we will then have until September 30 to reach 1000 stories gracing the front page of the site. As soon as 250 stories are made popular, the wife of Mark Carras, The Queen of Cheese will be donating one foot of her hair to Locks of Love and the popularity ticker will keep on ticking until 1000 stories are reached, where Mark Carras will shave his head and donate $1000 to Locks of Love to sponsor a child. We’re talking cumulative here, so reaching 1000 stories is made even easier by the counter on popular stories not being restarted to reach 1000.

I have personally donated hair to Locks of Love–Over 11 inches of it and love what Locks of Love are doing for children who frankly would benefit from your hair more than you. It’s a worthwhile cause and I know I will be donating to them again, I’m already in the process of growing my hair out again. But if you don’t have the means (or patience) to donate to them yourself, the least you could do is support someone else who wants to do a good deed and Mark Carras is presenting a fun opportunity to get everyone on board.

So if you’re a music lover or even if you’re not particularly interested in the type of music Heavy As Hell covers, but have some interesting music industry news, go over to Heavy As Hell, sign up, submit your story and also vote up some others and help support Locks of Love. Mark Carras really wants to shave his head so let’s help him do it.

Forever the Other Woman

I met the love of my life when I was 18 years old, right out of high school, and at my very first job as a telemarketer. I had no idea what I was doing with my life, or in general, really; I just went with the flow of things and hoped I had the street smarts in order to make it on my own. I left home at 17 and had no idea what this whole life thing had in store for me. I got my own apartment, a job, had a good friend and figured everything else would simply sort itself out. I was right, to an extent.

While in the break room at work I started talking to this guy who seemed pretty mellow, down to earth and possessed the qualities of exactly what I was looking for. We started hanging out nearly every night after work and while I didn’t know exactly what I was doing, I knew that when I was in his company, I was happy; perhaps the happiest I could remember myself being in years. He understood me and most of all, he understood the person I was, even though at the time I had no idea who I was, what I was doing, or what I aspired to do in the future. While I remained pretty much clueless about life and about myself, he already had a place in life and he was already in the middle of living it. At nearly 10 years my senior, he was a husband, a father and was going to be a father for the second time upon meeting me. While this friendship (and a little more) was pretty easy on my side, for him, everything was ten times more difficult. He was in the middle of a separation and as months pressed on, he was divorced. A few months later, we were together full time and I knew that the part of me who had no idea what I was doing escalated a bit, but I was happy and as far as I could tell, so was he.

3 years later, we’re still together and couldn’t be happier than if we had been molded for each other at birth and had been placed together by some sort of god who said “Hey, the two of you would be perfect for each other, have at it.” Our relationship was by no means cause for his divorce, but I’m here to tell you that being in a committed, going to be married and do the whole forever and ever amen relationship with a divorced man who already had a life set in stone before they even met you is hard work; perhaps harder than I had first anticipated.

Sure, I had thought about what being in a relationship with a divorced man was going to be like and looking back at it now, I think that in some respects, my thought process had been a bit skewed. I don’t necessarily regret committing myself to a man who already had what you want for your life, but thoughts tend to weigh down on you sometimes. If you think about something too much, eventually everything in your mind gets turned upside down and inside out leaving you believing that everything you thought would happen in your life will not, despite being told repeatedly by the person you’re counting on that you can have what you strive for in life, but sometimes you tend to think that it won’t matter anyway.

Throughout the past 3 years our relationship has been great except for one key element. Most women dream of their wedding day when they’re very young and think of what their family will be like when they start to create their own. I wasn’t like this growing up. I never wanted to get married, but I’ve always wanted to have a lot of children; I wanted a big family because my family growing up was so screwed up. After spending the past few years with my boyfriend I’ve come to realize that I do want to get married, I do want to have kids and yet I find myself consistently talking myself out of wanting those things because he already had it. He was married and got divorced, why would he want to get married again if his vows fell through the first time and because they fell through the first time, what’s to stop it from happening again? He has kids. While he is currently going through an ugly battle to even be able to see his kids, he’s a father; he already helped a woman through pregnancy and labor twice, so again, why would he want to do it all over again? Is a different woman really enough to want to subject yourself to something that already failed? Are you, being the second woman this man settled down with, not as good as the first one? Of course the first one failed, but that doesn’t put the endless string of questions at bay. Simply being with a man who is a decade older than you and who already knows what these life altering moments feel like is enough for the endless string of questions to never go away and the longer you’re with this person, the longer the string of questions gets it seems.

Because my boyfriend already had his perfect American family, his family refuses to let it go. My boyfriend is very family-oriented. In the past 3 years, I have seen and been around his parents more than I think I’ve been around anyone in my family throughout my entire life and nearly every time we go visit them, I am told about his ex wife and his kids by his mother and frankly, that not only gets old after the first 12 months, it gets irritating to the point where you feel as if you are being put down and warned off of even thinking of marrying or mothering children with their son. When we are around his parents, I do not feel like a girlfriend, I feel very much like a friend–A sometimes burdening, unwanted friend that makes his parents think to themselves “Why is this girl always around?” Of course, his mothers constant offhanded remarks that no one should ever have kids and more importantly, I should never have kids is also a bit disheartening.

All of these aspects of life leads up to the elephant in the room. Having a relationship with his children B.H. (Before Holly) Three years of a relationship, living together and talking about the marriage I am certain will never come is not enough to even begin to mull over the idea of having a relationship with his kids; or so I am gathering. While I can be there as a shoulder and a pair of ears when my boyfriend needs to talk about how infrequently he gets to see his children and I can be the person whom his mother likes to put down (inadvertently, I don’t know) about children coming from my womb being completely unwelcome, I am not allowed to even be seen by his children. At 3 and 4 years old and having my father’s girlfriend of 10 years being more of a mother than my biological mother ever was, I am a firm believer that the earlier his children know of me and are around me, the better. They will grow up with me being there, knowing who I am and developing a relationship with them. His ex-wife, however, has told me on the phone the one of two times I have ever spoken to her on the phone without being called a whore, that I will not have a relationship with them. It is because of this that I feel like a sheltered participant in a relationship that I feel I should have an active part in.

Throughout the past 3 years I have figured out who I am as a person and I know what I aspire to do with my life. I know what I want, but some aspects of what I want in my life will have to be filtered through a man who I am under the impression ultimately gets to decide what I get. Some days I think that waiting it out is the answer. I know that I love my boyfriend, he is the great love of my life and I hope he is always in my life but I do not want to have to give up on key elements I wish for my life to have. I do not believe that getting married will change me being able to have a relationship with his children, nor do I believe that it will stop his mother’s frequent offhand comments, but ultimately I hope that the amount of time that passes helps my boyfriend understand what I hope for my life and our life together and hopefully it doesn’t mean that I will forever be treated as “the other woman” or the woman who is around but certainly not welcome. I also hope that I stop feeling as if I am a silent participant in a relationship I know full well I should be an active member in.

While only time will tell, how long is too long before you find yourself giving up on what you have always wanted and when do the endless list of questions become shorter? Ultimately, when does something become concrete and something you can count on?

The Multi-Orgasmic Man Part 1

On the topic of sex, most men will say that the act and finishing touch, in particular, is a bit unfair. After sex, my boyfriend will complain that I had multiple orgasms, can’t move and demand a sandwich afterward while he had one orgasm. I can argue that perhaps my multiple orgasms are the equivalent to his one, but I wouldn’t know since I am not a man and admittedly have no idea what the male orgasm feels like. I do, however, know that having multiple orgasms is a gift that I would love for him to be able to share with me. While a huge percentage of men simply believe that having multiple orgasms is impossible, I have a secret to share with you that has the ability to rock your world; especially if you’re a man–All men have the ability to achieve multiple orgasms.

For the man who believes male multiple orgasms are impossible or for men who have heard about these mysterious male multiple orgasms and want to know more (ie: my boyfriend) I couldn’t recommend The Prostate Pleasure Kit from Babeland more.

The Prostate Pleasure Kit contains everything your man (or you, if you’re reading this and happen to be a man) needs for complete prostate pleasure and achieve multiple orgasms: The classic sex guide The Multi-Orgasmic Man by Mantak Chia & Douglas Abrams, The Aneros Prostate Stimulator, Maximus lube, Babeland’s favorite anal lube in fact, and Rocket Balm, good (and safe) for a nice, tingly feeling during masturbation, oral sex and even intercourse.

If you’re thinking to yourself “Ha! My husband/boyfriend/manfriend/life partner would never let anything near his butt; it just isn’t happening and what, exactly, does prostate pleasure have to do with multiple orgasms?” I have to tell you, my boyfriend was just as apprehensive! With the looming fear of pain as well as the fear of bodily functions, a man may think to himself at first “Nope, not happening. Ever. Get it all away from me.” But perhaps after reading through the book that comes with this kit, The Multi-Orgasmic Man, they may be even more curious about prostate pleasure and perhaps even get over the initial fear and anxiety that comes with something being near their prostate.

The Multi-Orgasmic Man is a complete guide of sexual secrets of every should know. This book gives every man the ability to experience multiple orgasms and dramatically enhance his sexual relationship, which they have printed on the cover of the book. Within the first few days of having this book, me and my boyfriend read through parts of it together and it really brought us closer together in our relationship because I began to fully understand how everything works when it comes to men; most of which I wasn’t aware of before. If you’re not one to accompany your man while he reads through this book, there is a section specifically for women which helps women fully understand how the foreign male parts work and how to help your partner as well as yourself become a multi-orgasmic person. The book and prostate tools that come with this kit go together very well because throughout the book it speaks of the prostate, how to fully know yourself as a man inside and out and gives you methods to use in order to prolong orgasms by holding the prostate. By using the prostate toys that come with the kit, you become more aware of reaching the point of no return.

The boyfriend’s thoughts:

The book is very well written and covers both sides of the techniques given in the book to achieve multiple orgasms; spirituality as well as logic and physiology. As a person who leans more towards the logical and scientific side of things, it was nice to have scientific facts back up Asian spirituality.

While the boyfriend isn’t a multi-orgasmic man yet, the journey to multiple orgasms will be broken up into a series that will outline his progress and eventual success, so be sure to check back frequently because you never know when he will hit a milestone that will need to be reported to our readers, especially those who are men looking to achieve multiple orgasms. Consider subscribing to our RSS feed so you don’t miss anything!

Add Some Style to the Wordpress Admin Panel

As anyone who uses Wordpress knows, the admin panel is a little rough on the eyes. It’s the same blend of blues and greys, it never changes and if you get sick of looking at the ‘fresh’ design that was released with Wordpress 2.5 the only other option you have is the vintage Wordpress look, which is even worse than the fresh look.

If you’re like me, you know that change is good, especially when it comes to sites you look at every day. We all need to change it up a little bit every now and then, which is why sites like MySpace have so many free template sites and the same goes for Blogger and Wordpress design templates, why sites like Plurk and Twitter allow you to change the look of your profile, and so on. People do not want to be forced to look at the same thing over and over again. This also applies to the Wordpress Admin section. I know that I spend countless hours every week working on my websites; the amount of hours I put in on my websites are the equivalent of two full time jobs, not even factoring in the fact that I also work a full time job from home. With a “job” that you spend up to 80 hours a week on, looking at the Wordpress admin panel while you go about your website work can get a little sore on the eyes and very repetitive.

Pressing Pixels thought the same thing and decided to make a plugin to change the look of your Wordpress admin panel–Wordpress Custom Admin Branding.

The Wordpress Custom Admin Branding plugin is a great plugin and makes logging into your Wordpress panel again and again a little more refreshing than it would be normally. Here’s a look at what Woman Tribune’s Wordpress now looks like:

The login screen:

The header of my Wordpress admin panel:

With this plugin, there are three separate parts of the Wordpress admin panel that may be changed with an image of your choice–The login screen, the header and the footer, as you can see to the left here. The plugin works with all Wordpress installations, I’m currently running Wordpress 2.6.1, which you can also see in the footer image, and the plugin works perfectly without any tweaking.

I definitely recommend this plugin for anyone who is sick of looking at the same old Wordpress admin panel. Download the plugin here.

Book Review: Love, Meg by C. Leigh Purtill

Meg and her sister Lucie have always moved around a lot; sometimes three times in one year, they will pack up their belongings, move into a new apartment where Lucie starts a new, dead end, crappy job and Meg will start a new school. Meg’s life seems as shaken and impermanent as the boxes of belongings that never receive a proper place in their new apartment and the WalMart bought, particle board furniture that isn’t likely to survive many more life altering moves.

Because of their sporadic lifestyle, Meg has become accustomed to starting new schools and reinventing herself; she has went by a handful of different names as she grew up and has settled in with being the permanent new girl, finding a new friend to socialize with until her time in that neighborhood was through where she would be forced to repeat the same steps again and again.

Meg was told by Lucie throughout her life that their parents had died, which is why Meg had never known any parental figure besides her older sister. But while Lucie was the only parental figure in Meg’s life, she did not play that part in her sister’s life and often barely played the part of her sister. Lucie was often consumed by selfishness; with her string of boyfriends, how she felt, what she was going through and while there were elements that Lucie did try to provide an okay life for Meg, Meg had been disappointed by Lucie and their life far too many times.

While her sister was busy living her life and Meg feeling as if she didn’t truly belong there, or anywhere, Meg confided in the Friends celebrity, Jennifer Aniston, to get her through the rough times in her life. For years, she and Jennifer had exchanged letters about what Meg was going through at the time, how she was feeling and Jen would respond with worldly advice always leading Meg in the right direction. Even when Jen’s letters had stopped, Meg kept writing for years after and always thought of Jen as the supportive friend she had known her to be through her letters.

When Meg finds out that Lucie isn’t the only family that she has and that she had been lied to her entire life by Lucie; the only person she has had to count on and trust, Meg decides that upon hearing about a family she never knew she had, she wants to know more. In hopes to experience what a real family feels like and have a life that Lucie had always failed to give her, Meg travels across the country, from Hollywood, California to Astoria, New York to live with her Uncle Lonnie and Grandmother, Alma.

Meg’s life in Astoria is completely different from the life she lead in Hollywood. For the first time in her life, and after a little adjusting, she felt at home, as if she had a place of permanence. She goes on to become friends with a small clique of three other girls and makes a life for herself in New York while helping her Uncle with her Grandmother, who is suffering from cancer due to being a life-long smoker. The life Meg makes for herself in New York, while it does hold its own set of problems and setbacks, is a great experience for Meg and what she finds out about herself and others in New York gives her the opportunity to find out the truth about the life that Lucie had never spoken of to Meg. For the first time in her life, Meg experiences what it is like to have best friends, to have a first date and to have her first boyfriend, Juny; the older brother of her new best friend–Who is such a sweet and amazing guy that made me immediately think that every woman needs to have Juny in her life.

Throughout her time in New York and learning more about herself and her family, Meg starts to understand Lucie more than she thought possible. Meg truly makes the best out of everything she is given in life and just with the way she starts to think by the end of the book makes you realize how grown up Meg really is, taking on responsibilities and putting her life into perspective. She makes life altering decisions and successfully deals with what life throws at her, coming out of her experiences as a well-balanced, intelligent young adult who has taken control of her own life and realizes where she belongs.

Love, Meg was a fast, exciting and exceptional read. Though I did see the twists and turns Meg’s life makes throughout the novel coming before they happened, that in no way means that Purtill doesn’t know how to put together a truly enjoyable novel. I just happen to be a self-proclaimed bookworm, am a significantly well read person and also have a knack for guessing the end of thriller movies. It is also worthy to keep in mind that Purtill’s novels fall under the category of young adult and most definitely excite and thrill the pants off of her target market, while also succeeding in giving adult women a fast paced and gratifying read.

Rating:
Buy the Book!

If you are particularly interested in C. Leigh Purtill’s work, life, or random thoughts, you should definitely check out her blog here. Even her blog posts are especially interesting.

Blogging for Blood Cancer

The first ever, annual Blogging for Blood Cancer event starts tomorrow! I wish I had heard of this cause sooner, but as soon as I stumbled upon it over at Goodies for Mom, I immediately signed up.

The Blogging for Blood Cancer event is hosted by Goodies for Mom in conjunction with the Friends of Heroes (FOH) National Light the Night Team in hopes of bringing United States bloggers together to raise awareness for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and its mission to cure Leukemia, Lymphoma, Hodgkin’s Disease and Myeloma as well as to improve the quality of life of patients and their families.

This is an excellent cause to hop on board for and I will most definitely be participating this upcoming week. I have personally seen what Leukemia and Hodgkin’s Disease can do; how tragic and merciless the diseases are and how an entire family and support system for someone who has these diseases are affected, so raising awareness and helping The Leukimia & Lymphoma Society is very important to me.

If simply blogging to raise awareness about blood cancer isn’t enough, Goodies for Mom has lined up several prizes for the bloggers who take part in this event, so head on over and sign up to start blogging for blood cancer and win some awesome prizes! Also, be sure to check out the other bloggers who are participating and don’t forget to check back here to read what I’ll be posting throughout the week.

The Sisterhood is Traveling to New Orleans

As part of a marketing campaign for The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2, the cast is helping out Habitat for Humanity in New Orleans.

If you’re thinking, what on Earth does a movie about four friends and a magic pair of jeans have to do with Habitat for Humanity you will surely be surprised. Alexis Bledel stated in an interview, “They are recycling jeans and making these tubes for insulation that will help insulate the houses they are building down there.” See, get it? Magic jeans, using jeans for insulation. Yeah!

The sisterhood aren’t the only ones helping out with this amazing project; Cotton Inc., GUESS, and Warner Bros. Pictures are spreading the word about the Habitat project to people who are purchasing GUESS products and if you’re one of those people, you should also be aware of the fact that you also have the opportunity to help with the efforts in New Orleans simply by turning in old pairs of jeans you may have laying in back of your closet gathering dust. Not only that, but if you do turn in a pair (or multiple pairs) of your old jeans, you will receive a discount on your new purchases for every pair of jeans you turn in. Your old jeans will be reclaimed into cotton and turned into energy efficient insulation.

So get out there, buy some new pairs of fabulous jeans, bring in the old jeans you never wear anyway and get a discount on said fabulous jeans. It’s as simple as that!

Oh, and if your Gilmore Girls antennae goes up at the mention of Alexis Bledel and you’re like me and so many other Gilmore Girls fans, Alexis was also asked in the interview about a Gilmore Girls movie coming out to which she replied with she didn’t know and hadn’t heard anything. Come on Gilmore Girls cast, crew and writers, we want a real ending! Give us a movie and shut us up, please.

Book Review: Good in Bed by Jennifer Weiner

I had been interested in reading Good in Bed for a few years now. I used to work at Borders Books & Music and of course, in such a setting, I came upon several hundreds of books that I had made mental notes of to read, forgot about them, life went on and on and on; but Good in Bed has always remained on my mental ‘must read’ book list. With a title like Good in Bed, I hardly cared about what the story was about, the book cover and name alone eluded to chick lit, which is super fabulous to indulge in after long days and just wanting to relax in the bath tub, in bed, on the couch, outside in a lawn chair, I just knew in my bones that the book was for me. Knowing very little about the book at first, I put it on my ‘to-read’ list on Goodreads and through the love of books and book sharing, an acquaintance who knew of me through a website I run mailed me a copy of the book.

Upon completion, and even a little less than halfway through the book I knew my intuition about this book was right; it was a book that I needed to read and it is a book that I will cherish for some time to come.

Good in Bed has been quite heavily compared to Bridget Jones’s Diary, which I am also a fan of and can see where people are coming up with the comparison, however, the main character of Good in Bed, Candace “Cannie” Shapiro, is by far superior in wit alone. Cannie is a hilarious, full of character woman who has used her sense of humor and sarcastic wit to cover up the negativism she has felt about herself for quite some time.

Cannie is a larger woman trying to live her life in a world of Hollywood and size 0’s and 00’s. Being a woman who wears a size larger than a 4 sometimes has a difficult time living their life in a world where if you turn on the television, open a magazine or go see a movie, you are bombarded with images of what everyone else thinks you should look like. Cannie gives us women whose left breast couldn’t fit into a size 0 shirt a voice–A brutally honest, no bullshit, real voice. Her life is pretty much together–She has a successful career as a reporter for a Philadelphia newspaper, an apartment she shares with her beloved dog, Nifkin, whose name gives you the first glimpse of how packed with humor this book is, and loving, supporting family and friends. She had broken up with her boyfriend Bruce a few months prior, saying that she had wanted a break and was happy with the decision she had made. However, Bruce is also a writer who had gotten a good gig writing a feature piece in a nationally published magazine every month entitled Good in Bed and his inaugural piece was about Cannie entitled “Loving a Larger Woman” where he compared her physique to Monica Lewinsky.

Cannie then decides that it’s time for her to make some positive life changes and enrolls in a weight loss study in hopes of losing weight. Also on her list of plans is that the man she broke up with but is now starting to miss and want back, will look at her after she loses her weight and want her back. After trying Weight Watchers and several other diets that didn’t work, the new weight loss study and course that Cannie decides to try involves weight loss drugs which seem promising. At her classes, she meets the doctor who is running the course, Dr. K who later becomes a great friend of hers and possible love interest.

Through the story, Cannie goes through ups and downs when it comes to coming to terms with the Bruce debacle and things only get worse for her when Bruce’s father dies unexpectedly. Through her means of trying to comfort him, but him only pushing her further and further away and the next few months of columns he writes for the magazine praise a new girlfriend Bruce has in tow, Cannie begins taking a closer look at her life and figuring out through the never ceasing anger she has for Bruce and that in reality, she isn’t angry with Bruce, she is still angry at her father from her childhood years who abandoned her and his family which in turn has transformed her siblings and even herself, regarding how she feels about herself and her weight. At an early age, Cannie’s father would introduce people to his daughter and say that while she wasn’t a real beauty, she made up for it in brains and would also tell her that no one would want to see her naked and that she was too fat. Cannie’s father, whom she calls The Original Abandoner becomes the person in her life who she realizes she had given too much power to.

Through the steps Cannie takes to make her life better, she meets a woman who she was scheduled to do an interview with, Maxi Ryder, a Hollywood actress who Cannie later finds out also has problems of her own and just because you may be rich and skinny, it doesn’t mean that you’re happy. Cannie’s life forever changes through the pages of Good in Bed, some good and means for celebration and some bad, but by reading Good in Bed, you realize that you can’t make someone love you, how you look to someone physically holds no barrier to how they may feel about you, weight is not something to be hung up about because there is so much more good in the world that you could be experiencing instead of standing in front of the mirror wishing you could be slimmer, and that while things in your life may seem hopeless, the people who love you the most are going to be there to help you through it.

Cannie does indeed become a slimmer version of herself towards the end of the book, in a time of utter despair, and it is then that it doesn’t really matter because she has bigger problems in her life that need to be tended to. The people who love you do not love you because you may be a size 0 or have long, shimmering blonde hair. The people who love you are there for you when you need it the most, they are the ones who can see you at your worst and love you just as much as they did when seeing you at your best and that is a life lesson that Jennifer Weiner hit spot on.

Good in Bed is an excellent book that makes you laugh and makes you cry. It makes you look at your own life and how you see yourself and realize that just by being yourself, you’re good enough for anyone and the problems in your life that you don’t think you can make it through are the ones that make you who are you and with the love and support of your family and friends, you can get through anything.

Rating:
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