I know; I know. I promise there is a rough draft of a post called "Vacation: All I Ever Wanted" sitting there on my computer that will be up soon. (She says as if people are really waiting to find out what went down during her vacation...)
But duty calls.
Instead of talking about me, I'm going to talk about someone else for a change - someone who you should be reading if you aren't or haven't already: Jen Lancaster.
I've written about her before, back when she came to Atlanta, and my gay cousin and I almost sort of got to meet her.
I won't rehash that whole post, but to sum it up: my gay cousin has been talking about this author for a few years, and telling me how much she reminds him of me. He finally read me some passages from one of her books last year when we were traveling for my job, and I wound up buying her first book, only to park it in my "to read" stack that didn't get read at the time, because I was playing Journalism Girl almost 24/7 and having the time of my life.
And then, when the Journalism Girl title was jerked out from under me, as well as some part-time freelance writing work I was doing, I found myself depressed and bored and having to get my parents to buy my groceries. I picked up Lancaster's Bitter is the New Black one day to take to the bathtub, thinking I wasn't in the mood to read about someone else's fabulous life, so I probably wouldn't finish it, but after a couple of chapters I was hooked. The book wasn't about her fabulous life; it was about her fabulous life being jerked out from under her and how she eventually had to ask her parents for grocery money, too! I could so relate to the topic, and I love to wallow in other people's misery, so, of course, I asked my gay cousin if I could borrow the others from him (normally, I'm anti-borrowing books, but desperate times and all).
I Twitter'd and Facebook'd about this fabulous new (to me) author and was surprised when several of my friends responded with "Isn't she the best?" and "She is my long-lost soul-mate!" and "If I met her, I'm so sure we could be best friends!" And I even convinced a few other jobless gals to pick up Bitter is the New Black, and they all loved it and claimed to be the BFF she just hadn't met yet, too.
So, if you need a good reason to read Jen Lancaster, there it is. Everyone who reads her books, at least, everyone that I know, thinks they could so be her BFF if they met her. As creepy as that may be, I kind of, sort of agree.
Seriously, it's very easy to relate to her situation if you've ever been knocked down a peg or two or twenty, and let's face it: most of us have. But it's not all about being broke. Eventually, she launches her writing career and re-enters the world of the economically viable, which I understand some people took issue with (I imagine those types are also the ones who are currently "occupying" things because they spent hundreds of dollars on a new iPad instead of rent and learned that, as it turns out, paying over $100,000 to go to a private university to major in Peace and Conflict Studies doesn't guarantee you a job when you graduate), but I found it pretty darn inspirational.
By the way, she also tackles weight loss (could so relate to much of this), fashion, and becoming less of a reality TV junkie and more of a cultured person who goes to plays and fancy restaurants. Of course, she does it all while being hilarious (and maybe your future BFF)?
Anyway, I've spent the last month going through the rest of her memoirs, and I have about ten to twenty pages left in My Fair Lazy. Her new book (the one she was promoting in May), Jeneration X, is the only one I haven't read, but I will do so as soon as I can afford to buy shiny new hardcover books (or until my gay cousin finishes and loans me his copy). I suggest all of you follow suit.
Check out Jen Lancaster at her fab website, Jennsylvania.
(And ignore any and all typos and grammar issues. I still don't have internet, so I have to come to my parents' house to use my laptop, and the less time I spend here the better.)
But duty calls.
Instead of talking about me, I'm going to talk about someone else for a change - someone who you should be reading if you aren't or haven't already: Jen Lancaster.
I've written about her before, back when she came to Atlanta, and my gay cousin and I almost sort of got to meet her.
I won't rehash that whole post, but to sum it up: my gay cousin has been talking about this author for a few years, and telling me how much she reminds him of me. He finally read me some passages from one of her books last year when we were traveling for my job, and I wound up buying her first book, only to park it in my "to read" stack that didn't get read at the time, because I was playing Journalism Girl almost 24/7 and having the time of my life.
And then, when the Journalism Girl title was jerked out from under me, as well as some part-time freelance writing work I was doing, I found myself depressed and bored and having to get my parents to buy my groceries. I picked up Lancaster's Bitter is the New Black one day to take to the bathtub, thinking I wasn't in the mood to read about someone else's fabulous life, so I probably wouldn't finish it, but after a couple of chapters I was hooked. The book wasn't about her fabulous life; it was about her fabulous life being jerked out from under her and how she eventually had to ask her parents for grocery money, too! I could so relate to the topic, and I love to wallow in other people's misery, so, of course, I asked my gay cousin if I could borrow the others from him (normally, I'm anti-borrowing books, but desperate times and all).
I Twitter'd and Facebook'd about this fabulous new (to me) author and was surprised when several of my friends responded with "Isn't she the best?" and "She is my long-lost soul-mate!" and "If I met her, I'm so sure we could be best friends!" And I even convinced a few other jobless gals to pick up Bitter is the New Black, and they all loved it and claimed to be the BFF she just hadn't met yet, too.
So, if you need a good reason to read Jen Lancaster, there it is. Everyone who reads her books, at least, everyone that I know, thinks they could so be her BFF if they met her. As creepy as that may be, I kind of, sort of agree.
Seriously, it's very easy to relate to her situation if you've ever been knocked down a peg or two or twenty, and let's face it: most of us have. But it's not all about being broke. Eventually, she launches her writing career and re-enters the world of the economically viable, which I understand some people took issue with (I imagine those types are also the ones who are currently "occupying" things because they spent hundreds of dollars on a new iPad instead of rent and learned that, as it turns out, paying over $100,000 to go to a private university to major in Peace and Conflict Studies doesn't guarantee you a job when you graduate), but I found it pretty darn inspirational.
By the way, she also tackles weight loss (could so relate to much of this), fashion, and becoming less of a reality TV junkie and more of a cultured person who goes to plays and fancy restaurants. Of course, she does it all while being hilarious (and maybe your future BFF)?
Anyway, I've spent the last month going through the rest of her memoirs, and I have about ten to twenty pages left in My Fair Lazy. Her new book (the one she was promoting in May), Jeneration X, is the only one I haven't read, but I will do so as soon as I can afford to buy shiny new hardcover books (or until my gay cousin finishes and loans me his copy). I suggest all of you follow suit.
Check out Jen Lancaster at her fab website, Jennsylvania.
(And ignore any and all typos and grammar issues. I still don't have internet, so I have to come to my parents' house to use my laptop, and the less time I spend here the better.)
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