HEART OF THE MATTER
I’ve been reading a lot again. Thank goodness I’m back on my track to finish all of the unread books in this house. Except I messed up and bought another new book and broke my rule. I just finished Emily Giffin’s Heart of the Matter and I have to say that it wasn’t great. In her last three books, I’ve had a hard time appreciating the characters and their conflict. I don’t mind a flawed, well-written character. But I do mind a flawed character that ends up making me mad and I find it impossible to relate. I’m not a fan of reading about troubled marriages. And it seems that Ms. Giffin’s goal is to write about a taboo topic with every book, and honestly? That leaves me feeling depressed. Read it for yourself and let me know what you think.
GLEE
Idina Menzel and Lea Michele. Together. Holy dream duet, Batman! Nothing could be better!
Singing “I Dreamed a Dream” from Les Miserables, it was perfect. Lea Michele has played Eponine before, but to sing the Fantine song was just beautiful.
I won’t give away the reason they were singing together on Glee, but I will tell you that you have to watch this show. If it ever gets canceled, I’m holding any non-Gleeks personally responsible.
LOST
SPOILER ALERT
The LOST finale airs on Sunday night. I watched my last Tuesday night episode of LOST. It almost feels a little sad. For six years, I’ve been watching this show every single week trying figure out what in the wide world of sports is going on! I have a good idea of how it will end, but I don’t want to write it down and then look like an idiot. But if you’d like to share any of your theories with me here, I’m open to it!
My biggest fear is that now that Jack has taken on the responsibility of being the new Jacob, he’ll just end up on the island all alone. I’m such a Jack fan!
Here he comes…. ready to protect the island!
MENU PLANNING
I had another successful week of menu planning from these books. I have been using the Cooking Light Fresh Food Fast book for a few months now, and just recently got the next edition of the book after Amy recommended it. {here’s the first post I wrote about this cookbook} Some of you have asked me on Twitter which recipes I like best. I like them all. Really, I do. I love that this book has the nutritional breakdown because now I’m very carefully watching not only my calories, but also my sodium, protein, carbs, etc. It’s a great cookbook and the recipes really fill me up.
I need a solid meal at supper time. That’s the only meal I share with Todd. So when I’m watching what I eat, a microwave dinner or a bowl of cereal isn’t going to cut it. These books are such a great help. And did I mention that all of the recipes are about 5 ingredients and take about 15 minutes to cook?
What’s inspiring you this week? What’s keeping you busy?
{ 44 comments… read them below or add one }
I totally agree, I know not everyone can do it, but I have to have a good meal at supper time. It’s the only time we sit down as a family. I usually just get my recipes off the internet somewhere, but I’m like you, a meal planner. And as for keeping me busy, besides the 2 boys, minor home repairs following our inspection.
Well, you can hold me personally responsible because I have never watched an episode of Glee and I have never seen an episode of Lost!! Can you believe it? With school 3 nights a week I miss so much good TV and don’t have a DVR!!
Also, are those cookbooks good for one person??
I haven’t started HOTM yet, but was planning to next week. Dang it I’m so bummed!! I loved her first two books but it looks like she may have capped out after the Darcy/Rachel story.
I LOVE Glee! (Just blogged about it a few days ago in fact!) I was a little disappointed with this week’s show, but I still love it… I just wish there could be more singing! With that said, Neil Patrick Harris + Matthew Morrison = amazing “Dream On” performance! (http://www.fox.com/watch/glee/86300729001) And to comment about your second “Hello Contentment Post,” I feel the same way about planning our first baby! I want to make sure the timing is right, but who can really say if any planning will work the way we want it to anyway! I’m a B-I-G planner, so it drives me crazy not knowing what the next year looks like….Sigh.
I’m glad I’m not the only person who is sad about LOST ending. I may or may not have cried on Tuesday night because it was the last Tuesday episode.
Onward and upwards… lets hope ABC brings out some new amazing show to get hooked on to fill the void!
I’m so glad you posted the cookbooks. I was going to send you a message on Twitter the other day and I forgot. Hopefully I can pick them up this weekend. I just started Heart of the Matter, though I am bummed to hear that you didn’t like it that much.
I don’t want GLEE to ever go away either! What a great show and I do love some NPH. I am very busy this week planning the Leadership Retreat for my town’s Junior League. I was elected Corporate Secretary for 2010-2011 and am already very busy! I hope you have a great rest of the week and weekend!
I’ve been dissapointed with Emily Giffin as well. I always look to Jennifer Weiner or Sophie Kinsella for my chick-lit fix.
The Lea/Idina number was the best of the night! It’s amazing how much they really do look alike
I’m a menu planner as well. Mostly because I hate hearing “whats for dinner?” before I’ve even finished my coffee!
I’m so sad that LOST is almost over. I think I know how it will end too, but I’ve learned never to be too sure I know what’s going! As soon as you think you’ve got it figured out – BAM! Something crazy happens. That’s what’s so awesome about the show. I’ll sure miss it! And that hunky piece of eye candy you’ve got posted here too! HA!
I just bought the Cooking Light cookbook last week, and I love it! I made my version of the stuffed portobello mushrooms the other night, and I posted it on our blog. They were delicious! Definitely one to try!
I have both of the cooking light cookbooks and haven’t found a single recipe from them that I didn’t like. I have a bookshelf full of cookbooks, but these are my favorites. Do you have a favorite recipe(s) from them? PS- thanks for the review of the Heart of the Matter. I was debating whether or not to purchase it…
I just finished Heart of the Matter. That book was amazing! I love Emily Giffin!
My issue with Emily Giffin’s post-Something Borrowed / Something Blue novels is her character development… I’m so sick of her just developing her protagonist – it makes me not care at all for the other characters… Like Love The One You’re With… I didn’t give two hoots who she ended up with or how her best friend / SIL felt about the situation… they were all just one-dimensional and shallow. I had a bit more empathy in Baby Proof with the heroine’s family members but not with her ex-husband… didn’t really care if they got back together either! I’m wondering if she’s feeling the pressure to come out with a new book every since since her initial success, b/c I definitely think her writing has suffered!
Really need to check out the Cooking Light books… I am such a cookbook junky!
I just started Heart of the Matter, and am very undecided on how I feel about it! I’ll let you know once I finish it, but I didn’t really care for the last one much either, so who knows.
Those cookbooks look fantastic, I’ll definitely have to check them out soon!
I’m also sad that Lost is no longer going to be a part of my life anymore but I actually haven’t seen Tuesday’s episode yet (waiting for the weekend so I can watch it with my husband) so I wish you had posted “Spoiler alert” or something like that above your Lost tidbit! I’ll forgive you, though. I’ll just pretend I didn’t read what you wrote.
OOh, I’m totally adding that cook book to my wish list – It sounds ideal!
I actually really like Emily Griffin because her characters are flawed in a way I really relate to. I’m not perfect either, and while I don’t throw personal pity parties for myself about what might have been, I think an important part of appreciating the here and now is thinking about what might have been. As is usually the case in her books, the conflicted character generally comes around to realizing what they like about their situation. I also find reading about conflict comforting because I know that I’m not alone. I usually hate chick lit, but I love her books because they are written for women, but in a way that is about much more than shopping.
I just finished “Heart of the Matter” and I was just as disappointed with it!
I loved “Something Borrowed” and “Something Blue”…but the last few books let me down. 
This week’s Glee was one of my favorites! I knew that when they brought Idina Menzel on that she would somehow be related to Rachel! That duet made me cry! LOL! I seriously need to get a life if i’m crying over a TV show! HAHA!
Not a “Lost” fan, so i’m not upset it’s ending.
I’m looking into buying the Cooking Light cookbooks. I love the magazines, but they end up getting thrown out b/c my kids use it as something to play with.
I felt the same way about Heart of the Matter…it just wasn’t as good as her other ones!
I love Glee
Next week’s episode looks really good!
Ok, I think you may be reading my mind! I was thinking about starting the emily griffin series and went to target to get “something borrowed” then I read the back and found out it’s about a girl who sleeps with her best friends fiance?! I put it back. Not my style. I totally understand what you’re saying!
And I also have been watching LOST for all 6 seasons and am pretty excited to see what happens (and kinda excited for it to be over – I’m sick of being lost!) I feel the same way about Jack! I’ve been on his team the whole time!
1. I feel the exact same way about emily griffin. i’ve read some of her books and they’re just not my style. have you read the help? SUCH a great book!
2. I love, love, love Glee and wicked is my favorite musical of ALL time so this weeks episode was beyond amazing.
3. I don’t watch lost. But my husband does, and he was all hopped up on lost awesomeness on Tuesday night…
4. I’m totally going to the store to get that cookbook tonight. I’m obsessed with cookbooks and I love cooking light… and I’ve been needing a good, healthy cookbook. Thanks for the tip!
Hey, friend!
I’m baaack to reading your blog again as of today! 
I have been (and still am) so super busy and haven’t been on here in forever. Anyway, great post and I am going to make sure to get a copy of those cookbooks! 
…I might just have to send you a little email about LOST before the finale on Sunday!!
Totally agree about Heart of the Matter. I read it in a day, but only because her writing style makes me keep turning the pages…her books have become VERY predictable and always involving women (and some men) making selfish choices all the while telling themselves that crossing moral boundaries gets blurry depending on the circumstances. I think the whole love-triangle, cheaters topic is depressing…but I do wonder why she always writes about them. Did she have some sort of similar situation in her life? In the end, I get her message with this book that marriage is hard, but why did the characters have to go through what they did to realize that it is during those times that upholding the vows you made matter the MOST!
I agree, there isn’t a bad recipe in there! I’m thinking about giving away copies to my clients as a gift when they “graduate” from FitLab by hitting their goal! Thanks for the shoutout, friend! Miss you!
I finished Heart of the Matter this weekend, and it was my least favorite of her books, but I still enjoyed it. Nothing beats Something Borrowed and Something Blue. And, I liked Love the One You’re With since it was mainly set in Atlanta, so I could really relate to the surroundings.
I’m so glad someone else was as enthralled as I was with the Lea Michelle/Idina Menzel duet. O.M.G. I made my fiance stay silent during it. Ahh…and I love that Idina will now have to be on future episodes! And LOST too! We should watch tv together or something. I too love Jack, but I still don’t know what is going to happen on Sunday!!
Agh! Love Glee
The pairing of Idina Menzel and Lea Michelle is perfection!
I bought one of the Cooking Light books today at Target. I’m so excited to try it, especially after hearing how much you like the recipes. I’ve made a bunch of recipes out of their special edition magazine & I can honestly say they’re all good.
Dang! I wish you’d blog about your theory on “Lost”! Who cares if you’re wrong? I think we’re all going to be wrong
I know what you mean about being sad about it being over. For the past several weeks…esp. after episodes where nothing was answered, AGAIN…I’ve said that I will be sooooo glad when this thing is over. Now, the finality is starting to set in. Basically, I just want some answers, but I still want the show to go on, ya know?! I hope on Monday you’ll post whether your theory was right or not…of course, none of us will believe you then 
Enjoy it!
I have an old cooking light book and I need to get the new ones!
I want to read that book. But I have always found her books hard to follow at times or just slow to read. Also I am totally with you on Glee! I will die if it ever gets cancelled! I can’t wait for Gaga next week!!
I totally agree with you regarding EG’s last books. I haven’t read HOTM yet but I did not very much enjoy the 2 previous. Her first 2 were fantastic! I keep thinking oh maybe that last book was just a dud, an outlier. Maybe not? I am still going to ready HOTM just cause.
I am so sad about Lost that I can’t hardly stand it!! I don’t know how they’re going to end it, but I also think Jack may be left alone as the new Jacob. But, how are they going to get rid of MIB? Augh, the suspense is KILLING me!!!
I’m a huge fan of menu planning…I just discovered a website that I use to copy and paste recipes from CookingLight.com (you just copy the url into a recipe input page and it automatically downloads the whole thing). It stores all your recipes, lets you drag and drop onto a calendar, then gives you a grocery list to print! I think membership is $5/mo. after a 30 day free trial – it’s called plantoeat.com.
Ok, thank you for this post! I had no idea about the cooking light books! I use recipes I find in the magazines all the time so I’m sure I’ll love it! And Glee….oh my word. So good. Kristin Chenowith and then Neil Patrick Harris…it’s like they really get me.
Lost…I know you’re going to think this is nuts because I follow you on twitter and I know your obsession, but I have never seen it. Yikes! Hope you have a great weekend!
hi, i found you through a mutual twitter contact. i love your blog! and i love idina menzel (have since the second i saw rent on broadway). i’ve subscribed to your posts, so i’m sure you’ll be seeing me around here (whether you like it or not).
So the “Weeknight Meals” is a follow-up to the cookbook on the left? They look so much the same I would probably confuse them for similar editions of the same cookbook in the store!
Totally agree with you on HOTM. I pre-ordered it on my Kindle and rushed home from work Tuesday to start reading it immediately. I normally LOVE Emily Giffin, but this one wasn’t up to par. I did like how she showed us both characters and how she created an internal struggle in the reader as to who to root for. I also love how Emily Giffin has an ability to verbalize emotion in a way unlike any other author I have encountered.
However, I felt the whole storyline was pretty milk-toast, and very predictable. I was really disappointed. It wasn’t entertaining at all. Fortunately, I only wasted a day of my time reading it.
Love Glee.
Oh I totally loved Something Borrowed & Something Blue as well as Babyproof, but the next one (cant remember the name of it atm!) was just very very average. I was hoping this one would be better, but it hasn’t got the best reviews.. oh well, I still plan on reading it!
I totally agree with you on the Emily Giffin thing. I was so frustrated reading “Love the One Your With” that I almost put it down several times.
Hmmm that book is on my list to read, but I hope I like it more then you did!
I also didn’t care for Emily Giffin’s new book. I took it on vacation last week but I was sorely disappointed! I hate these books about men having affairs. The ending really didn’t do it for me either. I give the book a C grade!