Gorgeous, Green, & Saving Some Green: Gotta Love It

One of my very favorite students received this book as a Christmas present from one of my other very favorite students, her BFF. Since both girls are very eco-friendly chicas, and both concerned about saving the planet, doing what's good for the earth, and being health conscious, (as I try to be) I had to pick up this handy-dandy little save the planet guide to livin' la vida green on Amazon.com.

The best price? It not only helped me save the planet, it saved me some cash by buying it on Amazon. Saving some green, while thinking green.

Nothin' wrong with that.

Be gorgeously green, and pick up a copy of this awesome book for yourself today online at www.Amazon.com or at Barnes & Noble retailers nationwide.

For The Hot Chick on Your Christmas List

The gift you must run out and buy your girlfriends for Christmas?

Yeah, it isn't the make your own martini kit you found at Target, or the pedicure foot bath bullshit you saw at Costco.

It's this fabulous little book, How to Love Like a Hot Chick, by Cerina Vincent and Jodi Lipper, which offers women amazing dating and relationship advice in a straightforward, no-nonsense format. You'll feel like you're talking with your girls over margaritas, except that these girls actually took their heads out of their asses and put their female intuition into practice.

You know what that is, ladies. It's the little voice inside your head that tells you he's a supreme douchebag, you know, that voice you oftentimes ignore, because you think he might change, or magically transform into a love God over night?

At any rate, buy your friends this book, change their dating lives, or hell, buy it for yourself. There are plenty of break-ups over the holiday season.

Personally, I believe the only chumps who would leave a girl alone on the holidays are scum sucking bottom feeders who deserve to be kicked in the balls.

But hey, that's just my opinion.

Buy a copy (or two, or ten) at Borders, Amazon.com, or Barnes and Noble today.

For the "Man's Man" this Christmas

In an attempt to solve all your gift-giving dilemmas this holiday season, I will feature items that I think would make great presents for all the people on your holiday shopping list, especially those challenging people who are always hard to buy for. One of those people is no doubt your brother. Or, your best guy friend. Or, the guy at work who not only listens to you bitch, but sometimes picks up the tab for the beer you drink at happy hour. And more than likely, your whiny ass owes him a damn good present.

The book you need to RUN to Barnes & Noble to purchase these guys is called, “I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell,” and after reading an excerpt in the store, I bought it immediately. I was laughing until my abs hurt, and the writer is genius. Your buddies will love it, and will want to add the author to their list of friends to drink with.

The writer is a womanizing, game playing, lying, immature, irresponsible, borderline alcoholic with shaky morals. His saving grace is that he is, in fact, hysterically funny.

Hmm. Sounds like the guys I’ve spent the greater part of my twenties dating.

Pick up your copy of “I Hope They Serve Beer” today at Barnes and Noble, Amazon.com, or Borders, and give the men in your life another book to read, which no doubt will be sitting next to the Maxim and Playboys next to his toilet.

Girl on Top

"In the fantasy of fashion, we want what's unattainable (both the body and the bag). In the world of career, it's all about supply and demand."
– Nicole Williams

For an entire week, I toted around this book in my purse, and every man who saw it would do a double take, because of the title. "Keep on staring, dude, the book is about conquering the work world, not your bedroom," I told one over-eager onlooker.

Still, one can't help but be attracted to the catchy title, and the way career expert Nicole Williams breaks down the world of work for women using classic dating advice straight out of dating how-to books like "The Rules." Think of this as your modern day "Rules," except, it applies to your career.

Since we spend nearly 70% (if not more) of our lives at work, ladies, it would benefit all of us if we start applying more attention to our professional lives as we do our personal lives. So many of us waste valuable time because we're unsure of how to get ahead, make that money, and use our talent to get what we want--but Nicole gives women so many pointers, advice, and wisdom that by the time you're done reading this handy-dandy little guide, you'll want to call her up and buy her a few rounds of cocktails. (And have her proofread your resume.)

Quit dropping dollars on shoes you'll only wear for one season and march your butt down to Barnes & Noble, where you can pick up a copy of Girl on Top today. Buy one for your BFF, too. She needs to think about her paychecks more than that guy she met on Facebook.

The Trump Card

While on medical leave, I had loads of time to read, so I devoured several books during this time off. Of course, I'm probably not the best literary critic in the world, only because I was drugged up on cocktails of morphine, Vicodin, and Oxycontin. (All you pill poppers, please refrain from calling me and trying to hit me up for drugs. If you know me well enough to ask me for prescription pain pills, you should know me well enough to know I polished off those bottles all by my damn self.)

Nevertheless, I did read several motivational books, and one book was Ivanka Trump's book, "The Trump Card." While Ivanka clearly has had many advantages those of us normal people haven't had, she does have some pretty insightful business and work advice to offer to those of us who didn't attend Wharton Business School, and those of us who will likely never golf at Mar-A-Lago.

The Donald's little princess just got married, as well, and she's designed her own jewelry collection. This girl had a stellar year. My past year, in review, was pretty shitty. I figure I have everything to learn from the Trumps about making money and somehow bailing your ass out of debt, considering Donald nearly filed for bankruptcy on several occassions.

Pick up your own copy of Ivanka's book today at Barnes and Noble stores everywhere, and get advice on taking your career, business, or personal life to the next level.

You Want This

It is rather cliche to even say this, but we all know that sex sells. There's no bones about it. (No pun intended.) Give a consumer the option to buy something boring and predictable, or the chance to buy something new and fresh with a touch of sex appeal in the packaging or the title, and they are all over it like condoms on a frat boy.

Here is a transcript of a text-message convo I had with a friend of mine, who is very, very much a straight man, single, good-looking, mid-twenties:

ME: I hope that you didn't get offended last night by what I said.
HIM: Me? Offended? Do you realize who are you talking to?
ME: I know, but sometimes, people get offended by my vulgarity, and I know my mind is in the gutter sometimes.
HIM: Mine stays there.

I often have to check myself when I'm talking with my guy friends. Having grown up around a lot of boys in my family, at home, I became accustomed to hearing them talk, and having mostly guy friends doesn't help improve my language, humor, or my ability to quit telling dirty jokes. (Something I consider a hobby. Hey, your nerdy ass collects stamps or postcards, I tell dirty jokes. It's all relative.)

One thing you have to realize about hanging with the boys is, you could be talking about the NBA, hell, you could be talking about nuclear physics, and somehow or another, the conversation will always inevitably shift to sex. Men usually find a way to incorporate a sexual innuendo into just about everything they say. Women usually say this is what makes them superior to men. If this is the case, none of those women would ever want to hang out with me.

Regardless of what people believe about sexual innuendo, sexy advertising or appealing to people's sexual appetites, whether through photos or phrases or my jokes, I found this book eye-catching immediately when I saw it featured on Amazon.com. I already know stylist Eric Daman's new book, "You Know You Want It" is going to be on my must-have list. Eric Daman is the same guy who is the costume designer for Gossip Girl (LOVE IT!)and he is so gifted, it's ridiculous. The book includes a forward by Leighton Meester, a.k.a. Blair Waldorf on Gossip Girl. After I read "You Know You Want It," I'm sure I'll rave about it, because I'm a fan of all things fashion, but I believe I will love purchasing it just as much because of the uber-catchy cover. Seriously, how sexy is that title?

I mean, has Eric Daman been following me around to bars, or monitoring my text messages or drunk dial conversations for the past 10 years? Because the title? Sounds like something my crazy ass would say, after, say, 5 or 6 cocktails.

I know I want it (take that as you will) but when it comes to this book, I'll be picking it up at Barnes and Noble.

And if you're one lucky guy...meet me in the stacks at Barnes & Noble.

How hot is that?
You know you want it.

xoxo,
LC

LC's Book of the Week

LC's Book of the Week Pick is definitely Sue Monk Kidd & Ann Kidd Taylor's book, "Traveling With Pomegranates." Not only is it beautifully written, it chronicles the trips of a mother and daughter, and the way they evolve and change as women. Their relationship with each other is strengthened through the book, as they grow closer, and as years and different events bring them together.

The past week, I've realized how close I am to my Mom, now, and how much closer we've become since she could have lost me last week...knowing that, maybe gives me some sense of mortality, and how fragile life can be...and how blessed I am that I have a mother who loves me and wants to take care of me unconditionally.

I watched Steel Magnolias today, and all I could think was how much Sally Field's character reminds me of my own mother. Resilient, caring, devoted, loyal, and willing to fight for her children no matter the situation.

Thank God for Mothers.

To buy "Traveling With Pomegranates," visit Barnes and Noble, Borders, or www.bn.com. or your local bookseller today. It's definitely a must-read. Buy a copy for your Mom, too. It would be the perfect gift to place underneath the Christmas tree...and we all know that's coming up, right around the corner.

Happens Every Day: LC's Must-Read Book of the Week

I love memoirs. Perhaps it’s because I’m a storyteller; as a writer, it’s second nature to explain a personal experience to someone as though I’m writing my own memoir. Somehow, telling people the bullshit that I’ve been through seems to help them through difficult times and gain some clarity they didn’t have before.

This is by far one of the most incredible memoirs I’ve ever read. Isabel Gilles’ voice in the book shines through; you can tell she is a novice at the whole writing thing, but it’s that voice—a real, true voice of a woman who survived the worst possible heartache—that makes even the biggest cynic empathize with her.

When her husband gets a new job in a small town in the Midwest as a professor at a university, Isabel is forced to move her two young sons and become a stay-at-home Mom. When he begins coming home a little later, she realizes he is having an affair with the woman who just started working in his department, and they finally decide to be together, despite much begging and pleading from Isabel. There is a scene in the book where she suspects the woman, who she befriended, was having an affair with her husband, and when she talks about infidelity while they are in a movie theatre together, her husband’s mistress turns to her and says, “It happens every day.”

When I read this book for the first time in the summer, it hit close to home for a few reasons, personal reasons…and flashbacks of the times I’ve been hurt and felt broken flooded back. When I was staying with Auntie Gloria in Las Cruces, New Mexico in summer this past year, she let me (as usual) stay in her bedroom, and as I laid in that big bed at night and read most of the book, I found myself in a little ball, crying as I read the last part of the memoir. It was so real and so heartfelt, it pulled at my heartstrings in a way a memoir ideally should.

Pick up a copy for yourself at your local library if you’re a recessionista, or if you’re the type who likes to add a new and wonderful book to your bookshelf, visit your local Barnes and Noble, or www.bn.com, or Borders Books and Music today. Everyone has a story, and this one desperately needed to be told.

The Divorcee Diva's Survival Guide

It is with great pride, that I, LC, announce to the world that as of next Fall, I will be going back to ASU once again. This time, I will be in pursuit of a 2nd Masters/Doctorate (Ph.D.).

What am I studying?

Marriage and Family Therapy.

A Brief, Unedited Transcript of a Conversation I Had With An Old Friend:

ME (LC): "I'm going to be a therapist!"
OF (Old Friend): "Like a massage therapist?"
LC: "What the f**k? You think I'm not smart, or what?"
OF: "Well when you put it that way, not particularly, but tell me more..."
LC: "I want to study marriage and family therapy, but I want to be a sex therapist."
OF: "Some would argue that massage therapists are sex therapists."
LC: "I'm not talking about happy endings, jackass. I'm talking about helping people sort through their problems, personally, emotionally, in relationships...this is going to be so awesome!"
OF: "Just don't tell them that you once went to a therapist in high school, that might not go over so well."
LC: "I survived on cans of Diet Coke and saltine crackers for months on end. I was a Mexican Mary Kate Olsen, I didn't go because I had relationship issues."
OF: "Just remember, 50% of marriages end in divorce."
LC: "So what are you saying? I'm going to be a failure? That this is pointless?"
OF: "No. I'm saying, it's been nice knowing you. You're going to be so busy solving everyone else's problems and failed relationships, I will not see you for the next 40 years."

I don't claim to have all the answers. I do, however, know that breakups are hard, no matter your age, or how serious the relationship may have been. They're hard for men, they're hard for women, and goddamn it, they're hard for all of us who have to hear you bitch about them.

In an attempt to soothe the broken hearts of fabulous women everywhere, this book "This Little Piggy Got Divorced" is a fantastic purchase for that girlfriend of yours who is still singing "I Will Survive" by Gloria Gaynor in the shower and crying in your box of Entemann's Lemon Strudel at your kitchen table. Pick up a copy today at Barnes and Noble, www.bn.com, or Amazon.com, and give it to her in a nice basket, with some bubble bath and a bottle of Chardonnay. She will thank you later. So will your other friends, to whom she is spending her waking hours bitching about love gone bad.

And check back with me in 2 years when I'm a licensed therapist. I will need all the business I can get, to pay back the hefty student loans I'll have to take out to pay for this education.

'Cause I Love Your Style...

Call me a sucker for a great book about fashion, but I am currently infatuated with this book I purchased at Papyrus, where I buy my stationary, wrapping paper and greeting cards--it was admittedly an impulse purchase because it was positioned close to the cash wrap, caught my attention, and immediately was picked up and added to my bill. "This looks like the type of book you'd enjoy," the pleasant woman who was ringing up my purchase told me. As though women who wear Tiffany bracelets, 5 diamond rings, Movados and platform Jimmy Choo heels do not read books about politics or foreign affairs (the irony is, I actually do. I may be obsessed with shopping and fashion, and I may be the best dressed chick on the block, but I also have a passion for politics & plenty of opinions on issues that have nothing to do with shoes and designer labels.)

One look at my eclectic bookshelf, however, and you will notice that my passion for fashion runs deep and that I am inspired by fellow writers who feel inclined to share that love with the world. Amanda Brooks' smart little collection "I Love Your Style" not only gives readers the chance to explore photos from throughout history, it is informative and inspiring, and made me want to run to my closet and take an inventory of new options and ideas for putting myself together from head to toe.

I believe you can be smart and chic, and sometimes, they go hand in hand.
When it comes to THIS girl, they will ALWAYS go hand in hand...and are two parts to one very fashionable identity.

That's just me.

Purchase your copy today at Barnes and Noble or Borders Books & Music, or your favorite bookstore.

The Sartorialist & Caffeine: A Fashionista's Tribute to The Good Stuff

Oh, if I had no discipline...I would probably wake up in the morning, have a huge cup of coffee (venti, black, please) and sit at the kitchen table (or in bed) with my laptop and search the world wide web for every fashion blog known to man. I would look at the beautiful photos my fellow bloggers have taken (as I always draw inspiration from photography) and I'd read fitness blogs to get more inspiration for the workout I would have to do after sitting on my ass reading blogs.

One of my favorite blogs is The Sartorialist, and you can read/view for yourself at: www.sartorialist.com, but now, you can also purchase this amazing book, which your friends will be quick to grab off your coffee table when they come over to visit, and ooh and ahh as they leaf through the pages. You can purchase it at www.barnesandnoble.com as well or www.borders.com.

So give your laptop a vacation for a bit, invite your fashion loving co-consipirators over for their caffeine jolt, and start getting inspired by this great book.

Style by the Mile

One of my dreams in life is to find a way to mesh my love of writing and my love of fashion into one job that will be lucrative enough to support myself and my lifestyle. That being said, I love any books that have anything to do with fashion, whether it’s about a designer, a photography book, or a book with hints and suggestions about makeup, beauty, or fashion. I have a floor to ceiling shelf filled with books like this; some of those books have been read and re-read over and over again.

That being said, I have loved Nina Garcia even before she was on Project Runway, and even before her days at Marie Claire. I recognized Nina and her sense of style and innate gift for putting together exquisite looks for the pages of Elle. One look at Nina, and how could you not want to be her? Or at least have her career. I remember buying her book, Little Black Book of Style, and reading it over and over again on a flight back to Phoenix when it first came out. I bought her second book, The 100, and now, was overjoyed to pick up a copy of the last book she has written, which could not have been published and released at a more appropriate time.

Style Strategy is a great guidebook that will help anyone, even fashion know-it-alls, reassess what’s in their closets and what to add; it not only is realistic and accessible, it’s also got an introduction that will make anybody stop and reflect on their fashion hits or misses, and know that it’s not about how much money you have; it’s about how you rock the look.

Money can’t buy style, but if you budget accordingly, you can get the most bang for your buck. Let Nina show you how. Pick up your copy at Barnes and Noble or Amazon.com today.

The Three W's

My Must-Have book of the moment is, hands down, Who What Wear, by the same founders of the popular style and fashion blog, Who What Wear. (www.whowhatwear.com) If you’ve never visited the website, whose founders are particularly stylish and chic women, now is the time, my friends. Think Rachel Bilson, Nicole Richie, Kate Moss, all congregating around a laptop, researching the latest and greatest and creating a virtual look book of fantastic ensembles that will surely garner second looks. The book has vivid illustrations, helpful hints and suggestions, and interesting information about designers, dossiers, and couture. For the true fashionista, this is a have-to-get on your next trip to Barnes and Noble, or while perusing Amazon.com, as I frequently find myself doing these days.