Have you been watching "The Good Wife" ??

I've been watching a new show on Global this season and I think I'm in love.


"The Good Wife" airs on Tuesday nights at 10pm (for all those Canadian readers) and features Juliana Margulies (from ER), Chris Noth (from Sex & The City) and Matt Czuchry (from Gilmore Girls). The premise is that Juliana's character, Alicia, gave up her career as a lawyer to be the faithful wife of Chris' character, Peter who was an Attorney General until he was found taking part in a lurid affair with a young stripper. When Peter gets sent to jail for his use of government money to pay for the stripper, Alicia needs to find her way back into practicing law and "The Good Wife" focuses on the cases that Alicia works on while working at a Junior Associate in a successful law firm.


Each week, the case is different, which means I don't get the chance to get bored with a bunch of supporting characters. The show has only been on for 6 episodes, but I'm already pulling for the main characters and hoping that they all get the chance to get their lives
back on track.

Altogether, I'm impressed by how smart this show is without being overtly sexy (like Grey's Anatomy) or too heartless. If you like a show that focuses on characters and encourages you to think... tune in to Global on Tuesday night (if you are Canadian... if not, apparantly CBS is airing the show) and check it out (here's to hoping one of my new favorites doesn't get cancelled...

Book Reactions: Chasing Harry Winston - 2/5 stars

"Chasing Harry Winston" by Lauren Weisberger was chick lit #2 of 2009.

I picked up this book at the library because I am a huge fan of "The Devil Wears Prada" as a movie, so I figured I'd love this book too... but no, not so much. This book follows the life of 3 best girlfriends as they make a one year commitment to each other, one makes the plan to have a year of" fun", hooking up with as many guys as possible, while another plans to stop sleeping around and instead settle down and potentially find herself a husband. I felt that the writing of this book was a bit crazed as the story jumped from girl to girl a lot. As a result, it felt like I never got to know either of the characters well. So, when the book was over, even though I didn't really like it, I still wanted more story about the characters. Basically, it wasn't a total waste of time, but it would have been much more enjoyable on a beach in Mexico with a lemonade instead on in my fleecy pjs while a blizzard raged outside (I read it in February...).

** Its Thanksgiving weekend around here so I'll be spending the rest of my day getting the house in shape for our 9 visitors that are coming tomorrow for turkey! Off to vacuum :)

Book Reactions: Confessions of a Shopoholic - 3/5 stars

About a week after finishing "Down Came the Rain" I was shopping at Costco and happened upon "Confessions of a Shopoholic" by Sophie Kinsella for a whopping $5!


Since the book was about to make its appearance in theatres, I figured it might be a fun read. And it certainly was a fun one to read! I never got into the Shopoholic series when it was popular for the first time, and since reading this book I can understand why it didn't appeal to me 4 - 5 years ago. See, at that point, I was in my first/second year of university and I was so busy trying to be an academic that I didn't think I had time for a 'fluffy' read. These days though, I'm so tired of academic reading that a chick lit book is right up my alley (and this will become painfully evident as I post more reviews). I read this book in a weekend and it was an enjoyable way to spend a couple cold January evenings.

As the title suggests, the main character, Becky Bloomwood, has a seriously spending problem. Her credit cards are maxed, she makes up lies to tell her family and friends about why bill collectors are following her but yet she still can't see to walk by a store window without walking inside and buying something. Long story short, she's a little shallow about the importance of image and it gets her in trouble - until it doesn't and instead it leads her to a pretty amazing and understanding guy.

While it wasn't the best book I've read this year, I've got to honestly admit, I've already read two more Sophie Kinsella books :) The sad part is, they are all the same - an attractive young girl is messed up for some reason, she has a crisis and in the process winds up with the perfect guy and the perfect life... The stuff that makes chick lit and beach reads fun!


** Ok, so I missed yesterday because my computer wouldn't open webpages for some reason. Stay tuned though, tomorrow I'm planning to write about "Chasing Harry Winston" the last chick lit book before I sent out my Reading Resolution email....

Dreaming of a White Kitchen...

This is what my kitchen looks like now (ok, not quite this dark but the picture is a pretty tidy version of what my kitchen looks like right this second...)


This is what I am dreaming that my kitchen looked like...



Lucas is all ready to sign up for a butcherblock countertop, in fact he is hoping to make it himself out of walnut, but he thinks it'll look fine against our golden oak cabinets... me, not so much. I think we should paint the cabinets a light grey-white, which would look sooo much better against a dark wood countertop. Who's with me?

Heather's Pick: Summer Sisters - 4/5 stars

Yesterday I wrote about the first book that I read this year. Today I'm writing about the most recent book that I finished, Summer Sisters by Judy Blume.

Honestly, this was one of the books that was recommended to me that I was most interested in reading. In my friend Heather's description of the book, she said that she had read it several times and that it was one of those books that every female should read at some point in her life. So, about 2 months into my reading adventure I put my name on a waiting list at the library for this book. Unfortunately though, for one reason or another, I never got my hands on a copy until I was shopping at Goodwill 2 weeks ago and found a hardcover copy for sale for only $2.99! Obviously I bought it right away and started it that night :)

"Summer Sisters" follows the story of 2 young girls as they make their way through the trials of growing up. They spend their summers with one of the girl's fathers on Martha's Vineyard and its their that they learn about what masquerades as love, what true love looks like and how horrible it feels for friendships to grow apart. So many characters in this book resonated with me. In fact, I think I identified with every female in the book at one point or another. "Summer Sisters" was enjoyable to read and while didn't evoke emotion in me like some of the other books I've read this year, its certainly one that I'd recommend to just about anyone!

See you tomorrow with a review of "Confessions of a Shopoholic" :)

Book Reactions: Down Came the Rain - 3/5 stars

The first book of 2009 that I read was an autobiography by Brooke Shields called "Down Came the Rain"



I had this book on my 2008 Christmas list and was lucky enough that my husband gifted me with the book over the holidays. Given the graduate degree that I am working towards in Psychology - and my general interest in mental health, I was drawn to the book because its Brooke's account of her personal struggle with Post-Partum depression. Add to that, at the time I was making my Christmas list, I was loving Brooke's show "Lipstick Jungle" (which has since been cancelled) so I was only further drawn toward all things Brooke Shields.

I started reading "Down Came the Rain" very early in the new year and finished it within about 2 weeks. Considering that the book isn't very long, 2 weeks to read it is quite some time for me. My slowness was probably due to the fact that the book was a really heavy read! That being said, the book was enlightening about the realities of post-partum mental health issues. I'd definitely recommend the book for anyone wanting more insight into the real symptoms of post-partum depression or for anyone looking to just learn more about Brooke Shields. But, remember, the realities of what Brooke writes about in her book are hard to read, and hard to understand so try to read it with an open mind.

... WooHoo - First book post since my re-commitment... one down, about 15 to go :)

Long Time... No "See"...

Alrighty... Its been months since I last showed my face around these parts and I think I'm ready to recommit. We certainly didn't have much of a summer around Southern Ontario but nevertheless I didn't find myself cozying up to the computer very often so keeping up with posting about my reading adventure didn't exactly happen. But, its October now, and the cool winds and down-right cold temperatures have me turning back to the blog-o-sphere.

So, to mark my re-entrance into blog-land, I'm going to write a review daily of one of the books that I've read this year. Many of the reviews will be of books that friends have recommended but some will also be of books that I just happened to pick up at the library because they had a pretty cover... While I'd love to say that I'm going to get back into blogging because it makes me more fulfilled (or something like that), the truth is that I've read a bunch of books this year and I want to document it somehow. I've kept a list of books that I've read on my iPhone but I want to also include some of my thoughts on the books so that at the end of the year I can really reflect on how my reading resolution went.

So, stay tuned for Daily Post #1 coming up tomorrow...