He must've liked it...

Because I surely gotta ring on it! 

So for those of you who know me personally, you know that Lefty and I have been engaged for a couple months at this point, but for my, few and far between, loyal, anonymous followers....TADA!!!  I'M ENGAGED! =)

It's taken me a while to post our engagement story for many reasons - the main one being fear that I won't do our story justice.  Just for tonight, I'll throw caution to the wind and finally share the moment that has made May 26th the best day of my life - to date. =)

For friends and blogosphere followers, you'll recall that I met Lefty in Vegas in December of last year and hit the jackpot when we learned that we would be in the same city (Los Angeles) for the remaining days before my return to Florida.  Our first date was Monday, 12/19 and Lefty pulled out all the stops.  He took me to Santa Monica Pier, a Thai restaurant, Westwood, a movie, UCLA's campus & arboretum, and a fantastic sushi restaurant.  A couple weeks after we moved me out to Anaheim we had casually thrown around the idea of recreating our first date.  A month or two came and went as we couldn't find a full day to set aside for this adventure.  Now...we had already had plans to see Chicago at the Pantages theatre in Hollywood (yes, the one starring Christie Brinkley) as that was my V-day gift from Lefty.  The day before our artsy outing, he said, "Hey why don't we leave a little earlier and recreate our first date tomorrow?"  So we did.  We walked around Santa Monica Pier, sat and people watched, ate at Latitude Thai again, and then ventured off to Westwood and UCLA.  Lefty immediately found the arboretum and botanical gardens and we walked around for a bit, soaking in the beauty.  After a while we stumbled upon the bench where we sat and shared our first kiss that day.  We decided to sit and turtle watch for a bit there when Lefty asked me to put his keys in my purse.  I thought it to be a little weird since he had been holding them the whole time, but I figured that guys are just weird sometimes.  When I turned back around he said, "So.  I love you."  I knew then that he was either going to dump me or propose.  Much to my relief he was down on one knee, before I could think another thought, asking me to marry him.  Yes...I cried.  And cried.  And cried.  We hugged and I was speechless, which most of you know is super uncharacteristic of me.  Eventually, he asked for clarification that my tears were a yes and it was official...we were engaged.  =)

The day didn't end there, but I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that the proposal was the highlight of that particular day.  We're getting married this year on December 16th (the date we met) and we couldn't be more excited.  Plans are underway and we're counting down the days.

On The Other Hand....

...I did REALLY enjoy Are You There Vodka?  It's me, Chelsea, by Chelsea Handler - also a New York Times Bestseller.  Some of you may know Ms. Handler from her late night talk show, Chelsea Lately, on E.  I don't, but I'm tempted to start watching it knowing now how funny, intelligent, and candid she is.  The book contains a selection of memories of her life from when she was a young girl to her current age and fame.  It's got everything!  Misadventures in babysitting, real estate, midgets, boyfriends with stupid hair, and even some fitness!

It's a super easy read that will have you looking a fool.  I was laughing out loud to myself while flying back to CA from Cancun.  (I'm sure everyone thought I had a particularly fortunate form of Tourette's.)

Anyway, use your judgement, but this book gets two big thumbs up from me.  Enjoy!

50 Shades of Blegh

At the risk of pissing off my female readers I'm going to use this opportunity to bash the erotic novel of the moment: Fifty Shades of Grey.  I picked up this New York Times Bestseller from my local (online) Barnes and Nobles after hearing a raving testimonial from my little sister.  My sister started reading the 50 shades trilogy after hearing about it nonstop at work and learning that my mom really liked it. After this, I was sold...  My mom doesn't read a ton of books so for her to complete a book and move on to the sequel really speaks to it's quality. 

264 pages in....  I'm not sure that I'll be able to look any woman in the eye again...ever.  This book is S&M porn...straight up.  I have no moral objection to a woman enjoying her right to be spanked or clamp a man's nipples, but I'll admit - it's not for me.  Now, I could enjoy a good story line and around page 80 or so it did seem like one was certain to develop, so I was willing to draw my attention away from the porn.  I not only wanted to see where it went, but also I DETEST not finishing a novel.  Years ago, I read The Divine Secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood and I never quite got into it, but I'll tell you what....I plugged through that book and about a year and a half later, I was finally finished.  No matter how long it takes and how much it bores me, I will finish the book 99% of the time.

Not so with 50 shades.  I was able to put the sex aside to continue reading, but I was not able to get past the following.

• Anastasia Steele (the protagonist) constantly refers to her sex drive as her inner Goddess.  It was clever (ish) for maybe the first, I don't know, 37 times she referred to her Goddess, but somewhere along the line, I got sick of her saying that her Inner Goddess was beaming, shaking it's little finger, or pouting.  Nice idea, E.L. James, but you need to trust your reader to remember that Ana has an inner Goddess and let it the frick go.  Too much.  

• Christian Grey (the billionaire and S&M addict) springs into phallic action at the very idea of Anastasia biting her bottom lip.  Two things, (1) same as my first complaint....repeated about 20 too many times (only in the first half of the book) and (2)  what man (especially one as experienced) as Mr. Grey can't control himself at such a common facial expression?  

• Ana Steele's first sexual partner was Christian Grey and from the very beginning of their sexual history, she experiences multiple orgasms with every single encounter.  This is just not realistic.  I think that this is irresponsible writing as it's going to set up America's pre-teen population (yes...they're reading this) for disappointment in their future love life.  

• The S&M I'm not going to harp on too much, because, you know...to each his own.  Again, not my thing, but what do I care if all of America secretly wants to be fisted in every oriface? 

To conclude, 50 Shades has accomplished the once impossible achievement of being the 1st book that I was entirely unable to complete.  I know that many women like it and good for them...and E.L. James' retirement home.    I do encourage everyone to do a little research on the book first to make sure it's for them before they spend their money on this book.

That's it. All done.  I feel a bit better now.  For those of you who missed this little gem, courtesy of SNL and of course daily motion:  http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xqmofb_saturday-night-live-fifty-shades-of-grey_shortfilms