“Mad Men” starts up again on Sunday!! This first episode is gonna be two hours! It’s like 60 degrees here and sunny! By Tuesday it’s supposed to be close to 70! I took Jackson to Manhattan this morning to visit Drew at work, take a walk through Central Park, and have lunch with a friend! ZOU BISOU BISOU, life is good.
P.S. I need book recommendations, please. This one is getting lots of buzz. Has anyone read it yet? Any others I should consider?
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GatorGirl April 5, 2013, 4:11 pm
Love Mad Men! We have to catch up from last season, we have the last two episodes left to watch Saturday probably before the 2 hour premire on Sunday. We’ll probably make old school cocktails too, yum!!
I’m having a shitty week otherwise. It’s been raining like all week and my boss is being an ass. Since I work from home, 900 miles away, resolving issues is often difficult. We rely heavily on e-mail and we all know e-mails can be taken wrong! Also, we just found out just about every hotel with in 30 minutes of our wedding site is booked full for our wedding weekend. So the guests who haven’t booked yet are kinda shit out of luck (and about 60% of our guest list is from out of state). It’s incredibly irritating.
On a positive note, the damn invitations are so so so close to being done. I need to work on them right now actually. They are going in the mail tomorrow morning!
bethany April 5, 2013, 4:27 pm
I have room for 1 couple at my house! That’s so crazy that all the hotels are booked- What else is going on that weekend?
GatorGirl April 5, 2013, 5:38 pm
Some damn soccer tournament in Downingtown. Like 800 teams. Thank you for the offer- most of the people left to book are his friends, and I don’t know that you want that craziness in your house!
theattack April 5, 2013, 4:27 pm
That sucks about the hotels… Hopefully there will be some place just over 30 minutes away with openings. I just found out yesterday that the town I’m getting married in has prom on my wedding day, so I can’t find a hair stylist close by. And good luck on your invitations! You’ll feel really good getting those out. 🙂 I hope you have better luck with RSVPs than I’m having though. About 70% of the people we invited neglected to send in their RSVPs by the deadline, so I literally have to call or email about 150 people this next week. And the people who have sent in RSVPs have neglected to note whether or not they’re bringing their guest, so I’ve been asking people who I know are in LTRs, and the responses I’m getting are ridiculous. “Oh, he won’t know until a couple of days before if he can come or not.” And I guess we’re supposed to buy dinner for them and drag chairs around for them to show up if they feel like it.
lets_be_honest April 5, 2013, 4:31 pm
You really should tell those people that you need an answer by the rsvp date…that’s already passed.
theattack April 5, 2013, 4:39 pm
I have. So that they’re aware there’s an actual reason I need it, I’ve been framing it like “Hey Rachel, I saw that you didn’t put Ross on your reply card and just wanted to check if he’s coming or not. I just need to know so that I can make sure I buy the right amount of food.” They just don’t get it, and I’m kind of appalled by how rude people are being with these things.
I joked last night that if we were rude people, I would want to only give food to the people who bothered to RSVP on time, and everyone else just got water. I would never do that, but it’s tempting.
lets_be_honest April 5, 2013, 4:42 pm
Its sooo tempting! I almost suggested that.
bethany April 5, 2013, 4:42 pm
How fucking rude can people be?!
I guess the one thing that didn’t go wrong with my wedding was the RSVPs. They all came in on time.
theattack April 5, 2013, 4:47 pm
Every one of them?! That’s incredible. I knew we would be tracking people down, but I never would have dreamed it would be this bad. We’ve also gotten the excuse that they didn’t understand how to fill it out because it has “M__________________” to put the name. What is that? You couldn’t bother to ask, or just write something indicating whether or not you’re coming? I’ve also heard “Oh, you know I’m coming though” from people who I really never would have been able to guess.
bethany April 5, 2013, 4:50 pm
Every single one. But, that was literally the only part of my wedding that went off without a problem, so dont’ be jealous!
GatorGirl April 5, 2013, 6:15 pm
I’m dreading the “oh well you know I’m coming” line. And tracking people down. Ugh, like all of the people who didn’t RSVP for my shower. Annoying.
Taylor April 5, 2013, 4:55 pm
We had a friend of my Mom’s rsvp for herself (invited) and then her son and his wife (who I had never met), lots of late answers (there was a correlation between having a higher degree and either not rsvp’ing or doing so late) and one cousin who called my husbands mother to rsvp (what, dropping the pre-stamped card in the mail was too much work?), and rsvped for 2, when he wasn’t given a guest. He then was late for the reception, and didn’t bring the guest. He then proceeded to pick up TWO girls at the hotel bar and bring them to the reception. When I oh so politely asked the girls to leave the reception, the invitee in question got all belligerent and shouted at me and my new husband. At which point our friends stepped in and physically removed him. And his mom (my husband’s aunt) called my MIL the next day to tell her how we mistreated her son (wtf?). Apparently I still needed to vent about that on the interwebs. All in all, we had an awesome time at the wedding and the party =)
theattack April 5, 2013, 4:57 pm
Holy crap That’s insane! Have you guys been able to have a good relationship after that?
Taylor April 5, 2013, 5:14 pm
My husband’s mom and her sister worked things out between them. We didn’t have a relationship with the cousin before – I’d met him all of once, and he and my husband aren’t close. We haven’t seen him since, and probably won’t anytime soon. I was personally for clearing the air afterwards, but nobody on his side wanted to hash it out. The thing that led to him being removed was that he threatened to punch one of my friends in the face – the friend in question is in the secret service, and was being backed up by a cop and a football coach, so it all worked out =)
GatorGirl April 5, 2013, 6:18 pm
Haha, a friend in the secret service. We have one of those coming to our wedding too 🙂 I’m worried about my drunk uncle getting weird. And about my fiances friends getting tooooo drunk and like hitting on my little sister. Ugh it will be an interesting night.
kerrycontrary April 5, 2013, 4:16 pm
I mentioned this in the other thread, but I read Unorthodox and that was really good and enlightening, albeit a serious topic (non-fiction). I didn’t even know Mad Men started on Sunday, so thanks for letting me know, Wendy!
I’m going to the DC cherry blossoms tomorrow. Anyone who hasn’t been should go sometime. Pictures cannot do it justice. The amount of pink flowers is beautiful. Boyfriend and I are planning on doing a lunch picnic downtown and then maybe going to a bar/restaurant where we can sit outside and get drunk in the daytime, just because we can.
It feels like spring is finally beginning!
lets_be_honest April 5, 2013, 4:17 pm
If any of you are in NYC, there is an orchid show going on now.
Picnic sounds nice. So, so glad spring has sprung.
GatorGirl April 5, 2013, 4:18 pm
Horray day drinking!!
kerrycontrary April 5, 2013, 4:22 pm
Love day drinking. Even more than night time drinking. I don’t do it enough at all. It always makes me feel like I’m breaking the rules, even though that’s silly.
CatsMeow April 5, 2013, 4:39 pm
Me too!!
CatsMeow April 5, 2013, 4:40 pm
Like, Oooh I’m such a rebel.
rachel April 5, 2013, 4:32 pm
I am SO jealous of cherry blossoms. It’s finally starting to get warm(er) in Milwaukee, but nothing is blooming yet. Day drinking is always better when you can do it outside! Have fun!
Christy April 5, 2013, 8:29 pm
Let me know how they’re doing! My dad’s going tomorrow.
lets_be_honest April 5, 2013, 4:16 pm
I keep hearing about that book too. I’ll have to give it a try. What’s everything think of the Lean In book? Anyone read it yet?
kerrycontrary April 5, 2013, 4:19 pm
I want to! I’ve watched her Ted Talk on the topic and I really enjoyed it. I think the media is making too big of a stink about it. When she verbally explained her ideas behind lean in I really appreciated it and I’ve seen women in my company put these tactics into action (before knowing about them). Like women who create positions for themselves where they are needed, or who work really hard right up until maternity leave so they have a job that they are passionate about and WANT to come back to.
lets_be_honest April 5, 2013, 4:24 pm
I kind of felt like the things (I assume!) she would be suggesting were obvious, however, I’ve thought that about a lot of things that I guess are not so obvious.
I was actually discussing this this morning with Peter and he raised a good point. Unfortunately, the people who those things are likely obvious to are people who are already doing ok and the ones who aren’t aware of those things are people who likely wouldn’t even hear about the book. So maybe all the hype is a good thing.
kerrycontrary April 5, 2013, 4:43 pm
Yeh a lot of her suggestions were NOT stuff I had thought about before. Plus, her whole point (at least as I’ve understood is) is to get more female executives. So her rules don’t need to apply to every working women, but working women who may have trouble “breaking the glass ceiling” could find her tips helpful.
lets_be_honest April 5, 2013, 4:44 pm
I’ll have to give it a read then. Thanks for convincing me 🙂
Fabelle April 5, 2013, 4:17 pm
It’s soooo nice here today & I have a horrible fucking cold 🙁 so I can’t totally enjoy it, but still. I thought of going home early, but I decided not to. Also, some girl I knew in high school just walked out of my building (guess I missed her walk in?) from an interview & we exchanged pleasantries, & now I’m sitting here ruminating over how I probably didn’t look happy enough to see her (& I was! and happy that she seemed happy to see me, & she was a cool person, and all), or that I looked like a crackhead (my nose is running nonstop).
Does anyone else mull over social interactions like this?? I don’t do it all the time, but when I do, it sucks.
Anyway, I’ve been so off my reading game. The last thing I read was some terribly-plotted thriller than my mom passed off to me.
Fabelle April 5, 2013, 4:19 pm
ALSO (sorry to vent & be weird) now I’m thinking if she doesn’t get the job, she’ll assume I said something bad about her? Is this some form of anxiety, or what?
GatorGirl April 5, 2013, 4:22 pm
I mull over random run-ins. I’m incredibly socially awkwards so they usually go bad. I doubt she would think you had any say in her job though.That seems a little crazy to me.
I often say really random or innappropraite things. Ugh, now I don’t want to go to the mall for fear I’ll run into someone and make an ass of myself!
Fabelle April 5, 2013, 4:28 pm
Okay thanks, I kind of needed to hear that THAT part, at least, was kinda crazy 🙂
lets_be_honest April 5, 2013, 4:26 pm
Send her a facebook message. Problem solved 🙂
lets_be_honest April 5, 2013, 4:26 pm
Oh, I see kerry already suggested that.
kerrycontrary April 5, 2013, 4:24 pm
I get stupid thoughts over social interactions like this. Or heck, something weird I say every day. Maybe friend her/message her on FB and say “hey it was great running into you today! Sorry if I looked down and out I have a cold. Hope to be seeing you around the office”
Fabelle April 5, 2013, 4:30 pm
I thought of doing that, but then wondered if that’d be weird? But if you ~and~ LBH are both suggesting it, that’s all I need to hear! haha
I usually avoid people, so this kind of thing doesn’t come up all too often, & I’m being all spazzy about it.
painted_lady April 5, 2013, 7:17 pm
Constantly. I do this constantly. And most of it involves beating myself up.
bethany April 5, 2013, 4:25 pm
A while ago when an LW had a special needs child, someone brought up Kelle Hampton’s blog- Enjoying the Small Things, which I became obsessed with.
Her book was awesome. It was about her journey through her first year as a parent to a daughter with Down Syndrome. I highly recommend it.
http://www.amazon.com/Bloom-Finding-Beauty-Unexpected—Memoir/dp/0062045040/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1365193403&sr=1-1&keywords=bloom+kelle+hampton
CatsMeow April 5, 2013, 4:38 pm
I’m still catching up on last season of Mad Men.
I haven’t read anything other than a textbook lately, but if I ever get the time, I’d like to read What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty and/or What the Dead Know by Laura Lippman, as well as the new one, Gulp, by Mary Roach. I love Mary Roach.
Taylor April 5, 2013, 5:01 pm
SO EXCITED about Mad Men! Who wants to make predictions for the season? For the historical/political stuff, I think:
– MLK assassination in episode 3 (+/- 1)
– RFK assassination in episode 5 (+/- 1)
And for the reintroduction of a character – Sal! Right?! Lucky Strike is out, it’s been a couple years, it’s time to see him again.
Wendy April 5, 2013, 7:02 pm
Yay Sal!
bcamber April 5, 2013, 4:14 pm
Secret Daughter by Shilpi Somaya Gowda!
TaraMonster April 5, 2013, 4:44 pm
Hi everyone! My job laid a bunch of people off this week- including me.
This should bother me, but notsomuch because I was starting to hate my job and I have a plan B: move to a cheaper apartment, bartend, grad school, leave the country (not in that order). This has been just one crazy year for me. The only thing crazier that could happen is aliens arriving or the zombie apocolypse or cats start talking and take over the world (the most likely of these 3 scenarios IMO).
HAPPY FRIDAY.
lets_be_honest April 5, 2013, 4:47 pm
Whoa! Well, happy Friday Tara!
theattack April 5, 2013, 4:49 pm
It sounds like it’s time for an exciting new adventure for you, TaraMonster! Sorry for your job loss, but you will find something much more wonderful for you soon.
Fabelle April 5, 2013, 4:53 pm
AHH! I’m sorry, but…not sorry, since the job was being shitty to you, & it sounds like you got plans and are riding on a trail of energy right now 🙂
kerrycontrary April 5, 2013, 4:55 pm
Ugh, I’m sorry you got laid off, but I’m glad you have a positive attitude about it! You can look back on this time in your life as the year EVERYTHING changed. It’s really amazing how much can change in just a year. Let us know how things go!
CatsMeow April 5, 2013, 5:22 pm
Good luck!! I like your new life plan. 🙂
TaraMonster April 5, 2013, 5:28 pm
My next hour plan is: enormous margarita outside somewhere in this gorgeous weather NY is having.
CatsMeow April 5, 2013, 6:06 pm
Now THAT sounds awesome.
TaraMonster April 5, 2013, 5:12 pm
Thanks, everybody! I mean, I’m not THRILLED that I got laid off, but it’s certainly a nudge from the universe. That’s how I’m looking at it. 🙂
FireStar April 5, 2013, 6:26 pm
I’m going to say that sucks but congratulations on all the new exciting things to come. For me the things in life that felt disappointing at the time always led to an opportunity for greater happiness. I hope the same is true for you too!
LuckySeven April 6, 2013, 1:31 pm
Hey Tara, I don’t really know you, but I’m a fellow NYCer whose life imploded in 2012 and have come back on the other side. (I quit my job in the beginning of January 2012 to find a better one; left my boyfriend in April; towards the end of 2012, I moved to a studio on my own.) I was really, really scared though excited, and things are looking up now! I got a better job, was happily single starting in June and now am in a much better relationship, and love my studio after all!
Point is, you will get through it and feel much better on the other side. Plus, it’s gonna be 60 this weekend in NYC! Cheers to daydrinking and finally spring weather!
landygirl April 5, 2013, 6:07 pm
My MIL is reading “Unbroken” and really likes it.
http://www.amazon.com/Unbroken-World-Survival-Resilience-Redemption/dp/1400064163
MaterialsGirl April 5, 2013, 11:08 pm
Inread that book. Thought it was really good but you have to be prepared to read for a looooong time(nonfiction). Incredible story
CaseyRay01 April 5, 2013, 11:51 pm
Unbroken is amazing. I couldn’t put it down and got through it in 2 days! HIGHLY recommend. I’m big on nonfiction, though, but it read like a novel to me.
Christy April 5, 2013, 8:40 pm
Wendy, have you read The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood? It’s AMAZING. It’s also quite long, but there are short chapters, and you can easily put it down for a while and pick it back up. I put it down for a week and didn’t get too lost. It’s easily one of the best books I’ve read in the past five years.
From the review in Salon:
So begins the story of the Chase family, wealthy industrialists whose rise and fall reflects shifts in Canada’s ruling class over the last century. Iris and Laura are the pampered but isolated children of a button manufacturer. Unraveling why her sister drove off a bridge at 25, and why she is still consumed by guilt and bitterness half a century later, Iris pens this 521-page letter to her estranged granddaughter. Interspersed with Iris’ own words are newspaper clips and vignettes through which Atwood also lets the story unfold. A small-town newspaper reports on the annual button factory picnic, the last before the onset of the Depression and labor trouble; the Toronto Star society page notes Iris’ marriage to her father’s rival. A bleak honeymoon follows. More Chases are born; more Chases die.
Complementing the historical plotline of Iris and Laura’s coming-of-age between the world wars, Atwood braids in two other strands that keep her tale moving at a brisk clip. One is Laura’s posthumously published novel of dystopia, the futuristic story of a city’s demise at the hands of a blind assassin and his mute lover. This novel-within-a-novel picks up on the interplay between optimism and despair being dramatized politically on the streets of Canada during the Depression. The other is the story of Iris’ contemporary life, that of an elderly Canadian woman whose mundane treks to the converted “Button Factory Mall” and the donut shop mask her monumental struggle for independence and status in a suburban culture in which she’s deprived of both.
Lydia April 6, 2013, 5:07 am
Yes, I second this rec! I love Atwood in general but The Blind Assassin is really some of her best work.
I’d also recommend Michael Chabon’s The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay. It broke my heart in all the best ways.
quixoticbeatnik April 6, 2013, 6:24 pm
I just finished the Storyteller by Jodi Picoult! I LOVED it! I could not put it down. I was reading it while sitting in a bar, surrounded by people and noise, and I was totally engrossed. I actually like that kind of environment for reading. Plus, drinks while I’m reading = awesome. I also just read Wild by Cheryl Strayed (which you’ve all read already for Book Club) which I couldn’t put down either. It was so good! If you like historical fiction, I recommend the Historian (don’t remember the author) it is one of my favorite novels, ever. I want to read the Interestings, next, I think. It’s gotten good reviews. Life after Life (or something like that) is one that I would like to read next too. Right now I’m reading Nice Girls Don’t Get the Corner Office 101 and I like it so far. Good tips!
Question: has anyone taken Zoloft? My therapist just gave me a prescription for Zoloft (the smallest dosage, I’m supposed to increase it each week for a month) and it is making me SO sleepy! I mean, I don’t feel anxious, which is good, but I don’t like this sleepy feeling, which lasts all day. Is this something that is normal on Zoloft? This is my first time ever taking an anti-depressant, so I wasn’t sure what to expect….but I did think I would have more energy…
Amybelle April 8, 2013, 8:19 am
I’ve taken it in the past and it didn’t make me sleepy, try taking it in the evening or bedtime if have been taking it in the morning. It may get better as you adjust to it, if not maybe try Wellbutrin? that one helped me when the regular ssri’s like Zoloft and Lexapro didn’t, and it doesn’t have the drowsiness side effect
Addie Pray April 7, 2013, 9:36 am
Mad Men, Mad Men, Mad Men, Mad Men, Mad Men, Mad Men, Mad Men, Mad Men, Mad Men, Mad Men, Mad Men, Mad Men, Mad Men, Mad Men, Mad Men, Mad Men, Mad Men, Mad Men, Mad Men, Mad Men, Mad Men, Mad Men, Mad Men, Mad Men, Mad Men, Mad Men, Mad Men, Mad Men, Mad Men, Mad Men, Mad Men, Mad Men, Mad Men, Mad Men, Mad Men, Mad Men, Mad Men, Mad Men, Mad Men, Mad Men, Mad Men, Mad Men, Mad Men, Mad Men, Mad Men, Mad Men, Mad Men, Mad Men, Mad Men, Mad Men, Mad Men, Mad Men, Mad Men, Mad Men, Mad Men, Mad Men, Mad Men, Mad Men, Mad Men, Mad Men, Mad Men, Mad Men, Mad Men, Mad Men, Mad Men, Mad Men, Mad Men, Mad Men, …
T O D A Y !!!!!!!!!!!
Addie Pray April 7, 2013, 9:36 am
I’m so excited, I can’t breathe.
Taylor April 7, 2013, 2:20 pm
We re-watched the first 5 seasons over the last month =)
Saving the last 2 episodes for right before!!!
Amybelle April 8, 2013, 8:24 am
Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11925514-code-name-verity