Book Review: The Heart of the Matter

The first thing I want to say about Emily Giffin's books are that they definitely inspire me to write but yet I still can't pin down my exact opinion of them.

Let's start with the positive.

There is no doubt that Giffin is an amazing story teller. Despite my impression of the plot, characters, behaviours and so on, she keeps me enthralled from page one. Just like the last one I read, I could not put this book down. The writing is amazing, she knows just how to balance the right amount of character development and conversation so as not to make the book novel. She also keeps the right amount of action so that the reader is dying to know what will happen next. I have come to associate her books with good gossip. The kind that you really don't want to know about but you can't help but listen to.

Which brings me to the bad.

I just can't get over the subject matter of her novels. She seems to have such a pessissmistic attitude towards relationships. I have read two of her books so far and they are all about cheating husbands of wives. People who mkae bad or stupid decisions and then spend the rest of the plot piting themselves and trying to pass the blame. It's just not something I can relate to. Maybe is has to do with the current status of my relationship (reading these books while planning a wedding is kind of a downer) or the fact that I have strong opinions about cheating, feeling that there is no excuse, and it is unforgiveable. Either way, both books have really bothered me, and I found that I had a lot of trouble understanding the characters in them.

My Basic opinion of "Heart of the Matter" is that it is the kind of book that creates paranoid housewives, basically giving the insinuation that all men cheat. I was also really not impressed with the ending, but I won't give it away.

The bestest is a big fan of Giffin's novels, and has told me that I need to read the "something borrowed/something blue series." For those of you that have read them, are they anything like this one? Should I give them a try?

Wedding Wednesday: Father/Daughter Dance

Centerpiece update: There really isn't much to share here. We realized a few days after my first post, when Walmart still hadn't called me back that my sister's best friend works for head office. So I have her looking into it and am now just playing the very-frustrated-bride-patiently-waiting game.

I have been stressing for the last couple of months over the song for my father/daughter dance.

I should start by saying that my relationship with my dad is an interesting one. My mother tells me that we are exactly alike, both immensely stubborn and headstrong, which therefore causes us to clash on many things. Despite that I have been known to fight him to the death over the littlest things (stubborn...I can't help it) I am also a pretty big daddy's girl when it comes down to it. Like I said, interesting.

So, needless to say, I have been having a ridiculously hard time finding a song that I felt related to me and my father. I have listened to probably 50 songs and every single one would warrant the same reaction, it's nice, but I can find something better. So, finally, after weeks of frustration I decided to actually bring my father into it and give him a choice.....
.....now I have too many options and I can't choose.

My mom and I like this one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIBPC4YUUqY

- Steve Kirwan - My Little Girl
I have no clue how I actually found this song, I just found it in my music list, probably from one of my crazy downloads where I was downloading anything and everything that had to do with daughters. I played it for the first time with my mom and it brought us both to tears, and I still can't get through it. I think it's perfect. My dad.....not so much

He likes:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ab4VRWX8y1A

-Heartland - I loved her first
Don't get me wrong, this is a beautiful song, and I was considering it for a long time, but I get the feeling that it's a bit overdone....?

I also like

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KHAaRxyuQk

-Chuck Wicks - Stealing Cinderella
This one kind of goes with the whole princess themed wedding which mine is becoming. When I first heard it I was SURE it was the one, but now I just don't know

I also stumbled across this one a few months ago

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hq4W68_h6rw

-Taylor Swift - The Best Day
At first my mom wasn't too thrilled with this one, but she called me yesterday after listening to it again and told me that it made her cry and that she really thinks that it could also work. GRR. I think this one describes a father/daughter relationship perfectly, and it's different.

So now I'm totally lost. My dad and I will not give over on our choices, so one of us is just going to have to pick. And in case you haven't noticed...I'm horrible at making decisions.

So yeah, that's where we are. We went from zero songs, to four and are still no closer to making a decision.

What did you dance with your dad too? Are there any other ones that I should consider??

PS- I hope those youtube links actually work. Let me know if they don't

Day 30: A Dream for the Future

It's the last day! I may not have done 30 posts in 30 days, but I did manage to do them all which is an accomplishment.

Right now I have one dream for the future. To marry C, but a nice house somewhere in the country and start our family.

Day 29: Hopes, Dreams and Plans for the next 365 days

1) Graduate! - In September I will be entering my fourth and final year of English and Professional Writing at York University. I'm on mixed feelings when it comes to finally being done school, but I know one thing for sure, I am definitely done! I briefly kicked around the option of teachers college, but that is no longer in the cards for me. I've been in school long enough, I've spent enough money pursuing higher education if this can't help me find a career then I am not meant to have one.

2) Find a Job - This may be wishful thinking in today's economy, but I desperately want to work somewhere else. At this point I would be willing to become a garbage woman rather then continue at my crappy retail position which I have held for the past 7 years

3) Eat Better - I seriously need to crack down. I'm constantly just driving through somewhere because it's so much easier, but if I want to start looking for wedding dresses, I need to be at a weight I'm comfortable with. I also want to feel healthier and that is not going to happen with fires and burgers

4) Exercise - Same reasons as above

6) Cross some serious items off of the wedding list - Major things include photographer and DJ

7) Save money

That's all I can think of right now. 365 days from today I will be about 9 months away from my wedding day, so I'm sure my hopes, dreams and plans will have changed significantly. Maybe I will repost this again a year from now.

Day 28: What's in your handbag/purse

...This could be embarrassing. I joked with C yesterday that I was going to clean out my purse before I did this post. I tent to just throw things in there and forget about them, so who knows what we will find!

That is everything that is currently in my purse. I consists of:

*My Sunglasses
*3 lip glosses

*3 wallets/change purses (The Coach one holds change, the XOXO one is my main wallet with cards, money and other crap and the Louis Vuitton literally has nothing in it, I don't know why it's there)
*My blackberry
*Keys
*Hair Clip
*A pen cap (don't know where the actual pen is)
*45 cents
*A Metro receipt
*A Freshco receipt
*A McDonald's receipt
*A Dollarama receipt
* My Camera and a book - Two things that I never leave the house without
That wasn't too bad.

You would think I would take this opportunity to actually clean the purse out. But no. I just casually shoved everything back in.

A different problem for a different day.

Day 27: My Worst Habit

I can think of a few:

-I pick at my nails constantly. Even my fake ones. I have also been known to bite (horrible!)
-I procrastinate. A lot. I will know I have a paper due in three weeks, but yet I will still only be starting it the weekend before. I have always been like this. I have come to the conclusion that I work better under pressure, so I just go with it.
-C has pointed out in the last week that I was the word 'like' constantly. I will be telling a story and repeat a conversation by saying "then I was like" "then she was like" and so on. This is another thing that I have done for years, I don't even notice it anymore, and I can't help it.

Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

Day 26: Your week in great detail

I'm posting from the boys computer tonight because I was too lazy to bring my own, so this will be a picture free post.

I don't think I can remember everything I've done for the last week, and I'm way too lazy to write out everything that I can think of, so your getting this post in point form.

Saturday: C's grandfather's memorial (very early day!), lazy day at home with C which included Wendy's, a nap and The Perfect Storm

Sunday: slept in, spend most of the day reading my book, showered and got ready for soccer, headache from hell, McDonald's, bath, bed

Monday: I worked late, and I was still recovering from above headache, so I spent most of the day in bed. I finished my book, worked customer service from 5 - 9, C picked me up and we spent the evening with my daddy, until my brother and his girlfriend came home

Tuesday: A typical day with B and K. Breakfast, t.v, N came over with baby B and we walked to the grocery store, as well as shoppers. I wanted to deposit a cheque I had but I forgot it at home, stopped for pizza with the girls and spend some time catching up with N. C picked me up at 5 and we went to his house for the evening

Wednesday: Same routine with the girls. Finished another book.

Thursday: I worked late again, but I actually tried to be productive during the day. I got some stuff done for school, including applying for my bus card, and looking up my book list. Went to work at 5, C picked me up at 9 and dropped me off at home, and I spent the evening scanning his baby pictures for our wedding slide show.

Friday: You can read about Friday here

Saturday: Today has been pretty quiet. I worked (of course). C and I have spent the evening on our computers (me pricing my books for school, and he's fixing his mom's computer)

This was actually pretty boring. My week has been relatively uneventful. Sorry!