From one surly ex-sorority girl to another....

Things have been crazy lately! A ridiculous amount of work travel in a short amount of time has kicked my butt, resulting in contracting a cold that is hanging on tighter than Joan Rivers' last facelift. I ran my second 5k with remnants of said cold, pleased my time improved from the first 5k, despite the fact I was stuck behind tons of people who felt it was appropriate to walk across the start line. (Don't worry, I wrote some strongly worded comments about those ridiculous gangs of walkers in my post -event survey). Now, just as my body is starting to catch up (and as I narrow my work email down to 60 unread emails from 600+), I am about to beat it down again by participating in the American Cancer Society Relay For Life. It's a 24 hour event to raise funds for ACS and my friends and I will be camped out and walking for the duration. Yeah, for one fighting off any sort of cold/virus this is not the best idea but neither is eating two (maybe three?) cupcakes in the course of one day when one is dieting but yeah, I did that this week too. And last week in NYC  come to think of it (I heart Magnolia Bakery). Shoot. No wonder I am not losing weight despite all this running! Anyway....

Despite my hectic schedule I took a day off work to travel across the state to meet my favorite writer. I am an avid reader, someone who reads two to three books at a time. I like biographies, historical fiction and memoirs. A few years ago, a friend told me I needed to read a memoir called "Bright Lights, Big Ass" by Jen Lancaster. The first page of that book is a (hilarious) letter from Jen Lancaster to Carrie Bradshaw...the rest, as they say, is history.

I know I've referenced her here before (many, many times). She really is my favorite writer, in part because I feel like we are kindred spirits....as I told some friends last night, we both love pearls, we were both sort of tyrants when put in leadership positions in our respective sororities, we both aspired to be Blair from "Facts of Life" as children and both love watching Blair and the gang from "Gossip Girl" now, etc. I could go on (and on) but I don't want to bore you.

Jen treated us to a reading and Q and A before the book signing. It was better than I had expected and thankfully, Jen was exactly how I hoped she would be - funny, engaging and during the book signing she took time to talk to each person individually and take photos, despite the fact that over 300 people were lined up to meet her.

Though Jen's knowledge of reality TV vastly outweighs mine (I limit my reality TV to "American Idol" auditions and "Celebrity Rehab/Sober House" on VH1 because I generally have great disdain for all those ridiculous shows...unless they involve celebrities fighting addicition hence "Celebrity Rehab/Sober House" and Paula Abdul's days on "American Idol"), and sometimes I didn't know who she was talking about when she would throw out a name (a "Real Housewife?", a "Next Top Model?", someone from "The Hills" if that's even still on?), I still heart her and was thrilled to "have a moment" with her!

P.S. In honor of Jen's new book about her efforts to break her addiction from reality TV (see, I love addiction stories so I will love this book), I looked up my Jersey Shore nickname. It's The Tan-trum. I am pretty sure my mom would wholeheartedly agree with that one!