APRIL GATHERING

Well what a night! We crafted, we gabbed, we ate and we had a nice chat with our current author, Sarah Pekkenan. Sarah's first published book, "The Opposite of Me" is a great story about sisters and life. Even more than that, it is about knowing who you are and sometimes the journey it takes to get there. We found the character enjoyable and at times we felt we could relate to her. Sarah is a very gifted writer. We love her style, her wit, her skills. The book takes some turns that have you on an emotional roller coaster...but then, isn't that the way life is? The book is already a best seller and it's only been out a little over 1 month. While waiting for our exciting phone call I had the girls decorate some boxes. Those boxes then got a slit on the top. I've instructed them to jot down memories, feelings, you know...special moments in life and drop them in the box. In a few months we'll visit the box project again, but for now this is what I've instructed them to do. If you can't attend our meetings, please feel free to follow along with us on the adventure. Back to the book. Our main character (as well as the author) enjoys popcorn topped with honey. So...I made a bowl for the ladies to eat. It was funny. They all said they weren't big honey fans, but they ended up eating the whole bowl. I could swear they were going to fight over the last bit. I think I even saw one of them starting to lick the bowl. haha We had a great chat with Sarah. She was so nice and offered advice on writing and getting published as we have some writers in our group. She answered questions we had about the book and gave us some funny stories about her writing adventures. Thank you, again Sarah for giving us a call! We are so excited to hear that her publisher has picked up her second book and even a third (that she hasn't even technically wrote yet). Congrats!
Please join us in our next book Sweet Life written by Mia King. Visit us on facebook (Pink Ladies Book and Movie Club) if you would like to read along with us and discuss the books/movies we are reviewing!

March Madness!

This month has us back on track reading! We met at Donna's new place and took a look at the book of the month. "The Opposite of Me" by Sarah Pekkanen. This is Sarah's first book and we are honored to be able to have it as our first book of the year. She is a talented author and if the book is anything like her blogs...it promises to be a fun read! So far the reviews are great amongst the ladies. It arrived on the shelves the morning of our meeting so we've only had a chance to read a few pages. So far it is hard to put the book down. (Both literally and figuratively!) Most of the women made it to the meeting. Denise was detained at the last minute. We're going to meet at her house next month so she won't miss out again. She was really looking forward to our fun night together. Time to get reading! Got to figure out a theme for April's gathering. Even if you're not in the club...please take the time to check our Sarah's book. You can also visit her blogpage (listed on the upper right side of this blogpage). Thanks for stopping by! See ya soon!

Idea Mapping Success

We finally made it out for an evening together! This month we went to an author's beautiful home for a short version of her 2 day workshops. We had a lot of fun learning about an exciting technique to help us take better notes and retain them. Jamie (the author) has written a book called "Idea Mapping - How to Access Your Hidden Brain Power, Learn Faster, Remember More and Achieve Success in Business." Jamie travels the world teaching this technique and she was so generous to give us a sampling of her 2 day workshops. We learned some exciting stuff and we are going to use her book as a tool to help us manage the skills we learned tonight. From now on we are going to use these idea maps when reading our books. We will be posting them for you to see as well as sending them to Jamie for her page. For more information, please visit Jamie's website listed on the right of this page. Thanks Jamie for a fun and informative evening at your beautiful home!

November Gathering

We didn't talk much about the book this month (Julie and Julia). The night was a festive celebration for Denise, whose birthday was actually on our meeting night. We gathered at Chili's and had great food and conversation. We missed Cheryl and Lauren, because of car trouble and Teri has H1N1! We hope she feels better soon! We missed you ladies! Some of us have started reading the book, but we are concerned that this book is just too boring. My new readers need something (like Jane Porter's books) to keep them interested. I told the ladies not to worry. If they didn't want to suffer while reading it then they don't have to finish it. I want to make reading an enjoyable experience for them. The rest of us are going to attempt to finish the book so we can show comparisons with the movie...which we will be viewing next month! Thanks for stopping by!

Well, well, well. Julie Powell (Author of Julie and Julia) must have been one busy gal! It took 8 of us to try and cook this recipe and we still couldn't get it done on a timely basis. Maybe that's what they mean when they say "Too many cooks in the kitchen!" I see now, why Julia Child titled her cookbook, "Mastering the Art of French Cooking". It does take some mastering and it is definitely an art. To think that Julie Powell tried her hand at one recipe a day from the Mastering cookbook amazes me. How could she do anything else? I'm thinking after several months she finally got the hang of it, but when you see the movie you can see her struggles even after close to a year of trying these recipes out. This month we decided to start reading Julie and Julia and to kick it off I had the ladies each bring an ingredient for the recipe I chose. It was Meryl Streep's favorite Julia Child recipe. (She does an excellent job portraying Julia in the movie!) It was Poulet Poele a l'Estragon. Okay, okay, I know I'm just trying to sound impressive. We Ameicans call it Casserole-Roasted Chicken with Taragon. Everyone took on a job. Some more than others. Kathy did all the chopping, Donna did the nasty cleaning of the birds, Denise did the frying and finished the preparing. Everyone sort of gave up. I took pictures. Needless to say, being a work/school night we were unable to enjoy our feast when it was done. (I actually took it out of the oven at 10:35pm. 1 hour after the recipe called for and long after the ladies had to leave.) I took a bite. Yum! I'll have to say though, my husband's chicken tastes just as good and all he does is shake some seasoning on top of the chicken, cover it, bake it and we're done! This was quite an undertaking for Julie Powell. She is to be commended. It was quite an undertaking for us. Good thing we had snacks and a pizza to munch on tonight! Thanks for visiting. We'll keep you posted on what we think of the book. Wonder if it's as good as the movie? Stay tuned!

UPCOMING EVENTS! HERE IT IS LADIES! PLEASE READ!

No pun intended there. Okay, maybe there was. Anyway, here is a quick overview of our upcoming gatherings.
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 13TH: You will be notified as to what one ingredient you will need to bring to my house. We are going to prepare a recipe (or 2) from Julia Child. Hence, our next book, "Julie and Julia". Please try and have this book for our meeting or at least have plans set if you are sharing a book with another member. (YOU DON'T HAVE TO START READING THE BOOK JUST YET!)

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 10TH: We are going to meet at Chili's in Ann Arbor (car pool!) and celebrate the birthday of one special lady, Denise! We will discuss how the reading is going and hear some excerpts from Julia Child's journal.

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 8TH: WooHoo! This is the DVD release date for "Julie and Julia". So we will be meeting at Karen's house (car pool again!). After the movie we will discuss the differences between the movie and the book, etc.

TUESDAY, JANUARY 12TH: We are going to start the new year off right with a special guest speaker, Jamie Nast. She will present us with an amazing tool that will help us begin the year with a new set of skills. Learn more about her by clicking on the post to the right.

HAPPY FALL! CAN'T WAIT TO SEE EVERYONE ON TUESDAY!

September Get-together

(Click on images to get an enlarged picture.) This month was a little more laid-back. We figured after the last few crazy months we would just spend some time just hanging out with each other. Tonight we made journals. I brought a bevvy of papers and magazines for the gals to cut out and make their own personal journals that reflected who there are and what they like. The book I presented to all of the girls last month is entitled, "YOU CAN DO IT! A merit badge handbook for grown-up girls". To be honest, I just wasn't ready to find a new author after having finished our Jane Porter trilogy. The badge book is a book that was written by Lauren Catuzzi Grandcolas. Here's what you'll read on the inside cover: You Can Do It! was Lauren's idea, begun a year before she died on September 11, 2001, aboard United Flight 93. A former Girl Scout, she saw the book as a way for women to re-create the feelings of accomplishment and community found in the Scouts. Lauren embodied the books goals. Karen decided she would try for the author badge. She is a gifted writer that we all agree should get her books done and published. Karen has written some shorter books that have kept us wanting more. Cheryl said she believes that is a sign of a good author, when you can't put the book down (like Jane Porter's!). Stephanie and Sharen are picking the Create a Business Plan badge as they are working on starting a bridal consultant business (and Sharen's many others in the works!). Kathy wants to try the photography badge and Donna says she's going for the Avid Reader badge as she is now into reading thanks to the bookclub! A few ladies were out sick and were surely missed. Tonight's meeting was filled with the usual gab and insights on reading. Sharen read an excerpt from a friend of Jane Porter's about her day with Jane and how they became friends. The gals were really inspired by it. Karen read an inspiring article about going for your dreams and how that person reached their goal of having a book published. I ordered the book and I will give it a try. Stay tuned on what happens with that. (I'm thinking Karen took it home, because I can't find it!) It's entitled "The Secret Soldier". Hope it's an easy read, I've got more Jane Porter Harlequin books to read! OH! And we found out--from Jane's official site that Jane's next book is due out in July, 2010. Guess what?! It's about Shey! The ladies are thrilled!
I'M THINKING OUR NEXT BOOK IS "JULIE AND JULIE" AND WE WILL CAP IT OFF WITH GOING TO SEE THE MOVIE! GIRLS, THE BOOK IS $8.99 AT COSTCO!
THANKS FOR STOPPING BY! SEE YA SOON! (P.S. Notice our Pink Ladies Mascot in the pics above?!)