She's Gone Country by Jane Porter

Well...WE DID IT! We went Country. Had a blast too!






The evening started out with a visit to Jenny's Farm in Dexter. Took pictures with some of the animals, but mostly with ourselves and our pink cowboy hats. Then off to Diamondback Saloon for line dancing lessons. We felt real country there! Our teacher, Phyllis was terrific and patient. Sure did work up a sweat. Showed her the book we were reading and she showed it to everyone in the place and announced who we were and why we were there. Had a lot of people stopping by to check out the book and our club. We sweat the night away and didn't want it to end. The book was also a wonderful experience. Didn't want that to end either. The book took us on a journey of renewal and self discovery as Shey uproots her boys and returns to her childhood home in Texas. She has spent the last few decades in New York and around the world as a high-end fashion model. Her husband has left her for another man and Shey is still in shock at what has happened. But, being home brings new paths and renewed bonding with the first men in her life, her brothers. Jane thrilled us, as expected with another inside look at motherhood, womanhood and life. This was the 4th in the series that got us going. First was Odd Mom Out, followed by Mrs. Perfect and then on to Easy on the Eyes (See Limo pictures below). We hope you will take some time out of your busy life to read "She's Gone Country" and the other books by Jane Porter. We look forward to visiting the above books again and to the ones she'll write in the future. Our next book (you gals should be reading by now) is "Sweet Life" by Mia King. Keep track of our happenings on facebook (Pink Ladies Book and Movie Club page). Read along with us. It's worth the trip. Happy Reading! See ya next month, ya'll!

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!