Now on Your Bookshelf

Today I became one of the first people to know about the next book all you ladies are sure to be coveting by the time it hits shelves early next year. And now I am sharing my wisdom with you.

The book (and subsequent blog - yay!) is called Your Big Fat Boyfriend. Intrigued? As was I. From what I gather, as I have not yet read more than what I'm offering right here, our boyfriends are making us fat. And writer and fitness guru Jenna Bergen is out to make sure it doesn't happen to one more girlfriend. The book has recipes, tips, tricks, and stories for an all-around healthier you - from a fairly fresh angle. I suppose time will tell if that angle can persist and thrive as did similar (yet not at all the same, as Bergen points out) Hungry Girl - the name in front of healthy hungry girl Lisa Lillien, already coming out with a second book. I think YBFB will be around for awhile, though, and totally worth checking out.

Now how I do know this inside scoop? As you may assume, no, magazine interns do not get farther than MediaBistro newsletters or eavesdropping on editors phone calls (kiddingggg) to hear about whats new in the industry, but I actually intern for Bergen herself. So yes, I'm doing a little ass-kissing shameless plugging. And she's really excited and very sweet. So check her out and kick your BFB's potato booty off the couch!

For your viewing pleasure

I'm a major dork - and was very excited about my Lauren Conrad-esque hair after I curled it today (eesh yesterday, it's now 2:30 a.m.). Clearly my volumizer seeped into my brain and I then permitted myself to take kissy-face pics. Enjoy.

You know you love me. (uh...xoxo - gossip girl...heh).

Under the Weather

Hello, reader. Missed me? So have I - I've been feeling a bit sick the past couple days. Just a head cold kind of thing and I'm sure I'll make a full recovery, but although I've done a lot of staring at this computer screen the past few days, what I've made sense of and have been able to concentrate on has been little.

When in such a state where I am preoccupied by only my thoughts and a runny nose, I do tend to Google a lot though. Pretty much anything that comes into my head is fair game, and sometimes, if I'm luckly, I end up coming across some really cool stuff. Combined with my work as an intern in Philly this week, I now give you the best of my recent Philadelphia-centric blog finds - a genre that I was fairly convinced hardly existed until now. I'm fairly happy and impressed.

Philebrity: Kind of like Gawker for Philly (although the folks at Phawker might presume that title), but the fact that Philly is much smaller and local than Manhattan makes it a lot more relatable to the everyday Philadelphian. Meaning, events, news and gossip that may actually directly affect you - but packaged to be cool and, you know, a little snarky.

Philly Chit Chat: Call itself a "Social Diary" of the event scene here in town - your inside pass (with lots of pictures (!) from photog Hughe Dillon) to events you couldn't go to, or perhaps wouldn't have even been invited to. Plus, there's a cool blog roll of other Philly bloggers. Dying to check out Geekadelphia more.

Uwishunu: Powered by the Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation (I know, sounds too business-y), this site actully attracts a really diverse set of writers, giving us the scoop of new events in town. And, it's just a really cool name.

Design-Phan: This blog reminds me how nuananced and creative Philly can be, and I kind of love that. Follows Philly design and makes you wish you could make all that stuff too.

Yellaphant:Less a blog about Philly and more about Philly-based writer Bridget Hanahan's thoughts and musings. I like that it's approachable and personal, so I'm pretty hooked.

What blogs do you read? (Ugh, I feel like ending with a question like this is something lame they would teach you in Blogging 101. But no, really, tell me.)

Fit to Print

So, as I'm sure you're all lamenting/saying "I told you so" about, CosmoGIRL! has folded. Sigh, it is always sad when a mag dies, and even sadder to me when after the fact I read a dozen aritcles/blog posts/article-blog-posts that pronouce print dead. Out-dated. Obsolete. Stupid. And such has been the case since yesterday.

Now, before I get into what I want to say about print, I would like to point out that I think new media is great. I love the blog (clearly) and I love social networking (although I'm not awesome at using it), and I love the sharing of content. Hell, some of the coolest links I find, I found from following Twitter users. I love it, I'm happy to be part of it and watch it grow.

However, I get a little upset when people put down print as if the Internet is now the end-all be-all of media. Maybe I'm biased, because I do love magazines. I truly think they are uncomparable to most anything I've seen online (not necessarily better - although in many cases, yes better - just different) - even a mag's own website, even online mags, even cool blogs that I really enjoy. I'm a memeber of Gen Y who loves magazines, and even newspapers - and I know there are more of you out there. Which is why, in response to all the "Boo print" blogs I've read recently, I'd like to make a case for print. Now, I'm hardly an authority. But I feel as if I have something to say worth hearing.

First, print is just more comfortable and at times even more accessible than new media. I know, in a world of iPhones and wireless Interent, who needs real paper when you have screens? Well, think about it. A magazine will never take an hour to load on a web browser, cause eye-strain, be too small to read, download a virus, or need a special device to view. A magazine won't have crappy pop-up ads about crap I don't need (I cannot believe advertisting like this possibly works). I can pick up a magazine, take it with me anywhere, and have it right there, ready to go. And, frankly, I love that. I love my little book of art and well-written pieces, ready to enlighten me - often about topics I would have never even known about to Google search.

And in reading my magazine content and enjoying the photos and layout, I know it is content I can trust. With the Internet, there's no rhyme or reason to how things get put up on the Web, and because of its vast amount of never-ending space, nearly anyone and can write anything on any topic (case in point, this very blog post). And while sure, this has great advantages, offering an outlet to millions of people who before had nothing, it also gives a space to losers who don't care about good content. The web is a space where everything is SEO'd to death and linked with advertisements that make it hard to a)discern what is good and what is not and b) actually find that good stuff. Let's say I want to find an article about skin care on the web - chances are the first things that pop up on Google are random crap or endorsed by Neutrogena. Not that print doesn't often find itself in this quandry, but I am definitely more willing to trust what's in a mag then what's on, say, getreallygreatskin.com. There's little space to fill, and editors - good journalists - want to fill it with good important stuff. A lot of the web is not this.

And then furthermore, magazines are just special. Of course it's more difficult to get published in print then online - there's limited space and what fills that space has to be damn good. It's special, selected material that someone believes you'll enjoy and find interesting, or will importantly inform you. On a web platform where more articles equals more ad space and not more money spent, where's the specialness?

OK, I think that is enough of a rant. And I know I may get backlash for this. But I just don't understand why print and online media can't co-exist. I read so many things about how people love magazines but know they are dead. Um, hello? If you love them why let them die? No one said the Internet HAD to take over everything.

Proceed with telling me I'm wrong or old-fashioned....

Cupcake Love

If you read this blog long enough, you will probably discover that I have somewhat of a penchant for cupcakes. It's not often that I get to eat them (sigh), but if they aren't the cutest, chicest thing there is, I don't know what is.

So I must pass on some cupcake innovation I discovered today, seen on Cupcakes Take the Cake linking back to No One Puts Cupcake in a Corner:

Rainbow cupcakes! How adorable is this! I plan on buying food coloring and cake ingredients as soon as I feel my waistline can take it.

I know, I know - Lauren you should be working. You should be writing, or reading, or planning something because there is of course always something to plan. Sigh. But of course, it is 2:09, and I am sitting in the library procrastinating. But at least you, dear reader, will be entertained, right?

In that case, here's your weekend round-up:

Good: It was freakin' beautiful this weekend - really, perfectly autumn. I even walked to run my errands (walked!). It's amazing how good weather really does make me feel better than when it is, ugh, raining. Which, from what I can tell from the weather report, is what it will be doing tomorrow.

Bad: I drove into Philly this weekend to visit some friends. And then I drove back the next day only to discover that a Bruce Springsteen for Obama concert was going on right outside of where I was. Universe! :shakes fist:

Ugly: This profile piece I'm supposed to be writing right now. Or rather, the blank page that is staring me in the face. And my ever-worsening unpedicured feet.

Somehow I must will myself to stay in this seat until I have at least 500 words completed and not go a for a happy-induced walk around campus, which I'd say is rarely enjoyable actually. Damn directed life getting in the way of undirected life.

Pumpkins are probably my favorite part of fall and since I'm just getting used to this platform and all its options, I basically just needed an excuse to use the "spread" option. So pumpkins it is! Mmm.

Don't Vote

Watch it. Do it. Don't make me tell you twice.

Welcome :)

I've been thinking about starting one for sometime now, and when I came across the OnSugar platform, I took it as a stylish kick in the pants.

I'm not sure what this will become. I want to post my thoughts and musings, but I promise not to bore you with a lengthy, stream of conciousness writing about my day. Because that's not fun. And if anything, as my first serious foray in creating a blog I'll actually ask people to read (read me!), I want it to be fun.

So check back. Let's see what happens together. And for now, check out my Twitter or my Facebook. :)