Calling all angels...

I've had that song in my mind off and on throughout the day... you'll see why in a minute! :-)

Hey everybody! How's it going? Happy Hump Day! I went a little MIA last night for two reasons: 1) I was thisclose to finishing Autobiography of a Fat Bride (which is super-easy to get through quickly, because it's not a "book" so much as it is a collection of short little essays, that are only about three-four pages long each); and 2) Honestly, I was just having a BAD "mental health" day... you know what I mean? Just one of those days that starts out horribly wrong and continues on downward from there. It all started because I had a really vivid, scary nightmare on Tuesday night. The kind that wakes you up sweating and crying. I seriously don't remember the last time I had such a terrifying nightmare... we're talking years here. I'll have weird/odd/random dreams, but not bad ones, you know (For example, a few nights ago I dreamt that Howie Mandel- of all people!-was hitting on me and invited me back to this place, and I went, but then I found out that he was married, and said forget it and left!!! How random is that???? LOL!!!)? Plus, the nightmare was about my dad. It's the first bad dream that I've had about Dad since he died. I've dreamt about him, but they weren't bad dreams at all... they were nice, comforting ones, because he was alive. My sister said that she was having some nightmares for the first few nights after he died, but I found the exact opposite to be true for me- I slept pretty well and pretty soundly, and I'm normally a very light, not-so-peaceful sleeper. I think I was welcoming sleep at that point, because, like I said, the dreams I was having were pleasant ones. It was waking up from them and coming to the realization that Dad had died that was upsetting. I still remember the dream very vividly, but would rather not get into the details. I have no idea what was going on in my subconscious state to invoke a dream like that... maybe because the one-month anniversary of my dad's death is this week (tomorrow, in fact)? I don't know. And even though I was exhausted all day yesterday and was happy to collapse into bed, I tossed and turned for an hour before I actually got to sleep. So the lack of sleep has caught up with me, and I spent most of today with a severe headache. I even briefly debated calling out of work so I could try and get some rest, but didn't want to use up a sick day for a headache, so I went in. I'm really glad I did, actually- not only was it quiet in the office today, but a coworker introduced me to the happy pill known as Excedrin Migraine. I have a feeling we are going to be friends. :-)

But enough depressing chatter. The day is over, I'm freshly showered and looking forward to a nice dinner and some Top Model love (although I'm not feeling this season so far), and hopefully a good night's sleep.

So yes, I did finish the book! And yes, I liked it very much! You know a book is good when you find yourself laughing out loud (or if it's a well-written sad book, crying). Laurie Notaro's writing style reminds me exactly of David and Amy Sedaris- the short-essay style writing, the dripping of sarcasm, finding humor in the most random things, like Christmas lights, toy stores, taxes, grocery shopping with your grandmother, etc. It was a very fast, very entertaining, and very good read! I'm looking forward to reading more of her stuff in the future! I love when I find a new author to worship! :-)

Which brings me to my next book, which is also a gem:

So now you get the song reference in the post title, LOL. Angels, by Marian Keyes. For those unfamiliar, Marian Keyes writes Irish chick lit. Everything of hers I've read so far, I've loved (although admittedly, I've only read two of her books- Last Chance Saloon and Lucy Sullivan is Getting Married, which is one of my all-time faves! If you like girly chick lit and haven't read the latter, you must go to the library and get it now!). Angels is about a woman who finds out that her husband had an affair, and she gets fired from her job shortly thereafter, so to blow off steam and decompress, she goes to visit her BFF Emily in Los Angeles. Oh, the adventures she will have in Plastic Land! :-) I'm actually already about 90 pages into it, and I just started it today! Hey, what can I say, chick lit isn't heavy reading, so it's pretty easy to fly through! Plus, it's a mass market paperback, so the pages are smaller! :-) So far, it's some good chick lit! I'm at the part where she just got to L.A. and has only been there a day or so. The cool thing about this book is that the main character, Maggie Walsh, comes from a family of five sisters (I think she is the middle one), and Marian Keyes has actually written a book for each of the five sisters. Well, at least four of them- Angels, Watermelon, Rachel's Holiday, and Anybody Out There? I don't know if she's working on a fifth novel for the fifth sister, or she's just not going to get one, LOL. But she's a spitfire character (she still lives at home and drifts aimlessly from career to career, never finding one that fits her, um, temperament, so she's a little bit of a flake, haha), and it would be pretty cruel to write about each sister separately but not give her her own book, so I'd imagine she just hasn't written it yet. Maybe she was her parents' least favorite. :-)

Other than reading and not sleeping well, I haven't been up to much! Now it's time to get dinner started (sweet potatoes, Boca mushroom veggie burgers, and steamed broccoli don't microwave themselves yet, sadly), and get my TV fix (crappy TV shows don't watch themselves!). And I'm a bit behind on the lives and times of my blog buddies, so I'll be up to a bit of that as well!

Au revoir for now!