Bucket list

What's on Liz & Lisa's Bucket List?

We're still jumping up and down Oprah audience member style over your overwhelming support of the publication of our second novel, The D Word and the re-release of our debut book, I'll Have Who She's Having . Thank you! Warning: Shameless self promotion coming in 5, 4, 3, 2...1

And...don't forget about  The D Word HUGE ASS giveaway!

Here's how the contest will work-It's simple!
  • Buy The D Word (only 2.99!) and email us the receipt at  Lizandlisa@chicklitisnotdead.com to receive an entry to the contest. There is no limit on the number of entries. Every copy of The D Word purchased= one entry.

All receipts must be received by TUESDAY JUNE 21st at MIDNIGHT PST and this contest open to US/Canada only.

We also have ONE more way you can win a great prize:

If you post a review of EITHER The D Word or I'll Have Who She's Having on GoodReadsBarnes & Noble or Amazon and send us the link to the review to  Lizandlisa@chicklitisnotdead.com by July 14, 2011 at midnight PST, you'll be entered to win a DXG 720p high-defintion camera. You can receive one entry for the review of each book for a maximum of two entries.  Doesn't matter if you've loved or absolutely hated the book(although we're crossing our fingers you like it...), you'll still be entered to win!  We'll choose the winner by random drawing. US/Canada Only.

So we just have to say that we're loving participating in our own features (and hope you are too!?) like Tuesday's 5 Things You didn't know...yesterday's 5 Do's and a Do-Over and today's Bucket List.

ON THAT NOTE: We may be attached at the hip (even while living 2,000 miles apart). We may also have many of the same likes- Macbooks, hot men under twenty-five (Roar!) and getting our gamble on in Vegas, to name a few. And we've obviously known each other a very, very long time (to put it in perspective, parachute pants were a wardrobe staple when we met). But we happen to have very different lists of what we'd like to accomplish before, um, it's all said and done.

CHICK LIT IS NOT DEAD PRESENTS... LIZ AND LISA'S BUCKET LISTS:

Liz's Bucket List

1. Start a charitable foundation. I don't know about you, but I always feel so helpless when I read stories about people that need help.  Especially if has anything to do with kids or animals(cue waterworks!).  My brother works with the amazing human rights agency  IJM, that that secures justice for victims of slavery, sexual exploitation and other forms of violent oppression.  So I have this secret dream of coming up with a large sum of money(But I thought I'd look like an ass if I put "winning the lottery" on this list) and poach him from IJM to start my foundation.  What would my foundation do, you ask?  I haven't got that far yet.  But I know that I'd be able to pick up the phone and *really* help next time I'm watching the nightly news.

2. Become a foster parent. Okay, so let me just say up front that I have no business putting this on my bucket list.  Between my two kids, two dogs, full-time job and my writing, I barely have time to breathe most days, let alone take on another child.  But there's something in me that REALLY wants to.  Like a heart-hurting, lump-in-throat-inducing reaction whenever I read something about fostering or talk to others who have.  So we'll see.  Oh, it would probably help if the hubs was on board with it too, right?  For now, I'm working on asking him if we can foster an animal.  Baby steps, people.

3. Be a contestant on The Amazing Race. Even though I turn into a complete bitch when I'm hot, hungry or tired, I'm dying to be on this show.  So when Lisa told me HELL TO THE NO when I asked her to be my partner, I decided to take the next best thing-her husband.  We applied in February with a very poor Flip video that featured an introduction from *someone* that was postpartum and VERY cranky. (Lisa!)  So we'll try it again with a new video and cross our fingers.  Although I think Lisa and my husband may be crossing our fingers that we won't!

Lisa's Bucket List

1. Own a beach house. There's something about the ocean, the waves, the sand (okay, maybe not the sand so much) that centers me. That clears my head and makes me feel like I can do anything. So someday, whether it be in Maui, Manhattan Beach (or even both!), I will own a home that overlooks the ocean. Even if it's a little shack amidst mansions, I'll take it.

2. Travel around the world. As cliche as it may be, it's definitely on my list to travel, travel, travel. I'm lucky that my passport has already been stamped numerous times. But there are still so many countries I want to see (China, Germany, Greece- to name a few). I love to to experience different ways of life, the foods (oh how I love the food- and drink!) and the history. There's something about being far from home that excites me. In my dream scenario, I'd be able to pack up and travel for months on end before heading back to reality.

3. Sit courtside at the Lakers. I want to be Jack Nicholson. I want to sit courtside at every Lakers game. yes, we're talking courtside season tickets. I want to overhear Leo Dicaprio's conversation and high five with Justin Timberlake. Kobe Bryant can drip his sweat on me. Pau Gasol can throw a ball in my face. Derek Fisher can fall on me. I'll take it all! I'm a huge Lakers fan and can think of nothing better than being that close to the action!

xoxo,

Liz & Lisa

 

What's on Josie Brown's Bucket List?

We love Josie Brown. Plain and simple. We first fell for her when we read the impossibly delicious,  Secret Lives of Husbands and Wives and now we're falling all over again after consuming her latest fun, funny and  completely satisfying novel, The Baby Planner. (In stores tomorrow- Tuesday, April 5!) about a thirty-seven-year-old baby planner whose own biological clock is ticking off the charts faster than you can say designer stroller. (Lisa could definitely relate- having her first baby, er, a little later in life.) Synopsis:

Katie Johnson may make her living consulting with new moms on the latest greatest baby gadgets no parent should be without, or which mommy meet-ups are the most socially desirable, or whether melon truly is the new black, but the success of her marriage to her husband, Alex, depends on controlling her own urges toward motherhood.

He's adamant that they stay childless. Sure, Katie understands that he's upset over the fact that his out-of-town ex-wife rarely lets him see their ten-year-old son, Peter. But living vicariously through her anxious clients and her twin sisters' precocious children only makes Katie resent his stance more deeply.

While helping a new client—Seth Harris, a high tech entrepreneur who must raise Sadie, his newborn daughter, as a single parent after the tragic death of his wife in childbirth—maneuver the bittersweet journey from mourning husband and reticent father to loving dad, Katie’s own ideals about love, marriage, and motherhood are put to the test as she learns ones very important lesson about family:  How we nurture is the true nature of love.

Want to win one of five copies of The Baby Planner? Just leave a comment here and we'll randomly select the lucky winners after 6:00 PM, EST on Wednesday, April 6.

CHICK LIT IS NOT DEAD PRESENTS: JOSIE BROWN'S BUCKET LIST 1. To own pied–à–terre on the northwest tip of the de l'Isle Saint Louis, an island in the Seine, there in the middle of Paris.

2. To circumnavigate the world in my own private plane, stopping wherever and whenever I want, for however long. (In other words, I may never get back home...)

3. To live long enough to witness world peace. Seriously. I'm no beauty queen, believe me. I just mean this from the bottom of my heart. (Must be the flower child in me who still believes it's possible!)

4. Great skin. Always. Despite a daily dose of sunshine!

5.  To see my own musical of Pride and Prejudice make it to both Broadway and the West End.

To find out more about the fabulous Josie Brown, check out her website and follow her on Facebook. And don't forget to pre-order The Baby Planner!

Thanks, Josie!

xoxo,

L&L

What's on Melissa Senate's bucket list?

Do y'all have an author that you can always count on?  You know, someone whose books always deliver on the goods?  The kind of author that has you waiting in anticipation for their next novel as soon as you finish their last?  Well, we have quite a few-and we're thrilled to have one of them sharing their bucket list today. The fabulous Melissa Senate! We first discovered Melissa when we read the best seller See Jane Date and have loved all her books since. (She's written TEN!) Liz chose The Secret of Joy as a hot summer beach read over at Sheknows.com a few months ago.  So when Melissa's latest, The Love Goddess' Cooking School arrived on our doorstep, we couldn't wait to dive into it! It comes out TOMORROW-click here to pre-order!

The Love Goddess' Cooking School is a charming story about love, family and discovery.  When thirty-year-old Holly Maguire inherits her Nonna's Camilla's Cucinotta, an Italian cooking school, twelve of the sixteen students immediately drop out. And who could blame them? Holly's grandmother was a seventy-five-old love goddess whose secret sauces had aphrodisiac properties and whose kitchen table fortune telling often came true.  Holly couldn't tell fortunes and wasn't much of a cook, but her determination to keep her grandmother's legacy alive motivates her to teach the class anyway.  Armed with Camilla's hand-scrawled recipe book, Holly and her students create their own recipes for happiness.

Melissa's delicious writing will have you craving the delectable dishes served up each chapter and keep you hungry for more of her heartfelt narrative.  Touching and a bit nostalgic, The Love Goddess' Cooking School is perfect way to reflect on why you loved your grandparents so much. (Liz *might* have shed a few tears about her own Italian nonna while reading...)

And guess what?  We have FIVE copies to give away!  Just leave a comment and we'll randomly choose the winners on Wednesday night!

And it's no surprise that we adored Melissa's bucket list too.  Read on to find out why!

CHICK LIT IS NOT DEAD PRESENTS:  WHAT'S ON MELISSA SENATE'S BUCKET LIST?

1.  A year in Italy—from the cities to the countryside, learning the beautiful language, taking regional cooking classes, staring in wonder at the frescoes in the Vatican museums, eating outrageously good pasta, sipping cappuccino at a tiny café table and writing.

2.  A tour of the American west. I want to see the red rocks of Utah. The Grand Canyon. A real cowboy. I want to taste some serious chili.

3.  A visit to my childhood homes. I moved often as a kid, and I’d like to go back to those old neighborhoods and see what I remember, what it evokes. I lived in the Bronx, New York till I was 8 and vividly remember the courtyard of my apartment building, where some mean old lady used to pour pots of cold water on the loud kids (I was very loud) from her fourth floor window. I’d like to visit my elementary school in Flushing, Queens, where my love of writing was sparked and nurtured. I’d like to find the spot in that little park in Fair Lawn, New Jersey, where I had my first kiss in junior high school.

4.  Tom Petty in concert. Yes, Tom Petty! I dare anyone to look at my beloved Tom on the cover of Damn the Torpedoes and tell me he’s not beautiful. I want to hear/watch him sing American Girl and Refugee and Don’t Do Me Like That and my favorite Here Comes My Girl from my front row seat.

5.  A world tour. I’m dying to see Spain and Latvia (I’m half Latvian and only time I’ve ever heard anyone else say they were Latvian was on the TV show Seinfeld, so it’s time to see/meet some others) and Australia and everything in between.

Thanks Melissa!  xo, L&L

To read more about Melissa, head on over to her website or click here to follow her on Twitter.