Pamela Ribon's 5 Things I'd Tell the Teen Me

Today's guest: Pamela Ribon

Why we love her: She's hilarious- not just in her novels, but on her blog.

Her latest: You take it From Here

The scoop: Just because you’d give your best friend everything doesn’t mean she has to take it.

On the heels of a divorce, all Danielle Meyers wants is her annual vacation with sassy, life-long best friend, Smidge—complete with umbrella cocktails by an infinity pool—but instead she’s hit with the curveball of a lifetime. Smidge takes Danielle to the middle of nowhere to reveal a diagnosis of terminal cancer, followed by an unusual request: “After I’m gone, I want you to finish the job. Marry my husband. Raise my daughter. I’m gonna teach you to how to be Smidge 2.0.”

As Danielle wrestles with this major life decision, she finds herself torn between being true to her best friend’s wishes and being honest with herself. Parenting issues aside, Smidge’s small-town Louisiana world is exactly the one Danielle made sure to escape. Danielle isn’t one for playing the social butterfly, or being the center of attention. And when your best friend tries to set you up on a date night with her husband, it might be time to become the bossy one for a change.

In the spirit of Beaches and Steel Magnolias, You Take It from Here is an honest, hilarious, and heartbreaking novel that ultimately asks: How much should we sacrifice for the ones we love the most?

Our thoughts: We love Beaches (c'mon, the ultimate BFF movie!) and Steel Magnolias and her novel definitely has a flavor of both. It's the perfect blend of humor and heart. PS: We love the cover & for that matter, love all of her book covers.

Fun Fact: She's a TV writer too. She wrote for one of Lisa's favorite shows, Samantha Who?

Giveaway: 5 copies of You Take it From Here. Just leave a comment and be entered to win. We'll randomly select the winners on Sunday, July 8 after 6PM PST.

Where you can read more about Pamela (Pamie): Facebook, Twitter and her website.

CHICK LIT IS NOT DEAD PRESENTS...5 THINGS I'D TELL THE TEEN ME

1. You’re right. Nobody understands you. And they won’t for a very long time.  Not until you learn how to stop feeling everything at once and learn how to accurately describe what you’re feeling.  Right now all you’re feeling are feelings, and they don’t really have anywhere to go, nor can you do anything about them.  Life is completely unfair and will be for a while longer, so go ahead and keep crying into that notebook.  It’ll come in handy in fifteen years when I need strong comedic material for my blog.

2. Stop with the boxer shorts. I don’t know where you saw a girl wearing boxers underneath her baggy jeans, but you obviously found it sexy and I need to tell you right now that you don’t look like whatever model you saw in Rolling Stone or maybe it was a TLC video or something, but listen: just go put on some girl underwear. I remember one pair of those boxer shorts had glow-in-the-dark polka dots and I don’t think those chemicals should be near your very new ladyparts.

3. If he’s got a girlfriend, you need to stop trying to be so great of a best friend to him.This isn’t a romantic comedy; this isn’t how you’re going to find a soul mate.  This is a recipe for disaster.  Either you are going to fall in (what you think is) love and waste months upon months waiting for this guy to feel the same way about you, or he is going to keep using you as his girlfriend Fairy Godmother, who keeps making him a better boyfriend by telling him how you wish he felt about you. Also, his actual girlfriend? Hates you so much right now.  Not to mention, all that time she’s got on her hands because you’re off with her boyfriend?  Right now she’s using it to make everyone else hate you just as much as she does.  Go find some nice girls to hang out with until you find a cute, single boy who wants to play video games with you and only you.

4. Make your dad teach you how to cook like he does.  I know he’s not very friendly in the kitchen, but the man knows how to cook, and one day he’ll be gone and it’ll be too late and you’ll be craving his steak and Caesar salad and there will be nothing you can do and nobody will ever make this meal as good as he did for the rest of your life and it will be one of your biggest regrets.

5. Don’t tell everyone your secrets.  Listen, I get it.  You’re just looking for someone who will rage against the world with you, but not everyone is worthy of your deepest confessions.  Some people won’t understand their currency, and will be so careless with your heart.  Don’t always be the first to yearn for the strong connection, don’t always be the first to hand over a mix tape.  Yes, every single human is special and wonderful, but they’re not all going to be special and wonderful back at you.  Quit setting yourself up for a heart-smash.  I know it’s hard to comprehend, but not everybody is thinking about you nearly as much as you are.

(PS: IT’LL ALL BE OKAY ONCE IT’S OVER. JUST HANG ON, TEEN ME. AND MAYBE TURN OFF THE SINEAD O’ CONNOR FOR A SECOND.)

Thanks, Pamela! xoxo, Liz & Lisa

Must See Fall TV

We're TV Whores- plain and simple. We whore ourselves out so much to good (and bad!) TV shows that our DVRs are busting at the seams. It's so bad that our poor husbands can barely get any space! But hey, what can we say? Our lives are busy and stressful and to say TV is important to us is an understatement. We've got everything from Bachelor Pad to The Good Wife (hey, it's not all fluff!) and now, like any good TV whores, we're ready to mix it up and are on the prowl for more.

With Fall TV upon us (where did the summer go?), we're hot for the new (and the old faithfuls) that are sure to turn us on...

RINGER The only thing better than Sarah Michelle Gellar returning to TV (after 8 years) is Sarah Michelle Gellar returning as not one, but two people. On Ringer, she’ll play estranged twin sisters- one running from the FBI and one that disappeared. We loved Buffy. We loved her in Cruel Intentions. And we even loved her in The Grudge- even though the movie scared the effing sh*t out of us. And we loved her all over again in the pilot for this CW thriller about sisters, Bridget and Siobhan. When Siobhan goes missing, Bridget assumes her identity. Juicy! We didn’t realize just how much we’d missed her. September 13th, The CW.

THE RACHEL ZOE PROJECT Shut the front door! Rachel Zoe is back... and she's preggers. The only thing better than a neurotic Rachel Zoe is a neurotic and pregnant Rachel Zoe. (Btw, she's 6 months pregnant, but you can't even tell. WTF?) We have to admit that even though we'll miss Brad and his bow ties (WTH went down there anyway?) we're excited about the new cutie that replaced him. Tuesdays, Bravo.

UP ALL NIGHT We were super bummed when Christina Applegate’s series, Samantha Who was cancelled. (Also bummed to no longer see hottie, Barry Watson once a week). So we’re thrilled she’s back in this comedy (also starring Will Arnett and Maya Rudolph) about new parents, Reagan and Chris (played by Christina and Will) who are raising a new baby later in life. The show is tackling this later in life first time parenthood that's becoming increasingly more common. Something to which Lisa can definitely relate! Plus, when we read that Christina Applegate said she'd do the show as long as her character never had to come to work with spit up on her shirt, we were in. September 14th, NBC.

PAN AM Mad Men got us all excited about the sixties. (Guess there’s something about philandering men that look like Don Draper drinking hard liquor that gets us all warm and fuzzy inside!) And now Pan Am (starring Christina Ricci!) looks like it will prove to be another exciting drama set in this time period- albeit at 30,000 feet and full of espionage. Yes, the stewardesses (that's what they were called then) partake. We love that this show is based its creator's and executive producer's actual experiences (she and the Pan Am team helped rescue Cubans during the crisis!?). Because she was a stewardess for the airline for seven years, it should prove to make the script all the more real and exciting.  September 25th, ABC.

PARENTHOOD  The Bravermans are back! But more importantly, Peter Krause is back. (Yummy!) Last year we fell for this show with its all-star cast and surprisingly relatable storylines (well most of the time anyway).  And this season, the family's timeline has fast forwarded five months where, among many other things, we find Adam (Krause) still out of work and his wife, Christina, seven months prego and working again to support them (tense!). Saw the premier last night and all we can say is we want more! September 13th, ABC.

THE GOOD WIFE We were dying at the end of last season when Alicia and Will FINALLY got their groove on after a season of sexual tension.  Easily one of the best shows on TV, The Good Wife just keeps getting better.  We can't wait to see what will happen when Peter takes office and we can't help but wish that Cary would just come back to Locke and Gardner already-we can't get enough of him! September 25th, CBS.

HAPPY ENDINGS  Happy Endings debuted in April and gained a lot of buzz. In fact, it's taking Cougar Town's spot (Don't fret-it's coming back in January!) We found it in summer reruns and haven't laughed this hard since Charlie Sheen was running around talking about winning and warlocks.  It reminds us of a cross between How I Met Your Mother and Friends.  Seriously consider checking it out-it's freakin' hilarious AND the characters like to make up their own words. (You'll have to watch to see what we mean...) September 28, ABC.

What Fall TV are you excited about?

xoxo,

L&L