I’m trying to convince my husband that as a Health Education student and a future Health and Fitness professional, I need this shoe for my career. I wonder if it would count as a tax write-off, because this is a seriously hot shoe. I’m supposed to be saving money for our rapidly impending move, but I REALLY WANT THIS SHOE.

Okay, how to even begin without spoilers?

Finally, with Book 7, J.K. Rowling brings her epic Harry Potter series to a close. For those who complained that Book 6 was all talk, and no action, fasten your seat-belts. Deathly Hallows is just the opposite. It’s fast-paced. Violent. Creepy. It’s good, but also sort of ultimately unsatisfying. I mean, it ended the only way that it could (great battle between good and evil, losses on both sides, some heart-wrenching), but I guess I wished for something else. And while I understand that to give it a sweet, bubble-gum ending would be to cheat the fans out of everything they’ve been waiting for, damn! the death count is high. Rowling admitted in advance to the deaths of two major characters, but there are more. Way more. Some of the deaths I predicted (the one that is handled at the Shell Cottage), others had to happen (and we all knew it). But the very first loss crushed me (hint: the character was in every single book, but never spoke a line–I was sad through the rest of the book over that one), some of the ones at the end just sucked, and I don’t think the ultimate gain was really all that rewarding.

On top of that, the end of the book gets strange. Really weird and sort of hard to understand. The action is rolling along, Harry is after the horcruxes, everyone is fighting an epic battle, and then bam! Harry looks in the Pensieve and sees something that just pisses you off. But he goes with it, only it doesn’t work out as planned, and the book picks up again. There’s just this strange lull in the middle of the climax and the final showdown is kind of a letdown, in my opinion.

But aside from all the fighting, the book wraps up some other loose ends. I have to give Rowling credit for paying attention and tying things together. We learn a lot about Dumbledore and his family, which is great, because he becomes a lot more human, but he also becomes less likeable, and I can’t decide which version I prefer. Aberforth Dumbledore finally gets introduced, even though we all knew he was the bartender at the Hog’s Head. Bill and Fleur get married. Neville gets his chance to shine; Luna proves she’s not so looney; Kreacher warms up to Harry; the Malfoys are the tiniest bit redeemed; and our heroes get the drop on Bellatrix three times! And at last, we finally learn the truth about Snape, and Harry’s reaction is even stronger than I would have expected. His real opinion about Severus is made clear in the epilogue, which is quirky in itself, and makes me certain that if Rowling ever does revisit Hogwarts, it won’t be Harry she’s writing about.

To sum it up? I love Harry Potter, and I devoured this book in 7 hours! It’s great to know how things happened, but I’m not sure how I feel about the resolution. I think I liked it, but maybe I need to read it again!

Note: did anyone else notice that the book is apparently set in 1997?

The Washington Post’s website has a really cool interactive salad spinner. Composed of concentric rings containing a plethora of ingredients, you simply select your favorite greens, vegetable, protein, fruits/nuts, cheese, and dressing, and voila! a delicious customized salad recipe. There are endless choices, so you can really play around with your options and make some unusual salads. Fun!

Bray’s third book in the Gemma Doyle series, The Sweet Far Thing, drops December 26.

Eclipse, the highly-anticipated third book in Meyer’s Twilight series, lands August 7.

Yay!

So, Carmen Electra is pretty hot. I mean, I guess that’s kind of obvious in a certain way, since she was on Baywatch and in Playboy, and her movie roles tend to focus on her physical assets. But she’s more than just a collection of well-proportioned parts. I remember when she had her MTV show (Carmen and Dave: Til Death Do Us Part) that what I liked most was just getting to know about her: what kind of clothes she liked, how she decorated her house…that kind of stuff. She’s interesting, and funny, and charming, and I totally get why she became famous, when other equally pretty girls end up as waitresses or porn stars. She has that total package thing going.

Anyway, earlier this month I read her book How to Be Sexy. On one hand, it was not that inventive: be yourself, have confidence, wear clothes that make you feel good, etc. But, on the other hand, it’s encouraging to know that someone who is considered universally sexy is also pretty normal. She shares her favorite makeup tips (stick with the colors that work for you, but don’t be afraid to try “personas”) and hair suggestions (short hair doesn’t work for Carmen), as well as other tidbits: she’s afraid of eyelash curlers, she’s spent years learning to know what kinds of clothes look best on her body, she advocates good posture and hot lingerie. In other words, sexy is attainable for anyone, and you can be your own form of sexy, even if you don’t look like Carmen.

I also just watched disc 1 of her 5-disc cardio striptease series. I think that so many people get caught up in Carmen the Playmate that they forget she’s also a classically trained dancer. She’s in amazing shape, and is super flexible. I liked the DVD because she does a 15 minute warm-up that shows all the basic “stripper” moves in slow motion, and then she demonstrates two different routines. She breaks everything down into learnable blocks, and she teaches it both in 8-count segments and then along with the music. It’s fun, silly, sexy, and apparently a really good workout. There are also little tips that flash along the bottom of the screen that point out which moves work which muscle, i.e. pelvic thrusts engage the hard-to-reach lower abdominals. All in all, it was a fun little workout, and I’m looking forward to watching the rest of the series.