It’s the talk of my town today that a Superior Court Judge shot and killed an intruder in his home. I admit that the story is a strange one, given the judge’s profession, but the shock that surrounds this story perplexes me. Is self-defense really that shocking to the rest of you? It shouldn’t be. Don’t let it be.

I have a close friend who was attacked by a masked stranger in her home while she was sleeping a few years ago. She survived that horrific incident because she fought back. Even after being woken in the middle of the night, she found the courage (and the strength) to fight for her life. The man who attacked her was a serial rapist, but he did not rape her. He ran out of her home when she wouldn’t “cooperate” – and he sits in a jail cell as I type this, largely because of my heroic friend. After hearing her story, I decided it was time for me to have a plan of action – and now I have one. I hope and pray that I’ll never have to use it, but if I need to, I will. Because not defending myself against someone who wants to harm me is just not an option.

As 8th grade as this is, it makes me laugh…

If you don’t live in Manhattan, you should not have an opinion on the mosque near Ground Zero.

Quick, huh?

I don’t typically welcome change very well. I blame it on the broken home. (Just kidding, mama! You know I loathe that term.)

My blackberry gave me a huge scare last weekend. I thought I had…wait for it…lost all of my “contacts.” For the few hours that my BB was on the fritz, it felt as if someone had stolen my purse. I kept frantically thinking, “How will I get all of my contacts back? How am I supposed to contact them if I don’t know how to contact them?”

Luckily my blackberry recovered, but when it did, I immediately started looking through my phone’s address book. I decided it was time to evaluate who to keep…and who I could stand to toss. Having had the same phone number (and same contacts list) since my freshman year of college, I found quite a few people who could be deleted, and one suspect “do not answer” number. (I’ve yet to recall who/why that existed.) There were times, though, that I’d see a person’s name and think that I could probably delete the number – but couldn’t bear to part with it. Sure, I don’t talk to one of my former colleagues that often (ok, at all), but deleting her just seems so…final. (And, one of the people passed away this year. Every time I go to delete the name and number, I just can’t do it.)

Maybe I’ll go old school and get an actual address book to write down the folks’ numbers I no longer use. Sort of a “gone out of my phone, but not forgotten” kind of thing.

The offender: Kristen Stewart

The item(s) in question: Dress, shoes and hair, worn at the the premiere of Eclipse.

My thoughts: To be fair, Kristen Stewart and everything “Twilight” related makes me want to vom. So, it’s probably accurate to say that I’ve been waiting for her to give me a reason to blast her on the world wide web. And, look what she did! She gave me a reason, bless her heart, so here goes: That dress is beyond hideous. It looks like she took an abominable snowman costume, chopped off the legs and one of the arms, and decided to call herself a designer. And, while I appreciate that she is attempting to look happy (the girl is seriously melancholy in every interview I’ve ever seen or read…gosh, it must be SUPER depressing to be a rich and famous actress), the forced smile isn’t helping the outfit.

The solution: A new stylist, from head (my hair looks better after being on the beach all day) to toe (those shoes match her flesh). Oh, and some anti-depressants, because we’re all over the “woe is me, I’m so famous that I can’t lead a normal life” bullsh*t. If you don’t want paparazzi to stalk you, here’s a suggestion: STOP being in MOVIES.

Did I mention that I don’t care for her?

Every time I start to begin a sentence with “My ex-husband,” I delete it. In my head it comes out with a deep South Georgia accent, and I just can bear to sound like someone on an episode of Cops. (Although I’m fairly certain that South Carolina appears more often than Georgia does, now that I think about it.)

At any rate…

The guy whom I was formerly married to mentioned that he recently began a new job and started seeing someone. (I will not reveal how old he told me she was, but I will tell you that she is somewhere in between 22-24, and that I’m real, real tired of women being called “cougars” and men being told “well done.”) When I told him I was happy for him, he said, “Was that a sarcastic ‘happy’?” Without skipping a beat, I replied, “No. I want you to be happy and successful in life. Just not too much.”

I said it without thinking, really, and he laughed – which was a relief. Because y’all…I mean that. Call me a bitch (if you must), but while I want him to achieve great things and live a wonderful life – I don’t necessarily want him to be the next Bill Gates.

I’m just sayin’.

Read this. I like her. I really, really like her.

Don’t you hate it when a movie that you love comes on television just as you are about to call it a night? Enter Bridget Jones’s Diary last night. Consequently, I’m sipping Diet Coke number three today because I just had to stay up for my favorite part.

My favorite part, of course, is when Mark Darcy tells Bridget that, despite her many flaws and quirks, that he likes her…just as she is. Sigh. It’s my opinion that the “just as you are” concept is the stuff that love (and like) is made of. Not romantic dinners out, flower deliveries, trips, etc. (Although, I will keep it real here, those things do help.) It’s about seeing the other person for who they are – who they truly are – and loving them for that. If you can do that, surely you can make it through most anything. Surely.

The scene:

Bridget Jones: “Look, are you and Cosmo in on this together? Because every time I see you, you seem to go out of your way to make me feel like a COMPLETE idiot. And you really needn’t bother: I already feel like an idiot most of the time anyway.”

Mark Darcy: “I don’t think you’re an idiot at all. I mean, there are elements of the ridiculous about you. Your mother’s pretty interesting. And you really are an appallingly bad public speaker. And, um, you tend to let whatever’s in your head come out of your mouth without much consideration of the consequences…But the thing is, um, what I’m trying to say, very inarticulately, is that, um, in fact, perhaps despite appearances, I like you.”

Bridget Jones: “Apart from the smoking and the drinking, the vulgar mother and…ah, the verbal diarrhea.”

Mark Darcy:
“No. I like you very much. Just as you are.”

Last Thursday night was Book Club night. We had an Italian themed spread with prosecco to boot. We ate, we drank, we laughed. We discussed the book, our failed relationships, our amazing relationships and many other things. (I think book club is sort of like therapy for me, especially in discussing this particular book.) As the conversation was winding down (and the tiramisu was being devoured), we discussed one last thing: What three countries we’d travel to if we had a year (and the funds) to do so.

For someone who is a bit of a travel junkie, this was a dangerous thing to participate in. I don’t mean to trivialize addiction(s), but for me, talking about traveling is like blowing cigarette smoke into the face of someone who is a former smoker. It makes me want to max out a credit card, turn in a leave slip…and board a plane. I wish they made a patch for this.

Back to the question. Where would I go? Spain, Italy and Ireland. Among the other responses were Egypt, Ecuador, France and Greece. Yes, yes, yes, yes. I either need to find work with a travel magazine, or set my DVR to record the travel channel nonstop.

Because I’m a glutton for punishment (and sticking with the Eat, Pray, Love theme of one year and three countries), where would you go?

• Does anyone else have a major girl crush on Bethenny Frankel? (She makes me laugh out loud.)
• Does anyone else eat more during the summer and less during the winter?
• Does anyone else think that birthday calls are still required by close friends? (Facebook and emails are nice, but I still prefer a call.)
• Does anyone else have a ridiculously messy purse?
• Does anyone else wonder who falls for the ‘debt consolidation’ commercials?
• Does anyone else have friends who have a little too much to drink at a wedding and knock someone over on the dance floor? (If not, you should get some.)
• Does anyone shop online and then not follow through with the purchase? (I would save more time driving to the store and trying the item on.)
• Does anyone else watch The Rachel Zoe Project and admit it out loud?
• Does anyone else wish football season would take a little longer to get here?
• Does anyone else loathe car shopping?
• Does anyone else decide what they are wearing that day while in the shower?
• Does anyone else skim the newspaper but read US Weekly or other celeb gossip websites intently?
• Does anyone else feel guilty for using their car horn? (It just seems so rude.)