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by Kate Pearce
There's no one reading this is there? It's summer so everyone is off doing interesting stuff, not reading blogs, right? Cool, because I decided I needed to unburden myself of some of my guilty pleasures. So here they are, in no particular order.
1. Cowboys-I know, you're all blown away by that revelation aren't you? I love them. Real cowboys don't talk much but watch them gentle a horse or ride at a lope and you just 'know' that they'd be good with a woman. (I have been told by several people that this is indeed true-yum)
2. Trashy magazines and reality shows
Okay I am addicted to People magazine and have been known to scan through 'Hello'occasionally but that doesn't mean I'd actually buy them, okay? I just read them whenever I happen to come across them at the dentist or, or anywhere. Even worse, I've watched every series of "America's Next Top Model" and have a strange affinity for "Lockup", which for those of you not yet watching it, is all about the insides of America's prisons. Fascinating stuff.
3. Lingerie.
I get a secret thrill that under the boring jeans, sweaters and fleeces lurks the sexiest underwear. I’m the currently unfashionable hour glass shape, with a waist and boobs so I like to treasure and appreciate my curves with the best I can afford. Most days it’s the French brand Chantelle because the fit is incredible and I’m a weird size, (blame the narrow back I’m all in proportion). It’s hard to find decent sexy bra’s in weird sizes and believe me, I’ve searched everywhere.
The other brand I love, but only buy for very special occasions, see picture above, is Agent Provocateur, a British brand made in France (hence the staggering cost). Go check out their website, particularly the video of Kylie Minogue on the bull-riding machine-very memorable. They make underwear which is classy, sexy and appreciated by me and my man. Okay, I admit, some of it I buy for him, but mostly it’s just for me. It’s good to feel sexy even beneath those boring jeans. I got the two sets in the picture for my birthday.
4. Cowboy boots
I have the curse of the cankles so most boot shopping expeditions leave me in tears and ringing up my mother to complain about the unfairness of genetics. So cowboy boots were something of a revelation to me. I even wrote a book with a hero who makes cowboy boots and enjoyed learning the process along the way. This is a picture of my favorite pair.
5. Taking a stroll in Home Depot
Those of you in the UK, not that anyone is reading this of course, might wonder what this means. I'm not sure if there is an equivalent home improvement/DIY store to Home Depot. You have to imagine B&Q or Home Base filled with swarthy real-life contractors with tool belts and big hands and power tools. So if ever I'm feeling a bit down about my rapidly aging body, I slap on some makeup and a low-cut T-shirt (and pants etc obviously I'm not that desperate) and take a stroll around Home Depot. Trust me, if you can't get a few appreciative glances in there amongst the real workers of the land, you are probably dead.
6.Dieux De Stade
My next guilty pleasure isn’t on my person and is actually several persons. It’s stashed away in my closet hidden from my kids and my lovely husband. It’s the 2008 Dieux De Stade. (God’s of the Stadium) calendar, kindly produced by the French rugby team to promote, um, rugby, I believe. I have to hide it because, by God, those are some of the hottest men I’ve ever seen and I don’t want my very buff hubby to get jealous. This is Mauro by the way, and yes he does have chained ankles. He has a brother too... but I'm keeping that picture all to myself.
7. Licking my book covers.
I'm sorry, but when they look as good as this new cover for SECURED MAIL (out in ebook form on July 30th from Ellora's Cave) How can you not lick them?
Wow, I feel so much better now sharing my guilty pleasures with the nothingness of the internet...
Of course-if anyone would care to share a guilty secret with me in the comments, I might pick my favorite and send them one of my books...
Friday, July 11, 2008
Guilty Pleasures...
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46 comments:
Hi Kate!! Now that cover is so good! I love your cowboy covers too. They stay on my keepers shelf here.
Gosh, besides books, one of my guilty pleasures is chocolate covered coconut!!! I love the freshest ones and gosh there is none here!!!
I too used to love to collect different decks of cards! There were so many fascinating ones that I loved to collect them but when I realized they'd be alot, I stopped, but I never fail to check them out at different sites and stores!
OMG! I can't not believe you owned up to lickin' your book covers. Mind you, I can't say the thought of lickin' what's on some of them hasn't crossed my mind. LOL
My guilty pleasure would have to be getting to read all the great books I review in my other outfit. Authors always thank you for your hard work but really, how hard can it be to read a book and then shout about it to the world! Yep, getting to pass my guilty pleasure off as work has to top the list.
RC
* Old British sitcoms -- they're the perfect no-thought-required stress viewing, like a cup of tea and a shortbread cookie for your brain.
* Really bad junk food. (Pringles. Snack cakes, God save us all. Nothing like the taste of high-fructose corn syrup in the morning.)
* Smutty fanfiction. Hey, everyone needs a hobby.
I'm ashamed to say that one of mine is:
The Wedding Planner starring Jennifer Lopez.
*ashamed*
Others:
Cheese on Toast
REALLY slobby clothes (huge tee shirts, the oldest trousers)
Staying in bed all day
Hammer Horror
Love it, Kate! Okay, I'll come clean and join you holding thumbs that everyone's frolicking in the splendid weather. Fat chance. Any more of this rain & we'll be flooding again, like last year. So, sorry but the Brits now all know your guilty secrets, 'cos we're curled up indoors.
I hate and despise celebrity magazines and am far too intellectual to buy one, which is why when I go to the loo at a friend's house I disappear for three hours. And come back ashamed, self-loathing, but fully informed about a whole lot of celebrities whose names I didn't even know. Definitely a guilty pleasure!
I don't lick my book covers, but I sniff my books - I sniff everything - and if there's a beautiful aftershave, I sneak around like a wolf scenting the air until I've located the culprit. Trying not to let anyone notice, obviously.
As for the home depot - the engineering department at university performed much the same service. You walked in one end feeling depressed and lumpy and out the other end like God's gift to mankind. Or, at least, to engineers...
And of course, really guilty pleasure because I don't do saturated fats or MSG or pre-made food or any of that, but a packet of hot Korean instant noodles? Bring it on! (I don't feel guilty about eating it in front of Farscape, though.)
Most of my guilty pleasures are too horrible to reveal in public! LOL
Obviously I don't feel guilty enough about anything as I can't think of any. I spend lots of time ogling Gackt et al on YouTube, but that's not a guilty pleasure. It's research.
Is smugness a guilty pleasure? I like to stand by the window with my coffee in the morning, so I can see the rush-hour traffic that I'm not in. And on a day like this, when the sun goes in, the wind comes up, and black storm clouds edge across, I like to think of people in offices while I make my cocoa and wrap a blanket around my waist.
P.S. My apologies to everyone reading this in an office. If it's any consolation, I have to do my own tax returns...
My guilty secret is that I eat some of my husband's horribly fattening snacks and hide the wrappers.
Just one question: why is it that we should feel guilty if something gives us pleasure? LOL. Aren't there enough things in this world that bring us incredible amounts of stress? Shouldn't we be embracing those things that make us smile?
That being said -
my guilty pleasures - re-runs of
21 Jump Street. Johnny Depp and Peter DeLuise....no way you can go wrong there.
I finally conquered my guiltiest pleasure - the reading of tabloids. After the OJ Simpson trial, when I discovered that the Enquirer prints TRUE stories,I started reading it and the others every week.
They were hilarious! I loved the writing style - example - a story about Monica Lewinsky referred to her as 'the portly presidential paramour.'
I read every story, which meant that for a few years I knew everything about Kathie Lee and Leeza Gibbons etc. without ever having actually seen their shows.
Usually, I'd enjoy a tub of gummy worms whilst indulging in the magazines...reading them one after the other...until all the worms and mags were done and the sun was creeping over the horizon.
Eventually, I ditched the worms, and then, not without some difficulty, the magazines as well.
By then they no longer tickled my funny bone, so it was easier to let them go.
Oh! I had a subscription to 'The New Yorker' at the same time, but it ended first. Somehow, without the NYer to balance my magazine reading, the tabloids became much more shameful.
Now I read books again.
Phew.
Hi Caffey! How are you?
Chocolate covered coconut eh? I have a secret stash of Cadbury's chocolate brought over by by MIL once a year from the UK. I keep it hidden from everyone :)
rhian-I agree and I think being an author and getting paid to make stuff up comes quite close to being a guilty pleasure :)
I HATE reality tv...but I can't make myself stop watching America's Next Top Model every season.
Hey Carla!
I'm a big fan of old UK sitcoms too, particularly 'the Good Life'. I had a terrible girl crush on Felicity Kendall.
smutty fan fiction-absolutely, particularly the m/m variety
Erastes...I'm still trying to picture you watching the Wedding Planner...is it the fab Ms J or Mr Fiennes who does it for you?
Olivia-ah yes, the engineering dept. I experienced a similar effect when I used to deliberately walk through the land of nerds at the Science and Engineering Research Council computer dept.
Portia and Madelynne-you are obviously fine upstanding individuals who don't need to confess anything into the void of the internet-I'm so impressed :)
angell-I think it's because I was brought up a Catholic-and guilt is simply a pleasure :)
And Johnnie Depp? Perfect
Hi Crystal! I Know! I just can't stop though I know its staged and awful.
Madeline-gummy worms and trashy literature? I'm so with you...
Hmm, what am I not guilty enough about to reveal? Not that one. Oooo, or that one. Well, saying eating avocados will probably get me stoned in the town square.
I do enjoy reading my own fan fiction. Seriously, I have megabytes of the stuff and I read it all about once a year.
Making snarky comments about the fashion challenged. Not that I'm Coco Channel, but don't you have to wonder what some people were thinking when they got dressed?
Asking people to guess my age. Gosh that's just getting more fun as time goes by. I can pass for 10 years younger than I am and have been guessed lower than that. Good genes (and good hair dye.)
wow, you just named many of my guilty pleasures!
I have to add young hot British soccer coaches to my list...
Hey Kate!
I'm with you on Cowboys and the cowboys boots. I have seven pair of boots. One pair was a huge splurge. They're custom made. Love 'em.
And since I'm dating a ex-rugby player... I can add a big fat "Yummm" to that one too.
~Mari
Charlotte-I make a lot of snarky comments about the fashion-challenged-do you read "Go Fug Yourself? They rock.
I'm not sure I'd dare ask people to guess my age...
Oh Ms Mel...I should've known we'd share our guilties-that's why we get along so well-although I'll give you the British soccer coaches-unless one of them was David Beckham :)
Hey Mari!
Dating an ex-rugby player eh? good for you-does he look anything like dear Mauro-if so I might be round.
I am going to get myself a custom-made pair of cowboys boots when I can afford to really splurge. yhey sure aren't cheap.
Crystalgb-eating your husbands high calorie snacks is in fact very noble and self-sacrificing of you-you are saving him and like a super hero not even expecting thanks-I'm in awe.
Hummm??? Not sure if my rugby player looks like yours... I need to see a bigger picture. Care to give up that calendar???
LOL Or at least a link to a virtual version of it.
~Mari
Oh boy, where do I start?
Eating Nerds candy. I love it. How can you go wrong with sugar coated sugar?
Watching live college men's water polo, and swimming. My younger brother was on the teams so I had an excuse to ogle everyone but him. Yay for almost nearly naked and waxed college boys.
Dancing with the Stars. I'm addicted to it, and I don't care who knows it. It goes back to another secret pleasure of mine, watching old Fred Astaire movies with my Grandma.
Giving myself french manicures. I love it when my hands look sexy.
Costumes.
And reading Harry Potter over and over and over.
Chessie-waxed young men in water...yes I can definitely see the attraction :)
And I'm a big fan of Dancing with the Stars too-but I only feel a little bit guilty about that,
Well Cate, mine are simply movies with hubby. I love to cuddle up with him and watch the latest flick. Solitary pleasures, well, the internet. It's a serious addiction, man, but it makes me happy.
Leigh-cuddling with your husband is a pure pleasure (for you I mean not me)-I wouldn't feel at all guilty if I were you :)
Supernatural - those two guys are hot!
I used to love watching Moonlight, it was so romantic in parts, as well but the powers that be canceled it.
Oh and my other guilty pleasure is that I love musical theatre.
The rest I'm not even willing to talk about!!
Deanna, you Brits and your secrets :) you need to live in California for 10 years like me and then it just all hangs out-literally
Eating Nutella while watching Pretty Woman. Yup.
And wazza cankle? (Have I asked you that before?)
America's Next Top Model, Tila Tequila's A Shot at Love, Avril Lavigne, and Christopher Pike.
I love knowing that when I see you in a few weeks, I'll know what you're wearing under your clothes...*G*
And yeah-trashy magazines and reality shows? Love them!
And wazza cankle?
Cankle=Calf-ankle--it means that your calf doesn't slim at the ankle. It's like your calf goes straight to your foot.
We call them Tankles: Think ankles and I've also her Thankles.
Does that help Gina?
Of course, I think Naughty Kate is exaggerating a bit.
After seeing that cover I can understand the pleasure of licking :D
However I personally am not feeling guilty at any of my pleasures - though I do love such things as chocolate, reading and collecting (soft toys and earrings mostly) I have never felt guilty about any of it. *wonders if the guilty switch was left at off when born*
Gina-do you eat your nutella off a sppn or finger?
Magdalune-do you do all those things at once? Sounds like fun :) Yay another ANTM fan
Eden-glad you'll be thinking about me and my undies :)
Mel-thanks for the cankle answer!
Ilona-I love people who don't have guilt-I'm so impressed
I have no guilt about these pleasures - (devilish grin)
Lacey knickers, Lacey bras, lacey camisoles, Cagney and Lacey...
( kidding about Cagney and Lacey, tho the Theme Tune is cool)
dipping chocolate bars into hot steaming coffee and licking of the rapidly melting chocolate.
Older wisecracking guys like Lt Provenza from The Closer (Hey, it's not just the young guns who can turn a girls head!!)
Stroking cats. Especially big purry ones that settle on your lap and won't budge.
My guilty secret is that at 22 years of age I have National Trust membership AND love watching Time Team.
And I also write erotica... talk about different ends of the scale, eh?
Thanks for the lovely men BTW! ;)
Dark chocolate M&Ms and pcitures of naked younger men. Being an an artist with a fresh bag of candy in the house, you know how I'm spending the day...
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