Sweet Jesus, I crashed and burned on the raw foods diet today.  After my reading at the Tidewater Barnes and Noble in Norfolk, Virginia, I had 12 hours to kill–I was at the mall, absolutely starving, and there was nothing to eat.  I thought, “Screw it, it’s Saturday, one day off the regimen while on tour won’t kill me.”  And so…oh, God, I feel embarrassed just admitting it…I had Burger King.  I know.  I know.  It was that, Sbarro, China King, or an ice cream sundae.  I tried to choose the lesser of the evils by having a chicken sandwich, but the damage was done.  I went to see “The Reader” afterwards and ordered a popcorn, Diet Coke and Sour Patch Kids.  (Well, seeing as I was already on the path to destruction…)  My stomach is currently killing me and I can’t wait to start afresh tomorrow.  Bring on the veggies!

I always feel half-guilty when I think Renee Zellweger looks stunning, mostly because she’s often way too skinny, and I feel I should be concentrating on the razorblades passing as her shoulder bones.  Can’t help it–this woman played Bridget Jones and was in Jerry Maguire (hello, two of my top three movies of all time!), so I’ll always be rooting for her.  I so deeply, desperately wish she would drop the pouty, bee-stung, Posh Spice face, but you can’t win ‘em all.  She looks awesome in red (even with THE CLAW! fists she’s making) and the classic hair and makeup is fail-proof.

Longtime Jolie readers will remember that I used to cover Jessica Simpson a lot back in the day.  I was hoping to let the nasty comments surrounding recent photos go unnoticed as not to add fuel to the fire, but I thought a statement Ashlee Simpson issued was worthy of reprinting.

“I am completely disgusted by the headlines concerning my sister’s weight.  A week after the inauguration and with such a feeling of hope in the air for our country, I find it completely embarrassing and belittling to all women to read about a woman’s weight or figure.  All women come in different shapes, sizes, and forms and just because you’re a celebrity, there shouldn’t be a different standard…How can we expect teenage girls to love and respect themselves in an environment where we criticize a size 2 figure?  Now can we focus on the things that really matter.”

Let’s be real here–Jessica Simpson is totally gorgeous, is working her butt off trying to establish a country career (which is more than you can say for the majority of coasting fame-wannabes in the industry) and her weight is nobody’s damn business.  To all the bloggers and media outlets gleefully raking Jessica over the coals and picking her apart: for shame.  It’s gross.

Special thanks to the Penn SDT’s for hosting me today!  After my readings at Barnes and Noble and the SDT house, I made a stop near my hotel at the Douglas Cosmetics beauty store, which a hugely beauty obsessed girl recommended to me today before my reading.  Douglas, for those of you not aware (I certainly wasn’t!) is a German beauty emporium which is huge in Europe, a la Sephora, but only has 13 stores in the United States.  I wandered into the store, and was immediately drawn into a conversation with a lovely beauty advisor named Joie Lazaroff, who helped me stumble upon a few can’t-miss finds.  This is what most caught my eye:

Stila The A-Lister Set: For only $40, you’ll get a collection of Stila’s bestsellers, including 4 eyeshadow shades, a convertible lip/cheek color in Peony, tinted moisturizer, mascara and lip gloss.  Worth every penny!

Pop Beauty Bronzed Pop: A gold clutch containing a variety of the sexiest bronze shades of eye shadow, blush and lipgloss under the sun–perfect for creating a beauty glow all year long!

Deva Fuser Diffuser:  An innovation from New York’s Devachan curl studio, you place this claw-shaped diffuser amidst your wet curls and it gently airdries them into perfect, frizz-free ringlets.

I just landed in Philly after a semi-brutal 12 hours of traveling–bad when you consider that it was only supposed to take five hours, but not too terrible in the grand scheme of airport delays.  Stop one on my book tour is the University of Pennsylvania; I’ll be at the UPenn Barnes and Noble bookstore at 2pm tomorrow reading and signing, and then the Penn SDT chapter is hosting a private event for me in the evening.  Thanks, ladies!

So far, it’s been exciting: the hotel is gorgeous, and HarperCollins provided me with an author AmEx for meals and incidentals.  While I was clutching my author packet and riding up in the elevator to my room, I was struck by a feeling of the deepest happiness and gratitude.  Even before the current economic meltdown, the publishing industry has been shaky, and book tours are rare nowadays; so the fact that I’m getting to experience one is pretty damn cool.  Walking down the hallway (okay, here’s where Jolie turns a little batty!), I could have sworn I felt my mother’s presence alongside me, as if drawn to me by my silent moment of thanks with the universe.  (Thinking of you, mama!)  I dedicated Confessions of a Beauty Addict to my mom Nancy, and one of the things I will cherish forever is the fact that she saw a copy with her dedication page in it before she died.  She was only about halfway through the book when she passed, but both she and my father told me she cried when she saw I’d dedicated it to her.

For those of you keeping track, by the way: yes, I am still on the raw diet!  I was a total crazypants on the plane today, and actually brought along a bag of food to keep from getting derailed by the gross airport grub.  I stopped at Whole Foods before my shuttle picked me up and bought a raw “sandwich” and raw salad, some bananas and apples, flaxseed “trail mix” and a few raw fruit bars to nibble on if I’m suddenly hungry.  Kim Snyder from Envision Beauty has been checking in along the way, and sent me a list of tips for a raw diet while traveling and on the cheap.  (Actually, I just checked her blog, and she posted the tips, so thanks, Kim!)  It’ll be tricky sticking to the diet while on the road, but I’m going to do my best!

Friends!  My second book, Confessions of a Beauty Addict, goes on sale tomorrow.  If you haven’t bought it yet, and especially if you liked Beauty Confidential or enjoy fun, breezy reads like the Shopaholic series and Meg Cabot’s books, or liked the insidery dish of The Devil Wears Prada, then please buy it–and tell your friends!  It’s pretty hard for novels that aren’t written by Dan Brown, Danielle Steel, JK Rowling or Stephenie Meyer to make a dent in the marketplace nowadays, so we up-and-coming writers often get lost in the mix.  As I’ve said before, Confessions is not exactly a literary masterpiece, but it is a well-written (if I do say so myself!), zippy, gossipy, page-turning romp through the world of beauty, and I think you’ll not only love lead character Bella Hunter, but adore her grumpy-but-sexy boss James Michaels.

I started Confessions almost five years ago, writing in my spare time in my apartment on 81st and Lexington, never dreaming that it would ever get published.  My goal was to write the perfect chick-lit novel; a romantic, quick-witted book that a smart girl with an English degree could lose herself in on the beach while not feeling as though she was losing brain cells.  I hope I’ve succeeded, and I really hope you find out for yourselves–and love it!

It’s only 6pm but I’m going to bed in a few minutes.  I’m waking at 3:30 am tomorrow for 25 radio call-ins to promote the book (over the span of five hours!) and then am leaving on Wednesday morning for my five-city book tour on the East Coast.  Maybe this will be the only time in my life I get to experience a “real” book tour (of course, I dream of a day when I can write full-time and still live the life I want, but Jolie is also realistic here!), so I’m going to attempt to enjoy every minute of it.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for reading and staying with me through the journey.

Love,

Nadine