Big Winners

I have FIVE lucky winners to annouce for the A is for Admission:

drumroll please

Allie of MamaOTwins+1, Alice H., Heather, Karen

Ladies, emails have been sent, you have 24 hours to respond or another winner will be chosen.

AND NOW

The one you are all waiting for

drumroll again please

The Winner of the Harry Connick Jr CD is:

Amanda Short (Shortmama)

Your email has been sent and you have 24 hours to respond or another winner will be chosen.

CONGRATS!!

Remember folks, Revenge Is giveaway still going on ends October 26

AND

Herring Holiday Hunting 2009, The Five Fish Gift Guide

begins

November 1st

LOTS AND LOTS of great gift ideas AND GIVEAWAYS!!!

A is for Admission: Review and Giveaway

Some of you may or may not know that I am a reformed text book junkie. For the last few years I had been hooked on my text books for college. One of the many downfalls of obtaining a degree is the endless reading of boring text.

Hatchette Books reformed me and I am happy to say they started my rehab off of text books quite well with The Twilight Saga and of course Bound To Please (which was HOT HOT HOT).

I was happy when they contacted me to broaden my reading horizons with this HIGHLY informative book by Michele Hernandez, "A is for Admission" (1999).

I will tell you that this book is a must have for any parent with any aged child. I wish this book was published when I was applying to colleges some-teen years ago after I graduated high school. My dream was to attend an Ivy League college. I am, and was, an academic snob in that sense. I wanted the best education possible, but I could not afford the tuition prices that accompany the Ivy League education status. Some kids, and most parents, want the best for their child and an Ivy League education is on the list of wants but cannot always have as the stigma of you have to have money or know someone or be someone to get into an Ivy League school. Michele helps to share the dirty truths on Ivy League admissions.

Here is the skinny on A is for Admission:

About Author

Michele A. Hernandez graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Dartmouth College in 1989. She served as an assistant director of admissions at Dartmouth College from 1992 to 1997. Currently, she is the president of Hernandez College Consulting LLC, one of the nation's leading firms on helping students gain admission into top colleges.

Description

For generations, the admissions process of the Ivy League schools has been cloaked in mystery and myth. Now, a former admissions officer at Dartmouth College reveals how the most selective schools make their decisions.


A is for Admission from Karie Herring on Vimeo.

Now I started reading this and at first I was thinking okay this will just be a tutorial and guide of how to apply to an Ivy League school. WRONG!! This is your ultimate walk-through guide, Bible, and handbook for insider secrets to the admissions process to some of the most ELITE schools. You know them, Harvard, Dartmouth, Yale, Princeton, to name a few. Like I said, I wish I had this for myself when I was looking to apply to colleges some-odd-teen years ago.

Michele details the process in the beginning of the book drawing the no name face of the admissions staff. A Hodgepodge if you will of Ivy League grads and "Average Joe's (Jane's)" skimming through piles and piles of over glorified or under-reviewed applications from the most prestigious families whose children have never gone without, to those families who are barely getting by, but the applicant is the diamond in the rough.

The author, Michele Hernandez, goes on to share the intricate details from the moment your child begins their educational career. Not to push your child too hard, but keep them on the brink of "Challenge" so that they strive harder for themselves, to work towards that not so lofty goal, of a college education, that everyone can attend university and an Ivy League at that.

I resonated with this book so much not only as a college graduate myself, but because I was academically gifted and financially challenged which made an Ivy League dream impossible, or so I thought. After reading A is for Admission I have promising dreams now for my own children to go after that dream of an Ivy League education, that they too can meet their goals and fulfill their dreams.

If you are like me and want to know the insiders secrets to applying and being accepted to an Ivy League college your buck stops here because Hatchette Books and I are giving away FIVE (5), yes FIVE, copies of A is for Admission to The Five Fish readers. Get a sneak peek of inside of the book too over @ Hatchette.

Here are the deets for entering to win:

Now I for one busted my own hump to finish my undergrad with kids, pregnant, working, the whole bit. So I want to hear YOUR story of a college dream and or the college dream for your kids. Leaving me this comment is the FIRST along with your VALID email address as a must to be entered to win one of the five(5) copies.

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CONTEST ENDS OCTOBER 11TH


*Disclaimer: For all The Five Fish transparency and disclosure policies, 
be sure to click the link Looking in the Fish Bowl.

I got a new drug

I hear that the road to recovery begins with admission. So I am here as an addict to tell you of my illness. My admission towards a full or at least some sort of haphazardly recovery. I know my addiction hurts, time passes and I fail to see it. I cannot get enough. My family is slowly suffering because I have avoided cleaning the house, making full, healthy and complete meals, laundry has been mounting almost like an attack.

This is the explanation for my not blogging. I have so wanted to blog. To share in my stories of what the Squids have been accomplishing, or attempted accomplishments in their opinion, the first day of school was today, how my kids are growing so fast before my eyes. I feel like I blinked and now Big G went from birth to young kindergarten to all day kindergarten this year. The gnomes are getting so big, 18 months this month and I wonder where the time has passed. Just yesterday they were having a WWF wrestling match in my abdomen for kicking space.

I feel like my addiction just in the last week has really gotten in the way. I thought I had it under control. I had not had any problems in the last 15 years until now. Now of all times. Now when my life is in peak with the soap company, PTO, my twin mom group since I am the National Rep for our local chapter and the donations coordinator.....NOW?! Why now!!??

So I am working on the first step towards recovery. I am admitting I have a problem. It rules my every waking moment that when I sleep I sometimes have correlating dreams to my addiction, to my need, my fuel, my burn. My ache for more.

But before you all get all bent on me....let me just tell you what my addiction is so we are all on the level and you can see my story, hear my story. Help me find the right support group because I know this sort of problem is on the rise.

READING

I cannot.
STOP.
READING!!

Gotcha didn't I?

Yes I am the new found Twilight addict. I finished the entire series in less than a week. I finished Breaking Dawn in one day flat! So I am an addict to reading now that I am on a roll I cannot stop. I need more. I need more books to entertain my mind. Also helps with Big G at school so then I can read. So if you know of a great Readers Anonymous self help group I am all ears!!

Bound to Please, Book Review

Books I think are the most wonderful creation to man kind. Books and stories to me are like a mini fantasy and or they tell a spectacular story of rich history. I love books because I choose the face of the characters, not some Hollywood director that will gross the crap out of me on admission for two hours plus popcorn. I get to choose what the scenery and backdrop would look like including the weather. I get to choose based on my knowledge and imagination.

I recently received a book from Hatchette Book Group and the book is a romance novel. Now last contemporary romance type drama book I read was a Candance Bushnell book.....Four Blondes and before that.....I can not recall because of school.

For the last three years, eight months, and some odd days I have been a text book addict in need of some rehab. Hatchette Book Group was my detox!! I love them for sending me this book because the romance novel I chose to read was just awesome.

Most romance novels have that stigma. You know...the one where Fabio graces the cover and just wreaks of soft porn gone bad. I mean worse than daytime soap opera love scenes with the bad 80's music and the diffused lighting.....you know what I mean?

This romance novel had me from the get-go! I honestly, could NOT put the book down. I mean I had put the book down only because of the hubs and the Gnomes, but I seriously did not want to put it down. I was hooked! The book is truly HOT!! Lilli Feisty does a SUPERB job of finding that adjective to burn into your soul the meaning and feelings behind the scene in the chapters. She reaches into your inner being, the place every woman has been, but the thought and idea is taboo.

I have to say that Bound to Please was a real pleasure for me to read.

Here is an excerpt from the book:

Ruby Scott is a beautiful, quiet event planner who leads an oh-so-respectable life. Yet the things that go on in her secret fantasies are anything but. She has every intention of keeping her hidden desires under wraps-until she meets a gorgeous, hard-muscled man ten years her junior. Mark St. Crow is a gifted, up-and-coming musician who collects erotic art and loves to "play" women as much as his piano. After one night of uninhibited passion, Ruby realizes there's no turning back. But as she surrenders to her deepest needs and lets Mark control every forbidden thrill, her passion for him builds. Can the wild, intoxicating nights they share lead to a love that will last forever?

Erotic, hot, sexy, devious, bold, flirtatious, steamy and fun.
I would say definitely a favorite romance novel for my night stand.
Seriously this book is not and I mean NOT your typical romance novel, but a whole lot of fun to read and makes you want more once you are done.


*Disclaimer: For all The Five Fish transparency and disclosure policies, 
be sure to click the link Looking in the Fish Bowl.