It’s hosted by Angie Everhart (ex of Ashley Hamilton), Shar Jackson (the pregnant girlfriend who got ditched by Kevin Federline and then had to watch his romance with Britney Spears in color – ouch),  and Marla Maples (one of Donald Trump’s ex-wives).

The one I saw brought up several issues for me.

First, divorce is extraordinarily painful for everyone involved. Period. We gloss it over with the assumption that we all can move on, but the pain that comes through the show, even on the spouses that chose to leave, is palpable.

Second, they used this therapy where they repeated over and over the negative things their spouse told them about themselves. For instance, the woman’s husband had called her “a selfish, mean bitch” so the therapy was to repeat “I am a selfish, mean bitch” and have everyone else in the group repeat it, until it lost its emotional significance. This is a suspect therapy in my opinion. If you buy into the concept that what you focus on expands then you will only become more of a selfish mean bitch using this therapy. You just won’t care so much about having someone point that out.

Third, the man who had been emotionally cheated on had some legitimate issues. For one thing he needed a make-over to be able to date anyone. He looked like a dork with terribly disgusting teeth and wore bad clothes. This resulted in him having a low self esteem and prevented his wife from French kissing him throughout their marriage. I just sat there thinking if the guy had bothered to get his teeth fixed and buy some new clothes during the marriage, his wife might not have wanted to find a more appealing lover. It pissed me off that he would go to all the effort of a make-over to get a date, but would not put the effort into the wife he already had. The same could be applied to a woman who wore disgusting sweat pants and didn’t shave her armpits or wear make up during a marriage, but dolled herself up as soon as dating became an option.

Post from: Blisstree

Ex-Wives Club

What cracked me up was the sub-title: …And Why We Love Them!

The usual suspects appeared on the cover: Paris, Lindsay, Nicole, Britney — the lot.

Suddenly I found it irresistible to come up with a “most annoying” list for some people I’ve worked with — in the same editorial style as Star.

Here’s mine**:

• Mary in charge of travel and expenses — for always, ALWAYS calling me on the occasional 3:00am cocktail at the Philadelphia Ritz Carlton. (apparently she doesn’t buy the “beverage” description that I’ve tried to fool her with).
• Bill in legal who simply finds it morally impossible to not re-write my entire product brochures. (apparently, “It’s theee not thuh)
• Kenny in procurement who simply can’t find it in his heart to just let me have the most recent copy of Adobe or the fabulous new Herman Miller chairs.
• Barbara in marketing who knows how to leverage my short comings at important meetings.
• Beverly, my co-worker who wears her Manolo’s in the snow…and even more annoyingly…to company picnics.
• And last but not least, James, the CEO who makes more money in 2 minutes than I will make in a month…and then says…”gosh…how do people live on that?”

If Trump worked at my company, he’d be on the list too for treating Rosie like total rubbish…as would Rosie for taking the bait.

** Of course this is a fantasy list so the people are not real but the circumstances are…:).

Post from: Blisstree

STAR MAGAZINE’S 2006 “MOST ANNOYING” LIST!

In the end, Mr. Trump let her stay Miss (is it Ms.?) USA. But she has to perform her duties while in rehab.

Oh Boo Hoo! What did I just say about holiday partying and young women!

Keep your shirts on and your booze under control.

And by the way…if this were you or I who’d done this at work…damn straight we’d have our crown removed.

But she’s blonde and he’s Trump.

And speaking of trashy celebrity news…how nasty is it to dedicate an entire community blog to making fun of Rachael Ray? (The name of the group on “Live Journal” is Rachael Ray Sucks).

It’s one thing to blog about silly, vulgar Paris Hilton: she deserves it…I’m not sure “The Rach” does. It just seems so wasteful to spend an entire blog bashing some poor little cook:

About the community…

This community was created for people that hate the untalented twit known as Rachael Ray.

But that’s America for you…build ‘em up, then tear ‘em down.

I have always thought that both the Miss USA organization and the blogosphere were meant for better things.

Image: AP

Post from: Blisstree

Should Miss USA Give Up Her Crown? And Other Ridiculous Non-News.

This New Year’s Day will be the 2nd anniversary of the launch of my stationery business, The Pet Set.

A person with a healthy sense of self-esteem might look at that personal milestone as an exhilarating acheivement.

How do I view this upcoming date? With utter panic and fear.

Why?

Why would a person who left Corporate America to tackle what many Americans hope for — to become small-business owners — feel anything less than euphoric by what has been accomplished, in a little more than 2 years?

Why does every Pet Set sale give me only a momentary blush of pride — followed by almost instantaneous alarm?

Why are the awards and recognition not evidence that I might actually know what I’m doing?

Because I live every moment, of every waking day of my life consumed with feelings of inadequacy and incompetence.

I’ve been to therapy, I’ve seen respected psychologists, I’ve read books, I’ve surfed the web (btw — a maddening exercise to do on your own).

I understand how irrational my state of being is…I understand that it affects those around me, it affects my work and possibly my overall health.

Recently in an e-mail from colleague of mine here at b5.media, wrote this simple phrase: You must be so proud — referring to The Pet Set.

I must have stared at her words for ten minutes, as if my brain simply could not understand her syllables.

Proud? Of what? What have I done? Why can’t I be better? When will I fail? When will the sales stop coming in?

Donald Trump always says, In business, you must never give up…and a lot of other lame, one-dimensional blather as well.

But sometimes, when I’m feeling especially unimpressed with myself and frightened of the future…I think of his words and somehow they make sense. And he’s no psychologist!

I’m sure this angst-ridden existence, points to something to do with my childhood. Which is why the self-esteem improvement techniques I’ve studied over the years don’t help me.

I need to understand why the root cause of my self-created reality.

I wonder if someday, I’ll find the answers to all of this…in the mean time, a sale just came in as I was writing this.

Oh, yay. Nuts, huh?

Post from: Blisstree

Why Self Esteem Is Key To Running A Business.

I am not much of a “chic lit” gal, nor am I a Da Vinci Code kind of gal. I’m the only person on the planet who did not read that book. I’m more of an historical biography fan…I can’t tell you how many gigantic Alexander Hamilton bios I’ve got just sitting on shelves, waiting to be read.

100 BS Jobs is written by Fortune Magazine columnist, Stanley Bing…and if the writing style in his book is anything like his columns it should be a blast.

The title immediately makes you say…”that’s my job, it’s all bs…” And to try to prove it, Bing examines each position, considering its pay and its “bullshit quotient” (which is rated from 0 to 200, the latter being the rating granted to “the No. 1 bullshit artist on the planet,” Donald Trump).

I giggled when he explained that Construction Flag Wavers “must look good in orange and stripes,” and that book editors don’t really edit for fear of getting ink stains on their Armani shirt cuffs.

I suggest you pick it up and read it at work…

Post from: Blisstree

The Best Book Title EVER.