For some of us, losing weight has always been a struggle. The challenge: figuring out how to cook healthy, low-fat foods that won’t leave you hungry, bored, or running for a gallon of ice cream! Cook Yourself Thin: Skinny Meals You Can Make in Minutes shows how to cut calories, change diets, and improve health without sacrificing the foods we love.

Cook Yourself Thin is not a fad diet. It gives skinny alternatives to your cravings. You can’t live without your chocolate cake or mac ‘n’ cheese? You don’t have to! (See Deep Dark Chocolate Cake, page 197.) There’s never enough time to cook? Cook Yourself Thin keeps it simple?with easy instructions and fun recipes you’ll want to make again and again.

The Lost Symbol will once again feature Dan Brown’s unforgettable protagonist, Robert Langdon.

“The Lost Symbol  is a brilliant and compelling thriller. Dan Brown’s prodigious talent for storytelling, infused with history, codes and intrigue, is on full display in this new book. This is one of the most anticipated publications in recent history, and it was well worth the wait,” said Sonny Mehta, Chairman and Editor in Chief of the Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group.

Brown’s longtime editor, Jason Kaufman, Vice President and Executive Editor at Doubleday said, “Nothing ever is as it first appears in a Dan Brown novel. This book’s narrative takes place in a twelve-hour period, and from the first page, Dan’s readers will feel the thrill of discovery as they follow Robert Langdon through a masterful and unexpected new landscape. The Lost Symbol is full of surprises.”

“This novel has been a strange and wonderful journey,” said Brown. “Weaving five years of research into the story’s twelve-hour timeframe was an exhilarating challenge. Robert Langdon’s life clearly moves a lot faster than mine.”

 Speaking of budget, it’s a great idea to start thinking of what you want to spend total for Christmas 2009 and then break that down into weekly or monthly amounts so that you don’t feel the crunch at the end of the year.  Help yourself avoid the tempation to throw everything on a credit card and then spend the next five months of 2010 paying for it with exorbitant interest rates.  A little planning now can go a long way towards making Christmas a happy stress-free holiday without the financial setback.

Check us out often over the next months for the best deals and reviews.  I’ll also be reporting on some of my favorite charities since many of you like to give at this time of year or give on someone else’s behalf as your present. 

Most of all, don’t forget to give the gift of yourself.  There is nothing on anyone’s gift list that can replace your love, support and friendship.  I hope you have a wonderful Christmas season this year.