In Which Thoroughly Obsessed Thursday Loves Gwyneth.

Confession time:  Gwyneth Paltrow is among my life-gurus.

I know it's dumb, and more than a little lame, but I simply can't help myself.  I've been a GOOP subscriber pretty much since its inception (it started as a sheer-curiosity, "WTF is she going to write about every week?" thing) and the more I read, the more I love her.

I re-emphasize that I know this is lame.

Here's what I like: she's a foodie.  And she readily admits she's imperfect.  And her life-motto, the one quoted in her new book (the main object of my obsession) speaks to me on a number of levels:

Invest in what's real.  Clean as you go.  Drink while you cook.  Make it fun.  It doesn't have to be complicated.  It will be what it will be.

This is the kind of chill philosophy with which I can get down.

Gwyneth imparts life-tips every week, and this is something you have to take with a HUGE grain of salt.  Like really, a huge one.  A couple of weeks ago she wrote a column about being a working mom and how crazy life can be.  People immediately jumped on the fact that she is a millionaire, and that part of her life-busy-ness is that she takes an hour and a half to work out every day.  You know what, though?  I don't really have energy to take issue with that.  She wasn't saying "everyone should be like me all the time," she was sharing tips for life organization, and using her own life to provide examples.

But whatever.

In any event, Gwynnie was on the cover of Vogue last year (August?) and it mentioned that she was coming out with a cookbook.  I pretty much freaked out and pre-ordered it right then and there.  When My Father's Daughter: Delicious, Easy Recipes Celebrating Family & Togetherness came to my door this week, I sat down and read it cover to cover, stopping only to be polite enough to speak to my family during dinner.

(Those familiar with Gwyneth's food-and-family philosophy will find this painfully ironic)

I'm learning that there is such a thing as duck bacon (ohholyhell, and where can I get some?!), and about things like agave and spelt flour.  I'm not sure I'm going to have a complete diet renaissance, but the presentation of these hippy-ish things is such that I'm intrigued.  And that's really cool.

So yeah, run to the library or to the book store, and check this book out.  And if you feel like it, subscribe to GOOP.  It's not always awesome (this week's fashion issue was not something that spoke to me at all), but usually there is a little slice of inspiration that gives a new perspective.

And that's OK with me.