Perfect for Mother’s Day! Q&A and Giveaway of the Hilarious Book “Love, Mom”
Ah, motherhood. So rewarding, so challenging, so…hilarious? Mother’s Day is just around the corner, girlfriends, and it’s not too early to start thinking about your mom and all she means to you…and Mother’s Day gifts, of course! We’ve got just the antidote to those sappy Mother’s Day cards and gifts. Have you visited the website PostcardsFromYoMomma? It’s a hilarious collection of emails from people’s moms. Started by two girlfriends, Doree Shafrir and Jessica Grose, PostcardsFromYoMomma became an online sensation just days after launching. Now, these smart ladies are bringing us an alternative to mushy Mother’s Day items with Love, Mom: Poignant, Goofy, Brilliant Messages from Home
Warning: It’s hard to put down! Doree and Jessica were kind enough to answer a few questions just for GirlfriendCelebrations.com. Read on for the interview. Then, see the end of this post to find out how you can win one of FIVE free copies of the book. It makes a great, giggle-inducing gift for anyone who is a mom or just has a mom!
Q. How did this project get started?
Jessica: My mother sent me a particularly ridiculous email, and I thought it was so funny I sent it to Doree. Her immediate reaction was, OMG, my mom sends me emails just like this! It was during the work day, and Doree went out to get some ice cream—upon her return she said, let’s put these up on a website. So we started the site and sent out an email to our closest friends asking for submissions. After only a few days, we realized we had stumbled on something that people really related to.
Q. Were you girlfriends before this project? How has working together affected your friendship? (or vice versa?)
Doree: We were friendly before the project started but we didn’t know each other very well—we mostly IMed during the day but we hadn’t hung out that much one-on-one. One of the nicest parts of doing this project together was that we became much closer friends. We also (fortunately!) discovered that we work really well together.
Q. What have you learned about moms or about motherhood from doing this project?
Doree/Jessica: We realized that no matter what a mother is saying—whether she’s nagging you about writing thank-you notes, gabbing about her latest shoe purchase, or just saying hi—she’s doing it from a place of love and concern. Even though we sometimes roll our eyes at our moms’ emails, doing this gave us a greater appreciation for just how much they want the best for us.
Q. What advice can you give to moms trying to communicate with their grown kids?
Doree/Jessica: Moms have to tread a fine line between staying in touch with their adult kids and not being overbearing. Kids, no matter what age they are, still want that love and affection from their parents, even if they sometimes pretend they don’t. So moms need to show that they’re interested in their kids’ lives without treating their adult kids like they’re still in high school. (Frantic emailing/texts if they don’t hear from their kids within three hours counts as being overbearing.) Moms are starting to venture onto Facebook and Twitter, and this is another potential minefield—if a kid posts photos of herself drunk on spring break on Facebook, should mom comment on them? (Answer: no.)
Q. What is your favorite thing to do with girlfriends?
Doree: I like to travel with girlfriends—there are certain trips that my boyfriend just doesn’t want to go on. At home, I’ve grown to value just carving out the time to be able to catch up with my girlfriends over dinner or a glass of wine—everyone is always so busy, myself included, that it’s really nice to have a chance to relax and have a long conversation without any other distractions. I also have a group of girlfriends from graduate school with whom I get together once a month or so–I usually don’t see them outside of our monthly gatherings, and we’ll usually do something like go to a play or a museum and then grab a bite to eat. It’s a nice way to get out and do something cultural in the city.
Jessica: I like to go out to dinner with friends one on one, especially in my neighborhood in Brooklyn. Many of my friends are buddies I’ve had since college or high school, and my favorite thing to do after work is meet one or another of them for a good meal and a catch-up conversation. I also like to spend time doing active things with friends, whether it be walking in the park or doing something more athletic. Doree and I have a standing date for a Monday night spin class that we look forward to every week!
Jessica Grose is an editor at Jezebel.com, Gawker Media’s website for women. Her essays and reported features have appeared in the New York Times, Salon, Marie Claire, Women’s Health, the Village Voice, Radar, and several other publications. She lives in Brooklyn with her boyfriend. Doree Shafrir is a senior editor at The New York Observer, where she writes about culture, society, and ideas, and has profiled everyone from comedian Jimmy Fallon to 85-year-old gossip columnist Liz Smith. She has a dog, a nearly 12-year-old pit bull who doesn’t wear lipstick, and lives in Brooklyn.
And now for the giveaway: We are giving away FIVE copies of Love, Mom, courtesy of Hyperion (Thanks!). What do you have to do to win? There are three ways to enter:
1. Leave a comment telling us why you want this book OR the funniest thing your mom ever said (or emailed) to you OR the funniest thing you ever said (or emailed) to your kids.
2. Become a new email subscriber by clicking here and leave a comment letting us know.
3. Tweet or blog about this contest and leave a comment and link letting us know.
Contest will remain open until 11:59 P.M. CST on Wednesday, April 8, 2009. Five winners will be chosen at random from the qualifying entries. Winners will be notified by email and will have 48 hours to respond with a mailing address or a new winner will be chosen. Only U.S. shipping addresses are eligible to win (no P.O. boxes, please.) Good luck, girlfriends!
Delicious
Digg
StumbleUpon
Propeller
Reddit
Magnoliacom
Newsvine
Furl
Facebook
Google
Yahoo
Technorati
Icerocket
Printer-friendly version
