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" #1: Play with beauty in a box! The Beauty Buyble: The Best Beauty Products of 2007 by Paula Conway and Maureen Regan (HarperCollins) You know how fun it is to surf the cosmetic counters at department stores, or any trip to Sephora, and walk away with free product samples? That&amp;#039;s the idea behind this great book, which is actually a box filled with samples of dozens of beauty products, as well as a book full of beauty tips, tricks and product reviews, all from the top stylists, hair experts, make-up experts and dermatologists. Among the goodies in the bright pink box: Products from Nivea, Maybelline, Vitabath, Cetaphil, Banana Boat, among others, and yummy beauty goods like lip plumper, skin cleanser, eye liner, shampoo, foot cream, sunscreen, hand soak, lip gloss, whipped body butter and, our fave, a Chupa Chups watermelon-flavored lip balm. It&amp;#039;s more than $50 worth of samples for under $20, plus all those great beauty tips . . . score! Check it out now at  BN.com. #2: Become a grammar girl! Really, it&amp;#039;s cool with Grammar Girl&amp;#039;s Quick and Dirty Tips to Clean Up Your Writing by Mignon Fogarty (Audio Renaissance) We had a professor in college who was so obsessed with grammar that some people used to affectionately refer to her as &amp;quot;Conan the Grammarian.&amp;quot; It was all in good fun, of course (she actually loved the name), but it wasn&amp;#039;t a joke that she expected perfect grammar in our speech and our writing. That isn&amp;#039;t always easy \u2013 affect vs. effect still hangs us up sometimes \u2013 but it is true that mastering the rules of grammar really sets you apart from those who, ahem, ain&amp;#039;t got a clue. And that&amp;#039;s where Grammar Girl comes in. What started a free weekly podcasts by Mignon Fogarty, a.k.a. Grammar Girl, became so popular that they&amp;#039;ve now been compiled onto an audio book on CD that is an oh-so-helpful, (and fun!) guide to grammar glitches like affect vs. effect, its vs. it&amp;#039;s, lay vs. lie (another toughie!), and all forms of punctuations, run-on sentences, splitting infinitives, etc. With back to school time right around the corner (and college applications in your future), Grammar Girl&amp;#039;s tips are the perfect way to distinguish yourself!  Check it out now at  BN.com. #3: Make a collage! with the cool new book Collage It by Matthew Rake (Silver Dolphin) Who doesn&amp;#039;t love a collage? You can make them around any theme, color, or texture you want, and you can use your photos, art materials, and things you find around the house! Essentially, anything goes in a collage, which is what makes them such a fun creative outlet. This kit, another great one from Silver Dolphin Books&amp;#039; great line of art project books, teaches you several styles of collages, introduces you to the artists who created them, gives you art theory background on creating your own, and even includes some supplies to get you started: colored paper, shiny gold paper, 3-D paint, felt, glue and tips for other things you might use to create a masterpiece of your own. PS \u2013 All those photos you&amp;#039;ve been snapping this summer? They&amp;#039;re PERFECT collage fodder! Check it out now at  Silverdolphinbooks.com. #4: Catch the first family of animation on the big screen! The Simpsons Movie (Fox) How long have we all been waiting on this movie? Oh, only for 18 seasons! Yep, that&amp;#039;s how long Homer, Bart, Marge, Lisa and Maggie have been on the air in TV land, and now, at last, the Simpsons and their wacky fellow Springfieldians are headed to the big screen. The plot? Well, it&amp;#039;s been kept pretty hush hush, though if you&amp;#039;ve seen those hilarious trailers and TV commercials, you know that it involves the Simpsons clan having to save the town from \u2013 well, something \u2013 and that Homer seems to spend an awful lot of time with his new pet pig, who he&amp;#039;s nicknamed both &amp;quot;Spider-Pig&amp;quot; and &amp;quot;Harry Plotter.&amp;quot; Can&amp;#039;t WAIT to see the story behind Homie&amp;#039;s piggy! Check it out now at  Simpsonsmovie.com. #5: Get a preview of the awesomeness \u2013 and heartbreak \u2013 of college life! Watch Greek (Friday, 9 p.m., ABC Family) Is THIS what college life is really like? Well, sorta. Actually, college life is a lot like high school life, except that you have a lot more freedom, which also brings a lot more responsibility to make good choices for yourself. Greek, while fun and entertaining and loaded with some very handsome college guys, takes the time to show those more serious aspects of being a college student, which has made this new dramedy one of the best new shows of the year. The background: Geeky Rusty (we prefer to think of him as &amp;quot;adorkable,&amp;quot; because he is!) goes to the same college as his older, much more popular sister Casey. At first, Casey doesn&amp;#039;t want anything to do with her little bro (she thinks he&amp;#039;ll cramp her style), but they begin to get closer, especially when sorority girl Casey finds out that Rusty wants to join a fraternity. Of course, that&amp;#039;s also going to lead to complications, since the fraternity that Rusty joins is the one that just happens to have Casey&amp;#039;s ex \u2013 the super hot Cappie \u2013 as its president. Cappie is the rival of Casey&amp;#039;s current jerk of a boyfriend, the cheating Evan. DRA-MA! Check it out now at  ABCFamily.com. # 6: Buy some fun (and thrifty!) new accessories! at Girlprops.com  Necklaces, bracelets, hats, rings, belts and earrings, under $10? Girlprops.com is the place to find &amp;#039;em, and because they&amp;#039;re so budget-friendly, you can pick out several goodies at this online accessories shop. We first noticed the store when we saw one its necklaces \u2013 the deliciously bright and yummy Gumball Necklace \u2013 advertised in a magazine. It was only $3.99(!), and it&amp;#039;s even cuter in person. It makes us happy just to see it hanging in our closet, and it&amp;#039;s the perfect thing to spruce up a plain old summer T. Poke around the site and find all sorts of other fun stuff, and prepare for your purchases to arrive in a cute little Girlprops.com shopping bag that&amp;#039;s almost (almost!) as much fun as the jewelry.  Check it out now at  Girlprops.com. #7: Go to the movies . . . for FREE thanks to the AMC Summer Movie Camp We&amp;#039;re so sorry we didn&amp;#039;t learn about this sweet program earlier in the summer! At participating AMC movie theaters across the country, every Wednesday morning is Summer Movie Camp, where kids and adults are invited to an AMC Theater to enjoy a free movie screening! Doors open at 9:30 a.m. (yeah, yeah, we know, it&amp;#039;s early, but it&amp;#039;s also FREE!), and tickets to the movies (all G and PG-rated) can be reserved up to a week in advance for flicks like Ice Age, Barnyard, Flushed Away, Charlotte&amp;#039;s Web and Over the Hedge. Bonus: Concession goodies aren&amp;#039;t free, but they are generously discounted. The Kids Pack, for example, goes for $3.00 and includes a drink, a popcorn and kid-size snack. Popcorn for breakfast, anyone? Check it out now at  AMCtheaters.com. #8: See some spectacular Simpsons cakes! on the Food Network Challenge: Simpsons Movie Cakes (Wednesday, 9p.m., Food Network) Okay, yes, we&amp;#039;re a little psyched about the Simpsons movie but this is an especially fun entry, inspired by The Simpsons: Food Network&amp;#039;s Simpsons Movie Cake Challenge, in which four cake makers compete against each other to determine who can make the coolest confection that depicts the Simpson clan and their townsfolk and surroundings. Expect lots of frosting (especially yellow frosting, we&amp;#039;re guessing), and drama: Not only does the top chef get to have his or her cake appear at the movie&amp;#039;s Hollywood premiere, but the winner also nabs a very sweet $10,000 check! Check it out now at  Foodnetwork.com. #9: Take a bite out of Shark Week! (Stars Sunday, 9 p.m., Discovery Channel) Duh da. Duh da. Duh da, duh da, duh da, duh da . . . Jaws! It&amp;#039;s time for Discovery Channel&amp;#039;s annual Shark Week, an examination of the ocean&amp;#039;s most fierce resident! Scary? Yes! But sharks are also fascinating creatures, and, for our own safety, it&amp;#039;s best to know as much about them as we can. Check out the Discovery Channel site for a complete schedule of all the week&amp;#039;s specials, but a few of the highlights include Ocean of Fear: Worst Shark Attack Ever, about a World War II ship sinking, which left hundreds of sailors at the mercy of circling sharks; Top Five Eaten Alive, Shark Feeding Frenzy, Perfect Predators and a special shark-themed episode of Cash Cab. Check it out now at  Discovery.com. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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