Brant's 30th Birthday Extravaganza!!

Okay, so his birthday was in July, but we finally took our trip to St. Louis to celebrate. What a great weekend! I've probably told you ladies most of what we did, but I wanted to post a few of my favorite pictures.

Our first day in St. Louis was spent at the City Museum. It was awesome! Talk about feeling like a kid again. There were slides and things to crawl on and things inside and things outside and did I mention the slides??!! So fun. If you ever go to St. Louis, make time for the City Museum. You will not be disappointed. Unless you hate slides. And if that's the case, I'm disppointed in you.

So the main point of the whole trip was to see the Cardinals play the Cubs. Tickets to two games was the actual birthday present. The Cards were lackluster at best. They lost both games. Did we care? Not really. On Friday night we had seats in the Bank of America suite. There was a great buffet that included the very best macaroni and cheese I have ever tasted. We also had free beer all night. On Sunday we sat in the outfield, in Big Mac land. We had to wave around these foamy french fries. Pretty fun, but we left early since they were losing.

On Saturday we ventured out to the zoo. Animals are awesome. It was so fun watching all the different animals mess around. I can't remember the last time I went to the zoo. This orangatan was my favorite. He carried that bed sheet around all over the place until he finally covered himself completely and took a nap.

Overall, one of the most fun weekends I've had in a while. Go to http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=4558&l=d8ecf&id=509613964 if you want to see more pics.

Idiots

So many priceless moments this episode! Here are some of my absolute favorites:

Lauren's face when J.Whal mentioned he had a girlfriend...and that they were moving in together.

Lisa Love. She's lookin' good in that black and white plaid.

Heidi and Jenn going dress shopping. Question: Is Jenn Bunney Heidi's Maid of Honor? And if so, is one of her primary duties to try and talk Heidi out of getting married? "Obviously you're not in the right mindframe, but for me it's just different," Jenn. Gah! PS. This wedding is SO not happening.

Who's ever heard of this awesome band Blue Parachute Logistics or whatever? And the lead singer wears LADIES jeans...also, very proud of it. Watch out, MTV2.

The 3 girls walking into the dive bar. Whitney: "I hope I don't get wasted!" True fun is holding your nose to drink shots just so you can get drunk. You go, girls!

Spencer and Heidi registering. Obviously, they aren't getting married. I think Heidi is just scanning the walls and pretending. They will "come back another day..." MmmmKay! We'll see ya then!

One word. Katja. Gross. The name's gotta go. Mabye just go by Kat. It's a lot less horrible. Ok, not A LOT, but it's better.

The "engagement!" Wow. Idiots. All of 'em. He's an idiot for asking her to marry him after 7 months and she's an idiot for marrying someone in rehab who's not even supposed to be dating anybody. I think I see another marriage in our future...that is SO not happening.

I think Lauren said it best when she said that her engagement party "didn't include a keg and a Bob Marley poster." Sometimes, she's just so poetic.

Lisa Love. Still rockin' the plaid...hmmmm, is that in stye now?

Why is it that every interaction between Spencer and Heidi seems forced? "Here you go, Princess." "Oh Thank you!" Just be normal!! Idiots.

Favorite part: Let's talk Spiedi wedding. Tibet. Eloping. These are solid gold ideas. Why do we have to have our whole families there, Heidi? Why can't we just not tell our parents that we're getting married? What's the big deal? It's not as if this wedding is actually happening. Geez, so naive.

Breakthrough: Lauren - "This could have been me...and I'm so glad it's not." Halleluiah! It's about time that girl wised up.

And then she goes and makes out with Brody in the previews. Uggghhh. Can't wait til next week! VEGAS!!!

This really scared me

Bennifer 3! I just saw this picture on People.com and almost freaked out. Can't Ben Affleck just leave all the "Jen's" alone?! Then I noticed that it's for a movie, "He's Just Not That Into You." Phew! There are about a gazillion different stars in this movie, and I'm interested to see how it all comes together. What else am I interested in...the new Sex and the City movie! They are currently filming and here's a shot of SJP!

Overdue

So we enjoyed a weekend at the lake a while back, and I've been slow about getting a few pictures up. We actually didn't take that many pictures. I guess we were too busy mixing poinsettias and/or trying to find more of the frozen alcoholic drinks that are quite similar to Capri Suns. Anyhoo, good times were had by all. We played a rousing game of Taboo, the guys fished every morning and we all had fun watching the dogs play.

Top Ten Things We Learned at the Lake:

1. Bailey doesn't care for swimming but she likes splashing.
2. When you go to the zoo, you see zebras.
3. Christy definitely wants penis whistles.
4. Brant is a sucky fisherman, but Will seems to be a natural.
5. Carter is funny. Okay, we knew my dad was funny but he was in top form at the lake.
6. Hot Springs doesn't seem to stock mint in any grocery store!
7. Dawn is hilarious and Ron can cook a fine burger.
8. Debbie doesn't need to sit that close to Christy.
9. Kari prefers the life jacket diaper to noods.
10. Poinsettias are delicious at any time of day!

I watch a lot of TV: Emmy edition!

For those of you who don't know (and haven't figured out by reading the blog), I watch a lot of TV. I spread the love around to all the networks and have several favorites on cable. If you're unaware of the shows I watch, take a look on the right side of the blog and there's a starting point. I listed the rest under the "Interests" section of my blogger profile. Now that we all understand how much TV I watch, let's talk about the Emmys!

Here are some of my favorite and least favorite parts:
Emmys in the Round - Least favorite part. Alienate 50% of the audience? Bad idea. AND these weren't just seat-fillers, we're talking the entire cast of Ugly Betty and The Sopranos getting shut out. Who thought of this?
Ryan Seacrest - Second least favorite part. He's just not very funny. Is it possible for Steve Carell to host the Emmys? Is that considered a conflict of interest? I don't care, he should host anyway.
Katherine Heigl - The announcer lady pronounced her name wrong before she went up to present an award. It was obviously too much for ol' K'Hei to stand, because she called her out, "It's Heigl, so um, yeah...it's cool, it's a tough one." She could have come off really bitchy, but it was pretty funny to me.
Steve Carell's fake win - When Ricky Gervais wasn't available to pick up his Emmy (I've never seen Extras, but I wanted Steve to win), Jon Stewart and Steven Colbert said that their friend Steve could take it. Steve RAN up to the stage and they all jumped up and down like little kids. It was the highlight of the awards. Too bad he didn't actually win.
Dwight and Kanye's bit - The set up was lame, with Wayne Brady doing an "impromptu" version of his show Don't Forget the Lyrics (who watches this??), but with Rainn Wilson (Dwight from the Office) and Kayne West going head-to-head in a battle of "Songs from Kanye West" it could hardly miss. Even funnier, the fact that Kayne lost! He never wins anything!
30 Rock's win! - I love 30 Rock. It's become one of Eric and my's favorite shows over the summer. I love the Office and even Ugly Betty, but I was so happy that 30 Rock won. Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin are comic gold. Here's a clip:



I'm interested in what people wore, but only to a certain extent. Favorites include: Vanessa Williams - she has taken to her outrageous character on Ugly Betty so much that she now dresses like her even when she's not on set; Alec Baldwin - a white tuxedo jacket, so classic and it was after 6:00..."What am I, a farmer?"; Julia Louie-Dreyfus - she looks fabulous most of the time, and I wish I had her hair.

There ya have it. It was OK, but definitely not anything compared to Davie's big TOUCHDOWN this weekend! Go hogs!

Stare Faces

Why is it that after each episode of The Hills, I feel like I have spent more time watching them stare at each other than actually listening to them having conversations?

Rainy Days

Just a few thoughts today:

I wish I had a "job" where one of my tasks, possibly my only task for the day, was to organize a rack of clothes according to color.

Recently I stumbled upon a great radio station here in Memphis that plays 80s, 90s and today. It seems to be mostly 80s and 90s and I have no problem with that. Last week on my way back from lunch, I belted out George Michael's "Faith" and was suprised at how many words I actually knew. I even danced a little. It was fantastic.

According to a person in one of my classes, there is a 23-year-old who has 7 kids. SEVEN! Crazy and sad.

My thanks to Robin (the lovely fiance of Peter, from theseenormouschildren) for showing us this: http://www.myspace.com/aintitthough - scroll all the way down on his list of songs and listen to "Sooooooie." I would like Andrew to please learn every word and sing this at the Auburn game. Thanks Davies!

I think Memphis is through with the scorching heat for now and for that, I'm extrememly grateful.

Today is my mom's bday and tomorrow is my dad's bday. Happy Birthday to my Fam!

We have new neighbors and they are F-U-N! They have an adorable little girl, who is five months old. I can't believe I'm going to put this in writing, but I'm starting to think that babies aren't quite so scary.

I'm now completely out of things to say, interesting or otherwise.

VMA Highlights and (Mostly) Lowlights

I knew I shouldn't have watched it. All my better judgement was telling me to turn off the TV. But I couldn't resist and I watched the MTV Video Music Awards last night. Give me some credit, I DVR'd it so I fast forwarded through all the commercials and stupid parts. And let me tell ya, I condensed that 2+ hour sucker into about 45 minutes. The format was all janky this year. It was in Vegas at the Palms. They split it up into different "parties" hosted by various stars including J.Timb, Kanye West, Fallout Boy and Foo Fighters. It was all over the place and no one even seemed to be paying attention to the awards portion of the show. The rooms that seemed to be having the most fun were J.Timb's (duh) and Kanye's. The guests at those parties were basically treated to a sweet concert all night long. Which would be really sweet, if this weren't an awards show. This new format was a big bust. But anyway...here are some of my favorite moments!
Britney's comeback. It was terrible. She seemed nervous or unprepared or something, and she was just going through the motions. Her costume was boring, her dancing was lame and her weave was just bad. If she were going to "comeback" this would have been the place to do it and she didn't.
Chris Brown's performance. Chris Brown is like 17 or something. That kid can dance. Even JT said CB made him look old. He did a Michael Jackson dance to Billie Jean and it was fabulous.
"Umbrella" by Rhiana. That song is catchy and it won at least 2 awards, including best video.
Kid Rock and Tommy Lee. They punched each other out over something, probably Pam Anderson-related. Idiots.
All the rappers making fun of Kid Rock and Tommy Lee. P.Diddy laughed about it like they were 2 kids fighting over a toy on the playground. I guess that is basically what happened, though.
The Hills Girls. They presented an award to J.Timb. Even more reason to hate them.
Jennifer Garner. I love her, but why was she there? She's got a new movie with Jamie Foxx (which he yelled out about 25 times), but she's hardly got the street cred for the VMAs. Anyhoo, the reason she's on the list is because she and JFoxx presented an award to best new artist. She announced the winner as "Gym Class Fallout." All you tweeny music lovers will know that this is a combination of two of the nominees. Gym Class Heroes and Fallout Boy. Her face when she announced it was priceless. She looked at the card for a second, then looked up and announced "Gym Class..." and then paused as if searching for the last word and out popped "fallout." It was probably the highlight of the show for me.
Lowlight of the evening - Miss Teen South Carolina. Seriously? The dumbest girl in the Miss Teen USA pageant gets an invite to the VMAs? OK. The sends a really great message to all the youngsters out there. Say dumb stuff and get to hang out with Kanye West and J.Timb! She did make fun of herself a bit, but she was totally reading cue cards and if you have to read cue cards to make fun of yourself, there's something terribly wrong.
Overall, it sucked.

Tano Queen

I love Tano purses and here is my newest addition to the collection...and by collection I mean two.

He's Better Than Us

I watched part of the Future Sex Love Show HBO Special last night (of course I recorded it!) and I have just one thing to say about Justin Timberlake...

That man can D-A-N-C-E!

If you didn't get a chance to see this, I would highly recommend looking it up on YouTube or something. It was clear that he didn't sing every single line of every single song. But I forgive him that because he was busy making me feel totally uncoordinated. I think I'm preaching to the choir when I say that he's a great entertainer. And I was aware that he could dance, I just didn't know the extent of it. He did sing quite a bit, but I was just blown away by his performance as a whole.

Note to B.Spears: See what you could of had? You really blew it.

The face of Teen Vogue

The one thing that's become abundantly clear this season is that our girls have horrible judgement, especially in men. This week Heidi continues to pretend that Spencer is a great guy, Audrina goes back out with J.Bob even after he left her at the pool party and Lauren spends even more time with Brody. It's almost as if they enjoy getting treated badly. I'm not even going to try and decipher why they continue to hang out with them.

I'd rather talk about the hidden gems of this show: Lo and Whitney. I think I want to be friends with Lo. She's the girl who says things that people think but are afraid to say because they don't want people to get mad at them (ahem, LAUREN!), even though they really need to hear it. Like when she called out Audrina for still going out with J.Bob. Why aren't you "together" already? You've been together for 4 months and still nothing? Move on! Yes. Exactly! It's like she heard me through the television. And it's refreshing to have someone who thinks rationally on this show.

Poor ol' Whitney has fallen from grace because apparently Lauren only works one day a week. If MTV is going to can someone who has been hand-picked to be a Vogue runway model by Andre Leon Talley and then fallen down the stairs in that very fashion show, then there's no hope for any of us. That is pure gold. Why is "Speidi" getting all the camera time? Send some cameras to Teen Vogue without Lauren - she works once a month, and sits at a computer, we get it. And where the HELL is Lisa Love, btw?

Also, Spencer is going to need to shave. Now. It's not a good look. The last thing you need to do if you're trying to get away from looking like Chester Cheetah is grow facial hair. Dumb. Pretty sure he dumped Brody, too. Their breakup conversation was the best of all the seasons. Spencer talking about loyalty! He's a prince.

Kelly Taylor is the new Steve Sanders

The new cast of Dancing with the Stars was announced this morning. Most of this cast is kind of boring and I have no idea who they are, but don't worry, I'm sure I'll still watch it. I am happy to see another 90210 alum join the show; Scary Spice has a reunion tour to prep for, so she's probably ahead of the curve; and finally Cheryl Burke gets someone who isn't young and nimble. Supposedly the format of the show is going to change and Tom Burgeron will be joined by a different co-host, because Samantha Harris is preggers and about to pop.

• Melanie "Mel B" Brown, 32, Spice Girls ("Scary Spice") singer (pro partner: Maksim Chmerkovskiy);
• Sabrina Bryan, 22, actress/singer (The Cheetah Girls) (pro partner: Mark Ballas);
• Helio Castroneves, 32, racecar driver (pro partner: Julianne Hough);
• Mark Cuban, 48, businessman (owner of NBA's Dallas Mavericks) (pro partner: Kym Johnson);
• Jennie Garth, 35, actress (Beverly Hills, 90210) (pro partner: Derek Hough, older brother of Julianne Hough);
• Josie Maran, 29, supermodel (pro partner Alec Mazo);
• Cameron Mathison, 38, actor (All My Children) (pro partner: Edyta Sliwinska;
• Floyd Mayweather, Jr., 30, boxer (pro partner: Karina Smirnoff);
• Wayne Newton, 65, singer (pro partner: Cheryl Burke);
• Marie Osmond, 47, singer/doll designer (pro partner: Jonathan Roberts);
• Albert Reed, 22, supermodel (pro partner: Anna Trebunskaya; and
• Jane Seymour, 56, actress (pro partner: Tony Dovolani).

I wouldn't say I'm a die-hard fan of the show. I watch it every week, but I never vote. OK, not until the final episode...we all have our addictions.

This Blog is funny

http://www.justinbobby.com/

This blogger is funny...we might add her to the list of blogs we read and we might need to begin reading her blog. She/He refers to Spencer as Steve Sanders. Funny.

Also, you guys might want to check out this site:

http://streetpeeper.com/

People magazine tried to say this is a great place to go see what is in style.... i beg to differ. This is a great place to go see what messes people make of fashion.

'Due Work!

Eric and I had another Sunday Food'n'Friends gathering at our place last night. Usually, we decide on a meal to make around Thursday or Friday and split up the ingredient list, then our friends come over and we make it together. It's a really fun thing to do and last night was possibly the most successful one we've ever done!

We decided to do a 2-course fondue meal. The first course was a three-cheese fondue with some really fancy cheeses that we picked up at Morgan & York. Micky and Jeremiah brought some dippables, including a French baguette, mini toasts (!), pretzels, bagel chips, baby tomatoes, broccoli, mushrooms, green and red peppers, zucchini and carrots. There was A LOT of food! We made some excellent flavor profiles. I believe the stand-out was a baby tomato paired with a mushroom dipped in fondue. I don't care for mushrooms, so my favorite was a baby tomato with a bagel chip. Yum!

The second course was a super easy chocolate fondue with chocolate also from M&Y. Amanda brought dessert dippables, including marshmallows, coconut macaroons, strawberries, pineapples, raspberries and bananas. The macaroons were amazing, basically like a Mounds bar. I think that due to our intake of the entire pot of bubbling cheese, we didn't take down the full pot of chocolate, but it was also delicious. I'm willing to share the recipes to all those who would like them.

It's funny 'cuz it's true

Sometimes novelty tees hit it right on the head...

Television: Part Deux

Thursday was payday. So with my new paycheck I thought I'd invest in the DVD season 1 of Ugly Betty...I was fully prepared to spend $25-$30 on this jewel. I reasoned that yes, while the regular price will probably be more, they always sell DVDs for a little bit cheaper when they first come out. So I marched my unbedazzled but into Best Buy where Ugly Betty Season 1 sat on the front shelf. I rushed over full of excitement and read the price tag: Regular price $49.99...Granted the DVD was on sale (as I had suspected) but it was still $35. I was so offended a the $50 regular price and had only emotionally prepared myself for up to $30. So I walked out empty handed...I know $35 is only $5 more than $30 but for some reason on that day, $5 seemed like a whole lot.
So, needless to say, I did not purchase Ugly Betty Season 1....hopefully I can rent it at the Movie Gallery (where I have a free rental) or Blockbuster (where I still have a little money left on gift card.)

Davie gets more press

Check this out for another shout out at Andrew's awesome skills...this time, we're talking about the dance floor!

And the Mrs. gets some press in Davie's bio at Hogwired. Go Davies!

Top Chef Spoiler Alert!

If you haven't seen the latest episode of Top Chef, you should probably stop reading. Because I have a bone to pick with Tom, Padma, Ted and the guest judge. Why Tre?!

It seems to me like the average-skilled chefs are scooting by this season because they aren't expected to step up in Executive Chef roles. They don't have to make three dishes a challenge, they just have to make salads and not totally screw up their food. I'm mad that they sent Tre home because he was one of the most skilled chefs there and he seemed like he had it together. And yet, because he was the Executive Chef, he's gone. Not fair. I really thought that CJ should have gone home because as much as I like him, he let Tre take the fall.

So, it's basically Hung's competition to lose at this point. I don't think that any of the other chefs have done all that well so far.

New Kicks

So here is a shot of my new running shoes. Unbeknownest to me, they are pretty flashy when it comes to a camera. Otherwise, they look about like any other tennis shoe out there. But now that I've spent the money on them, I feel even more motivated to run the half-marathon. This morning's run was tough. I was not feelin' it at all. Hopefully next week will be a little easier. I really want that t-shirt that says FINISHER!

Television

I am ashamed to admit that I watch Big Brother pretty religiously.

Anyway, I am thinking of buying the first season of Ugly Betty. I had a really hard time remembering to watch that show, but loved it every single time I saw it. Plus this will give me the chance to start at the beginning.

Biggity's Woes

Biggity in an email to HR: I have decided to hire Jill*. Please make her an offer and let me know what else I need to do.

HR Rep (calling Biggity immediately): Why did you choose Jill? What about Joan*, the number two candidate? Why not her?

Biggity: Well to be honest, they both have the same skills necessary for the job. I am confident either candidate could do the job and if I could hire both, I would. However, Jill came across as much more of a go-getter. Overall, I think Jill will raise the bar in my department.

HR Rep: Biggity, raising the bar is not part of the job description.

Biggity: Speechless.

Yes, a conversation very similar to this happened yesterday. I was dumbfounded. I have never had the opportunity (aka burden) of trying to hire someone. So correct me if I'm wrong, but if two people seem to be equally qualified, don't you have to move on to intangibles, such as someone's determination or willingness to not just do their job, but make a solid effort to actually improve the entire department.

Essentially, the HR Rep seems to want someone who will do the following: Get up. Go to work. Do their job. Leave. Repeat. It's no wonder the robot is in the middle of the picture!

*Names changed. I think we all know who Biggity is and who he works for.

The Hills: Letters of Correspondence

hey audrina,

you need to dump justin bobby's ass. the kid is a loser. he has terrible, dirty hair and treats you like crap. and the monologue he spun for you at the bar was probably in large part due to him being high. so, get rid of him and let's go to les deux!

xoxo,
Lauren

********************

audrina,

let's let truth and time tell all. and let's also pretend we know what that means because it sounds so profound. let's go for a ride on my bike and let truth and time be our guide.

justin bobby

********************

dearest spencer,

i love being engaged to you! wanna go shopping for normal furniture tomorrow? i mean, i guess we can keep the jelly tank and the arcade games, because i know they were gifts for me. you're so thoughtful. also, i'm not at all mad about the graffiti. i gotta run to home depot and pick up some white pa--uh, pants. they are selling pants there now, so...yeah. anyway, love ya lots!

heidi

********************

heidi-ho,

yo, spence here. grab me a couple pairs-a those home depot pants. i bet they're so fly. also, i picked up a couple more things for the apartment - a sweet new pool table and some bitchin' neon signs that say "OPEN" because it'll be like a pool hall. and i think that you'll really like them. they're vintage.

S-dawg

ps. so, did i technically propose, or, what?

But On Sunny Ones...

I just checked my University of Memphis email and had a new email about Memphis Tiger football tickets. Never say never, but I seriously doubt I will ever find myself at a Tigers game. Anyway, for some reason I read through the email and found this little gem:

"On rainy days, umbrellas are not allowed in the game."

Tragic makeovers

Back in February, the Theater hosted Oscar Night America. For this event we were given several prizes to raffle off during a Silent Auction. One of these prizes was a Christian Dior makeover. Sounds nice, huh? It included a mini facial, makeup application, hand massage and a free deluxe sample. All from the fabulous people at Dior - how swanky! The theater had some extras, so after months and months of procrastinating, Amanda and I headed down to Troy, MI to the Macy's at Somerset Collection - a super swanky mall near Detroit.

I could write a bit here how we got lost and ended up driving 2 hours instead of 55 minutes, but I would rather this post be about the makeovers that we got...at the Dior counter. Take a look!

Um, check out my eye shadow! It's ridiculous! I was wearing a purple/white striped shirt and I suppose that my makeover person thought it'd be best to match my makeup to my t-shirt. And let's talk a minute about my makeover technician. HE was a sassy biatch. First, when he asked what makeup I regularly use (Clinique), he totally snobbed it with a bitchy expression to boot! He also did not take well to criticism. When I told him that the dark purple eyeshadow was a bit too much for me, he said, "well, that's not even very heavy...what do you usually wear?" What you see in the photo isn't as bad as it was at first. He added some white shadow over the dark purple to make it less bold. My lipstick was first orange-ish (um, no), then dark pink (try again) and finally a very shiny pink (fine, just get me out of here!).

Overall, I looked like a clown-hooker at 4 pm in the mall. Not fun, but definitely funny. After getting some spinach dip at CPK (they seated us in the corner - no joke!) we headed home. We decided that we had to document our tragic makeovers and I'm glad we did. Cuz I just got myself a brand new facebook picture! If you wanna hear Amanda's side of the story, check out her blog!

Update: I think I'll bedazzle me a shirt

Picture taken down to protect the innocent...not the bedazzled shirt wearing person.
Here it is in all of it's glory...the bedazzled shirt that inspired my original post. I only wish you could also see the back...

A Fake Ring Alone...

This is just one of the many reasons that I think Heidi needs to run as fast as she can from Spencer. He had the nerve to buy her a fake ring from a store in a LA mall and then present it to her on national t.v. My opinion? If I'm getting proposed to on television at least buy me a real ring for the proposal...we can take it back after filming...Sister, that ring is a symbol of your future life with him and it ain't looking good. Fake nose, fake boobs, fake ring...real love? I don't think so.

BLAH BLAH BLAH

Today was the worst Friday ever. I think it may have also been the longest Friday ever.

Thank God It's Frid---yeah, yeah, whatever.

It's Friday. Another week has come and gone. Whoop-dee-do. Don't get me wrong, I love the weekend - I enjoy sleeping in and going shopping and watching TV for hours on end. What I don't enjoy are my Friday's being incredibly busy every week. Monday and Tuesday are always slow. I think in order for me to be more productive at work, this should switch. After a great, relaxing weekend, the last thing I need is to come in to work and have nothing to do except wish I was sleeping in. And likewise, at the end of the week, I don't need to be running around meeting deadlines for so long that I can't even send a couple personal emails! Gah!

Really, this got me to thinking about TGIFridays, the restaurant. I don't care for it. I've eaten there 2 or 3 times and I've never been impressed. The few casual dining places that I've been to that I would look forward to going back to include: Applebee's, CPK, Chili's, Red Robin and Ruby Tuesday. I had to look up a list of casual dining restaurants. In doing this I saw that there are some crazy restaurant names out there. Houlihan's is probably my favorite. I've never been to one. But I'm curious as to what restaurants you all like and what restaurants you don't.

I'm obviously not busy enough to skip blogging for the day. Duh.

The Devil's Eggs

Here's a little something that chaps my hide: when people don't share recipes. At my cousin's recent baby shower, we were treated to some delicious deviled eggs. My aunt told us that Viv made them (my cousin's good friend... unfortunate name) and it was a secret recipe. We laughed it off and eventually asked Viv for the recipe. She said "Oh I don't know. I made it up." One of my aunts, who happened to be wearing her new t-shirt emblazoned with I'm in my own little world (love her!), asked Viv if she just threw things together and wasn't sure of the recipe. Viv giggled, said "I know it, I'm just not sharing," gave a cutesy little shrug and walked out. My mom almost threw a deviled egg at her. She hates secret recipes a bit more than myself!

I make a mean spinach dip. I think we all know that it's incredible. And the only reason I feel okay about bragging about it is because it's so easy to make and I give the recipe to anyone who asks for it. Then they can make it and get compliments and brag about it. I'm a giver.

One of my college roommates never gave me recipe for this incredible chocolate pie she made. We're not friends anymore.

Will's Blog is Awesome...

He's got something to say about everything! I'll most likely be checking back on his blog daily. His disdain for Fergie is the bond that ties us all together with him.

Facebook vs. MySpace

It seems like nearly everyone is using at least one of the two online social communities. What I want to know is, which one is better?

Personally, I prefer Facebook. It's cleaner, it's got a better photo sharing system and there is WAAAY less spam from it. Every time I log on to MySpace to check my page, it seems like I'm just deleting spammy emails and ignoring friend requests from people I may or may not know.

With Facebook, it's totally different. I am excited to get new friend requests because then I can check out what that person has been up to via photos or a link to a blog or whatever else. And yes, I have friended people mainly so I can look at their photos. So what? I'm a curious person. And if people don't want me looking at their photos, then they probably shouldn't accept my friend request in the first place. But besides photos, the front page of Facebook is the deciding factor. It's a little news feed about what people I know are up to. If someone adds photos, I can check them out. Someone gets engaged, I see it right on my homepage. It's sorta stalkerish, and when the News Feed section first came out people were not big on it at all, but I like it. It's like a CNN ticker for things that I find interesting.

I know Kari is now a Facebook convert, but what do you prefer? Brittnee has been rebelling against both for some time now and I'm hoping that this post makes her want to join us out there on the interweb. And friend me if you do, cuz I can't wait to see your photos!

I think I'll BeDazzle me a shirt...

I've got to be honest...I feel an odd since of coolness now that Andrew is such a superstar football player. I even love the thought of people saying, "Oh look there is Andrew. He's such a good football player. He's hot too, but I think he's married. Bummer."

This conversation may or may not have ever happened, but the thing is I am glad I know no conversation has ever gone like this:

"Oh look there is Andrew. He's such a good football player. He's hot too, but did you see his girlfriend's homemade bedazzled shirt? Lame. Who feels the need to make shirts with their boyfriends name and football number on it? Double Lame."

While this will never be a conversation to be had about me, I gotta tell you guys, had you been at the scrimmage on Saturday, this would be very similar to the conversation we would have had about Casey Dick's girlfriend. Except we probably would not have commented on his football talent because we would have been so taken aback by his girlfriend's homemade bedazzled billboard shirt.

I've also gotta be honest. I have never once in my entire life thought, "I want a new shirt...I think I'll pull out my bedazzler and make myself one."

I will try to get a picture to show you all the horror that was her homemade bedazzled Dick #11 shirt. I am sure she will either wear it again or make another one...Sister should at least know that bedazzling is so 1994...This is 2007, the year of the iron-ons! Get with the times.

Where is Marissa?

So, there was a sneak peak of the new "Real Orange County." Newport Harbor really has a lot to live up to. I mean the kids at Laguna will be hard to replace, but the kids of the "Fake Orange County...Newport Harbor" will be even harder to replace.
From what I saw, we will pretty much watch a bunch of bleach-blonde teenie-boppers fight over boys for the whole season.
Unless you have a Gold-Diggin' mom who marries for money, an ex-con bad boy who loves you and a drug habit (Marissa Cooper) I don't want to watch you live your over-privilaged life in the "Real OC."
I live in the "Real Washington County" but I don't see any video cameras following me...even though I'd make a great show.
Anyway, the show stunk...but honestly, I'll probably continue to watch it.Because, sadly enough, I don't have anything better to do.

Cat fight!

Lauren has a new roommate, new boss (Whitney!) and a former best friend who is spreading rumors about her faster than you can say "implants!" I read that the feud between Lauren and Heidi comes to a head tonight at Les Deux and it's supposed to be GOOD! Other than that, I'll be tuning in (tonight at 10/9 Central) to see the same ol' thing there always is - Teen Vogue's Lisa Love, Lauren's horrible taste in dudes, and the great traffic shots of LA. I also read that in the promo shots for this season Heidi came at a different time and that she has been photoshopped in. I could see that.

Because Pictures are F-U-N!

I don't have anything too special to blog about, but I did get some pictures off our camera last night and thought I would share. First, the great purse search that I've been boring you two with is not over, but it's come to a stop for now. I bought this purse yesterday at Target. I think it's pretty cute for the Fall. The straps are not leather (obvs.. the purse was $19), but they don't look quite as fake as other purses I've seen. Since my cost-per-wear (thanks Brittnee) will be just pennies, I can buy another purse if I happen upon the perfect one.

And this is the fabric that I told you both about. Brant helped me recover this bench in the sunroom and I really like it. It's further proof to Brittnee that birds aren't always scary. On a side note, we found a dead bird in the sun room a few weeks ago. Grodie.

This a Will playing the Wii. As you can see from the blur that is his left arm, it's a pretty intense gaming system. Brittnee, you and Andrew should really consider getting one of these. As you well know, it's fun. I don't think I'll ever forget the image of you "boxing" when we played at your house. And both of you can just let me know when you top 71 in the dodgeball challenge.

I bought this little metal bistro table at World Market last weekend. It was on sale for $32, down from $129!! It's a nice little table, very sturdy and the color is more exciting than this picture shows. However, only an idiot would pay $129 for it. It actually took a little pep talk to myself to even pay $32.

And finally, I can't post five pictures and not have at least one of my dogs in them! Gulley hates the camera, so I think she was trying to burn it with her eyes.

Have a great weekend!

Cuteness level pretty high

Now, I know that we all gave her parents some crap. It was a crazy time. Tom is one of the crazier people in Hollyweird and Katie is, well, Katie Holmes! They don't match! But I'll tell ya what...their kid? Cute. Take a look for yourself!


That's really all I have to say about it. Her parents are still crazy.

Success!

"The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather in a lack of will."

Vincent T. Lombardi

Clearly, we had the will and now we can enjoy our success. Do yourself a favor and compose a DUH song! We did, after all, bring the word back! Duh.

http://hyundaiusa.thebigduhsale.com/index.html

"We'll call it MAN Band, because we're MEN now!"

Vh1 has perhaps the most insane programming schedule right now that I've ever seen. Every washed-up has-been there ever was now has a reality show on the network, ranging from "get a date with so-and-so," to "watch so-and-so go through a mid-life crisis," to "two so-and-so's with the SAME NAME get together and talk about their past!" And music videos? I'm pretty sure they're on from 3am-8am, you know, normal viewing hours? But I digress...

Get ready for the new edition to the network. They call it Man Band! 4 members of old BOY bands get together and try and create a NEW band - of MEN! Get it!?! Oh, it's so perfect. I bet you're dying to hear who was chosen. Remember all the guys who didn't sing a lot and had the least amount of fans and sort of seemed out of place? Meet your new MAN BAND! Chris from ‘N Sync, Jeff from 98 Degrees, Rich from LFO, and Bryan Abrams from Color Me Badd. OK, maybe the guy from 98 degrees wasn't the worst - it was that other guy with the deep voice who was like 30 - but still. And Color Me Badd was a boy band? I don't think sooo. Sure, they were guys, but they were popular in the early 90's, right? I would have gone with someone from O-Town, for sure. Ashley Parker Angel wasn't available? How about that guy with the dreads? Still, the guys have been chosen and now...the mission!

They will live together in Chris' house and try to make it as a new band - named Sureshot. They'll be writing new songs, coming up with a new stage show and trying to get J-Timb to return their calls. Here's the thing - they might succeed. All of those boy bands had a HUGE following and those ladies are still out there somewhere. I checked out their myspace page and they have over 3,000 friends, as well as comments from women who are literally counting down the minutes until the premiere of the show tonight. Which reminds me, it's on at 10PM (eastern), so tune in if you can. Man Band thanks you, I'm sure.

What a Girl Wants

I want a donut. Or should I say doughnut? The search for doughnut produced this mouth-watering picture. And seriously, my mouth is watering right now.

And since we're on the subject, let's run down my favorite donut shops. Well, there's really only one and it's Shipley's in Little Rock. I grew up eating these and to this day, would prefer a Shipley's plain glazed donut to anything Krispy Kreme might try to throw at me. Not that I make a habit of turning down donuts... that would just be silly. Anyway, donuts are good. Always have been and always will be. I go for plain glazed and sometimes chocolate iced. Anything with a filling, especially if it's fruit (and particularly if it's lemon, because lemon and sugar should only mix when alcohol is involved, ie on the rim of a lemon drop martini), makes me sick. So don't go buying me any of those. Thanks.

Ocean of Fear: Sharks are SO Misunderstood!

It's Shark Week on the Discovery Channel. I usually wouldn't really care about this, given that I'm not especially fond of sharks, but the promos for Shark Week are everywhere...all the time. And especially the show, Ocean of Fear, about a real-life ship wreck and the shark-infested waters that followed. For weeks now they've been billing this special as a document of the "worst shark attack in history" in which several hundred men were killed. I was blowing it off until Entertainment Weekly called it the "Must Watch" of the week, and that's when I knew I had to tune in. It was a 2 hour special and it aired this past Sunday and Eric and I watched it. And, well, I feel mislead.


Since I didn't pay THAT close attention, all I can give you are some vagaries about the real-life incident. A US ship was on it's way back from delivering the first A-bomb to some US port, but on its way back home it was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine. Close to 1,200 men were on board and only 900 men made it off the boat. And this is when the shark stuff comes into play. Most of the footage from the show consisted of underwater shots of sharks circling several rafts with men inside. However, most of the time, they just circled, they didn't attack. What the sharks did attack were men who had already died from other causes - most often lack of water. In fact, I think that there were less than 5 attacks on men who were still alive. Over a 5 day period, only 300+ men survived. It was sad to watch, but I got the feeling about 3/4 of the way through that sharks weren't the enemy on this occasion. 5 attacks? 900 men? You do the math. It was primarily a special on what NOT to do when you get lost at sea. And the answer to that, my friends, is don't drink salt water! You'll go down faster than you would have without it.

The attack is still on record as the worst in history, but that's mainly because of the number of people and sharks in one place at one time. I was expecting some serious shark brutality and what I saw was that sharks are not so bad. Maybe they're misunderstood...and maybe I don't care because they're freakin' scary!

Oh no they didn't...

For those of you that don't know, House Hunters is a neat little show on HGTV that I frequently enjoy. You get to see three houses for a person to choose from and it makes buying a home seem just that easy. Part of me would like to say that I only watch it because it's the summer and there's nothing else on TV, but that's simply not true. I enjoy the show. And I've gotten damn good at choosing the house the people end up choosing.

I settled in last night to watch a new episode and imagine my disgust when the infamous Star Jones Reynolds popped up on the screen. I think I actually said aloud "What the hell?" and then somehow kept from throwing a pillow at the TV (I didn't want to frighten the dogs). There is nothing wrong with Suzanne Whang (the normal host) and there is nothing right about Star. Nothing.

From what I've read online, this is a guest stint as host. I certainly hope that's true. I'm not sure if I can truly enjoy House Hunters with SJR as the host.

P.S. SJR was "intentionally evasive" about gastric bypass surgery. As if we didn't know!

McCopyright Infringement?

There are a few places that Eric and I really miss up here in Michigan. Sonic, Shake's and Chik-Fil-A are just a few of them. It's toughest with Sonic, because they run commercials for delicious drinks all the time, and yet, there are no Sonics in sight. Chick-Fil-A gets us, too. Their chick-n-biscuits are one of the best breakfast treats I can think of. Plus, the chicken sandwhiches, with a simple treatment of just pickles, are some of the best around.

So good, in fact, that McDonald's has decided to straight up copy them. They introduced the Southern Style Chicken Sandwhich recently and it's basically the exact same thing as the Chick-Fil-A sandwhich. Eric and I were then faced with a dilemma. Stay true to Chick-Fil-A, the original? Or go to McDonald's as quick as we possibly could and order 2 of them - to go! I doubt I have to tell you what we did.

The knock-offs were tasty, I will admit. And we've had a hankerin' for another one since then. I feel so guilty betraying dear Chick-Fil-A...but I love me some chicken, so what're ya gonna do?

Like a cow in a rainstorm...

This is pretty much how I felt yesterday. Except without the rock hard abs. And I was wearing a shirt. And I'm not a man. Okay, truth be told, I couldn't find a cool picture of a woman running in the rain. So this is what you get. Anyhooha, I went for a little run yesterday and halfway through it, there was a downpour. I mean, it was raining hard. I was pretty far from my house so I decided to embrace the rain and finish up my run.

When I finally reached the end of my street, I sprinted towards my house. I imagined myself looking about like this guy (except again, no abs, with a shirt and as a woman), and as I stood on my porch drenched and drained, I felt great. Now I realize that I probably looked more like a cold, wet calf (baby cows strike me as awkward) running through a rainstorm, but whatever.

Why was I running at all, you ask? And that's a great question considering my apathy towards excercise. But, I'm thinking about running a half-marathon. Don't even ask what makes me think this is a good idea, because I have no good answer. But I'm in my initial training and the first two weeks have been good. I enjoy my runs, even in the rain, except of course when I see lighting strike about 3 feet away from me. I'll decide in September whether or not to sign up for the half-marathon. And I'll keep you ladies posted. For now though, just call me Running Rudy.

It's like changing purses for different seasons

I had to change the blog again. Blame it on boredom. Blame it on my love of changing desktop backgrounds. But I think it's a lot like when a girl changes her winter purse for a summer tote. It just makes sense to change every once and a while. Beyonce knows.

Oh, and I added a poll section. This first poll is just a tester. If it works out, then we can do more!

Are you kidding me?

Lohan. The name doesn't really conjure up the image of the sweet, talented young actress of yore, does it? Not anymore. Now it comes with loads of baggage. Alcohol problems, drug addiction, ex-boyfriends, crazy parents, and more. And that's just her personal life. Apparently she's rarely on time and sort of a diva on set. Surprised? No. Not when everyone caters to her and the other young women of Hollywood. It's really ridiculous when Lohan is covered on CNN - and it's BREAKING NEWS! I saw a video clip of an anchorman (bless him) who tried to refuse to read the story about Lohan during a live broadcast! It went something like this, "And Lindsay Lohan was arrested...I'm not going to read this..." SILENCE "They're telling me I have to read this." And while it was kind of embarrassing, he made his point. It's not REAL news! I miss the days when CNN was a legitimate new source. Or, rather, I miss the days when famous people were sort of normal, or secretly crazy. I do kind of blame paparazzi for this. But c'mon. There are a TON of celebs that stay below the radar and are probably straight crazy. How hard is it to stay inside one night a week? Maybe even not drink when you're wearing an alcohol-monitoring bracelet? Leave the coke at home? Just a few tips that might have served Lohan well jsut a few days ago.

Drew Carey as Bob Barker?

So this is what it takes to get the blog back up and running... Drew Carey. Now, I generally find Drew Carey pretty funny. He seems like a nice guy. I can picture him as one of my dad's friends or something. But I simply cannot endorse the decision to make him the new host of "The Price Is Right." I just can't do it. And to be quite honest, I don't have any reasons why. It's not that my reasons aren't good, it's that I really don't have any.

Does anyone agree and if so, do you have a reason why?