Driving in Idaho

We went for a drive one day and ended up someplace that KB called the W.  We didn't go over the W (I think that's the terminology) because of the snow. This was the point where we gave up and turned around.

Christmas

KB waiting to open presents. 

Snow...

Cupcakes Idaho style

I made KB take me to the one cupcake place I could find in town.  It's called the Cocoa Bean. 

They were pretty good. But NO vanilla/vanilla or plain chocolate, which I think is weird. 

This is the raspberry lemonade. It had a pretty weird consistency-- super moist-- like it was actually soaked in lemonade. But it was yummy. 

This is the chocolate malted. The frosting was amazing. 

They also had one called "better than whatever," which is how you know you're in Idaho. 

We are also a Lego family

Lego creatures. 

Building a tower. 

A little applause. 

Fall TV -- winners and losers

So I posted my annual list in September, and now it's time to do a follow up.  This has been a pretty disappointing fall for TV, with a few exceptions.

The Mindy Project is so good this year.  This is the one show that I will watch live and sit through the commercials.  And then I watch again later so I can get my quote of the week.  Every time Danny wears those red reading glasses, I crack up.  And I love Danny's and Mindy's chemistry.  I made KB watch a couple episodes and told him he needs to learn to dance like Danny, but he said No.

The Walking Dead is the other show I look forward to each week.  Wow!  This has been a good season.  I was so bummed that they did the "fall finale" in November and I have to wait a while for it to come back.  Sundays are pretty boring without the Walkers!

The Newsroom took the place of Walking Dead on Sunday nights starting in December.   The season and the series ended last Sunday, but it was a great little show.  (Maybe I'll start West Wing over again!)

Parenthood has been so disappointing this year.  They have been spending more and more time showing Max and his issues, and I could not care less.  I hate the whole plot of Christina and Adam starting that school, and... big surprise, Adam's other business is failing?  Hmmm.... maybe starting two businesses in three years is a mistake?  Ugh.  Then all the stuff with Hank's daughter is so blah.  Turns out the only storyline I care about this season is Julia and Joel, and they were the ones I cared about the least before.  And I like Crosby, but not much is happening with him this season.

A lot of people were getting sick of New Girl, and by a lot of people, I mean Jill and Chris and the editors of Entertainment Weekly.  But I still loved it... until now.  There are still lots of things to like about it, but it's lost it's footing.

Marry Me was supposed to be the one great new comedy, but it's pretty stupid and not that funny.  I don't care about any of the supporting characters and the main couple isn't much better.  Quite disappointing.  The only thing I find kind of clever are Annie's two dads, the Kevins.  For example, the episode when one Kevin and Annie are competing about the things they want in their weddings.  But they aren't in it enough to make up for the rest of what the show is lacking.

And that's pretty much all the shows I watch!  Any of the other new shows that I said I might watch, I didn't.
What am I missing?

We are a Star Wars family.

 Someone needs to do this. The most likely candidate is Tina, but Val is a close second. 

http://www.anthonyherreradesigns.com/index.php/8-ahd-blog/7-star-wars-snowflakes-2012

Mindy Project quote of the week --12/2 and 12/9

12/2-- Peter moves into Danny's rental apartment. 

Danny talking about Peter moving in next door-- "We don't need a Kramer, and if we did, Morgan is more that energy."

Mindy--"As great as a manly guy is, sometimes you need a pinch hitter. A pal you take to the Rhianna book signing when your boyfriend calls it 'the reason China is winning.'" 

12/9-- Christmas episode (I usually hate Christmas episodes but this one was great!!) 

Mindy to her boss--"You're so wise. Why are you wasting time in medicine? You should be a life coach on The Biggest Loser." 

Mindy, talking about applying for a fellowship at Stanford -- "It's only eight months. I'll be back to ruin football season for you."

Peter to Danny--"why would Mindy go to Stanford? She hates not being the only Asian in the room."

Thanksgiving

My friend Anne Lise came to visit for a week. She brought her 16 year old daughter. We did a lot of the usual and not-so-usual NYC tourist stuff. 

The reservoir and Bethesda fountain in Central Park. 

Eating cupcakes from Magnolia

And cookies and hot chocolate from City Bakery 

A black and white cookie from Empire bakery ("Look to the cookie, Elaine.  Look to the cookie."

A trip to the farmer's market 

Riding the subway 

Drove to NJ to visit these goofballs. This isn't the best picture but I think my niece looks a lot like my sister in the picture, even though she's looking down. (Deciding who she looks like is the great debate of 2014) 

Thanksgiving dinner gathering. 

And then they were on their way back to Cali! 

No problems here! 

New Girl quote of the week--11/18, 11/25

November 18... Teachers conference 

Coach, remarking on Jess's crush, Ryan -- "Him? He looks like a boys' department mannequin." 

November 25... Obligatory Thanksgiving episode 

Jess to Ryan --"Do I sing Oasis songs to myself and pretend that they were inspired by your love for me? I do!"

Mindy quote of the week --11/18, 11/25

November 18 ..Mindy's diary 

After Danny reads Mindy's diary and reads that she likes his butt, he says, "Nice going, Danny Jr." 

November 25.. Mindy sets Danny's mom up on a date 

Danny when he saw his mother dressed up for her date-- "What the hell is this? Why is Ma dressed up like the tart of Staten Island?"

Mindy talking to Danny's mom about dating--"New York City is all hot gays and bald straights." 

Steelers v Jets

KB is a big Steelers fan. I'm a super nice girlfriend and bought him tickets to see the Steelers play the Jets here at the Meadowlands for his birthday. There were just as many Steeler fans as Jets fans at the game, and lots of "mixed" couples there.  I wouldn't say we were one of them since I don't care.  The Steelers lost, but it was a fun day anyway. 

Here is the crowd waiting to board the NJ Transit train to the Meadowlands. There is a lot of black and yellow in this crowd! 

Warning: selfies ahead. 

Here we are on the train. We walked way ahead and ended up on an empty car. They use the double decker trains to get out there, so there was plenty of room. 

And here we are at the game. 

I wore a down coat and we brought a blanket but the day was so nice and sunny, we didn't need either one.  Mid November-- who knew?!

It was so fun that I think next year I'll have to spring for tickets to see them in Pittsburg. 

Mindy Project quote of the week-- 11/11

Peter: "We had a night of crazy sex, now it's time for the punishment. So, where are we going for brunch?...  I just thought we should do what you want to do today, so you want to go to spin class, you want to go to see your friend's new baby?" 

Spoiler alert: I don't know why they broke Peter and Abby up already. She was a nice addition to the show. 

Mindy project quote of the week -- 11/4

I think you can guess what the quote will be for this week... 

Some guy named Paul : "Nowadays you fart too loud, you gotta go to counseling."

Dan: "tell me about it, brother. " 

Newport

My friend Angie came to visit the past week. She used to live in NYC but move several years ago, despite my best effort to sway her into saying by offering my spare bedroom in my rent stabilized apartment.  Anyway, she comes to visit every year and this time, she asked if I was interested in taking a road trip. So first I thought about going to the Poconos, but that is really set up for couples. My next thought was Montreal to see Jason, but he was coming here that weekend. So third choice was Newport and it was a good one!  The weather was perfect and the leaves are still glorious. We were there just for a day, but we did the Cliff walk and toured two of the mansions. We basically just picked two based on proximity and the fact that they close at 5:00 and we started at 3:00.

this is me before we started the Cliff Walk


 
 

 
 
 
 
 



Below is one of the houses that we passed on the Cliff walk.  I don't know if it was one of the houses to tour.  There were lots of people on the lawn, so we almost just walked up there, but glad we didn't!



 
 
Chateau Sur-Mer

 

The Elms (back)

Slide

New Girl quote of the week -- 9/16, 9/23, 9/30, 10/7

Season premiere 

Schmidt, encouraging the roommates to find someone to hook up with at the last wedding of the summer: "Nobody meets anyone in fall or winter. What? Are you gonna gamble with the contents of a bulky sweater."

9/23 Schmidt sets Jess up on 10 dates 

Jess:  "are you insane? I'm not ready! That's like taking a musical from rehearsals straight to Broadway. You've got to workshop it first."

Schmidt: "You're not for one second suggesting that I don't know how to set up a musical. How dare you?!"

9/30 

Jess: "Have you ever seen sex from above?  It's horrible. That's why God thinks it's a sin." 

10/7 

Jess: "Real women are wonky."

Mindy Project --9/16 & 9/23

Season premiere and this may be my favorite quote evah.... 

Mindy voiceover:  "After years of dating losers and sociopaths, I'm now happily dating the man of my dreams. A devout catholic divorcee with some pretty serious daddy-issues. Which... For a single 30-something woman is not too shabby. "

9/23  

Mindys attempt to find common ground with Danny's mom.  She says All you need is one TV show that you both watch, which I couldn't agree with more. 

"Real Housewives? Basketball Wives? Army Wives? Sister Wives? ... Wife Swap?"

Mindy Project quote of the week-- 10/14

Mindy trying to convince Danny to pretend he's upset so that they can get a better hospital shift:  "Act like I do when I find out a celebrity is younger than me. "

New Girl quote of the week --10/14

Schmidt: "I'm mad as a dad in traffic!" 

Mindy Project quote of the week -- 10/7

I'm just going to ignore the subject matter and choose my favorite of many quotable lines.

Morgan: "you've changed. You always promised me you wouldn't be one of those girls who ditches their best friend the minute they get a boyfriend."

Mindy: "I would never promise that. All I've wanted in my life is to abandon all my friends for a boyfriend. " 

Mindy:  "if you go blind, I'm gonna get so fat." 

Red Rooster

I stumbled across this place on my way across 125th street this weekend.  They have food and drinks but I got this. 

Oatmeal pies. Yum.  

Mindy project quote of the week -- 9/30

You asked for it, you got it. Mindy quotes!  I'll go back and do quotes from episodes 1&2 but for now... 

Danny:  Your kisses are for three things: your ma, your girl, and your wrestling coach after you win regionals. 

Danny: You better start thinking about ways to make it up to me. 

Mindy: Rizzo?! You want me to dress up like Rizzo from Grease? 

Rewind

Yesterday, I was walking around the LES and came across Economy Candy.  This is a New York institution.  They had a bunch of candy with a Star Wars theme, and it made me think of this old video. 


http://gibbypastasauce.blogspot.com/2008/10/new-neighbors.html

Fall TV

There are a few new shows I'm looking forward to, but mostly I'm looking forward to my faves coming back.




Sunday -- The Comeback is coming back to HBO.  This is a show that had one season previously and it was one of those shows that a few people loved but most people hadn't heard of.  I watched it on Netlfix and I thought it was okay.  There were definitely lots of funny parts, but I don't remember loving it.  Now it's coming back 9 years later with season 2.  Just that alone piques my interest enough to give it a shot.  (November 9)


The Newsroom is back for season 3 on HBO.  I have to catch up on season 2 before the new season starts on November 9.  This may or may not happen. 


The Walking Dead is also on Sunday nights.  I started this show, after years of saying I wasn't interested in shows about zombies, because KB loves it and he wanted me to watch while he was here in the summer.  So we got through season 1 and part of season 2, and then I finished the rest of what's available on Netflix after he left.  All the way through seasons 1&2, I kept saying "I don't get it."  But season 3 finally hooked me and now I'd like to find a way to watch season 4 (not available on Netflix yet) before season 5 starts October 12.  Doesn't seem likely, though.  I'm still not interested in zombies, for the record.


At some point in the coming TV season, Mad Men will return for it's final episodes, and I couldn't be more excited for that. 


Also on Sunday nights is Last Week Tonight, which is HBOs version of The Daily Show.  It's hilarious and smart.


Monday -- I'm slightly interested in Gotham on FOX.  In general, I'm more than over superhero shows and movies, but this one is getting some attention.  I might end up recording it and then never watching, which is what happened with Arrow.  This one started already on September 22.


Tuesday -- Marry Me is a  new show on NBC that I'm most excited for this new season.  Casey Wilson played my second favorite character from Happy Endings, which was a great show that ended too soon.  Next to her is Ken Marino, who is so great in everything he does.  This is the story of the engagement of the "levelheaded" man and "excitable" woman after a botched proposal, according to the description in EW.  It looks like it has tons of potential.  (October 12)


Manhattan Love Story would probably be on this list but I HATE the actress, Analeigh Tipton, who was a contestant on ANTM years ago.  She totally ruined the otherwise good movie "Crazy, Stupid, Love" a few years ago as an overacter.  But her character was also so stupid, it may not have been her fault.  Anyway, I doubt I'll watch as I already have a few Tuesday shows.  This one is on ABC starting September 30.


The Mindy Project already started two weeks ago and it started off with a bang.  I love this show so much.  I am contemplating resurrecting my quotes of the week with this show.  Stay tuned for that.  Maybe. 


New Girl is also back on Tuesdays and still my favorite 22 minutes of the day.  I know not everyone loves this show as they once did, but I still think it's hilarious.  I will never buy that Jess and Nick are just friends with no weirdness after breaking up, but this is TV, and anything is possible on TV. 


Another show I started to watch because KB loves it is Sons of Anarchy.  This one started already on September 9 on FX.  I watched seasons 1-5 on Netflix and I liked it okay, but Jill hit the nail on the head when she said that every episode could be titled "The one where Jax tries to take the club in a new direction."  Also, there are so many gangs and sometimes they are allies with the Sons, and sometimes they're enemies, and sometimes they're enemies fighting a common enemy, and I can't keep it all straight so I find myself tuning out at lot of the time.  But Jax is still hot and I like a lot of the other characters.  Season 6 still isn't on Netflix, but KB told me what happened and I decided to just go ahead and skip that one and watch season 7 live. 


Wednesday -- I'm not exactly excited about this one, but Red Band Society is being called the new "teen melodrama" which is enough for me to give it a chance.  Plus it has a the cute guy from Brothers and Sisters.  It started September 17 on FOX, but I haven't watched yet. 


I'm somewhat interested in the concept behind black-ish which already started September 24 on ABC.  I've given up other ABC comedies, so we'll see if this one holds my interest. 


Nashville started September 24 on ABC and I am hoping it stays as good as season 2 was.


Thursday -- Gracepoint is a murder mystery.  Not usually up my alley, but I might try this one.  (FOX October 2)  This is probably a good one for you, Mom. 


And of course... Parenthood returns for it's final season.  It started September 25 on NBC and even though it starts with Kristina opening her charter school that she decided to create just for her (annoying) son Max, because doesn't everyone want to start their own school, I am good at ignoring the things that bug me and focusing on the things that I like.  Which is pretty much everything else about this show.


Also on Thursdays on NBC is A to Z.  I don't know much about it, other than it appears to be a romantic comedy, it has the "Mother" from How I Met your Mother and there are billboards for it around the city, but it might be worth checking out. 


Okay, obviously this is too many shows.  If New Girl, Mindy and Parenthood keep me happy, then this will be a good season for me. 


And Marry Me. 


And Mad Men. 


Okay, that's really it. 

Birthday

JM was not touring again this year, so a low-key birthday was on the agenda.  I went to NJ to spend it with Jill & Chris and my cute niece. Lara and Candace came down, too.  Here's my niece with auntie Lara, looking for birds, which is her new thing. 

The next day, I was babysitting while Jill worked. So we went to the park and on the way home, stopped at this bakery, Carlo's. Their town has several bakeries, so I like to try different ones when I come visit. 

I got the chocolate peanut butter cup.  The cupcake was too dense (not moist) and not very flavorful. The frosting tasted better, but it was almost crunchy with sugar crystals.  Not too impressed. It wasn't until afterwards that I found out these are famous cupcakes by Cake Boss. Of course I've seen the show once or twice, but I didn't recognize the name. 

Luckily, Jill got us cupcakes from Cupcake Magician the night before. So much better, and cheaper, too! 

Here's my birthday flowers from KB. 

While I was babysitting, we took long walks, went to the park, and went "swimming" in the play pool in the back yard.   I'll be saying good-bye to this cute face tomorrow and going back to work!

This is Where I Leave You

I just finished this book while on my vacation and I'm totally looking forward to the movie.  Jason Bateman, Tina Fey, Adam Driver, Connie Britton... What???  How does it get better than that?

Last day in Moab

Went for a drive up the mountain. This is the part of Moab that I like.  Grandad forgot his fishing rod but it was nice to be outside for a bit, chatting and reading. 

Moab 2014

I spent a weekend with my awesome sisters, their husbands and kids and my parents in Utah last weekend. I didn't take many pictures but here are the ones I have.

Riding in grandad's truck.

Climbing on some abandoned machine. 

Dressing up in grandad's boots and hats. 

Blowing bubbles with grandma Shauna