Is that The Sash?

We've all been here, am I right?

2012-02-04T22:23:00.002-05:00

... and if so, please tell me which show in the comments section.

30 Rock quote of the week -- 2/2

2012-02-04T21:08:00.002-05:00

Jack to Liz: "And by your assistant, you mean you... with a British accent."

Jack in his tape on negotiating skills: "No one has won a land war in Russia. Not Napoleon, not Hitler. Not even Balki in the unaired ninth season of 'Perfect Strangers.'"

Liz: "You didn't realize that emotion could be a weapon? Have you not read the poetry of Jewel?"

30 Rock quote of the week -- 1/26b

2012-02-04T20:41:00.003-05:00

This quote comes from Frank, after which Lutz gets a guilty look: "Hey, we all make mistakes. Like farting when you're talking to three people."

Two Little Red Hens

2012-02-03T20:56:00.011-05:00

This bakery has been around forever, but when am I EVER on the UES? Pretty much never, except for last weekend, when I went to visit my ONE friend that lives there. Anyway, for some reason, I've had chocolate cupcakes from Two Little Red Hens, and never thought they were spectacular, but wanted to try something else. First of all, this place is adorable. Secondly, this coconut cupcake.... mmmmmmmm..... so good!! I love a cupcake with cream filling. I'm a fan!

30 Rock quote of the week -- 1/26a

2012-01-28T22:50:00.005-05:00

In her speech to the idiot group, Liz said: "Because of you, there might be an Entourage movie!"

30 Rock quote of the week -- 1/19

2012-01-28T22:22:00.005-05:00

Liz's new boyfriend: "Happy three month anniversary, and happy two week anniversary of going to the bathroom when I'm here."

Jack, after finding out that Liz's new boyfriend is an 'entrepreneur': "Lemon, I have said 'Good God' to you before, but I don't think I've ever meant it until now.... GOOD GOD!!!!"

30 Rock quote of the week 1/12

2012-01-28T18:24:00.003-05:00

Liz: "maybe I'm in a good mood because I'm not being weighed down by redundant torso fabric."

Jack to Liz Lemon: "Let me guess. You're going alone to the 9:10 showing of Gary Marshall's New Year's Eve. You've waited five weeks to see it to make sure that you wouldn't contribute to it being #1 in America. You'll say you're seeing it ironically, and yet you'll tear up when Ashton Kutcher kisses Lea Michelle."

H2$

2012-01-28T15:12:00.003-05:00

So, this is one of those times I have to brag about living in the coolest place on earth. When I heard that Darren Criss was going to be on Broadway, I knew my butt was going to be in the audience. I am also super lucky to have a great friend in Kathy who won tickets at her company Christmas party, and we got to see it from the THIRD ROW!!! Although I'm not a fan of musicals for the most part, I liked the show. There were two fantastic numbers, two stinkers and a bunch in between. Darren Criss was reliably awesome in most of it. I came home and was sure that someone must have snuck a video of the performance, but there weren't any good ones. But I did find this one of his last curtain call.

last post on fall movies

2012-01-28T14:17:00.004-05:00

I'm so disappointed in movies this year that the Oscar nominations have been out for a few days and I didn't even bother to find out who got nominated.

But I'm still going to post about the last few movies I've seen...

The Iron Lady -- Meryl Streep, are you kidding me? I wish Viola Davis had a chance to win against her, but I'm afraid she doesn't. Meryl -- amazing. Movie -- pretty good.

Young Adult -- All the best parts were in the commercial. Highly disappointing movie.

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close -- This is one of my all time favorite books. I love it. There is no way that the movie could live up to the book, and it didn't. Still, it was an okay movie. I felt that Sandra Bullock and Tom Hanks were miscast. I don't know who I would have cast if it were up to me, but I didn't think either one of them felt right. The old guy was perfect. The kid was pretty good, for a child actor carrying a whole movie, that is. New York was awesome.

Top ten coming soon... (although there won't be ten.)

Stuff New Yorkers say

2012-01-27T22:53:00.007-05:00

The female New Yorker kind of reminds me of my friend, Veronique. Am I right, NYC friends?

My favorites are "Do you smell maple syrup?" and "I just bought this!" about the umbrella. And I always say "Don't hit me, don't hit me, don't hit me..."
But I would NOT turn my nose up to Magnolia! Are you kidding me?

What's your favorite?

And one more thing... When the woman says "What a schmuck!" it reminds me of a conversation I overheard once.
Random man: "Ugh, he's such a schmuck!"
Random woman: "What's a schmuck?"
Man: "I don't know, it's like a schmendrick."
I'm sure she was thinking, "Well, that clears that up!"

Cupcakes -- Orem style

2012-01-05T22:51:00.007-05:00

I was in Utah for the holidays. I spent Christmas with my parents in Moab, and then drove up to Provo to see Julia and her new, old, beautiful house, then went a bit further north for a get-together with some of my mission friends. I think it's awesome that I have known these people for almost 20 years and we still talk and meet up when we can. (Those that live in Utah see each other more than I do, of course.)

Also on the list of things to do was to see if Utah people could do cupcakes the right way. As Julia said, "If there is anything people in Utah should be able to do well, it's cupcakes." These were pretty good, from The Chocolate, but I would not say they are top 10. I brought these to my mission reunion and only tried the Vanilla/vanilla and Peanut butter /chocolate. They did have lots of really delicious looking things and maybe someday I'll get to try something else.

From top left: Pineapple coconut, Vanilla/vanilla, Peanut butter/ chocolate, Red velvet.

Fall TV -- winners and losers

2011-12-23T14:59:00.005-05:00

So, to follow up on my previous post about fall TV, here are the shows that I am still watching.
Up All Night -- as expected, Will Arnet is funny and I like the relationship between Regan and Chris. Maya Rudolf is also really great.

New Girl -- I know some people think Zooey Deschannel is just a little too cute and quirky, which I get, but I think she's great. I like the relationship between her and the three roommates, and I think they are all great in their own way.

Whitney has been getting panned (at least by EW), but I kind of like it. I really only like Whitney and her boyfriend and enjoy their relationship, but find all of the supporting characters super boring. So I don't love it, but like it well enough.

I'm also watching Revenge and I like it. It's pretty silly, in a soapy kind of way, but since I was a big fan of "Dallas" in the 80s, I guess it's not surprising that there is something that appeals to me.

I didn't put Suburgatory in my original post, but this one has been a surprise. If you ever watched "Veronica Mars", it kind of reminds me of that show although it's a comedy instead of a mystery.

I gave up these new shows:

"Ringer"

"Terra Nova"

"Pan Am"

"Two Broke Girls"

Returning shows:

Loving "Parenthood" (except for the boring plotlines with Julia and the annoying Max).

Loving "Parks and Recreation"

Getting sort of sick of "The Office"

Also getting sick of "Glee", but still love Blaine and that keeps me tuned in for now.

Other movies

2011-12-19T17:03:00.008-05:00

The movie I was most looking forward to for the fall season was The Descendants, which was getting lots of buzz for a few months before it was even released and made it on a bunch of top ten lists and it just got nominated for a Golden Globe. The only thing I can say about this movie is that I don't get it. It did nothing for me. I did enjoy seeing Hawaii, however, since I have been dreaming of living there for years.

Another movie that I've been hearing about for years (literally) is My Week With Marilyn. The praise has been about Michelle Williams' performance as Marilyn Monroe. Again, I don't get it. I did not buy her as Marilyn Monroe and I did not think this story was interesting enough to make a whole movie about. I did quite like the guy, though. You know, the one who spent a week with Marilyn and then apparently wrote, not one, but two books about it, and then one of those books was made into a movie.

And the movie that is perhaps getting the most buzz this season is The Artist. If you have not heard of it, it is a silent movie... as in, a real silent movie with people talking without sound and sometimes they tell you what they are saying and sometimes you just guess because of the context of the scene. I was quite skeptical about this movie because I once saw a silent movie and it was the MOST BORING MOVIE EVER. So, despite the great reviews and talk of Oscar nominations, I had super low expectations. But I liked it a lot. The two main actors were great, but I especially loved Berenice Bejo. She was adorable and I could not take my eyes off of her. My only complaint is that it was a bit too long, but as I often say, that's my main complaint about most movies. I would definitely recommend this one to my mom.

Tonight, despite my negative experience with the original Swedish movie, I'm going to see The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Because nothing says Christmas like anal rape. (sorry, but it just had to be said and if you've seen it, you know what I'm talking about.)

Cupcakes -- St. Augustine

2011-12-12T17:40:00.005-05:00

My efforts to find cupcakes in Orlando were thwarted (long story). When we drove to St. Augustine for the day, this was going to be my one chance. Thankfully with smart phones, it's easy to find cupcakes wherever I go, and we found this place called Luli's.

From the top right, Vanilla/vanilla (with sprinkles), Lemon, Gingerbread, Carrot, Banana/chocolate, Cookies and cream.

The regular cupcakes(chocolate and vanilla) were from a MIX. The others were dry. The lemon frosting was pretty good, though, as it was creamy and sweet, but the cake took away from that. The only really good one was the carrot cupcake (not from a mix) w/ cream cheese frosting.

Vanilla/vanilla and the lemon.

The Office quote of the week -- 12/8

2011-12-10T19:37:00.002-05:00

Andy: " mistletoe is not an excuse for sexual assault."

The Office quote of the week -- 12/1

2011-12-10T19:12:00.002-05:00

Quote from Dwight: Do you wish every exercise was strutting around the gym like The Fonz?

cupcake cruise

2011-11-29T17:15:00.006-05:00

I'm heading for a short trip to Orlando next week and started searching for cupcake places to visit while I'm there. I found this link to a cupcake cruise. Yes, you read that right. I have never been on a cruise, and although this seems a little crazy, it could be fun.

Anyone want to join me?

my latest fit of creativity

2011-11-21T11:05:00.012-05:00

This is a quilt I finished over the weekend for one of my colleagues at work. I stumbled across this blog and loved this quilt pattern, so I got right to work and I was able to use up some of my scraps. Since I think traditional boy fabric is not as cute as traditional girl fabric, and there are all kinds of weird rules about what is okay for boys to have in a two-inch square of fabric, which I don't subscribe to at all but some people do, I did have to supplement a bit. But that's okay, too, because I do love our quilt shop.

"No pictures, please!"

2011-11-21T10:39:00.004-05:00

Here's baby Jake with the quilt I made for him. We finally got some fall weather for him to enjoy being wrapped up.

Won't get fooled again

2011-11-17T18:53:00.003-05:00

I saw He's Just Not that Into You, and although I admit that it was a lightweight film, I liked it. So I went to Valentine's Day with low expectations, but even then, was disappointed by how incredibly terrible it was. So... now New Year's Day has come along, but I won't get fooled again. I'll be sitting this one out.

Fall movies

2011-11-16T13:07:00.009-05:00

Tis the season for the best movies to be released. Here are some of them....

Moneyball -- I admit that the only reason I saw this movie is because (a) I have (at least) one friend who tries to be wholesome and pure (unlike me) and does not see movies that carry an R-rating, and (b) because Moneyball was the only movie that I wanted to see in that category, solely because it was on EW's Must List. But, I wasn't excited about it. As much as people kept saying, "You don't have to like sports to like this movie," I still kept thinking, "Well, it's a sports movie. How interesting will this be to me?"

So, all of that said, I loved it! As soon as the end credits started rolling and I saw that Aaron Sorkin was one of the writers, I knew why. I thought the story was interesting, the acting was good, and there was some suspense that kept me tuned in.

Ides of March -- I think because this one has been getting good reviews (also on EW's Must List), some people's expections may have been raised and therefore they may have been disappointed. However, I loved this movie. I thought it was really interesting and compelling. It was an interesting look at our political system, as well as my usual interest in interpersonal relationships.

Like Crazy -- One day in October, we had a conference that was over at 4:00 pm and I was so excited to have an early evening, so I went to see this movie with the matinee crowd. The acting was just as good as you've heard. It has been called an anti-romance and also "the most annoying part of relationships." I might have had my expectations a bit high, but still, really liked it.

Martha Marcy May Marlene -- This one is about a young woman who joins a cult and then escapes a few years later, so the story goes back and forth between her life in the cult and how she tries to make sense of those years afterwards. Naturally, I was intrigued by the charasmatic character who somehow draws these young people into the cult. And as we get little hints into her life before, it's interesting to speculate on what would have been her reason for being there. The Martha character was so well-acted and she was so real to me, as she reminded me of some clients I've worked with over the years (not that I've worked with people that have joined cults, but vulnerable people who get sucked into crazy situations). I would have trouble recommending this to very many people, especially people who see movies that I love and then come back to me and ask me, "Why did you tell me to see that? That was so depressing!" Although my mom is not in that category, you should definitely not see it.

This one is going back a bit, but Tree of Life is still in one theater here and may be playing near you (although I think it's already on DVD). It's everything you've heard -- strange, confusing, long, and visually stunning (I love the 50's-60's feel, clothing, furniture, etc.). I liked it a lot.

Next movie on my list is The Descendants.

the latest

2011-11-11T12:26:00.003-05:00

I think these picture show that someone is taking a roadtrip. Maybe he's visiting my parents. And that he's trying to be Neil Young.

The Office quote of the week -- 11/10

2011-11-11T11:58:00.002-05:00

I usually like my quote to be a little more succinct than this one, but what are you gonna do?
Pam and Dwight are trying to figure out if Jim is lying about saying that the temp isn't cute, Pam asks Jim if he has any friends to set her up with (obviously, this is Kelly Kapur's idea). So, they look up some guy online...

Kelly: "Ew! I mean, guess he could be okay with hair. You should see if he would get hair plugs."
Pam: "I don't think Jim cares about his hair."
Kelly: "Well, I do, okay. It's called being a nice person."

Sprinkles East side

2011-11-06T14:18:00.013-05:00

There is a new cupcake store in town, but it's not new to me, since I was just there 2 1/2 months ago in San Diego. Sprinkles is now bi-coastal. After a long week, it was just what I needed. Plus... I had a coupon for four free cupcakes, so it was worth going to the Upper East Side.

(photo stolen from this blog)

clockwise from the top left, Black and white, Salted caramel, Pumpkin, and Milk chocolate. They were all good, but the Salted caramel was the hands-down winner of the bunch! Although I like these cupcakes a lot, I still like the cake to be a bit more dense. But they have a good cupcake/frosting ratio and both the cake and frosting are really good.

2011-10-17T12:58:00.006-04:00

This is a slight exaggeration, but just picture me as Bob, and you will have a vague idea what my job has been like for the past two years. The difference is that Reagan and Chris take this guy's advice and no one ever takes mine.

I wish they really did offer PhDs in Peekaboo or Masters in "where's your nose" because I would totally rock that!

So, now I know what happens when there is a bomb scare on your plane

2011-10-13T13:19:00.016-04:00

I got a super cheap flight to Ohio for the Columbus day weekend. I left Saturday early in order to get there before lunch time and left at 6 am Tuesday and came straight to work. The fare was cheap enough to justify going for just two and a half days. However, the half day turned into a bit less because there was a random bomb scare on my flight. I'll preface the rest of this blogpost to say that, clearly, I'm fine and it wasn't a real bomb. Read on, if you are still interested...

About 20 minutes from our destination, we began to hear a ringing sound. Someone alerted the flight attendant and said that she thought it was coming from the overhead compartment. The flight attendant opened the overhead compartment, put her ear up to one of the suitcases and determined that it was coming from a brown suitcase. She asked around to the people in the immediate vicinity if the suitcase belonged them. (it was above seat 17, I was in seat 16B, so I was one of the people to say no.) She then made an announcement over the PA system for the person with a brown suitcase in the compartment over row 17 to speak up. No one did.

The noise continued to sound on and off for the remainder of the flight. We all assumed it was someone's alarm clock. It was not an ongoing ring, but kind of came in and out, which I think new alarms do. More annoying than the ring was the passengers around me saying, "Ugh! that's so annoying!"

When we landed, the pilot came over the PA system and said that there was a "mechanical problem" so we would not go directly to the gate, but a set of stairs would be brought to us and we'd be shuttled to the airport by bus. My paranoia kicked in and I thought I smelled smoke, which may or may not be true because Valerie said she saw some smoke somewhere, but it wasn't coming from my plane. A few minutes after sitting on the tarmac, a policeman comes on board to tell us to evacuate but leave our bags behind.

When we deplaned, we saw a bunch of firetrucks and a bunch of official people walking around. That is when I finally realized that this was not a mechanical malfunction, but they were concerned about this ringing suitcase. We stood on the tarmac for about an hour, were yelled at to put our bags on the ground so that the bomb sniffing dog could do his thing, and then told we would be shuttled back to the airport to be rescreened.

After they went through every bit of our stuff and we were totally felt up by glove-wearing TSA agents, which took about an hour for them to do all 57 of us, we waited for about another hour to get our next directions. Among those of us waiting was Elvis Costello, pictured below. I did a google search afterwards and found out that that night was going to be his first ever show in West Virginia. After this ordeal, I'm sure it was his last!

A woman with a clipboard came out and started calling peoples' names to be interviewed in pairs. The first group of four was called up -- and at least two of them were brown. I was indignant!! Until I was in the next group, and I'm as white as they come. I went into a little interview room with another man from my flight, and the firemen/bomb squad asked us what our experience was, which we described. Then one of the firemen pulled out a cell phone and played the alarm, and asked if this is what we heard. We both agreed that it was. He told us that it was an older man from our flight, who apparently didn't know it was his phone. He said that even though they were pretty sure that this cell phone was the mystery noise, the flight attendant had claimed that she heard it after we were all off the plane. Plus, the suitcase was not being claimed. So... the mystery continued. Our interviews were concluded with the fireman saying, "What can I say? We're all going to be old one day." I agreed.

After our interviews, they came through and said that they still needed to identify the brown suitcase. They asked the group if anyone had a bag with a laptop and curlers. A few women said, "Do you mean a curling iron?" others asked "do you mean a flat iron?" the answer to both of these questions was "No" which led me to believe that they need more women in the fire department, because any woman knows that they could have just walked up to the three women on the flight that appeared over the age of 60, because those are the only ones that would be carrying curlers with them. However, still no one claimed this suitcase. Finally, they just said to forget the laptop, did anyone pack curlers. After about 10 minutes a woman remembered that she had indeed brought curlers with her on the flight. The laptop was in a neoprine case that someone placed on top of someone else's suitcase and they did not go together. Once the mystery of the curler-filled bag was solved, and they were able to conclude that the sound didn't come from the bag in the first place, but from someone's pants pocket which was not in the overhead bin but on his body, we were free to leave.... AFTER they brought all of our stuff in, everyone claimed their belongings which had been taken out of the overhead compartments and seat backs, and there were no discrepancies in claiming items. This is when everyone lost their sh** because some people argued that they didn't need to claim anything and they wanted to get on with their lives. Even though this was a concern to the people in charge, they decided to let it go because we had already been there for four hours on a false alarm and everyone promised that they would not come back the next day and claim that they had left an iPad behind.

So... to sum up, I lost half of my half-day, and we had to go through all of this because:
A. an old man forgot to turn off his phone and then didn't know what his own phone sounded like when the alarm went off.
B. an old woman didn't know what her suitcase looked like and/or what was in it.
C. a flight attendant was being overly cautious about something that clearly did not blow up our plane.

But it was worth it to see this adorable face...

and this one...

as well as this one...

Parks and Rec

2011-10-07T20:09:00.003-04:00

Here's a good quote from this week's show:

Tom to Ben: You've got to throw some cold water on the situation. Start talking about nerd stuff.

Ben: Nerd culture is mainstream now. So when you use the word 'nerd' derogatorily, it means you're the one that's out of the zeitgeist.

Glee quote of the week 10/4

2011-10-06T22:43:00.003-04:00

1. Coach Biest: "I kicked a fire hydrant when I heard 'Ace of Cakes' was cancelled."

2. Emma, speaking about her parents: "They're Ginger supremacists."

Number of the week: Mr. Schu & company "Fix You".

New season so far

2011-09-28T22:13:00.007-04:00

"Up All Night" is winning so far. I am not saying it's going to get a weekly spot, but it's up for nomination. Two quotes from this week:

1. "Don't shame spiral" featured in the scene where Will Forte is giving Will Arnet advice about how to keep his wife interested.

2. Reagan to Ava, after Ava finds out that her ex-boy band member ex-boyfriend is getting married. "Terrible people can get married, you know."

Because it's true, you know??

Glee quote of the week -- season premiere! 9/20

2011-09-25T17:48:00.005-04:00

The quote of the week is not so much a quote as a scene with Emma giving out a pamphlet called "me and my hag." Which I loved because this is just the sort of thing that I have to do at my job. I just did an exhaustive search of pamphlets for a new client with one year old twins that needs some parenting help. Except none of the pamphlets I found had interesting titles like "me and my hag."

Speaking of hags...

My favorite number...was Blaine singing "It's not Unusual."

This is an episode that is going to do some time in DVR queue!

an update

2011-09-24T08:32:00.003-04:00

I've been hinting to people that I would be visiting them this fall because a new JM album would be released in October and a tour would follow. If you are saying to yourself, "Hmm... it's almost October and I haven't heard anything about this tour," finally, we all have some answers.

How to Succeed in Business...

2011-09-18T18:40:00.006-04:00

I was watching "Live from the Red Carpet" prior to the Emmy's tonight and Darren Criss said that he is going to be in How to Succeed in Business without even Trying. I never thought I'd say this, but I have to see this show!!

Anyone want to go with me?

Fall TV

2011-09-18T10:06:00.010-04:00

A couple of the new shows began last week (for example, "Up All Night" started on Wednesday, presumably to get some of audience carry-over after "America's Got Talent" finale), but this is premiere week for most shows, old and new. Clearly, it's about time to get my Fall TV post up here!
If you want to see the whole line up to make your own schedule, check this or to read about any of the new shows, check this.

Shows I'm most excited for:

Up All Night -- mostly because I have been a fan of Will Arnet since Arrested Development and his show from last fall tanked. I am also a big fan of Maya Rudolph and welcome the opportunity to see both of them each week in a regular show. However, to say that I'm excited for this show is an overstatement. It is potentially just another show about a buffoonish dad (possibly both parents) with a cute baby. I recorded it on Wednesday and haven't seen it yet, so we'll see. (Wednesdays @ 8:00 on NBC)

Terra Nova -- again, I guess it is an overstatement to say that I'm excited for this show. It has the potential to fill the gap that all of the networks have been trying to fill in their line-ups since LOST was so successful, and especially now that it's over. However, it appears that the main features of this show are dinosaurs and time travel, which may or may not play out so well on TV. Science fiction and fantasy are not really my things -- the reason that LOST resonated with people that are not into fantasy is because it was character driven. So if they can make this show look cool at the same time as presenting interesting characters, I think it has potential. (Mondays @ 8:00, FOX)

Pan Am -- Yes, it's clearly inspired by the success of Mad Men, and there is no way they are going to duplicate it, but it looks like it might have legs. (Sundays @ 10:00 on ABC)

New Girl -- I probably wouldn't even give this show another thought if it wasn't for Zooey Deschanel. It kind of looks like it's trying to be "Friends" or "Big Bang Theory" or a mix of the two, right? (Tuesdays @ 9:00 FOX)

Other shows I am going to try out:

2 Broke Girls -- EW gives this one an endorsement, but I feel like it's trying to be Paris Hilton's The Simple Life, but in a non-reality format. (Tuesdays @8:30 CBS)

Ringer -- described by Sarah Michelle Gellar as a cross between her characters from Cruel Intentions and Buffy. Neither of which I watched, but I'm going to give this one a shot anyway. (Tuesdays @ 9 The CW)

Returning shows :

Parenthood -- I seriously love this show! But in the season premiere, Alex gets arrested. Really? Can't we move on from this cliche? And what the heck did Haddie do to her hair? But most importantly Jason Ritter is back as Sarah's love interest?!?! I could not be more excited! In fact, I may just watch the parts with him again today! (Tuesdays @ 10 NBC)

Glee -- an uneven season two, but I'm sticking with this show for season three. I did watch The Glee Project over the summer and I am interested to see how they use these new characters. (Tuesdays @ 8:00 FOX)

30 Rock -- beginning mid-season, I'm counting on it being as brilliant as always! (Thursdays NBC)

The Office -- last season was boring, for the most part. I'm very interested to see what James Spader is going to bring to it. His character in the season finale was HILARIOUS and strange so it sould be interesting. (Thursdays @ 9:00 NBC)

Parks and Recreation -- so funny! I almost gave up on this show after the first season, but it keeps getting better! (Thursdays @ 8:30 NBC)

Modern Family -- I like, but don't love, this show. I know that puts me in the minority, and I'm fine with that. Basically, I only really like Cameron & Mitchell (but mostly Cameron), and Luke & Phil (but mostly Luke).

Shows that the networks are promoting so much, I can't figure out if they are that good, or that bad:

Revenge -- I wasn't really considering this one, but it did get an endorsement from EW's Must List. I will give almost any show with Emily Van Camp a shot.

Whitney -- I can't believe this is going to be all that funny, but there has not been a commercial break on NBC or an issue of EW that has not had some mention of this show.

Shows I won't be watching:

American Horror Story -- this show has three things going for it. Dylan McDermott, Connie Britton, and co-creator Ryan Murphy. However, title says it all, and I can't do horror.

Two and a Half Men -- with or without Charlie Sheen, all I can say is Uff!!

I want to watch in theory, but probably won't :

Prime Suspect -- based on a British show, which I've heard about for years and is probably very good. But I'm just not that interested in detective shows anymore. (Thursdays @10:00 NBC)

A Gifted Man -- Seems a little too Ghost Whisperer or something. (Fridays @ 8:00 CBS)

The X Factor -- I watched American Idol for the first several seasons but got so sick of it, mostly because it was the same songs over and over, and it bugged me so much when bad singers stayed and good singers left. Apparently Simon Cowell thinks this is a different show, but I'm not so sure. I might be a tad curious. For a week or two, at least.

So.... I think that's it!! Am I missing anything? What are you excited to watch this season?

Scandinavian finale

2011-09-14T08:02:00.019-04:00

For day 10, we were back in Copenhagen. In the morning, we woke up and went shopping. I had told Julia that one of the things I wanted to bring home was a Helly Hansen. When I lived in Norway, all my American friends had one but me, so I thought it would be nice to have one after all these years. I told Julia about the Helly Hansen and she thought she might like one, too, so we went on a quest. After looking around for a few hours, she ended up with a jacket and rain pants and I had nothing. Once I was back home, I looked to see where I could get one here in the city and, low and behold, found that they available at Paragon Sports, which is about a ten minute walk from the office where I worked for 13 years.

Another funny-ish thing that happened is that Julia casually asked our world traveling friend, Trevor, if, by chance, he planned to be in Copenhagen at all in May. Guess what! He was. So we met up with him on our last day, had lunch, rode bikes, shopped a bit, ate fresh strawberries and danish.

Here are just some odds and ends...

A manhole cover in Tivoli Gardens....

Our favorite bakery. It's a chain so we could find them almost anywhere we were. The story is that the Germans came up with weinerbrød, but that the Danes perfected them, and now most people call them danish. No joke, they were amazing (they beat any danish we had in Norway or Sweden).

The Hans Christian Anderson statue. His lap was really well worn from lots of people sitting on his lap. Apparently the locals pose topless. We did not.

Julia and Trevor on Strøget.

A Danish elephant.

The next morning, we got up, gobbled down the rest of the ice cream that we had in our freezer, and headed to the airport.

Fin

Scandinavia day 9

2011-09-10T21:11:00.036-04:00

Day 9 began with a tour of the State house . Because it was on the way between our hotel and Gamla Stan, we walked past this place a million times so I took lots of pictures...
Here's a view of the State house from the ferry ride we took the previous day.

The three crowns represent the three Scandinavian countries...

View from inside the courtyard...

This is inside the buidling, and this area is where they have the Nobel prize winners' dinner. Except for the Peace Prize, which happens in Oslo, for some reason.

pictures inside the building didn't really come out, but here's just a few.

I loved these black pillars and the ceiling was painted in a very Scandinavian blue design.

after the tour, we looked around the city a bit more. Here are some pictures and I have no idea what they are...

a sign for ice cream that says "An ice cream makes you happy!"

After all this, we went to the airport, and split some meatballs. (No need to say they were Swedish meatballs, since we were in Sweden.)

and had a pastry...

Saw this display for the book "One Day" and decided to take a picture just for the heck of it.

Back in Copenhagen for the end of the trip.....

Scandinavia day 8

2011-09-05T20:03:00.062-04:00

Wow.... we went to Scandinavia before Memorial day, and now it's after Labor day. I promise it's coming to an end soon...
Our one full day in Stockholm began with a tour of StorKyrka.

This is Saint George slaying the dragon....

This is a pretty bad picture of a really cool painting, called Vädersolstavlan...

Next we went to the German church ...

After these two churches, we boarded a little ferry to Drottningholm Palace...

Here's JuJu looking cute on the back of the boat...

and here's me trying to keep warm...

and I couldn't resist taking a picture of this guy, who we named Carl Svenson, or Sven Carlson, just because he looked so much like a Viking. Julia was making fun of me, but she's just jealous she didn't think of it first...

Views from the boat....

Here's the Palace from the boat...

and Julia in front...

the back of the Palace and the grounds..

After the Palace, we went back into town and looked for something to eat for dinner. Remember from day one when I said that Julia and I were eating some hot dogs? Well, this spurred a memory for Julia of a Swedish feast that she enjoyed way back when. A hot dog, smothered in mashed potatoes, wrapped in lefse. I was on board, but we had to find it first, and we finally did on day 8. I think Julia was happy.

And then we went for dessert... eplekake med vaniljesaus (applecake with vanilla sauce) !

Birthday week

2011-09-02T12:34:00.003-04:00

Another year has gone by. Since my boyfriend John Mayer has been taking a much needed break from the limelight and is not touring this summer, I had to come up with something to do for my birthday this year.

My birthday started a few days early with a BBQ at Jill and Chris's house. Chris is an awesome BBQ'er and basically made a dinner made to order for me. We had burgers with blue cheese in the middle and bacon on top. He also grilled some corn on the cob for us and we had some cut up watermelon. It was all delicious!!

After dinner, we walked over to one of their three cupcake spots, Mr. Cupcakes. These were good, but not great. Clockwise from top left: Lemon, Tiramisu, Vanilla/Vanilla, Coconut.

This is the Vanilla/Vanilla, which they named "Birthday cake" so it was a perfect choice for me.

Last year, I went to see JM with Anne Lise in a venue near her town of San Diego. About a week before my trip, I sent an email to another one of my Norwegian friends, Sara, and told her she should come down too. I don't know why she couldn't drop her life of a full-time job and three kids and husband on one week's notice, but she couldn't. This year, I didn't wait until the last minute to invite her and when she said she could come, our reunion was on!! Sounds like a perfect birthday to me!

The day I arrived, Lise picked me up and we went straight to the beach. Afterwards, we found the closest cupcake place (thanks to smart phones!) and ended up at Sugar & Scribe. The owner/baker was there and we chatted her up for a bit. My first thought was "never trust a skinny chef" but in this case, that saying does not apply. My routine is to go straight for the Vanilla/Vanilla but the chocolate buttercream frosting looked so good, I went for that one. And it was a good choice. It was maybe the best chocolate frosting I've had. (except for maybe Lise's norwegian chocolate frosting.) It was super creamy, but not super chocolately, which is good for me. I didn't get a picture of it, but this is what their display looked like:

On my actual birthday, we went to the famous Sprinkles, which has opened a location in San Diego. Although these are good, it sort of bugs me that they are so basic but cost $3.50 each. However, I do like them a lot. The cake is so moist and the perfect density, and the frosting is the perfect sweetness.

Anne Lise, Me, Sara

Sara & Me plus 4 delicious cupcakes (guess who got two??)

Clockwise from left: Lemon, Vanilla/coconut, Vanilla/chocolate w/sprinkles, Key lime

For our last cupcake adventure, we went to Corner Cupcakes . Lise had heard about this cupcake truck and then this week, the owner won "Cupcake Wars." We drove way out of our way to find the truck and were able to congratulate the owner personally on her win. However, the congratulations were a bit premature because these cakes were very marginal.

We tried all three of the show-winning cupcakes: (bottom from right) Belly Buster (Peanut butter & bacon cake, chocolate ganache filling, salted caramel frosting), Full house (coconut cake with lemon curd filling and lemon coconut frosting) and Two Pears (self-explanatory). We also got (top from left) Vanilla/Vanilla, Chocolate cake with salted caramel frosting and red velvet with cream cheese frosting.

The Belly Buster:

The verdict: The winner was the Two Pears cupcake. I have never had a pear cupcake before and it was pretty good. The lemon curd was not tart enough and the whole Full House cupcake was bland overall. But the peanut butter/chocolate/bacon/salted caramel cupcake was NO GOOD. The cake was really dry and crumbly, and did not taste good. The salted caramel frosting was pretty good, so I just ate that off the cupcake and left the rest behind (can't go wrong with salty and sweet).

The non-winning cupcakes were another story. One bite into the vanilla and chocolate cupcakes and we all agreed they were clearly from a mix. I could not be more disappointed. Again, the best part of these cupcakes was the salted caramel frosting.

So, the winner this week was Sugar and Scribe. Plus, they had lots of other tasty looking treats. I indulged in only one besides the cupcakes and that was a no-bake cookie. YUM!!

Scandinavia Day 7

2011-08-21T21:45:00.001-04:00

Day 7 started out with breakfast in the hotel and then a trip to the airport.
by the way, here's the hotel where I stayed, right on the water:

And this was my room, which was very simple, but I loved it.

Have I mentioned how awesome the airports are in Norway? I was checked in and was on my way to the plane in about 5 minutes. Security has not changed much through the years. It was quite refreshing.

So I flew in to Stockholm and met up with Julia. This is a city in which she lived years ago, so now it was her turn to freak out about how weird/awesome it is to return as a civilian. We went and checked into our hotel and headed straight for Gamla Stan, or "Old Town."

Unlike in Denmark, where I could read all the street signs because the written language is pretty much the same as Norwegian, in Sweden, I could kind of read them, but would get a little thrown because here the language is just a tiny bit off from Norwegian. But it was fun to try. So, to make sense of the phrase Gamla Stan, I would call it Gammel Sted, which is "old place" in Norwegian.

The first day, we walked around a bit and then went to this museum about medieval Stockholm. Apparently, they were digging up the city to build underground parking and found some ruins and decided to make a museum out of it. So the whole museum is underground, which is sort of cool, especially when looking at skeletons and stuff. This is a carving of the medieval city.

Julia's plan of attack for day one in Stockholm was to wander around Gamla Stan and get a lay of the land, so day two, we could hit all the places we wanted to go.

My BFF Esther has always said her last name is unusual enough that people here in the old U S of A don't know how to say or spell it. It must be a bit more common in the land of her people, because here it is on a sign!

I love the manhole covers.

Looking at Gamla Stan from across the canal...

Walking across the bridge that goes into Gamla Stan, there was a "protest" going on in the city from people demanding a train that goes to their small town (at least that's what Swedish-speaking Julia said.)

Inside Gamla Stan...

I popped in a shop and picked up this T-shirt for my nephew because I didn't find a hat or gloves for him. He liked the soccer shirts I bought in Brazil 5 years ago, so I thought this was a good choice, especially because our peeps are Swedish.

More Stockholm to come...

in the eye of the beholder

2011-08-20T00:32:00.012-04:00

One of my job responsibilities is to do mental health screenings on many of the 300+ children in foster care in the Queens region of the agency. This means that all the kids are seen by me, our psychologist or one of the interns, and we ask the children or their foster parents, depending on their age, a bunch of questions from a questionnaire to see how things are going in the foster home. If we are even one day late doing the screening, we don't get credit when audit time comes around, so I have to keep track of who is seen and when and make sure they are all seen within the year.

One of our kids was scheduled to be in for a medical appointment and was also supposed to see me afterwards. But I didn't see him for what ever reason. Our secretary kept telling me that I did see him on July 20, and although I am a total slacker, I do keep track of who I do and do not see. I have a very complicated system which involves a list of names on a Post-it. Once I see the kid, I write his/her name on a Post-it. It may stay on that Post-it for a day, a week, or whatever, until I get around to writing up the report. While it's waiting to be written, the questionnaire and all my notes on the child sit in a pile. Once I write up my report, I save it on my computer, and then cross the name off the Post-it list, and then put my notes in a different pile. It's very technical, don't try to understand it.

Anyway, this child's name was not on my Post-it, no notes were in either pile and no report was saved on my computer, which means this child was NOT seen by me in 2011.

But the secretary kept telling me I did it, and I am telling her I did not do it, so she tries to get to the bottom of it by calling the foster mother. The foster mother said that the screening was done by a "young woman with long brown hair." Everyone immediately says, "OH, that means Mary did it." Mary is a young woman who was an intern with us this year, and she indeed has brown hair. But my immediate reaction was to make a silly joke and say, "What?? I have brown hair too. Are you saying I'm not young?" They all laugh, and of course, now that they have a description, realize that I was right all along and that I did not do the screening because young Mary did it. So they start to figure out how they are going to get the information from Mary, whose internship ended a month ago.

I figure out it can't be Mary because Mary only worked on Fridays and this screening was supposedly done on a Wednesday. So the next thought was, "It must have been Melanie." Melanie is a young woman with brown hair who used to work in our office, quit last year, moved to London, didn't like it and moved back and then started working at my agency on a volunteer basis on Wednesdays. When this discussion happened, she was on vacation in Greece. My supervisor tells me to email Melanie because she will surely read her email while in Greece and we can finally put this mystery to rest. However, I'm 99.99% positive that Melanie did not do this screening and I'm not even going to bother emailing her because I have already figured out who did the screening and that was NO ONE and the foster mother does not remember that I did the screening, not on July 20, but in February on a different child.

So even though she does not believe me, the medical secretary reschedules the screening for today. And even though the foster mother believes it was done already, she agrees to come back with the boy.

When they arrive, she takes a look at me, says, "Didn't we already do this? I know I was just here and we sat in this office." I said, "Yes, you did, but that was six months ago and that was for the older sister." She thinks for a minute and finally agrees that I am right.

The moral of this story is I AM THE YOUNG WOMAN!!

Scandinavia day 6

2011-08-10T23:55:00.007-04:00

In planning my trip, I wanted to go someplace I'd never been and decided on Ålesund after one of my facebook friends posted this video :

I mean, seriously!!! How beautiful is that? So here are some views from the boat:

Docking in Ålesund...

Once I arrived in Ålesund, I set out to explore this lovely little city at the crack of dawn (sort of... the sun never really set up there), but first I needed some breakfast! I walked for quite a while until I found a grocery store where I found my most favorite "second breakfast" from when I lived in Norway. I never liked yogurt before I tried Norwegian yogurt. Then I didn't eat it for about 10 years after I came home. I can tolerate some American yogurt, but I'm still partial to theirs.

Views of the city...

(tulips!!)

After checking into my hotel, I hiked up the the Aksla viewpoint overlooking the city. I got a couple of photos before my camera battery died (another moment of poor planning -- I didn't bring a converter and planned to use Julia's but by the time my battery died, we were in different countries).
To get to the top, you have to walk up 418 steps....

But here's the reward... ice cream, of course!

Here I am, wearing my new sweater...

After the hike/sightseeing, it was (finally) shopping time...
They have a very cute gågate, but since my battery was dead, I have no pictures. I wanted to get some hats and gloves for my nieces and nephews, but they don't really sell that stuff in May. So, I found one hat for my niece, seen here.

I also bought some sweaters . You can never have too many.

While I was talking to Bowcutt the night before, I said, "I can't believe I haven't seen any missionaries! When we were missionaries, we were always out." And low and behold, the very next day, I ran into two elders on the gågate. The upshot of the conversation I had with them... They asked if I still knew the language. My answer, "Not really." When I told them I had lived in Bodø, they kind of freaked -- not only that sisters were that far north, but that we had missionaries there at all. They told me that their mission president pulled all the missionaries out of the north so that they could concentrate on the southern part of the country with the hopes of getting a second stake, and had only recently put missionaries back in Ålesund, but nowhere else. (Of course, Trondheim always has plenty.) I have to admit that I laughed, almost patted them on the back and said, "A second stake? Good luck with that!!" Nineteen years ago, we were talking about a second stake plus a temple.... and about the same amount of members, but more than double the missionaries. So.... yeah... good luck!! Can you believe that they have something like 56 missionaries, and only SIX sisters?? What if you were one of six sisters and got stuck with some lame companion for, like, half your mission? (I'm not naming any names, but I'll just say it rhymes with Crunch.) Nightmare!!

After shopping, I went back to my hotel for dinner. It wasn't the best dinner ever, however, they did have three kinds of pudding with vaniljesaus:

(can you believe they have a youtube video for this?? I'm drooling right now!!)

The last thing I did in Norway, besides taking a cab to the airport, was to go to the gift shop of my hotel and try to spend down the last of my kroner. I had just enough for this tasty treat...

Scandinavia day 5

2011-08-09T22:40:00.003-04:00

Bergen...

Julia had to get back to Copenhagen for some of her plays, and I stayed two extra days in Norway. At the Bergen hotel they had mini tubes of Nugatti, about the size of a travel-size tube of
toothpaste. Somehow I had forgotten about this delicious Norwegian treat. I went up to the buffet, put a couple tubes on my plate, took my plate to my table, and slipped the tubes into my pocket. Trip #2 to the buffet, I did the same. After staying at that hotel for two nights, I had quite a stash of Nugatti to bring home (I ate some, I shared some).

After breakfast, I walked to the gågate. There is an annual music festival in Bergen in the month of May. I went to the closing ceremony 19 years ago, where they played lots of lovely music including this one by Grieg (this is not the actual performance I attended, FYI, because I know someone will ask).

So when I heard that they were going to have the opening ceremony on the gågate and it was free, I knew what I'd be doing. The king was also there. I didn't understand much of the speeches going on, but I did understand every reference to the weather, because it was not raining. Our good fortune could not last, however, and the skies opened up towards the end of the performance. Look at these cute kids in traditional clothing!

This video was from this performance. To all my Norwegian peeps out there: if you know this song, tell me what it is in the comments section. I think it was a song dedicated to the king. Everyone in the audience was singing along.

Here is a shoe store that I went to during my first week in Norway -- my greenie area. I needed some shoes that were a little more appropriate for doing the walking and running that we did. However, I should have bought shoes that were more appropriate for the bad weather, too. So after a couple days of typical Bergen weather, I realized my mistake. Pretty soon I came up with a plan... every morning, I put my foot in a plastic bag, put on my shoe, and then cut off the extra bag parts. Ridiculous, but effective. The following winter, I bought boots instead.

Walking around the gågate, I saw this group of children, dressed in their Helly Hansen jackets and rain pants. It's one of my most vivid memories of living in Bergen.

After the concert, I went shopping for some lunch. Instead of lunch, I found dessert at this little bakery. I didn't expect to find cupcakes in Norway. The cake wasn't so good -- a little too dense and not sweet enough for my taste, but the frosting was good.

Next, I took the Fløibanen to the top of the mountain. It was still raining a bit, so my pictures did not come out, but it was just like I remembered.

More kiddos at the top of Fløien.

I heard from Anne Lise's mom that this was a great place to get sweater bargains, and she was right. I bought this sweater, with the intention of giving it as a gift, but then had to wear it because it was cold and rainy. (this picture was taken in my next stop.)

Next up, I met up with my friend, previously known as Eldste Bowcutt, now just Bowcutt or KB. He has been (unfortunately) living in Bergen for the past decade plus. I haven't seen him in many years and it was unbelievably good to see him again. I didn't get a picture of us together, but I do have this one, taken in Oslo in 1993.

Notice me wearing my BYU sweatshirt, which I am wearing in many, many pictures from this time. Also notice that Bowcutt is wearing his mission clothes but since we weren't he must have taken off his tie and unbuttoned his shirt, but kept his tag on, like the goofball that he is. I don't know why the ladies were being casual and the gentlemen weren't. Sitting in between KB and me is Anne Lise, and at one time in life, the three of us were the best of friends. I wish things didn't have to change! (Also pictured is my trainer, Crane, and Bowcutt's trainer, Kasteller.)

Day five ended with me getting on this boat and sailing north....

Red Bank Cupcakes

2011-08-08T18:44:00.011-04:00

Jill recently moved to Red Bank NJ and for a town that small, they have THREE cupcake places. I tried one place called Cupcake Magician this weekend, and I have just one word to describe them: CORRECT.

I looked at this vanilla vanilla and was very skeptical. The frosting is really just some white chocolate -- maybe ganache? I don't know but it didn't really matter because the cake was the real star of this show. Dense, moist, and the right amount of sweetness... they had some of the best tasting cake I've had.

We also tried the "Devil Dog" cupcake, which was also quite delicious. The chocolate cake was really good and different -- the chocolate was almost like a German chocolate cake because it wasn't super rich, which is good for me. The frosting was similar to the previous cupcake, but it also had this delicious creamy filling.

We also got the "Peanut Butter Explosion" which was similar to the above Devil Dog, but the filling was peanut butter. Needless to say, this one was also ridiculous.
I didn't taste the Tiramisu, but Jill did and here is a picture of it:

I'm going back!!

Scandinavian break

2011-08-06T01:04:00.003-04:00

I really do have lots more to say about my trip, and it's coming soon.

new quilt

2011-07-17T10:23:00.006-04:00

another baby born last month and I dusted off my sewing machine to make him a quilt.

I have the fabric and a reason to make another one... but will I have the energy and time? Remains to be seen.

Cupcakes -- Brooklyn Flea style

2011-07-10T22:27:00.010-04:00

Kathy and I ventured to Brooklyn to visit the Brooklyn Flea (I guess this hipster heaven is too cool to call it what it is -- a flea market). It has been on my radar because of Kumquat Cupcakery, which I first heard about on Martha Stewart a pretty long time ago. It was on Kathy's radar because they have furniture and design flea market-y things there. So, a winner for both of us.

First of all, I didn't know these were minis. If I had known, I would not have been quite as excited to try them. Second of all, I didn't remember that the one I was supposed to try was the chocolate peanut butter, so I didn't try it (but did take a photo of the plate). Kathy did get this one, and she appeared to be pleased that not only was there peanut butter frosting, but also peanut butter filling.

The one I did get was the maple bacon, which left this little lonely cupcake in it's wake:

Maple bacon... because how could I not get a cupcake with bacon on it??

So the verdict is that they were okay. I will admit that it was a hot day and we carried them around until after we had lunch, so they were kind of melted. But still, overall, not overly impressed and not necessarily worth another try.

But I might anyway....

Scandinavia day 4

2011-06-29T21:37:00.029-04:00

I've been putting off finishing my Scandinavian report because Julia was supposed to send me her pictures. It's been about a month and she hasn't sent them, so the show must go on.

Since Julia was working during this trip, she had a day or two off and she wanted to experience a bit of Norway. I don't know how she did it, but she convinced me to do Norway in a Nutshell again. This was my third time. Three times in 18 years. I guess I'll survive. *sigh*

For the uninitiated, this is a package that lets you see all the beauty and wonder of Norway in one day. It starts with a train either out of Oslo or out of Bergen and takes you to the middle of the country. Then you take another train up a mountain. Then you get on a boat and cruise through a fjord. At the end of the fjord cruise is a bus that takes you back down the mountain and back to the original train. You take this train either east or west, depending on where you want to end your journey -- Oslo or Bergen.

So we arrived in Bergen (my greenie area) at one in the morning and had to get up super early for the first leg of the Nutshell. As we were shoveling our delicious breakfast in our gullets (nothing better than Norwegian bread and cheese and jam, although Swedish cheese was really good, too), I glanced at Julia's watch and realized our train was leaving in 10 minutes and the train station was 20 minutes away. We thought if we could take a taxi, we might make it, so we ran out of the dining room and found that there was a huge line of people waiting for cabs because it was POURING rain. If you have been to Bergen, this will not surprise you. All of a sudden, Julia gets a brilliant idea. If we flag down a regular person on their way to work and offer to pay them, maybe they will take us to the train station. I'm laughing even now thinking about this idea of hers. I guess you can imagine that no one stopped for us and we missed our train. Since this was my third time, I knew we'd probaby be able to catch the next train and be able to catch up with the tour, and that's what happened. But it meant that we had about two hours to kill in Bergen before the next train.
First we walked to the gågate and looked around. I took this picture...

... because it reminded me of this picture....

... which was taken 19 years ago (I'm so old) and sent to me recently by that punk standing to the right of me. Next we got on the streetcar, which did not exist 19 years ago, or even 10 years ago when I last visited Bergn. We were going to ride it to the end and then turn back around, until we got to Fantoft station and I remembered that this is where the church building is located.

So we got off the Bybanen, walked about 10 feet and actually found the church!! I couldn't believe I actually was able to find it after so many years. I know this is weird, but one of the memories that came back to me was standing on this driveway, eating Hob-Nobs for the first time, courtesy of Dan Buck, who shared his with me.

Once we got back into town, we continued to walk around a bit. Here's a statue of Grieg...
... and some beautiful tulips (they were about a month behind us in their spring season, which was awesome because tulips were everywhere).

We got on the train and traveled east to Myrdal and while we waited for our next train, we had a light lunch of another of my favorite Norwegian delights... panekaker (pancakes, shown here with cream and jam)!

This is the second leg of the tour...
This part cracks me up.... when I first took this train with my mom in 1993, they stopped the train so we could get a look at some of the waterfalls. When I took the train the next time in 2001 with Esther, there was this platform built so we could get out and look at the waterfall and take some pictures in front of it. This time, they announced that if we looked hard, we might see some fairies or something frollicking in the mists. (commence eye roll.)

Next, we were on the boat through the fjord and it was freezing cold!! The rain had let up a bit, but it was the normal misty freezing cold that is western Norway. (I'm not complaining, I love this place!!)
Since I had done this boat ride and it was cold, I let Julia go outside and take all the photos, and I would get copies. I see now the flaw in this plan.

Approaching a little village on the fjord. I had a vision of getting a little cabin here and writing my memoirs. I think I'd love it. Could this city girl become used to isolation like this?

Once we were back on dry land, we promptly fell asleep on the bus ride down the mountain (it's really beautiful but I was still jetlagged). While waiting in Voss for the next train back to Bergen, we saw some more beautiful tulips.

Julia posed with the requisite giant troll.

And once we were back in Bergen, somehow I found a place that serves a traditional Norwegian meal. In fact, it was the exact same place that Esther and I ate in 2001! It was delicious and every bit as good as I remembered.

More of Bergen to come in Day 5....

Recent movies

2011-06-22T20:26:00.025-04:00

I went to see Super 8 this weekend... loved it! Although it dragged a bit in the beginning, for the most part, I thought it was great, the kids were great, and I especially liked this character...

And of course it did not hurt to have Coach Taylor, AKA Kyle Chandler...

Another movie I really liked from this spring was Win Win.

And of course, Bridesmaids, which was hilarious. As usual, I would say that Judd Apatow needs to remember that comedies are 90 minutes for a reason. But really funny, and one of the funniest endings I have seen in a while. Kristen Wiig. She can do no wrong.

I couldn't be less interested in the superhero and comic book movies that are coming out now... but I am very excited for this one...

It looks cute and funny, and I love....

LOVE...

Really LOVE...

Really like...

But... unfortunately...really can't stand....

She's in Anne Hathaway territory for me. But I'll still see it. No blue make-up involved, so I hope it is good.

Scandinavia day 3

2011-06-09T22:16:00.018-04:00

DAY THREE.... Woke up in Denmark.

Copenhagen Central Station
Took the train to Malmø, Sweden. It goes over this bridge.

We got off the train and saw this sight.... yes, another biking city.

Here's a bike counter, which says, "Cyclists today." The line to the right says how many bicylces rode down this street in 2010, to the left is the goal for 2011.

Some random church near the train station.

While Julia went to see a play (the reason Julia went to Malmø ), I looked around. Then we met up again afterwards.

Looking around Lilla Torg

This is Osthuset (translation: Cheese house.... we are cheese lovers!!)

We ate at this cute little restaurant.
Saw this bakery... but it was closed. (would it be possible to get a cupcake during my journey?)
After a short, but fun day in Sweden, we took off..... and went to bed that night in Norway!!

Glee quote of the week -- Season finale

2011-06-09T21:14:00.003-04:00

I'm not really into the Royal wedding stuff, but...

Curt: " I'm spending my summer composing 'Pip Pip hooray.' Hit Broadway musical about Pippa Middleton. "

Number of the week -- Light up the world

Still the best number of the season.... Teenage Dream.

Glee quote of the week 5/17

2011-06-09T20:31:00.004-04:00

Just getting to the final two episodes of Glee... thank goodness or DVR.

Curt and Finn bring Sue Sylvester flowers after her sister dies...
Sue: "There were more arrangements, but I had to throw some of them out. I'm allergic to pansies. And I don't mean that as a swipe at either of you."

Number of the week: Santana singing "Back in Black."

Scandinavia day 2

2011-06-08T20:38:00.013-04:00

Day two, we got up and tried to figure out how to downtown (our hotel was in the equivalent of Washington Heights, as far as I was concerned). Julia did some google maps thing, and figured out a bus route, but it turned out that her computer thought she was still in Utah and told us to take a bus that only runs at night. Of course, we didn't know this until we walked our legs off and got lost during a marathon happening in the city. We finally found our way downtown. (is that what they call it in Copenhagen? I don't know, but that is what I call it.) We took a little tourist ferry through the canals of Copenhagen.

This little white house on the harbor was where Hans Christian Anderson lived at one time.

This is the top of the old World Trade Center in Copenhagen -- the three crowns represent Denmark, Sweden & Norway.

You probably can't tell, but this spire is comprised of four dragons with their tails intertwined.

This is the Copenhagen Opera house.

Here's the back of Den Lille Havfruen. I only saw it from the back, from the ferry.

Everyone rides bikes around town because it's a super flat city, plus, we discovered that so much of the city are walking streets and therefore the buses don't go there.

That night, we went to play, which was the reason that Julia went to Copenhagen in the first place. It was a play from China, and it was pretty much the longest, most painful 70 minutes of my life....And that's saying something since I had surgery this year!!

And that's pretty much day two!

Scandinavia Day 1

2011-06-04T14:56:00.017-04:00

As you probably already know, I just spent about a week and a half in Scandinavia. The low-down is that my former roommate Julia and I talked about taking a trip together for several years. She did her mission in Sweden and I was in Norway, so we figured we should go back together. It took a while, but we finally did it. She had a work assignment in Copenhagen and Malmø in Sweden, so I planned to go over, freeload at her hotel, and hang out like a European while she worked. Despite being so close to Norway, I didn't plan to go there because I wanted to only go places I haven't been. But of course, the more I thought about it, the more I decided I wanted to, and Julia also wanted to see a bit of Norway. So... it turned into a much bigger deal than originally planned.

Day one, we arrived in Copenhagen, checked into our hotel, and went downtown. Our first stop was lunch. In reading my Rick Steves guide, I learned that the locals eat their lunch from these little hot dog trucks. Since I was down with being a European for the week, I was down with eating like a local. (Another way that I went local? ... didn't bring a razor.) While Julia and I stood in line, I was reading to her what Steves says about the different kinds of dogs you can get. Julia got it in her mind that she wanted one kind of dog in one kind of bun. Somehow, she pointed to the dog she wanted and the bun she wanted... and ended up with two hot dogs. It started the week off with lots of laughs. For me, anyway.

This is my dog... which was more of a sausage, wrapped in bacon. It was gooooood....

After lunch, we ventured off to the main shopping area, Strøget.

We stumbled across Vor Frue Kirke and went in. Julia informed me that I have heard about this church for years in General Conference. She's probably right.

The original Christus statue.
This sign says "This is my beloved Son, Hear him."

On both sides of the Christus statue are the 12 apostles. Here is Peter, with the keys of the priesthood. Read more and see much better pictures than mine here.

After this, we went home and had bad pizza and went to bed.

Day two coming soon...

Parks and Recreation

2011-06-02T21:38:00.002-04:00

I'm catching up on some Parks and Recreation episodes. This show has gotten so funny, I'm considering adding it to my quote of the week feature. Here is one from the episode on 5/12.

Leslie: "we need to remember what is important in life. Friends, waffles, work. Or waffles, friends, work. Doesn't matter. But work is third."

See what I mean?

The Office quote of the week 5/19 Season finale

2011-05-20T09:35:00.006-04:00

You know, something has really been bugging me this season. Why is Erin on this show? Is she supposed to be funny? I think she's so annoying. I don't get it.

Okay, moving on...

Lots of funny quotes in this episode...

1. Phyllis, taking about the baby that she placed for adoption -- "It was a big year for babies. Porky's came out."

2. Dwight -- "Bread is the paper of the food industry. You write your sandwich on it."

3. Ray Romano -- "I'm leaving my other job because they were all... jerks. You have your jerk wads and your jerk offs, so between the wads and the offs, I just had to get out of there."

4. Oscar -- "Angela is engaged to a gay man. As a gay man, I'm horrified. As a friend of Angela's, horrified. As a lover of elegant weddings... I'm a little excited. "

5. Ryan -- "How do I know Robert is gay? He 'liked' my Facebook photos... at 3:00 in the morning."

6. Gabe -- "I'm a terrific hugger. I've been with a bunch of girls where that's basically all they want to do."

I could quote Ricky Gervais, but since it made no sense (as usual, ipso facto) I'll just note that he's a genius and be done with that.

The Office quote of the week -- 5/12

2011-05-14T22:45:00.002-04:00

Acting manager, Dwight: I expect all of you to be on your best behavior, which means none of you will be insubordinate, nor will you foment insurrection.

Jim: If we've already fomented insurrection, may we be grandfathered in?

Glee quote of the week -- 5/10

2011-05-10T21:58:00.004-04:00

Santana: Just because I hate everyone doesn't mean they have to hate me, too.

but how can I deny the awesomeness of this quote: "What about prom, Blaine?"

the number of the week... was, OF COURSE, Blaine singing "I'm Not Gonna Teach your Boyfriend how to Dance with You."

Glee quote of the week -- 5/3

2011-05-10T21:24:00.007-04:00

No quote of the week and how do I choose a favorite from "Rumours"? So this is the best part of this episode... Sue Sylvester as David Bowie.

Okay, I'll choose this song as my favorite performance of the week, but it's not really my favorite on the album.

New trend: Dock day -- Queens style

2011-05-08T21:17:00.007-04:00

We've had such nice, spring weather in NYC that I actually took a real lunch break TWICE this week and walked over to the water. Since I've been working in Queens I have complained about lots of things, but there are some plusses. The best is a staff bathroom (this is a bigger deal than you might think). Another one of them is that our office is close to this little pier, that has a great view of Manhattan.

The Office quote of the week -- 5/5

2011-05-08T19:51:00.002-04:00

Andy, speaking about Deangelo: "If he was sexist, I'd be able to tell. I took a crapload of Women's Studies courses at Cornell. And I wrote my own companion piece to the Vagina Monologues called The Penis Apologies. So I think I know a thing or two.

Besøk

2011-05-06T22:20:00.008-04:00

My friend Anne Lise and her mom came to visit me last week. They've both been here before, but haven't BEEN here (i.e. stayed and played for a few days) so I had a list of a million places I wanted to take them. It turns out they had their own agenda. They arrived and got sraight into a car and drove for 6 hours or so. When they got back to the city, these two showed me how to shop. But I finally got them to one of my favorite dessert places... Serendipity!

Here are Lise and I having a dock day. What's a dock day? Read this.

Since Lise's mom was born and raised in Norway, and Lise lived there as a kid and again as a missionary, I got to practice my Norwegian (which is super rusty). There were so many funny moments. For example, in Times Square there was an ad for CAlvin Klein or something and Anne said something that I didn't understand. When I asked what she said, she told me, "That model has no boobs." Never learned those words... go figure!!

We had lots of fun and can't wait for them to come back!

30 Rock quote of the week -- 5/5

2011-05-06T21:54:00.003-04:00

Bummer that this was the season finale. And it was a little weird, overall.

Quote of the week belongs to Kenneth: "Maybe I haven't had a wife that's been kidnapped, but I have seen "The Brady Bunch" where Tiger runs away. We've all been through some bad stuff."

btw, the judge in the courtroom scene, the one that says "gavel, gavel, gavel" lives in my building.

The Heart of Life

2011-05-05T23:27:00.010-04:00

came across this video that someone made. Of course, NYC is often featured in movies and on TV but rarely do I feel that it captures what it's like to live in the city for me. This little video does that. Plus... John Mayer. Enough said.

the new love of my life

2011-05-02T13:07:00.000-04:00

Salty + Sweet ice cream. Need I say more?

Glee quote of the week -- 4/26

2011-05-01T12:37:00.003-04:00

Glee was 90 minutes this week, once again proving that if a show does an extended episode there is usually at least 22 minutes that can be cut out and not miss anything. No good quote this week, since there was no Sue Sylvester and even worse, there was barely any Blaine. As a clinical social worker working with kids and teens, I suppose I should be happy about the whole 'love yourself' theme of the show. Born this way. Whatever...

This was supposed to be a Gaga episode. Since I don't really know any Lady Gaga songs, it seemed like there was just the one, but I can't say for sure.

Number of the week:

30 Rock quote of the week -- 4/28

2011-05-01T12:22:00.004-04:00

Avery: I don't know why our daughter would be afriad of Reagan.
Jack: Are you accusing me of not doing enough Reagan time with her?

Who knew Condoleeza Rice could be so funny?

The Office quote of the week -- 4/21

2011-04-26T20:45:00.002-04:00

Ryan: I love when people say things are 'like crack' who have never been on crack.

30 Rock quote of the week -- 4/21

2011-04-25T21:58:00.003-04:00

Jack to Liz: "I'm still supposed to hold your hand. Your wet, yet somehow flaky hand!"

Dennis to Liz: "Down deep, you still got all kinds of queer feelings for me. That's how I knew someday you'd be all vulnerable from a gas leak or a coma or a super period."

Glee quote of the week -- 4/19

2011-04-25T20:50:00.006-04:00

Blaine to Sandy: "You're a really horribe person, you know that?"
Sandy: "You sound like my court appointed therapist."

How many times have I wanted to tell a client that he/she is a horrible person? Usually, I just write it in my progress notes instead.

The number of the week -- Gwyneth singing Adele.

The Office quote of the week 4/14

2011-04-18T14:00:00.002-04:00

Deangelo explaining his peanut allergy: "Last time I was exposed to a peanut I was itchy for three days. I had to take baths constantly. I missed the OJ verdict. I had to read it in the paper like an IDIOT."

30 Rock quote of the week -- 4/14

2011-04-18T13:35:00.002-04:00

After Pete beats Jack in an arm wrestling match: "Congratulations. According to the transitive property, you just beat Moamar Ghadafi in arm wrestling."

The Beastie Boys are so awesome

2011-04-17T10:07:00.004-04:00

Living on a lighted stage

2011-04-15T22:08:00.021-04:00

Now that I have fulfilled my adolescent dreams of seeing Bruce Springsteen perform several times, it's time to go back even further. When I was 10 years old, the album Moving Pictures by Rush was released. At that time, I decided that Rush was my favorite band. When you're 10, you can say things like that, even if you only know two of their songs.

Thirty years later, I began to appreciate them again... mostly because of Jason Segal. Exhibit A: Freaks and Geeks

Exhibit B: I Love You, Man

One of the things I was most looking forward to was experiencing the notoriously nerdy audience. When Shauna and I walked in to take our seats, two men sitting behind us said, "Are you Canadian?" We were initially confused by this question until they clarified that the only women that they know that like Rush are Canadian. The next question was, "Did your older brother get you into Rush?" Later, "What made you decide to come to this concert? Was it a 'bucket list' kind of thing?" I knew that we were going to be in the minority in the audience, but I didn't know we would actually blow people's minds in the process.

Anyway, it was a really fun show, and there was almost no line for the ladies' room. I'd definitely go again, if I had better seats. Here are some pics (I know these pictures are no good, but here they are anyway).

are you watching?

2011-04-10T00:00:00.004-04:00

I think most people would agree that "The Office" has been hit or miss this season. Could Will Ferrel make this show great again?

quilt show

2011-03-29T11:20:00.009-04:00

On Saturday, my mom and I went to see the Empire Quilt Guild's show. We thought that would be the highlight of the day (and was actually the whole reason my mom decided to come to NYC this time around). But at the quilt show, they had information about a quilt exhibit, happening now in connection with the Folk Art Museum, called "Infinite Variety." It has over 600 red and whilte quilts, all from one woman's collection. We were totally blown away. I didn't bring my camera, but was so impressed by this exhibit that I took a lame picture with my lame phone. But it gives you an idea. All the quilts were clustered in 8 or 10 circles, or "pavilions," with quilts hung in 3-4 rows from the ceiling, on the interior and exterior of the pavilions, so you could walk around and through all of the quilts.

This is just one random quilt that I took a picture of. Not because it was my favorite or anything, but because I thought it would super easy to make (and still really cool looking).

Years ago, my sister Valerie asked my mom to make her a quilt that was all red and white (Ocean Waves was the design). My mom prefers quilts that are scrappy and bright, so she said Val's idea was "boring," but she did it anyway because that's just how she is. After this exhibit, she's changed her mind.

30 Rock quote of the week -- 3/24

2011-03-28T12:53:00.007-04:00

I love a good Star Wars reference...

And this scene had me in stitches.

"We don't need two metaphors. That's bad writing. Not that it matters."

30 Rock Quote of the week -- 3/17

2011-03-22T10:43:00.002-04:00

Jack: I pass gas once a year for an hour on top of a mountain in Switzerland.

Glee quote of the week -- 3/15

2011-03-22T10:13:00.005-04:00

Is there a more hilarious casting move than Kathy Griffin as a Tea Party-esque politician judge at Regionals?

No good quotes this week, but my favorite number was "Blackbird" sung by Curt. Even though he was singing it to his dead pet bird. And in general, I'm not a Beatles fan. (say whatever you want. I stand by that statement.) It's nice they finally gave Curt a chance to sing again.

Glee quote of the week 2/8

2011-03-09T21:29:00.004-05:00

Puck: "I like you, Lauren. I like wooing you. Next to dropping my afternoon deuce, it's my favorite part of the day."

I love the song "Landslide" by Stevie Nicks, and thought that Gwynnie (as I like to call her) did a a really great version of the song. But I have to choose "Afternoon Delight" as my number of the week because I love the wholesome 70's style performance they put on, as well as my junior high school boyfriend, Blackie, on drums.

2011-03-08T18:55:00.015-05:00

About a month ago I had an operation, so I've been on medical leave. Three things are awesome about this.
1) I still get a paycheck every two weeks, but haven't done any work for over a month.
2) After all of this time off, I still have over 600 sick hours accrued.
3) I get to stay home every day and not feel guilty about anything.

My life is a little bit like this old episode of 'Friends.' The only thing missing is my recliner chair.

Which is another thing I love about being home. I used to watch 'Friends' every day at 7 and 11. Now they have re-runs of stupid shows like 'Two and a Half Men' at those times, but I discovered that I can watch 'Friends' from 5-7 now. I realized that the show feels pretty dated... but I couldn't put my finger on why. Their hairstyles and clothes are actually very similar to what people still wear today. Then I realized... it's the stupid laugh track! None of the comedies I watch now have laugh tracks (i.e. 'The Office,' '30 Rock,' or 'Modern Family.' ) It makes such a difference.

This is the exciting stuff to blog about after a month of medical leave!

30 Rock quote of the week -- 2/24

2011-02-28T12:18:00.002-05:00

The quote goes to Jack, even though I disagree with the statement: "Female jealousy is an evolutionary fact, Lemon. If you try to breed it out of them, you end up with a lesbian with hip displasia."

Grammys 2011

2011-02-27T00:53:00.006-05:00

Here's my boyfriend performing at the Grammys this year. I love this song (but I sing "Maureen, Maureen, Maureen, Maureen" to my neice, but leave out the part about her taking my man).

Best of 2010

2011-02-26T23:42:00.014-05:00

Tomorrow is Hollywood's big night, which means I can get my "best of" list in just under the wire.

Once again, I don't have a top ten, and to be honest, don't really have super strong feelings about any movies this year. Probably the best reviewed movie of the year was The Social Network, which was just okay for me, despite my usual love of Aaron Sorkin scripts. The Kids are All Right was so overrated (although I did think Annette Benning was good, and Mark Ruffalo was adorable). Winter's Bone is the type of movie I normally adore, but I couldn't get into it. Maybe it was because I was on pain killers when I watched it. I could never sit through 127 Hours because the whole time I would be thinking "What an idiot!!" not to mention it would gross me out too much. I didn't have any interest in Black Swan either. Bad year for movies!

Anyway, so here's my list of the best movies of 2010
1. Blue Valentine (don't see it, mom!!)
2. The Town
3. The King's Speech
4. The Fighter
5. The Social Network
6. Inception

Best performances
Best Actor -- Colin Firth, The King's Speech
Best Supporting Actor -- Jeremy Renner, The Town
I don't even have a pick for Best Actress or Supporting Actress.

Best of TV
best comedy -- 30 Rock (still love it)
best drama -- Mad Men and Parenthood
best new show -- Parenthood
best episode -- Mad Men "The Suitcase" (Peggy's birthday episode)
amazing TV moment -- "Whip my hair" by Jimmy Fallon as Neil Young and Bruce Springsteen as himself in the 70's
favorite character -- Blaine, "Glee"
best performance on two different shows -- Michael B Jordan on Parenthood & FNL
best TV on DVD -- thirtysomething
kind of disappointing -- Friday Night Lights season 5

Best concerts
1. John Mayer in Seattle
2. John Mayer in NJ
3. John Mayer in MSG
Favorite song -- "Teenage Dreams" by Katy Perry (but really, by Blaine on "Glee")
Best album -- Bruce Springsteen "The Promise" (and I'm not saying that because I'm old. It's an awesome album!)

Best books I read
Non-fiction -- Half the Sky
Fiction -- One Day by David Nicholls

Glee quote of the week -- 2/22

2011-02-25T13:33:00.003-05:00

Rachel, talking about her crush on Blaine.... "Blaine and I have a lot in common."
Curt: "A sentiment expressed by many a hag about many a gay."

The best number of the week was "Don't you want me" even though Rachel is annoying. What did you expect me to choose? Ke$ha?? (aka Ke - Dollar sign - ha) Doubtful.

Portlandia

2011-02-22T14:37:00.007-05:00

A new sketch comedy show on IFC. It's kind of hit or miss, but there have been some pretty funny skits...

I think this song is funny. I liked "all the hot girls wear glasses" but I don't get the clown school refernce. Oh well.

Here is a picture of me in the 90's wearing my glasses. Would I fit in in Portland?

30 Rock quote of the week -- 2/17

2011-02-18T18:11:00.003-05:00

After being asked for her ID at the bar, Liz Lemon said, "How about this for ID... I participated in Hands Across America."

When Liz found out the name of the club, Canal Yards Project, she said, "Nope! Hipster nonsense. I'm out."

Also, the whole scene with Jack negotiating with his Trinidadian nanny, and then taking her example to the negotiation with Kabletown. Hilarious!

Glee quote of the week -- 2/15

2011-02-17T21:37:00.002-05:00

Sue to Will, after he takes her to the hospital to sing to some kids: "I don't care how adorable those kids are, if I hear one song from the classic rock outfit Journey, I will start pulling catheters."

Santana to the Beiber kid: "Despite the fact that your enormous mouth to face ratio is way off, you still manage to be cute. But make no mistake, every time you open your mouth to do an impression or to moisten an enormous stamp for a lazy giant, you take one step closer to everyone seeing that you are actually dork."

The Office quote of the week -- 2/10

2011-02-13T03:40:00.001-05:00

Michael Scott, after being accused of PDA'ing in the office: "Whispering and tickling have their place in business."

30 Rock quote of the week -- 2/10

2011-02-13T03:07:00.004-05:00

First quote, nominated by Esther:

Jack said, "I never sleep on planes. I don't want to be incepted."

Second one was nominated by me:

While going through the list of things he has to do now that he's an Oscar winner, Tracy says, "Cornell commencement address? Sorry, but Tracy Jordan doesn't do safety schools."

I loved the panic in Avery and Jack about having their child born in Canada and all the crazy Canadian jokes, for example:

"Yes, my daughter is Canadian and American, but I'm going to treat her just like a human baby."

So, I guess this means that Matt Damon is not going to be on 30 Rock anymore?
Also, the flight attendant was in a Broadway play I saw last summer.

Glee quote of the week 2/8

2011-02-12T19:15:00.005-05:00

No quote this week....

If I am not a fan of Christmas episodes, then Valentine's episodes downright bug me. I was just glad that this wasn't another episode where everyone quits and re-joins glee club.

This song seemed like the obvious choice for number of the week.

But then this song closed out the episode, and having Blaine singing it makes me so happy.

30 Rock quote of the week -- 2/3

2011-02-07T18:32:00.002-05:00

Carmen Chou, to Liz when she suspects that Liz is not really pregnant. "I don't know why you're doing this for Jessop. She's a blonde. Don't you know there's a war going on?"

30 Rock quote of the week -- 1/27

2011-02-07T13:03:00.002-05:00

Liz asked if she could get a new ID photo, now that NBC is owned by Kabletown because, "I was holding in a snart."

Glee quote of the week -- 2/6

2011-02-06T23:17:00.002-05:00

Weird episode. I think it was supposed to be awesome because it followed the Superbowl? They missed. But still, some good lines....

After Sue Sylvester asks Britney to blast off in a cannon, Britney said, "I'm not ready to die yet. At least not until 'One Tree Hill' gets cancelled."

The Office quote of the week --1/20

2011-01-22T10:52:00.006-05:00

Disclaimer: I'm an avid flosser and have only missed a day or two since high school. This quote made me giggle.

Michael: "I made a resolution to floss and I did it. 12:01, January 1st, BAM! Blood everywhere."

This scene also made me giggle. I think this is the first time that Creed said something that made me laugh.

30 Rock quote of the week 1/20

2011-01-22T10:11:00.005-05:00

Liz Lemon: "One of my New Year's Resolutions is to say yes. Yes to love, yes to life, yes to staying in more!"

Jack: "This isn't my first rodeo, Lemon."
Liz: "Well, I've been to a rodeo, too. It was a cat rodeo ... in a gay guy's apartment."

The Angie reality show... a GREAT idea!

Christmas

2011-01-14T22:52:00.006-05:00

Last year, I stayed in the city for Christmas and it was so great, easy and fun that I vowed I'd never travel again during crazy, snowy, crowded Christmas holidays. However, my beloved nephew turned EIGHT in December, and you know what that means. So, my vow is broken after one year. Jill, Chris and I decided to drive out to Val's house in Ohio so that we could avoid the airports. Of course, that turned out to be good because New York got over a foot of snow just a day or two before we were due to come back and we would have, no doubt, been stuck in Ohio. Here's the big boy himself. He's going through a Spider-man phase.

Here's the stinker with her new Christmas drum.

Below is my baby nephew on his new slide. For the first day or two, he had to be placed on top of the slide. But here he is attempting it himself. I know that moms and grandmas and aunts post these kinds of videos and no one really cares and no one really thinks they are earth shattering because it's just a one-year-old on a slide. At least, that's what I think when I look at your blog. But he's so cute, I can't help it.

(in the background you can hear what the whole week was like: Dad doing home repairs and my nephew saying weird things while playing Wii.)

The King's Speech

2010-12-15T08:27:00.004-05:00

I totally recommend this one...

2010-12-13T20:29:00.002-05:00

my favorite part: "And as a sidenote, private parts are private."

India part 10

2010-12-11T17:49:00.016-05:00

One day we took a little walk to a village near our hotel. By this time, we were in a much more remote area of the country than we had been -- we were about 2 hours outside of the closest city, Jaipur. We learned during our tour that our guide was from this village, and he showed us his house, his cow, his school, and finally, his mother. He said that he started working in the hotel as a car washer, and had worked his way up to chauffer. I'm not kidding when I say that this tour really humbled me.

This is our guide with his mom. He's wearing a uniform from the hotel. She's not.

There were a few things he said that had us laughing out loud, after which, he'd just look at us with a look that said, "What?" One of those things was "The women work really hard, but the men just sit around. They're lazy." We believed them after seeing things like this...

Again, it always was stunning to see their beautiful saris while doing this hard labor.

For some reason, one thing that surprsed me was seeing little kids like this one running around with no pants on. It's one of those things you don't even consider before hand, but of course they don't have diapers in these little villages. Even families that we saw in tourist attractions, i.e. people that have resources to leave their villages/towns/whatever had bare-bottomed babies with them. I wonder how this factors into potty training.

This is the school in the village. We were there on a local holiday, so the kids were not in school that day. Notice there are no doors in the school -- just doorways. The homes were the same (don't have photos of the homes).

Here are some of the characters we came across....

We were told that it was "cold" so a lot of the kids were wearing hats. I guess they needed hats to keep their heads warm, but the babies still had no pants on?

This guy looks like he's about a thousand years old. Whereas some of the people that saw us just gave us a shy look, this one asked, in very good English, to have his picture, posed in front of this tree and then asked us to send him a copy.

At the beginning of our walk, there was another guy that kind of looked like this one. Trevor had learned the word for "Holy Man" in Hindi during his research for the trip and asked our guide if this man was a Holy Man. This made the boys laugh so hard. We figured that was a sufficient answer to that question.

I'm not sure if this is the baby... but as we were walking along, a woman holding a little baby like this one held him out towards me. I'm not one to say no to an offer like this... but unfortunately, this kid had no pants on and scabby parts on his little bum. I just smiled, waved and walked on.

Obviously, the kids are put to work too, so it's not just the women out there. These three girls were really shy at first. After a few minutes, they warmed up to us and started asking for their pictures to be taken. The oldest girl yelled out something, and Trevor called back the words to her, which sent all three into hysterics. After panicking and asking our guide what he had said to them, Trevor learned that they had said, "Take a picture of me!" and he yelled back, "Take a picture of me!"

This little guy was following closely behind the other three. He looked completely confused about who these crazy white people were.

We asked our guide why these little guys were carrying dirt and rocks in their bowls. He said this is what they use to clean the floors of their homes. I tried to ask him... they use dirt to clean their floors??? I'm sure I didn't get the right story there.

As we walked along, we just gathered a group of kids. I'm pretty sure they thought I was Angelina Jolie and that I might adopt them.

How they loved to see themselves in our cameras! It makes sense that they probably don't get to see themselves very often.

The kids loved to use the few English words they knew, so they called out "Bye bye" and "Ta-ta" and we said it back roughly 8000 times in the two hours we were there.

What an adventure!

30 Rock quote of the week -- 12/9

2010-12-09T21:40:00.004-05:00

first, a quote dedicated to Esther: "Do you want to go to the Penn Station K-Mart with me and then watch Tootsie."

and this one from Jack: "We Donaghy's believe that when there is something at all delicate to talk about, it is best to suppress it until it erupts into a fistfight at a church barbeque. "

Glee quote of the week --12/7

2010-12-07T23:27:00.006-05:00

I'm not the biggest fan of Christmas episodes and/or music, but this episode was surprisingly good. The quote of the week belongs to Artie: "I told my parents that I only want one thing for Christmas this year. Stop friend-requesting me on Facebook."

Laugh out loud funny!!