Friday, September 25, 2009

Veggie Hugs

Today is International Hug a Vegetarian Day. So find your nearest and dearest all-veggie eater and encircle them with your support and love.
Just don't give them a hot dog.

Image Courtesy of www.ehow.com

Thursday, September 24, 2009

Boob Tube Review

Last night I was lucky enough to be home during prime time T.V. and to see some series premieres on ABC. Allow me to give you my meager opinion on what I saw.

If you enjoyed the hilarious family dynamics of the cult comedy series Arrested Development, you're going to like this show. It is the story of today's modern family, from the view of a father's new family and his two kids' families.

The patriarch of the family is Jay, played by Ed O'Neill, formerly of "Married with Children," he is married to Gloria - a young, beautiful Colombian woman (dead wringer for Catherine Zeta-Jones) with a 10 year old, hopelessly romantic son.

Jay's daughter Claire, played by Julie Bowen from "Boston Legal," is mother to three children and wife to dorky guy Phil. Phil is a dad attempting to be his kids' friend, only making him that much more embarrassing to his children. He would describe himself as "dope." Their oldest daughter is 15 and is just like her mother was at her age. This is worrisome to mom because she was a bit of a slut at 15. Their youngest daughter is brainy and cool. Younger brother is awnry and slightly stupid.

Jay's son Mitchell, played by Jesse Tyler Ferguson from the short-lived "The Class", and his partner, Cameron recently returned from Vietnam with their newly adopted daughter, Lily. His father isn't always supportive of his gay son and his partner of 5 years. They are working on it. Jay still knocks on the door and says, "coming in" every time he enters a room where the boys might be to avoid any PDA that might be going on.

Modern Family definitely isn't a drama and is shot in that cool documentary style. You will laugh. You will enjoy it. Promise.
Some might think that the writers were trying to come up with the craziest, unrealistic family scenario possible but I don't find that to be true. Most families that I know are exactly like this family. Who doesn't agree with the deal a husband a wife make that if the dad is going to buy his son a BB gun and the son shoots someone that the dad then has to shoot his son back to teach him lesson. Now that is good parenting.
After Modern Family...
Courtney Cox Arquette's new show, "Cougar Town:"

Before you judge, it was much better than I had anticipated. I was picturing "Desperate Housewives," but got something more along the lines of "I Love Lucy." Arquette plays Jules, a newly divorced 40 year old Realtor living in Cougar Town, Florida. She has a handsome and dopey ex-husband that hangs around but you don't hate him. Her character is quirky and awkward, making her lovable as opposed to being the kind of woman that people want to hide their teenage boys from. Example of awkwardness: "You're hot as balls!" she says drunkenly to a hot younger man. Awwwkward panda. (Pardon the language, Mom!)

The first episode shows Arquette becoming acclimated to being out in the dating world again and continually annoyed by her also newly single male neighbor. Eventually her young sassy assistant, played by Busy Phillips (love her! remember her in Dawson's Creek??), convinces her to go out where she meets a young stud of her own. She takes him home and then has an awkward moment with her teenage son. Thank goodness for her always lovingly judging next door neighbor/best friend Ellie, played by Christa Miller from "Scrubs" and "The Drew Carey Show."

The script is well-written, characters are interesting, funny and likable, and Arquette does a great job transitioning away from Monica Gellar. If you missed the pilot you can see it on
http://www.abc.com/.

Can I just say that Courtney looks great? She does. However, she is starting to get that wide-mouth look that only comes with plastic surgery or thanks to the Steven Tyler/Joan Rivers gene pool.

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Cool City of the Moment

Can you guess which city it is?? Our lips are sealed but there is a hint in the background of this photo...


Who are we kidding? We can't keep a secret. It's Pittsburgh, USA!


Surprised?

BF and I made a trip to The City of Bridges in the summer of 2008. You can tell that we like to capture our serious personalities through film.


(Random view from a building I was in this week)

All I can say is, what a cool city. Pittsburgh is my home for a week and so far I'm enjoying it very much. The city is clean, has cool architecture, a great cultural arts scene and awesome scenery. It feels like New York but smaller and less overwhelming.


Pittsburgh is also home to the best chocolate, concocted by the Edwards family. Their shop is on the south side of the city and is called The Milk Shake Factory. Can you think of a better factory than that? Put me on the assembly line boss because I'm ready to work! Insert visual of Lucy and Ethel working on the confectionary assembly line. Or just watch it here.

Sweet buidling on the Southeast side.

The coolest part about Pittsburgh is all of the bridges.

Pittsburgh is actually nicknamed, "The City of Bridges." I love bridges, almost as much as I lust over a good barn. Don't ask - or do, it's up to you. The city sits at the intersection of the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers to form the Ohio River. Did you know that, children? These rivers are wrapped around the city creating the need for some major bridges every few hundred yards or so, there are 446 to be precise!

She's got Chutzpah: After the steel industry crashed in the early 1980s the city picked herself up by her bootsraps and cleaned up her act. Once black and smokey it is now quite "green." The convention center that is home to the G-20 Summit this week is one of the only LEED "green" centers of its kind. Who knew?

Pittsburgh where have you been hidig all of this time? My guess is under your Terrible Towel.

Photos Courtesy of www.news.steelers.com and www.lovemark.com

Monday, September 21, 2009

Lapse...

Hi kiddos, sorry for the lag in posts. Things have been a bit busy to say the least.

Wedding Update:
For those of you interested in the wedding planning process, this is for you. It is sort of a never ending saga. A good one though. Here is my current to-do list:

1. Put together bridesmaid luncheon and rehearsal dinner invite lists
2. Pick up wedding rings (custome designed by Eric Olschwanger - he's really good)
3. Order a massive amount of sweet, delicous pie from The Pantry
4. Order a wee cake for cutting from A&J Bakery (explanation to follow)
5. Have BF pick out male attendants' attire - tux, suit, banana costume?
6. Address and mail out invitations - I hope that you all appreciate the hand-written work of my father and god-mother
7. Work on playlists for the string quartet, band and background music...polka or gangster rap?
8. Meet with photographer before October 19th Bridal Portrait. Can anyone say facial and push-ups?
9. Many other things but let's take this one day at a time, kids

A couple of back ground stories for whomever is still reading this post:

The rings-

My Rings:
I love the story of my rings. Did I tell you all that BF's adorable mama literally took her wedding ring off of her finger and gave it to him to reset for me? Well, that is how it went down and it still brings tears to my eyes. BF took her stone and had it reset in the most perfect platinum, four-pronged, solitare tulip setting. It is me and I love it. There are two sweet little diamons on the front and back of the basket underneath the large diamond.
The wedding ring is being constructed using the rest of the 16 diamonds from BF's mama's original ring. There are four different sizes of diamonds, and four diamonds per size. Eric will be setting them graduating from largest in the middle down to the smallest on either side in a shared-prong platinum setting. Simple and pretty.

BF's ring:
BF was very specific about his ring. No platinum or white gold for this guy - he is a true traditionalist and wants a yellow gold band with millgrain edges. It is a ring just like his daddy's. It is classic and wholesome, just like BF.

The Cake:
Neither BF or myself like wedding cake much, hence the pie. However, my mom asked that we cut a cake and we happily obliged. The plan is to get a round 9" cake that BF and I will cut shortly after our first dance. After that, put on your eating pants and dancing shoes because it will be all pie and dancing from that point on. See how that works, we are looking out for the health of all of our guests. Yes, we give you pie and lots of it but we also provide a calorie burning dance fest after from our wiggling and giggling inducing band.

Stay tuned...more to come.

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Texas Living

Over Labor Dabor BF and ispent some time at the lake with friends and spent the evening at their cabin. This place is the perfect Texas house.

The white stone house is set on 200 acres overlooking a tree-lined bluff.

I took a few pics. Please enjoy the view.












Last, but not least of this uber long photo show are Bonnie and Lucky.


--Post From My iPhone

Friday, September 4, 2009

Sister Laurlene Out on the Town

Ever been to a religously themed costume birthday party?Let me tell you that it is where all the cool kids are. Like BF's cousin, K.

She was Eve.


Meet my alter ego, Laurlene. She likes long sits in her chair, pompadours, dressing modestly in 100 degree weather but showing a little wrist when the Mr. Right comes around, sensible white walking shoes and crocheting car covers for mid-century Buicks.



Laurlene hangs out most nights with Sister Kate.


If you see them together watch out. They're a wild pair.


-- Post From My iPhone

Take Over

Did I ever tell you all the my dad is a golf pro? He is. He is a very talented teacher and golfer. All in all, the total golf package.

My dad started me golfing at a very young age. I have been grateful every day since. There is nothing like hitting the links first thing in the morning. Dew is sprinkled all over the fairways and greens and it is quiet. It's real nice, Clark.

All of this is to say that I come from a golf family. Tuesday night BF and I pulled into my parents driveway and opened the garage door to see this...



It was a golf club army, lines up in perfect rows for world domination. What makes this scenario even better is that these are all kids clubs. They're tiny. Adorable even.



But don't tuen your back on them for a second because they're obviously organized.



If you need a tiny set of clubs or a lesson that will change your golf game forever, let me know. Until then, I'm going to try to corral these mini sticks into submission before they doom us all.

-- Post From My iPhone