Hi Delicious!

Another Book Read

2011-09-08T14:34:00.000-04:00

Divergent by Veronica Roth
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was a good call for my post-Hunger Games withdrawal. While I never felt like life as I know it was going to stop if I didn't find out what happened to these characters and I never once shed a tear, I did really enjoy this book. It was a quick, satisfying read built around a uniquely interesting premise and likable characters.

The similarities to THG are there for sure and I see why the distributors jumped at this and designed the cover the way they did and bought the movie rights. But Roth should be given credit for a wonderfully inventive, intriguing story, a compelling setting and characters you care about.

I'm bummed that I now have to wait for her to finish the second in the series because I'd really like to see where she takes her factionless heroes.

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I'm tumbl'ing...

2011-09-08T14:16:00.000-04:00

the experiment starts now...click here

From the Small Screen to Many Books

2011-09-02T08:08:00.000-04:00

The Awakening and The Struggle by L.J. Smith
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book is so similar to Twilight (high school girl falls for mysterious dark new boy in town who ignores her but it's really because she drives him to distraction and he finally shows her when he saves her life and then they have an intense love that no one can understand because he's actually hundreds of years old and is a killer but wants to be good) that I had to see who did it first. Turns out LJ Smith started this series in 1991 so was the originator but I actually think that Stephanie Meyer did it better. This book is Young Adult and it reads that way.

Also, I love the TV series and they've taken some major liberties in adapting these books for the small screen that made it a little hard to get into. Where's Jeremy? Why is Stefan from Renaissance Italy (altho it explains the Salvatore name)? Bonnie is a red-headed Irish psychic? Elena is a blonde and Katherine was weak and fragile?

The thing that the book and the series have most in common (other than everyone's names) is that Damon is one bad ass hottie. The show's creators did an amazing job casting for that because he is spot on to what Damon is supposed to be. Scary, sensual, dangerous but fascinating and beautiful. He's the entire draw for this series and I think I'd like to skip right to the books that tell the story from his perspective.

The end of the first two volumes also went to a place that the series hasn't gone (YET?!?)

Bottom line is that I still read 492 pages in 4 days. So it is def entertaining, when I access my 12 year old girl self...who's never far away anyway :)

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What's Your "Favorite Movie"?

2011-08-28T10:47:00.000-04:00

I like to think that I'm a person of discerning taste. I'm picky about my music, food and friends. And I have a pretty high standard for movies; you'll rarely catch me watching crappy horror flicks or some American Pie/Band Camp teen farce. My Netflix rating history only shows a handful of actual 5 star movies. But when the summer comes and all our shows' seasons are finished and our DVR queue is cleared (except for all the Palladia concerts!) I find myself at the mercy of the [mostly] crap that the networks decide to air. So it's always around this time of year when I realize that while I may think that Goodfellas is my favorite movie with all its groundbreaking shots (round the table, through the kitchen) and No Country for Old Men & The English Patient have some of the best storylines, these are not actually the movies I CHOOSE to watch more than once.
So it begs the question, when someone asks you "What's your favorite movie?" what do you go with? The movies you think are the best made films? Or the movies that you actually watch, every single time you see them on? The movies that are the mac & cheese of the cinema---your comfort flicks??? Last weekend I realized that there are two movies that I will watch EVERY time I see them on, no matter what. I am drawn to them and once they pop up, I am compelled. They may not have Oscar worthy dialogue or ground breaking cinematography but to me, I'm beginning to think they're the best movies ever made. I mean, isn't the point of film to entertain us? My top two keep me engrossed beyond my control. They are like my movie crack:

MEAN GIRLS: first of all, I don't think this movie is actually crap. The screenplay [adapted from a novel by Wiseman] was written by Tina Fey, who is undeniably one of the funniest women on the planet. It's smart and a lot of its humor goes well over the high-school minds of its central characters. But at the core of its draw (for me, at least) is that there's a kernel of truth to the overly cliched cliques. And every girl wanted to be a Regina or a Cady and conversely to see them ultimately get what's coming to them.
THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA: I'm not going to lie. I'm going to own my girliness right up front. The clothes in this movie are the star. The montage with Anne Hathway in a different outfit in every shot is about 85% of the reason I watch this movie. It's like watching your Barbies come to life. And again, as Amanda Priestly says, everybody wants to be them. And everybody who isn't them wants to see them fall. And every girl likes a makeover scene.

There are many other movies that I feel this way about. I'm sure some of them are your "favorites" too:

Baz Luhrmann's version of ROMEO & JULIET: Leo has never looked better. Claire Danes is the best Juliet. The hipness of the locales, clothes, dialogue (all of it original Shakespeare, not altered), music (Garbage! Radiohead! ) and Luhrmann's signature hopped-up cinematography are dazzling. It's like shiny eye candy. I think The Bard would enjoy this version the best and I hope they're showing it in high schools to get kids interested in Shakespeare. This is how cool it can be.
MOULIN ROUGE: for all the same reasons. Luhrmann brought all of that to an actual musical and it's breathtaking. Nicole Kidman is other-worldly and who knew Ewan McGregor could sing? Plus the whole message is: "The greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return"
CHICAGO: sticking with the musical theme. Chicago took a Broadway show and turned into a legit movie. It's slick, it's pretty but gritty, it's got a great story and it intersperses some big production numbers (Richard Gere's Razzle Dazzle) with sublimely understated ones (John C. Reilly's Mister Cellophane). Maybe one of my favorite movies that ever won an Oscar.
SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE: Joseph Fiennes...as Shakespeare. I think Shakespeare's words are unbelievably sexy. But when you have them actually coming out of a hot, hot guy who's also mushy and sensitive and dramatic? That's delightful. Plus the story is fun and while it doesn't have the technical happy ending, it feels like a Shakespearean tale. I could do without Gwyneth as a boy though.
SWINGERS/WEDDING CRASHERS: Vince Vaughn is a funny dude. So funny that I would like to make him mad just so he'd start telling me off. Yeah, yeah...the stories are hysterical. The dialogue's slick. Swingers' referencing of Tarantino is hip and inspired. But Vince Vaughn is a funny dude and these two movies are his perfect platforms. Vegas, baby!
PRIDE & PREJUDICE/CLUELESS: these movies might seem to have very little in common. One involves people speaking in proper British accents and wearing period clothes and the other involves Alicia Silverstone saying, "as if" a lot. But, technically they were both written by Jane Austen. Pride and Prejudice (either the Keira Knightly or Colin Firth versions) is directly adapted from her novel and Clueless is a modern version of Emma. They both have misunderstandings, tales of romance and true love, and strikingly modern female heroines.
PLEASANTVILLE: I love the premise of this movie and I love the way it was filmed. It's funny, it's heartbreaking and it's completely compelling. This is why I love Reese Witherspoon. And because such a main point of the story is the color and cinematography, it's breathtaking to watch the transformation. Such a great cast and soundtrack too. This one, for me, just isn't on enough.
EMPIRE RECORDS: AJ! Damn the Man! Warren! oh my gosh, I love this movie. I worked at a record store and this is so nostalgic for me. I like to think we were actually this cool. We used to have vetoes on which songs would go up on the store music and lots of love triangles. But our spot wasn't nearly as cool as the Empire Records building. I would've done anything to save that too. And has there been a better soundtrack? Gin Blossoms, Toad the Wet Sprocket, Evan Dando, Better than Ezra, Dishwalla, Sponge, Dire Straits and even some Jimi Hendrix.

There are some honorable mentions that I love, just maybe not enough to watch every time they're on: OFFICE SPACE ("I did absolutely nothing and it was everything I thought it would be!"), THE NOTEBOOK (I would probably watch this more except that I break down and bawl like I just lost a family member every time I watch it. But seriously, could Ryan Gosling be more perfect than this movie?), pretty much every John Hughes/Molly Ringwald movie, FERRIS BUELLER'S DAY OFF, ST. ELMO'S FIRE, BILL & TED'S, SPEED, DEMOLITION MAN

The End of (Another) Trilogy

2011-08-17T08:08:00.000-04:00

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Being the third in the trilogy this book picks up where the Girl Who Played with Fire left off...namely at the end of the action. This book is 593 pages of closure. Most of the heart-racing do or die moments have already taken place and the majority of this one is setting everyone up for their justice. Somehow, thanks to Larsson's detailing of his engaging characters' every movement, I was still drawn in and kept racing along. It is a good ending to a fantastic, gripping story.

There were some flaws that afterwards left me a little puzzled. Why the story with Erika Berger going to SMP? Why the story with her stalker? In truth it had nothing to do with Lisbeth except that she helped figure out who it was. Seemed completely irrelevant and unnecessary.

Also, there were two story points that felt entirely unresolved, perhaps due to Larsson's untimely death:

1. What happened to Camilla Salandar? she's alluded to and a complete mystery. Reading the message boards it seems that Larsson planned 10 books around Lisbeth so I'm guessing at some point she would have been introduced back into her life.

2. Why was nothing found for Lisbeth to do or to spend her millions on? The obvious (maybe cliche) choice would be some sort of foundation for women. Especially the money left from her father should have gone to stopping trafficking or domestic violence or something. They kept focusing on Lisbeth becoming a responsible citizen but in the end she's left sort of wandering aimlessly.

Otherwise I will say that I felt a sense of relief to "be" in the courtroom when Teleborian was torn apart. Most novels like this stop when the person gets caught but Larsson lets you see his bad guy twist on the stand and you are an eye witness to justice being served. Almost all the ends were tied up satisfyingly. Such a good story, sad we won't have any more from him.

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Out of My Book Funk!

2011-08-12T07:51:00.002-04:00

Talking to Girls About Duran Duran: One Young Man's Quest for True Love and a Cooler Haircut by Rob Sheffield
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A friend gave this to me to help me get over my Hunger Games withdrawal. After trying to read at least 3 other books, this is the one that worked. The Introduction just reeled me in with its slick, easy, conversation-like style and I read it in two sittings: going from LGA-CVG and then a couple of hours last night. It's like sitting at a bar and talking to a super-cool guy about your shared music obsessions. One of those conversations that while you're in the middle of it you hope it doesn't stop for a while.

While I can't say I agree with (a lot!) of his favorite or well-remembered songs (when was the last time you heard someone mention Scritti Politti or Ray Parker Jr.?) I will say that I wholeheartedly agree and identify with the place that music holds in his life. I very clearly remember the first time I heard certain bands and there are songs that can stop me in my tracks and move me to another year in another city. I adore the way he shares with us the lessons he learned from these songs, these artists. I identify with how much these songs relate to certain people, certain years and the state we were in when we obsessively play them over and over. I was a huge Smiths fan but always knew Morrissey was just in a funk, I was a Madonna and Prince fan but never hoped they'd last as long as they did. I never really cared about Duran Duran when they were around (gasp!). I didn't relate at the time to boys who wanted to wear make up and be prettier than me. But I distinctly remember the first time I watched MTV and then what a prevalent part of my life it became. There are so many artists that I didn't like then that I have come to appreciate with time and Duran Duran is one of them. I worked in a music store when 'Decades' came out and that was actually when my appreciation began. They are one of the bands that sound seems to get richer the longer it stays on the air. What was kind of fluffy silliness in the year it was released now, for me, seems to embody an historical period that made its claim on that lightness and in retrospect seems so sweet and naive and quaint. I love Duran Duran now and this book definitely spoke to me. Now if only we can get John Cusack to star in the movie...

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THG Withdrawal

2011-08-05T08:52:00.001-04:00

It is seriously like those lovely ladies at Hello Giggles are inside my brain and then blog on the problems that are facing me. Right now, it's my book withdrawal from The Hunger Games. You laugh, but this is a problem. I am a girl who is never without a book. Since I have finished THG I just couldn't get into anything else. British Historical Fiction seemed too obsolete and medieval...modern chick lit seemed too fluffy and I really just want to love on Peeta again. So I did the MOST insane thing. I re-read the trilogy. Like days after I finished it. I've never done that before. So weird but it kinda helped because I flew through the first ones trying to find out who survives so I was able to let it sink in a bit on the second try. But not too much because I finished them again in less than two weeks. And now here I am back in the same situation. So thank you @katespencer for hopefully helping me MOVE ON with my life. At least until the movie comes out!

What To Read Now That You’ve Finished The Hunger Games

The Happiest Place on Earth

2011-07-27T20:52:00.001-04:00

I have to take a break from the chaos of this house that is undergoing major floor remodeling (which I plan to document to death once it's OVER!) and come to my happy place. Here! (Also, we have no TV hooked up right now and I just finished reading and it's 93 degrees outside.)
Nothing makes me happier than the 6 animals that live with us. Literally, nothing. When I was bawling like a baby yesterday because I finished a book, my boy chihuahua was very upset and just holding him made it all better. So, without further ado and in the order they came into our lives, here's the cast of characters that walk around this place (and leave their hair EVERYWHERE!) Without them I would most surely have cut someone by now and probably be in lock down.

BLUE KITTY
aka Evilyn
Blue is a Russian Blue, beautiful little dainty girl cat. Her exterior is deceiving because she is, however, quite awful. She was abandoned as a kitten in a boatyard and a friend felt bad and brought her to me. I thought she was a boy. The first day I had her and went to refill her food bowl she bit me on the ankle. That was the beginning of our tenuous relationship. She has free roam, of everything, inside and out. And she is the least happy animal I know. She loathes everyone. If you pass her walking down the hall she will hiss and claw your ass. And do not even think about petting her unless she has come over and bonked you first. Evil-lyn! At night, when all the lights are off and she thinks I'm asleep, she crawls into the crook of my arm with her back up against me & sleeps with me all night long. Secret love.

JACK DANIELS
aka Jackalicious, Sgt Jack, the Laugh Police, Vicious Wishes, Vienna Sausage,Junky/Chunky Monkey, Jerky Boy and Rudey
This little dude is a 10 year old chihuahua who takes Napoleon Complex to some other level. He barks and lunges at everybody...dogs, people, cats. Tough guy. Unless it's storming or we turn the Wii on and he hears that ding. Scary stuff. My little man has the heart (and balls) of a thousand Great Danes...trapped in this tiny meerkat-like body. If you are laughing and sitting anywhere near him he will attack and bite your nose and then start a rousing sing-along. He has provoked my gentle Beagle into a full-on brawl (which he lost and looked like a Cro-magnum man) He has a trick knee that gives out and then he has to hop around. But he won't let you carry him around. Oh no. He's a tiny warrior whose favorite thing is to hop over logs and keep up with the big dogs.

DIXIE DEW
aka Doodlebugs, Little Mama, Brat Princess, Boogas, Boogedys & Tiny Beastie
Jack's Old Lady. Jack's puppies' mama. They had the cutie patootiest puppies that my mom kept and then we got this little long-hair chihuahua princess that kinda looks like a fox. If I could clone her and market her to tweens I would be a bazillionaire because you have never seen a dog that loves the love more than this one. The little girls on our street used to put her in a baby carriage and cover her in blankets and that was exactly how Miss Thang thought every day should be. If she were any more chill she wouldn't have a pulse. Some days she doesn't like to eat, maybe she thinks she's got to watch her figure, I'm not sure. Breakfast is only carrots, thank you very much. She will steal your seat the moment you get up and then never give it back. The word 'no' is not a word with any meaning. And I'm pretty sure she's got a southern belle drawl :)

Buster Brown
aka Bobo, Bobo Brown, Beagle Mania, Fat Boy Slim, Cowbelly, Hamhock
My big, big love. Bobo is everyone's favorite. Dixie loves to sleep with him cuz he keeps her warm and is the best sleeper you've ever seen. He has the world's best toe nails. He has both blue and red ticking and the cutest parts of both a Basset Hound and Beagle. He has leg wrinkles and eyeliner. He is Gracie's bff. Jack is completely obsessed with his whereabouts . Tanner attacks him every morning. (Blue doesn't care about him because she's Evil.) He howls with his entire body and runs sideways. He was wandering the streets of NY following the neighborhood boys around when they brought him to my house to see if he lived there. I told them if they didn't find his people we'd keep him for the night. HA HA! This puppy in our teeny weeny apartment=disaster. He's the reason we had to move to Kentucky and buy a house. He's a country dog that had no place in the City. His yard is his domain and he diligently inspects every blade of grass each evening for any new or suspect smells. He takes shift on border patrol, carefully casing the fence and perimeter to insure our absolute safety (mostly from squirrels). He has squeezed through a tiny cat door (like a sausage) trying to get some cat food. Food is his life. Sleeping is a close second.

GRACIE MAE
aka Facie, The Face, Kangaroo Butt, Biggle and Beastie Girl
ah, our lovely Boxer mix. She's the most beautiful miniature tiny pony-dog. She was a rescue who lived in a shelter for way too long. She appreciates the fact that she has a yard, has toys, has friends, has people. She LOVES her people. She LOVES her Daddy more than probably her own life. She thinks she's chihuahua-size and can sit in your lap like they can. She enjoys sitting on the outdoor couch and watching the woods. She barks like a baby screaming. She's just the most beautiful girl ever. Sticks are her life. Ice is also her life. There is absolutely no end to her energy. Playing and running seem to make her MORE energetic. When she first came to live with us she didn't know how to sleep with other dogs or on the furniture. Now her best time is cuddling with Bobo and sleeping with her head on the pillows. Every toy that she sees belongs to her (even if it's actually the neighbor dogs'). She can hop like a deer. She growls while she runs for her sticks. She adores water and will go in any that she can find whether it's a lake or barely a puddle.

TANNER
aka Tanner Manner, Mannas, Dummy, Crazy Boy, Motorhead, Rabbit Foot, Stinkbutt
We had the misguided notion that maybe Blue's problem was that she was overrun by dogs and she needed a feline companion. HA HA HA! Not in any way. However, we could not have found a better cat for the situation. This dude is not afraid of anything. We got him at 6 weeks old and he pretty much thinks he's a dog. He sleeps with them. He hangs with them. He takes over their bed. He attacks them. He thinks, "who has to go out?" pertains to him in every way. He has walked right up to the vacuum cleaner and smelled it cuz he doesn't care. He sits on the shower edge and bats the water. The entire world is his toy box and we are all here for his amusement and love. This animal has never known one moment of pain or want in his life and has never had anything other than love and a very full belly. I would like to be him in my next life and I'd like to know what he did to get this much good karma this go-round. Blue is not amused by him but he now out-weighs her so that's just too bad. He's a love monster who disappears every day between 2-5:30 when he makes a miraculous appearance in time for dinner.

o-m-g! can't wait for this either...

2011-07-26T11:36:00.002-04:00

Pearl Jam Twenty from Pearl Jam on Vimeo.

Utterly RIDIC how excited I am about this...

2011-07-25T17:44:00.001-04:00

Gone Before Its Time

2011-07-08T20:09:00.003-04:00

A few weeks ago I watched the entire series of My So Called Life (God does love us and showed us by streaming Netflix through my Wii). All 19 episodes. How, the hell, did this show get cancelled and crap TV goes on forever (didn't Jersey Shore just film in Italy or some such nonsense?)??? Got me thinking that there are quite a few shows that were laid to rest long before they should have been.

MY SO-CALLED LIFE The above-mentioned drama that told it like it was. In the 90's, with lots of flannel. When the show was on I thought it was cool but watching it as an adult , it made me ache with nostalgia. Oh my gosh, I loved me some grunge boys. And overalls, YES! They were so comfy and forgiving! And Doc Martens. But aside from the fashion of the show, Angela was every girl. Every girl has felt that alienated in high school. We've all felt the longing for the guy that is just so wrong for us. Or the betrayal of the friend who stole that guy. The absolute weariness of how uncool our parents were. The disdain for the dorky guy that adores you. 19 episodes was not enough! Please bring this back with all the original characters, especially Jordan Catalano, who's like, a big time rock star now.
BETTER OFF TED had such sharp wit and biting insults slung so rapidly that I can only guess it got cancelled because it was too smart. From Portia de Rossi's aggressive boss lady to Ted himself, the cast was spot on crazy. They had a whole episode where the motion sensors work off skin reflection so do not register for people with darker skin tones. Hilarious when this leads to them having to hire white shadows for the black workers and then black shadows so they aren't considered discriminatory. Genius infinite loop. But some of the best parts were when you'd think it was going to commercial and it would be an ad for the TV company: RIP Better Off Ted, you deserved more than two seasons!
PUSHING DAISIES I'm going to guess that the some of the same writers were involved in these two shows. The concept for Pushing Daisies was so fantastical, the characters so quirky and caricature-like, the sets and costumes so Broadway-esque and with Kristin Chenoweth as a main character you can bet there were musical numbers (They Might Be Giants? for the love of God, it was PERFECT!) I adored this show, couldn't wait for it to come on. I was devastated when it got cancelled but I understand that it wasn't mainstream. But that was why it was so good! And I miss Lee Pace's hang dog face.
ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT What can be said about a TV show that had a daughter named Maeby? Or the VERY best-named lawyer, EVER: Bob Loblaw! A show that made you fall in love the most dysfunctional family possible. That brought us Jason Bateman (sigh) and Michael Cera and Will Arnett. A show with the Fonz and narrated by Richie Cunningham. Only that this show should still have remained on the air forever! Not snuffed out after three seasons! There is talk of a movie and if Sex and the City can do it (twice) I'm hopeful these guys can get it together (I also just realized that Portia de Rossi is in this too and quite brilliant, go Ellen!)
FLASH FORWARD Ok, this show didn't have sharp, witty dialogue. In fact, it often bordered on cheesy and formulaic. And the characters were not all that memorable or likable and a lot of them were left-overs from Lost so I got a little confused. But what the show had going for it was a wickedly cool story that got more complicated the more it tried to provide answers (quantum entanglement anyone?). I think JJ Abrams was involved or it felt like he was. We'll never know if the whole world blacks out for another 137 seconds but it was entertaining while it lasted. And Joseph Fiennes was in it.

Tweeps' honorable mentions: Freaks and Geeks, Firefly, Life on Mars, Ugly Betty...

Things That Made Me Smile This Week---Legs Edition

2011-07-07T19:49:00.002-04:00

I'm dedicating this week's Smileys to my legs. Not because I think they're all that (although for someone 5'4" they could be worse) but because as my last post indicated, they get me where I need to go. I ask a lot of them. And I try to be nice back.
Boys (as I'm sure there are SO many reading this right now!) just stop reading this. I know you guys hate when we talk about shaving our legs (and, for some reason, plucking eyebrows). Not sure why since you put a sharp blade up against your cheeks all the time but whatever.
Ok, Ladies...can we all talk for a moment about Nair? Why are we all still cutting ourselves with razors? Or worse, waiting a dreadful amount of time to apply scalding hot wax and then having it rip our skin off? I've never known anything about Nair, thought it wouldn't work, that it was difficult or stupid. But, guys, it DOES work. And it's super easy. It's like putting on lotion and then getting in the shower and wiping it off. Now the first time I didn't put it on evenly and some places weren't as smooth as others but they were soft and no sharp metal objects came anywhere near me. This one was a life changer.

Then after you step out of the shower and need to moisturize, there is this perfect little product from Jergens. Those of you with lovely dark complexions that don't need any additional color, well, good for you. Those of us who would look like hospital patients without a little help from the sun (or the artificial sun), this is for you. I've actually been using this for years and it's super easy. It doesn't smell bad and it doesn't streak. It just looks like I've come off of a day at the beach. Without the sun damage. And tan lines. Win win.

In the Long Run

2011-07-06T19:41:00.000-04:00

I may have mentioned that I'm a runner once or twice. Extolled the virtues of getting out there and the mileage that I log and that I have a marathon coming up in September. What I've probably neglected to share, the shame of my running life, is just how difficult actually getting out there is. Maybe there are people who wake up and are super excited to bust out the door for their morning run. Maybe running is easy for them. Maybe they're fast and lithe and tall. These are the people who keep track of their splits (or know what those are) and practice speed work on a track and don't eat cheese enchiladas.
I am not one of those people. While I'm an early, happy riser, my first thought is coffee and food not sweat and exercise. So every morning that I am scheduled to run a little battle goes down in my head. Sometimes it starts before I even push back the covers. Usually it begins with me hoping it's raining because that's a valid, guilt-free excuse to not do it. Then when I discover it's a clear morning I wonder about the cold/heat/humidity, maybe it's not healthy to be running right now. But then my self has to remind my slacker self that no one has gone down from running at 70 degrees. Then I think about what exercise I did the previous day. Maybe Bob Harper's Ultimate Cardio workout kicked my butt and my legs are just too sore to run. I feel sluggish and it's gonna be a slow, miserable 4 miles. And my self patiently replies that it's a part of the training, there's a marathon I have to run in 12 weeks. Gotta start building the mileage now so I can get through the 26.2. Just put on your running gear and then we're set.
Somewhere between getting out of bed, eating my Ezekiel bread with almond butter and getting a little caffeine in me, both selves start to ramp it up and get a little more aggressive. WHY do I have to go out in the heat/cold/snow/rain/sun and sweat/freeze when everyone else is sleeping? Running is hard and it hurts and I'm slow anyway! BECAUSE YOU COULD STAND TO LOSE ABOUT 10 POUNDS AND YOU ALREADY PAID FOR THE STUPID MARATHON, JUST GO! IT'S NOT TORTURE, IT'S FORTY MINUTES OF YOUR DAY! PUT YOUR FREAKIN SAUCONY'S ON ALREADY!
9 times out of 10 the drill sergeant self (who yells in all caps) wins and I do put my running shorts and bra and wicking top and shoes and heart monitor and cap and chafing stick and iPod on and I make it out the door. It's a pretty steep incline out my door up to the street where I can actually start running and this is always my warm up. Florence & the Machines' Dog Days starts me off and my heart monitor says I'm fine and then I start. And the first half mile is always pretty good. Nothing hurts yet, I feel I've made the right decision. I'm a runner dammit and it may be 7am but I'm out here watching as the sun makes it way up.
But the battle doesn't end after the running begins. Somewhere between the turn that marks the half mile the battle starts up again. This time the issue is distance. Do I really have to do 4 miles (or as was the case this morning, SIX!)? What if I just do two? Twenty minutes is still a good workout right? I think my ankle hurts, I don't want to damage it anymore. It's really hot, I'm going to get sunstroke. I didn't eat enough and now I'm hungry. This goes on until whatever the mid-point is. And then a miracle happens. My slacker self shuts the hell up. Nothing to do now except run as fast as I can so I can get home. My legs, which have been willing accomplices this whole time, are compliant. And the second half of my run is always great and seemingly easier. What were pains and possible reasons to stop minutes ago are gone now. With all that quiet in my head, I usually come up with great ideas of things to write about or solutions to problems that have been puzzling me.
My question is then, why? Why can't I just get up, get dressed and start the damn run? I know I'm going to do it. I know I'll feel better once I do. I know it's going to help me in the long run (pun intended). I've never once been upset that I DID run although I've felt plenty awful about the times I've let myself talk myself out of it. Maybe on Saturday when my eyes open I'll jump up and be super-psyched that I've got 10 miles ahead of me and I'll bust out the door with no hesitation...

The Hunger Games Trilogy

2011-07-04T18:20:00.000-04:00

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I finished these books in record time thanks to the long holiday weekend and Collins' amazing pacing. While providing every detail necessary to draw you into Katniss' world, the speed of the events of these three books is breathless. I'm actually finding myself excited for the movies because they would have to try really hard to mess this up. It has everything from larger than life characters, action, worlds exploding, good and evil, cool gadgets and mystery. I am anxious though to see how they play out the core of what this book was to me. Without spoiling anything for anyone who hasn't read it yet, the "love triangle" goes on in a completely new way and it's telling what its process and resolution means to everyone involved.

For me there was only one way this story could end and I'm so glad that's where she took it. By the last chapter I was sobbing hysterically and reading really slowly because I just didn't want to leave these characters. It's so rare that one book comes along that makes you leave your life behind for hours on end and get transported to another place wholeheartedly and become completely invested in a make-believe world. Even more rare that there are three that are equally as compelling.

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Things That Made Me Smile This Week

2011-06-30T23:00:00.001-04:00

I don't know what it says about me that Google is introducing me to artists but one of its endlessly cool homepages featured art by Takashi Murakami and it was just the funnest thing ever. This picture is my wallpaper on my computer and I wish I could wallpaper my life with it. And just live inside its happiness. Not every flower is perfect, some have different eyes even, but they're all so damn smiley and cute:

The ladies at Hello Giggles have been inspiring me to mix up my pinks and reds in the nail care department (see the "Get Yo Nails Did!" posts each week) so I went looking for something blue. Something that would look cute with jeans or jean shorts or these great periwinkle blue cargo shorts I have. What I found is Sally Hansen's Blizzard Blue. I think it looks Metallic Smurfy but what ever. It's summery and it looks super-cute with jeans. It's also the color of the mat in my bathroom but I'm not sure whether that's good or bad.

these are not my nails :)

There was a winner on The Voice. So much about this show was so much better than American Idol. The build-up was cool and hyped. The blind auditions made it so much more interesting that these people were actually chosen for their voice and not how they would look on a CD case (or mp3 download?). The judges are actually people who have had great success in the industry (I think Idol finally picked up on that with Steven Tyler and JLo but too little, too late) and are funny (and mostly coherent). And the people on here could actually sing their asses off. The top 8 or whatever could mostly have outstanding careers. I also have to say that it's rare that a show like The Voice gives you a peek into how heartbreaking an industry music is but the fact that so many of these people had deals fall through and CDs that never got released made me root for them even more. I would really like to know how these contestants were chosen (I have a contender living in my very house, The Voice people!). I think everyone knew who was going to win from the very start and for the benefit of the peeps reading this I know haven't watched yet, I won't spoil. But that person won and that made me smile (and a little teary).

The Hunger Games

2011-06-30T08:30:00.000-04:00

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Wow. It's been a long time since I was so excited about a 374-page book that I read it in about a day and a half. A day when I worked for over 8 hours! I absolutely could not put this book down. And when I did, I still felt like I was there, in Panem, sometime in our sad future. Katniss is the perfect heroine and Collins' telling of the story could not be any more riveting. The world she creates is one of sadness and despair but hope and joyful respect. Her supporting characters are wonderful and any of them could run away with the story. The landscape is described in a way that sucks you in and while it's so alien it is also completely recognizable. The deprivation of District 12 sounds astounding. People are going hungry and The Capitol isn't doing anything? But isn't that exactly what happens here, now? Aren't there spheres of our society that are as ignored, as beaten down?

I'm excited to see where the next two books will go. I felt like I had to fly through this book just to see who survives The Games so I may be able to take the next one a little slower and enjoy the ride a little more. All I know is I'll be heading to Borders as soon as I'm done working...because I'm hooked!

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The Perils and Perks of Working From Home

2011-06-29T20:57:00.001-04:00

I am a lucky, lucky girl. Every morning my commute consists of getting out of bed, feeding my dogs & sitting in front of my computer. Occasionally I have to go into our Corporate offices and get dressed up and interact with other humans but mostly I work from home.
Your reaction to that statement is what I'd like to address.
When I say I "work from home" I get a variety of reactions. Mostly, that it's cool. But I feel that some people think it's like their weekends at home hanging out. I've come to realize that people's reactions are proportional to what they would do if they worked from home. I've found some misnomers that need to be dispelled about those of us whose commute boils down to a few steps instead of miles:

I do not sit on the couch and watch TV all day. First of all, I'm weird and will not have more than 1 tv in my house. It's downstairs and for the most part it never goes on before the sun goes down, even when I'm not working. I don't think I've watched daytime TV since after school days watching General Hospital or Saved by the Bell or Charles in Charge.
I do not sleep in. Ok, again this is my weirdness kicking in because I normally wake up, on my own, between 6:30 and 7. Great for me as a runner, awful for the days when I actually have no reason to be up so early. Still, I wake up and literally the third thing I do is push the power button my laptop. My average day starts then. Sometimes an hour later, after my run, but almost always before 8. And other than a quick shower there is no primping time, no sitting in traffic time, no talking in the break room time.
I actually do a lot of work. In fact knowing the amount of work that gets done in the days I sit in our Corporate offices versus the days I work at home, I am probably at least 3 times more productive at home. There are no distractions so when I sit down to do a task, it gets done to completion. There's no one popping their head in my office asking for something, I can turn my phone to vibrate or keep it in another room. The only thing that comes near to a distraction is IM'ing with other colleagues but that can be turned off or marked busy. I sit in my home office and am able to fully concentrate on a project.
I am not available to run your errands during the day. I still keep normal business hours. All of my colleagues are working at this time and so are our clients. There are deadlines to be met and time-sensitive projects that need attention. There are still conference calls and web-exes to attend (even though more often than not I'm attending them in pajamas or sweat pants and fuzzy slippers).
My day does not end at 5pm (or 4:30 or 3). I'm not knocking off early just because no one's keeping a time card on me. For all the reasons in #4. Usually the opposite is true. A person with a commute needs to leave. To turn off their computer and get in their car. I don't have this impetus so often my computer stays on until well past normal business hours. (It's 8:30 pm and I just answered an email because I have my laptop up typing this) Another reason for the increased productivity. My day rarely ends at 5 or 6 or 7.

But there are some great things about working from home that I would never deny. Again see #4 but not having to wear heels, put on makeup or a dress is a blessing that every woman (and any man who has to wear a tie) can relate to. The downside to this is that most of these comfy clothes come with expandable fabric so you're feeling like you're svelte and then you put on those restrictive work clothes and you realize that maybe you should have done a few more miles.

I get to see my house, my lovely, beautiful house that I moved to Kentucky for. I get to spend every day knowing that my doggies are safe and taken care of. If I had kids I can only imagine how convenient this arrangement would be (although I'd probably have to take off the "there are no distractions" listed in #3). I am home if the cable guy needs to come in or if a package is going to be dropped off. I monitor the neighborhood. At lunch I sit on my deck and eat in my backyard.

The downside to this is that I never, ever want to leave the house. Going to the post office that is literally 1 mile up the road seems a chore and an outing of the highest magnitude, let alone a trip to the grocery store. I'm trying to determine how I can work hermit into being something my socialite boyfriend will accept. But for now I will just sit and get my work done.

A Visit from the Goon Squad

2011-06-25T18:36:00.001-04:00

Lest all you think I do is eat and run and listen to music, below is my book review from Goodreads (love, love, love this website!)

A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

If Nick Hornby and Orwell sat down and hashed out a book it might look something like this. OK, maybe just the last chapter. This book was literally all over the place. Each chapter was a different person, different point in time, different angle on a different story. All of it felt a little washed over with a grey-ish haze. Everyone's view was just a little off. No one was very happy, about anything, even the tween girl's chapter. I read it in a matter of days because it was entertaining in the way that looking in the window of someone's house and getting a momentary glimpse into their lives is entertaining. Even in the most heart-wrenching story of the suicidal college friend, it seemed glossed over. That perhaps we only got a washed-down version. I did enjoy how, for certain people she scanned way into the future and we got to know what happened to them (for better or worse). The last chapter was so outside the realm of the rest of the book that it seemed a part of another book entirely. Without the detail something like what she's describing requires I thought it fell a little short and I was disappointed because I think she was definitely onto something. Handsets and pointers and the new rebellion being clean kids? No doubt this is where we're heading but it wasn't enough for me to buy it completely.

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I'm With the Band

2011-06-25T12:31:00.003-04:00

I don't know any girl who doesn't love a musician. Even someone you'd barely give a glance to walking down the street turns into an object of fascination behind a guitar, or drums or rockin a mic. There's a confidence that has to come from putting your talents on display and you have to assume that someone that can master the intricacies of music would be more attentive to things, you in particular. Music is every part of my day, nay life. The first tape I remember buying myself was INXS and listening over and over to Michael Hutchence croon that "they will never, ever tear us apart." (what a loss to the music world). My favorite job ever was working at a record store in college (we didn't even really sell records but every time I watch Empire Records I'm keenly nostalgic). & it was there after opening up a promo CD with 4 or 5 songs no one had ever heard of that I first fell in love. Song #3 might have been "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and I remember going back to it later but the last song was "Alive" by Pearl Jam and then I fell hard. Eddie Vedder's scratchy yet smooth voice was weary and yet eager for me to understand the pain of this kid. That changed everything for me. Pop music would never be enough. And musicians could influence a generation. I spend almost every waking moment with a song in my head, on my computer, playing on my iPod while I cook or clean or run or eat. I watch videos (when I can find them) and concerts (thank God for Palladia). But I'm not a casual listener. Music is not background for me so I can't listen and type or work. Because when it's on, I listen.
So when I ventured back into the world of dating again it's not surprising that I found actual love belting out some serious rock in a Ft. Lauderdale bar (Fat Cats shoutout!). What was supposed to never work out (a girl you meet at your show doesn't usually lead to an 8 year relationship with a house and 6 animals, does it?) turned out to be the best thing to happen in my life. And I got to be a part of music from a very different angle. Musicians are cool and rocking out on stage is fun. But there's so much more that goes into it. They work hard and rehearse tirelessly to make sure they're gonna have a good show. They have to spend hours visiting bars and venues to promote themselves and get gigs. They suffer disappointments when a place doesn't call back or cancels a show. They watch other bands, other musicians (sometimes much less talented) advance and get the shows they know they could rock. They agonize over set lists and timing and harmonies and segues. And then they get a show and they get up on stage and the place is empty. Or the people are more interested in their pool game than listening. Or worse, they're shouting to keep their conversation up over the music.

But if the band is good enough, the people who are there are cool enough and the night is just right, live music can bring a whole place together. I have danced with people I probably wouldn't meet in real life. I have mouthed lyrics with big bouncers most people would side step. And I have watched these musicians' reasons for doing what they love come to fruition. Most of them may not get record deals or play to packed stadiums. But they just might rock your Saturday night. And they just might make you fall in love, even if it's just for a song. So tonight I'll be rocking out at Mt. Lookout Tavern with The Touchables. Which local band will you be supporting???

More Things I Love

2011-06-22T10:48:00.001-04:00

Where else to start than with a website whose very name evokes a smile? Hello Giggles you complete me! The website is the brainchild of actress Zooey Deschanel, Sofia Rossi and Molly McAleer who are apparently the coolest girly-girls in the world. My love was solidified this morning when I read The Attack of the Tweeenysomethings. Yes! This is what I am. Finally someone has diagnosed my condition! (@RhondaPSD, this is why we have iCarly on our DVRs!) It's all the stuff a girl like me loves (the baby sloths! the tiny Warbler!) commented on by talented writers who speak my language, in my dialect.
They get down to serious business too with cool DIY crafty videos and fashion tips and even a wine review. Every time I click on their bookmarked link I know I'll be reverted for a moment to a wonderfully Lisa Frank-colored land full of Judy Blume and Dylan McKay-isms. Thank you Ladies, you brighten my day!

Time and Place

2011-06-21T22:32:00.001-04:00

I heard Alanis' "You Oughta Know" on the radio the other day & realized I didn't have ANY Alanis on my iPod. How could this be? When I went looking for my Jagged Little Pill CD I found Under Rug Swept and was taken aback. How I had forgotten this gem? This had once been a life line of sorts.
Say what you will about Alanis but this chick is bad ass. Let's not forget she was engaged to Ryan Reynolds. She's Kevin Smith's idea of God. She was on Weeds.
I love Alanis and the fact that she says what women should be saying. (I know Beyonce's all Girls Run the World but I'm pretty sure Alanis never even thought to ask if anyone's ready for this jelly.) Alanis' no bs lyrics & quirky delivery have always moved me.
I'm not sure Under Rug Swept was a huge hit for her. But 2002 was a year that I changed my entire life. I made a lot of people mad by deciding to live my life on my own terms. I watched a lot of people I considered friends walk away and not look back. To deal with it, I did what singles girl do. I drank-a lot. I did some things that are best saved for another type of blog. And I listened to Alanis. She was a kindred spirit. A woman loose in the world with only her truth. & she sang what I felt.

As soon as those lyrics blasted out of my laptop's speakers I realized how profoundly music, for better or worse, has a unique ability to revert you back to a time and place you forgot existed. It can act as a time machine to transport you wholeheartedly into another mindspace.

This album soothed me in a time when I felt like my world was shattering & I couldn't see any way it would be whole again. Just seeing the cover reminded me of driving around Ft. Lauderdale in my Big Red Jeep crying my eyes out and belting out the lyrics at the top of my lungs. When Track #5 came on I remember the realization that eventually dawned on me that I was doing the right thing. That I was a good person taking a bold step. & that our perception of ourselves is almost always so much worse than what the truth is. That people, regardless of how amazing they may seem, may not be right for you, or not right now. & they probably don't realize that the "little rejections" "add up quickly". They most definitely do not realize how personally we women take most things. Probably around the 30th listening I remember it hitting me that we are responsible for ourselves. Making ourselves feel good, beautiful, fine and interesting.
I came out of that time to a world of possibilities and, eventually, true contentment. So these songs make me sad & wistful & are mired in a weird sense of loss. But knowing now what I learned by going through that more than anything made me proud of the person I am on the other side. "Oh these little rejections how they disappear quickly/the moment I decide not to abandon me"

Stuff I'm Liking Now

2011-06-20T18:44:00.000-04:00

When the 0's (naughts? 2000's?) are fond memories and I look back, what are the things that I'll want to remember? What are the legwarmers and Breakfast Club and Doc Martens of these times? Not that I'm claiming the things I am obsessing over are bound to be instant classics (I'm pretty sure I have never actually worn a pair of leg warmers) but I just want to jot down the things that are making me happy these days.
Because I run and work and eat and sleep and pretty much live with a song in my head if not on my iPod, we'll start with the tunes I'm digging.

Young the Giant First, love the name. Second, their song "My Body" is a running anthem ("my body tells me no but I want more, more"!). Third, I can listen to all of their new self-titled album. It is just good, all of it. My fave is probably "Cough Syrup"---with lyrics like, "these zombies in the park/they're looking for my heart" how can you go wrong?

(speaking of music, does everyone know about Amazon.com's mp3 deals of the day? you can get whole albums for $3.99. word!)
Anyone who read the last post knows of my love of food. My major obsession right now, the one thing I absolutely can't get enough of and always have one around:

Lindt Dark Chocolate with a Touch of Sea Salt are not candy bars you find at the impulse section of the grocery store up by the cashier. These are serious. These are to be eaten slowly and savored. Even a junkie like me can take a respectable square and be satisfied. The Swiss have taken all that free time they have from being neutral and uninvolved and applied it to making the best freakin chocolate and adding lovely things to make it even better. Try one. And then be prepared to always want one.

Sons of Anarchy Once the season finales are all over and we have finally cleared our DVR we always seem to find some new show that we must watch 3 seasons of to get caught up with the rest of the world. (First it was Lost, then Fringe, then HIMYM, all worth the time we put in!) This summer it seems it will be Sons of Anarchy. A couple of my facebook peeps are always posting about it. I know Katey Sagal won an award for it. But I was reluctant to get involved in yet another show. And one about bikers? As much as I love a bad boy AND people with too many tattoos, I was still hesitant. Since we can get it on Netflix on the Wii it was very convenient so we decided to dive in. The first two episodes were confusing and everyone is horrible. But then I realized I kinda love these horrible people and I want to see how they are going to eff up their lives now. And each others. And their kids. It's one of those shows both me and J like. Drama, motorcycles, druggies, racial tension, sex, and this guy's in it:

Gotta jump off so this will be continued but I have one more I just gotta get in. Super 8. I've been waiting so long to see this and was so excited to see JJ Abrams team up with Steven Spielberg And then they threw in some Kyle Chandler for good measure. The critics loved the movie. J thought it was eh, but I think he went in expecting Aliens or something. I was enthralled from the opening scene. It is somehow so quintessentially Spielberg that I felt like I was watching a classic. It was all the great things I loved about Jaws (suspense!) and E.T. (kids being the heroes & aliens you should sympathize with) and Stand by Me (group of misfit kids on an adventure) with just a little bit of the flawed characters you have to love, like Lost. It's not often I say this, but Super 8 was exactly what I expected it to be.

Catch Up Time

2011-06-08T12:36:00.002-04:00

Yes, I'm working like crazy. Traveling more than I want to places I've already been. Doing all the spring things you do when you have a house like weeding and mulching and cutting grass (see working off the food, below). And at some point we'll touch on my twitter feed compulsion that led to my HelloGiggles problem. The fact that I can now stream my Netflix movies RIGHT INTO MY TV people! I have 4 doggies and 2 cats that I would spend every second snuggling with if I could.

But mostly I eat and then I run. (sometimes the other way around)
FOOD

carrot orzo risotto with herbed "chicken"

I have completely given in to my love of food. I heart everything about it---thinking about it, preparing it, eating it, serving it to others. You can expect to see my beautiful (it's in the eyes of the beholder, remember) plates of food that I can't stop myself from snapping. Aside from my crazed poring over healthy mag recipes (carrot orzo was from @FitnessMagazine) I also decided to start taking cooking classes and going to demos. I have been so pleasantly surprised by the bounty the Cincinnati area has to offer. My most favorite has been the series that has let me bring out my inner Food Network Star (yes, that started again!!!) that I'm taking at The Learning Kitchen (their jammin set up is below) where I learned 5 fantastic Vegetarian Indian recipes (I made that mouthwatering plate). My next class is next week where I'll be honing my knife skills. And while my bf was a little concerned (I have actually sliced off the top of my thumb. What? It grows back!) I am sure that learning can only give me more power and lead to LESS injuries in the kitchen.

The Learning Kitchen

full vegetarian Indian meal

WORKING OFF THE FOOD

As much as I love the food is as hard I feel I have to work it off. A doughnut takes 2 miles to run off. The fact that I know that says everything you need to know. After completing the New York Marathon in November of last year (YES! that happened, I have PROOF!) I wasn't sure if I would want to keep running these crazy distances so I stopped for about 2 months and tried to be normal about cardio. But as soon as the temperatures started rising and the ice & snow started tapering off and my feet hit the pavement, I knew that wouldn't last. So in May I ran my 3rd Flying Pig Half Marathon (again in the rain but finished STRONG!) and in September I am signed up for the US Air Force Marathon in Dayton, OH. I've been in a sort of holding pattern until my marathon program kicks into high gear 12 weeks prior to the race but I've added a TON of cross training and my obsession with the Biggest Loser led me to try @mytrainerbob 's crazy-ass workouts. I've done ALOT of workout DVD's and it's rare that I'm in my air conditioned house, dripping with sweat and actually yelling out from the burn but the man is no joke. And seriously, anyone with those abs can tell me what to do anyday.

riiiight?

All Apologies

2011-06-08T11:58:00.000-04:00

When I first looked on here and saw that my last post was a year and a half ago I was a little mortified and then thought that maybe it's cool I'm so damn busy I have no time to put my thoughts down. But I think it's more that I've been putting my thoughts down (shamelessly) everywhere else---namely Twitter and Facebook. But it's time to rein all the randomness back in. Those tweets and posts can be for my fleeting thoughts that need to be instantly gratified to see themselves out in the Ethernet but this will be my space for exposition. For a deep dive (been spending way too much time in Corporate America).

Hello 2010!

2010-01-21T12:18:00.000-05:00

Hi Delicious-

OK, yes, I am very late and have been unforgivably lax on keeping up with this blog. But, I'm back! & *hope* to be much more diligent...

So where to begin? 2010 hasn't necessarily been the sunshiney-er place I think all of us were hoping it would be (yes, that is a new word!). The economy hasn't magically fixed itself and people are still losing their jobs at a record pace. Democrats are not keeping their foothold in politics (because everyone keeps rightly asking, "Should they?") and making sweeping changes (or really, changes of any kind). We don't yet have a utopian universal health care that somehow appeases both the liberals sense of inclusion and the conservatives hope for self-governance (and lack of taxes). And then Haiti got destroyed by not one, but two earthquakes that ravaged an already poor nation.

BUT, while all these things are still going on I think what happened as soon as that ball dropped and we came into 1/1/2010 was that the way it was talked about changed. From news reports to conversations with friends, you get the sense that there is a hope that it will start to get better, that maybe it is getting better and we just don't see it yet. Like everyone else, I hope that's true. I certainly have been blown away by the response to the people of Haiti's needs. Between the social media outlets allowing people to easily raise millions of dollars to the airlines getting doctors there and our military stepping up, I've been proud to watch our reaction while horrified by their pain. 2009 was a year that I have a feeling we're all going to look back on as extraordinarily weird and icky. But here's to hoping that 2010 lives up to our expectations of getting back on the track to normalcy and a bit of GOOD!

Speaking of getting on track...After the holiday festivities died down and my teenage sister went back home to my Mom's and I got my first business trip out of the way, I decided it was time to really focus on my fitness :) You all know I run and do yoga but I with my ankle putting me out of commission and then the holidays screwing with my schedule I felt I had really gotten off track. I was only logging 3 miles a couple of times a week and little more than 7 miles on my "long" runs and there was almost no cross-training.

As of Friday, January 8th, I've made a pact with myself (and now I'm putting it out into the world so there's no going back!!!) that I will run 5 miles every day---no excuses, except Saturdays when I take off and Sunday when I do a longer run. Every day I will do push ups and abs (of some form or another) and either strength training or yoga. It sounds like a lot but I realized if I do it right it shouldn't take me more than an hour and a half. I am certainly worth that amount of time every day! And so far, I've kept to it. The first week of running every day I felt like my legs were spaghetti and they were sore (that hadn't happened in a long time) but I just kept doing it. One night I didn't feel good, one night I was sore, one night I just didn't feel like it, one night we had a party to go to. Whatever, figure it out and make it happen (ooh, did I miss Project Runway this week???) I'm on day 14, 2 weeks and I haven't let myself down yet. They say it takes 21 days to make something a habit so I'm hoping soon I won't have to lug myself up onto that treadmill. But I'm going to keep on because when I ran 15 miles on Sunday I noticed a big difference in my stamina, in my strength and my speed. And I am definitely worth all this work!!!

But as you all also know, I am a big contradiction so when I do plop my butt on the couch for TV time, I'm serious about it. Over the holidays we caught up on Lost and I am so VERY excited about it coming back on Feb 2nd for the last season. (but can we talk for a second about the fact that the PRESIDENT switched the date of his State of the Union address because of a TV show?!?!?!!?!?) I got very involved in the Vampire Diaries (thanks @caboomer!) with the best, hottest bad guy ever (who, coincidentally was also on Lost). We are still trying to get caught up on Fringe (ah, still love Joshua Jackson and the X-Files-ness of this show!) and we have started watching the first season of How I Met Your Mother, a seriously funny show that has made me fall in love with Neil Patrick Harris. It kind of fills the void Friends left but has a little more guy humor. And those are just the shows we get on Netflix! American Idol is back but it's stupid right now and I'm not yet excited about Hollywood Week although a couple of these tear-jerker stories have, in fact, made me well up.

Just to round things off, I've got to say how happy I am to be travelling back to New York City again. I've had such a love-hate relationship with the City. I always thought it would be the very best place to live and that I was such a city girl and I would move there and stay for the rest of my life. And I do love New York. And living there was an experience that I wouldn't trade for anything. I always felt at home and invigorated and impressed by New York. But I also learned that every place has its pros and cons and its just a matter of finding out which things you are more suited to. It turns out I'm much more suited to friendly people, a slower pace with less traffic and more space. But I also crave the eclectic food, the variety of people, the energy of the constant GOING of people. So I'm glad I get to go back every month and get my fill. I'll take the LIRR and get on the Subway and walk the streets and eat some great Thai food and then I'll get on my plane and come on back to the rolling hills of Kentucky and the sanctuary of my house with a big ole yard and lots of animals---best of both worlds!

TV Time

2009-12-02T10:29:00.003-05:00

Hi Delicious-

****Spoilers*****Spoilers*****Spoilers***

Now that I've gotten my literature blog in, time for some low(er) brow entertainment...
So I finally got to watch SYTYCD on the same night that it aired, woo hoo! I think it was, again, a pretty bland night. Ellenore is, for me, the undoubted favorite! Yes, Jakob is perfection and all that but she has that and then something more going on. She's quirky and unpredictable and joyous! While I still think a boy's taking this year's title (Legacy, Russell, Jakob) she better be in the final. And Sonya's my new favorite choreographer...her little gems have been the most memorable of the season. We have gotten into the habit of only listening to the first judge's inane comments and then fast forwarding on to the next performance. Since they always seem to agree, this is much better and cuts down on my annoyance!!! The hard part this week is wondering who will be in trouble...unfortunately I think Ryan and whoever he was dancing with (my point) could be in the bottom. Everyone's good...who's the least likely to make people pick up the phone? Ashleigh...that last routine with Legacy was terrible...boo to Dave Scott. And Nathan may have the looks young girls will dig, he also looks like a deer caught in the headlights and that this whole competition is just a little over his head. We'll see...

Also watched Scrubs...yes, it's back after the "Series Finale" last year. Weird. But they kinda twisted it to explain that departure. And now they're all back teaching together. I will sorely miss the janitor but they left that in such a way that you know he's going to pop up at a random, inopportune creepy moment. Zach Braff can do no wrong for me and I'll pretty much love whatever he does and as long as Dr. Cox keeps bringing those crazy rants, I'm in.

P.S. I picked 3 of the bottom four in SYTYCD...hope next week gets better

The Elegance of the Hedgehog

2009-11-29T11:05:00.001-05:00

Hi Delicious-

So far this week I've blogged about running, movies and TV so it's about time for a post about my first true love, READING. I've been so involved in the hundreds of Jean Plaidy books on the British royalty that I often go months without reading anything outside of it. So I decided to sign up with a book club and get some outside help at choosing a book. The Northern KY's December pick is The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery. Apparently a bestseller in France for years and recently translated and published in English, this is a quirky, heartwrenching tale. At first the syntax was a little hard to get used to (especially since I've been reading a very English author for so long) but once I did, I truly enjoyed the lyrical quality of the translation. This is not a generic novel that follows any formula whether in character nor plot development.

Told by two quirky characters, the book ambles along in a way that doesn't seem to be moving the plot forward but simply offers a glimpse into their seemingly humdrum lives. As often happens when you read a translation, there's a sing-song quality to the construction of the sentences. But this is also due to the fact that both narrators are somewhat outside of (above?) the lives they lead and exist in an almost-fantasy world while aptly describing the realities of the worlds they observe. In fact, contradiction and incongruity seem to be a running theme, hence, the elegance of the hedgehog.

I loved this book for making me look up more words than I have in probably any previous book (conatus, deontology, kolkholz, antipodes to name a few). I loved it for quoting everything from Proust to Eminem and for referencing everything from Blade Runner to Mahler. I loved the stark cynicism of its 15 year old who states, "People aim for the stars and they end up like goldfish in a bowl. I wonder if it wouldn't be simpler just to teach children right from the start that life is absurd" and who is probably the most hopeful of everyone. I love the concierge's play of words that tell you so much about herself and the other characters, "This fellow may be a nuisance but his language is delectable."

But mostly I loved it for delving me into a world I didn't know I was involved in until the story takes an unexpected turn and I am caught completely off guard and like Renee, I I have experienced much more than I realized.

I can't wait to go to my first book club meeting on Tuesday and hear what the other readers have to say about it and where this book took them!

P.S. So I met with the lovely ladies of the NKY Book Club and they were not as enthusiastic about this book as I was. I truly think that reading should never be a chore and a lot of them felt this book was. I didn't really feel that way...the first couple of pages took a little getting used to but then I was immersed. So while I wholeheartedly recommend it, four other very literate ladies had a hard time getting into it. On the flip side, it was nice to meet with other strong, interesting women and hear their stories and views whether it was on a book or anything else. I look forward to the next one!

The Future is Now

2009-11-27T14:04:00.000-05:00

Hi Delicious-

I just watched Blade Runner on my Netflix Watch it Now movies. How is it that a cinephile like me has not seen this movie before??? It has made its way into my Top Ten (although I don't know who I'm kicking out).

I've never been much of a Harrison Ford fan although I am a great fan of a lot of movies he's starred in. Blade Runner is no exception. Harrison's narration is cheesy and overacted but given that it's basically a film noir set in the future, maybe that was the intention. And that's my only criticism cuz this film was narratively and stylistically compelling.

Anyone else creeped out that it's set less than a decade from now? Filmed back in 1982 I suppose the year 2019 sounded like a long way off and it seems everyone thought we'd have the flying cars and human "Replicants". I also am pretty sure this is where Robert Zemeckis got his Back to the Future 2 version of 2015 (yikes, I must be getting old if the horrible future everyone envisioned in my childhood movies will soon be upon me...I suppose that's fodder for a whole other blog post!).

What I enjoyed most about Blade Runner was its melange of styles that effortlessly seemed to create a new one. Film noir meets robots, 40's Girl Friday meets action film and Victorian Opium Den meets Japanese street fare. Rutger Hauer was brilliant and managed to be an emotional stoic. Darryl Hannah truly looked and acted other worldly and Sean Young's Rachel (below, right) was a perfect iteration of Clare Trevor (left, 1940's film noir star) in the 20th century.

I see now why this film is endlessly referenced in fashion and futuristic design. Ridley Scott is a genius we should all be a little afraid of.

Turkey Trotting into a Pothole

2009-11-27T13:25:00.001-05:00

Hi Delicious-

Our first Thanksgiving here in Cincinnati, two years ago, we were on our way up to Hamilton to have the Big Meal with family and crossing the River from Kentucky into Ohio I saw thousands of people in a race. It looked like so much fun and made sense to run right before doing all that eating! I declared that I wanted to do that. That was when I ran as exercise...maybe twice a week for 30 minutes and never seriously, as a chore. Now that I run so regularly and have found that I love it for more than just exercise I remembered that race and was so excited to sign up this year.

Especially when I found out that this race was the 100th annual running which made it the 6th oldest in the country and at 17,000 registrants, the largest Thanksgiving 10k!

I should have remembered however that 17000 people running means at least 20000 parking and walking around Paul Brown Stadium where it started and finished. I'm not a fan of groups of people under the best circumstances but a chilly morning when I'm wanting to run? Even less. After FINALLY finding parking, getting my race number (don't wait til the day of, ever!) and depositing my warm sweater back in the car I TRIED to get to the start but that in itself was a hassle of a chore. Finally making it to a place where I could at least stand without being sandwiched between people I had 4 minutes until the start. When it started I don't know but it was supposed to be 9am. By the time I got to the actual starting line and could even begin a slow jog it was 9:10. The first two miles were basically a jockeying for space. There were walkers and strollers and people with dogs and people power walking. By mile 2 I feel like I had just gotten my stride and was getting into it about to go over the bridge to the Kentucky side and I went down.

My left foot got caught in a pothole and twisted mercilessly and my right knee caught my fall. My phone went flying and two people were nice enough to stop and help me up and I told them to keep running. I limped over to the side of the bridge, trying to get out of people's way and simultaneously NOT bust out crying. My pants had a tear at the knee and the knee was bloody. But the left ankle felt like it was going to bust out of my sneaker. So I had two choices: I could sit on the side and cry like a baby and then have to walk back to my car anyway, OR I could just try to get through the rest of the race and deal with the sprain after. I'm dumb and I chose to finish that damn race. That pothole didn't own me. So I started walking on or, more acurately, hobbling and that hurt like a bitch. From my previous shin splints I know once you get running it usually feels better so I started to sort of power walk and then go into a slow jog. By the time I looked up I was at Mile 3. I was halfway so I fast jogged most of the rest of the way. Sometimes I got distracted by the fact that I could see that my ankle was swollen but since I had to get back to the car, I figured might as well do it this way. And I did, I finished that stupid race running across the finish line and then limped to my car. No water, no bananas, I just wanted to get home and take my shoe off. With stopping and crying and walking and slow jogging I finished in 1:19 which really pisses me off cuz I was looking for a good time this go round.

I guess I should stick to looking at the ground and my feet when I run...

The Power of Perception

2009-11-23T19:23:00.000-05:00

Hi Delicious-

Every Sunday I put my running shoes on and I head down "the New 17". It's this new stretch of 4-lane highway that is rarely travelled and has great big shoulders. There's no cross traffic, there's hardly anyone else ever out there, I can run right from my house and it's become mine. Who needs a gym when I have 3.5 miles each way of unspoiled pavement with a scenic view of rolling hills and trees and creeks? There are little turn offs that go back into the neighborhoods if I don't want to do all 7 miles or I can simply turn back early, I know all my self-appointed mile markers by heart now. The thing with this route is that it's about 40% downhill, 10% even running and I'd say about 50% uphill (since I usually turn around and go back the way I came on the other side of the highway). So during the week I don't usually do my hill training, I figure I get it all in every time I run my road.

Ever since I've gotten my new shoes which are literally bigger (a whole size so as not to have toe-holes anymore) I feel like I'm working harder. I know it will just take some getting used to and be much better for my shins and everywhere else. But for the last two Sundays the up-hills have taken some extra umph. & I realized as I was doing my maintenance 7 miles this Sunday morning that I spend a good deal of my time running kind of tricking myself. Not lying, per se...just altering my reality a bit to help me get through the harder parts.

I'm wondering if I'm the only one who pulls her hat down so I can't see that ginormous incline coming up and looks down at my feet which always look the same whichever way I'm running. I realized that, for me, running is a lot about perception. At first it was the perception of whether or not I could train myself to run for 13 miles at a time. Each week was a further test of just how many miles my body would go before it said, "no more!" & all the while I'm feeding my brain false information: it's only 5 more songs till we're done sounds better than 15 more minutes. When I'm forced onto the treadmill of boringness, I have to cover the time otherwise a mile seems like an eternity. As I ran the last leg of my 7 miles I figured that it's not my body I've got to coax into finishing (or actually starting seems to be the harder part). My body's fine...it gets me there every time. Sometimes I look up and have gone way farther than I even realized. It's my mind that's not nearly as strong. It's my mind that I have to ply with illusions and perceptions to forge ahead and maybe running is just as much mental as it is physical.

When I came home and was emptying out my Fuel Belt, I remembered that I had automatically picked up a penny I had seen during one of the inclines while I was staring at my feet and I laughed. I picked it up because it had been face up. And I passed another by because it was on tails. Perception is a funny thing.

Faux Fur, Talkative Judges & Covered Toes!

2009-11-20T16:44:00.001-05:00

Hi Delicious-

This week has flown by, can't believe it's already Friday!!! Here are some of my random thoughts from this week:

FAUX FUR
I was fortunate enough to hook up with the Welcome House in Covington, KY, a homeless shelter for women and children and start volunteering for them recently. Of course when they found out about my background in events they wanted me to help them with their Ladies Night Out Faux Fur Fashion Show and Fundraiser! So I made up some baskets and worked the registration table (God help me!) and then got to go be an actual guest which was an awesome change. My friend D came out and we shopped the wonderful showroom of fabulously, luxuriant furs that looked very, very real. We bid on a Chinese raffle and everyone was in love with a faux fur throw that seemed to be the hottest prize. I never win raffles, like NEVER but I put my two tickets in anyway. After the obligatory wine and cheese and the fun raffle show using ladies from the audience as models, it was raffle time. Of course, I didn't get any of the other prizes but I WON THE THROW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I got to pick out which print I wanted (coyote, and yes, I feel wrong even writing that!) and it's like 60x72 inches and it's being delivered next week and it's valued at $299!!!!!!!!! That may be the most valuable thing I've won like that!!! FUN, FUN, FUN! Now I feel indebted to this charity forever! So I've got to give a mad shout out to Donna Salyer's Fabulous Furs:

NEW RUNNING SOCKS
Thanks to @rhondapsd, I have those running socks that have a "sleeve" for each toe...kind of like a glove for your feet. Once you get used ot the weirdness of putting them on, they're actually really comfortable. I only wore them for two short runs so I have noticed much of a difference but I'm sure I will when I'm out there doing the 100th Annual Cincinnati Turkey Trot (6th oldest race in the nation, pretty impressive) (and, I'm guessing, COLD!)!

TV (SPOILER ALERT)
I know this is going to shock everyone, so just sit right down. I am a little bit over SYTYCD! The performance show was TWO HOURS people, not necessary! If you only let one judge answer for everyone since they all agree anyway, we could keep this show under an hour and see more of what I watch it for...GOOD DANCERS! And I have to say that the choreo isn't really blowing me away this year. I know everyone loves some Travis Wall but he's got to give us something new, how many times can we be moved by the same routine??? (Altho Ryan and Ellenore were wonderful in it and I wouldn't mind if there was a scandal that he left the other less likable chick for her...THAT show would be worth two hours!) The only other routine worthy of mentioning for me was the birdcage one...finally, Tyce is back...but then she went home. wah, wah!

DWTS was pretty good but Donny Osmond in the finals? Oh goodness! I would have preferred Joanna's spiciness! I'm just in it to see Mya win like I predicted!!!

FLASH FORWARD continues to confuse and creep me out...there's an endless amount of twisting and turning going on...but I'm kind of feeling like maybe the plot isn't moving forward so much as laterally. I'll stick with it to see where it goes.

I still have many, many hours of stuff on the DVR...have to watch PROJECT RUNWAY finale (even though I saw a spoiler tweet about who didn't win!)...and we're like a month behind on GREY'S ANATOMY (I still don't know why Izzy left) and THE OFFICE & V...we'll never catch up!!!

Primavista in Cincinnati

2009-11-20T15:35:00.000-05:00

Hi Delicious-

I've been a little remiss in not including my review of this great Cincinnati restaurant when I mentioned my birthday. Technically I went the night before my birthday and was taken there as a surprise by J who's pretty good about finding new restaurants.

The name really says it all as Primavista sits just north of the city on Price Hill overlooking the buildings and lights. It's not in a great neighborhood and is a little off the beaten path but the ambiance was great, and we happened in on Wine Down Thursday when a selection of their wines are up to 40% off the bottle. Nice. The servers were very knowledgable and friendly and the food was mostly traditional Italian fare. We both got the yummiest appetizers (Mozzarella con Pomodoro and Ravioli con Pesto alle Noce) and started on our Petite Sirah. By the time our entrees came we were both already full on those and the bread with fresh roasted garlic spread but we managed to do a pretty good job on our Penne alla Cionni and Pollo con Carciofi e Pancetta (I'll let you guess which of us got the chicken!). They even brought me a lovely spumoni dish with a candle in it for my celebration. As if the great view, good service and yummy food weren't enough...all of this only cost us $80!!! Not a bad night out at a new place! And now I'm very hungry...

"Hey, I put some new shoes on and suddenly everything's right..."

2009-11-14T17:32:00.003-05:00

Hi Delicious-

I've thought about trying to do a wrap-up of my 37 years on this planet but that's trite and been done. I mean, I'm not done yet...so, yes Friday was my bday (the 13th...oooooh....spooky!) and I did nothing. (Not, I didn't not do anything special for my birthday, I literally did NOTHING) That was my present to myself. I took off work, put my phone on mute and stayed away from the computer. I read, I watched TV (in the middle of a weekday!), I layed in the hammock (thanks to the lovely 70's we're currently having), I ate doughnuts and French Fries & I went to bed at a resonable hour. It sounds horribly boring, but it was actually kinda lovely! The only thing I really did was talk to all my friends and family who called and that was really the best part of the day. Maybe next year I'll be moved to do something a little more celebratory but after years of partying and drinking and making a fuss, a non-fuss was nice.

Today, felt more like my bday cuz I took my bday $ and went and got new running shoes. (Hence the title line from the Paolo Nutini song...my feel-good song of 2007!) My original pair that I bought before I knew what I was doing and that now have toe-holes are through. Say hello to my new Saucony Omnis:

They're not pink...but they are super-comfortable and with my over-prognation need all the help I can get!!! I am so ready for my 8 miles tomorrow!

P.S. I also watched SYTYCD and I don't really have anything to write about---what a BLAH show!!! No one really stood out...the cane dance was pretty interesting but that's kind of it. The only thing I'd really be moved to say is please, keep Lil C off this show! He's a horrible judge and he's a choreo who either stole the premise of his routine from 2 seasons ago or doesn't watch the show enough to know that someone already did that and did it better!

Livin in Kentucky

2009-11-11T08:14:00.001-05:00

Hi Delicious-

NO! I didn't watch SYTYCD yet and probably won't be able to until SATURDAY---BS, I know! So talk amongst yourself but no spoilers!!! (and if you watched DWTS, at least we finally got rid of the spaz!)

I am, however, starting a new post that I've decided I'll add to everytime something like this comes up. (I thought about titling this post "Livin in Kentucky/NOT Living in NYC" but decided to stop hating on the NYC)

Because I'm such a new transplant to this part of the country after being an East Coaster (word? it is now!) my whole life, I am always very aware of the differences...most good, some bad, some just strange.

1. Instead of a "warning" or "citation" that most police will give out when they pull you over but are nice enough not to give you a ticket (not entirely sure that part even happens in New York), the fine lawmen (/women) come over to your car and ask how you're doing...take your information and pleasantly come back with a "Courtesy Notice". He cordially explains that I can actually throw it away when I get home but next time I decide not to wait in a line of traffic and cut around using the turning lane, it will cost me $160. A very pleasant exchange with a bit of southern gentlemanly charm thrown in and I am sufficiently chastised and still scared enough not to do it again. What a lovely slap on the wrist! POLITE POLICE OFFICERS

2. This morning (while it was still dark, 5:30---ick!) I stood on my deck (of which I have three) and looked up at a sky full of brilliant stars and out at the tops of trees that make up the woods behind my house. UNAFFECTED NATURE!

My Miracle Drug and lots of randomness

2009-11-10T10:57:00.000-05:00

Hi Delicious-

After flying in a germ tube last week my body has finally succumbed to this horrible sickness that it seems everyone has, had or is getting. So Friday and Saturday I moved as little as possbile, went to bed as early as I could (10pm), slathered myself in Vick's and drank gallons of hot tea. Along with taking my vitamins devotedly, I'm sure I staved off the worst of it but nothing seemed to work quite as well as getting my tired butt off the couch/bed and outdoors for a run.
I know, I know...it sounds crazy and the last thing you want to do when you feel like crap is move, let alone run. But it was WORLD RUN DAY, I already had the t-shirt and it was 70 degrees in November. So I set out and walking up the hill in my neighborhood was a chore. Letting We the Kings' "Check Yes Juliet" (thanks @Rhondapsd!) set the tempo, I trotted and stopped and jogged and stop and finally actually ran and then stopped. I had trouble catching my breath since I couldn't breath in or out of my nose and the first mile was harsh. But then I got a down-hill and Sponge's "Plowed" came on and my body forgot it was sick and enjoyed the motion. The rest of the 7 miles were alternately hard and less hard and, I'm not gonna lie, I stopped a lot. But I did it and I felt like a champ afterwards. I finally had energy and I did laundry, vacuumed and played with the dogs. Running, for me, is my miracle drug!!!
Other fun stuff this weekend? Randomly:
Ah, FAMILY GUY...the evil monkey has finally come out of the closet and Road House!
WHO DEY!!! Another BENGALS win over the Baltimore Ravens who were tying us in the division...not anymore! The first half of the game was beautiful the second half was more luck but we'll take it!
There's a WEDDING coming up...and it ain't mine :) Went with J's sis to look at wedding & bridesmaid's dresses & realized that a part of my aversion to weddings is about the fact that it's an event and not the wedding or marriage part of it. I've had enough event planning in my life to not want to do it anymore & I'm pretty sure I'm suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (thanks Intrepid!) But I'll suck it up cuz I think this is gonna be a fun wedding & certainly a joyous occasion!
SONG OF THE MOMENT? Fireflies by Owl City...started as a free iTunes single and now I hear it everywhere but I love it. How can you not dig a song that proclaims, "I get a thousand hugs from 10 thousand lightning bugs"?
I JUST FINISHED Candace Bushnell's Lipstick Jungle. So good! Such fun, girlie, New York fabulousness with a little bit of pop feminism thrown in. Women in power juggling reverse gender roles and ridiculous wealth. Great read and now I can't wait til I get Sex & the City delivered (can't believe I've never read the actual book!)
DWTS is down to 5...whatever. Mya is still the one to beat and if she doesn't win it's fixed! Nothing, however can change the two fundamental problems with this show:
1. It is TOO DAMN LONG! 2 hours for dances and 1 hour for results EVERY week? Enough! 2. Samantha Harris BUGS! STILL! Well, at least they're not trying to bring Paula Abdul on the show.

Finally, SYTYCD recap...

2009-11-05T21:02:00.000-05:00

Hi Delicious-

So we have FINALLY caught up and as my public (aka Mattie) has requested here are my thoughts on this week's SYTYCD, the last week that the judges have all the control. (ok and I am SO over this Paula Abdul thing...don't WANT her on there anyway and clearly she doesn't want to be there..let it go @dizzyfeet!)

I thought about listing them in order of performance but decided to keep ranking my faves:

KATHRYN & LEGACY
My second couple moved up a notch this week based on the choreography they got. They danced a Stacey Tookie (sp?) contemporary number in which he was fear. It was very remniscent of Mia's Addiction but I was very impressed by just how good Legacy was and she came alive for me. Last week I said she was the second luckiest girl on the show but I have to say that watching this number it's obvious that he was pretty lucky too and this is a great partnership. I love how she conquers her fear at the end---sublime.

RYAN & ELLENORE
This was one couple that danced a great number extraordinarily and under dire circumstances. I love both of them seperately and even more together. But getting your heel caught in your dress and dancing as if you don't? That's a champ! And scary. And even thought they don't run these live, that's good TV.

PAULINE & PETER
this discarded couple whose partners both left last week got the good fortune to get Wade Robson. I have to say I think I liked this number more than either of them, Wade's just so cool and this concept was bigger than both of them. The costumes and the set and music, just so cool (I know I said that already, but it was). I also think that Peter's a weird looking dude and this routine fit him while it didn't do very much for Pauline with me.

KAREN & KEVIN
Finally, NappyTabs is back! LOVE this routine and that Hot Tamale Karen. This time it's the guy who's lucky but he is going to keep getting completely outshone by her cuz he couldn't even do better than her in his own style.

MOLLEE & NATHAN
I think every Bollywood routine will be forever compared to the first one by Joshua & Katee and while this one maybe wasn't quite there, it was really good! They did such a good job with it and for the first time she didn't annoy me. Very cool choreo and these two aren't going anywhere.

JAKOB & ASHLEIGH
(yes I intentionally put him first) Ashleigh didn't annoy me this week as much either. They danced a Viennese Waltz as a couple's first wedding dance. If my husband is more elegant and fancier than me like Jakob was, I'd be sad but as a dance it was good and right at the middle of the pack for me.

The rest went downhill from there. VICTOR & BIANCA butchered a Tyce Diorio number, NOELLE never got up to RUSSELL's level in their tennis hip hop match and CHANNING made her samba with PHILLIP look ridiculously hard. Everyone's solo sucked to me and I think Phillip got the short end of the stick by being in the bottom 4.

Let's hope everyone likes my faves as much as me when the voting starts next week!

PS Also, to find all the great songs like Apparat's Arcadia from Ryan & Ellenore's cool first dance and Move Shake Drop from this week's hip hop, check out @SYTYCDmusic on twitter :)

the non-Dancing/Singing shows on TV...

2009-11-05T11:26:00.000-05:00

Hi Delicious-

Nope, still haven't watched the end of SYTYCD...one of the cons of living with a working musician...he came in at 5 am and who knows when his day will start. BUT I love that he loves SYTYCD so I'll wait. And fill my blog with all the other shows I AM caught up on:

MODERN FAMILY
If I haven't yet mentioned this show, I should have. If Glee is the best comedy/musical, Modern Family is the best sitcom to come along since The Office! It is exactly like The Office in the fact that you are plopped down into the middle of these characters seemingly normal lives and you instantly know who they are and are fascinated by them. They are such well-developed characters with their dialogue and their interactions with each other I feel, already, like I've been watching this show for years. Also, like The Office there is an apparent camera crew following them around that they sit and talk to every now and then. Why? It's never explained and who cares??? I never would have thought that Ed O'Neil could be anyone other than Al Bundy but he seamlessly is and his one-liners as the patriarch of this non-traditional (but probably more the norm than anything else these days) family sets the tone for everyone else. Last week the first five minutes before the credits were so funny we laughed so hard we had to keep rewinding cuz we kept missing more jokes! Watch it if for nothing else other than Cameron and Mitchell, the gay couple who have just adopted a Korean baby girl's, banter. (Cameron: "I'm sort of like Costco. I'm big, I'm not fancy and I dare you to not like me.") I dare you not to want to be part of their family!

FLASH FORWARD
I am a HUGE JJ Abrams fan which started with the nearly perfect (never happens) movie remake of Star Trek last year. It was just so good that J and I went back and watched 4 seasons of Lost in about 2 months---no small feat! And now we've started Fringe just because his name was on that too (and my long lost Pacey has come back!). So while we wait for Lost to come back for its supposed final season (and hopefully all the explanations, that better not suck!) we were excited to get into Flash Forward. So far it hasn't disappointed! This concept I think might be the biggest he's tried yet and it alone makes it a brilliant attempt: everyone on the planet blacks out for 2 minutes and 17 seconds and sees a vision of what they're doing six months in the future. The implications are endless---your vision doesn't match your signifcant other's, you have a vision that you now have to fill in the explanation for, you're killing someone or probably most disturbing, you don't have a vision at all. How do you handle what you saw? Can you change it or is it now predestined? It's also interesting to think how the world would handle an experience that knows no divide, something every single person has in common.
I have to say the dialogue can get a bit cheesy and the characters are not so much developed as they are defined by what they saw but the plot keeps it moving along, much like I felt with the beginnings of Lost. I had no sympathy or attraction with 42 people stranded on a desert island for half of the first season. Probably because most of these people are seriously flawed or just a little bit annoying but you have to know what happens to them and more than that, what the possible explanation can be. You also have to be a little creeped out everytime they show the shadowy figure of the one guy who was awake and walking around a football stadium while the rest of the entire world was passed out. I'm sure that Joseph Fiennes and his harshly affected American accent are taking us somewhere and I'll stick around to find out.

V
I vaguely remember the original of this series and loving it. It's another one J and I can sit and watch together and like Flash Forward it borrows people from Lost (Juliet is now an FBI agent) so you kind of instantly feel compelled. It also hinges on a great concept: Visitors fly into all the major cities on Earth and proclaim us as their friends and would like to swap some of our necessities for their knowledge. I think they did a good job updating the series and mking the most of the advances we've made in CGI and technology. Plus they added Morris Chestnut and there's nothing wrong with that :) It will be interesting to see if this has staying power or if, once the revelations have been made the intrigue wears off. Someone over at ABC is doing something right though cuz all three of these shows live there!

Gleeful Wednesdays

2009-11-04T19:30:00.000-05:00

Hi Delicious-

After a little bit of an unforeseen break, I'm back! Unfortunately I can't write about SYTYCD yet since J and I only had time to watch the first 8 couples perform before he had to go to his gig...so tomorrow on that one.

I can't believe that I haven't yet even touched on my frenzies of delight over Glee! It's been a long time since I've gotten so giddy over a new show! Maybe the last time was Pushing Daisies but I think Glee is even better. The show is not serious about itself and doesn't want you to be either. It's campy good fun that takes every stereotype of a high school student and exaggerates it a little bit more. Then throws in some amazing singing of songs you love in routines that make you laugh as much as they make you want to join them (a football team warming up to Single Ladies=brilliant). It has characters that you hate but can't help loving (who doesn't want to spar just a little with Sue Sylvester?) and characters you love but kinda have to wonder about (why exactly is Will so blind to his evil wife?) and gives them the kind of dialogue that you quote the next day ("Are you questioning my badassness? Have you seen my guns?" In fact there are so many to chose from, I could blog about nothing but that and it seems that the blogosphere already has!)

But the essence of what I love about Glee is that it never really is the same show twice, it always has heart and it is always fun! One week it's a little telenovela with the wife going after Quinn for her baby and the next it's running a gay coming out storyline. One week it's the showdown between Sue and Will and the next it's the kids hyped up on cold medicine.

My only two wishes are that it doesn't go the way of cult-ish, ridiculously good shows I've loved and lost too soon: the aforementioned Pushing Daisies and the I-still-miss Arrested Development. Given that the folks at Fox have found a cash cow with all the marketing and iTunes this show generates, I hope this one is around for the long haul. My other wish is that a new episode was on this week!!! But since I've saved every epidsode, I guess I'll just have to go watch the unexpected fun mash up of Halo/Walking on Sunshine again.

SYTYCDance, Dance, Dance, dance...

2009-10-28T08:20:00.005-04:00

Hi Delicious-

I was questioning whether SYTYCD would get old if they put it on for two seasons back to back without the usual winter break. I still love Kupono, Jeanine, Jason and the rest of Season 5 so I thought it might be hard to embrace new dancers. The stupid auditions and Vegas week didn't really help that feeling. But the producers brilliantly decided to level the playing field this season and introduce us to everyone in a special that showcased all of the dancers in their own style with some stellar choreographers and routines. Great idea and wonderful show! It totally got me psyched and ready for the competition to start. Which it DID last night, making me remember why I wish this show was on 24 hours a day like a new MTV---SYTYCDTV! With the drama out of the way of Billy Bell leaving *tear* and some poor doe-eyed guy being brought in last minute to replace him and Noelle injuring herself, they jumped right in!

I won't go routine by routine (although I could cuz they all had their own things going on), but here are my faves, in a very particular order. ---If you haven't watched yet (@caboomer) stop reading cuz you gotta see it!!!---

Right from their auditions it was so clear that both Ryan and Ellenore were STARS and stand outs and completely memorable in very different ways. Ryan is gorgeous but also amazingly talented and just possesses that ability to command attention. In the special on Monday night he was dancing with two hot ballroom chicks with next to nothing on and usually you can't take your eyes off those girls but even J said that Ryan was so good, HE was the one you're watching. *Big Sigh* And Ellenore's audition was so quirky and humorous and GOOD that it not only had the judges laughing but the viewers remembering her. So to make possibly the BEST PAIRING that the show's ever had, they put them together---YAY! And then they had quirky, dark, memorable Sonia choreograph them. I'll be saving this one and watching it again! Faves, faves, faves!

I mean, I don't really need to like anyone else on this show cuz I've got my fave guy and girl in one pair BUT...my next favorite dance of the evening was the Dave Scott hip hop...Legacy and Kathryn. Boy the producers did her a favor cuz she could have been completely forgettable and Legacy already has a decent fan base. But she kept up with him and owned that routine as much as he did. It was fun and completely engaging and they danced the hell out of it! Plus Missy Elliot's On and On is just too much fun.

Next...Bianca, the tapper and Victor...not sure how this will pan out but their contemporary piece by Travis, was of course, amazing! Travis can do no wrong with his routines and I really enjoyed Bianca...she totally kept up with Victor and it was pretty moving.

To me, the rest got completely outshone but here are the other pairings:
•Phillip & Channing–Jive (I wanted to like this but kind of, yawn)
•Nathan & Mollee–Disco (it was like two children dancing it well. I love him, but she and her perkiness have got to go. Although they will be voted for cuz they're cute as pie!)
•Brandon & Pauline-Smooth Waltz (hey, they had a day and a half...pretty good for that!)
•Jakob & Ashleigh–Broadway (wow, another girl who should be thankful for her pairing...it's the only way she'll stay cuz she is as annoying as Jakob is talented!!! Reminiscent of the Will/Jessica pairing altho Jessica wasn't as unpalatable as this chick)
•Russell & Noelle-Foxtrot (Russell is amazing & gets points for doing so well with Melanie. Noelle is annoying & not being on the first show is not helping her at all)
•Karen & Kevin–Cha Cha (first passenger on the hot tamale train!!!)
•Peter & Ariana-Hip Hop (not even NappyTabs could help them out!)

Can't wait till next week!!!

Run/Yoga-Yoga/Run and Who Dey!

2009-10-26T13:27:00.000-04:00

Hi Delicious-

Another Monday but at least it's gorgeous (looking & feeling) outside and I had a wonderful weekend! Finally started running on Saturday again and it feels so good to be back. It was hard though, I'm not gonna lie. I kind of feel like I'm starting at the beginning again. I did 4 miles and the first two were challenging on my legs (quads) and my breathing. By the end though, I felt like I could have kept going so that's always a good sign. I realized one thing almost instantly when I began running, my posture! I think 2 weeks of (almost) daily yoga has already made me a better runner. I'm accustomed to hunching my shoulders in and absorbing the stress of the run right between them and my neck and always having to be conscious of straightening them. When I started on Friday though I really felt a long, straight line between the crown of my head and the base of my spine...which is what they always have us envision in our yoga postures. Success! It felt a lot better to run in my legs than in my shoulders. After the short but great run I did an hour of Moksha yoga at a beginner's level of heat. HARD! Moksha focuses on the strength in the quads...now I know to do that on an off run day!

I continued my two-a-days yesterday but in the reverse order. I did my Sunday morning Ashtanga (WAY too early at 9am) and then went straight to a 5 mile run. Pretty sure I should stick to run first, then yoga. Yoga peaces me out too much to be in a frame of mind to push myself and be fast. The five miles went slowly and the hills were hard but I perservered and am ready to start normal training for the February Ft. Lauderdale Half Marathon!!!

And can we talk about those BENGALS!!!! WHO DEY?!?!? And where have they been all this time??? 45 points! Scoring every time you have the ball (except once)?!?!?! As J put it, "Hell to the Yeah!" Let's hope they take that confidence and momentum into their Bye Week and bring it back against the Ravens, who we already know we can beat this season! And if you're not yet following Chad Esteban Ocho Cinco on Twitter...you're missing out. He's a little bit of a spaz, but always entertaining and with moves like he had yesterday deserves a shout out! (@OGOchoCinco)

'Boom' makes a big impact at the Know Theatre!

2009-10-23T12:14:00.001-04:00

Hi Delicious-

I'm always impressed by what I get for the shocking $12 ticket price of a Know Theatre production! I am so happy I read the review of their production of Eurydice last year in one of the local weeklies and have been to see each show since, they never disappoint and 'Boom' was no exception.

I've come to expect that the Know Theatre does a lot with a little. 3 characters, 1 set and some great dialogue kept both me and J completely attentive, and often laughing out loud for the uninterrupted 90 minutes. The story was pretty unique and covered in write ups all over town so I had a good sense of what I was getting into (you can check it all out at Boom story and reviews).

While the story sounds heavy and the topics have been argued since the beginning of time the telling of it was sufficiently humorous, cynical and lighthearted enough to seem fresh and new. There were enough twists to keep you guessing until the end. And despite the prevalent use of the word motherf*c*er and reason she was in the basement in the first place, it never seemed offensive or contrived.

If you haven't yet, make your way to the Know Theatre, you can't miss it in Over the Rhine or if you see it coming to your town it's definitely worth a visit although I doubt any city could put on a production with Know Theatre's charm!

SPOILER ALERT!!!

2009-10-22T18:52:00.000-04:00

I've caught up on quite a bit so in no particular order...here's my recap from stuff so far. If YOU aren't caught up stop reading!

SHARK TANK
This show gets a mention cuz J thought it sounded cool and turned out it was. It's mildly entertaining to watch 6 bajillionaires make even more $$$ by investing in other people's great ideas. The ideas themselves are sometimes cool, sometimes sketchy and sometimes creepy (peeing into a faux golf club?) but the real entertainment comes in watching these guys (and one lady for quota sake) try to outmaneuver each other and outwit people who are less wealthy than they are. This show is a true testament that the US will never truly give up on capitalism!

DWTS
Again, if you don't know...you don't know. I resisted this show until last season cuz I just couldn't get down with any of the "Stars" they have on there. But sometimes I just gotta watch people dance! If you can sit through the painfully awkward (Denise Richards, anyone???) it's actually kind of entertaining. Although, it's a lot of TV...like 3 hours a week! Thank God for DVRs and fast forwarding. First of all, I wish Samantha Harris was not on this show, ever! I always ff through her awkward banter and this week her hair just took over-ugh, she's my least favorite thing about the show. This week's dances, however, were so much better than last week and Len actually seemed like he was in a good mood, almost everyone got 8's! Sometimes it's just all about the dances too and the Paso and Tango are just better than the stupid country two-step on these shows! Biggest improvement had to be Aaron Carter, who I don't really like but who did a great job and Michael Irvin. My YAWN DANCES are Melissa Joan Hart (too many names anyway!) and Donny Osmond (who the judges love, unfortunately). My favorite is Mya who can do no wrong, especially with Dmitri as her partner. Even Joanna Krupa was entertaining with her stumble and switching partners. In the end...Natalee went home breaking the streak of Olympiad winners. It was time...she peaked early and then fell apart! The results show I only watch for about a total of 15 minutes but the MJ tribute was pretty good and I really like the dancers who did the routine for Norah Jones' first song. Bruno gets quoted for the byte of the week, the show is "Sublime and ridiculous at the same time."

Heading out to take in a local theatre company's play...something cultural! I'll be back to blog about it and the rest of the shows tomorrow.

Getting Started...

2009-10-20T14:48:00.000-04:00

"The miracle isn't that I finished. The miracle is that I had the courage to start." -John Bingham

I read this in a running column and believe in it every day that I make it out to the beginning of whatever running path I'm starting.

This morning, though, as I lay in the comfort of my warm bed, in the still darkness and have an internal discussion with myself on all the reasons why I don't HAVE to go to yoga today, I realize that it applies to more than just running a race or long distance.

Every time I quiet those voices with the great 'not to' reasons, I'm winning. Every morning I get up in darkness and step out into coldness against that nagging, lazy part of me, I'm winning. Every time I choose bravery over the fear that this yoga class is going to be too hard, that everyone will be better than me and that there will be things I can't do, I'm winning.

The Moksha Yoga studio I go to has smaller classes than I've ever been to (ranging from 2-10 students) and while that's a great way to learn, it is so intimidating. There is nowhere to hide. Every other person in the room can see you and all your 'mistakes'. But it's also making me better. My instructor today said that the biggest lesson of yoga is to accept yourself. Accept what your body allows you to do. Accept your imperfections.

As long as I enter a studio or start a run, I will accept everything that comes after.

Stuff I Was Able to Catch up On (SPOILER ALERT!)

2009-10-18T19:14:00.000-04:00

The other thing about a DVR is I actually have no idea when shows are regularly aired so the timing on these are all over the place but I call 'em when I see 'em:

UGLY BETTY is back for it's fourth season and it's such a guilty pleasure. I only started watching it last year but I'm so hooked...it has all the right ingredients: kitsch, New York City, heart, fashion, diabolical divas and fabulousness! While 2 hours of most shows is a little much, it's nice to see Betty moving on up in the world.

PROJECT RUNWAY for me this season is a big yawn. Heidi's still there with her tallness and Tim Gunn's still got his deadpan wit and charm but the contestants are boring and so are their designs! I have to say I'm routing for Ohioan Althea who's from Dayton...besides being a hometown girl she's been the most consistent and one of the freshest. The designers' portfolios over at Lifetime are actually kinda cool: http://www.mylifetime.com/on-tv/shows/project-runway/project-runway-designers/althea-harper/portfolio. And while not exactly right because they landed him in the bottom two, Christopher had my favorite soundbyte, "With a bustier and sparkle panties you can't go wrong."

Because my cable is on the fritz and digitally tiling my screen at random I got annoyed and put a chick flick in (from my Netflix queue, another one of my favorite inventions of the last few years!) 'Confessions of a Shopaholic'. I had high hopes. I loved Sophie Kinsella's first two novels and sped through them over a long weekend once. 'The Devil Wears Prada' was probably even better than Lauren Weisberger's fabulous book. This movie was NOT T'he Devil Wears Prada' as much as it wanted to be. I probably shouldn't spend too much time dissecting something clearly meant to be so frivolous but I was disappointed. The best thing about it was Patricia Field's amazing outfits (I miss Sex and the City!) and Isla Fisher's cuteness and the worst thing about it was the slapstick at every turn. Boo!

I have about 10 more shows from this week on my DVR so there'll be more to come.

Sunday Fun Day

2009-10-18T18:44:00.001-04:00

Hi Delicious!

Winding down another great weekend...hate when nighttime falls on a Sunday evening! But I managed to pack a whole bunch of show-watching, yoga posing fun in so I can't be too bummed.

First off, the weather...in the 40's and low 50's...IT'S OCTOBER! And there's snow falling in the mid-east? Next week we better get the Indian Summer they're promising (although I haven't heard it from Cincinnati's Steve Raleigh, who is only the best weather man on the planet, so I'm not holding my breath). This weather did NOT make me want to get out of my bed early this morning and dressed for yoga only to put sweats and Uggs over that! But I did it...the hardest part is getting out of the house...then I'm home free. Except maybe not today cuz I took an Ashtanga class with a dude, I think that was my first. He was challenging and very different but it was a great class (are there bad yoga classes? haven't had one yet!) and I left feeling SO proud.

I also found two poses that I think my runner readers will appreciate and I can't wait to see how they affect my post-run stretches! The first he called King Arthur's pose (probably because the real name is Eka Pada Rajakapotasana variation and it was very early!) and it streched my quads more than any other pose, ever! Here's a great explanation of it, sounds complicated but I will do this after every run now: http://www.ehow.com/how_4444032_do-king-arthurs-pose-yoga.html.
To compliment this pose, he had us do Dolphins Pose which really got my hamstrings. Yoga Journal has great step by step instructions at http://www.yogajournal.com/poses/2462.

Yoga took up my morning but (shockingly) football took up my afternoon. Mention of sports for me is minimal so please don't glaze over just yet. I don't dig sports and football frustrates me because it's the most stop and start game. I love to watch hockey because it's fast paced and there's lots of unchecked (pun intended) aggression. But not so much with the football. In a town like Cinci though, if you don't know what's going on with the Bengals, you feel left out. For the first two seasons we were here they sucked too bad for me to have to care. But football around here kind of is like pop culture...it's what people talk about, it's the clothes people buy, it's what they DO on a Sunday. And I have to say, it's pretty entertaining. Because I have a DVR and I can pause, go do other things, come back and fast forward when the other team is in possession of the ball. I can fast forward through the stupid half time and commentary and now I love it. Now I can make a game ACTUALLY LAST THE HOUR IT'S SUPPOSED TO! And I know what's going on. This Sunday the Bengals did not pull themselves out of their 11 point hole in the last 2 minutes like usual and the stupid Houston Texans (very creative name!) kinda kicked our ass.

One thing I didn't forward through is my favorite commercial in a while. The Bud Light "Too Light/Too Heavy" commercials are mostly dumb but The Breakup cracks me up! "We can still be really good friends, we'll just be together a lot less...like almost never." HA! I would hope to get dumped so nicely!

Next up, my week's wrap up of the shows I was able to catch up on...

Boys Named Falcon, One Missed Judge and Fourth Meal

2009-10-17T10:08:00.001-04:00

Hi Delicious!

Has anything this week been as prevalent as a scaredy cat 6 year old boy with a dumb name? The hubub that he caused by NOT being in the balloon was probably worse than if he'd been in it...as @robhuebel tweeted: "FALCON I AM GOING TO SPANK YOU SO HARD!"

But on a (possibly) more tragic note...Mia Michaels is leaving SYTYCD?!?! Say it ain't so! She has been consistently my favorite choreographer and while always dramatic (and sometimes bullying) on the panel, my favorite judge. I can't imagine SYTYCD without pieces like Addiction and The Door Dance! I'm still keeping my fingers crossed! (btw, if you don't know what SYTYCD is...just hit the little x at the top, right hand corner of your screen!)

Last night was my boyfriend Jay's bday and he had a gig up at Win, Place or Show in West Chester. As a long-time band girlfriend sometime it gets old going out to bar after bar (3 nights a week!). But not at WPorS...that bar has such a great, welcoming feeling and the bartender remembered me after not being there for almost a year! It reminds me of the Ft. Lauderdale bars I went to all my adult life where you can go in by yourself and talk to people, hang out and have a great time. Plus, it's amazing to see him behind the drums after years of being a front man...he's just so happy up there. Fun night where some trucker dude with a long beard and a t-shirt that said, "I Do My Own Stunts" asked me to take his picture with some girls so he could update his facebook profile, I had just the right amount of cherry slushies (oh how I love Three Olives Cherry!) and there was a dancing crowd all night (Don't Stop Believing continues to be the sing-along favorite).

As previously mentioned, no evening of drinking and dancing would be complete without a little Taco Bell fourth meal on the way home...I heart cheesy bean burritos! Truthfully, it's the only time I ever stop for fast food and it never disappoints. Although the late night and filling burrito made me wake up at 8am (that is sleeping in for me!) and miss the 9 am Ashtanga class this am. BOO! I'm still sore from Wednesday's Ashtanga and yesterday's Anusara class helped but maybe today's massages (our 7 year anniversary present from back in September) and a day's yoga hiatus will put me right!

Hungry, Active, Literate Couch Potatoes Apply Here!

2009-10-17T09:39:00.000-04:00

Hi Delicious-

Sitting down (at the request of @caboomer) to put these random, harried thoughts to the screen I realized I did this by first putting pen to paper. Old School! Maybe I'm the last person on the planet that has to see the written (versus typed) word to know it's real. IThere's something to be said for seeing your words and crossing them out and ripping them up and then putting it up on the screen as the finished product. So when you think of me doing this blog each week, imagine a pink notebook being filled with all kinds of scribble from a fuschia marker for days before I actually sit at the laptop to present to you.

Also trying to decide WHO would read this blog??? Someone as obsessed with pop culture and all things tv, music and movie related. But not just any couch potato...no, an ACTIVE couch potato! Because I'm equally (ok, almost) obsessed with running (altho I'm on a forced hiatus right now), yoga (I just started a 30 day yoga challenge 3 days ago) and healthy eating (@Hungrygirl is my favorite thing right now! plus I've been a vegetarian for the last 15 years) and pretty much just eating in general (last night at 2am I had Fourth Meal!) I also really enjoy travelling (everywhere) and exploring (my new hometown Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky and it's surroundings) I love animals and have 7 of them...I am very sure you'll hear lots about them here! Lastly, I guess, a LITERATE couch potato. I am a voracious reader and always have a book (or two) going on (so far this year I've read 43 books) most of them on the English monarchy (random) but I love everything from Stephen King and Nick Hornby to Candice Bushnell and Anne Rice.

Still with me?