To your corners, ladies...

Started this post a few weeks back....it's hard to keep up with both blogs:)

Raise your hand if you're watching "Real Housewives of New York City"? Good. I knew you must be out there. It's the only one of the trashy Bravo series that I indulge myself with and very much enjoyed the first two seasons of it.

Although I still enjoy it, lately I'm finding it kind of painful to watch. I really can't stand the setups anymore- the fake friendships, and the fake situations they are put in. The first few episodes back are spent with each of the ladies going after each other for things that were said behind each others backs, especially in the press during the "off season".

But the granddaddy of them all is....

Jill vs. Bethenny, Bethenny vs. Jill-

Ok, so I loved the two of these bozos the first season. They seemed to be genuinely friends (mean girl friends, al bet). Obviously their egos have gotten the better of them. Both of their stars on the rise, but Bethenny with her SkinnyGirl empire, own Bravo show, and now new husband and baby, has eclipsed the usually funny, "Jill Zarin". (Side note- is Bethenny's new main squeeze, Jason, too good to be true or what? Is there something about him that rubs anyone else the wrong way?)

They are bitching each other out left and right. And they are both "collecting" allies. I have to say that Jill seems to be the bitchier; love how she's adopted the "Countess" and Kelly. How funny that Alex and Bethenny are turning into "genuine" friends? (their words,not mine) How surprising that no one wants Ramona on their side? Bethenny tried to make amends. Jill wouldn't have it, she wasn't being ambushed. Even her beloved Bobby tried to tell her to talk it out with Bethenny.

What did it take Jill to want to talk to Bethenny? Her ring.....interesting......


Can these two be saved.....before Bethenny leaves for her own show?

Kristy, Claudia, Stacey, and Mary Anne

Did you know these fine young ladies? Were you as obsessed with The Babysitter's Club in the 1980s as I was? I'm not sure I can express the love I had for this Ann M. Martin series. I loved the girls' friendships and their misadventures. I was the last kid in Andover to ever get to go to Disney World (or at least it felt that way) and I lived vicariously through that Super Special Disney Edition for years!I can remember so clearly the excitement of the new book order paper coming out at school so you could see what the newest book cover would look like. I remember being tucked away in the back of Waldenbook's in Andover reading through the books and trying to figure out a way to convince my mother (who worked at the Andover Library) to buy me yet another one of these books. I think even then I realized the books weren't the greatest of literary merit- but I still loved them. I would definitely consider these books to be in the "digestible" category and as a teacher of ten/eleven year olds I work really hard to teach them how to balance their choices of reading; between the digestible, which everyone loves to read once and awhile, and the quality.

Well, apparently- Ann M. Martin has written a prequel- click below!

http://shelf-life.ew.com/2010/04/02/a-night-with-the-creator-of-the-baby-sitters-club-ann-m-martin/

How sad that I may have to run out and buy it! Well, I suppose I could write it off as necessary for my job:)

Did you have a favorite girl or storyline?

I (usually) love a parade!

Hi, My name is Helen and I am Olympic junkie. I love, love, love the Olympics. I'm not sure what it is because I wouldn't say I am a huge sports fan, but maybe it's the Social Studies teacher in me.

One of my favorite parts of the Olympics is the Opening Ceremony. I love to see the show that the host country puts on. I love to watch the countries march in. The geeky Social Studies teacher in me loves seeing the population of the country and the number of athletes they have brought to the games. (I believe that Russia brought the most athletes to these Vancouver games.)

My favorite was the 2004 Athens ceremony. The Art Historian in me was giddy when the performance art created a Cycladic figure! I remember vividly narrating the event, much to Natalie and Amy's enjoyment (or chagrin). You see, I am a wealth of useless information and I love relaying all the stupid factoids I know and learning a few more along the way.

For the parade of nations, Greece always enters first (summer or winter) as they were the inventors of the Olympic games. Followed by the other nations in alphabetical order, except for the host nation that comes in last. This past Friday, Canada and Vancouver gave us their stab at it- and, well. eh. It wasn't all bad. I was fascinated to see the country of Macedonia enter between Finland and France. Well, come to find out the official title of Macedonia is "the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia". (FYROM) I'm sure this tidbit of information will benefit me at some future cocktail party or trivial pursuit game:) I teach a very small amount of Canadian geography so I already knew that the whole country of Canada has less people than our state of California. I did not know, but find fascinating, that 90% of the Canadian population lives within 100 miles of the US border.

You have to expect some level of performance art at these opening ceremonies. I thought, Canada is home to Cirque de Soleil-this should be cool. Well, it was kind of painful. It just didn't seem to flow. A great deal of the performance was dedicated to the aboriginal native peoples of Canada. Which I'm totally fine with, but it seemed to go on, and on, and on.......

And seriously-

Two words = Slam Poetry

The torch was lit (even though the giant crystal thing malfunctioned) and the games have begun. Yay for figure skating, mogul skiing, biathlon, and even curling!

Thank goodness I'm on vacation to enjoy it all:)

Update: Tag your it

Just thought I would give a little update.

As I walked around my place this weekend, I was ripping off tags. All those ones
that appeared in pictures, are now tagless and whatever issues I have that go along
with keeping the tags on, I'm working on them

Thanks for the support!

Is it the weekend yet?

Tag your it!

In an effort to be the best me (doesn't that sound Oprah like), I've been working to declutter and clean up my big storage closet. You see, I have a TON of Christmas stuff and the last few years my parents have been nice enough to let me store it in their attic in lieu of it taking up precious space in my closet. After a couple of years of hauling it back and forth, I'm made the executive decision to make the space in the closet come hell or high water.


If you know me well, you know that I previously moved quite a bit. Six times in years to be accurate. And before you ask, no the FBI wasn't looking for me or anything. The moves lead to many jokes from friends that I take up whole pages in their address books. The one good thing I could say about the moves is that it forced me to limit the amount of stuff that I had.


I've been living at my condo for 3.5 years. As the anniversary of the first year approached, it felt strange to think that I would be staying. With that began the keeping of too much stuff! I have so many strange boxes and sterilite containers filled with simply, junk.

I think I'll be happy with the time I've spent this weekend purging. I also bought myself a new shredder. Very cool, has a handle for easy dumping. I of course managed to get it all over my previously vacuumed rug. Sigh...


So, while working away something struck me. I have a lot of stuff that still has the tags on it. I do use them and display them, I just never take the tags off.

Like Comet here for example.....

or this cute Teddy Bear, also from Hallmark.

It must be some weird OCDish thing that people like Natalie have pointed out to me in the past.

Why not just rip the tags off? I don't plan on returning them. (No, don't worry I don't do this with my clothes, just decorative items.) Do you think it is some weird carry over from those don't rip the tag off the mattress thing?

Here's one more- a cute new thing to put my mail in from the Jean Chatzky (Today show and Oprah guru) collection. I only bought this a week ago, but it's already hanging on my wall, and it still has the tag on it........how long do you think I'll let it stay there? I wonder what Peter Walsh, Oprah's new Clutter guru, would have to say about this habit?

Can Project Runway be saved?

To be upfront- I will admit that I stole this title from the Boston Globe. But my feelings were very similar to theirs, even before I read their article.

Many years back, my dear Stacey had a list of shows that she said were a must. And you see dear readers, that Stacey is most often right. One of those shows was my now beloved Veronica Mars, and another was Project Runway.

With the start of the second season, I bought in to the then Bravo show hosted by the surprisingly delightful Heidi Klum (now Samuel). Through several seasons of the show we were treated to a whole host of characters, and many talented designers. There may have been a little backstabbing and copycatting but it was a show that you looked forward too. I'm not a huge fashionista myself, but I know I'm a better judge of clothes construction than of singing completions. There was no denying the breakout star of the show was Tim Gunn. "Make it work". Who wouldn't want to have lunch and do a little shop with this guy.

Then, the show jumped ship to Lifetime. Fine. But NBC, Bravo's parent company, wasn't letting them go without a fight. As a result, we had to wait quite awhile before we got our new season. (I think Heidi Klum had five or six kids while we waited for the new season.)

Last August- Finally the premiere of the new season on Lifetime and it would be this time from L.A. (Thank goodness Mood has a branch there.) Part of my problem is that I watch it alone. This is one of the things that I miss about having a roommate. There are some shows (Lost) that people should not speak during. But there are others, where it's nice to have a little banter about. For my birthday this year, I actually asked my friends to come over for dinner and watch the show. It got my friend Melissa hooked for the first time. She ended up really liking the season. (I think. Maybe she will comment and tell us.)

I felt a little guilty because I kept telling her that Season 6 lacked something, a certain je ne sais quo. For me it can be summed up in a couple things.

1. Judges- This season shot in L.A. Fine for Heidi, she lives there now with her family. Not so for Michael Kors and Nina Garcia. Both had to fly back and forth to New York and as a result, I think the three of them were maybe in a total of two episodes. This left us with lots of guest judges. Most who didn't do too much for me. Lindsay Lohan, no thanks. Rebecca Romjin, boring. I would actually like to see a more permanent fourth judge, and a sometimes fill-in. I would kind of like to see Tim more at the runway.

2. Contestants- Season 6 was a pretty blah, bunch. I liked Carol-Hannah. I liked Althea. I didn't like Irina, but she was talented. Christopher cried TOO much. I really wan't passionate about any one of them. Sometimes too, a designer can do fairly well with the challenges they are given throughout the season but when it comes to their own collection, it's weird or boring.

3. Challenges- nothing too exciting. Was there one where they had to work with something natural? I missed the trip to the M&M store and the use of wrappers or something.

What does Season 7 hold? Back in NYC. Good. Familiar judging faces return, check. Nicole Richie.....eh. Contestants who look pretty talented, yeah. It's always hard to tell at the beginning because there are so many of them.

Do you watch?

Is it wrong to feel bad for Jennifer Aniston....

Happy 100th Post to me- didn't think it would be about this, but hey that's blogging right!


So, I'm exhausted as this was my first day back to school and I should be heading for bed but
instead I just checked the headlines on People.com to see the news that Vince Vaughan got married.


Now- I didn't read the accompanying article but I can only imagine that it mentioned poor Jennifer Aniston and the fact that they dated, and broke up and starred together in
"The Break-Up".


I can't imagine what it's like to be Jennifer Aniston. Your name is always in the press. You got divorced from one of the Sexiest Men alive, and he basically left you for the Sexiest Woman alive. You were always talking about wanting a family- and bang your ex has an instant one with this new woman.


You're constantly hounded and followed. You even talk casually with your latest co-star and your dating him, moving in with him, marrying him. (Of course, I buy all those junk magazines that stalk her but....)


I know many dislike her. I've always found her sweet, girl-next-doorish. She doesn't seem all that threatening. Not the world's greatest actress- but I always enjoyed her "Rachel" as part of the ensemble of Friends. (and I also never turn the channel when Picture Perfect is on.) Oh, and I definitely wanted that haircut.



So what do we think it really is? Is she unlucky in love? Is she a dud? Does she really not care, which is why she would date such a tool as John Mayer? Maybe she doesn't really want ALL of this anymore. Maybe it's just want everyone else wants for her or assumes that she wants. I'm not sure I would really blame her.

My hope for her is that she ends up in a Halle Berry situation- hot boyfriend, no ring, adorable daughter or just a little bit of peace from the paparazzi.

Your thoughts......