My Good Name is Tarnished!

I'm sure you've all heard by now that Jamie Lynn Spears (Britney's 16 year-old sister) is pregnant. I'm not going to comment much on what this means for the world, society, or for children who look up to her. I have another problem with the pregnancy. Jamie Lynn has now tarnished my good name! Granted, we spell it differently, but whenever people hear my name from now on they will associate it with a knocked up teenager! It's all so sad! But seriously, I'm not gonna comment much on this pregnancy. Shit happens, and I'm not gonna act all high & mighty like so many other people I've heard comment on this story. I prefer to write about shallow and superficial things, so I will comment on reality television...

With the reality television season winding down, I would like to reflect back on a few of my favorites:

#1. The Hills. It's over for the season, but we lucky viewers have been surprised with the announcement that there will be new episodes in the new year! They will follow Lauren & Whitney in Paris. I'm not overly excited by this, but I'm sure I'll watch it anyway. I've stated my repeated disappointment in the show, and I'm sure these episodes will be no different. I also read that Kristin Cavalleri may show up on The Hills. That sounds like it'd be cool, but I'm sure it would disappoint me as well. I miss Laguna Beach.

#2. I Love New York 2. Sadly, I do occasionally watch this show. I enjoy it's "watching a train wreck" quality. It's finale aired this week. I didn't see it, but I heard she chose one of the shadiest dudes ever to exist: Tailor Made. Not that Buddha would've been a better choice, those guys were all dysfunctional! Do that many men seriously want to date a bitchy, untalented woman who looks like a guy in drag?! I highly doubt it!

#3. A Shot at Love with Tila Tequila. I watch this occassionally as well. It ended the other night too. I didn't get to see this finale either, but I heard she picked the guy! Seriously?! I was pretty shocked she didn't pick Dani! I guess she just convinced herself that she could only ever be with a "lipstick lesbian," or a man. It's a shame.

#4. The Biggest Loser. This show ended Tuesday night. I kinda got addicted to this show. I didn't miss an episode. I have all episodes DVR'd. It's so motivating to see what these people have accomplished. I just love the before & afters. However, I was pissed with the black team dominating in the end. Granted, the guy who won the whole thing made an amazing transition, but I still didn't want him or the three final girls to win. My devotion was to Neil. Who else has ever tried to drink 2 gallons of water and retain it in order to gain 17 pounds and get someone else kicked off?! Props to you Neil!

So, what am I left with now?

#1. The Real World. It's my old standby. These people are becoming too trashy though. Also, all their behavior is pretty predictable. I even fell asleep during yesterday's episode. I basically watch it for Isaac. That guy is my favorite Real World cast member ever! I actually can respect him!

#2. The Amazing Race. As Peter would say, "It's the only reality show I can support you watching," or something like that. It's definitely the least trashiest, has the most true to life relationship interactions, and is just overall entertaing. It definitely has it's "train wreck" moments (ie. the breakdown while milking a camel). If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it!

So, in conclusion, I admit it, I am a reality TV junkie. I don't make an qualms about it! It's just fun to watch people and be glad that you're not that stupid, that senseless, that bitchy, etc. etc. The other reason I like reality shows is that for 30 min to an hour I can veg out and not think. Life can get pretty tough & stressful sometimes. What better way to put all your worries aside, than to watch stupid television?!

Painful Coversations with Lauren & Brody

First of all, am I the only one who finds watching "The Hills" incredibly painful?! This pain I feel every Monday night while watching it is for a variety of reasons.

Reason #1: Lauren and Brody need to learn how to have a conversation.
Now, I love Lauren. I see a lot of my old stupid self in her, perhaps that's why I find it so difficult to watch. I just want to take her by the shoulders and shake her and say, "If you want to go out with Brody tell him!" Brody has given her every freakin' opportunity to say something. She just is too much of a stupid girl to admit she wants to go out with him. If she stopped playing games and stopped trying to get him to say what she wants to hear things would be much better. Maybe then I wouldn't want to shoot myelf everytime I had to sit through one of their awkward dinners.

Reason #2: Spencer is an ugly loser.
That's all. I know it, you know it, and deep down I think Heidi knows she's engaged to one of the biggest jackasses to walk the earth.

Reason #3: Everyone is incredibly stupid & immature.
Yesterday I was watching the season finale and realized something. These people are only 21 years-old. No wonder they are all such idiots! If there was a television show about my life as a 21 year-old I would be emabarassed about what an immature moron I was.

Reason #4: Nothing ever happens.
Seriously. Has anything worthwhile happened on this show? The answer is "no." Nothing has changed in the three seasons of "The Hills." So, why do I continue to watch, you ask? Well, someday something will happen, and when it does I will be there to say, "Ah, finally!"

Despite all this, I am sad that season 3 is over. Now I must dedicate my spare time to "The Real World: Sydney." Stupid Dunbar! If I was his girlfriend I would KILL him! I'll save that rant for another day though!

Welcoming a Newcomer

This weekend was my nana's big 76th birthday! I bought her some Thermacare patches as a present. She loved them! I'm such a good granddaughter, even though we all know Nana doesn't like me.

I love this picture, 'cause poor Derrick spent what seemed like forever trying to blow out Nana's two candles!

Anyway...
Our family got together this weekend for not only Nana's birthday, but also to welcome my new cousin to the family. I haven't mentioned this to many people, but it's really exciting news! I have a cousin that my aunt gave up for adoption 31 years ago. I've known this for a while, but never really thought too much about it, 'cause it's kinda hard to imagine that I had a cousin somewhere out there so close in age. I mean, I could've been hanging out with him at bars for all I knew! My aunt has always been registered so that he could find her if he ever wanted to. Well, over the past two months he went through the steps to get in touch with my aunt, and came up this weekend to meet her (he's from Long Island). While he was at it, he got to meet the rest of us on Saturday. Kinda crazy!

The cousins (minus Ryan, Jeff, Lindsay, Sean & Jack)

Oh, and I'll have you know that I made Christmas cookies to take to my nana's on saturday, and they were loved by many! Hopefully I will continue to improve my baking skills!

Not my mother’s daughter

If you’ve ever met my mother, seen pictures of her, or probably even heard of her, then you know that we look pretty much identical. All of my life I was bombarded with comments of, “You look just like your mother!” All I could do was just smile and accept the comment hoping that it was a good thing. Unfortunately, despite having an incredibly similar face, body structure and attitude (how could we forget that one?) to my mother, there are some things that I did not obtain from her gene pool.

My mother is like Martha Stewart. She can cook food to die for, sew a quilt in the matter of days, and create gifts that would put half those people who sell stuff at craft bazaars to shame. She’s quite the little homemaker. Me? Not so much.

I was making dough for Christmas cookies yesterday, when it struck me: I am completely incompetent in the kitchen. There was flour everywhere, dough splattering out of my mixing bowl, and my beaters in my electric mixer were not very nice to me. It took me 40 minutes to complete what was to be a 10 minutes recipe. I’ve always known that I’m a little slow in the cooking area. My mother points out my lack of capabilities whenever she catches me near a cooking utensil. She still likes to tell people about how I was making a salad one time and I couldn’t even cut a cucumber. Sadly, I’ll admit it’s true. I should have a gash in the palm of my hand from the way I was holding that cucumber and knife.

I do try to cook and bake more though. Half of my problem in the kitchen now is that I’m so insecure about how stupid I am when it comes to cooking. Peter could probably vouch for this one. I’m constantly asking how much of this? What do I do with that? How long? Where should I put this? Etc, etc.

Also, I mentioned that my mother is quite the sewer. Well, I’m pretty sure my mother wouldn’t approve of my current hem on the bottom of my pants. The hem was falling down, so I stapled all around the bottom of the pant leg to keep the hem up (This is a little trick I learned in Catholic School…we wore the same skirts every day-of course the hem was bound to fall down at school eventually!). My mother has her old sewing machine in the basement of her house waiting for me. She says she's going to give it to me when I buy a house. I laughed when she told me this. Somehow me with a fast moving, sharp needle does not seem like a good idea. Maybe I'll tell her to buy me an industrial strength stapler instead.

I could blame all of my shortcomings on my mother, but I suppose I should take some responsibility for them as well. She may have been the one who lacked the patience to show me how to make a pie crust, but I was the annoying one who would whine about getting my hands sticky from kneading the dough.

My Obsession

I have an obsession with a certain pop star, who (out of respect to my boyfriend) will remain nameless. So, when I came across this article I laughed. You can read the whole thing for yourself if you wish, but here's the part that pertained to me:

Just because you’re not a groupie doesn’t mean you’re
immune to the charms of the leading men of popular music. But crushing on a
particular crooner can communicate more than just your ring-tone preference; it
can actually reveal volumes about what you’re looking for romantically—and what you should be wary of. Read on to understand the reasons why someone rocks your
world...

4. Hunk Next Door The usual suspects: Jon “It’s My Life” Bon Jovi, Kenny “No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problems” Chesney, Justin “Let’s Take a Ride” Timberlake. What’s so hot about him? Your taste in men gravitates to a good-time guy who looks cool washing his car in the driveway... and, hey, he’ll be happy to drop by for a beer. He’s got an easy smile and a mellow attitude, but exudes a quiet strength, too.What he means to you: A good time—and maybe more. “On the surface, the Hunk Next Door is simply someone to hang out with who won’t give you a hard time,” says Blake. “But there may be real substance to him.” He won’t fall apart when the going gets tough, and he may have things to teach you, like patience. When it comes to commitment he takes it slow, and he doesn’t open up easily, so you’ll have to draw him out. Yet even if he does prove to be a rock, there’s a chance you might get bored. “It can get tiring if you’re the one initiating all the time, making all the decisions,” says Blake. Before you move on to someone less laid back, communicate your needs and challenge him to challenge you.

Kitty Picture of the Day

She's just too cute not to love!

Yeah December!

We got our tree yesterday! I just wanted to share a few photos of our festive holiday setup!

The stockings are hung by the chimney with care!

Muffin just loves the new addition!