Revenge

One exciting thing about the coming of fall is that new seasons of our favorite TV shows are on in new episodes! Sweet! One hidden gem, though, about these new seasons is that there are new-to-Netflix old seasons available for streaming. Hooray!

One show that I was especially excited to see had joined the Netflix lineup is Revenge, on ABC. Last season, this show aired on Wednesday evenings and I could never watch it. This season, it will be airing on Sunday evenings, another time I can't really watch it. But, luckily, I was able to get caught up with the entire first season on Netflix!

I won't go into too many details about this show because it's totally plot driven and I don't want to ruin the surprise. But, I will say, YOU SHOULD WATCH IT! The main character, Emily, returns to her childhood home to seek revenge against those who had her father wrongfully imprisoned for a terrorist act he did not commit. The show is like an awesome combination of Gossip Girl, CSI, and Sex and the City. There are some funny moments and lots of suspenseful ones. There are also beautiful clothes and scenery and all of the other stories that go along with people living a life of privilege.

At first, I worried that this show was going to be too much like Damages, another great show, which I enjoy but sometimes have difficulty following. On Damages, the plot is so intricate and moves so quickly that I often won't even watch it while knitting for fear of missing something important. The nice thing about Revenge is that it moves a little bit slower - for me, the perfect speed. I can follow the twists and turns even if I do take my eyes away from the screen every once in a while. Highly recommend it!

GCB

As you might remember, I became obsessed with the ABC television show GCB earlier this year when I decided to subscribe to HuluPlus.

This TV program cracks me up! The only bad news is that ABC decided not to renew it for another season - BOOO!!! I love that this show is kind of like "Mean Girls" (one of my favorite movies EVER!) but set in Texas and featuring adult women. I hate to admit that I think most women never really grow out of their girl-world personalities from high school. But, I really think that's part of what makes Chick Lit and Chick TV (ie Sex and the City and Lipstick Jungle) so entertaining.

Several weeks ago, I decided I wanted to read the book. I requested it from the library and it just came!

I loved everything about this book! I have to admit it was a little easier to imagine all of the book's characters after having watched the television show. However, there were quite a few significant differences between the book and the show. There were two that really stood out: in the TV show, basically all of the women are the same age. In the book, there are two different generations of women and it's interesting to watch the power dynamic between these two groups. In the book, the only one of the women who is a parent is the main character, Amanda Vaughn, played by Leslie Bibb in the TV program. So, on TV, I guess we do see two generations: one in its 40s, the other in high school. But, for the most part, in the book, the children are younger and there's much less emphasis on their social dynamic among themselves.

The book's storyline was really somewhat different than the general plot arc in the first season on TV. I was pleasantly surprised by the degree to which the book's plot hung together and told one interesting, cohesive story that had a beginning, middle and end. While the TV show's plot was interesting too, I definitely enjoyed the chance to sit down and take a little journey into the world of Hillside Park, Texas. I hope you'll consider taking a trip there too! Whether on the screen or the page, I think it will come to life and you'll enjoy it a bunch!

80s Kids

Recently, I saw two different TV commercials that I just had to share with you guys. Often, it feels to me like I'm either too old, or too young, to be the target of most ads. But, here are two ads that I am SURE are meant to appeal to the children of the 80s, like myself!

1. Hershey's Drops

Do you recognize this music? Maybe you don't. But you should! This song, Move This, is like the second most popular song by the band Technotronic, which is most famous for the song Pump Up the Jam. Since I love nothing quite like I love my old Jock Jams CDs, this song is close to my heart. In fact, my very favorite Pandora station these days is seeded by Technotronic. Hoorah!

2. Old Navy Jeans

I sure hope you recognize this girl - Jennie Garth of 90210 fame. And you'll never guess who she meets in the hallway at the high school where she is (hopefully) a teacher - BRANDON (Jason Priestley) and DYLAN (Luke Perry)!!! FOR REAL! Seriously. Old Navy must have hired a 28 year old to develop this commercial. The only way this commercial could possibly be better is if it instead starred the cast of Saved by the Bell - with Kelly Kapowski walking down the hall, finding Zack Morris and A.C. Slater. Oh well - a girl can dream!

Enjoy! Hope you don't want to buy Hershey's Drops or Old Navy jeans as much as I do!

Words to Live By

I recently was doing some organizing in my living room when I ran across something pretty weird! For years, I had a little notepad tucked into a nook near the TV set where I could write things down that were on TV. This isn't that weird, really. The part that's totally weird is that I never really wrote anything - except three quotes that made me laugh. I decided that I would share them with you today.

1. "Dude, come on, French it up!" 
                   - Joey Tribbianni, Friends
Here's a clip from YouTube for your viewing pleasure. showing a series of clips when Joey attempts to speak French. I think it's funny even among people who don't speak French. Enjoy!

2. "People look to tall people in emergencies. We're like the lighthouses of society." 
               - Mike Heck, The Middle
One episode of The Middle, entitled Hecks on a Plane, features their daughter, Sue, winning a trip to Washington D.C. When things start to go wrong, Mike makes this comment. It always makes me laugh to think about it! Here's a tiny clip from a different part of the same episode.

3. "I'm this close to moving to France except for can't speak the language and I hate the people."
                - Bronx Beat, SNL
I adore the Bronx Beat sketches on SNL, and this particular one had me rolling on the floor. This appeared quite a while ago and reminds me of an all-to-common phenomenon in our culture. While there was a huge movement rejecting France and the French, that didn't change the desire of so many people (especially women) to go to Paris, which is still described by many as the romantic city on earth. Of course one of the ladies on Bronx Beat hates France but wants to move there anyways! I couldn't find a clip of the sketch, I did find this little promo to give you a sense of what the Bronx Beat ladies (Amy Poehler and Maya Rudolph) are like in character:

Are these actually good words to live by? Probably not. What do these quotes really tell us? I love some great comedy!

Monday Randoms

The big news for me this weekend was that I completed my 50,000 word novel for Nowrimo. (I'll be blogging more about that tomorrow - stay tuned!) In the flurry of activity to try to get that done, I haven't been doing very many things that are interesting to write or read about. But, here are a few things that have been on my mind:
1. Sweeter

I heard this song on Friday night on my way home and it bounced around in my head for almost the entire weekend. When I looked up the lyrics, I was a little disappointed to read that this is about stealing another guy's girlfriend. Oh well - the melody is super catchy!

2. Gossip Girl

 Those of you who know me in real life know that I have recently become slightly obsessed with Gossip Girl. I've never watched it on live television, sticking to watching old seasons on Netflix. However, I'm totally enjoying it. I think its an awesome cross between Mean Girls and Sex and the City. If you were into either one of those, check it out! 
3. Logic!

This week, I had the chance to go into Barnes and Noble, shopping for a gift for a friend. I took a look through the clearance book section and found this one! Yes! I feel like there are always tons of books of crosswords and sudoku, both of which I love, and even more frequently, word searches. But my abiding passion is logic puzzles, which are the ones with the clues and the little grids you can fill in. This will be a great brain fitness challenge. Keep up the good work, B&N!

Recuperating...

Alright, imagine the scene: A quiet Mother's Day morning at Minnie's tree house apartment. I've woken up 35 minutes before my alarm is due to go off, giving me plenty of time to finish making and wrapping my Mother's Day gift, read some more of my book club book before our meeting later this week, clean up the mess left everywhere after some chaos last week, and time to do some picture taking in the best light my apartment has to offer.

I'm off to a great start: by 9 am: the bedroom is completely picked up, I've done some serious reading, I've done another coat of Mod Podge on Mom's present, and I've taken a couple of photos. I've just put the coffee on and am getting ready to settle in and watch This Week with George Stephanopoulos, so I can catch up on current events. I decide I should have something little to eat, knowing that I'm on the way to brunch in honor of my mom at my parents' house at noon. I open the cabinet door and as I do, my elbow catches on the handle of a knife hanging on the knife rack on the adjacent wall. Know that this knife has been in this position on this knife rack for basically the entire 2.5 years I have lived in this apartment. On Mother's Day, it fell to the ground. I stepped back, but not far enough. OUCH! I zipped off to get a band-aid and some Kleenex. I spent much of the rest of the morning on the couch, having to call in late to brunch because of the injury. While I was able to stop the bleeding when I was sitting on the couch with my foot up, it threatened to start up again whenever I was standing. I managed to get ready and get out the door and arrive only about an hour late. I spent the rest of the day having some trouble walking because I think the knife's impact caused both a cut and a bruise. Yeesh. Work's been a bit of a challenge too, because I do have to walk around inside my office building as part of my job. I'm hoping this won't impact my blogging schedule, but everything seems to be taking longer and I'm tiring out more quickly as a result.

So, why is Gordon Ramsay yelling at you from the top of this page? Because over the weekend, I signed up for HuluPlus! I am spending my recuperation on the couch watching Chef Ramsay and his contestants on old episodes of Hells' Kitchen. While my foot hurts, I couldn't think of a better companion for my recovery!

Amenities Everywhere!

I recently read a post over at Apartment Therapy about a tour of a home on a TV show: Tom's apartment from Parks and Recreation. I have only recently begun watching this show on Netflix, and I'm still in the first season. Here's a clip of the tour - sorry that it appears to be someone literally aiming their cell phone at their television set!

A quick run down of the amenities listed: multiple blankets in each room, an entire shelf in the fridge for coconut water, a cheese plate with Adriatic figs that never seems to disappear, the temp set at a constant 80 degrees, unisex cologne and designer eye cream, and a Sudoku book in the bathroom. As Ann explains, there are just amenities everywhere! (For a more complete list of Tom's amenities, you can review the slideshow NBC put together here). Tom's place sounds pretty wonderful to me!

This got me thinking about the "amenities" where I live. To a certain extent, this hit a little close to home because there are some amenities that Tom has, as a joke, that I couldn't live without! These include:

• Blankets everywhere! I have probably 5 in my living room. 
• Bath and Body Works hand soap
• All episodes of Friends, on DVD rather than DVR

As is even present in Ann's comments during the tour, it would be extraordinarily expensive to make sure your home has all of these all of the time. At Apartment Therapy, they also noted that it would be damaging to the environment, particularly when considering the high thermostat setting and the "freshly shower-in bathroom" effect, which is achieved by running hot water for 5 minutes and dumping a bottle of shampoo down the drain once each hour. There are certainly some things I would pick to add to the atmosphere at my place, if neither the cost nor the environment were a concern:

• Heat constantly set at 70 degrees - it has to be cool to enjoy those snuggly blankets! 
• Subscriptions to several news, fashion and home design magazines 
• Self-refilling reed diffusers in delicious scents in every room
• Fresh flowers for each room, replaced every couple of days
• A cheese plate and cookie jar that are never empty!

Maybe someday I'll be invited to visit a place with as many amenities as Tom's apartment! And in the meantime, I'll remember that some of these amenities are available on a smaller scale. Just because I can't have fresh flowers in every room all of the time doesn't mean I can't pick up a bunch every once in a while and really enjoy them!

Excuse me, imperial guard?

Okay guys, the appointed day is here. Jury duty begins!

I'm not planning to do this, though I sure hope someone else does! 

30 Rock

Lately, I've been watching episodes of 30 Rock on Netflix. I know it's been on for years - which is particularly apparent when you watch the episodes filmed in 2007 in 2012 - but I've never really been into it. I've been devoted to Grey's Anatomy for a long time, which I think conflicts with 30 Rock and I just never got into it. I've been missing out! I love everything about it. Here are a couple of clips for your enjoyment!

Finally, a work place almost as kooky as my own!

Lady Mary earrings

Well, I've watched every single episode of Downton Abbey that has aired on PBS in the U.S. I find it completely captivating. I'm not usually drawn to the style of the Crawley family - it's simply not my taste. There has been one exception: beautiful three-bead drop earrings that Lady Mary wears quite often, typically for scenes where the family is enjoying an ordinary dinner.

I spotted something similar at Target a couple of weeks ago, but at that time, I decided to pass. (I'm pretty sure I was making several other impulse purchases that evening.) So, when I ran across these same earrings at a different Target store, while wandering aimlessly before picking up some groceries, I snatched them up.

Here they are:

I'm sure that Lady Mary's earrings are made out of some kind of precious stone; these are clearly plastic, though I don't think you'd be able to tell the difference from a distance. Originally priced at $7.99, I grabbed these guys for only $3.96. Hooray!

Downton Abbey

I'll admit it: I was pretty late to the Downton Abbey party. In fact, I don't think I had ever heard those words before until they were mentioned in the year-end edition of The Week. Thereafter, I noticed a couple of mentions in the internet world and decided to investigate. I put that new Netflix membership to use and wound up watching the entire first season during the week between Christmas and New Year's. What a whirlwind! And now, the second season is upon us. Hooray! I didn't get the chance to watch episode 2 last night - in general, Sunday nights aren't good for me. But, I'm looking forward to catching up with it soon.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/watch/index.html