od·ys·sey
1 : a long wandering or voyage usually marked by many changes of fortune
2 : an intellectual or spiritual wandering or quest
Saturday, March 31, 2007
Robin Hood on BBC America
I'm IN LOVE with Robin Hood. Both the TV series on BBC America and the cutie who plays him. It's on Saturday nights at 9pm and it is so much fun. The action is pretty good. It has it's funny moments. What is it about the bow & arrow that makes it so cool? Of course the romance between Robin and Mirian is awesome. But of course there is the frustrating love triangle so it doesn't end up to be mushy at all. I don't ever want the show to end! But when it does, Robin better end up with Mirian!
I just ordered my new cell phone. I got the Mint Chocolate phone from LG and a plan with Verizon. This one will have a Chicago phone number. It'll be all pimped out with games, videos, ringtones and all that. I've never had a cell phone for fun before so I'm kind of psyched. I should get it right around Easter.
I'm watching Giada's Weekend Getaways and this week she is in Chicago. She pronounced Wabash wrong. Well, she didn't pronounce it with the mid-west accent - accentuating the A. Anyways, she mentioned Intelligentsia which is a coffee roaster I have never heard of. Looks like they have a few stores downtown and do some fresh roasting in there warehouses in Bucktown and on Fulton. I want to check them out next time I'm in town.
For her sight-seeing she took an architecture cruise and visited the aquarium. Then she ate at Green Zebra in Wicker Park which is a vegetarian restaurant. She also ate at Uno's and a steak house. She has Sunday breakfast at Orange and stopped at Garrett's Popcorn for a snack.
First of all, what is up with the mohawk, or "faux"-hawk as Paula called it. Why the hell is Sanjaya on this show? It is just a joke.
Tonight Gwen Stefani "coached" the top 10 in their song choices. She didn't really do anything but listen to them sing the song once. That must have sucked to have to stand there face to face with Gwen Stefani and sing with nothing other than a piano.
They got to choose songs from artists the inspired Gwen Stefani. Contestants sang songs from The Cure, The Police, No Doubt, Cyndi Lauper, Donna Summer and The Pretenders.
Blake Lewis - “Love Song” by the Cure and 311 Chris Richardson - “Don’t Speak” by No Doubt Chris Sligh - “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic” by the Police Gina Glocksen - Pretenders ballad Haley Scarnato - “True Colors” by Cyndi Lauper Jordin Sparks - “Hey Baby” by No Doubt Lakisha Jones - Donna Summer song Melinda Doolittle - Donna Summer song Phil Stacey - “Every Breath You Take” by the Police Sanjaya Malakar - “Bathwater” by No Doubt
Gina and Phil were way better than they were in the past which was really nice. Chris Sligh and Haley were boring, which sucks because I like Chris Sligh. Blake and Jordin had better performances. Lakisha was good but something was missing. And of course Mindy Doo was AMAZING.
Now that they post the MP3s to download I'm thinking of which ones I'll get tomorrow. I'll get Mindy Doo and Lakisha of course. I think I may also get Gina, Phil and maybe Blake. Not sure on Blake though.
Sanjaya should totally be the one voted off but of course he will not. Last week Chris Richardson was in the bottom two but he did pretty good this week so I'd be kinda surprised if he goes. I think Haley should go, but she might be too pretty. Chris Sligh just might be in trouble . . .
LaKisha singing "Last Dance" by Donna Summer
Melinda Doolittle singing "Heaven Knows" by Donna Summer
Paulina Porizkova was the first one voted off of Season 3 of Dancing with the Stars I feel bad for her. I totally loved her personality! She's just so cute. I remember her from being a super model and marrying Ric Ocasek from The Cars and what a strange they couple seemed to be.
I wanted the Miss USA chick to go home. She has zero personality.
Today I turned 34. It has been the most uneventful birthday of my entire life. But that is my fault. I had offers to go out but I turned them all down. I celebrated with a spa day. I went to Sunrise Earth Spa in Brandon for a massage and facial. I like the spa a lot and was so relaxed when I came out of there. I even fell asleep during the facial. I then went and treated myself to a new cookbook and sushi dinner. I settled in to watch a movie and Marcia stopped by with a surprise birthday cake and flowers. Everyone else who is important called to wish me a happy birthday. Overall, not to exciting, but really nice.
Well this is fun! Next week's American Idol will feature Gwen Stefani according to this press release. On Tuesday she will be seen coaching the contestants on their song choices for Pop Week. Then on Wednesday she will be performing "The Sweet Escape". That should be entertaining. I wonder what song choices the idols will pick!
Oh my god, this really distresses me. The Pet Food Recall has been going on for over one week. Already 1,000 dogs and cats have died because of it. We were being told that the company Menu Foods supplied over 100 brands of dog an cat food and the wheat gluten was contaminated. The numbers are supposed to keep going up. Today it was announced that the wheat gluten supplied to Menu Foods by a new supplier in China contained rat poison. I wonder if it is a terrorist thing. My dogs are so lucky that I happen to use one of the pets food that are not on this list.
The Birthday gifts are starting to roll in! And I asked for only cookbooks. My birthday is this Saturday and I now live of 1000 from all my friends and family so I have no big party planned. However, I have a spa day planned with a 90 minute massage and an hour long facial so I am excited. The only thing I HAVE to do that day is get my passport. I leave for Vancouver on 5/24 . . .
Anywyas, today my friend Julie made turtle brownies and got me a bag of Lindt truffles (my favorites) and the Cooking with Mickey and the Disney Chefs cookbook. I have not heard of this one before so it's fun for me to get something new.
My mom's West Highland Terrior, Benson, has to be put to sleep today. She just found out and is leaving work to drive to the north suburbs. The doctors are trying to keep him alive until she gets there. I feel horrible that I am so far away. She couldn't get a hold of Margie or Dick to go with her so I thinks he's going by herself.
We got Benny when I was a Freshman in College. So I must have been 18. So he is 15 years old. A few years ago she spent about $10,000 on him to have a lung removed because he had cancer. That poor little dog had a good life. It will be so wierd without him. And Cassiday is the same age, hopefully she will have a few more good years.
Okay, what's up with American Idol. The judges seem mean to the wrong people. My two favs are Blake Lewis and Chris Sligh. Hands down. Each week they have been two of my favorites. I also really like Chris Richardson in 3rd.
Blake Lewis
Chris Sligh
Chris Richardson
Sanjaya Malakar definitely should go home this week. He is at the bottom and should have gone home last week. Not sure who the second person to go home should be. Unfortunately I think Sundance Head just hasn't sounded too good any of the week. And Phil Stacey I like but he just doesn't sound good sometimes either. Guess we'll see on Thursday.
Dave Matthews is on House tonight! I was about to flip to watch a movie after American Idol, but I could go for some shows sucking me and House is good for that.
The leader of the Dave Matthews Band will play a character named Patrick, who suffered an accident as a child that left him with a severe neurological condition but also made him a virtuoso pianist. He's admitted to Princeton-Plainsboro with a movement disorder, and his case catches the attention of House (Hugh Laurie).
i've been so busy lately. and it's all of my own doing. i was so bored in the fall so i have now given myself a ton of projects and commitments. i've taken on alot more at work which is good, but also exhausting. i used to be able to work about 6 hours a day and take a few breaks to do personal stuff online or go to a doctor or something. lately i've been working at least 9 hours a day to meet all my commitments. we had some production issues last week so i didn't have time to get my normal workload done. and it's due tomorrow. so i can either work on it all night or say fuck it and just deal with missing a deadline.
i'm cooking a ton which is a blast. i'm getting really tight with money though so i have to watch my food budget. and of course i'm most attracted to recipes for shrimp and scallops or other expensive things. and i'm addicted to buying cookbooks and food magazines. but by the time i get home from work my eyes are bugging me too much to read.
i also have two commitments to the well fed network. i'm the editor of the EdibleTV blog and A Nice Cuppa blog. i have to write articles when other writers don't contribute on that day. well, i suppose i don't have to but i feel responsible that i need to do that. and it's stressing me out. I'm thinking of dropping the EdibleTv one. Who knows.
Robin and Jace are coming next week and I'm taking a week off of work. It's going to be exhausting because we are going to do a Florida vacation full steam. Busch Gardens, Spring Training, Universal Studios, etc. And all of Florida is on vacation that week too so things will be packed.
I also have to keep my house spotless and be prepared for showings since i'm trying to sell it and that is the most stressful part of it all. i never get a break to just leave things get messy or hairy from the dogs. and if i do that for a few days then i get a call for a showing and have to work my ass off to catch up.
So, i've basically been working, cooking or thinking or writing about food, and cleaning.
