Long Time, No See

Last week, my husband once again told me I have been a crappy blogger, and this time, I do agree. When was the last time I even wrote? Oh well, that is neither here nor there. So where have I been instead of writing fabulous blogs that entertain the world? Busy doing all sorts of things and of course watching my favorite shows. But since I don't really have any commentary on my shows this week, I thought I would share with you what I've been up to. You know, get to know a little more about little old me.

First up, we had a wedding, not this past weekend, but the weekend before. It was an interesting wedding and I mean that in a good way! It was traditional, but not all at the same time. Everything had a little bit a twist to it. For example, the music at the wedding, was all secular. The mothers walked down the aisle to "If I Ain't Got You" but Alicia Keys. The wedding party walked down the aisle to "Faithfully" by Journey. I am usually a traditionalist when it comes to weddings, but I really liked this take on a wedding.

After the ceremony, there was of course, a reception, which again was different than other receptions I have been too. The food was served at different stations that were open from 7:30 until 9:00. We got to eat before the bridal party arrived which was nice because we weren't waiting around for hours until we could eat. They also didn't have a traditional cake. They had a small cake that they used to cut and then they had tables that with all kinds of candy and cupcakes on them. Those too were open the whole time, so you could have your dessert first if you wanted!

The rest of the night was of course for fun:

There was dancing. Or, er, jumping rope. What? Don't you double dutch at weddings?

There was singing. Because fraternity brothers always have to serenade the bride.

There were glow sticks. Oh and fist pumping because this is the Jersey Shore World and we're just living in it.

There was an old man throwing out glow sticks. (I'm not real sure.)

And there were sorority sisters, who always know how to have a good time.

Yes, the wedding was good times, only made slightly annoying by snow and a horrid cold that I was suffering from, but I was a trooper and made it through. After that Saturday came Sunday (shocker) which was the Super Bowl. We watched it at a friend's house and we stuffed ourselves silly.

Then it snowed.

And it snowed some more.

Then my husband got said cold, just as I was feeling better.

Then I got these at work for Valentine's Day!

Sorry the picture is cockeyed. My stupid computer won't rotate it!

Aren't they pretty?

Then before I knew it, it was the weekend again. Friday night was spent with my brother and my family at my brother's fraternity family night. My brother is in the same fraternity (and chapter) as my husband. Here I learned that I am old and it is nothing like it used to be when I was in. This made me miss college. Saturday we lazed around until we went out to dinner and then went and watched the UK game with some friends. Finally Sunday, we went to church, cleaned (very much needed) and I made these:

Which, if you know me, is a huge accomplishment for me as I don't cook. Ever.

And then it snowed.

And it snowed.

And snowed.

And my dog Carly is about the only one who is enjoying the snow at this point as she makes snow angels in the back yard. If you can't tell, I am fed.up.with.snow. I am up to my eyes in snow (ok my shins, but still) and I have had enough. Enough I tell you!

Then the weatherman said on the news tonight that we can expect this to go for another 18 hours. And I cried.

And now you are all caught up.

When Art Imitates Life

This entry is actually going to cover a few things, so please bear with me. I just have a mish mash of things I wanted to write about so instead of writing ten million little entries, why not just jumble it all into one? Sounds good, yes? I thought so.

First up... tonight is the finale of Jersey Shore. *Tear* Like all good things, this too must come to an end. I knew that it was going to happen. I knew that eventually we would have to part ways and say good-bye and yet... it seems too soon. I feel as though there are still too many parties to be had, drinks to drink, fights to fight and girls to well you know. Where will I get my weekly Jersey fix? Where will I learn cool and important phrases like "the grenade" and "the grenade launcher"? In good news though, I heard from a co-worker of mine that Mike, "The Situation" is going to be in my hometown February 2nd. Woo hoo! Too bad he is going to be a skeezy bar that I would never be caught dead in. Not that I would want to be meet The Situation either...

Moving on... with Jersey Shore leaving the line-up it makes more time to watch Project Runway. Ah Tim Gunn, how do I love thee, let me count the ways. Well, actually that's another entry for another day, but I do love the show and I am excited that it's back (not too excited that Ping got to stay though).

Speaking of shows coming back, mark your calendars because Greek comes back on Monday! Again, another one of my favorite shows because I can relate to it (yes, I was a sorority gal) and it stays pretty true to the reality of Greek life.

So on to the bulk of this entry, life imitating art. A few months back, the husband and I were fortunate enough to visit friends of ours that live Sacramento. We had an awesome time out there. We got to go to Napa and do wine tasting, shop at outlet malls, eat at In and Out (pretty good), go to a farmer's market (best kettle corn EVER) and we got to visit San Francisco as well. Visiting SF was truly life imitating art for me in so many ways.

For example:

Lombard Street! This has been featured in several TV shows including Full House. (Really the whole trip to SF was like a walking Full House tour)

Alcatraz, again seen in lots o' movies. Ok, none that I have seen, but I've been told so.

And the part that really imitated art?

We ate here:

So you might be thinking, what in the world is Taqueria La Cumbre? Found in the Mission District of San Francisco, Taqueria La Cumbre is the first restaurant to serve the Mission Style Burrito. Those would be the burritos that you get at Chipotle. So next time you are in line at Chipotle to get a burrito, you can thank this little unassuming place.

So how does this imitate art? There is a show on the Travel Channel called Man vs. Food. The host travels to different cities, tries the food at two different local restaurants and then takes on a food challenge in the city. You know like eat a 20lb hamburger in an hour some ridiculous thing like that. Anyhow, my friends that live in Sacramento had seen an episode from SF and they came to this place! They decided they had to go, but they wanted to share the experience with us! And boy am I glad they did! This place was phenomenal and I would surely go back if ever given the chance again. If you ever find yourself in SF and like Mexican food you should totally check it out. Don't let the place skeeve you out (because I was a little skeeved myself) because the food is amazing. Maxim even named in the most bitchingest burrito, so there's that too.

Don't believe me? Don't you see how happy I am to be eating there?

(Ignore my half closed eyes. I have decided that I don't have very wide eyes or something like that.)

And that is how my life has imitated art.

Because Really? Who Doesn't Love Guidos and Guidettes?

There appears to be a new fascination with the Garden State, New Jersey. There is the installment of the Real Housewives of New Jersey and now a show I was recently turned on to on MTV called Jersey Shore. I know, I know... MTV. I thought that I had outgrown my TRL, Real World, Road Rules days, but this - this is a show that you must stop and watch not matter how ridiculous you think MTV programming is these days. Because really? Who doesn't love Guidos and Guidettes?

At this point you may be asking what is a Guido/Guidette. Simply put its about half of the Jersey population. Picture this - a man of Italian descent, gold chains, tan (think more orange like an Oompa Loompa), spiky hair, roided out body and a crazy ridiculous accent. That is a Guido. And a Guidette? The female version except she's not roided out, but probably has some fake "bubbies" as the Housewives of New Jersey would call them. They also have this whole different language which I like to call Guidish. For example, instead of saying that they are attracted to someone they say they are "vibin'" on someone.

The show basically follows eight stranger Guidos/Guidettes who were picked to live in a house, have their lives taped, work together and find out what happens when people stop being polite and start getting real.... hey wait doesn't this sound familiar? True the geniuses at MTV, who in my opinion started the whole reality TV phenomenon, just put a new spin on an old fave the Real World. Why they didn't just do a Real World New Jersey is beyond this blogger, but I guess that's why I don't make the millions. Anyhow, the show follows these Guidos/Guidettes during their summer at the Jersey Shore or Seaside Heights. They live together and work for some t-shirt shop which apparently is a stressful job, who knew? They each have goofy nicknames such as "JWoww", "The Situation", "Sweetheart" and "Snooki" (or Schnookie, Snickers, etc. as her roommates can't quite remember something as difficult as Snooki).

As you can imagine the drama abounds. On the first night, Snooki (aka Snickers, Schnookie) becomes the house drunk trying to make out with all the Guidos in the house and eventually passes out before everyone else leaves for the night. The next morning she claims that she is not that type of person, she just acted that way because she wasn't used to not being the center of attention. She then feels left out and even almost quits the show before Sammi, or Sweetheart reaches out to her and says that she can tell that she's not really that type of person. (Really?! Because I am going to go with she is TOTALLY that type of person.)

The hook-ups are plentiful. You can just tell that they are all vibin' on each other and by the end of the show at least all of them will have had sex at least once on camera. That is a given. Mike, "The Situation" makes it known that he is vibin' on Sammi, and she even seems to be in to him, but then she randomly ends up with Ronnie, another housemate. You can imagine how hurt "The Situation's" ego is. All I can say is that I wouldn't want to be at the receiving end of any of these Guido's roid rages so Sammi and Ronnie best watch it.

While this looks like just another Real World, the show promises to be nothing if 10x the drama than the Real World because apparently that is what happens at the Jersey Shore. What do you expect when you mix copious amounts of alcohol, roid rages, and bitchy girls? Sounds like a recipe for success to me.