I'm no fashionista.....

...but I love love love "Project Runway," which premieres tonight on Bravo! (Beth, this is a channel you get with cable.) For those of you who know me (and I assume pretty much anyone reading this knows me), I'm not exactly topping the fashion risk chart. I consider myself a commanding officer of the Gap/Old Navy/flip-flips army. Sometimes I slide even lower on the scale of high fashion, like right now, for instance: I'm wearing an old DQ t-shirt (from my ice cream-slinging days) and pink and white striped pj bottoms. HOT.

I think that's one of the reasons why I love this show. It takes a bunch of fairly-to-very talented designers, and puts them in a competition to show a line of clothing during Fall Fashion Week in New York. Heidi Klum is the host, and I gotta tell ya, I love her, not to mention the snarky Michael Kors, Nina Garcia, and most especially, Tim Gunn. Plus, I love to watch people excel in an area where I am completely talent-free (which may explain why I also love "Hell's Kitchen" and "Top Chef" as well).

Check it out. Even if you hate reality television (Alan), you may love this. Give it a shot. It's worth it, I promise.

save a few hours of your life, and don't read this book

I read the book The Washingtonienne by Jessica Culter last week. It's, like, seriously bad. In real life, the author worked in Washington on Capitol Hill, slept around with a bunch of political-types, blogged about it, and then got fired because she was blogging on work time. It was a bit of a scandal a couple of years ago. Basically, the book is a fictionalized account of that part of her life. I thought the book sucked. I thought it was poorly written, and there is no way I'm going to buy another one of her books, if she actually gets published again. I hope she made the most of her extended 15 minutes, because she's a one-trick pony, if ever I saw one. For a better account of all that happened, go to Wonkette.com, and do a search on her name and also "The Washingtonienne" (which was the name of her blog). So much better than the book, and it's free!

Back to work (sigh)

Well, the hours are winding down on my big summer vacation. Can't complain too much - the weather was pretty good - great this weekend, in fact - and I got a lot of hang time with my pups. This afternoon I'm going to a birthday party for twin five-year-olds (one of which is my godson) and tonight I have Woods rehearsal, and then it's back to work tomorrow. And, God, do I have a lot to do when I get back.

One recommendation from my week off is the book The Wonder Spot by Melissa Bank (Or is it Banks? I'm too lazy to go in the other room and check. Same chick who wrote The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing.). Anyway, it was a really good book. I flew through several books this week, and that was the best one, by far.

weekend update

Well, here we go!

Today (Friday): I'm off to the beach in a little bit. Finally the weather has cooperated. Sweet! I'm just going down with my towel and my book, and I'm sure after a few hours I will feel very guilty about spending so much time in the sun and I will leave. Tonight I'm hanging with Greg, but I'm not sure what we're doing.

Saturday: I'm going to a cookout at my friend Ethan's house. I'm pretty psyched because I get to see a bunch of my old newspaper friends who I haven't seen in a really long time.

Sunday: Not too much during then day, then we're off to Connor and Cole's birthday party, after which I have rehearsal. Oh, did I tell you the improv show I was doing was canceled? Yeah, we'll do it at some point in the future, but the first booking was canceled. In part, I'm relieved, because it was getting confusing doing two shows at once. But I feel badly for my friend who is producing it. Oh well, I think there's another one coming up in September.

That's all! Have a good one.

Greetings from...here.

So, even though I am taking the lamest of all lame vacations - a week at, well, home - I have to say it's still pretty sweet. And even though the weather isn't panning out as it promised - we were supposedly supposed to have a week's worth of sunshine, yeah right, but hey, at least it hasn't poured all week - I'm still having fun. Since the party on Tuesday, I've pretty much spent the bulk of my time on my back deck, enjoying the warm, albeit mostly cloudy, weather. I was going to go to the beach today, but because the forecast shifted, I'm just hangin' here with my dogs. I think I'll go tomorrow instead. Oh, so far this week I did get an oil change and I went to emissions, and....zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.....sorry, I just fell asleep writing my own boring blog entry. I guess, to make a long story short (too late!), I just wanted to say it's been relaxing. Wish you were here!

Bang!

So, yesterday's Fourth of July party was quite a success, if I do say so myself. Some highlights:

*The return of Flannery!
*Lisa's dee-licious Jell-o shots (which were polished off after she left)
*The massive fireworks display masterfully put on by Greg, Rob and Dimitry
*The kids' artwork on my driveway and front walkway
*The food, glorious food!
*Hanging out with friend and family
*The petting zoo downstairs - and the fact that Connor and Cole will probably repeat "poopy puppy" about a million times over the next week, since they were so entertained when I said it
*And last, but certainly not least - the fact that it didn't rain! Yeah! Especially considering it rained like a bitch elsewhere in the state.

I'm spoiled (or, my life without air conditioning)

I have always had central air conditioning. We had it in my house growing up, and I had air conditioning in most of my apartments (except for the Hartford apartment, or, what I like to call the ninth ring of hell). Anyway, our AC died last night. I am waiting at home for the guy to come and hopefully fix it. In the meantime, It's hotter than a monkey's butt out there, and I've got over 40 people coming to my house tomorrow - which is supposed to be a combo scorcher with thunderstorms. I'm trying to be Zen about the weather - really, what can I do if it rains? - but I have my fingers crossed and am praying to the weather gods that it stays dry, at least for most of the day!

But I am now happy, because I read that Lisa is making Jello shots for the party. YES.

ETA: The AC is fixed! Thank you, Jesus. And, more specifically, thank you Dale, the AC guy.

Also - now they are saying possible HAIL tomorrow? WTF?!?

The Devil Wears Prada

This was a good movie. I really enjoyed it. It stuck true to the book in many ways - although in other ways, it totally didn't -but overall, it was a really good chick flick. Meryl Streep was awesome, and Anne Hathaway really reminded me of Julia Roberts. She's so pretty! I want to look like Anne Hathaway. Sigh.

In other news, it's dang hot out today! Keep your fingers crossed for good weather on Tuesday.

weekend update, Fourth of July version

Wahoo! I'm off of work for a week. Yay! Here's what's up this weekend:

Friday: I am going to get my hair cut in an hour. I need it soooo bad. My bangs are driving me nuts. Then we're going to dinner at Pastis with Al and Lisa. We have gift certificates, and the place is closing tomorrow. Am I worried about what kind of food will be served in its final hours? You betcha. But it's free!

Saturday: Must get up very early and clean the house. Not only are we having a Fourth of July shindig on Tuesday, but we are now having a houseguest beginning Sunday, so the cleaning frenzy must begin. Those of you with dogs know that anything I clean will be undone it about five seconds, but a girl's gotta try. Then in the afternoon I am going to my friend Heather's family Fourth (actually First) of July party. They do this every year, and since I'm a pseudo member of their family, I go. It's usually a lot of fun - I'm quite looking forward to it. Tomorrow night I'd really love to go see The Devil Wears Prada, because I loved the book and I need to see a good chick flick right now.

Sunday: More cleaning. Perhaps doing the food shop for the party. Dimitry will arrive. I have to do some theater stuff in the a.m., and then we have Into the Woods rehearsal in the p.m. I am going to stop by my mom's at some point as well.

That's the weekend. Have a great one, folks!

It's an honor just being nominated

Although the number one and number two pups of all time, Junior and Jimmy, did not make the final six in Old Navy's search for a new mascot, it's still worth checking out the finalists over at www.oldnavy.com/magic. My money's on Cooper - something about that pup just makes me smile. So go over there and vote! You only have until July 7, I believe.

free time

I'm not a person who schedules a lot of free time in my life. For someone without kids, my life seems incredibly insane most of the time, mostly due to various theater projects, friend and family obligations, and of course, work. So having a free night is a somewhat rare thing. Usually, when I do have a free night, I have to catch up on the many hours of TV I Tivoed that week. But now that it's summer, my Tivo is on a bit of a break. Sure, I'm still recording "The Daily Show" and "The Colbert Report," as well as Kathy Griffin's "My Life on the D-List," among other things. But overall, my TV obligations have decreased dramatically over the past few weeks.

I'm discovering that that is a good thing. Now, I'm not knocking TV - and you will never hear me do that - but it's truly amazing how much free time I feel I have when I'm not watching it. Take tonight, for example. Now, tonight wasn't technically a free night - I had rehearsal for Into the Woods - but I was able to leave early, around 7:45. Since then, I went to Target to pick up some kids' toys for our Fourth of July fiesta, I played outside with the dogs for quite a while, chatted with the neighbors, did some laundry, caught up on my blog-reading, and now I'm writing this. And it's only 9:18! Amazing! Oooh...speaking of which, I really miss "The Amazing Race".....well, September is right around the corner.

What the dog did

For those of you who have to listen to me in real life, you probably think this entry is about Jimmy's latest back-to-back trips to the emergency vet. But I'm so exhausted by all of that drama I don't feel like writing about it. So instead, I'm here to 100% wholeheartedly recommend the book What The Dog Did by Emily Yoffe. It just came out in paperback, and it's the story of a self-proclaimed "reluctant dog owner." At the constant begging of her daughter, she adopted a rescue beagle named Sasha for her family. I was laughing my arse off for the first three quarters of the book. Seriously making a scene of myself in Borders, where I bought it and started to read it. Greg was embarrassed, I think. But it hit home so much, and explained a whole lot about my dog Jimmy (who is half beagle). There are a few sad bits (don't worry, Sasha is still alive at the end; Emily, just talks about some other people's sad experiences - but she gets through them quickly) but overall it was really informational, and most importantly, hi-freaking-larious. I don't think you have to have a dog to truly appreciate this book, but it probably helps. I read a whole lotta books, and this is by far the best one I've read this year. Go buy it now!

another opening, another show

Sorry I haven't been blogging too regularly. It's been quite busy, what with an eye infection (me) and an emergency trip to the vet resulting in a big 'ol pink bandage (Jimmy). But tonight I get to go to the first rehearsal for the show I will be stage managing this summer, Into the Woods. I am so psyched. This is the summer theater group that I helped out with last summer, for college and post-college-aged people. It's a really great group and casting went so well last week that I think we are going to have a phenomenal show. I love this part, the part before we even start, where we can hope that everything will go smoothly, and there will be no problems, and hundreds of people will come see all of our work. Here's hoping it all comes true.

weekend update

Lisa requested that I do a weekend update. So here it is. First of all, may I just say I am so happy it's Friday? This week has sucked the life out of me. So here is what I am doing:

Tonight: I have been peer-pressured into seeing X-Men 3 by Greg and Heather. So off we will go, with Larry too, to see this movie I already hate. I don't see comic book movies, but I don't want to be a party pooper. So instead I will complain about it the whole time! Oh, OK, I'll try not to. Anyway, before that we are going to dinner. This is big doings because with twin boys and another boy on the way in a matter of weeks, Heather and Larry don't go out too much.

Tomorrow: I will watch with glee as 6 inches of rain fall on our lovely state. If by glee I mean all-consuming anger, and if by lovely I mean God-forsaken. This wretched state is cursed, I say. I have to do some shopping and some chores and stuff. I really don't have anything much planned for tomorrow, can ya tell?

Sunday: I have a thing to go to in the afternoon, and then I have improv rehearsal at night. I'm sorry Lisa - I'm so boring this weekend!

this week sucks @ss

Which is why I haven't blogged in a while.

Steamy!

It's the three H's today - hazy, hot and humid. I LOVE IT!

Bring it, summer. I'm ready.

weekend

OK it's the weekend. Why do I feel the need to itemize what I do on the weekends? I have no idea. But here goes:

Friday: I went to work, and then hung out with Greg and watched our Netflixed "Entourage" season 2 DVDs. Well, not all of them, but a pretty good chunk. Went out to dinner w/some friends later.

Saturday: Today we are doing yardwork. I am not one of those people who gets any sense of joy out of yardwork. For me it's a necessity, only so that the neighbors don't talk about us for having a shitty yard. Greg is currently cutting down two small trees in our front yard, which will improve things markedly, I think. I should be out there helping, and I will be, just as soon as I finish this. Not sure what we are doing tonight, because we cannot agree on a movie (he wants to see Superman; I don't. I gave up comic book movies a long time ago, as a result of another relationship in which half of us was comic-book focused. Hint: it wasn't my half). We'll figure something out, but I have a sneaking suspicion it won't be glamorous.

Sunday: It's supposed to be hot as a mo-fo tomorrow. Like, 97 degrees or something like that. We are going down to the beach to celebrate Father's Day with Greg's parents. I will probably be somewhat blue about the holiday - but perhaps I will be fine. This is the seventh Father's Day I have not been able to celebrate. So strange how time flies sometimes. Anyway. Then tomorrow night I have to go audition someone for Into the Woods who cannot make it to auditions next week because he'll be away.

And with that, my friends, I'm off to the yard.

I'm not even supposed to BE here today

(Did anyone get my Clerks reference? Because, you know, BEST MOVIE EVER.)

Anywho, I kind of make it a policy not to talk about my job on this blog. But two really great things happened that I wanted to touch upon:

1) I got a promotion!

2) Drinking games.

That is all.

The pups (because I never post pictures of them!)

Jimmy, the one-nut wonder

Well, I have to drop Jimmy off at the vet tomorrow to get fixed. And of course, because I'm a tried-and-true sap, I'm emotional about it. I know you have to get your pets fixed; it's the right thing to do. Also, it's probably the most common procedure that vets do on dogs. But I'm nervous. Because Jimmy is a true original, only one of his, uh, beans has descended, so they are going to have to go in and find the other one. This, I hear, is also fairly common. But the poor pup is going to be down for the count for a little bit. I feel so bad! OK - tell me I'm a loser now.

ETA: The patient is home and as good as new! Well, except for the lack of desire to hump his brother.