You had me at "unlimited breadsticks."

Yesterday, I went to the Olive Garden. For the Very. First. Time. And yes, I totally got the all-you-can-eat soup/salad/breadsticks awesomeness. It's possible that I'm a sucker for the "all-you-can-eat." So American. So great.

Hit the skidz

I love how some songs are like little 3-minute time machines, taking you back to some moment in the past. This morning, that song was "I Remember You" by Skid Row. Ah, 1989. It was an unfortunate time - bad fashion, bad hair, and at 12, I was in the thick of it. Hearing this song on the radio this morning transported me back to wearing foldover acid wash jeans and some sort of sweater from 5-7-9.

Seriously - I think these were the jeans:

But man - Sebastian Bach was awesome. He was on Gilmore Girls for a while and I really still love him. The jeans, not so much.

Amish you.

"Breaking Amish" is fantastic. 5 young Amish people (excuse me - 4 Amish and a Mennonite. Which sounds like the beginning of a joke.) decide to go to New York to see what life in the big city is like. Also, what electricity is like. What a genius premise.

Seeing them try new things is part of the awesomeness - flying on a plane! Wearing sunglasses! Eating sushi! Dressing "English," which for the guys apparently means dressing like white rappers from the 90s! Learning to drive! (One of their dreams is to be a cab driver. Aw.) But quick question: if the Amish refuse to have their photos taken and don't drive, how do they board planes? Maybe they have a Passport? But still - there's a Passport photo...scandalous.

One bone I have to pick: apparently one of the girls wears fake teeth which she takes out at night. The others discovered this - but never bring it up! That's all this show needs - an Amish cat fight.

Cough, cough

Aw. Little Charlie has kennel cough. Which is apparently super contagious - we had to leave through the back door of the vet. Ouch. Actually, I've been a little sniffly lately myself - maybe I caught it. Wouldn't that be such an awesome excuse to get out of work? "I can't come in today - I have kennel cough." I'll let y'all know how that goes over.

Meet Charlie.

I adopted this sweet 9-lb furball on Friday. The shelter was so crowded, dogs were only $25 (normally $80) and cats were only $15. As a discount shopper myself, I could not be more excited by my purchase. She is the sweetest thing who just wants her tummy rubbed. (Who doesn't?) And once she's able to get a bath/groomed next Sunday (at 9am, but who's counting), I think she'll look even more adorable than she does now. But yes, I may be biased.

Tummy rub in action:

Winner winner chicken dinner

I never win anything. (Granted, I never really TRY to win anything, because I assume I won't - i.e. buying lottery tickets.) A friend recently won a trip for four to the Four Seasons in Maui - now THAT'S my kind of prize. But this week, I won something. I put my business card into a fishbowl contest last week, and they picked me! It's a sad little something, but I guess it counts as a prize: a $50 fun card to Main Event. Which I guess means $50 of video games? Maybe laser tag? Not a big fan of any of that stuff, but hey. $50 is $50. Anyone for air hockey?

Does Colonel Sanders know about this?

This is awesome.

Another near miss

Wearing new pants today. Didn't notice until I got to my desk that, although I removed the tags, I failed to remove the giant sticker running down my thigh that announces what size I have on. And I have already been to get coffee. In public. Thank god it's still early at work and no one else has seen what size pants I wear. Nobody needs to know.

Omigod. BEFORE omg.

I wanted one of these soooo badly in the 80s.

Still kind of do.

Raw deal.

I'm not the most adventurous when it comes to food. I basically eat the same thing every night - why fix it if it ain't broke? So I never thought I would be a sushi person. I mean - it's raw. Fish. Ew. The first time I ever tried it was in New York back in like 1999. We went to some fancy restaurant that served smores you cooked on your table (awesome), and sushi, apparently. An odd combination, but hey - it's New York. They can do whatever they want. I guess it was a California roll that I tried, but I was so nervous that I would gag that I drenched it in soy sauce and that's all I tasted. (Fine by me)

In recent years, I've eaten it more - still can't stomach sashimi, but I have moved beyond mere California rolls (which are like the lamest of the rolls, according to sushi connoisseurs) - hell, I've even had sake. But last week I ventured into unknown territory - the dreaded tuna tower. I had only seen one once, and to be honest, it looked like someone had already chewed it up and spit it back out. (Sorry.) But my friend ordered it for us, so I thought I might as well take a chance. And who knew - it was delicious. Not exactly pretty to look at, but soooo tasty. I think I might have a new favorite. California who?

Don't mind if I (Xana)du

Um, Olivia Newton John is performing at Winstar Casino on November 2. I seriously might have to go. And not just because I could recite Grease by heart. But that doesn't hurt.

I don't think so.

Forgot how great this song was.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdizL4on-Rc

Drank the Britney Kool-aid. Er, Pepsi.

I may be a devoted Bachelor/Bachelorette/Bachelor Pad viewer, but I draw the line at shows like The Voice, American Idol, America's Got Talent, etc. HOWEVER. With the addition of a Miss Britney Spears as a judge, hell yes I tuned in to the X Factor last night. Love me some Britney. And loved that the producers lumped together a bunch of clips of her telling people how terrible they were, etc. - and capping it off with an "it's Britney, bitch." GENIUS.

Also genius? Playing Backstreet Boys when a former (European) boy bander auditioned. Nice work, producers. I might actually tune in for another round. Gotta have something to keep me occupied until the next Bachelor starts...

And how great is this picture? You can even see the Pepsi! Nice work, product placement team.

Makeup tip

Here's a tip: when you get zero sleep, double-check your makeup color before applying it. I was thisclose to having deep purple eyebrows this morning. Awesome.

Simpleton

Oh, Jessica Simpson. Saw her on Katie Couric's new show (which could be another blog post of its own), and granted, girl has lost some weight. Who wouldn't, if they were getting a $4 million payday from Weight Watchers? Looking good, especially for someone who admitted the only time she ate fish growing up was in fish sticks. Yay Texas.

But I also saw her WW commercial, and I find it verrrrry interesting that it's a close-up of her face the entire time. No body shot. Now, she claims this is because it's more about the feeling than the weight. I disagree. C'mon, Jess. Give the people what they want.

Team Nick

And now, the Bachelor Pad finale recap. Hooooooly shocking ending, sports fans! But first, I would like to take a moment to acknowledge all of the emails and texts I've been getting on Mondays from friends who are equally as obsessed with BP as I am. It warms my heart.

But back to the jaw-dropping finale. (Literally. My jaw DROPPED.) Some thoughts:

• Love that the "super fans" were not called on at all - I literally saw the twins for about a half a second. (Thanks, ABC.)
• What was Jamie wearing?? She looked like Cleopatra crossed with Jem (were those STAR STICKERS on her face??)
• Lindzi and Kalon are still together. Kinda surprised by that. And nice work by Erica Rose on telling Lindzi she's seen him out with other girls. On live TV.
• Also kinda surprised that Blakely and Tony are still together. And moving in together. And....getting engaged on national TV! (Thanks, Neil Lane) Maybe her days of VIP cocktailing and waxing (aka Hooters) are finally behind her?
• Michael Stagliano. Kind of douchey, as it turns out. Not in it for love at all, although Rachel was unaware of that. And interesting that Jaclyn knew ALL about the situation - guess her "Rachel is dead to me!" was just a moment of weakness last week?
• Then it comes down to the two final couples: Rachel and Nick and Chris and Sarah. Interesting ploy by Chris to say "Don't vote for me! (Vote for Sarah.)" But it didn't work - Rachel and Nick won by a landslide. But wait. There's more.
• Now they have to choose whether to share the $250,000 or keep it for themselves. If they both pick "keep," the money gets split among all the housemates. Rachel and Nick do their best "I'm weighing the choices and it's really really hard" acting jobs in the soundproof rooms, and then it's time to reveal their choices. Rachel picks "share." And Nick, in a Most Shocking Move, opts to KEEP the money for himself!!! (Cue jaw drop.) I kind of have to give him credit - he spoke more words during these 3 minutes than he spoke all season, and honestly made some good points. He totally screwed Rachel over, but he really didn't owe her anything and she didn't want to be his partner anyway...brilliant. Well-played, sir.
  • Rachel wigs out, calls him a f&%@ing schmuck (?!) and even follows him backstage to yell at him. He doesn't give a rat's ass at that point, and in the exit limo sums it up with "BP3. Anything goes."
  
  And....scene. Damn. What in the world am I going to do on Monday nights now.
  
  

From sea to shining sea

I've probably already blogged about my own September 11 experience before, but I think about it every year on the anniversary, so before delving into what you really want to read - Bachelor Pad Recap! - please indulge me for a minute.

It was my first day of grad school in Boston. Ironically, I had just been in NYC the weekend before for the US Open, and I remember seeing the skyline of the city and being so enthralled. But back to Boston. For some reason I woke up an hour early, so after working out and getting ready for class I was listening to the radio, and that's when I heard about the first plane. It was believed to be an accident at that point, but I was curious and turned on the TV just in time to see the second plane hit. One roommate had already gone to work, but I got the other one out of the bathroom and said, "you need to come see this."

We sat watching in shock/horror for a while, and then didn't know what else to do, so I went to class. Of course, that's all anyone on the bus/subway was talking about - rumors running rampant that there was a fifth plane, etc. Since two of the planes left from Boston, the city was being evacuated by the time I got downtown, so of course there was no school. So I turned around and came home. All public transportation was free, and I remember seeing a sign in the window of a Gap that said "Closed due to attack on America." I think that's when I knew things would never be the same.

That semester was an interesting time to be a journalism student - every single story we did was about the attacks. Or anthrax. Or the firefighters. It was draining, to be sure - but I will certainly never forget.

xo, USA.

The g is silent in "gnocchi"

While eating some trail mix yesterday, I noticed that the label listed pepitas as one of the ingredients. Which is Spanish for pumpkin seeds. But doesn't it sound fancier as "pepitas?"

Same goes for the croque monsieur - basically a hot ham and cheese sandwich.

And the exotic-sounding cuba libre drink? Rum and coke, people.

Things just sound better in foreign languages. Although not sure about Backpfeifengesicht, which means "a face in need of a fist" in German. Might just be easier to punch someone.

Spin Doctor

I finally sucked it up and took a spin class on Monday. Wanted to see what all the hype was about. And I have to say: meh. I found it to be super boring. Yes, I sweated my a** off, but could we not find some better scenery than the person's back in front of me? Yawn. Plus the fact that the same people go every day (dear god, no thank you), so they get wary of anyone they don't know. I was afraid of stealing someone's bike, so I squished myself into the very back corner where I couldn't have gotten out even if I had wanted to. And I DID want to. Oddly enough I don't find the elliptical or treadmill boring. I guess because I can read a magazine, watch tv, SOMETHING other than stare at the clock in utter shock that only 8 minutes have gone by. Sorry spinners. I'm spent. (see what I did there?)

(Hair) color commentary

Full disclosure: I get my hair highlighted.  It's not this blonde all by itself. But you know what else it isn't? BROWN. Before my last appointment (which may or may not have been a week or two late, and my roots may or may not have been fairly gross and very obvious), I had TWO people call me out on being a brunette.

One girl told me my hair would look good brown, like my roots (what?!). Another guy asked me when was the last time I was a brunette. Um, NEVER?! (No offense to the gorge brunettes out there.)

So I sprinted to the salon to reassure any doubters that my hair is not, in fact, brown. Full disclosure again: it's actually red. (The horror! No offense to the gorge redheads out there either.) And maybe someday I'll go back. But I certainly won't be going brown.

It's beginning to look a lot like...

...still summer.

The calendar may say September, but it looks like it'll be a while before my jeans-boots-scarf-sweater fall ensemble sees the light of day. Stupid Texas.

Motorin'

Just when you think Bachelor Pad can't get any better (or was that just me?), they throw in having to perform "Sister Christian" live in front of an audience of tens (seriously - they paid these people to be in the crowd, yes?) and be judged by none other than Night Ranger. Yesssssss.

Hearing the song so many times, it's possible I may have belted it out in the shower this morning. My attempt went about as well as the three final couples - pitchy, but an A for effort. Particularly for the last-minute couple of Nick and Rachel, who totally rocked it. Ed and Jaclyn were a hot mess (standard for Ed this season), and Sarah and Chris...best description came from Jaclyn, who thought Sarah was either dancing or having a serious health crisis. I'll go with the latter.

The best line of the night, however, came from host Chris Harrison. Night Ranger (I address the entire band, as I have no idea who's who) asked, "are they going to be able to do this?" To which Chris responds, "oh, they'll be terrible." Love him.

But Nick and Rachel pull off the win, giving them the power to decide which couple would join them in the finale, competing for $250,000. In the Most Dramatic Rose Ceremony Ever, they went with the logical, if not very nice, choice of Sarah and Chris, knowing everyone hates them and would rather N and R won the money. Well, not everyone. Jaclyn was PISSED - threw out a "she's dead to me" and everything. Would be such an amazeballs twist if she poisoned all the other contestants and got them to vote for Chris and Sarah. Just sayin'. Good TV right there.

It's true. (It's truuuuuuuuuuue, yeah!)
God I can't stop singing this song.