bitten

I was two episodes behind on Project Runway. So tonight I watched last week's episode, and the challenge was designing a two-piece outfit for Sarah Jessica Parker's clothing line. There are fourteen contestants, but only 7 design concepts are chosen by SJP, and then teams of two are formed.

The winning outfit, designed by Asian designer Victorya:
























And of course, one day you're in, the next... you're out:

It was a bit of a potato sack, don't you think?

I now need to watch this week's episode 3, but that will be for another day.

angels

Woohoo, my favorite annual show is coming up next week!

http://www2.victoriassecret.com/fashionshow/index.cfm

Featuring the Spice Girls' debut reunion performance. Heehee.

no chicken, no check-in

The star of this week's leg of Amazing Race is the chicken that each team has to tote around with them from pretty much the start of the leg til they get to the pit stop. I spent the entire episode watching in anticipation for one of the teams to lose a chicken and be denied check-in at the pit stop. But alas, all teams are responsible and show up with chicken in hand. How boring.

In any event, the dumb blonde team "u-turned" Lorena and Jason, which slowed them down immensely and ultimately resulted in the elimination of Lorena and Jason from the race. And now all the teams HATE the blondes (whose names I cannot quite bring myself to remember) so they are pretty much screwed for the rest of the race.

Meanwhile, the Giants suck.

post-turkey haze

Have been at my sister's house the past few days for the thanksgiving holiday. We had a lovely turkey feast and then my sister and I got up at 7AM the next morning for day-after-Thanksgiving doorbuster sales! By noon I was wiped out. We ended up doing a second round of shopping later in the day after a lunch break and a nap, and I must say I cleaned up pretty well. Got some of my christmas shopping done as well as got myself a bunch of great bargains! All in all I am quite pleased with the results.

You know what the best part of Thanksgiving being over is? I can now play holiday music without guilt! YES. I've been waiting for this you know. Love the holidays, all the holiday stuff being sold, the holiday cookies, the holiday food, the holiday crafts (my card making adventure is well underway) and did I mention the holiday MUSIC?

So what does this all mean? It means I am terribly behind in my tv watching. Will try to catch up soon on some shows, so stay tuned. Hope everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving!

i choose me.

Oh how I wish I still watched The Bachelor. I didn't actually know it was still even on, but for this alone, this season would have been worth watching:

The Bachelor Chooses NOBODY.

Classic.

favorite things

So I stopped recording Oprah a while back, BUT I did set my DVR to record The Oprah Winfrey Show on Tuesday, November 20th. Why? Because it was her annual Favorite Things extravaganza episode and even I could not be kept from getting swept up in the crazy chaos and excitement of Oprah giving away a crapload of super cool things worth an obscenely large amount of money. Yes, I buy into the insanity. And so, Oprah's favorite things in 2007:

1. Samsung HD camcorder - it's teeny tiny and super high tech. Retail price: $800.

2. Crochet Uggs, which I don't actually think are all that cute but I bet they are super comfy and warm. Retail price: $120 accordingly to Oprah, but the Ugg website sells them for $100.

3. The ToyWatch. Retail price: $150.

(At this point the audience is already screaming and crying so hard they are practically shaking. And we are less than ten minutes into the episode. Scary.)

4. Perfect Endings Holiday Cupcakes in red velvet, chocolate and coconut flavors. Retail price: $59 for a box of 9 cupcakes (3 in each flavor). In case you are counting, this comes out to over $6 PER cupcake. I will be sticking to my $1.85 cupcakes from Buttercup.

5. Williams-Sonoma melamine nested mixing bowls with matching measuring cups and spoons. $32 for the bowls and $18 for the cups and spoons.

6. The KitchenAid standmixer - retail $349. I have been DYING for one of these (but there is zero room in my kitchen for this monstrosity).

7. The Planet Earth DVD series from the Discovery Channel. Retail price: $59.95

8. Kai body butter and body buffer, which is like a loofah with built in soap. Retail price: $83 for both - that is a lot for soap, no?

9. Clarisonic skincare system, from the makers of the Sonicare toothbrush. Retail price: $195.

10. Claus Porto jumbo soaps from Lafco New York (where I want to go!) in 17 different scents. A set of 3 is $42. Oprah sure is into the overpriced soaps this year.

11. Autographed copies of The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett. Oprah's holiday must-read book.

(FedEx elves make their third trip out to the audience at this point. Insanity.)

12. Breville Icon panini press. $99.95 exclusively at Williams-Sonoma. I want one of these too. Don't have room for this in my kitchen either.

13. The most expensive thing in Favorite Things history: LG refrigerator with a built in HDTV, DVD hook-up and radio. You can also access local weather built-in recipes. There is a tv in the refrigerator. Seriously. And costs $3,799. Holy crap.

14. Ciao Bella blood orange sorbeto (inside the LG freezer of course). YUM. $4.99 a pint.

15. Loungy outfits by Rachel Pally. Sailor pants are $194 and tops are $141. I realize this stuff is supposed to be fancy and such, but I would never wear this to be honest.

16. Premiere edition of Scrabble - it's got a built in drawer to store the pieces and spins on a lazy Susan. 70 for game night!

17. United Artists 90th Anniversary Prestige Collection - 90 DVD movies in a box. NINETY movies in one box! $869. She says it's a great gift, but who can afford to buy this for someone?

18. $250 gift card for Target. Woohoo! We love Target!

19. Shaklee Get Clean starter kit. Go green. $89.60 for a basket of the cleaning stuff.

20. O's Guide to Life. The Best of O Magazine all combined into one book. And autographed by Oprah of course. $29.95.

At this point Josh Groban comes out singing Christmas carols. I'm not a huge fan, but he does a pretty stunning version of Silent Night and then shows off piano skills too. So obviously, the logical next favorite thing:

21. Josh Groban Noel CD.

22. And obviously, to wrap all the fab gifts Oprah has just convinced you all to buy - Hallmark RED wrapping paper and holiday card collection.

Not too shabby for the guests in Georgia that got to go to this special taping! And just what I needed to get me in the mood for holiday shopping, since I totally love the time of year coming up and get a high off holiday shopping. Black Friday, here I come!

Oh, and Happy Thanksgiving to all! :)

b-i-n-g-o!

It's week 3 of the Amazing Race and crazy Asian dad has a hernia that is going to cause problems during the race for sure. The goth couple is still managing to keep up their makeup ritual and the teams are off to West Africa to find the town of Ouagadougu (or something similarly unpronounceable that I have no chance of spelling correctly). Every single teams gets on the same flight and they all end up waiting for the same train, so there's lot of bunching and all the teams are evened up. Most of this week's activities take place in an African town called Bingo.

The first task they finally get to attempt involves milking camels - LOVE IT. You know why? Because not only do they have to milk the camel, they then have to drink the camel milk. And THEN they have to lead the camels down a path. This proves to be pretty damn hilarious if I do say so myself. Camels are screeching, kicking and pooping all over the place. And then there's Lorena who won't stop screeching and screaming herself, kind of like the camels. Good times.

After some interaction with local African students, Azaria & Hendekea end up first at the pit stop to win a trip to Bermuda, and teams 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 all show up within a minute of each other - I don't know if I've ever seen that happen! And SOMEHOW, Lorena and Jason DON'T come in last even though they were a DISASTER on this leg. Alas, it's bye bye to Marianna & Julia, the bitchy sisters from Florida. All in all, a good week in the race!

Next week: Dancing and scandals!

music makes the world go round

I used to LOVE music awards shows. As in watched them obsessively - Grammies, AMAs, MTV, etc. etc. If it qualified as some sort of music award, I was watching intently without interruption and not missing a beat. Not so much anymore, though this evening I find myself flipping past the American Music Awards every now and then, so I will comment as I see fit on the bits I do catch between this and football and Pretty Woman (!). Amazing Race is also on but my DVR is recording it and I likely won't watch that tonight.

8:40pm: Ashanti just came out looking fantastically awesome in a mustard yellow gown and awarded Akon an award for best R&B male. His speech is somewhat incoherent though and I don't really have a clue who this guy is that he brought up on stage with him.

8:54pm: I flipped back just in time to see my boy Justin Timberlake win the award for best male artist! Unfortunately he wasn't actually there so all we got was some satellite footage of him being excited about winning the award. And I guess that means he won't be performing tonight :(

9:13pm: Carrie Underwood just won best female country award wearing a fabulous white dress which I will try to find a picture of online. And then some country group came out singing Beyonce's Irreplaceable??! It was all very strange, until Beyonce came out to join them and then it was... still very strange. That song was not meant to be country!

...found a pic of Carrie's dress. I love the design of this. I'm not so sure why, seeing that it's not something I would ever wear, but then again, most of these things aren't. But I love the pattern of the dress and the neckline. It's so chic!

9:37pm: Justin Timberlake wins best R&B album for FutureSex/LoveSounds! And once again, all we get is a quick glimpse of his adorable face via satellite.

9:43pm: Jennie Garth, Mel B and Helio come out representing Dancing With the Stars (and of course - it's an ABC show on an ABC award show) and oh my goodness, Jennie Garth is super adorable!

10:08pm: Duran Duran! They perform two songs and I don't recognize the first song they're performing, but I don't so much care, because how can you not love it? It's Duran Duran!! Their second song is Hungry Like The Wolf, and I just love that in a world of modern pop culture, hip hop and mainstream pop, Duran Duran can still get up on stage and rock it with the best of them. Awesome.

10:25pm: The Patriots are currently beating the Bills 42-7 in the third quarter. It's like there isn't a single team out there who's even attempting to put up a fight against New England!

I dug around a bit and found a picture of Jennie's outfit at the AMAs. I love the dress! Nice and simple, but so cute! And what a great color for her. Many people couldn't be caught dead wearing teal but Jennie carries it off without a hitch!

10:33pm: Bone Thugs-n-Harmony just won an award... I didn't even know they were still around!

Okay, there's still about twenty minutes left in this awards show but I've had enough. Time to call it a night and put both my tv and laptop to rest!

Make it work!

Season 4 of Project Runway is underway and I have finally gotten around to watching the premiere. We've got 15 new designers ready to roll, and while I usually try to introduce the designers one by one up front (like I do with the Amazing Race teams), I'm just not going to bother this time because... well, I'm too lazy to. So we will meet them as the season goes along, okay?

The new designers are summoned to home of Fashion Week - Bryant Park, where they are greeted by champagne and a very empty park in the middle of the day - as if that EVER happens. Tim and Heidi show up, looking fabulous as usual and making everyone swoon just a bit. With no time to waste, the designers are presented with challenge #1: Grab fabric from three tents set up across the park, lots of it, and then make an outfit that expresses "who you are as a designer." They all ransack the tents, and I feel terribly bad for the big fat guy Chris who can't really run and is the last one to reach the tents, but he turns out to get what he needs and wants out of the fabric choices, so it's all good.

Back to Parsons they go and they've got 13 hours to make it work! Seems like a lot of time (relatively speaking), but next thing you know there's only 4 hours left and here comes Tim to check out the progress. He's not really amused with Simone's progress, and that turns out to be a bad omen of things to come. Rami's making a lovely gray dress with lots of draping and Ricky's making a super cute sparkly babydoll dress. Elisa decides she's done with her dress even though there are still four hours left, and this is a problem because a) her dress has unfinished edges, b) its "pooping fabric" on the backside and c) she makes everyone hate her because she decides to take a nap while everyone else is hard at work. I'd also like to point out that we first met Eliza at Bryant Park grinding her silk chiffon into the ground to cover it with grass stains. Lovely. She isn't using using her grass stained chiffon as far as I can tell though, but I can't really quite figure out if that is a good thing or a bad thing, given the state of her dress.

At 1AM the designers head back to Gotham City for a rest, and the next morning they go back to Parsons to put in their finishing touches, meet and fit their models, get the models' hair and makeup done and make use of the glorious Bluefly Accessories Wall! I loooove the Bluefly accessories wall and this officially becomes my favorite show entity.

It's runway time, Heidi looks awesome as usual and we get to see the designers' first set of creations. Nina and Michael are seated and ready to judge, joined by designer Monique Lhuillier, whose work I don't know very well, BUT who I know makes lovely wedding gowns.

There are some of the usual disasters, and some outfits that are lovely. Actually, I was quite pleasantly surprised at just how lovely many of the outfits came out - pretty impressive for the first week. The winning outfit:

Made by Rami, and most definitely one of my favorites this week.

One day you're in, the next you're out:

Bye bye Simone. You didn't really stick around long enough for me to decide if I actually cared you were leaving. I was surprised Elisa the puppet maker didn't go home, given that her creation was quite awful, but I guess she got the creativity points.

All things considered, we're off to a good start for season four, and I can't wait to see more of the Bluefly Accessories Wall!

shoes

This made me laugh and laugh and laugh. It looks so sweet and innocent at first glance, doesn't it? And is just especially funny to me considering my recent shoe investment (see below post). It's a pin being sold by a Paris-based website called Locher's and there is all kinds of cute and funny stuff on the site. Seriously, if you get a chance, browse the site. It's quite entertaining.

Project Runway 4 starts tonight! Hope those DVRs are set! Bluefly.com is in cohorts with the show this year - every week the winning design will be available for sale on Bluefly the next day. Imagine that!

the devil wears prada

Aren't they lovely? Biggest fashion investment I've ever made in my life!

the grass is greener

...in Ireland! Seriously, the grass is a ridiculous shade of bright lush green in Shannon, Ireland where the teams in the Amazing Race had their first pit stop. I can't quite get over it. But in any case, it's night time by the time the second leg starts this week and the teams are off to an airport to find a flight to Amsterdam for this next leg, so bye-bye to bright green grass.

Teams battle over two different flights to Amsterdam, and once there, it's gray and gloomy. Teams are greeted with a detour of either scouring through huge decks of bike racks for ones with matching stickers or completing a very bugs bunny-like lifting task to get furniture from the sidewalk to an upper floor of an Amsterdam home. After this craziness, teams are led to... ditch vaulting! Oh yes, pole vaulting over a muddy, dirty, soggy ditch. If you fall in, you're slimed. And so this is the roadblock that makes this episode oh so interesting. The first team to attempt it flies over it with ease... and then it's all over after that. Most tries result in mud covered contestants and I think this show reaches a new height when the grandpa gets covered in mud and decides to strip himself down to his underwear (in the form of what appears to be tighty whities but they're black and spandexy - gross). So here we have 68 year old grandpa Donald and his pale jiggly body, clothed in way too tight underpants and covered in mud, vaulting over the ditch. What a sight.

In any event, Asian dad Ronald (clad in a "Who's Your Daddy?" windbreaker) turns out to be somewhat of a nutcase and acts all crazy this episode, which makes me and all the other teams feel very sorry for poor Christina. He's going to need to settle down a bit if they're going to have any chance of climbing out of last place, where they currently reside.

And in the end, Lorena & Jason get to the pit stop first to win the leg of the race along with a pair of sports bikes that Lorena acts way more excited about than I bet she actually is. Minister couple Kate & Pat can't quite get their act together for any part of this episode and alas, come in last place and are eliminated.

Next week: Camels!!

chilly

I have yet to leave my apartment today. I had such grand plans for the day: watch some football, run all my errands, visit my parents, go out to dinner. Instead, it's creeping up on 5pm and I have yet to venture outside. All I've accomplished is watching Wisconsin beat Michigan (yay), sneaking in a little nap, watching more football, eating a bunch of tater tots and... that's about it. There's a chill in the air outside and I'm thinking I might just be more comfortable holing up in my cozy apartment for the remainder of the day watching more football and catching up on some tv. Yes, I am lazy when it is cold outside!

vegas!

I am currently watching a show on Discovery HD called Build It Bigger. In this particular episode, it shows the construction of the new upscale hotel and casino the Palazzo, a 53-story extension my very favorite venue in Vegas, The Venetian. The Palazzo boasts to be the biggest, tallest, newest and most glam hotel in Vegas. Can't say that I can argue with them, and watching it get constructed is super cool! I must see it in person! I'm feeling the need for a Vegas fix soon...

Oh and by the way, new season of Project Runway starts next week on Wednesday, November 14th @ 10PM on Bravo. Set your DVRs!

young hollywood

One of the many reasons I love The Hills is that it allows me to vicariously live out the fantasy world in which i am a fashion princess living and working in the fashion industry. Lauren works at Teen Vogue and gets to do super cool things. Her and Whitney are in charge of coordinating this Young Hollywood Fashion Show in the very swanky Vibiana Church in LA. Lauren gets to be the stylist for Marc Jacobs' fashion show. Everyone is dressed to the nines and schmoozing with good looking people. In other words, a far cry from me and my jeans and sneakers in any random sports bar. Of course, living such a glamorous fashion-infused lifestyle would probably require me to live in LA, spend lots of money and be somewhat superficial and shallow. So not so much. Besides, it would also require me to give up my cute little condo which I love dearly even though it has recently been rezoned into an insurance-required flood zone due to its proximity to the East River. *sigh*

ready, set, go!

Here we are, it's season 12 of The Amazing Race, I couldn't wait to watch and I am as always, smitten. First, we meet the teams:

Shana & Jennifer: Two blondies from LA, and they think they're hot, but they're not. They think they're going to flirt their way to the finish line, but have they not watched the first 11 seasons of this show? It's so not how the race is won. They are doomed and I already dislike them.

Kynt & Vyxsin: Those are not typos in the names! It's a goth dating couple from KENTUCKY and I'm fascinated to see how long they manage to keep up their goth makeup on a daily basis on this race - their makeup must take up a crapload of space in their backpacks!

TK & Rachel: Hipster couple from Cali who think they are madly in love but have only known each other for a year. I know, who am I to be judgmental?

Jennifer & Nathan: Jock couple from Cali who are already fighting and screaming at each other a lot, and it's only the first leg of the race. They're in trouble and no Jennifer, now is NOT the time to wonder if you want to spend the rest of your life with this boy. Especially not when you have a donkey that won't budge.

Jason & Lorena: ANOTHER couple from Cali. Lorena is super whiny and a total crybaby and and Jason doesn't seem to really give a crap about anything, including the race. Combined, they are incredibly annoying.

Nicolas & Ronaldo: A boy and his grandfather. You can sense the anxiety in Nicolas as he tries to hurry along his 68-year-old grandfather along at every pass. This is not going to go well because you can tell the grandfather is going to get stuck doing physical tasks that he can't actually do and we're all going to cringe.

Azaria & Hendekea: Brother and sister token black team. Don't have much of an opinion about them just yet, but they seem pretty harmless and fun. Oh, and they're not annoying, which is a plus.

Ronald & Christina: Token Asian team comprised of father and daughter. Of course I am rooting for them! Ronaldo serenades his daughter as they bike ride, and it is adorable. Almost as adorable when he yells "Who's your daddy?" at the pit stop.

Ari & Staella: Best friends from Cali. I already don't like them because they shamelessly stole one of the other teams' taxis. I know it's a game and all, but STILL. At least have a little guilt about it!

Marianna & Julia: Sisters from Florida. They are pretty irritating, but this early in the race, I can't actually put my finger on why. Stay tuned.

Kate & Pat: Married Ministers from California who think they are holier than thou, and I suppose as ministers they can think that. But it doesn't give them a right to be obnoxious!

First stop: Ireland! The race starts in LA, but no sooner than we meet the teams are we off to LAX to hop on a flight to Ireland. Aside from being rainy when they get there, it's beautiful! There's bright green grass everywhere, cute little farm houses and locals with adorable Irish accents. In Ireland, they ride bikes and lead donkeys to a farm (I love the tasks involving animals the best!). The donkey task is great because some of the donkeys refuse to even move in typical stubborn donkey format while others run so fast that the teams leading them can't keep up. heehee. At the pit stop, Hendekea & Azaria come in first place and win a trip to... Canada? The other teams trickle in as fast as their donkeys will allow them, and in the end, Ari & Staella are the last to arrive at the pitstop due to a very uncooperative donkey. And remember how they stole another team's taxi earlier in the leg? That's what we call karma, bitches.

the race is on!

Tonight is the season premiere of one of my favorite reality shows EVER, The Amazing Race! Very exciting to finally have a reality show that I'm excited about back on. It's season 12, it starts now, and I will be talking about this show a lot over the next couple of months while the teams race around the world, so set your DVRs!!

I'm currently watching Sunday Night Football featuring the Cowboys vs. the Eagles (a game where I want both teams to lose... can that happen?), but my DVR is recording away, so check back soon when I get a chance to check out the teams and provide my usual commentary on the contestants and the race!

tv weekend

It's Saturday evening and what have I done today? Ventured to Bed, Bath and Beyond, got my car washed and did a round of grocery shopping. Then I came home and plopped myself in front of the tv. Oh, but not until after I scrubbed down my entire bathroom and windexed and swiffered every surface in my apartment that would allow it. And then I made baked ziti. So I think it's deserved that it's now Saturday evening and I'm doing nothing other than gorging on my pasta and watching tv, right? Most of the afternoon was filled with college football but I did also manage to watch a bunch of shows from the week.

The Office went back to half hour episodes but are still as ingenius as ever. This week was the return of Jim's ex-girlfriend Karen, who I still dislike. I haven't missed her at all, I hope this was only a one time appearance. She's got bad hair and a bad attitude.

Scrubs is back, and JD is having a BABY!! Well, Kim is having a baby, but it's JD's! It's a baby filled episode, and who doesn't love babies?

In a stunning upset, Cheetah Girl Sabrina is eliminated from Dancing with the Stars! She was the BEST dancer on the show, who knows what happened. But I guess it doesn't matter so much given that I'm barely watching the show anymore anyway. I watch about ten minutes of it a week, enough to find out what dances they learned and who got eliminated. Lame, I know.

And now I'm sitting here watching a chick flick on HBO called Because I Said So starring Diane Keaton and Mandy Moore. It's not very good, but it passes the time before I decide to switch back to college football for the rest of the evening. Yes, just my kind of a Saturday evening!