Emmys Best & Worst Dressed

I don't usually watch award shows, but I do love to see what everyone wore! Here are my votes for best and worst dressed at the Emmys.

BEST DRESSED
Christina Applegate looked flawless! You would never guess she had surgery for breast cancer recently. I love the color of Brooke Shields' dress. These two women prove that you don't need to be twenty years old and 90 pounds to be beautiful in Hollywood.

Christina Applegate

















Brooke Shields


















WORST DRESSED
Lauren really should have done better. She designed this dress herself. Marcia and her dress just all seem to blend together and the fabric from Kathy's dress looks like it came off my grandma's couch.

Lauren Conrad

















Marcia Cross

















Kathy Griffin

New Kitchen!

Well, we did it. We signed a contract yesterday to have our kitchen remodeled. We have the floor plan but still need to pick everything out. Construction doesn't start until late January so sometime in March I will have my new kitchen! It's exciting, but at the same time scary because it is so much money. My husband told me today to not plan any big vacations next year...what? Wait...ummm, could you have brought this up BEFORE we signed the contract? Nothing will happen for a while, but I'll post pictures of the project along the way.

Wordless Wednesday - Always Together

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Boot Camp Under the Stars

Picture this...it's dark, the full moon is shining, the stars are twinkling, the person next to me says, "look, it's Orion". No, I wasn't camping, I was at boot camp this morning. It's pitch black at 6am these days, but boot camp goes on.

The Career I Should Have Had

I think it is a shame that people have to make choices so early in life regarding education and careers paths. When I was a kid I wanted to be a cook in my own restaurant or an astronomer. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life when I was in college. I was good in math and with numbers in general so I started out as a math major. I took calculus in high school so when I got into college my first math class was the third calculus class that only math and engineering majors took. I could do the problems, but didn't really get it. I got a B- which was probably the worst grade I ever received in a math class. After that I knew I wasn't cut out for it and I also didn't know what kind of job I could get with it. Looking back, it probably would have been a good choice of majors. Then I decided I would probably do something in the business world. I had no idea what, but it sounded good at the time. My school had more theoretical majors rather than things like business administration or accounting, so I became a business economics major...which was economics with some accounting thrown in for fun. I still had no idea what I was going to do with it though. When my senior year of college came around and I had to decide what I was going to do with myself, I did the only thing I could think of...keep going to school. So I took the GMAT and applied to business schools to get a MBA. Even after my first year of MBA classes, I still did not know what I was going to do. The summer between the two years I started looking for internships and fell into corporate finance, and here I have been for 12 years. I like the work I do, but it's really the same thing month after month, quarter after quarter, year after year. I often think of what else I could do, but at this point in my life I don't want to take a pay cut to start a new career.

I should have been a meteorologist. I find weather fascinating. I love watching the weather channel and tracking storms. I don't want to be on TV, but would like being the weather expert behind the scenes who runs the models. This time of year is especially exciting (and tragic) since it is hurricane season. Since moving to Virginia I have learned more about weather since not much exciting happens in California. Terms like nor'easters and clippers are regulars around here in the winter. I will never be a meteorologist, but I am the resident weather expert in my house!

The Omnivore’s Hundred

Here is something I saw on another blog that originated at Very Good Taste. It's a list of 100 foods every good omnivore should try at least once in their life. They are not all necessarily good, but should be tried. Items that I've tried are in bold and those I would not consider eating are crossed out.

1. Venison (I took one bite and hid the rest in the trash can when I was a kid)
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos ranchero
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile (my husband did though and it was surprising that it was flaky like fish and served with tartar sauce)
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than fruit
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn, or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce le leche
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Rootbeer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects (not intentionally, only when exercising with my mouth open, does that count?)
43. Phaal
44. Goat's milk
45. Malt whiskey from a bottle worth $120 or more
46. Fugu
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut (completely different when they are fresh and hot!)
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickley pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald's Big Mac Meal (I know...my husband says I'm un-American)
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S'mores
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill (I just couldn't do it)
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three star Michelin restaurant
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox (separately, but not together)
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake

Thursday Thirteen - Grocery Store Pet Peeves

Grocery shopping is not one of my favorite things to do. Here are my pet peeves

1. People who grab around or over you instead of just saying, "excuse me".

2. Check out people who want to talk more than ring me up. I've been in this store for an hour and I still have to put bags in the car, take bags out of the car and put everything away at home. Please just get on with it. And don't stop and look at my stuff for your future purchases.

3. People who have a coffee in their hand the entire time and think of grocery shopping as a social event.

4. People who stop and talk with another person and block the entire aisle.

5. When the store decides to rearrange everything. Why?!?!?

6. People who eat samples of produce and bin food...it's not free.

7. The top shelf. I'm short.

8. Food that is past its expiration date and still on the shelf. I shouldn't have to check it, but I do.

9. Meat that expires today.

10. Check out people that only put a couple things in a bag. I'd rather have less heavy bags than a bunch of light bags.

11. Those giant carts with a car attached for kids to sit in. They are just way too big.

12. The posts in front that prevent me from brining the cart to my car. I prefer to shop in the next county over to avoid this.

13. People who need all kinds of samples at the deli counter before buying what they came for.

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Wordless Wednesday - Standoff!

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Sweep!

Three for three! Britney won all three awards at the VMA's that she was nominated for. I can't really imagine that she deserved this for a song that wasn't a hit when it was up against huge hits. I wonder if MTV is trying to make up for putting her on stage last year when she clearly wasn't ready. Now she won three awards that may help her get her career back on track...or to just make up for the past.

VMA's

Last week the gossip pages said Britney will perform at the VMA's tonite and I was really nervous for her. Now they say she is not performing, but will on the show in some capacity, which is being held secret. Either way, good luck tonite! She has never won a moonman even though she has been nominated 16 times. I wonder if they will give one to her to help relaunch her career.