Here are the shows I’m looking forward to watching this fall.
1. Lost
2. America's Next Top Model
3. The Biggest Loser
4. Ugly Betty
5. Gossip Girl
6. 30 Rock
7. Kath & Kim
8. Dancing with the Stars
9. Survivor
10. Hell's Kitchen
11. The Amazing Race
12. 90210? not sure yet
13. USC football - because it makes my husband happy
Here are the most memorable Olympic moments to me. It's easy to tell what my favorite Olympic sport is.
1. Nastia Liukin winning the women's gymnastics all around gold medal. She cried...I cried...it was awesome. It was even better since another American won the silver.
2. The US men's gymnastics team winning the bronze medal. True, they blew it and could have won the silver, but they worked together and did great even though they lost their two best people right before the games started.
3. Trying to guess the real ages of the girls on the Chinese gymnastics team.
4. Kerri Walsh and Misty May-Treanor playing beach volleyball...all their matches.
5. Bella Karoli's reaction to Nastia's final routine in the all around competition.
6. Michael Phelps first gold.
7. Michael Phelps seventh gold that he won by one one-hundredth of a second. I was in a bar when it happened and people were chanting "USA, USA"
8. Shawn Johnson winning the gold on the balance beam. The very last event, and she finally got it.
9. I don't know exactly which swimming event it was, but the men's relay where they came from behind to win.
10. The music played at the beach volleyball matches in between points. My favorites are "American Woman" and "Keeerrrrry".
11. Watching Michael Phelp's mom. She must be so proud.
12. Alicia Sacramone falling off the balance beam then sitting down on the floor event during the gymnastics team finals. I felt so bad for her.
13. Nastia Liukin's "tie" on the uneven bar finals that got her the silver. That sucked.
I recently finished reading "Love the One You're With" by Emily Giffin. I have read her three prior books ("Something Borrowed", "Something Blue", and "Baby Proof") and enjoyed them so I knew I would like this one as well.
The dude ranch had lots of activities for my two older brothers (Louis was 12 and JP was 10) and me. Looking back, I am sure this made my parents happy to have a break from us. We rode horses twice a day, went on hay rides to camp fires, played softball and it all culminated in a rodeo at the end of the week. I wore jean and boots and my hair in pig tails to play the part. 
I was the smallest kid there that week and the first horse they gave me (Julie) was small as well. This horse would not ever go though so they put me on a new horse named Shorty. Shorty was one of the bigger horses so it was amusing to people to see the smallest kid on such a big horse. Shorty was a nice gentle horse and it was great fun riding him all week…except for the time I had to gallop without my feet in the stirrups. 
During the day while my brothers and I were riding horses, my dad went fishing and took pictures and my mom socialized with the other moms. Maybe they did more than this, but that is all I remember. A bell was rung when it was time for dinner and we would all head to the chuck house to eat family style. I was not much of an eater at this point in my life and meat was something I just did not like to eat. One night I was served something I did not like so I just flat out refused to eat it. My parents made me stay at the table until my plate was clean…this was back in the days of the clean plate club. All the families left and then the staff came out to eat, and I was still there. Eventually my parents let me leave because I think they were closing down, and I never ate it. 
My family had its first exposure to country music on this trip. My brothers and I hated it, but my parents really liked it. At the evening camp fires there were men playing guitars and singing songs. “Mama Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to be Cowboys” was a bit hit. After dinner most people hung out in the bar and game room. There was music, dancing, billiards tables and video games. My brother Louis was quite a hit with the girls here. There was a 16 year old girl he hung out with a lot at night, which seemed like such a scandal at the time. I also learned the hard way that people will use you to get what they want. There were two 10 year old girls that befriended me, which was nice because there were not any girls my own age at the ranch that week. It turned out that they were just using me to get to Louis. There was an awards ceremony at the end of the week where all the kids were given an award based on their week at the ranch. Mine was the “Easy Rider” award since no matter what my Shorty did, the expression on my face rarely changed (except for that one time...). JP won the “B&B Bottom” award since he had some rough rides. Louis won the grand prize for the week called the “Golden Horseshoe” award that was given to the best boy and best girl rider of the week. I have very fond memories of this trip. We were still young enough to want to be together as a family before we all hit the years where everyone is busy with activities and friends and not wanting to be with the family. On the last day, we piled back into the station wagon and listened to Willie Nelson’s “On the Road Again” as we drove away from the ranch on our way home.
