LYBS - Shows I'm Addicted To

Welcome to "phoning it in" week on the blog.  I kid, but I have been picking posts that have been pretty mindless to write, which is nice, my brain just needs a break.  So today I'm linking up with the Let Your Blog Shine prompt of "Shows I'm addicted to."  

We actually don't watch that much TV overall, especially in the summer, but some nights it is nice to unwind with something and sometimes we just enjoy binge watching our favorites. Today I thought I'd discuss my tried and true faves, the shows I'll watch again and again and why I love them.  

Friends - So I've been a fan of Friends from the very beginning.  I was probably too young to even really be watching when it was first on the air, I think I was in 7th grade when the first season aired. But I watched anyway and while some of the jokes I appreciated much more as I watched in re-runs later, I've just always loved it.  It has the right amount of humor and heart.  There is something relatable in each character.  And I think while they were a good 15 years older than me, I could relate to them sort of coming of age from their twenties to their thirties while I was coming of age from my teens to my twenties.  I still cry when I watch the finale.  I live my life in "Friend-isms."  I'll just always love this show!

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia - Everything about this show is so wrong it's right.  It's actually the anti-Friends in a way.  There isn't a single likable thing about any of the characters and yet, I just love the show.  The scenarios seem almost unbelievable at times.  So I just can't say why I love it and yet I can watch it again and again because while all the things I said are true, it just makes me laugh so much.  

Corner Gas - I've talked about this cute Canadian show before.  It's clean, wholesome and light hearted and we just love it so much. We own the entire series on DVD.  It takes place in a small town and has that small town charm about it.  Sometimes we just need some basic fluff.  We pretty much watch this series beginning to end about once a year.

Snuff Box - This was a British show that ran for one season only and many British seasons are only six episodes long, so there aren't many episodes of this show.  It's kind of a sketch comedy starring Matt Berry (who plays the boss on The IT Crowd if any of you have ever seen that show) and American actor Rich Fulcher.  They work as hangmen and much of the series is about the time they spend in this club where the hangmen get to relax and unwind.  Rich is kind of a doof and Matt is pretty much a jerk, but the little sketches interspersed with the main storylines are pretty funny.  And we like dark comedy so we just love this show and pretty much quote it all the time at our house. And being that it's British, it is a bit crude at times too, but we don't mind that much!  We watch this pretty much once a year too.

Black Books - Another British show that is hilarious, it takes place in a book store run by a guy that's pretty much kind of a sloppy drunk and the mis-adventures he has with his employee and female friend who runs a shop next door.  My favorite episode is when Bernard the owner and Manny, his employee, decide they're going to write a children's book because there are no good children's books and they end up getting drunk (happens a lot on this show!) and write a book called The Elephant and the Balloon.  It's just classic.

Dead Like Me - Fantastic show that was only a couple of seasons long but so well done.  I believe it was a Showtime show or maybe HBO when it first ran.  The main character is killed by a toilet seat falling from an airplane (it's another dark comedy) and she ends up becoming a grim reaper.  She becomes part of a family of grim reapers and has to deal with her life in the afterlife while still on Earth where she lived her previous life.  I don't know how else to explain this one, but it's just a great show, definitely a little bit darker, but actually has a lot of humor and heart too.

Psych - LOVE, love, love this show.  I'm not usually much for police/crime type shows, but when Nate got me into this show he hooked me by saying there were a lot of 80's references because of flashbacks and things like that and I was pretty much sold from the first episode.  Shawn the fake psychic has a lot of charm and you just can't help rooting for him.  It has some more serious moments but overall never lets itself get too dark and heavy, though there is an episode they do that recreates some famous Hitchcock moments that gets kind of intense at times.

The Muppet Show (original) - You knew this would be on my list right?  The original Muppet show was intended to be mostly for adults.  I have always loved the sort of "Saturday Night Live" feel to it. It's definitely the show I go to as a pick me up when I'm feeling down.  My favorite episode has always been the Steve Martin one. I'm beyond excited for the new Muppet show coming out this Fall, I love that they're going to be doing it in sort of that faux-documentary style similar to Parks and Rec and the Office.  There was a long extended preview released yesterday and I can say it just fueled my excitement even further if that is even possible!

There you have it.  I frequently discuss what we're currently watching and what some of our favorite shows are, but the ones I just listed are the ones I'll watch again and again until I die and would want on my iPad or something if I was on a deserted island (provided I got to have an iPad with me that is).  What are your tried and true favorite shows that you'll watch again and again?

Wednesday Inspiration

I missed one of the Let Your Blog Shine blog prompts a couple of weeks ago - your favorite quotes. Since the today's prompt of "Your Hometown" wouldn't be that exciting for me to write (my hometown is a suburb and I still live there.  Boring.) I decided that today I'd share my favorite inspirational quotes. I won't give much explanation on these, but these are words that just have always resonated with me.
"It is better to light one candle than to curse the darkness" - Chinese Proverb
"The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams" - Eleanor Roosevelt
"Life's like a movie, write your own ending" - Kermit the Frog, The Muppet Movie
"Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened" - Dr. Seuss
"To love another person is to see the face of God" - Les Miserables
"Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass, it's about learning to dance in the rain"  - Anonymous but has been attributed to author Vivian Greene
"Be the change you wish to see in the world" - Ghandi
"Life is a journey to be experienced, not a problem to be solved" - Winnie the Pooh

I hope I have left you with a little inspiration for your Wednesday!  I have other quotes I love that are silly or goofy, but today I thought I'd go with ones I find uplifting.  What are your favorite quotes?

Bookworm

Well the title of this post is a little misleading.  I used to consider myself more of a bookworm, but I have found I've really gotten away from reading.  I'm embarrassed to admit how long it took me to finish Gone Girl - although I have finally finished it!  I am trying to get back into reading more, so today's Let Your Blog Shine prompt of "Make a list of your favorite books" seemed like a good topic!  I figure if start talking about some of my favorite books it just might fuel my fire for reading again!  So without further ado, here are some of my favorite books.
Summer Sisters by Judy Blume.  I'm pretty sure I've talked about my love of this book on the blog before.  I don't know what it is about it, it's pure fluff for the most part.  It's the Judy we all grew up loving as we were coming of age, but it's definitely intended for an adult audience.  I read this book for the first time the summer I was 17 - which is an age that explored in depth for the characters in the book during one section.  I have just always loved this book's ability to whisk you away and make you feel like you're right there on Martha's Vineyard with these girls every year.  It makes you feel all the feels, look at your own relationships and while the ending is sad, it's somehow always been satisfying.  This is one of those summer beach reads that I read just about every year.
My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult.  I love pretty much anything Jodi writes, but this was the book that introduced me to her, which is no surprise since I think it is probably her most popular to date. I loved the idea of having the narrative switch in each chapter to a different character, I had never really encountered that form of storytelling before and it really helps you understand each person so much more.  It almost makes you emphasize with even the least likeable characters even more.  I loved that this book also had twists and turns and the ending still gets me right in the feels every time (side note, the movie totally ruined it for me.  I hate the movie's ending - the rest of it was so well done, but the ending.  Boo hiss!) After I finished this book I knew I'd want to read just about anything else she writes or has written and with the exception of only a book or two, she's rarely let me down and while her format is pretty predictable at this point, I find her books still find ways to surprise or shock me by the end.
The Hunger Games Series by Suzanne Collins.  Ok I'll just say this and you can all point daggers at me.  I never got into Harry Potter.  I did finally watch the movies, but the books were just not my thing.  I also never got Twilight or pretty much any other young adult series that eventually came to the big screen - but then the Hunger Games caught my attention.  I don't know what is about it - the concept is so horrific and barbaric when you truly think about it - a desolate world sends teens to fight to the death?  There's just something about the way these books are written that hooked me in from the first line.  And then when the movies started coming out, I was nervous that I would be disappointed after loving the books so much - but at least in my opinion, the movies were done very well and have only made me love this series even more.  So, no hate on those who love Harry or pick Team Edward or Team Jacob or whatever, but I'm all about the Hunger Games.  May the odds be ever in your favor.
Where The Heart Is by Billie Letts. I promise I don't only love books that became movies!  I read this book after the movie came out, my copy even has a picture of Natalie Portman on it, but I didn't even bother seeing the movie until a couple of years ago and I read this book while I was still in college. Anyway, this is a book that I have always loved, the characters are quirky and the story itself is heartfelt and yet intriguing.  It's another go to summer read for me when I just want to read something familiar and I don't want to think too hard.
My Point...and I Do Have One by Ellen DeGeneres.  This is her first book, written well before she had her talk show or anything and it's not a memoir.  It's just pure fun.  It is a lot of her standup material written in book format, but it has never failed to make me laugh.  If I need a quick pick me up I go to this book.  It's hilarious and a very fast read.
I also love reading autobiographies and real life stories and I'll just list a few here that I think are worth a read: Tough Shit by Kevin Smith Yes Please by Amy Poehler Lucky Man by Michael J. Fox High on Arrival by Mackensie Phillips Born Standing Up by Steve Martin Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank The Girls Guide to Homelessness by Brianna Karp Two Kisses for Maddy by Matt Logelin The Wisdom of Big Bird and the Dark Genius of Oscar the Grouch by Carroll Spinney Jim Henson: The Biography by Brian Jay Jones
And finally, a few of my favorite children's books that I'm looking forward to sharing with Ollie or in some cases already have: Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein Winnie the Pooh by AA Milne
Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl The Mouse and the Motorcycle by Beverly Cleary Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Numeroff Curious George by Margaret and H.A. Rey
So there you have it!  A look into my literary world.  Now that I've finished reading Gone Girl I have moved back into the Divergent series and am trying my hand at reading Insurgent again.  After that I think I might look for some more chick-lit as that seems to be my favorite genre for the most part, but there are many other books I have wanted to read so I might have to just make a list and head over to my library!
What are some of your favorite books?

Truth or Dare

The Let Your Blog Shine writing prompt this week is Truth or Dare - so here are some truths or dares that Brittany from Country Chic came up with for us and my brave responses!
Truth - What is the most embarrassing TV show you like?  I guess for awhile the answer was Glee - I was a pretty big "Gleek" for a long time.  This whole last season was pretty abysmal but I did watch it to the end and I guess the finale was all right, I think Parks and Rec and Parenthood did a better job of the "look into the future" thing, but maybe that's just me.  Besides that I don't know that I like much for embarrassing TV.  We don't have cable so I'm not really able to get sucked into the reality stuff all that much, though I will admit we did watch quite a bit of the show Amish Mafia when it was first on the air a couple of years ago.  I still can't believe that's a thing!
Dare - Show Us Your Prom Photo I have one scanned into my computer that I can share.  Get ready to see Nate and Beth look like babies. This particular picture is from our junior prom and we were 17.  Ready?

Truth - When was the last time you peed in a pool? Does a river count?  Because when you go tubing down a river for two hours drinking beer, pee is going to happen.  And we went tubing last summer.  So there you go.
Dare - Post a photo of yourself when you first wake up. Oof.  I did it.  Yep.  It's rough, but this is what I look like at 6:00 in the morning.  No edits, no filters, this is real life!

Truth - What is your favorite thing about the opposite gender?

I was extremely attracted to Nate's eyes when I was first finding myself interested in him.  And well, I like his behind.  Let's just say that.

Dare - Show us all the contents of your purse.

Here's a current shot of what is in my purse.  I did a "what's in my bag post" back in September and the contents haven't really changed much since then!

Truth - What is the worst thing you ever cooked or baked? I haven't done much of either of these things lately so it's actually kind of hared to remember right now.  I know that there were a couple of times that I burned some pork tenderloin I was making for pork tenderloin sandwiches that we couldn't even salvage and had to just throw away.  And I would say my Super Bowl dessert this year was decent, it turned out fine, but it was almost so hurt your teeth sweet that I actually don't count it as one of my hits.
Dare - Show us a photo of your goofiest face. I don't know if this one is super goofy, I actually took it by mistake the other night when I was wrestling on the floor with Ollie, I had it out because I thought he was going to lay on the floor with me and I was going to take a selfie (cause that's what we do) but then he ran off and I still hit the button.  Man, this post is getting real today!

Truth - What is the stupidest thing you have done because someone dared you to do it? There is photographic evidence that I will not share here of me licking spilled beer off of a table on my 21st birthday.  Not my finest moment, but we all do dumb things when we get drunk right?
Truth - If your life was a movie, who would you want to play you? I think I'd have to go with either Emma Stone or Anna Kendrick on that one.  I love how spunky and sassy they are, they actually both remind me of me when I was in my 20's and bonus, Anna Kendrick can sing, and I sing too.
And on that note, there was a bonus credit entry we could do today and post a video of us singing - and that is something I have wanted to do for you all for quite some time now, but I had zero time to make a video (or at the very least, to make one that I like enough to post!), so sadly, that dare will not be happening today.  Hopefully someday soon!
Otherwise, there you go.  I've either frightened you all horribly today or endeared myself to you all the more. At the very least, I'm keeping it real, right?

Fear Itself

This week's prompt on Let Your Blog Shine is discussing our biggest fears and why we have them. Here are a few of mine - and they may even seem a little irrational, but they're just part of who I am.

Loud Noises - This picture from Anchorman always cracks me up.  But for real, I have a fear of loud noises.  It goes back to childhood, a couple of different things happened when I was very little.  An air hose popped off of a compressor in my dad's garage once when I was more or less right next to it and then some mean neighborhood boys liked to torment me by popping balloons almost in my ear. So basically since then I've had a fear of sudden loud noises, it's almost the act of being startled that's worse than anything - but over time it has become more of an anxiety ridden irrational fear - even if I know there will be loud noises ahead of time, say at a fireworks show or maybe that gunshots will be used on stage during a play - it kind of freaks me out.  It has taken me years to work on overcoming this fear and I'm not there 100%, but one thing did help me a couple of years ago.  Nate and I took a gun class together and that included time in a shooting range.  Nate bought me some AMAZING ear protection and there was something about being the person in charge of making the loud noise that helped me start to come around a bit on noises.  This isn't to say I love them or seek them out - but I want Oliver to experience fireworks, so I know this is something I'll keep working on.  So if you see a freak with big headphones on at 4th of July fireworks, chances are, that's me.

Bugs - I know, so silly and so girly right?  But I seriously cannot stand bugs, especially the kind you see in basements with a million legs.  Can they hurt me?  Absolutely not, but they just give me shivers.  If I see one darting across the wall or the floor I just get tingles and not in a good way.  I can't kill them, I make Nate do it.  I'm just waiting until Ollie is old enough and I can enlist his help in killing bugs too. (Side note, I'm especially terrified of bees - I've never been stung.)

Sickness - I'm not talking about major sickness here (though yes, the thought of that scares me a bit too, but I don't let it overtake me, same with thoughts of death, life is too short to worry about inevitable things), I'm talking about, well, for lack of better words, barf.  I can't stand seeing other people throw up and I actually fear throwing up myself.  I hate it.  I mean, who likes it right?  But it actually kind of terrifies me.  I was so thankful when I was pregnant with Oliver I didn't experience any morning sickness - morning sickness was something about getting pregnant that scared me more than the thought of actually giving birth believe it or not.  But as a mom, I'm starting to overcome this fear, especially given the fact that I kind of had no choice back before Christmas when we were all struck down with Norovirus.  I was surprised that when Oliver was sick I was able to just step up and deal with it.  And while I was going through it I was too miserable to really be afraid of it, I just wanted to feel better.  And we got past it and I don't live in total fear of it happening again, but it's still not something I'm 100% comfortable with.  (Yet cat barf bothers me very little.  And it's pretty gross too)

Charlie Chaplin - Ok, I threw this one in more for a chuckle than anything else.  I am not afraid of Charlie Chaplin now, but when I was a kid, I had a nightmare that Charlie Chaplin lived in my basement and held me captive down there.  For years I was petrified of him.  Where did this come from you wonder?  I blame this sketch from Sesame Street and the fact that all the monsters on Scooby Doo were found in the basement I guess!  I know, so silly, but hey, we were all kids once right?

For the most part I do not let any of these fears absolutely consume me, but they are things that I would say I'm definitely afraid of.  What scares you?

My Morning Routine

The last prompt for this month's writing challenges from the Let Your Blog Shine group is "Your Morning Routine".  Oh this should be fun.  Let's just put this out there right now - I'm not a morning person.  I'm also not a night owl either, but that's neither here nor there.  So I'll just warn you, getting in my head in the morning might be a scary place to be, but here we go anyway!

6:00 am.  Alarm goes off.  I lay in bed desperately clinging to my blankets and wishing I could have just five more minutes.  I never hit snooze though.  I give myself until about 6:02 and then I'm off to the bathroom.

As I walk to the bathroom - which isn't even two feet from my bedroom I think - I am extremely careful not to hit any of the floorboards (we have an OLD house) so that they won't make noise and wake up Ollie.  It could be an Olympic event I swear.
Once in the bathroom, I turn on the shower so it warms up a bit.  Take care of my bladder needs (don't we all?), pull off my pajamas, weigh myself and then pop in the shower.  Oh that hot water is delightful, especially on these cold winter mornings.  It takes me a minute or two to decide that just standing in the hot water is not probably the place I can spend my whole day, so I finally get myself cleaned up.  I wash my hair first, face second and body last.  Then I stand and phase out for a little bit because let's face it, no amount of hot water is going to truly wake me up in the morning.  Only one thing has that power - coffee - and I haven't had that yet.  Somehow I finally convince myself to get out and get moving.

I dry off, comb my hair and brush my teeth.  I get dressed (I always have my clothes picked out the night before, saves time in the morning and I bring them with me to the bathroom so I can give Nate a few extra minutes of quiet in our room in the mornings).  I then dry my hair.  In the summer I was air drying my hair, but with how cold it's been this winter and especially now that I'm growing it out, I dry it a bit.  Not for long, maybe a minute.  I finish off in the bathroom with putting my makeup on.
Now it's just about 6:30 and that's when Nate's alarm goes off.  I can hear Ollie starting to stir, but I leave him be and head into our bedroom.  Nate turns on the lamp when he hears me come in and starts getting himself moving.  He's usually the one who goes to get Ollie then, I'll sometimes go if he seems particularly distressed before this point, but he's usually sitting in his crib just babbling so he can wait for Nate.  While Nate gets Ollie up and changes his diaper, I make our bed and then put on any jewelry I want to wear and pick out my shoes for the day.
Nate plays with Ollie for a bit and I make my coffee, pack up Ollie's bag for the day and load up the car.  By the time I am done with all of that, the coffee is brewed, so I pour my very large travel mug, then get Ollie bundled up.  We say goodbye to Nate and head out to the car.  We manage to leave our house by 6:45/6:50 at the latest.
It only takes about ten minutes to drive to my parents house.  One of my favorite things in the morning on our drive is two DJs on one of our local radio stations play a "Guess Who Turns What" game each day at this time where one of them reads clues to the other one about celebrity birthdays of the day.  I like listening and playing along.  
7:00 am and we're pulling into my parents driveway.  My mom comes out to meet us and gets Oliver out of the car and then I grab my coffee, purse and Ollie's bag and come in behind them.  My mom feeds Oliver his oatmeal and I fix myself some breakfast - often just cereal and toast - and have about half of my coffee while I eat that.  After Ollie and I are both done eating, I used to nurse him at this time and watch the morning news, but we've now transitioned him to a bottle at this feeding, so now I give him his bottle.  We get him dressed for the day as well and then I play with him until I need to leave for work at 7:45.
So now it's 7:45 and I grab my coffee (are you starting to see how important my coffee is?), get my coat on and my purse and kiss Ollie goodbye.  He's pretty good about it when I leave, he says "bye bye" very sweetly and often goes to the window to wave to me, but he doesn't cry or get sad.  That makes it easier to leave him.
8:00 am I roll into my work parking lot.  I make the trek up three flights of stairs to the third floor where my office is.  I always take the stairs for the extra exercise unless I'm really loaded down with stuff that day, then I'll take the elevator.  I open up my work computer and get myself punched in for the day, I check emails and then I quick take Instagram or blog pictures before my boss gets in (I know, I'm bad).  Then I pretty much settle in for the work day!  While finishing my coffee.  Because coffee.  By the time I'm pretty awake and with it and ready to tackle just about anything.

The morning usually goes by pretty fast after this.  I try to make myself get up about once an hour and move around.  Then at 11:30 I go to lunch and then we're into the afternoon after that!
So there you go!  I guess it's not that scary overall, if anything, it's not that exciting!  Of course, weekends are an entire other ballgame, but I'll just have to share that routine on another day! 
What does your morning routine look like?

Signs I'm Getting Older

This week's prompt for the writing exercise I'm doing with the Let Your Blog Shine group is "Signs I'm Getting Older."  The concept of getting older isn't something a lot of people like to talk about all that much, but I'm not going real deep here, I'll keep it kind of light in fact.

Basically, this clip from the TV show Friends can kind of sum up my thoughts a little bit.

In this clip, the guys are basically lamenting about the fact that they can no longer party like they did in their 20's now that they are almost 30.  I can relate to more than one thing in this clip sadly!
When they order drinks, Joey and Ross ask for decaf coffee because they don't want to be up all night.  That's pretty much where I'm at.  I can have tea into the afternoon, but no coffee after 12 pm for this lady!
Chandler orders some warm water with lemon because he strained his voice at the last club they were at because the music was so loud.  Nate and I were recently at a taproom that had some live music, which was awesome, but it was so loud we could barely hear ourselves think and my throat was definitely feeling it later!
The guys end up saying "How sad are we?" but then realize there isn't anything wrong with not being 21 anymore.  Chandler says sometimes he likes to watch some TV and go to bed at a reasonable hour. He pretty much just described every night at our house!
Joey says he likes to go to a nice quiet restaurant and have a conversation with his friends.  I still love going out with friends, but I agree, I like going somewhere that you can have a conversation and a beer without coming home with a headache!  Staying in and playing games can be fun too.
And then they make fun of him for this, but Ross says "so what if I like to go home, throw on some Kenny G and take a bath?"  Well, maybe not the Kenny G, but I sure do love taking a nice relaxing bath!
So I guess where I'm going with my silliness here is that, I recognize that I'm not 21 anymore.  That doesn't mean that I can't still have fun every now and then, but like the guys in the show, I agree, it's not sad, it's just where I'm at and I'm ok with that!  Maybe it does make me sound like an old lady, but I guess I'd rather embrace it than be down about it!
I do have to say this on a quick side note though - the fact that Friends is now on Nick At Nite makes me feel older than anything else I just mentioned above!!
How do you feel about your age?  Do you see signs you're getting older too?

Ten Things I Believe

I participate in several Facebook groups for bloggers and one of the groups, Let Your Blog Shine, is starting some weekly writing prompts and I really like the idea, so I'm starting out with the first one today "Ten Things I Believe."  I actually wrote out my post in my actual journal first and then took a picture, but I'll still list them for you as well!  Hopefully you'll learn a little more about me through these writing prompts - and hopefully still like me too, even if we don't see eye to eye on some of these things.

I Believe:

That Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior.

That to love and be loved is one of life's greatest gifts.  

And that everyone has a right to love whomever they want to love. 

That music=life, it has the power to do many beautiful and amazing things.

That Oreos are one of the best dessert treats in the entire world and 

I am completely powerless around them.

That the more you wish for things to stay the same, the more they will change.

That there is no sweeter sound in the world than hearing your baby laugh.

That I am beyond blessed to have the most amazing husband in Nate and 

that he is the most amazing father to Ollie.

That coffee, wine/beer, or cookie dough can help fix a lot of things 

depending on the time of day or situation.

That Oliver will grow up to do amazing things in this world.

That I may not be perfect, but at the end of the day I think I'm a pretty good person.

What do you believe?