lunch fit for a princess?

My fridge is currently screaming for food to enter it.  Besides a handful of fruit cups, some questionable salad dressings and some milk, it's lacking food big time.  Instead of bringing Ramen noodles for lunch for the second day in a row, I decided to not scrounge for food in the cupboards to bring into work, and just figured I'd pop some popcorn that I have up in my overhead bin at my desk for days like these.  I suppose you would consider this the "for emergencies only" stash.  I was actually kind of looking forward to this pitiful lunch as I made my decision this morning, as popcorn is one of my favorite foods and always has been.  I even debated on grabbing a can of Diet Coke to bring with me but then I thought twice and decided to up the ante a little bit and make my good lunch even better by treating myself to a vending machine Diet Coke with Lime.  I'm livin' high on the hog, I tell ya.

Five hours later, here I sit.  I have just polished off my bag of mediocre popcorn and am still working on the 20 ounces of pop.  The popcorn was this new kind--which is supposed to have less calories and it sure tasted like it too.  I only save microwave popcorn for work (all popcorn at home is done via the old fashioned way, which in my opinion, is the only way to make it) and I know why.  It's bland, it burns because the high powered steel-cased microwaves in commercial buildings don't have a "popcorn" button and you have to listen for the kernels to stop popping and it can be hard to tell at times so the bag comes out half burned and you drag the smell back to your cubicle and fill up the entire department with the stench while you're at it.  You then have people stopping by wondering if it's you that's the culprit who burned the popcorn and you don't really know if they are judging you or are just curious.  You also get the occasional remark from across three cubicle walls "who burned the popcorn?"  All and all, it's not a good situation unless you really hit a home run with your work popcorn meal and it smells better than it tastes and looks like it came from a movie theater.
Anyway, as I was finishing up my bag, I thought to myself..."I wonder if Kate Middleton ever has popcorn and diet coke for lunch".  Can you imagine??  Can you imagine her all dressed up and ready for her day of visiting local charities and the last thing she has to do is grab something to eat to satisfy her pregnant cravings between charity visits.  She goes around slamming cupboards and looking into the bare fridge in the morning, finally hollering to William as she prepares for her days events "Will, we have no damn food  in this castle!!!"  Then he gets pissed too and says "That's not my problem!  I have to play Polo today--we'll go to Kowalski's (becasue they no way shop at Rainbow or Cub)  tomorrow.  Just eat some popcorn for lunch and be done with it!  And there should be some diet coke out in the garage."
Will is obviously oblivious to Kate's schedule and knows that she won't be anywhere near a microwave today to be able to pop the bag.  He is also oblivious to the fact that that the diet coke has exploded all over the garage because he neglected to bring it in from the freezing cold and put it into the castle fridge.
Anyway, I'm pretty sure Kate's days of eating popcorn and diet coke for lunch are far behind her.  I bet she is the kind of person who looks forward to having it at the movie theater, though.

I don't know what's cooler...

The fact that:

A. Boy Meets World, the show that my brother and I spent countless hours watching while we probably should have been doing homework, is coming back to TV as a spin-off called "Girl Meets World".

B. The show will feature original cast members Corey Matthews and Topenga Lawrence (played by Ben Savage and Danielle Fischel).  This may not mean anything to some of you, but let's just paint a little picture:  Lucy & Ricky, Mike & Carol, Ross & Rachel, Zack & Kelly and Corey & Topenga.  After Saved By the Bell ended and Zack and Kelly were no longer, tweens had to turn to another 'it' couple.  Enter Boy Meets World where Corey and Topenga were little childhood playmates who finally "went steady".  Such a sweet story. 

In related news....the 11 year old girl who will play the role of Corey and Topenga's daughter just Tweeted the official announcement.  An 11 year old, people.  Tweeting.  Let's get some perspective.  When I was 11,  I was just trying to get by without peeking down at my hands in keyboarding class when we had "library" time and had to memorize the home row and then the quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog about five hundred times after that.  Now these kids are typing on mobile devices and sending messages out to the world!  Crazy.

I wonder how the show will do.  No doubt tweens will love it and I am sure people my age will tune in just to see what their old pals Corey and Topenga are up to these days.

Who?

Yesterday my friend Kari and I went to the MOA to see the HGTV Property Brothers.  I am sure any HGTV Junkie will know who these brothers are but for those in the back, these guys are identical twins that have a show on HGTV.  One is a realtor and one is a contractor.  They take people looking to buy a house and help them find one...but with a little twist.  The couple will tell the brothers (Jonathan and Drew...Jonathan being the longer-haired, contractor in the plaid shirt and Drew being the realtor in the shirt and tie) what they are looking for in a house and what their budget is.  Most people have super high expectations and a lot on their "checklist" that they want.  Drew and Jon will first take them to a house that meets all of their requirements but unknown to the future home buyers, is way out of their budget.  The brothers are basically giving them a reality check and saying "Listen, you want all of this stuff but can't afford it.  Why don't we find you a fixer-upper that we can modify to meet more of your needs and wants."  This is where Jonathan comes in with his eye for opening up walls, renovating kitchens and everything in between.  He takes the run-down homes and does a computer generated design of what a couple of the fixer-uppers could look like.  The couple then picks one home and Jonathan gets to work.  It's a fun show and the brothers are cute together and even cuter together in real life.

Kari and I stood in line for about an hour, got a wrist band, waited for another hour and then the brothers came out and spoke for about a half hour and then signed autographs and took pictures.  I had them sign a paint sample swatch for me just to be a little different. 

 I also may have brought Jonathan something special...I gave him a before & after picture of my bathroom renovation project and on the back I put a picture of myself and said something along the lines of: "Jonathan, this is for inspiration for your next bathroom renovation.  Check out my blog (insert link here) to see more pictures (or just to drop me a line...I am also single!)."  It's a long shot but you never know!  They claim they answer all of the questions they get through their Facebook and Twitter accounts...I wonder if this counts as a question and if they will take the time to visit my blog...  :)

You did what?

Last night my friend Jessie and I did the unthinkable.  We waited in a 3+ hour line to get a book signed by two of our favorite bloggers.  Have you heard of the blog Young House Love?  No?  Well I highly recommend going to it.  In a nutshell they are a 30 year old husband and wife who started a blog a handful of years ago.  It started like my measly blog, a few followers here and there with mainly family and close friends checking in on them.  Well their blog exploded and now gets over 5,000,000 (that's million if you're counting the zero's) hits a month.  Their blog is all about DIY (Do It Yourself) around the house and they occasionally throw in posts about their life in general.  They are self-taught DIY-ers and learn as they go and they share it with the world.  They both eventually quit their full time regular jobs and now they make a living writing their blog.  They have written a book and last night they made the West Elm store in Edina a stopping place on their tour.  To say Jessie and I were as giddy as two school girls waiting for the cute boys at recess would be an understatement.  I'd be lying if I told you that we WEREN'T somewhat rehearsing what we would say to John and Sherry once we got to the table to meet them.
I surprisingly wasn't as nervous as I thought I was going to be once I got up to the table but I made a huge nerd of myself by doing the following:  I had a specific thing in mind that I wanted them to write in my book so when John took my book when Jessie and I got up to the table, I said something like "oh John, I have something in mind that I want you to write".  Then I said "It seems so weird to call you by your first name, like I actually know you or something."  They both laughed and then John said "That's OK, most people call me by my first name."  Anyway, the four of us shared a little laugh, they signed both of our books and and we took a picture with them.  They were so nice, it made me like their blog that much more!  Oh and the signing was supposed to go from 6:00 to 8:00.  From the time the doors opened, it took us until just about 8:00 to get our turn and their was still a line out the door when we left a little after 8:00.  I would be willing to bet they didn't turn anyone away and were at the store signing until at least 11:00.

Some snaps from the night:

The backs of Sherry and John through the window.

 

Jessie and her book.

 

Young House Love cookies.

 

Me and my book and cookie.

 

Jessie and I.

 

Us and the celebrities!

 My signed book (kind of obvious, I know).

Speechless

Not that it should come as a big shock given the height difference, the age difference and the fact that Katie always looks unhappy whenever photographed with Tom, but still...it's a bit of a shock.
I can't wait to see what Suri's Burn Book will have to say on this subject...

Biebs

Am I the only one who thought that Justin Bieber was older than he was?
As I am sitting here over my hot dog lunch, I go to my usual People.com and see the headline below:

What??  This kid isn't even out of High School yet??  Wow.
Biebs says in the article that it was his mom that encouraged him to "hit the books".
Please Justin.  Are you telling me that if your mom hadn't wanted you to finish High School, you wouldn't have?  I am glad you have so many young children that look up to you!  Can't you just hear those Tween Girls now: "Mom, Justin Bieber didn't finish school, so why do I have to?"
Since his mom was such a huge supporter of him finishing school, I wonder if she will have a graduation party for him... If so, do you think his distant family members will ask him the standard "graduation party" questions:  So, what are you going to do now?  Are you going to college somewhere?  Are you working right now?  How was the All Night Party?
And what do you think he gets as graduation gifts?  I don't think the typical 25 bucks will make much of an impact.  And since he's decided not to pursue further education, what's the point?
He may want to re-consider the whole college thing though...it might teach him the appropriate way to wear a hat and he could stand to put on the Freshmen 15.
One last thought before I put this post to bed.... Do you think he was voted Most Likely to Succeed and has a picture of him on tour in the yearbook?

30!

Wow, where have the years gone??  As of Nov. 12, I am 30 years old!  I still can't really believe it.  There is so much to tell, I don't even know where to begin!  I guess it started back last year when my mom and I decided we would have a Dual Birthday Party in Las Vegas.  This is the year that she turned 50 on Nov. 8 and I turned 30 just four short days later.  What better way to celebrate two milestones than in Vegas!  So reservations were made and we were getting all pumped up.  Some of our close friends decided to make the trip with us and it made it extra-special :)
Fast forward to November and let the partying begin:
The first birthday party was thrown at my Grandma's house with a big fancy dinner and gifts galore.  No offense to my other wonderful presents I received, but the highlight may have been the Green Kitchenaid hand mixer I got from my Grandma and Grandpa!
The second party came the day I left for Vegas, I went into work to work my 1/2 day and my co-workers had decorated my cube in an Owl theme (my newest favorite trend right now since I don't dare try to pull off Skinny Jeans) and had a whole spread of treats and gifts to celebrate my big day.  It was so nice, I almost didn't want to leave work to get on the plane! -- notice I threw in "almost"...
The third party was Vegas.  The first night was pretty low key.  We were all pretty tired from traveling but we managed to stay out until after midnight at a bar called the Party Pit.  It's outside Harrah's and I would highly recommend it.  The bartenders are unbelievable and if you want to see for yourself, just click this video that I posted.  The second night was Friday.  We partied well into my birthday (Saturday) at Toby Keith's bar.  It was nothing short of awesome.  I was kind of nervous to look at the pictures until today, but everything turned out OK.  :)  I was reminded of some things and of just how much fun we had.
Saturday night we went and saw the Beatles Love Cirque du Solei show and it was so cool.  I had never seen a Cirque show, but after that experience, I will definitely see one again!
Sunday was time for the partying to end.  I left not winning any money, but a few people in our group did.
Oh yeah, and I almost forgot about my celebrity encounter on Saturday....  While walking through the mall at Caesar's Palace, I saw and talked to Carrot Top.  He was in a little shop that sells t-shirts for around $80.  I went in, pretending to be interested in a shirt, but only really there to talk to him.  I said hi to him and told him I liked his act.  He was actually very nice.  I wanted to get a picture, but he seemed like he was kind of in a rush and I wanted to play the "cool" tourist and not bug him.
Sunday we got home and I started recovering from all the partying of the past week.  My birthday was officially over.  Or was it....?
That's right, it was not over.  What I thought was just going to be a short bridesmaid dress try on at the mom's house of a friend of mine and a "quick" beer afterwards (we both wanted to get home early) on Friday night turned out to be a Surprise Birthday Party for me at Shamrock's in St. Paul.  If I said I was surprised, I would be lying.  I was Shocked.  I  had absolutely no idea.  We walked into this back room where our friend was supposedly waiting for us and I walked in and instead of just seeing her, I see about 50 people that I know and love!  It took me a split second for me to realize what the deal was, but when everyone yelled "Surprise" and I think started singing, it all sank in.  It was so fun and still unbelievable.
I don't have any pictures because of course I didn't have my camera on me but once I get some from friends, I will have to post them.

And a 30th birthday wouldn't be complete without a list of the good and bad things about being 30.  I started thinking about everything the other day and just jotted a few down.  Enjoy!

- your insurance goes down (I already have proof!)

- you now have an excuse why you DON'T want to party in Downtown anymore

- 30 is the new 20 (contradicts above statement)

- people born in the 90's can now legally drink and it makes you feel OLD

- Nickeloden has a special time-slot devoted to people in their late 20's/early 30's with the great shows from when you were a kid

- Getting a Kitchenaid mixer and a Crockpot for your birthday is almost as exciting as getting your license 

- 21 year olds see you as 'old'

- not old enough to be referred to as 'that lady'

- still young enough to be called 'kiddo'

- can wander over to the 'older person' section at Kohl's for work clothes and not feel geeky about it

- your idea of a good time is redoing your bathroom

- KDWB is not a radio station you regularly turn to anymore

- people go to Vegas with you and throw you a surprise party all in one week!

Please!

MSN and Bing bug me. Read and dissect the entire article below before you move on to the rest of the post...

Done? Ok, good.

Does anyone else find this annoying? Why can’t they just write a normal article? Why do we have to click on five hundred separate links (no doubt sponsored by Bing) to get the full details? LAME!
Not that I care about Nick and Vanessa’s TV wedding—I actually love Nick and think him and I would have a bright future watching baseball games and drinking beers together—but why does he feel the need to televise his wedding?

Back to my point…the article. If I were a writer in the entertainment biz (and my editor didn’t care about my sarcasm), here's what my article would look like:

Over the fence...

Can somebody please tell me why J.Lo is "on the fence" about returning to Idol next year?  C'mon J.Lo, the show needs you!  Sure, we were all unsure of the two new faces joining the judging panel this year, especially when your slicked back pony tail and bright red lipstick came out, but this was probably the best year of judging yet.  And you will probably never find an easier job in your life, AND you can still sing and dance if you want--all's you have to do is ask (although, please refrain from awkwardly shimmying your sequence-filled booty next to Marc like you did on the finale.  I am pretty sure all of America was asking the same question: Why?).
Yes, we know you went a little easy on the contestants, broke out your slang from time to time..."Scotty, I'm so in love wichyou"... and for some wacky reason chose to use the one save on that red bearded, grunting-while-singing, Casey kid, but still...you were a great judge!  I am still gloating from the Lauen/Scotty finale, don't ruin it by forcing us to listen all summer long to morning show D.J's banter on about whether or not you will come back or who they 'speculate' will replace you.  Just sign another contract already--get off the fence and hop over!  Forget about that show that you and Marc are doing--we don't need another version of Idol floating around out there.  "The Voice" is bad enough.

ill with a fever

Sorry about the lack of blogging over the last week; nothing really has been really news worthy to write about.  I try to blog when I have something interesting to say, I don't like to post just to post.  I like to keep you interested.  :)  I like to compare my blogging to something my 4th grade Social Studies teacher said once that I will never forget.  He was having us make a map of a country in the world and we had about a week to do it. He also said that if we had time we could make more maps for extra credit.  He told us though to focus on our main map and make it good before working on the extra credit.  He said "I would rather have one really good pizza than ten bad pizzas."  This is so true, isn't it?  He put it in such simple terms but it makes perfect sense!
Anyway... back to the post.

I STILL have Idol Fever.  I think I am more obsessed with Scotty and Lauren now than I was during the final show.  Every time I see there is a video clip of them being interviewed I am all over it like white on rice.  I cannot get enough!  I am SO glad those two made it to the end--their personalities are so genuine, they are contagious!

americanidol.com

During my obsession yesterday, I checked out my usual site for celebrity gossip- accesshollywood.com and was reading every article on these two.  I clicked on this article and could not believe I read this tweet from Jennifer Hudson (a singer, celebrity and a former Idol contestant herself): “Hey yal didn’t tell me tonight was American idol finale ! I had no idea !!” 

Common J-Hud, unless you have lived under a rock for the last week, you should have had some inkling that Idol was coming down to the finale.  Didn't one of your fellow tweeters have something to say about the final show being on that night??

Celebrity Wonderment

My alarm went off this morning and the song was Keith Urban singing his newest single: "Without You".  This is obviously a song written for Nicole Kidman.  I think it's a really sweet song and it got me to thinking...what do you think Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes think of it?  Do you think Tom likes the song or is upset that this guy is writing this song about his ex-wife.  And is Katie jealous that some hunky guy is writing a nice love song for her husbands ex-wife while her husband just jumped on Oprah's couch to proclaim his love for her?  Hollywood is a massive love triangle....How do they handle it?  If normal people get divorced, it's pretty much over with and you don't really have to worry about seeing that person again if you don't really want to.  But in Hollywood, ex's are all over the place and the chances of you running into them or being an acquaintance with his/her new love are pretty good.
Which brings me to my next wonderment.  Do you think celebrities avoid seeing movies with their ex's in them or with their ex's newest love interest in them?  For instance....do you think Robin Wright would ever want to see The Nanny Diaries since Sean Penn's newest flame Scarlett Johansson stars in that?  It's so weird for me to think about.
What about viewing their own movies?  All of us at more than one time in our lives have had a lazy Saturday afternoon where we spend all day parked in front of TBS watching old movies that we have seen hundreds of times.  Do you think Julia Roberts and Danny Moder ever put the three kids down for a nap and sit down and turn on TBS only to see Pretty Woman on TV?...and if so, do they sit and watch it?  I totally would.  I would love giving behind-the-scenes info and then I would change channels when the awkward or embarrassing parts came on!
It would be cool to be famous for a week and see how the other half live.  I wonder if USWeekly or InTouch have issues of their magazines sitting around in agents offices, audition rooms, and movie sets...similar to normal people's monthly news letter that gets sent out at work.  I wonder if celebs can opt for the email version to save on paper costs for the company.

Celebrity Sightings

I have always been a huge fan of following celebrity gossip.  I once was a subscriber to US magazine (when it started as a Monthly mag.)  and was VERY disappointed when it turned to US Weekly and basically turned into over-recycled pics of celebs and a bunch of trash; a mere step up from the National Enquirer.  Don't get me wrong; I still enjoy the magazine once in awhile and enjoy laughing at the dumb "Stars: They're Just Like US!" comments, but I wish it would go back to classic celeb following, not paparazzi hunting down the latest reality TV star in hopes to catch them coming out of a club with their "newest fling!" <--- lame.
ANYWAY... I don't know about the rest of you, but I am a Team Angelina fan.  This really upsets my friend Caitlin from Life On the Fax.  We have ongoing battles about it and at the end, we just agree to disagree.  I told her that the reason Brad left Jen is because she didn't want to have children and Angie obviously does.  I will argue this point until the day Jen becomes pregnant.  During an email battle one day (after reading that Jen supposedly "hated" the "Rachel" haircut), I asked if Jen had ever heard of this new invention called a scissors.  If she had, then she should use it!  She desperately needed to get rid of that long hair and get a fresh cut.
Well, it looks like her stylist Chris McMillan hacked into my email and listened.  Congrats Jen on cutting that mane; it was long overdue.  No pun intended.
If you wish, check out the article in PopEater; they share my views.

I hope I wasn't too harsh on Poor Jen.  My dream to be famous and make an appearance on the Tonight Show someday is still alive and I wouldn't want them digging back into "Something To Blog About" and this post would suddenly be on the front cover of US.  I can see the headlines now:  Leiann Wright's Beef with Jen & Why She Hates US Weekly!