Reality TV: The Bachelor

This will be the first in a series of blog posts exploring the cause of the downfall of society, otherwise known as reality TV.  Okay, maybe that's an exaggeration, and maybe I'm perpetuating said downfall by continuing to watch, but seriously..WHO COMES UP WITH THIS STUFF?!?!?!?!  Our focus today will be the travesty otherwise known as The Bachelor.

I am watching The Bachelor this season.  I used to watch it pretty regularly when I was in college...we'd have Bachelor nights at the sorority house and at girls' apartments.  It's much more fun to watch and judge with a large group of people. :)  I stopped watching after a while because a) I started working like an insane person when I got out of college and didn't have time and b) I gave up on actually hoping that a real love connection could be made on this show (yes, I actually hoped for at least one of the Bachelors to actually find love!).  I would just get pissed off when the Bachelor would inevitably pick the wrong girl (i.e. not the one I'd be friends with) or he'd pick the RIGHT girl and then after the show was done filming they'd go their separate ways and break up (Travis Stork, I had high hopes for your relationship with Sarah, sigh). 

Now I'm working at a normal person job and I get to go home and decompress and watch TV.  I'm also working with a bunch of gals and we chit chat about things we've watched during the week.  So this season, a lot of us are actually watching the Bachelor.  This time I am watching without the expectation of seeing a happy ending and more for just witnessing the train wreck.  I have to remind myself that 9 times out of 10, even if the girl SEEMS normal, she's probably a little wackko because she's actually ON the Bachelor.  How many of these Bachelor/Bachelorette relationships have actually worked out?  Let's see, Trista and Ryan...uhhh...that's it?   I guess you could SAY Jason and his #2 (Molly), but she wasn't the one he picked on the show.  Ashley and J.P. haven't had enough time to break up yet, but I'm sure it will happen...and even if it doesn't, then ABC will have two out of twenty-three.  Super good odds.  Face it, if you go on that show, you're not going to find love, and even if that's not your main goal (fame whore) you're pretty much doomed to the D-list of celebrity.

Which brings us to this season...Ben.  He looks like a poor man's Josh Groban.  Some of the chicks on this season seem "nice" and "normal" (I qualify this by saying, again, if you're a contestant on this show I question your level of normalcy) like Lindzi, Kacie and Jennifer.  As an accountant from Oklahoma, I of course have a soft spot in my heart for Jennifer. :)  Nicki kind of annoyed me with her discussion of her prior marriage...I'm not hatin' because she was married before, I'm just puzzled with her explanation of why it didn't work.  She kind of indicated that she got a divorce because the "spark" wasn't there anymore and the "excitement" faded away.  Um, marriage is not a romantic comedy or a never ending string of Bachelor level dates...I think Nicki needs a little reality check.  The first night, with Jenna (the Carrie Bradshaw wanna-be blogger from NY), that was just plain old embarrassing.  Then that embarrassment continued into the SECOND week.  Seriously girl, pull yourself together and stop weeping all the time!  When a guy sees this show he will NEVER want to date you (well, when his sisters/mother/friends' wives watch the show because most likely the dude isn't watching anyway).  Blakely is just weird and a crappy fake crier.  Courtney is straight up evil, and as one co-worker pointed out, looks like the unibrow chick from Dodgeball.



::SPOILER ALERT!::  If you haven't watched this week's episode, look away!




WHAT THE HECK BEN!  WHY DID YOU KICK OFF JENNIFER?!?!?!?  She did not show signs of being insane, a b*tch, OR a weepy hot mess!  Her dismissal last night was seriously out of left field and I was PISSED.  You keep Jamie (who I keep forgetting about...has she even been featured at all??) and Casey S (who just looks like a Hilton sister and doesn't seem to have any personality) but kick off Jennifer who you continued to make out with even during the cocktail party?  From here on out I am officially hating on Ben.



::SPOILER DONE:::






Ok, you're good now.


That is all on the subject for tonight...future posts will explore The Biggest Loser, America's Next Top Model, and Teen Mom/16 and Pregnant.

Lazy Saturday

Oooooh Saturday!  How I love thee!  I hope your Saturday was as lazy and wonderful as mine has been!

This morning I slept until I woke myself up at 8:15ish.  Then BJ and I got up and I went to the gym.  Our gym (Crossfit Richardson) has gotten pretty busy lately!  I remember the old days when the 5:30 a.m. class was just me, Dude, the gym owner and his parents and sister!  Apparently this Friday we had 27 people in the 5:30 a.m. class!  Wow!  I guess Crossfit is becoming more popular and a little more well known, which is fine with me.  I love it and I love hearing about other people's experiences when they first start!  When I got done with my workout, I came home and had some bacon and strawberries for breakfast.  Mmmmm bacon.  I had five strips (yes...I know...I'm a pig, pun intended, don't judge) and loved every bite. 

After a nice hot shower, Dude and I decided to go out to the Texas Home and Garden show in Las Colinas.  That was a good waste of $22 and an hour of my life (which includes the 30 minutes spent getting there).  It was mainly just a lot of contractor booths and jaccuzzis and random things that we weren't interested in.  We left and decided since we were out in the area we'd stop at the place where we got our granite when we remodeled the kitchen last year.  We had planned on re-doing the bathrooms this winter/spring...nothing major, just replacing the counter tops, sinks, faucets and light fixtures.  Pretty simple stuff that we can do ourselves for the most part.  Luckily, the granite place had a good deal for us on a pretty slab of Venitian Gold, so we went ahead and scheduled them to come out and measure and bring us some more granite!  Yay! 


Sweet granite that we got in the kitchen...Tropical Delicatus is the official name.

So today is day 14 of our 30 day paleo challenge!  I'm doing ok so far...I do miss chocolate but I'll live.  I'm feeling good, feeling strong and feeling healthy!  My nose has been a little runny these last couple of days, but considering its 70 degrees outside and things are probably blooming and a lot of people around me have been sick with a cold, I'm just glad all I have is a mildly runny nose, because it could be a lot worse!  I've lost the extra few pounds I gained over the holidays (darn you cookies and fudge!) and I'm sleeping better at night.  All in all, pretty successful for 14 days in! :) 
Dinner tonight was smoked chicken breast (bone in) with some steamed and sauteed brussel sprouts cooked with shallots, bacon, red wine vinegar and sprinkled with garlic salt.  They're actually pretty decent!  It's good to know some of the things that I'm starting to like are super nutritious and good for me. 

I'm looking forward to this week...I'm going to go see The Civil Wars in concert!  Hooray!  I seriously can't wait to go watch them.  I will try very hard not to sing along...at least not too loudly.  I'm also thinking about going to this circus school thing with a couple of gals from work.  Apparently I'll get to learn how to climb the silks which sounds like WAY fun!

Hope everyone's Sunday is just as relaxing as Saturday has been!  :)

Hottest Chicken EVER!

Ok, that might be an exaggeration, but HOLY COW!  I got home from work, cooked a can of french cut green beans (yummy) and ate some of that before I started dinner because I thought I was going to fall over.  Once I ate some of the green beans, I started my chicken strips.  I bought some chicken strips from the grocery store, dredged the strips in some egg and then a mixture of almond meal, garlic salt, black pepper, white pepper and paprika.  Oh.  Em.  Gee.  I had to take a heartburn pill.  I could only eat 2 1/2 strips.  My mouth is STILL burning!  Apparently I went a little heavy on the peppers and paprika.  Ooops!  Usually my chicken strips turn out a little bland, but these are DEFINITELY not bland!  I ate the rest of my green beans and some fried sweet potoato bites, and that has helped a bit.  I think I've downed 3 or 4 large glasses of water, too. 

Just had to share my painful chicken experience. Ouch.

2012...So Far, So Good!

Before I go on to 2012, I forgot to mention in my last post that I got to go see Les Miserables at the AT&T Winspear Opera House here in Dallas!  I bought tickets back at the beginning of October (it was my late anniversary gift to myself and Dude) and it was AMAZING!  I loved loved loved it!  I got teary eyed at the sound of the opening bars of music, just because I LOVE this musical so much.  It is the music that opened my eyes to the world of musicals...I have a special place in my heart for it for sure.  Yes, I've been waiting since middle school to see this musical.  I also cried (flat out big-tears-streaming-down-the-cheeks cried) at the finale, of course.  I also may have mouthed the entire thing (hey at least I didn't sing out loud) and made facial expressions throughout.  The BEST part about the musical though was the fact that Dude, who had never really listened to it before and who is not exactly Mr. Musicals, actually liked it!  He's been humming/singing "Do You Hear the People Sing" around the house lately, and he's listened to it a few times now on his own! :)  Hooray for the new Les Mis convert!!!!

Ok, now on to 2012! :)  With the start of the year, Dude and I are doing another Whole30.  We have to detox from all the yummy yet gut damaging food we ate over the holidays.  The menu for the week, in case any of you are curious, will be listed at the bottom.  We got Paleo Comfort Foods Cookbook for Christmas, so we put one of the new recipes to the test this week.  It was really good!!  I can't wait to try the fried chicken on the cover of the book, it looks absolutely DELISH! 

Something I'm looking forward to this January?  The Civil Wars in concert!!!  Dude got me tickets for Christmas and I cannot wait!  I hope to make him love them as much as I do.  There's something about the harmonies that they sing that just gives me chills.  I wish I could sing with them.  Over the Christmas holiday, we stayed at my parents house and my little brother, who is REALLY good at singing and playing different instruments and should probably be in the music biz, sang some songs with me at his keyboard...we sang O Come O Come Emmanuel and Fix You (Coldplay).  It's fun to sing with someone who's really good like that. :)

Dinner menue for the week:

Sunday - Smoked pork butt roast with sauteed veggies wrapped in romaine lettuce

Monday - Baked chicken breast with pesto spaghetti squash (from the above mentioned cookbook)

Tuesday - Grilled pork chops, marinated in apple cider vinegar, mustard powder, garlic salt, black pepper & white pepper, paired with sauteed brussel sprouts with bacon, shallot, balsalmic vinegar and garlic salt (and some fried sweet potato bites because I love them)

Wednesday - Crockpot chicken seasoned with oregano, rosemary, lemon and shallots, and green beans

Thursday - Crockpot beef arm roast cooked with onion, tomato, garlic salt (I love garlic, could you tell?) and pepper with a side of fried sweet potato bites.

Friday - On tomorrow's menu is some chopped up chicken breast cooked with chopped tomatoes and broccoli and, wait for it...waaaaait for iiiiiiit...GARLIC!  We'll serve it maybe with a side of spaghetti squash...or just plain...who knows. 

Saturday - I think I'd really like some burger action...Dude can make a mean burger patty. :)

Boom...that's what I got...how about you?