Survivor: Blood vs Water Premiere Recap

New Season! New Season! Yay!!! I should really be rooting on the Indians right now, but Survivor can't wait! This recap is a little long since it's the premiere and all. Also, I've read quite a few other blogs that don't like all the twists, but frankly having family members compete against each other is pretty mentally twisty and in my opinion kinda cool.

Wow, got some old timey favorites! Tina, Gervase, Rupert, Rupert's tie-dye...

We've got the following pairs in order of appearance:

Gervase and niece Marissa

Kat and boyfriend Hayden (who won big brother)

Laura and daughter Ciera

Rupert and his wife Laura

Colton and fiancé Caleb - seriously with the shoulder sweater?

Candice and husband John

Monica and her NFL husband Brad Culpepper (hello, sir!)

Tina (love her!) and daughter Katie

Tyson and girlfriend Rachel. Oh Tyson, he's one of my least favorites - he just irks me

Aras and his brother Vytas

**sidebar: this show would never "survive with any other host than Jeff Probst, he's 1/2 the reason I keep watching!

Each pair spends the first night alone together in different parts of the island with no supplies. The next morning, Jeff surprises everyone and lets them know they're playing against their loved ones, not with them. I love when the family members admit they want to go up against each other. Nothing like good old fashioned healthy competition. And then NFL Brad melts my heart answering that he'd rather make sure his wife has a tarp, even if he did just target himself with his team.

Returning players (Pros) named Galang

Family is named Tadhana

And twist #2 already. 5 minutes in, each team already is asked to vote someone out. I am a little surprised that the family voted for Rupert's wife, Laura. The pros vote for Candice, if I recall she's kinda snotty so that's cool. And then Jeff throws twist #3 out that redemption island is in play. And twist #4: Rupert is asked if he wants to switch with his wife to save her and puts himself in danger. Not only that but if he comes back, he goes with the family tribe. I love him and how big his heart is. However Candice's husband doesn't do the same based on what she wants. I can't keep up with all this already and it's the first day!

Time to build shelters and eyeball each other's abilities. Mostly, the pros were all sizing up poor Laura being the only newbie. Over at the newbie tribe, they're a little less efficient. And hello, hot husbands taking a waterfall bath together! You know what I've always wondered? Why do all these chicks wear regular bras and not a bikini or sports bra? Frankly my bras feel like they're falling apart after I wear it 2 or 3 times between washings, let alone looking at 39 days on a freaking tropical island!
 

Not going to lie, a lot of the strategy talk bores the crap out of me, but I wish they'd show Brad the NFL player trying to do simple math every episode. Hit in the head one too many times there, buddy? And newbies can't get a fire going but they're all spilling their skeletons to each other. Vytas has the craziest story by far. It's always amazing to see when someone can overcome addiction and drugs when so many people never can or will. He could be really inspiring.
 

Back at the pros tribe, Colton tries to really relate to everyone and breaks down sobbing about all the hardship he's faced being a gay man in the deep south.. He seems sweet but I don't remember his season so he's got a clean slate with me, although everyone else that does know him doesn't seem to be buying everything he's selling.
 

Next visit is to redemption island where Candice is hacking at a coconut calling out people's names that she's going to take down. Rupert uncharacteristically acts really lazy and let's Candice so all the work. I knew it was strategy to save his energy!
 

Tree mail! It's challenge time, about time. I enjoy the competition way more than all the drama and that's saying something! Another classic combo challenge, with an obstacle course. Ha, Hayden calls it perfectly, the newbies are a bunch of meatheads and couldn't get fire going, even though they lied to save face in front of the pros. Very perceptive.

Let the challenge begin. Not surprisingly, the pros are slower moving. Most of the newbies are kids of the older pros, especially Grandpa/Uncle Gervase who is so tired halfway through that he belly flops into the water off the platform. God, I love when Jeff taunts people during challenges! He calls the pros pathetic. What's pathetic is when Colton screams at Kat and threatens to hit her with his paddle. Hmm, I'd say its Gervase or him going home if they lose after that display. The pros make up some time on the puzzle when the moms just demolish their daughters, winning it for the Pros! And Gervase starts talking smack? He's damn lucky his team members carried his ass.
 

Back at camp, lots of voting talk blah blah blah. I love that Marissa calls out Grampy Gerv for his gloating. Lots of "sore winner" talk. 

It's tribal time! I love blindsides, I hope there's a few good ones this season. Last season I was screaming multiple weeks in a row all thanks to Malcolm. Not sure that can be beat. Nothing meaningful is said in tribal that wasn't already hashed out at camp. It's down to Marissa or Katie. I agree that it's not fair that Marissa gets judged on her uncles actions, but honey, this is Survivor - fair is not part of the game and she's the first person voted out. That's going to make for some uncomfortable future Thanksgivings!

Teen Mom 3 - Episode 4 3-Minute Recap

I'm trying to watch this while eating my lunch at work. Don't know how frequent I can do this with the threat of people who don't respect lunch hour and interrupt me. and the connection is so slow so the dang screen keeps freezing. URGH! Hey, MTV. There's more commercials on your site than when I'm watching TV, and I've seen the same 4 over 25 times each now. major annoying.

Katie:
Joey is watching Molli while Katie does a bridal fashion show, modeling gowns and bridal lingerie. Katie talks about her insecurities about her post baby body and when she tells Joey about the show, he gets pissed off about her "showing her ass to everyone". Not gonna lie, I'm pretty sure my husband would say the same thing, but he would still support me. Love hearing her say she looks beautiful when she's at the fashion show fitting because she looks amazing!

I'm confused, is the show St. Patrick's Day or Halloween themed? She looks so good! And her lingerie isn't really that revealing at all, I've seen worse on w. 6th street on a Tuesday night! But Joey still leaves like a spoiled little boy. And that makes poor Katie feel like she isn't pretty enough. I really don't like the way he's getting down on her, hmph, immature little boy.

Briana:
Big sis Brittany is going on a road trip and sadly we get another episode of Bri being sad about getting left out. Poor Nova is going to get a complex someday when she sees how depressed her mom is. Brittany tells her that she feels the abortion was right for her, but she gets sad looking at Nova sometimes. These poor sisters.

Bri and mom give her a road-trip gift: a charger and a cute little trophy for being a good sister and aunt. So cute. Lol "I feel loved" chant. Yep, I still want to be besties with these girls. And now I want to be friends with Brittany's friends because they look like they're having a blast. Poor poor Bri is bored and stressing without all the help from her mom and sister.

EWWW!!! Nova has the mother of all blow-outs all the way up her back. Disgusting and super funny all at the same time. On the serious side, Bri tells her mom she feels like a burden on them, breaking not only Mama's heart but all of America.

Mackenzie:
Mac and Josh taken Gannon to his first rodeo, just to watch. no riding, but having grown up with rodeo boys, I know how hard it probably is for him. monkeys riding dogs - hysterical. Since Josh can't ride he goes down and helps the other guys with their ropes and such. I was afraid I was going to see him jump on! He talks to another rodeo guy about wanting to come back even though he knows Mackenzie doesn't want him to. Then they 2-step and it's so dang cute I can hardly stand it!

While at tumbling, Mackenzie realizes how hard it must be for Josh not to do what he loves so she tells him that she'll support him getting back into it. Mackenzie's mom disagrees with them and plays devil's advocate.

Alex:
She hasn't heard from Matt since he got kicked out until of course the camera is on. then he texts an apology to her while Alex is talking to mom about therapy to deal with her anger and with him.
Alex meets with the therapist, this time without Matt, obviously. The therapist reminds her that she has no control over what Matt does so getting angry and yelling only hurts her and Arabella.

How many siblings does Alex have? Seriously, I've counted 4 I think and they're all very mature for their age. Geez. Matt calls to apologize again and agrees to be civil and meet up to discuss Arabella.

Alex brings Arabella to meet with Matt at the park. And while Alex talks with him, he keeps half falling asleep, like he used to do on 16 & Preg when he was using, which Alex then asks if he is on something. It's like I'm in her mind! And Matt of course doesn't really deny it convincingly, rather he just gets up and leaves. He's so classy. And I hear he's been out on the interwebs saying that he's being edited to look bad. Um, no, sorry, it's pretty clear you have problems buddy.

Sleepy Hollow Recap

I have been so excited about this show for months. My love has been three-fold, this was one of my favorite books as a kid (yes, I'm weird, but I love spooky stuff since I was teeny-tiny). Then you have the classic Disney cartoon with the song "Ichabod, Ichabod Crane", and finally my one true love Johnny Depp's portrayal with Christopher Walken as the best horseman ever.

Here's hoping this show lives up to my own hype!

So the show opens during a battle in the Revolutionary War. We see Ichabod Crane fighting the British and out of the mist comes a creepy Brit on a white horse with iron mask and giant battleaxe. Crane is injured but lops the baddie's head off during the fight and the scene ends with them both lying on the field. Cut to Crane crawling out of the ground in a cave into present day and almost gets hit by a semi. Good morning, sunshine!
 

Now we're in a dine with a sheriff and his lieutenant, Abby, talking about all the unsolved deaths in the area (of course) and how she is leaving town in a couple weeks for an FBI job. They get a call to a local farm. And of course a big ol' storm rolls in. They find the farmer's head has been cut off, and the sheriff in the barn meets Horseman and then subsequently loses his head. Well that was fast.

**Sidebar: wtf, it's Harold (aka John Cho) as a cop in Sleepy Hollow. Fine, his character's name is Andy, but it'll be hard not to call him Harold. ever.

Anyway, Harold/Andy brings in Crane thinking he's the killer and when he hears Abby describe the killer, he drops the headless bomb on them. Premise has been set, now let's get on with it. Crane is set up to a polygraph and sounds all kinds of cray b/c he's from the past. Aww he brings up Katrina and she was his wife! "Welcome to the 21st century Mr. Crane."
 

Abby and Crane have a witty banter about slavery - awkward. So far I'm worried I could get bored really quick with the past jokes but watching his fascination with the car window made me giggle. And they pass a creepy-ish priest who had been in the diner, he must be part of the mystery somehow. Abby has Crane show her the cave. Cue a joke about the flashlight.
 

So the horseman might be one of the 4 Horsemen of the Apocalypse, in fact, death himself. Interesting. Uh oh. Horseman comes to visit the priest. Who tries to snare him in a trap and then of course... Swoosh... Buh bye priest.
 

Abby and Crane show up to the scene, nice touch with the crow, makes me think of Stephen King in a good way (shout out to the Stand). The bird leads him to Katrina's grave which reads "burned for witchcraft" :(
 

So no big surprise here, Abby has some past that links her to the Horseman somehow. In high school, she and her sister walked through the woods, saw four white trees, heard a scary voice and saw "something" and blacked out. Her sister went crazy from it, literally.
 

Later, Abby sneaks into her dearly departed sheriff's office and finds a key that opens his secret supernatural files about witchcraft, including her case. Bum bum bum, the trees represent the Four Horsemen. At the same time, Crane "dreams" a discussion with Katrina about the location of his head. Turns out, Crane and the horseman are bound by blood which is why he came back when the Horseman was awaken, too. So if the horseman gets his skull, the apocalypse begins. Some creepy demon thing almost gets him when he wakes up. Got all that? sheesh.
 

**Sidebar #2: Hahahahaha the chief is named Irving. As in the author of the original book, Washington Irving. Cute.
 

Abby pulls Crane from the loony bin and warns Harold/Andy to watch out. He then comes home to find his house open and the horseman chilling in a chair waiting, as one does when they're 250 years old and headless. Andy tells him he "knows where it is" and the horseman puts away the axe and they get in a car to get some White Castle. Sorry I can't help it. Needless to say Harold/Andy is an idiot but he still has a head so that's something, I guess.
 

Ew, Crane digs up the grave site and pulls out "the" head. The eyes start glowing, announcing Headless is there. Bad Andy, baaaad Andy, tries to knock out Abby. He's obviously been lured to the dark side. Lucky for all, the sun comes up and the horseman gallops off for the day. Without his pickled head.
 

More backstory. Crane and Abby are apparently the two witnesses of the apocalypse described in George Washington's copy of the Bible. While rotting in a cell, Harold/Andy gets paid a visit by the demon and swoosh goes his noggin for failing. Crane and Abby show up seconds later to see the demon creeping off in the mirror. That was kinda cool.
 

Okay, to summarize, so far so good, the history jokes are funny as long as they don't overdo it too much. And please do not make this a Bones or Castle-type show where these two hook up later. Just don't. It's been done. A lot.

Teen Mom3 3 Minute Recap - Episode 3

And I'm back less than 24 hours later! HA! AND an extra 1/2 hour after show!! Hooray!

Mackenzie
She asks Josh to prom and then immediately goes dress shopping. Funny to see her put the cost of the dress in perspective with buying diapers and then decides to borrow one from a friend. So responsible. Josh and Mac both talk about having sex on prom with their friends and both "say" they won't. uh huh. Aw, Gannon in a little tux. Trampoline in a prom dress?? That was so cute!

They are just so cute, sitting on the curb getting ready to go to after prom.

Briana
Devion wants to take Nova to his house, but then stand up Bri when he said he was going to show up. Mom quote "he's just one disappointment after another" So far in 3 episodes, Bri just mostly mopes around, poor girl has a serious case of the sads. Babyproofers come over and make it safe for Nova, and Bri feels sad because her mom pays for it and Devion yet again has no responsibility.

Another day, another promise from Devion to come visit Nova and he's hanging with his bros playing ball first, but... shows up!  Ha! The Wild West music is hysterical! He really needs to realize that he has to earn the right to be around that little girl since he spent 6 months not caring or knowing her. Momma gives him 3 weeks to turn it around after a smackdown phone call.

Katie
On a side note, after further review, I take back what I said last recap about this fight sitch. Joey isn't all rainbows and butterflies - he's got a little bit o' rage issues. Not like this is foreign territory in Teen Mom land. Anyway, back to today. Katie and Josh are still fighting and they talk to others about what is wrong with the other. Another couple getting told by a parent to get therapy. So rational this season!

Joey and Katie finally talk things out calmly and discuss how to handle their emotions better for Molli and go to therapy. Yay, cuz I like these two the best for sure. I'm cautiously optimistic.

Moving day! How cute is their last clip peeking in on Molli in her new room!

Alex
Matt has been talking to another girl online. Oh man, not cool. What a toolbag. He's living for free in his girlfriend's parents house and getting so much support from them for his problems. Scumbag. Alex confronts him and goes ape-shit when he lies to her face. As she should.

Oh yikes. Screaming and craziness in the front yard.  And then the psycho confrontation that they've been previewing. I would be scared out of my mind if a big guy got in my face like that! I just realized I was holding my breath. Wendy tries to smooth things over - and then kicks him out of the house, but Alex is hysterical and doesn't want him to leave. I want to hug her so bad. Also, if I was a neighbor... I'd be that neighbor creeping out the window. I'm nosy and I'd probably have called the cops for fear that Alex was going to get hurt.

On the After Show:
Mackenzie reveals in the aftershow how hard it was to be a parent and still do high school stuff. Shocking revalation there. Poor Katie, she seems so sad talking about her and Joey. I think my dream of them staying together just shattered right with Katie's. BTW if you aren't following her on Twitter, I'd highly suggest it. She's worthwhile @Katiebyeager. Bri talks about basically nothing new, other than joking about how she should block Devion on Twitter. And finally Alex jokes that she looked like Barney in that fight because she turned so purple. On a serious note, she swears she'll never let that happen in front of Arabella again and how stupid she felt yelling at her mom not to kick Matt out.

SuChin points out the loneliness all the girls are experiencing, basically confirming what I'm saying about Bri and how alone she feels. And each girl talks about losing their friends after having a baby.
Why did they do Teen Mom? Bri: you get to see all the options. Katie: a chance to make a difference and help people not make the same decision. Mac: help people learn from our mistakes.
Will you let your kids watch the show when they're older? Alex: "You have to, especially to explain what happened and why her Dad isn't there"
Quote of the night from Mackenzie... "Wrap it before you tap it" HA! That should be the PSA at the end of every episode.

That's it for tonight! I'm excited to start talking about other shows in the next couple weeks with everything else premiering!! I've been trying to catch up to Revenge and so far, I'm about 5 episodes in and I now understand what all the fuss was about!! The goal is to be completely caught up by the premiere on September 29th... I think I might need to take a sick day just to accomplish that!!

Eddie Cerino's

So in an effort not not make that last post super-long, I forgot to include my thoughts on the one night we dined out this weekend. Papa John's on Friday doesn't count. We all know that's some good $11 pizza.

I purchased a Groupon last week for Eddie Cerino's Casual Italian in Lakewood. They just changed the concept of the restaurant about a month ago from Eddie 'n Eddie's which was yet another burger place, and if you know Lakewood, we had so many here already that even Five Guys didn't survive (damn, damn, damn!!). The owners already have several successful Italian places (Carrie Cerino's, Pizzeria Cerino) and Lakewood really doesn't have any other than Angelo's and Player's. Angelo's has minimal seating and Player's is for being fancy. So needless to say, they made what seems to be a good change.

We showed up about 8:30 on a Saturday and there was a decent wait (about 20 minutes) and the crowd was a little different than Eddie n Eddie's in that there were still kids, but significantly less of them. Good mix of people, too. Older, families, date nights, and a big table of barely legal gals celebrating a birthday before hitting the bars.

We started with the mussels, which were in a garlic white wine broth. Oh I cannot say enough about a good bowl of mussels! The broth was so salty and delicious and we were sopping it up with the complimentary Asiago bread. Who needed entree's? Oops! We did order them though.

Tim ordered the veal piccata. As I continue to post, you'll see a trend emerge with my husband. If it's Italian, there is a 95% chance he will order veal of some kind. Either piccata or saltimbocca. All those poor baby cows, haha.

I ordered the sausage baked ziti because I was in the mood for some serious meat and red sauce. This is my go-to meal to make in the winter, too. Usually I get something with seafood (like a fruiti di marre, or alfredo), but I wanted something heftier for dinner. This came back to haunt me later when we stopped at a friends afterwards to porch drink for a few hours...

I'll be honest, it was nothing spectacular, but it was good solid homemade Italian food, which is exactly what they're offering. Nothing fancy, just quality - and definitely a better option than those chain Italian restaurants for the money.

We'll definitely go back, maybe with the in-laws for family dinner. Especially because my iPhone picked the end of dinner to crap out and I couldn't upload the Groupon onto the bill. I felt so bad because the waiter was trying to think of anything to help me out, but I decided just to use it another time rather than keep everyone waiting.

Teen Mom3 3-Minute Recap Episode 2

Boy, oh boy, oh boy, it only took a week to get back around to my girls! I can't let that happen again. A girl's got to have priorities! So on to the recap from Labor Day's episode...

Mackenzie. Wonder of wonders, Josh didn't cave and isn't moving in with Mac at her parents house. But he's staying over once a week to help out. Then they have the big birth control discussion and Mackenzie's mom is really strict but they're trying to do the right thing, be safe, and not have another little country baby. Mackenzie is scared to talk to her mom and decides to tell her via text to avoid confrontation. That's a mature way to have the conversation. Mac goes to her OB-GYN to talk options and what would be best for her with her diabetes - man, I never thought about birth control effecting blood sugar? the more you know.
Cut to Josh practicing steer roping in the yard with his pal, Lane, that reminds me of the little rodeo boy I grew up with back in Canton, and who also seems to be Josh's Jiminy Cricket.
I digress. Afterher appointment, Mackenzie then has to finally go home and talk to her mom openly about why she got the IUD. Was that so hard?

Katie. Cute shot of her showing off her ring to friends, but they're not rushing until after she finishes college. Again, I contend that she has a good head on her shoulders. Katie and Joey discuss moving into a bigger apartment so baby Molli doesn't have to have her crib in the kitchen. Good call. I don't have much room to talk, I'm all about creative use of space in tiny apartments. Katie figures out a budget and they go to look at a new apartment. Wait. $930 a month? in Wyoming?? I lived in an almost identical place here in Cleveland and only paid $700! I'd say they're getting robbed since I'm pretty sure the cost of living here is higher. Then Joey's rando friend calls Katie (?) and says he owes the guy money from 4 years ago for a cell phone plan? This causes a fight in which they make each other "feel like dog shit".

The argument continues into the night. Katie makes the passive-aggressive comments that only a girl can that make the fight only get worse. I don't even think her points are making any sense. In this instance, I actually feel bad for Josh in this fight especially because he's about to go work in a freaking coal mine!

Alex. More about her juggling all her jobs and Matt still has no job and is annoying her. she has high expectations (as one does) and he's just not really trying. Cue argument that Mom has to mediate. Wait, did he use the word "echelon" before stomping out the door? Triple word score! Matt comes back and threatens to leave and not stay anymore. Alex's mom once again talks sense into the both of these immature kids and tells them how much they need therapy to get better.
They set up an appointment with a counselor and talk about their trust and communication issues. The therapist suggests when the boiling point hits in an argument, walking away from each other to calm down.  Only time will tell with these two, they stress me out just watching them.

Briana. Devoin shows up to visit and Bri confronts him about all his cyber-bullying and asks him to respect her or she'll go back and file the protection order, but she gives him a chance to prove himself. Momma suggests that Bri let him watch Nova for an hour alone for a practice run at being a real dad. Bri then talks with a friend about going back to school and having a life - and of course the conversation turns to Devoin and her friend doesn't think he should be left alone with Nova yet. hmmm.

Devoin shows up to watch Nova and Bri hasn't been gone more than what seems to be minutes and Nova starts fussing on him, but to be fair, he handles it well, likely b/c the camera is there. Meanwhile Bri and her fam sit in a car outside while she has a nervous breakdown.

Hahaha, Nova is still crying and Devoin has all kinds of shiny sweat on his face, but he even changes her diaper and cleaned her up when she puked on herself! I think he did better than I was expecting. but I still have a feeling he might have ulterior fame motivations for trying now. or else I'm just really cynical after so many years watching all these girls.

Moral of the story: all these girls showed their immaturity in this episode.

Holy Whirlwind, Batman

Wow, it has been a crazy week + since Labor Day weekend. Nothing has quite gone according to plan and I barely remember that we're in September right now - except that the Browns lost the Home Opener last night, so it must be fall. boo.

To recap the crazy (most of which was self-made really), going all the way back to Labor Day weekend:
Saturday, we went to watch the opener of Ohio State at our favorite local dive, Merry Arts - they have some of the best bar food (WINGS!) and cheap beer specials during any local sports event - OSU, Indians, Browns, Cavs. What I was suprised to see is they skinnied down their menu and a few of my favorites disappeared, much to the chagrin of my Bucks crazy gal pal who had been dreaming about tots the whole week leading up to the game. I honestly think she'd have picked a different bar had she known. Regardless, the service was the typical as if they're just never prepared for a semi-large crowd, but I usually overlook this b/c I love walking to this bar and it's cheap :) Around halftime or so, one of our other friends showed up and he proceeded to buy us 5 rounds of Fireball shots through the remainder of the game. bad.news.bears. Needless to say, I was toast by 4:00 and rather than continue the party with the guys - I walked westward home while my husband and his friend went east to continue drinking all day. I passed out on the couch rather than finish all that awesome cleaning that I'd intended for the day! Now you would think that the story ends there, oh no! Apparently the tiny afternoon drinking session turned into an all night rager, complete with more Fireball. Thank GOD I went home! But I too suffered as my husband and his sister stumbled home about 1:30am and the husband informed me he never ate the rest of the night and then woke up every 1/2 hour to upchuck Fireball all night. Good times. So Sunday was a waste for all between the hungover husband and my general exhaustion from being kept up all night to the dulcet tones of intense puking. Nothing got done. Monday was family bbq fun so nothing too exciting to tell there.
Then the work week started and it seemed that the extra day off was in no way rejuvanating with all that needed to be done both at work and at home. I think I maybe spent about 1/2 hour to an hour total on the couch relaxing all week - there was always something to get done, somewhere to go, groceries or staples to buy. ugh.
So this past weekend, due to exhaustion and general catching up, the only plans I made were to go tailgating for the Browns home opener. I LOVE the Browns passionately. But sadly that love is generally unrequited b/c they do not return any of my love with things like, say, winning?? Oh well, I love them anyway. Well dsadly to report that I did not make it to tailgating, but instead enjoyed watching it on our giant TV in our little bedroom, curled up with all the dogs and cat while my husband was in and out getting office work done. Sadly, I'm afraid this is the gateway into being total homebodies and boring married people!! Say it ain't so!

Monday has already been a blur thus far thanks to jam-packed work schedule and a little TV blogging catch up that needs done (did I mention that I also have a TV blog? Well I should... http://ctownismyhometown.blogspot.com/) Maybe I'll get to actually sit back and relax this coming weekend? Nope, I think there are birthday parties and dog adoption events to attend. sigh - woe is me I have a pretty great life :)

Behind schedule

In case you didn't notice, I wasn't able to get the latest recap up for Teen Mom 2 - this week has been quite the interesting and draining one and I hadn't found the time to even watch yet! The horror!! I promise will have both recaps up tomorrow for sure.

Switching Gears

As proof of my indecisiveness... I'm only 2 weeks into this particular blog, and I've changed the name and the direction. My husband kept saying he'd rather see a blog about all the cool adventures that we've had around Cleveland. Too bad I didn't start this a couple years ago, because we've had some awesome touristy adventures exploring our fine city!

I know there are quite a few people already sharing their Cleveland love - I read them almost daily! So hopefully I provide another unique perspective and another voice telling the world all the amazing things that Cleveland has to offer.

In true 'me' fashion, I came up with the new title in the middle of the night and couldn't go back to sleep until I found out if it was available. My high school track team was like a crazy fun gang, run by the one of the most positive, inspiring guys you could ever meet. He's also one of the best runners to come out of my little town. Anyway, we had several chants, handshakes, and "gang signs" all related to C-Town. What I loved as I moved an hour "up north" to Cleveland, I realized that the same city nickname applied. I want to be proud of Canton, but there is still a lot of work that needs to happen and there's not as many people invested in the same growth that I've seen here in Cleveland and the surrounding suburbs. Technically, I live in the city of Lakewood but the Cleveland border is less than 1 mile from my house, so, semantics.

So now I'll make Hubby happy and have a great time sharing my life and our life with everyone.

Laboring on Labor Day

I remember when Labor Day included parties or spur-of-the-moment trips to exotic locales (like Detroit, Indiana, or the Outer Banks).

This weekend however?? I'm a THRILLED about deep cleaning my house. There are some necessary changes that are long overdue since Hubby moved in and invaded my singlehood life. I never needed a guest bedroom b/c the only people that crashed with me eithercrashed on the couch, or in the case of my Mom, got my bed while I used the couch. My guest bedroom in this place has always been a "dressing room." It sounds fancy, but when you only have a closet with a wall opening the size of, well, a door. Plus there's shoes, jewelry, scarves, hats, purses. Obviously I needed a whole room for all of this!

For almost 5 years, I've loved showing off what Hubby liked to call my store (he thought it looked like going to the mall). Well last weekend put into motion an entire redesign - let's just say my cheap clothes racks finally showed how cheap they really are. And in the meantime, discussions about the upcoming winter led me to preparing to purchase an adorable daybed from Ikea. (The Hubs is a landscaper and does snow-plowing in the winter and basically we've made an agreement that on nights that he either has to get up at 2 or 3am or will be coming home before 5am, he will do his best not to wake me and sleep on said day-bed.

So I had to keep in mind the room is barely 7 x 9 soooo I need something that is smaller on everyday, but can pull out to fit 2 adults so we won't feel so bad telling friends they can't crash with us b/c there's only a couch to sleep on. This has caused a full re-thinking of my dressing room situation. I also think it might need to necessitate a painting project b/c if I move all the things on my walls around, there are a lot of holes that need patched and it is a rental - so I should just paint, right? Right. I love to paint, so good excuse for another project!

On to project 2. I have all hardwood other than 2 rooms in the house (of which all pets and former foster animals have ruined). The floors are super dirty and I am always looking for new tools to clean easier. Frankly, the Swiffer Wetjet just doesn't cut it with a dirty husband, 2 dirty dogs, and a dirty cat. Outside of the hair, the layers of crud on the floors has gotten out of control. Well, I've stumbled upon what looks to be my solution to avoid a Cinderella-type scrubbing session.

 Meet my potential new best friend, the Shark Sonic Pro. I got sucked into the infomercial, but did my research prior to my purchase that it really does what it says. I have a huge Hoover Steam Vac in the attic that has definitely seen better days and doesn't work on hardwood. I have a date with a scrubber and I can't wait!!

Which brings me back to my point that I am old and get excited about cleaning rather than partying. Now to be fair, Saturday I will be at the bar with BK my Lady watching the opening Ohio State Football game and I already was a huge nerd for cleaning, but when this is the highlight of a 3 day weekend, I've reached a new level of not being 22.

And of course, I will update how my possible new bff works out! Happy scrubbing!

Teen Mom 3 Premiere!

image courtesy of MTV.com

So before I get into the recap (my 1^st official, whoo hoo!)… I’ve decided on a format for my blogs. Let me know what you think… if there is anyone actually reading, of course! As I start getting into this, I’m going to try and find a site format that makes everything easy to find if you want to search on one show in particular.

According to the source of all random facts, Wikipedia, the average adult can read 250 - 300 words per minute. Knowing how short my attention span is, and how many different sites I tend to read on my lunch hour, time is of the essence. With this handy-dandy knowledge, I bring to you… 3-Minute Recaps! Could be slightly more or less on a case-by-case, but the goal is to never be over 1000 words with a recap so you can catch up on a show and be on your way. I think this might be especially helpful when there are a good 6 shows to talk about in a given night (I foresee Tuesdays and Fridays being a tad painful).

So on to the Teen Mom 3 Recap. I am admittedly obsessed with all things Teen Mom and 16 & Pregnant. Even though I keep up with all the current gossip, I’ll try to keep with just what is happening on the show. Also for sake of time and keeping ish straight… I’ll keep each girl’s storyline for the night together.

Let’s start with Briana. LOVE her family and their strength based on 16&Prego. Best line of the night early on from sis Brittany: “…not running in the forest with daffodils and dandelions.” Nice to see the show portray some reality when they show government assistance in the way it was intended: for single, struggling families (not like Janelle and Kieffer getting free food for themselves because they were lazy druggies). Honestly, I could watch a full show just with Briana’s family. They’re real and funny and I want to be friends with them. Can we make that happen? It’s not creepy that I want to be friends with a teenager, right? ahem. Anywhoooo, Briana of course says she wishes maybe she hadn’t had Nova so early and life would be different (a recurring theme), to which Brittany says she is the best part of their family. Awww.

Uh oh, baby daddy talking shit on twitter, that’s all kinds of wrong. Nothing I hate more than people airing their dirt online. Cut to the 2^nd half of the show and Briana is walking the neighborhood with a friend and baby stroller, talking about baby daddy drama – again these girls are so frighteningly normal. Then we see the DeJesus girls take baby CPR and then practice on Nova later that night. Cut to Devoin and his boys out to dinner. Dude looks like he stepped off an episode of Fresh Prince. Yikes. So days before a court date, he texts Briana that they should be a family, which makes her reconsider taking him to court and giving him a shot. She decides to dismiss the order of protection even though he obviously isn’t all that serious. But I have a serious issue that she wore Chanel earrings, a ratty ass t-shirt, and sweats to court. Sweatpants worn to inappropriate places is something that bothers me endlessly, maybe we can’t be friends after all.

 

I’ll be honest – I forgot which girl was Katie and which was Alex leading up to tonight. Katie seemed to have her life together, seems relatively normal with her baby daddy, Joey. That is until there is some sort of fender bender in their only car with Joey’s aunt? And Katie acts like it was the end of their relationship. I sure hope these two crazy kids can make it!

During the second hour the focus is on a date night out alone for Katie and Joey. Joey is going to propose to Katie!! Awww! I love these two! He sets it up so they have a special night and enlists his buddy at the restaurant to help to deliver the ring on cheesecake. Yep, my eyes misted a little, even though he said nothing but, “Will you marry me?” Not much on the speeches there, but adorable nonetheless.

Mackenzie is definitely the “Maci” of these girls and has been the media darling thus far b/c she is beautiful and pretty darn funny on Twitter. Oh the teenager drama on top of being parent’s together right out of the gate. *Insert comparison to Maci here* Mackenzie is way more into the relationship than Josh, similar to Ryan’s emotionless attitude but he really does love her in his own teen boy way. At least Josh can string full sentences together about his feelings when he wants to. We get a couple minutes of showing off how good Mackenzie is at cheerleading. Like whoa, good. The rest of the episode is just basically her pushing for Josh to move in with her and her parents. You’re 17 for crying out loud! Slow it down, geez. Josh’s buddy says what any normal teenage boy would that moving in with your girlfriends parents doesn’t sound like much fun. Mackenzie somehow convinces her parents that he should move in to help raise baby Gannon. Josh, however, really wants to live in his own place and not with her parents. Duhn duhn duhn…

Alex – oh now I remember. She was going to give her baby up for adoption and has the wastoid loser boyfriend. Wait... 3 jobs and getting her degree? Color me impressed with the dedication! And then said boyfriend, Matt, comes out of 2 months of rehab and gives it a pretty good attempt for a bit … but also acts like his drug life was so cool. This doesn’t bode well for his future sobriety.

Alex is behind in her online schoolwork, probably due to the 3 jobs and a baby that she’s taking care of. Yeesh. Hey look! Matt has a friend to talk to about staying clean and going back to school… but wait, he’s not a good kid and makes Alex’s mom feel she needs to do a quick eye test to see if he’s high. Wow, it just got real. Everyone deserves a second chance but when a baby is involved, it’s really hard to trust someone that sketchy. When she goes to work, she leaves him to watch Arabella to try and give him some trust, but her gut tells her she shouldn’t. GO WITH YOUR GUT!!! Because guess what, he went out with a friend and was gone for hours. While Alex is yelling at him, the little sister, who can’t be more than 11, drops some wisdom and says to talk like adults. Boom.

And as always the end of the episode is an adorable montage of baby love.  This episode had a very positive direction but apparently watching the upcoming preview, looks like all that good energy this premiere had is about to go down the crapper fast. Guess it wouldn’t be Teen Mom if it didn’t, and I’d probably be way too bored if it all was “daffodils and dandelions”

Anniversary Weekend

Wow, Hubby and I's 1st anniversary weekend was chock-ful of family together-ness. What a great way to celebrate than to spend time with the people that brought the two of us into this world!

So Friday night was The Hub's family dinner also celebrating Grandpa Frank as he turned 81. We went to Legacy at Sweetbriar Golf Course in Avon Lake. I got a delicious lemon veal and The Hubs got Prime Rib which the couple bites I swiped were phenomenal. Classy place and a nice family together time.

Saturday our only plan was Pier W for dinner at 8:00 so what to do with the whole day? Adventures, catch a movie, etc? Nope. Since we rarely ever spend Saturday together in the summer (Hubby works really hard) we decided to just be lazy and hang out with each other all day - at one point we left and grabbed a quick bite down the street at Jammy Buggars (a decision that was later regretted due to the heaviness of the menu items chosen). We got back and decided to have a household nap in the bedroom with the A/C window unit at full blast - not just the two of us mind you: all creatures be it 2 or 4 legged were up in that bed enjoying snuggle time for a few hours in the middle of the day!

Moving on to the highlight of the weekend! Pier W!! In all this time I've lived in Lakewood, I've never been. I'd never heard anyone less than impressed (other than a friend who's pickyness is beyond words). So needless to say, I got gussied up and couldn't wait, even though due to the earlier Jammy's mistake, I really wasn't as hungry as I'd have liked.

I ordered the seared Hawaiian Tuna, which was served over a corn relish and had a chorizo and goat cheese stuffed tomato. Heavenly. And also of note - I've been cooking tuna steaks ALL wrong for years. Hubby got the Scallops with a raisin and onion marmalade, garlic gnocci and bacon chips. For not being a scallop person when we first met, he sure does love them now. I think the gnocci and bacon helped quite a bit.


Pre-dinner selfie off the patio. Darn wind messed up my 'do!

We were blessed enough to sit by a table with a couple celebrating their 50th(!!) anniversary and got some sweet words of wisdom about staying steady through the ups and downs. I got a little teary of course. What better moment than to see what could be in our future. Of course, doing the math: I'll be 82 on our 50th anniversary. Let's hope I'm still conscious and continent when that day arrives!


Cleveland Skyline right before sunset



Not the best pic, but the moon looked amazing against the skyline

Sunday was church in the morning and then did some housework - coming up with a master plan for the spare bedroom before winter. Then we travelled to Fairlawn and met my folks at Winking Lizard for some wings and beer and sharing of the fresh anniversary cake (See below, lemon cake w/raspberry and cream filling). None of that year-old frozen stuff for us. The perks of having a friend do your wedding cake!

Anyway, I digress. I miss my parents, as weird as they are, and I just wish they could pack up and move north - Canton isn't that far, but it's too far when thinking about the future and having them around for the phantom future babies in my head. After that, we got home around 7:30 and I just had no energy left to stay up for the VMA's. I desperately wanted to see NSYNC but thanks to the wonders of technology, everything was online for lunchtime viewing. Let's just agree to not talk about Miley b/c she seems to enjoy all the attention, no matter how sad so I'd rather not perpetuate her delusions.

Labor Day weekend is looking to be relaxing in comparison... only time will tell!



Wine with Friends

Last night I had a girl date with my Maid of Honor, Gingersnap (aka JB) at Humble Wine Bar in Lakewood. Mind you, I just was there Thursday as well for the Grand Opening - but it's a very well-known fact I have a Deagan's obsession and knew Humble was going to be more of the same, but with wine and wood-fire pizza!

Since I didn't post about the girl's night out on Thursday to Humble (mostly b/c I just came up with the blog to begin with), I am combining my thoughts on the place into one super-post.

As to be expected, Humble was pretty much everything I expected and hoped it would be. Hence why I went there twice in a week! Granted there are a few things they're working out as they go - like hoping they'll have some happy hour pricing for all us budget-conscious folk at some point.

I'd been following the progress on Facebook, but was still impressed with the clean design and white tiled brick oven (that made my yummy yummy pizza) and the really cool wine bottle chandeliers (very cool idea).

Wine bottle chandeliers

Thursday, I ordered the Margherita Bufala (Tomatos, fresh basil, buffalo mozzarella) and it was perfection.

Margherita Bufala Pizza

Then last night, we sat on the patio and enjoyed some great conversation with our wine and pizza. This time, I ordered the Mushroom Pizza, which was just mushrooms, olive oil, tallegio cheese, and rosemary. Nice and simple, but then...oh wow, the desserts we ordered! I don't even know where to begin! I got the Humble Pie, which sounds like they will rotate the fruit seasonally as to the ingredients, but last night it was peaches and at the bottom was a custard, and topped with cashews and a honey drizzle. Omnomnom

And JB got the Blueberry Creme Brulee inside a light cake with caramel sauce swizzle (yup, technical term right there). I forget what the little french fry looking things were. (I swear I'll take notes next time!) It was pretty much heaven as well, and almost too pretty to eat!

So cheers to good wine and good friends! It's what makes the world a better place!!



Fall Premieres! Get that DVR ready!!

Wow, I didn't realize the extent of my TV watching until I really put this list together! And this is just the fall shows. There's at least 10-20 more that will start airing new stuff in spring or summer. How do I have a life??

Below is details on what I'll be watching. Maybe I should consider a way to do 60 second recaps since I do have a full time paying job and all!

So let's get started. I'm splitting into Reality and Scripted categories in order of premiere dates. I'm also adding my list of what I'm kicking to the curb. I'm usually one to stick it out with a show no matter how bad until the slow bitter end hoping for redemption (Heroes, anyone?), but as I've matured I've learned its just best to let it go if it hurts too much. And doing so makes room in my heart to add a new show or two (or maybe catch up a little late to the party with Revenge or Scandal, two shows my husband is never going to watch with me!)

Reality Shows:

• Teen Mom 3 (August 26th) - Baby Mama Drama! Now placing bets on who ends up in jail first from this crew. It would be refreshing if the answer ended up as none of them.
• X Factor (September 11th) - I want to stop watching, I really do, because Simon is just such a sleaze. But I'm giving it one more try before I pull the plug. I like Demi too much to say goodbye yet.
• Survivor - Blood vs. Water (Sept 18th) - I'm really excited for this concept. I love that Survivor continually shakes it up, but it doesn't ever feel stale the way *ahem* American Idol has become.
• The Biggest Loser (October 8th) - I'm always so inspired by this show. Last season those kids just made my heart want to burst! Oh and double dose of reality goodness. 2nd Season American Idol winner Ruben Studdard (the Velvet Teddy Bear) will be battling the bulge this season.
• Bachelor (January 6th) - Juan Pablo, Mi Amor! Rawr.
• Real World: San Francisco (sometime in 2014 but I needed to bring it up) - they're heading back to San Francisco, where ultimately the best season of all time took place (Pedro, Puck, Judd - DUH). I cannot believe I have watched 28 seasons (now 29) for 19 years and throw in every Road Rules and Challenge series and I should be ashamed but I'm not.
• Iron Chef America - I'm really bad about knowing when new episodes air until they appear in my DVR. Apparently that's also the case for Food Network b/c I can't find any details on their website as to when new episodes will air consecutively. So I guess they'll just surprise me like the secret ingredient. Allez Cuisine!

Scripted Shows:

• Sleepy Hollow (September 16th) - I am SO excited for this show, I hope it doesn't suck. I've been obsessed with all things Ichabod Crane since I was little. There was a Disney version of the story that I can still sing the songs to this day, and of course there was the phenomenal Johnny Depp version that I may have watched at least 10-15 times bare minimum. So it will be interesting to see this new take with the twist of current times.
• New Girl (September 17th) - Where do I begin with my love for this show. I think I should be worried the show will be ruined if Nick & Jess end up together - but the way they've handled it so far shows promise. Plus, I need more Schmidt - I'm not sure when he became my favorite character, but he's hysterical.
• The Mindy Project (September 17th) - seriously Mindy Kaling can do no wrong in my eyes. I want her (the real life her) to be my best friend. Mindy Lahiri would be a pretty fun friend, too, if not just for the crazy stories that she would have.
• How I Met Your Mother (September 23rd) - OMG y'all, we finally get to meet the mother! Wow, I'll miss them when they're gone. This group of weirdos has been my spirit animal for the past 8 years.
• 2 Broke Girls (September 23rd) - Sadly, I need to do a binge-watch of the last half of the prior season, as this stupid-silly show lost out on Monday's prior to my DVR upgrade to get 5 shows at once! The horror of not knowing what crazy shenanigans those girls are up to this week - and what the hell is the latest cupcake total? It has kept me awake at night.
• Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (September 24th) - I'm a huge fan of comic book movies, good and so-bad-they're-good. I'm excited to see this extension and how it ties into the whole Avengers mega-story that is being built on a million platforms.
• The Goldbergs (September 24th) - I am a sucker for 80's nostalgia, so I'm going to give this new show a shot, I'm sure it will have a few good cheap laughs. Time will tell if it the kitschy concept works or I can only stand 2 episodes before giving up, as happened with 1600 Penn. Sorry Jenna Elfman, I tried.
• Glee (September 26th) - make sure you have yourself a GIANT box of tissues at the ready. I'm tearing up just thinking about how they will address the tragic loss of Cory Monteith and say goodbye to the dream of Finchel forever.
• Big Bang Theory (September 26th) - Bazinga! I can't believe this show has been on for 7 seasons and just doesn't get old for me. Please please please let Raj and Lucy find true awkward nerd love!
• Grey's Anatomy (September 26th) - I just can't quit you, Grey's. My heart belongs to you forever and I will sob while watching every episode until the bitter end. I'm still not over Denny, let alone Lexi and Mark.
• Once Upon a Time (September 29th) - Breaking news! Joanna Garcia (Swisher) as Ariel!! Amazing choice (besides she is married to my new favorite Bro-hio Cleveland Indian, Nick Swisher, so there's that) not to mention we'll be seeing more of Peter Pan and the Lost Boys. Not gonna lie, Peter seemed WAY creepy when we left off last season.
• Vampire Diaries (October 3rd) - Last season ended pretty wild and everyone is off to college (because that is never the kiss of death for teen shows, right Saved By the Bell?)
• Supernatural (October 8th) - I won't know what to do with myself if the Winchesters cease to provide me with endless monsters and snarky one-liners. One of many many favorite all-time is the use of the term ass-hat when talking to an angel. Perfection.
• American Horror Story: Coven (Wed, October 9th) - Deep breaths and prepare for some freaky sh*t to go down as usual. This season is based on witches in Salem, Mass and New Orleans and will bounce around in time (as they like to do). I am usually so weirded out and creeped out by this show - and that is why I love it.
• Awkward (mid October) - oh Jenna. You're in quite the pickle when we left off. But whatever happens, I'll totally enjoy imagining I'm going through teenage drama again.
• The Following (January) - What started out as a very promising idea that reminded me of my love for 24, ended with such a whimper. Definitely no comparison to my one true love, Jack Bauer (more on that next year! *Squee*). I find myself wondering what Season 2 will entail, but if I'm not hooked a few episodes in, poor Kevin Bacon will get the ax for reals (at least in my house)

Shows Getting the Boot:

• Girls - I just can't. I know it's supposed to be so cool and trendy to watch, but I have never wanted to punch a female lead character so much in my life. I get Lena Dunham is so hip because she's not hip. blah blah blah. It's just not that good of a show. There I said it - this coming from someone who worshipped Sex and the City, but I'm sorry the writing was 1000x better at its best, probably the same at its worst.
• American Idol - To be fair, I stopped watching this past season when it became the Nikki/Mariah show. I have stopped caring long ago for the actual contestants and I can watch all the other shenanigans online and stop wasting 6 hours of my life every week (oh, it's only 4 - doesn't feel like it). J-Lo's return really does nothing to improve the outlook. It's not like she provided any real feedback.
• I should probably call it with The Following now, but I still have until January to make my peace with that decision...

Hey-O!

I think I'll be starting this blog at just the right time, y'all! Teen Mom 3 premieres this Monday! And as you will get to know, I LOVE me some Teen Momma drama! My only drawback is the lag time between filming and real life is soooo long that there is no real suspense. Will Jenelle fail her drug test? yes, of course. Will Maci and Kyle make it work? Nope, Twitter told me so. Get it together MTV, if the Bachelor can get their shows edited and on air within weeks of the final taping, I'm pretty sure that you can be a little quicker than a year+ lag time. FWIW.

Regardless, I think the new crop of girls are going to have their fair share of drama that will keep me entertained and the media hasn't followed their every move just yet (well besides Mackenzie, b/c let's face it, she is gorgeous and pretty much the new Maci).

So look for a listing of all the new premiere dates coming up soon. I think I'll split them into 2 doses: reality smut and scripted delightfulness. I'm right on the tail end of the summer so I don't want to jump into any recaps mid-ship. I'll try to be as timely with my recaps as I can, but I have a real full-time career so this is just my hobby because nobody else I know wants to talk about TV nearly as much as I do.

Also, special thanks to my pal, Emily, for coming up with the blog name!!

Why I'm here

So I'm really late to becoming a contributor to the blogosphere rather than just lurking (but not trolling!). I've just been thinking a lot lately about really wanting to document and share all my thoughts about life, food, and my deep love for my hometown of Cleveland that I'm taking the leap.

I chose the title "I'm Not 22 Anymore" as it's a phrase I've found myself saying quite often in a variety of situations. When I say it, it's typically snarky or self-deprecating, but maybe here I can turn it into a positive about how much cooler (or at least a little smarter) I've become since I was 22 (which for those who are nosy like me, I'm 33 and might just stay there for the next 10 years).

And even if I'm not 22 anymore, and all the downfalls there are with that, I think I'm a way more awesome person and a lot more skilled at life. Plus I can drink a bottle of wine on a Wednesday night and still give a kick ass presentation the next day. If that isn't progress in life, I don't know what is.