I once described Briony like this: She lives life as if she's constantly being followed by hidden cameras, auditioning for Glee.
I don't think I've ever spoken truer words. This kid cracks us up CONSTANTLY.
Today at breakfast (following our family's 'goatmeal dance party' - eating oatmeal and dancing to Michael Jackson and other 90s goodness), she perfected her 'fake surprised' look when Geoff said something, complete with a super dramatic double take + wide eyes + hands over her mouth. AMAZING.
Can I take back my Friday Smile? Because that first one was only mildly amusing. This one has both Geoff + I grinning from ear to ear like the biggest dorks in the world. Are you ready for this? WE GOT TICKETS TO THE COLBERT REPORT. I've been website-stalking this show since we first started talking about a possible trip to NYC and tonight... at long last... SUCCESS!
*insert gleeful little happy dance here*
They seriously overbook these shows, so now fingers are perma-crossed that we'll get in. That'll be good for my arthritis, hehe :)
It's 20.18 on a Friday night and I am bribing myself - with ice cream - to work until 21.00. At that magic and entirely arbitrary hour, I plan to power down my laptop and then proceed to gorge myself on said ice cream (and maybe some popcorn too, because that's the kind of week it's been) and watch reruns of Law + Order... or whatever else is on television on a Friday night.
I suspect that most people my age are probably out doing something more fun than working, eating ice cream, and watching reruns of legal shows that are probably based on 'current events' that happened four years ago when the episode originally aired... And while I may be behind on my Law + Order, I am most certainly NOT behind on MSNBC / The Daily Show, so I have at least one foot still firmly planted in (sarcastic and US-centric) reality and will realize this as I stuff popcorn in my face and wonder why I took FRIDAY night off instead of a superior television night earlier in the week.
This is my life now. I suspect my blog was more interesting when my life was more interesting.
PS - NBC announced this week that Law + Order will not be renewed for its upcoming 21st season. BOO. Before you get your panties in a knot, the spinoffs are all safe. There's even a new spinoff approved for the fall. But I don't know what television (and NBC) will be without Sam Waterston. And this means that it only *ties* for the record of longest-running drama, which seems kind of tragic. Hmph.
I saved my Friday Smile for today because it was just too awesome... A Toronto radio station has switched over to an ALL GLEE format for today only, to promote the new season that begins tomorrow. So fun! You can listen online here.
Today, I was forced to put on real pants and go to work like a real grown-up.
I'm kind of kidding. I enjoy the days when I get to be Professional Lindsay, they're just extra busy. Not that I'm not professional when I'm working from home... Whatever. You know what I mean.
Today, Briony was up EARLY again. Blech. I had a half-hour of Mama + Briony Time before Geoff came home from a night shift. We had a few minutes together as a family before he took over so that I could start getting ready for my day. Then Katie arrived to take over Briony duty so that I could leave for work and Geoff could go to sleep. She stayed until he woke up, and then he watched Briony for the rest of the afternoon - allowing me to hammer through a few in-person client meetings and grab lunch with my friend Chuck (the creative director at the agency where I had most of my meetings today).
Still with me? These are the days of our lives :)
I came home to a super cranky teething baby girl, and we powered through dinner before deciding to distract her with a walk to the park to play on the swings - and I swear she cheered up the second we put her in the stroller. We stayed out until bedtime (and gave her a bottle on the road), and she CRASHED once she was back at home and in her crib.
I'm going to declare that it was a good day. It was made even better by the fact that I managed to wrap up work by 10 pm today (ugh... I KNOW) so that I could watch the American Idol results show on PVR. Which would have been a fun little ending to my day if I hadn't accidentally come across the results of the show about ten minutes into watching it. I WAS SO MAD. Both about ruining the surprise and about the result, but happy with the resolution. And that's all I have to say about that, just in case I ruin it for anyone else ;)
Oh, and GLEE on OPRAH made me extra-happy. Other than the part where I had to watch Oprah for an hour. Is it me, or is she more annoying than ever? I used to be able to watch her sometimes, and now I actually avoid it. But anything for my Glee kids... It was glorious. And it's making me even more excited for next week than I already was.
And now it's the end of a very long day. Cross your fingers along with me that Briony will not turn our two early mornings into three. I think that three probably constitutes a 'streak' of some sort, and it only takes 21 days to form a habit... SHUDDER. I cannot survive on this schedule for much longer.
I am very much looking forward to tomorrow. My mom is coming for Tiber River pedicures in the morning and then sushi for lunch. It's pretty much guaranteed to be a good day :)
Have I mentioned that I love watching Intervention? Because I love watching Intervention. (Though I'm super tempted to write a letter to the network demanding they add some sort of symbol to their episode titles that lets you know ahead of time which stories have happy endings and which don't. Because sometimes it just hurts SO MUCH.)
Today, I was watching a rerun that I hadn't seen before. It was the story of a girl in her 20s who became addicted to pain medication in her effort to deal with her rheumatoid arthritis. And it broke my heart.
I've been sitting here trying to figure out why I was so profoundly affected by it, and I think it's because I understand her pain. I understand her all-consuming desire for relief. I even understand why she would consider taking abusive amounts of pain medication to try to achieve that goal. I just don't understand what could make a person take that final step and actually do it.
All I wanted to do after it was over was to hold Briony. She's my very best insurance that I will never make that choice. And she's a great snuggle buddy.
I've been watching a lot of Glee this month. Like A LOT OF GLEE. I can't help it, it makes me *so* ridiculously happy - even the episodes I've seen ten times already.
But imagine my heightened excitement when I finally managed to place the actor who played rival choreographer Dakota Stanley on an episode that aired earlier this fall. It's DUCKFACE! From FULL HOUSE!
So 'goodbye' seemed to be the theme of our trip this time. I didn't realize just how bad it was until I realized that Briony was starting to wave on cue when we instructed her to 'say goodbye' to someone. If it wasn't so cute, I would have cried... Just kidding. Of course, I cried anyway :)
We bookended our trip by scheduling another IHOP brunch with Aaron + Cait, this time in Abbotsford because I was still pretty flared up. It was fun to spend some more time with them - and especially fun to watch Cait and Briony playing together - but there was a little tiny Eeyore-style storm cloud over top of us, knowing that this brunch would end with an indefinite goodbye. Briony did her best to keep us laughing with her new Cheerios Dance. She seriously danced every time she picked up a Cheerio, as it made its way into her mouth. Such a funny girl. We narrowly escaped an official Parking Lot Scene, only because I finally just spit out the g-word and walked away. I held it together until I saw their car drive away and I knew the coast was clear, and proceeded to burst into tears randomly about every half-hour for the rest of the day.
We said goodbye to Carole and the kids in the evening. It sounds sad, but we're kind of used to saying goodbye to them - we do it every couple of months. It doesn't make it easy. It just means that we're starting to perfect the whole process a little bit.
It all got me thinking... In the next four years, will we become accustomed to saying goodbye to Aaron + Cait the way we've become accustomed to saying goodbye to Geoff's family? Kind of a strange thought.
We got the bulk of our packing done, and then settled in for new episodes of The Daily Show and The Colbert Report (and Kanye on Leno, of course). I made it about two-thirds through my Jon Stewart fix before I crashed, but Geoff assures me it was all awesome :)
In case you didn't catch that, that was the sound of Lindsay relaxing on the couch for an entirely lazy and uneventful Sunday night (the best kind, in my opinion).
It started with America's Funniest Home Videos. Yep, that's right. I can't help it that I find other people's injuries HILARIOUS. When Geoff realized what I was watching, I saw judgment in his eyes, but it took less than five minutes for him to join me on the couch - and I swear he laughed at those funny, clumsy people louder than I did.
Laughter made way for tears because I simply cannot watch an episode of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition without crying. No one can. It is very, very evil that way.
We took a break from the television to be productive for a while, until I realized that one of my very favourite TLC specials was on: the women who didn't know they were pregnant until they were full-term and in labour. Please don't ask me why I love it so much. I have no idea why. Perhaps it's the Rescue 911-style reenactments by people who aspired to be 'real' actors but were not pretty or talented enough to succeed. Maybe it's because when they interview the actual people, they all have the same hillbilly accent. It could have something to do with the voiceover guy and his entirely predictable script. Or maybe the show's impressive moustache count. And you can't overlook the fact that the actors are always about a thousand times more attractive than the actual people (yes, A THOUSAND TIMES). Now to add to my delight, this episode featured a lady who didn't know she was pregnant... with TWINS! Life is so awesome sometimes.
After Briony went to bed, Geoff and I caught up on the Cake Wrecks blog. Talk about icing on the cake... hehe. I posted a few highlights at the bottom of this post.
Did anything truly responsible or productive happen? NO.
Did we spend time laughing until our stomachs hurt? YES.
I don't know when I started watching TV again, and I don't necessarily like it. I used to be able to go weeks without spending any real amount of time in front of the TV - other than The Office and some occasional episodes of The Daily Show and The Colbert Report. But lately, with my non-existent energy levels, all I want to do is sit on my couch and stare blankly at the screen. The problem is that (a) I fear I will become morbidly obese, and (b) I'm totally sucked into these shows now.
Nevermind the fact that some of these new obsessions are (so embarrassing...) reality shows.
Tonight brings not one but TWO major television events to my living room: the finale of The Biggest Loser (which always always always makes me cry), and the first episode of American Idol since my darling Michael Johns got voted off (which also kind of makes me want to cry).
It reminded me of the last season of American Idol that I actually watched, when Constantine got voted off... So sad. Now I'm left with all my hopes hanging on Carly and David Cook - and I'm so scared that annoying Brooke or super-annoying Young David will end up in the final. Shudder. A shudder that they might win. And an even bigger shudder that it actually kind of matters to me.
But it does. Have you SEEN Ali? She's lost 99 pounds, and she looks so amazing. You can tell by the way she walks now that she feels so good about herself. I'll be so sad if she doesn't win the money. But regardless, her entire life has been changed, and how can you NOT be happy for all of these people?
I wish that I didn't care. I really do. But these darn reality show producers are just so CLEVER in their devilish schemes to draw me in...
So ironic that I'm getting fat from sitting on my couch and watching other people lose weight on TV.
Sharing the journey that has taken me from being a single girl in the advertising agency world to a married mommy running my own freelance writing and consulting business (and every random adventure in between).
THINGS I LOVE: Thunderstorms, power ballads, princess camping, exploring new cities, Jon Stewart, greatest hits CDs, clever ads, packing for a trip, George Clooney, impractical footwear, movies about spies, Starbucks, reading an entire book in one sitting, a house full of friends, movies about spies, buying presents, a perfect French manicure, warm modernist architecture, getting flowers for no reason, being faux brunette, Mary Poppins, making lists on Post-It notes, decorating for Christmas, having a brilliant middle-of-the-night 'aha!' idea and then actually remembering it in the morning / THINGS I HATE: People who whine, wearing sweats in public, 2-in-1 shampoo and conditioner, birds, American tourists in foreign countries, taking down the Christmas tree, poems that rhyme, the misuse of semicolons, being lied to, unpacking after a trip, being closed-minded, naming your kid something common but then spelling it stupidly, cowboys, overly cautious drivers, fake curse words, ridiculously long surnames, strangers who start awkward conversations with you in places you can't readily escape
