This Is My Favorite Charity

And probably one of the cutest things ever. I would like to train helper puppies but my husband questions that I would allow anyone to take my puppy from me. He's probably right.

Things So Much More Important Than Chris Cooley's Hair

Again, this blog blows me away with how powerful her words are and how dead on she is - I know what that absolute misery and indignation at the world feels like. Its what I felt sitting, sobbing next the candy shop at gate B6 in BWI. Its hard to explain what its like to watch people buy Sour Patch Kids by the pound while chatting on their IPhone after you have just put your husband on a plane to go fight a war.

The Cooley Zone

I don't know how I missed this. Apparently Redskins tight end Chris Cooley blogs for Yahoo sports every week. I know! Cooley is my second favorite player on my second favorite NFL team. (Respectively my first choices are Rock Cartwright and the New England Patriots). I certainly hope that there are archives of his blog, because I have a lot of catching up to do. With players like Chris Cooley, the Skins promise to be entertaining no matter what their record is this season. Oh, if you haven't checked out Redskins Late Night on Thursdays on local DC television in the football season, I highly recommend. It is this bizarre Redskins version of SNL broadcast from Gordon Biersch in Reston. I'll admit the only episode I saw was the one where Chris Cooley stopped by, but it was pretty great. I also think Cooley should grow his hair back out. Let's start the movement here and now - a RSN petition for Cooley's hair. I think that's where his power lies.

Faith

I have a lot to say about both DWTS and Idol. . . don't worry I plan on spending my lunch hour gathering my thoughts on both tomorrow. But while suffering (and by which I mean enjoying way too much) through the two hour fest that is the Idol Finale, I have to wonder how high George Michael's legal fees are. I know he's had some trouble with the law, but this is the second American television he's appeared on this season - and he was pretty much another character on Eli Stone. Which B the W, if you didn't watch Eli Stone, get it on DVD or Tivo or something. Its great, it has a lot of singing, including Mr. Michael and my favorite, Victor Garber. (Who you probably know as either Jennifer Garner's father on Alias or Adam's favorite character in Titanic. Did you know he performed the marriage ceremony for Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner? Victor Garber, not Adam. True story.) George Michael is now performing Pray for Time in the dark. Paula is crying, clearly this requires my full attention.

Oh, before it is too late - I'm on team Cook, we'll see how that goes. . .

Maybe My Husband is Working for NPR

The past couple days of NPR stories have been so related to my husband, I've refrained from posting links and simply encouraged people to go to his blog to check them out. Here's a bit of a recap, all in one place, of why NPR seems to love my husband.

Duke Lacrosse - my husband and I almost broke up because of the Duke lacrosse scandal. I'll refrain from making comments but I will say that I am not wearing any royal blue either. Other random note - anyone else notice how many Duke tee shirts they wear on The Paper??? Including a completely inappropriate one that celebrates the raping of strippers. Point is, at least two of the "reporters" have been seen repeatedly wearing Duke tee shirts - I believe it is Trevor (the annoying bully who is really there just to say "yes dear" to the even more annoying Giada.) and one other - I think Dan who is not an editor but wants his own column. I've tried to research but can't figure out if they are going to Duke. I'm assuming.

Humanitarian Assistance (or lack there of) in Afghanistan - this is what my husband does and what the Army felt was so important for him to do that they felt it necessary to recall him from the IRR. Interesting story that basically claims my husband is wasting his time over there. Like I needed NPR to tell me his time could be better spent elsewhere.

WE LOVE YOU TED!!

We're praying for you too. Get well soon. Come back to DC. We'll do lunch.

Can $3.99 wine be wrong?

As some may know, I have an inability to go into Trader Joe's without buying wine. And when they sell wine at $3.99 - can you blame me? Last time I bought a $3.99 Rose. While Rose is all the rage, I've never had a rose. Now I can't tell you the difference between a rose or a white zinfandel, I'm sure is something like the difference between a merlot and a cab. I'm sure wikipedia can you tell you more. But so I had my $3.99 wine tonight. At first I wasn't thrilled, it was a little sweet. But if you give it a chance, its not bad. Its a little bit heavier tasting white zin - at least to me.

Point is - give $3.99 wine a chance. It can't be that bad.

If you want to live in the zip. . . you have to live by the code

There are no words. . .

My Husband's Blog is Noteworthy!

Check it out! He's the May 19,2008 entry!

While you are there, read his bit about the NPR story today. If I had heard it on Morning Edition and did not just read it, it would have been the best thing I heard on NPR today. So just check it out over there.

Letters to Various Places

Dear Netflix,

Thank you for your fabulous mail order service that (usually) guarantees that even if my Tivo runs out of television, I always have something to watch. However, I do not understand this week's mix up, sending me the movies "Hairspray" and "Ocean's Thirteen" instead of One Tree Hill Season Three Discs 3 and 4. I had timed their arrival out perfectly and planned a Friday and Saturday night viewing (one disc each night) with a staggered return to ensure I would not be without the next discs for more than a day. Now my schedule is shot and my Friday night looks bleak. I have only John Travolta in drag to keep me company.

Love, Lauren

Dear Mr. Bezos,

Thank you for the wonderful business you have created, Amazon.com. Thank you for employing my husband and for (hint hint) offering him a war heroes welcome and an even better job in a year. Thank you also for allowing me to get Friday Night Lights and 30 Rock on demand. However, why do you only feature One Tree Hill Season 5 on Unbox? I am two seasons behind and without disc three of season 3! Where is season 3??!!

Love, Lauren

Dear Mr. Jobs,

Thank you for providing the wonderful service that allows me to download fabulous covers of even more fabulous songs by my favorite American Idol. Thank you also for making it easy to buy my favorite New Kids on the Block songs without having to go to a store and admit that I really want this comeback to work. Your television selection is also very useful and our first wedding gift was Season One of Friday Night Lights from your service. Why, though, do you only feature Seasons 1, 4 and 5 of One Tree Hill? Where is season 3?? Why cannot I not download season 3 disc 3??? Who wins the race for Tree Hill mayor???? Do Nathan and Haley get back together?? If you can't help me, Mr. Jobs, who can?

Love, Lauren

NPR Story of the Day

Normally I just note the NPR story of the day on the side, but Melissa Block's reports from China this week have been amazing. Melissa was in China for a special report they were doing on China, in preparation of the Olympics, when the earthquake hit last weekend. Her reports, along with Robert Siegal's, have been just amazing and devastating, none more than her story today on a couple searching for their two year old son and his grandparents. All three were found dead in the rubble. Its a story that will stay with me for a while - and one that really makes you angry that only $500,000 in US aid is on its way.

The Fraggle Movie!!

The Fraggle Rock Movie is coming out in 2009! I am very excited about this - I used to watch Fraggle Rock on my Grandma Doyle's tv. I was very little - I don't remember much more about my Grandma's house in MA other than everything was very big and I got to watch Fraggle Rock. I am a little concern about the plot line of this movie - the Fraggles leave Fraggle Rock to explore the human world. I like the Fraggles in their Fraggle Rock world. . .not among our own. What will the Doozer's do?? No matter what, its a great excuse to post the Fraggle theme song here. Enjoy!

Too Much of a Good Thing

As loyal readers know, I am pulling for Jason Taylor in DWTS this year. (Which started 3 months ago. . . its nice to be able to mark deployment time in reality television shows.) But back to Jason Taylor. I'm all for him and Edyta. That said - the football metaphors have to go. The "Super Bowl of Dancing", "rushing to the end zone" etc. I get it. Dan Marino came to talk to him. He plays football, right. He glides like a dolphin. Gotcha, he plays for the Dolphins. They don't make Spanish soap opera metaphors for Cristian. I think that would be more enjoyable then watching Dan Marino pretending to care if Jason Taylor wins DWTS.

BTW - there are a lot of more appropriate photos of Jason Taylor out there, but this one has a baby tiger and a monkey. I think we all know that any other photo doesn't matter.

Hug a Military Spouse or Buy Her a Drink

Friday is MILITARY SPOUSE APPRECIATION DAY!!! Woo hoo! It makes this whole deployment disaster worth it. Here is a link to the Military Spouse breakfast that Fort Belvoir did not send me to. . . thanks a lot! Read over the President's comments - he supports the idea that the Army Wife is the hardest job in the Army (amen brother) but also notes that he will fix any subpar housing "when they find it." Suggesting that the Fort Bragg barracks had been hidden under a Harry Potter type invisibility cloak. . . . tricky tricky that magic.

Here are some fun Army Wife links -

Army Wife Comic - she's not kidding about the leg shaving thing

My favorite Army Wife blog - her entry about saying goodbye still makes me cry, because its 100% accurate

For the loyal RNS readership, some Army Wife, NPR style

The long awaited return of some fabulous Lifetime drama

And last but not least, here is a link to my favorite military spouse tee shirt shop. . . I will take guesses as to which ones I purchased for myself and my husband.

Milk and Cookies

I love Food Network. If you've spent five minutes with me, you know that. Right now I'm on an Ina Garten kick - yes, the Contessa herself. She reminds me of my next door neighbor growing up, Mrs. Wolf, and her recipes are fancy enough to seem chef-y but easy enough for me to follow along. She also seems to be married to a child. She is always talking about taking care of Jeffrey and she goes out for drinks with her gay friends, as if Jeffrey isn't old enough. Take today's ep - Jeffrey Home Alone. She starts by saying when she is away, she is worried Jeffrey lives on milk and cookies. Again I ask, is he a five year old? I'll be the first to admit my husband would live on a diet of take out pizza and burritos if I was away (I use his entire MBA education as an example). But I'll also admit I would not be making him homemade ice cream if I was going to be away for a night. Perhaps I need to learn a few lessons about marriage from Ina.

Mmmm. . . beer

Just a quick shout out for the new seasonal flavor, Blue Moon's Honey Moon. As some may know, Blue Moon is a Coors productions. Having lived in two of the beer capitals of the world - St. Louis and Colorado - (Anheuser-Busch and Coors, respectively) I have to say I much prefer Coors Light to Bud Light. I am also a big fan of Blue Moon with its wheaty goodness and an orange slice. Its like breakfast. (Fruit, grains. . . I mean its almost like a muffin.) Anyway, I love seasonal ales - it makes it seem like beer is something special and gives you a reason to buy it. I love no seasonal ale more than Summer - in fact my first love of seasonal ale is Sammy A's Summer Ale. Light, refreshing, kinda tastes like baseball, its delicious and its how I know its summer. But this year, I have gotten over my puppy love crush on Sammy and moved on the the Honey Moon - Blue Moon's summer flavor. It does not taste like Blue Moon but it is delicious. A little sweet, refreshing, awesome. I highly recommend.

ps I just now got the name. Honey Moon - like Honeymoon. I was thinking it was some astrological event, like a blue moon. When I googled it for the official site I got all these wedding suggestions and then a light went on and I giggled at how clever those Coors R&D guys are.

Television Traffic Jam

The problem is there is just too much good tv out there to talk about. Especially on Mondays and Tuesdays - then I feel like I can't blog about Wednesday's ANTM if I haven't talked about Tuesdays results on DWTS. So, I'm going to try to catch up all at once with a quick wrap up on the week's tv, or at least the stuff that isn't still sitting on my Tivo waiting to be watched.

Gossip Girl - OMFG, indeed. The show gets more and more awesome as the weeks go on. I have to say overall the strike improved television, getting wimpy bad plotlines out of the way and bringing shows back strong. Its like frozen orange juice without adding all the water. I also sat next to a real life Chuck Bass last night. After having dinner with a friend, I faced a long ride home on the metro and a tiny bladder. I decided to stop in a hotel to use their facilities and so as not to unfairly impose, had a glass of wine at the bar. This 20-something guy was there, chatting it up with Jorge the bartender about the new carpet in the lobby and why it was better than the old carpet. He was also allowed to control the television in the bar. Yeah, thats power.

DWTS - A lot of over hype about Cristian's arm. I wonder if the Chiliean Air Force will be paying for the surgery. Actually what is his status in the Air Force? Is he on a leave of absence whule starring in soap operas? Anyway, I hope he heals though I think that no disco ball trophy would be worth further injury. And I love Jason Taylor. I miss MNF and always having to watch but inevitably my kicker is playing in the game and I need him to score an improbable 27 points to when Fantasy Football that week. But point being, Jason's paso doble was a nice treat. And he's adorable. With a big A little dor, big A again. Yeah, AdorAble.

Idol - Again a lot of hype this week. Who cares if Idol is fixed or not. If you are watching it for the intense human drama, I think you're missing the point. You should be watching it for Neil Diamond and the awesome cover band renditions of his songs. Who cares if the winner is really chosen by my votes or not? I just like to watch the Idols try to make sense of Mariah Carey week followed by Andrew Lloyd Webber week followed by Neil Diamond - and trying to make it all topical to today's music. Awesome.

ANTM - Tyra is killing me. I am getting ready to either a) break up with ANTM or b) have to fast forward through Tyra's speaking parts. I love the Paulina addition though - and her passive agressive threat to take over as host of ANTM. And note to Tyra. . .stop calling yourself Momma. Its weird. Note to America - Whitney's size 10 body is really not obese. Lastly, note to Whitney - if you didn't have such a nasty attitude, you may be the first "plus size" (normal size) winner of ANTM. (Which B the W, who cares if Italian Vogue doesn't feature "plus size" models. . . when is the last time Italian Vogue featured on of the ANTM winners?? I think that the KMart contracts they end up with tend to be pretty well suited to the normal woman.)

The Bachelor - I will be shocked if Matt doesn't pick Shane. They seem sort of suited to each other. . . not really famous for any reason, but just sort of hanging out and spending money. But the real news is that apparently my favorite Bachelor Andy Baldwin is now stationed in DC. Oh yeah. And he loves the nightlife. I was going to say I can't wait to see him out and about, but I'm not so much out and about lately. . . perhaps I will have to start so I have the opportunity to see him and try to work the Duke ROTC connection.