Are You Ready For A Throwdown?

With my lack of new books to read, I have jumped back into re-reading one of my favorite series, Enchanted Inc. by Shanna Swendson.  Nichole turned me onto this series after I was frantically searching for something to read when I finished the Twilight series 3 times in a row. Needless to say, it was the perfect series to move on to and I fell in love with it. I got Natalie to fall in love with them too. We actually bought each other the series for Christmas, haha. Anyway, it's about an ordinary girl from a small town in Texas, named Katie Chandler who is adjusting to life in the Big Apple. Basically she discovers that magic is real and is recruited by a company that deals with distributing spells. It's a sweet story, complete with a handsome black haired, blue eyed Wizard named Owen Palmer who is the object of Katie's crush. There are 4 books in the series and while parts of the story are pretty silly, they are a fun, quick read and I adore them.

I also just read the first book in the Stephanie Plum books, by Janet Evanovich, One For The Money. I know there are a billion books in this series (not really, I think 17?) so they will keep me busy for awhile... or a couple weeks, according to my sister. She says I read way too fast. I think she may be right.

My obsession with Bobby Flay seems to be growing. I watch Throw-down with Bobby Flay on the Food Network every chance I get (I have yet to see an episode where he wins, even though I know he has won some because I have read his book... thanks, Carrie!). I'll continue to watch until I see him win one. Not only does he have Food Network shows, I am delighted that NBC has given him his own show called, America's Next Great Restaurant on Sunday nights at 8pm. It's pretty much a bunch of people competing to come up with the next brilliant "casual-fast food" (think Qdoba or Chipotle) chain restaurant. The winner gets an investment from not only Bobby Flay but 3 other food people and 3 restaurants that will open up in 3 major cities. There is a fella competing from Detroit who is trying to open up a chain of chicken and waffles restaurants and he made it into the top 10. Really though, all you need to know is that Bobby Flay hosts/judges it and he wears a suit... and he's handsome. He also has a special that will be on this weekend (on Food Network, of course) that is about him going to Ireland. Yes, please.

I have been researching Disney World like crazy the past couple of weeks because we are going to take Charley in the fall (shhhhhh, he doesn't know about it yet.). Yes, I have been there before but I have never been there with my own kid and I am ridiculously excited to experience the "happiest place on earth" through the eyes of my very creative, very imaginative almost 4yr old. And of course, why not make a stop at The Wizarding World Of Harry Potter while we're at it??? (!!!!!!) With the help of my awesome friends and family, we have a pretty good game plan to go on. Jeff, C and I will be driving and my mom and sister are going to fly down a day ahead of us. This will be Natalie's first ever vacation that doesn't involve driving up north to the thumb, so I am just as excited for her as I am for Charley. Hooray!

One last thing, if you currently have nothing to watch Wednesday nights at 10pm, I suggest you check out Justified on FX, starring Timothy Olyphant (who I have had a crush on since seeing him star opposite Jennifer Garner in the movie Catch and Release). It's about a federal lawman, set in the city of Lexington, Kentucky and all the crimes/people he deals with. My handsome husband, Jeffrey tried to get me to watch this show all last season but it never really pulled me in (it's kind of disturbing sometimes... says the girl obsessed with True Blood). When I heard during the off season, that they had cast Jeremy Davies and Brad William Henke (that's Daniel Faraday and Bram to my fellow Lost folks), as well as Michael Mosley (from Scrubs: Med School and more recently an episode of Castle) I figured I would give season 2 a shot. I'm glad I did. Not only is Timothy Olyphant excellent and captivating with his cowboy hat and soft spoken demeanor, the two actors formerly known as Faraday and Bram are fantastic. It's so fun to see them playing completely different characters from what they played before. So, if you're bored this Wednesday around 10pm, check it out. Or if you're one of those people who doesn't like to jump into the middle of a series without seeing it from the beginning, I'm pretty sure you can get the first season on DVD or Netflix.