Laters, baby.

Ohhhh, Fifty Shades of Grey... ***SPOILERS AHEAD*** The story of college graduate, Anastasia (Ana) Steele and her adventurous? Erotic? Controlling? Roller coaster ride of a relationship with the oh so handsome, billionaire, Christian Grey. When Ana's reporter roommate (Kate) comes down with the flu on the day that she is supposed interview Mr. Grey, she begs Ana to go in her place. She begrudgingly agrees and an intense relationship with the billionaire ensues. You see, Christian is a Dominant. Meaning, he needs to dominate and be in control of women (with their consent, of course. That includes a contract.). He likes sexytimes but he likes it rough (to put it mildly). The first book deals with whether or not Ana is willing to agree to be in this type of relationship with him. The second book is more or less about them navigating their new relationship, with some crazy ex-girlfriends mixed in. The third book is about them taking their very new relationship to the next level and dealing with the consequences of that. In between all that there is A LOT of sexytimes. A whole, whole lot of sexytimes.

For those of you that don't know, This 3 book series started out as Twilight fanfiction. It was originally one long story, entitled Master of The Universe, written by "Snowqueen's Icedragon" (E.L. James) and published on fanfiction sites around the internet. The characters in the series were named after the characters in Twilight (IE: Bella, Edward, etc.). You know... because it was fanfiction. As people started to take notice of the story, some were complaining commenting on the explicit nature and James ended up removing it from all the various sites and started her own, FiftyShades.Com. She ended up reworking/renaming the story and removing it from her website prior to publication. And thus, we were cursed blessed with this insanely addictive story. 

I apologize in advance for what I assume will end up being a rambling post about this series. It has left me fascinated, furious and laughing all at the same time. I guess that means that I kind of have a love/hate relationship with it. You see, I don't like fanfiction so I was immediately put off by the story from the start BUT I felt I owed it to my pop culture heart to see what the fuss was all about. "What fuss?" you ask?? The fuss being that women everywhere are becoming absolutely obsessed with this book. The fuss being that this series is on track to surpass HARRY POTTER as the fastest selling paperback of all time. OF ALL TIME. In addition to that, hardware stores are seeing a huge increase in sales from people buying COTTON ROPE. Not to mention the fact that the sex toy industry is seeing quite a boom from it as well. I am fascinated by these statistics. I'm fascinated that people who don't normally enjoy reading are loving these books. I'm fascinated that it's affecting women of all ages and I am fascinated that they are going to *try* to make a movie out of it (how they are going to manage to do that is anyone's guess. Good luck getting a decent rating out of it). 

Before I get into my real thoughts on the story itself, please bare in mind that this is only my opinion. Also bare in mind that I am a gigantic fan of the Twilight series (admittedly, I have read the series 10 times. That's not an exaggeration. Make fun, if you will. I am OK with it). I know those books practically by heart and can quote from them without hesitation. With all of that being said, I think the writing in the Fifty Shades series is absolutely dreadful. When I started reading this story, I decided to read another book along with it, (Chuck Klosterman's Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs). I figured I would take that one to work with me and Fifty Shades would be my "read at home" book. This may have enhanced the bad writing for me. Going from a very well written nonfiction book to an erotic novel, my mind had to keep shifting gears. I had to readjust every time I picked up Fifty Shades of Grey and remind myself how different the writing style was. After awhile though, I got used to it and knew what to expect. I knew that she was going to continuously repeat the same phrases over and over again ("Oh my! Holy shit! My Fifty. Fifty, fifty, fifty. My inner goddess is doing backflips!"). I also knew that after awhile, the only dialogue worth reading was the dialogue between Christian and Ana. While every once in awhile theirs would seem absurd, her interactions with her roommate, mother and friend, Jose' were horrendous. Reading her back and forth with those other characters was cringeworthy. How do you write decent banter between the two main characters but completely drop the ball when it comes to the secondary ones? The English snob in me nitpicks at things like that. As well as continuity errors, grammatical errors and spelling mistakes. How can I not? This is a published book. This woman is making heap loads of money off of it. Why are these mistakes not corrected??? It baffles me.

Now, putting all that aside, there was obviously something within the story that compelled me to keep reading it. I could've very well stopped after the first one. I hated that Christian was so mean and controlling. Why would any girl want to begin a relationship with someone like that? Just because he's hot? Just because a boy is finally paying attention to her? But really, why was this dude so hostile and grumpy all the time? About halfway through book one, I was on the fence about starting the second one. By the end, I was more than willing to read it because of Christian's character. I wanted to know why he was the way he was, even if I had to endure bad writing to get the answers.

My favorite parts of the series are when Ana sticks up for herself. It happens for the first time at the end of book one and honestly, I was ecstatic with how that one ended. She finally tells Christian "no". That was more realistic to me than anything else that had happened prior because it made Christian more human and it made him question what type of person he is. I think my favorite moment out of the whole series is in Fifty Shades Darker, when Christian thinks Ana is going to leave him and completely shuts down and stops talking. This guy is so messed up that he basically reverts back to being a child when he couldn't talk, because he can't handle her rejection. No worries, friends, she doesn't end up leaving him but the idea of it happening gets him to open up to her. Finally.

Ok, yes, I would say about 75% of these books are filled with sexytimes. Detailed pages upon pages of sexytimes. That's all fine and good. Whatever. How two people could have that much sexytimes is beyond me. Maybe I'm old. Maybe I'm a prude but holy moly, people. It was excessive. My point being, that although it is an erotic novel (and erotic it is), this is not what propelled me to read the series. Those aren't the moments that I took away from it (because let's be honest here, after a few times they all end up blending together any way). The moments I took away from it were the heartfelt moments where Christian begins to trust Ana with the secrets from his past and the moments when they discuss his possessiveness and controlling issues. Because somehow, some way, underneath all that bad writing, crazy dialogue, and scenes stolen from Twilight, there is indeed a fascinating character there. Sure, Christian is a controlling megalomaniac but the reasons behind why he is the way he is make his character believable.

Going into reading this series, I thought of it more as a comedy. Because of the aforementioned detest for fanfiction, that was my coping mechanism to get through it. I think it helped. Especially when there were scenes completely taken from Twilight with just a word here or there changed to make it seem different. THIS IS APPALLING TO ME! But instead of getting worked up about it (ok, I'll admit it, I got real mad on a couple occasions), it made me laugh. The fact that this author has the audacity to actually steal snipits of another well known author's story and make money from it is just flabbergasting. Twilight fans are aware of this already, but there is a version of the first book, Midnight Sun, online as told from Edward's perspective. At the end of Fifty Shades Freed is a very short version of Christian and Ana's first meeting, as told from Christian's point of view. Again, it seems like stealing to me but I did enjoy reading from his perspective. Listen, this entire phenomenon is absolutely fascinating/baffling to me. If I had the time, I could probably make an entire list worth of Twilight/New Moon/Eclipse/Breaking Dawn VS. Fifty Shades of Grey/Fifty Shades Darker/Fifty Shades Freed comparisons. Don't worry, I won't but believe me, it would be a long list.

I know, I know, I sound like all I'm doing is berating the series but overall I really did enjoy it. It was entertaining. It kept me intrigued, I just had to look past a lot (A LOT) of stuff. Would I recommend it? Hmm... It's not the greatest story ever told (hahaha) but like I said, there is something about Christian Grey that makes you want to know more about him. If you enjoy books with pages upon pages of sexytimes, then this is the book for you. If you are looking for a more adult version of Twilight, then this book is for you (just don't take it too seriously while you are reading it). The fact that this book series has taken over the literary world by storm is so utterly mind-boggling to me. I would love to know the real reason why women love it so much. Any book that gets people to read is a good thing, I suppose. I just wish that the content had been conceived a little more organically than stemming off of someone else's already very successful ideas.

Much like Christian's character, this series has left me fifty different shades of confused. I went from loathing it, to loving it, to being appalled by it, to tolerating it. If you dig deep enough there is a decent story there. You just have to be willing to get your shovel out and start hauling some dirt. 

Now, I will leave you with some entertaining Fifty Shades of Grey links and reviews:

Mitch Albom article from today's Free Press.  (I know how many Mitch Albom fans there are out there! Hahaha)

This is 3 Grandmas reacting to the books:

    CollegeHumor’s Favorite Funny Videos

 

 

Jimmy Fallon's Fifty Shades of Grey Karaoke:

 

Selena Gomez's Fifty Shades of Blue from Funny or Die:

Fifty Shades of Blue with Selena Gomez from Selena Gomez     

TV Dads.

With Father's Day coming up this weekend, it got me thinking not only about my own super awesome Dad, but about my favorite TV Dads as well. We all know that Mr. Brady and Michael Taylor and Joey Harris (uhh, you know... the Dads from My Two Dads?) etc. are everyone's top choices when it comes to Fictional Fathers, so I'm going to go the non-traditional route when I give you my favorites.

These aren't really in any specific order. Enjoy!

Jack Bristow (played by Victor Garber)- Alias: Spy Daddy is my favorite of the Fictional Fathers. HE'S JACK BRISTOW. The man who would go to any and all lengths (sometimes legal, sometimes illegal) to keep his daughter (Sydney Bristow) safe. They definitely had their ups and downs. She didn't see much of him after her Mom "died" and she thought he sold airplane parts for most of her life but if she was in trouble or needed him, he was there. One of my favorite things about Alias was watching the relationship between these two go from from super shaky to rock solid. By the end of the series, their love for each other was obvious and so heartwarming. I mean, if teaching your kid at a young age how to become immune to being brainwashed isn't worthy of "Father of the Year" status, then I don't know what is. But what makes their relationship even more believable is the fact that Jennifer Garner and Victor Garber truly love each other in real life. He officiated her wedding for goodness sake! how neat is that? 

Phil Dunphy (played by Ty Burrell) - Modern Family:  From the very first episode of this show, when Phil was explaining why he was a "hip Dad", I knew I was going to love his character. He's silly and ridiculous but he's smart too. He's not one of those one sided characters where being the "dumb Dad" is his thing. He has heartfelt moments with all of his kids and with his wife as well. He's constantly looking for acceptance from his father-in-law (played by Ed O'Neil) and always up for doing crazy things with his son, Luke.

Luke: How many moms does it take to screw in a lightbulb?
Phil: How many?
Luke: None because she's got you to do that... sucker!.

Phil: I've always said that if my son thinks of me as one of his idiot friends, I've succeeded as a dad.

 Keith Mars (played by Enrico Colantoni)- Veronica Mars: Keith Mars was a single dad to Veronica (Kristen Bell). He ran Mars Investigations and worked as a Private Detective. He was witty and fun and always willing to help Veronica out if she needed it. I loved their relationship on the show. He was a friend when she needed him to be and the overbearing father when he should be. They were very in sync with one another and watching them figure things out together and have those endearing father/daughter moments always made me smile. I don't only miss this show for the creative storylines and wonderful characters, I miss it because I loved watching their banter. It was a sweet sidenote to a really great show.

 Rick Castle (played by Nathan Fillion)- Castle: Between helping Kate Beckett (Stana Katic) solve crimes and writing best selling novels, Castle is a family man. He lives with his Mom, Martha (played by Susan Sullivan) and his teenage daughter, Alexis (played by the super cute Molly Quinn). Whenever he's having a hard time trying to figure out how to fit the puzzle pieces together for a certain crime, Alexis always helps him (unknowingly) solve it. Almost every episode. And while you would think that would make for a predictable, boring show, it actually makes it better. The fact that he's not just a handsome, super rich, conceited dude but is a really great father as well, helps balance him out and I look forward to their moments on the show every time I watch.

Rupert Giles (played by Anthony Stewart Head)- Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Oh hush, I know that Giles isn't really a Dad in the traditional sense but he was always more of a Father to Buffy than her real Dad was. He was her Watcher and did everything he could to make sure she was as safe as could be. He tolerated (and probably loved) her friends and was able to throw the sarcasm around just as much as they did. He rarely had a life of his own but most of the time he was OK with that. He was her guardian in the truest sense of the word and I loved it. Just like with all the others I've already talked about, one of the reasons I loved watching BTVS is because of the relationship between these two... and maybe because I had a little bit of a crush on him (oh, and he sings as well).


So, those are my favorites. Happy Father's Day to all you Dads out there, fictional or otherwise!

Happy Father's Day to my fantastic husband, Jeffrey, who should win a big award for dealing with our crazy Charley every day, all day. We love you S'much!!! 

And a BIG Happy Father's Day to my #1 Dad, the best cheeseburger maker on the planet! The Dad who is always there for each of us kids with great music, great advice and always willing to spend hours at my house whenever I have some sort of weird household problem. He's fantastic and wonderful and I love him lots! Happy Father's Day, Tom Proctor!!

Who are your favorite TV Dads??

It's Friday.

It's been awhile since I've done an "Everything and Nothing You Ever Needed to Know About Me" blog and it's Friday, so I figured it would be kind of fun to do another one. Fun for me because this is currently keeping my eyes open in the middle of the day and fun for you because you get to see that I am kind of a weirdo.

- I have to wear slippers or flip flops in my house all the time. The dogs always get water everywhere when they drink from their water dish and I hate (HATE) that feeling of my feet being wet. Ack.

- I do not think Channing Tatum is handsome. I know that I am in the minority with this one but I think he looks like a gorilla. He does nothing for me.

- I am addicted to Avocados. I think I could eat them with everything, all the time. I really, really, really love them.

- I have yet to try anything from Sonic. Yeah, I know that restaurant has been in Westland for a long time now and I was one of those people that always wished we had a Sonic nearby before it moved here but I just always forget that it's over there.

- I keep a pad of paper and pen in my bag/purse at all times, so I can write down good ideas and things to discuss and/or blog about.

- I'm the youngest person in my department at work.

- I have never seen Avatar  (much to the irritation of my Dad) and have no desire to do so.

- Whenever I think something (or someone) is boring, I always hear Dudley Dursley's "He's boorring" in my head, from Harry Potter and The Sorcerer's Stone:


- Whenever I think something is gross, I immediately think of Jennifer Garner in 13 Going On 30:


- Whenever I pin something on Pinterest and the little "Success!" box pops up, I read it as the voice of Kristen Wiig's Target Lady.

- I want to buy all of the Lord of The Rings Lego sets. Not for Charley. For me. I stare at them longingly whenever we go to the store. I could have a room full of Harry Potter and LOTR Legos on display at all times. HOW MUCH FUN WOULD THAT BE!?

- I recently had to switch over to Burt's Bees peppermint chapstick (GASP!). I know. I can't find singles of my Spearmint Chapstick at any of the stores I normally go to. I have one spearmint one left. That's it.

- I'm sick of Train and maroon 5. I feel like those are the only two bands ever played on the radio anymore.

- I don't like blueberries, raspberries or pineapple. (This fact drives Dawn crazy! It makes no sense to her.) I also hate orange juice but can eat an orange.

- I really, really, really love the Howie Day album, Stop All The World Now. It's 9 years old now and that's crazy to me. I always forget how much I love it.

- My Mom is 3 years Breast Cancer free this week. She's the strongest woman I know and I am so proud of her.

- I got my first flat tire this morning. The AAA guy thought I was a dumb girl, I could tell.

- I bought some Mangos for the first time ever while grocery shopping last night. I have no idea how to cut them.

- Dawn and I became soulmates through our mutual love of Twilight.

- I am contemplating re-reading the Harry Potter series for the 3rd time.

- Carrie and I used to sell Beanie Babies and Pokemon merchandise at a kiosk in the middle of Westland Mall. We used to make each other laugh all the live long day, while swinging our keys.

- My sister-in-law, Rhonda was my boss at my first job, The Pretzel Peddler. We've known each other for almost 20 years. (A fact that I JUST now realized and am kind of blown away by).

- I have no plans this weekend. I'm really happy about that.

A few miscellaneous tidbits:

- I really loved The Avengers. Joss Whedon did a wonderful job. I can't wait to see it again.

- The new Kris Allen album is so good. I could listen to it all day long. I LOVE IT.

- The newest Sookie book ( Deadlocked)  is much better than the last one. There is one book left in the series and I honestly don't care who she ends up with. It should be interesting.

- Season 5 of True Blood starts on Sunday. YES.

- The Hunger Games comes out on BluRay/DVD in August.

- I'm currently reading the Fifty Shades of Grey series. You can expect a blog about it soon.

- AMC is going to be showing a Walking Dead season 3 preview, the weekend of July 7th and 8th. They will be showing the first 2 seasons in their entirety, with each episode being introduced by Chris Hardwick (who will be on the set of season 3). They will also be showing interviews with the cast and behind the scenes footage throughout the weekend. There will be a special "Talking Dead" episode at 9pm on the 8th. I think that's pretty cool.  

- Charley tried to talk Jeff and I into purchasing this for him:

Yeah, no way in the world that's happening. This commercial makes me want to vomit. 

C Bear

Five years ago today (and after 2 days of contractions), I became a mom to this insanely adorable (cranky), tiny version of myself and Jeff. Having a baby is a miraculously overwhelming and incredible experience. You're pregnant for 9 months and then all of a sudden there is an actual tiny human in your house with you. Jeff and I didn't know what the heck we were doing when we first brought Charley home from the hospital. He liked to cry. I know all babies cry but Mr. Charley Bear cried ALL. THE. TIME. See, he had colic but none of the remedies for colicky babies would work on him. He just wanted to cry. It was never at the same time every day. Always at different hours. Sometimes in the middle of the night for hours, or in the morning, etc. He cried a lot, ok? There were times where I would be amazed that he could cry so much. How does it not wear him out?? He would even sleep-cry. Meaning, he would be sound asleep then cry for a few seconds with his eyes closed and then go back to a sound sleep. But we were still in love with him. This little bundle of blue eyed Charley-ness. I loved watching him (even as he was crying and I was completely exhausted). I loved that he was the perfect combination of Jeff and I. At around 8 weeks, he decided he didn't want to cry all the time anymore. It was like someone switched babies on us and he was happy as can be. Smiled all the time and laughed constantly. Oh, his laugh is such a great sound to hear. The two months of constant crying was so worth hearing his laugh and seeing his smile.

Through these last five years, I have learned to calm down a bit. Going from wanting to take him to the hospital at the smallest sniffle to just telling him to deal with it if he gets a papercut. I was a frantic first time mom. I remember reading directions and printing them out on how to give him his first bath. Actual directions and trying to time it perfectly. I didn't want to make any mistakes but here's the thing... you can't follow a plan laid out for you on a mommy website or anything described in a book. You have to go with the flow and believe me when I tell you, the tiny human is the one in charge those first few weeks. You learn to adapt to their personality and their wants and needs. You can readjust everything as time goes on because believe me, once you get used to one way of doing things for them, they immediately change things up.

All babies/kids learn at their own pace. I know there are charts and guidelines of where each kid at each age should be but that's all they are; guidelines. It doesn't mean your kid is unhealthy because he's smaller than the average 2 year old or that your kid is slow because he's not walking at 9 months. Charley walked when he wanted to walk... which was at 15 months. He was perfectly fine doing his army crawl and I was totally ok with that. One day, he just decided it was time and that was that.
 

At 2 years old he talked up a storm and (much to the delight of Jeffrey) was obsessed with Star Wars. I owe every ounce of our potty training success to that franchise. Charley knew that every time he would have a good potty training day/week, he would get a new Star Wars toy (we had a plethora of Jeff's old figures in our attic. TONS of them). Needless to say, he was out of diapers very quickly.

My point is, just go with the flow. Find your own ways of doing things and stick with it. Don't freak out if your kid isn't exactly where another kid is. They are all brilliant little creatures who will learn things in their own way. The first five years of your kids life is some of the most fun you will ever experience. Filled with new discoveries and a love that you never knew existed. It's fun and exhausting and such a joy to introduce them to new things. Being a parent is an incredible experience.

Charley is an awesome kid. I know I'm biased (I'm supposed to be afterall) but he just blows me away with his little personality and those blue eyes. He's so smart and creative and hilariously funny. He's shy and stubborn and will argue with you until he's blue in the face.

Allow me to share with you some tidbits about that little Lego of mine...

-He has slept with a blanket that he nicknamed "na-night" ever since he was 7 months old. He still sleeps with it and asks for it when he's sad. He makes us find the tag on it for him, so he can hold it while he sleeps.

- At 7 weeks old, he got us kicked out of Kohl's in Westland Mall because one of the employees there was annoyed with his crying. (I told you, he cried all the time). When I told C this story the other day, he thought it was really funny.

- He learned to say "please" over a Wendy's Frosty.

- He can hold his own among any hardcore Star Wars fan. Also, do not get into a lightsaber/sword duel with him unless you are serious about it. He is hardcore.

 - He loves to snuggle as a family on the couch and watch movies with all the lights off  "just like a real movie theater".

He is addicted to popcorn and LOVES butter.

- His favorite CD's are the Star Wars Soundtrack and the Victorious Soundtrack.

- Poop, fart, pee. He loves talking and laughing about all of it. He's a boy! What can I say?

- He is funny. So very funny.

- He is always telling Jeff and I how much he loves us.

- He hates animatronics and people dressed up in big, fuzzy costumes. Completely freaks him out.

- He loves Logan and Bristow even though he tortures them incessantly.

- He loves mini muffins and is the pickiest eater in all the land.

- He gives really, really wonderful hugs.

- His favorite Superhero is Iron Man.

- He adores his cousins.

- He is smart. So very smart.

- He is one of the most stubborn people on the planet.

- He always tells me that I smell good (haha). Always.

- When he gets his haircut and they offer him a sucker afterward, he always takes 2. "One for me and one for Daddy".

- He has blue eyes and a smile that could melt your heart.

- He's very shy.

- He loves Legos. He wishes he was a Lego. He loves building things with them. Watching them on tv. Playing Lego video games. Most of all, he loves taking them apart. Even the little hands.  He loves taking them apart and mixing them all up (and it makes Jeff CRAZY).

From the moment I realized that I was pregnant, I have dreaded the day he would go to Kindergarten. It means he's no longer a baby. He's a big boy and growing up so fast. But he's so excited for it and he can't wait to meet new friends. It's just another chapter in this whole parenthood journey. We'll get through it and then move on to the next one. Until then, I will just be thankful for the last five incredibly (fast), awesome years.

Happy 5th Birthday, Charley Robert!!

Thanks for letting me take a quick break from the usual pop culture vibe of this here blog, so that I could pay a little tribute to that beautiful boy of mine. I'll leave you with my most favorite video of him. he was 2 years old here:

A Season Of Finales

It's season finale time! I love this time of year. When all of our favorite shows present us with really kickass episodes to wind the season down. Now, a good season finale isn't all that hard to do. It should consist of a great storyline that ties up most, if not all of the loose ends that happened throughout the season but at the same time creating a whole new set up, with fresh storylines for the following season. If it's done right, it can be wonderful and by the end of the episode you should be left wanting more and frustrated that you have to wait however many months until the next one. I LOVE when it's done right. It makes me so happy and it makes me feel like I haven't wasted countless hours investing in a silly television show.

So far, this season finale.. uhh season has had a couple really great episodes and a couple of duds that have left me disappointed and angry. The ones that have left me angry inspired me to ask "what makes a really great season finale?" and to think about the episodes in the past that have left my mind blown or my jaw on the floor from shock. It happens rarely and that is what makes them stand out even more. When I sat down and actually thought about what my Top 5 Best Season Finales of all time are, there were only a handful to choose from.

I'm going to list for you my most favorite season finales of all time. With #1 being the best of the best. The usual SPOILER ALERT applies here.

5.) Dawson's Creek Season 3- True Love
After a season of trying to deny her feelings for Pacey in order to spare Dawson's feelings, Joey chooses who she wants to be with. Pacey is planning on leaving for the summer and wants Joey to go with him. Dawson wants her to stay with him. She chooses Pacey and fangirls abound rejoiced. The pair literally sail off into the sunset together:

 The episode was real emotional and had you wondering up until the very end if she was going to pick Dawson or Pacey. It left me feeling happy, so happy ( I know it's dorky but I embrace my dorkiness). The episode also gave us the infamous Dawson Cry-Face and there was another scene where Pacey had written on Joey's wall (he had bought her a wall earlier in the season, to paint and she could never think of anything to cover it with), telling her to ask him to stay. It was cute and romantic and my geeky, girly heart loved it.

4.) The Office Season 2- Casino Night
Ohhh, I loved this episode. Dunder Mifflin holds a Casino Night in the warehouse to benefit charity. All the employees dress up and attend. There was a whole thing with Michael having two dates there (Jan and Carol) but what I loved the most was the flirting between Jim and Pam. She was engaged to that tool, Roy and Jim was toying with the idea of transferring to the Stamford office. There is a moment where he tells her he wants to talk to her and you think he's going to tell her about the transfer, but instead, INSTEAD! he does this:

When that happened, I literally gasped. It was so unexpected and so fantastic that I actually got choked up. The audience had known for so long that Jim loved Pam that to actually hear him say it out loud to her was so refreshing. It was like everyone was letting out a collective sigh. It is one of my most favorite TV moments ever.

3.) Grey's Anatomy Season 6- Sanctuary/Death and All His Friends
This episode. This episode was just wow. This episode was 2 of the most stressful, intense, crazy hours of television I have ever watched. Gary Clark (the disgruntled husband of a patient who had died earlier in the season) shows up at Seattle Grace with the intention of shooting Derek (whom he feels is responsible for his wife's death). Everyone he encounters gives him the brush off, so he gets angrier and angrier with each scene. He shoots Alex, he shoots Reid, he shoots Percy (the latter 2 end up dying). The hospital ultimately goes on complete lockdown. Over the course of the episode, everyone is hiding or taking cover and basically scared out of their minds. We also find out that Meredith is pregnant. Her and Cristina are hiding out in a utility closet when they see Gary approach Derek. Meredith tries to run after him but Cristina holds her back. Gary shoots Derek. Boom. The end:

 Dawn and I watched this episode together. It had us holding our heads. Our hands were sweaty. We kept holding our breath. We kept gasping. By the time it was over, I was completely exhausted. It was fantastic. Absolutely fantastic. One of the few times I can actually say that Shonda Rhimes did a brilliant job (unlike last night's finale which I will not go into because I am too upset over it).

2.) Alias Season 2- The Telling 
I've talked about this episode on here before, so I'll keep it short. It was the first time I had watched a show and stared at the TV in shock when it ended. Completely shocked. It was so awesome. Sydney finds out that her mom has double crossed her. She finds out who the doppelganger is. She has the most epic of all epic fights with Fake Francie in her apartment. She wakes up in Hong Kong and finds out that she's been missing for two years. Oh and she finds out Vaughn is married now. That all rolled into one giant "WHAAAAT?!" moment. There was so much to process and so much speculation leading into the next season that it had us talking about it all summer long. It was so great.

 (I will give a special shout out to the Season 4 finale and the insane car crash that followed "My name isn't Michael Vaughn". That one had Carrie and I shouting at our tv's in unison. So awesome)

1.) Lost Season 3- Through The Looking Glass (Part 1&2)
How does one pick a favorite Lost season finale? When I was discussing it with Jeff, we literally could have picked any of them (he picked Season 5... poor Juliet). I went with the season 3 finale because of how drab and frustrating the entire first half of the season was. Now, I was pregnant and tired and very, very cranky during this time so that may have played into it but I think if you ask any Lost fan what the weakest season was, they will say 3. Even Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse recognized that they needed to do something to make the fans fall back in love with the show. See, most of the season was SO slow and we spent a good majority of our time watching Sawyer and Kate (ugh) in cages. We were all just waiting and waiting for something to happen and then this episode aired. it starts out with the island survivors planning to kill a bunch of The Others and Charlie diving into the water to get into the looking glass (a Dharma research station) to try to disable the system jamming outgoing transmissions. They wanted to try to contact Naomi's (the woman who showed up on the island an episode before, who Desmond was convinced was sent by Penny (his lady love) to rescue them) people and hopefully get off the island . Once Charlie un-jams the frequency, Penny shows up on the screen and tells them that she doesn't know Naomi and the boat that's out there is not hers. As Charlie is in the station, one of The Others (Mikhail) blows open the window, filling the station up with water. Just before Charlie drowns, he writes "NOT PENNY'S BOAT" on his hand and shows Desmond through the glass.WHOSE BOAT IS IT THEN!?

After all that happens, Jack is able to get service with a walkie talkie and calls Naomi's boat. The fella on the other end (Minkowski), informs them all that they are about to be rescued. Hooray!/What?! Throughout the episode, in typical Lost fashion, there are what appear to be flashbacks of Jack with an awful beard, working at a hospital, super depressed, taking pain killers. Then you see this:

 It is done so perfectly that unless you were paying attention to specific details (the cell phones), you would have no idea that these were actually flashforwards. FLASHFORWARDS!  Which left me (and the entire Lost world) saying "HOLY CRAP, THEY ACTUALLY DO GET OFF THE ISLAND!!?!?!?!" It was asbolutely, positively brilliant. BRILLIANT. It completely reinvigorated the series and made the fans ecstatic and so unbelievably excited for the next season. THIS is how you do a season finale. Lost has set the bar so insanely high that much like the show itself, I doubt any other season finale could come close to it. And that, my friends, is one of the many reasons why Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse are geniuses.

So, what did I miss? I thought about putting the Buffy season 5 finale (where she sacrifices herself for Dawn) but I feel like it doesn't count in my case. I watched the show too late and was able to watch the next episode right away, so it didn't have the same impact as it should have. I could also put this season's Vampire Diaries in there because it was phenomenal. Also, the Friends episode where Ross says Rachel's name during his wedding to Emily. Oh, and the 90210 season 4 finale where Brandon goes to Washington DC and Kelly surprises him.

Those are my favorites. What are yours?

Most Disliked Characters 2.0

About a year ago, I made a list of my Top 5 Most Disliked Characters Of All Time.  Well, with a fresh batch of shows that have come out since then and a reminder from an old favorite, I have been inspired to make this list again. A part 2, if you will.

Also, this time I will follow up my most disliked list with a list of my most favorite scene-stealers from the past season. I'm not going to rank the following characters as they all get under my skin and make me heave an equal amount of frustrated/irritated sighs, while yelling "Gah! I hate you!" at my television. Oh, as always a spoiler alert applies here, so read at your own risk, friends!

So without further ado...

- April Kepner ( played by Sarah Drew) from Grey's Anatomy. April was brought onto the show in season 6, as one of the rival surgical residents from Mercy West, who was joining the Seattle Grace staff. I instantly disliked her. They purposely made her into a competitive, overbearing outsider to show the tension between the original residents and the new. So, I guess, job well done on Shonda Rhimes part? She is unbelievably whiny and always, always, always yelling at someone in a shrill voice. It makes my ears hurt and I cannot count the amount of times her character makes me roll my eyes during an episode. She's constantly on the verge of tears and always throwing a temper tantrum. Quite frankly, she stresses me out and that's that.

- Joffrey Baratheon/Theon Greyjoy (played by Jack Gleeson and Alfie Allen) from Game Of Thrones.  yeah, this ones a double dose of UGHness. Joffrey is a 12 year old King. Joffrey is a hole. There is no other way to describe him. He's a spoiled brat who gets whatever he wants and doesn't care who suffers because of it. He's mean and I hate looking at him. That sounds awful because it's just a dude, playing a character and I'm sure Jack Gleeson is a very nice boy in real life but his character does so many vile things that the site of him simply sickens me. George R.R. Martin and the writers of the show do a really wonderful job of getting you to hate this kid, trust me. Theon Greyjoy just grosses me out. No, he skeeves me out. He's skeevey. He was taken on as ward to Eddard Stark (Sean Bean) and was bff's with Robb Stark (Richard madden) and initially started out helping him fight a war against Joffrey (see, because Joffrey is a hole!). He ended up turning on him and taking the Stark's castle under siege. All the while, Robb thought Theon was helping him. Oh, and he is awful to women. He's gross. Just icky. 

- Daisy Wick (played by Carla Gallo) from Bones. Daisy is one of the revolving interns at the Jeffersonian who help Dr. Brennan and company solve murders. I love all of the other interns. I love that they have a new one represented each week. I don't love Daisy. She is a know it all and she knows she's that way but she doesn't care. I guess it's supposed to be an endearing quality about the character but I can't stand it. I love when Brennan shows her up and puts her in her place. The other thing that annoys me about her is she is dating Dr. Lance Sweets (John Francis Daly), whom I adore. She's super lovey dovey with him and calls him Lance-a-lot in every episode she's in and it drives me nuts. Her presence is like nails on a chalkboard to me.

- The cast of The Secret Circle. I won't name them all because that would take up too much space. Just know that never before has there been such ill fitting cast members on a show.  The books that this show is based on are really, really good. The story is really, really good. The characters are really, really good. They mutilated all of that when they brought it to tv. They changed all of the characters personalities and eliminated half of them. One who is supposed to be the epitome of understanding and kindness in the book is a total B in the show. One is super whiny. One only whispers when he talks. One is constantly pouting. It's just a complete mess. Such a mess that we stopped watching it.

- Lori Grimes/Carl Grimes/Shane Walsh (played by Sarah Wayne Callies/Chandler Riggs/Joe Bernthal) from The Walking Dead. That's a lot of people from one show to be annoyed with, isn't it?? I like the zombies better than the 3 of them. Lori is an adulterer who plays her husband, Rick (Andrew lincoln) against her lover (gross), Shane. Then she turns around and gets mad at each of them when they end up doing what she asked of them or insinuated in the first place. She never watches her kid (Carl) but is constantly going on and on about how they have to keep Carl safe. MAYBE KEEP AN EYE ON HIM THEN!??! Carl is a 12 year old boy (hey, just like Joffrey!) who, for some reason, finds it necessary to continuously look for trouble when there is a zombie apocalypse going on.  Oh, hey, there's a Walker stuck in the mud? I'mma throw rocks at him and get real close since there is just no way he could ever break free and try to bite me (sarcasm)! Shane is a hothead and a big, giant, man-baby. Always whining about how he can take better care of Lori and Carl than Rick can and how he's a better man than Rick. You are a grown man! Stop whining all the time! He is always threatening to leave and then never following through on it. He hurts people so that he can stay alive. He's just a jerk. A big, giant, man-baby jerk.

Now, my most favorite scene stealers of the season!

- Schmidt (played by Max Greenfield) from New Girl.  I love Schmidt so much that just the thought of him makes me smile. When the show first started, I figured he would annoy me. He plays a douchebag and I figured it would be way too over the top and annoying. The thing is though, they gave him a hilarious personality on top of it. Sure he does douchebaggy things but he's also OCD and has a genuine appreciation for his friends. He's funny. He's so very funny and I just love him. You will always find a Schmidt line from any given episode to quote the next day. He is so much fun.

- Klaus (played by Joseph Morgan) from The Vampire Diaries. Klaus is a bad guy. He's one of the Original Vampires and he's a total badass. BUT he also has a sweet side that makes you kind of fall in love with him. He can be ripping someone's heart out or throwing a temper tantrum because he can't get into Elena's house in a scene and then be wooing Caroline or getting yelled at by his mother in the next and you go from hating him to feeling totally sorry for him. Joseph Morgan is a phenomenal actor. He does such a fantastic job of portraying Klaus's very wide range of emotions. I love watching him. He is a bad guy that I never, ever want to go away.

-  Dr. Jack Hodgins (played by T.J. Thyne) from Bones. To say that this season of Bones has been a bit on the lackluster side would be an understatement. The one character getting me through that every episode (aside from staring at David Boreanaz) is Hodgins. He's the comic relief and always has me laughing. I told Jeff that he is the best part about the show these days.

- Mr. Gold/Rumpelstiltskin (played by Robert Carlyle) from Once Upon a Time. I love this character so much. Even the way Robert Carlyle portrays his movements from Mr. Gold to Rumpelstiltskin is mesmerizing. He is awesome. Every time he is on screen, I am riveted. he knows everyone's business and everyone's secrets and has plenty of issues himself. He is an absolute joy to watch and I look forward to it every week.

- James Van Der Beek (played by... James Van Der Beek) from Don't Trust The B--- in Apartment 23. This one may not count completely because I haven't been watching the show consistently, but what I have watched has impressed me. JVDB is brilliant playing a fictionalized version of himself. Any actor who can embrace their past accomplishments, ones that fans love them for and display it proudly earns lots of respect from me. He is always giving Dawson's Creek  and Varsity Blues shoutouts and making fun of the ridiculous of being a celebrity and I absolutely love that. It is so so clever and I give much kudos to him for doing it. Well done, Dawson... er, JVDB!

There you have it. I'm sure I've missed some, so feel free to tell me yours or if you disagree with my choices (though, hello? why would you do that?! Haha), you can tell me why.

Back To Work.

Let me tell you something... the days sure fly by when you aren't sitting at a computer, staring at the clock all day long. My Staycation (a vacation from work where one does not actually leave to go anywhere) went by in a blur. Allow me to list for you our adventures as I took a glorious week off from work to spend time with my boys and to indulge in some mental relaxation.

-To kick off my time away from work, I decorated a surprise Hunger Games cake for my niece Emily's Birthday sleepover. She hinted that she wanted one, so Rhonda and I collaborated on it. She baked it and I made it look cool. I stayed up until 2am trying to make it perfect. It wasn't perfect by any means but I had a lot of fun doing it (C and Jeff had fun eating the scraps) and the look on her face when I walked through the door made it worth all the effort I put into it. She was ecstatic, as were her friends. They put on their own version of the games while Dennis and I helped a little and it was hysterical and so much fun to watch. The cake was super delicious as well!

-We took Charley to see Pirates! Band of Misfits. It was about The Pirate Captain (Hugh Grant) and his quest to win Pirate of the year. It was silly and cute and not too long. All things a kids movie should be. In the middle of it, as C was shoving popcorn in his mouth, he said "this is a REALLY good movie". So I guess that's all the review you need of that, haha. We then took him to Barnes and Noble where I saw no less than 4 books that I wanted to purchase for myself... but I did not.

-We tried to take C to Marvin's Marvelous Mechanical Museum. TRIED. I should have known better. I know my kid has my fear of dolls that move and things of that nature but I had a Groupon for it and showed him a video of the place beforehand and he was all for it and was actually excited to go. Then we pulled into the lot and he was instantly terrified. As soon as we walked through the door, he said "I don't want to play any games here. I want to go home. Now." We forced him to walk through real quick and I kid you not, he was shaking. he was so freaked out. If you don't know what this place is, it's basically an old timey arcade with lots of old fashioned coin operated machines. In other words, there are moving dolls EVERYWHERE. I'll admit, it freaked me out too but I was putting on a brave front for C. He was having none of it. Needless to say, we left soon after arriving. So, Dennis... you and the boys got yourself a free Groupon for there whenever you feel like going!

-I made some homemade cinnamon rolls. This was exciting for me because I have always shied away from the recipes that require too much work. I.E: dough rising. I don't have the patience for it and always figured I would screw it up. I decided to make them at 8pm on Sunday night and an hour later when I went in the kitchen to see if the dough had risen and it had, I actually squealed in delight. SUCCESS! They turned out good and Jeff and Charley liked them, so hooray for that. I also baked an apple pie for my neighbors, for dog sitting for us.

-We went to the zoo and had the best day there that I think we have ever had. Animals were out, it wasn't too crowded, wasn't too hot or too cold. It was just fantastic.

-Drove up to Port Austin for a couple days to hang out with my parents. I realize that this technically makes the staycation null and void but we don't count it because it was only 3 hours away from our house and it was really only for 2 days. The weather was nice for the most part, we ate a lot, we laughed a lot and we walked a lot. It was so much fun.

-Enjoyed a delicious coffee drink from Dairy Queen (a mocha moolatte') on the drive home. Because a vacation just isn't complete without a fancy, delicious coffee drink!

-Took Charley to Comic City in Novi for Free Comic Book Day, where we got to visit with the owner and our very good friend, Jill. It was fun to see all the people crowd around the free books, some dude dressed as Batman and to see how excited Charley was about buying some weird comic book version of the Star Wars movies. In it, Darth Vader looks like Kermit the frog when Luke takes his helmet off at the end. C thought that was hysterical.

-On our last day, Charley and I ran errands while Jeff stayed home and cut the lawn. We purchased some Birthday invitations, which he was very excited about and then ventured on over to the mall to get some Mother's Day cards (it's this Sunday, friends!). C unfortunately wanted to walk around while we were there and "see daddy's work", which broke my heart a little. When I told him that it wasn't there anymore, he said "I know, but I want to see what it looks like now". So, we walked around and by the time we got to the location formerly known as FYE, I was all sorts of choked up and C didn't even recognize it. "That's it? That girl store right there?" he said. Yep. We continued our depressing walk around the mall and it helped me come to the conclusion that between the crappy stores and empty spaces, Westland Mall is a sad version of it's former self and I hate going there now.


And that was that. Not a lot done but it was a good time and went by super fast. Now, I look forward to my next day off, which is this Friday so that we can take Charley to Kindergarten Roundup. ACK.

A few miscellaneous tidbits:

• I have told you all before about one of my most favorite book series of all time, The Enchanted Inc. series by Shanna Swendson which is about a magical immune (she's immune to magic) and a handsome wizard, named Owen Palmer and the goings on of the company that they work for; Enchanted Inc. Up until now there were only 4 books in the series. On my last two Birthday wishlists, I wished for the 5th book to be published and chances were looking mighty slim... until now. Shanna announced on her blog last week that they will be releasing the 5th book in the series and I am absolutely ecstatic! It will only be available through e-readers at first (which means I will be borrowing my sisters since I do not own an e-reader) but I am ok with this as long as I get to read the story. No release date has been set but it should be some time this summer. HOORAY and now I can cross this item off my Birthday wishlist!

• Ben Folds Five is working on a new album at the moment. Instead of doing the usual press tour with talk shows and radio interviews, they are strictly sticking to asking their fans to get the word out and using social media. I think it's so brilliant and shows the fans how much the band cares about them and their input. Just another reason to love the genius that is Mr. Ben Folds. 

• The season 5 premiere of True Blood airs in 35 days. 

• Spoiler alert for any Game Of Thrones fans out there who didn't watch last nights episode... Not only did Joffrey have poop thrown in his face (POOP! LOLZ) by a starving, angry citizen of Kings Landing, he was also slapped by Tyrion. IT WAS WONDERFUL. That character is so wretched, he deserves any and all bad things that are headed his way.

• Lots of season finales coming up in the next couple of weeks! Castle tonight, New girl tomorrow,  Vampire Diaries on Thursday!