top chef: Carla wins the challenge!

i am loving this cheftestant. she looks like Jar Jar Binks and has the best lines in interview. she won this Super Bowl challenge, cooking a New Orleans gumbo in 20 minutes. Carla has been proficient this season with desserts, but i have heard her say more than once that she wasn't happy with what she put on the plate. i don't believe she will win the Top Chef title...there are better chefs in the kitchen...but she has to be the fan favorite.

Carla's best line this week...a tie between a falsetto-performed "pressure"& "this is the ultimate day for me...buh-dow buh-dow!"

love you Carla!

shelley<>

I LOVE LOST!

"your name is Widmore? Charles Widmore?"

grin. HUGE grin...

the tower, the one that's been there all along, holding an atom bomb!! Desmond, coming back to Penny, telling her Daniel's mother had died cuz he wanted to keep his promise to her that this whole thing would be done in one day (my heart swelled)...and Penny, knowing Des needed to do what he needed to do, telling him she and CHARLIE(they named their son CHARLIE!!) would be with him on the way. Richard, he of the eyeliner obsession, jumping all over time and looking spectacular!!

i just LOVE LOST :)

i am getting really tired

of the cold.

starting out each day at zero or in the single digits with only a ten degree warm-up is getting really old.

having to bundle up before walking out a door is getting really old.

shivering if you wanna wear something cute, fashion-wise, is getting really old.

i want to spend the day in front of the fireplace or under an afghan. either that, or be somewhere warm.

ahhhh. maybe next winter?

shelley<>

David lost ... again

last year, he wins the Golden Globe for his work in "Californication", but there's no award show due to the writer's strike.

this year, he loses to Alec Baldwin. twice.

granted, i love love LOVE Alec on 30 Rock. 30 Rock is my fave comedy and has been for at least two years or so.

it'd just be nice to see David win. but holy cow, it's nice to see him on the red carpet. *purr*

spontaneous-ness

never been really good at it. last night, i was...and it was fun.

thanks to you for asking and yeeha (!!) to me for allowing. it's not like me to just say yes, but i am oh-so happy i did.

:)

gluten hangover

i did a dumb thing yesterday...

i ate about 15 batter-dipped french fries at lunch. this morning wasn't the greatest, but this afternoon i am really feeling it.

i am freezing and flushed. indigestion. metallic taste in my mouth. no matter what i eat upsets my stomach. and i am ready to crawl into bed. can't stop yawning. alka-seltzer is my friend.

it may be an early night tonight. sleepy sleep sleep.

only made it to 10:05

last night with Lost...i only made it theu the first hour.

trying to catch up some this morning before work
shelley<>

THIS is why i love LOST

there have been three commercial breaks. before each breaks begins:
"woah" or some semblance of woah is uttered.

unbelieveable.

shelley<>

but before LOST

i watched Fringe from last night...

Olivia kidnapped by a guy she works with and spinal fluid was drawn from her body. single-cell cold virus two-feet long. Walter dosing tomato bugs with LSD. coolness.

it's back with a vengence...

LOST is back!

tonight...in seconds...it begins again!

i was on the radio yesterday

talking to my former morning guy, John Jay, on his talk show on WSJM. he was talking about hanging out at the casino over the weekend, playing slots, and how he longed to play blackjack. i just had to pick up the phone to relate the story of watching him at the tables in Las Vegas on our various radio station trips. which, by the way, ROCKED!!

it was funny to hear him talk about me after i hung up. he let everyone in on the fact that we were cohorts at IRX, that we did some WILD things over there. it was sweet to talk to him.

here we go!

the 44th president of these United States.

the challenges we face are real...but know this America...they will be met.
on this day ... all are equal, all are free.
starting today we must pick ourselves up dust ourselves off and begin again the work of remaking America.

we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals.

what is required of us is an new era of responsibility.

this is the price of our citizenship.

shelley<>

rock on Joe!

swearing in the veep...

shelley<>

sing it woman!

let freedom ring!

shelley<>

they are in the white house

i am choked up. the president and mrs. bush just met the obamas on the steps of the white house. michelle brought mrs. bush a gift! and, as they turned to walk into the building after the photo op, the president (current one g.w.) took michelle's hand and led her thru the door.

i am so choked up.

this moment is, yes,
momentous.

riveting.

shelley<>

today is the day

can you feel it?

there's change in the air, hope and excitement and exhilaration. i have never felt this way on any other inauguration day, not even when Bill Clinton was sworn in (the first president i had voted for that had actually WON the election.) never felt as though i needed to be in front of the television watching a president's oath of office.

today feels entirely different, and it has nothing to do with race.

yes, historically, this moment is hugely significant. the first african-american president. the fulfillment of Dr. King's dream (which gives me goosebumps upon goosebumps).

today feels like hope. plain and simple. hope and determination. we can do it. we can make our lives better. we can make the world better.

can you feel it?

another day and night at my house!

there's been a 40 degree hike in temperature from yesterday to today. 24 above today feels like a heatwave!

i packed some stuff into the car and am hanging at the house. painting the bedroom was the number one priority, but i have also connected a new dryer exhaust hose, organized the pantry items, and moved the black area rug from the bedroom to the dining room. it looks pretty good under the dining table. i will eventually replace it with a more contemporary design...when i find one that i like.

as i rummage thru boxes, i am finding more things that remind me of my former life. i have so much stuff that i don't need. i can't wait to whittle it all down and release it!

the photo is what u see when u walk in the front door...taken from my favorite chair. :) it makes me happy.

C-O-L-D

current air temperature: 19 below zero
current wind chill:
33 below zero

semi-trucks are disabled all along the toll road, their fuel gelling in the engines.

this is just plain silly...

brisk

current temperature: -8
wind chill: -29

that's friggin' cold.

hit list

number 2 on EW's hit list this week:

Jon Bon Jovi will perform to help pay down Hillary Clinton's campaign debt...in return, she's promised to end the long-running investigation into who actually gave love a bad name...

funny stuff

shelley<>

the women of ND

are ranked number 4 in the nation. after watching them take on an extremely physical Hoya team, i can see why. these girls are not afraid to mix it up.

quite frankly they kicked ass.
wow...

a sad sight

poor snow-covered grill!

best viewed thru the family room window

yesterday, the flat surfaces of the deck were clear. there was a thin layer of snow on the ground yesterday morning.

and the snow continues to fall...

the best way to spend a snowy Saturday

best line EV-VER

on Chelsea Lately last night...while talking about Paris Hilton's quote from Glamour magazine that she isn't as promiscuous as people think, and that mostly all she does is "just kiss":

"Paris Hilton has slept with so many guys she doesn't have the clap, she has the applause"
-Whitney Cummings

that's good stuff...

bars

a fascinating study in human societal behavior. alcohol plus karaoke equals bizarrity. (i know, i know. not a word. but it IS a state of human behavior).

we had been at this particular bar for about two hours...giving listeners a chance at Metallica tickets. as time went on, the karaoke kept getting more and more aggressive. Metallica songs, yes, but also louder, more aggro songs that incite tribal behavior among young, drunk men.

ten pm was when we had set for ticket-drawing time. and it was time for me to exit the place...fast.

while there, i met a guy who hit on me in the strangest way...by telling me he was divorced and horny and really needed to get laid. *giggle* didn't work, by the way...

this is how u know u live in Northern IN

u get off the freeway in the middle of winter and see a herd of 15 deer munching on the cornfield leftovers thru the snow...

shelley<>

this morning

i was told if i decide i don't want to, all i need to do is say so. no matter what time it is.

thanks for letting me know. i was freezing last night and my head needed to be where i wanted to be and not where i didn't.

maybe tonight i will feel different, i don't know. it's good to know i have the option.

yay!

why?

why would i wanna eat something that's angry?

shelley<>

huh

weird couple a days. yesterday felt so great...like a corner had been turned. there was "new" energy out there (the first "real" workday of the new year maybe?) then, today, i got hit in the face with another's energy. negative. really crappy stuff. ick. big time assholeness.

and now i feel like...ick.

i don't wanna do this anymore. better yet, i know what i want to do. just where is it gonna come from?

that's why they call it "faith" :)

okay...

you've shown me the solution. i get it :)

now, i am asking you for help...

thank you for showing me the way. i am truly grateful :)

it's here!

cue the fireworks!

shelley<>