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Fall Line-up- Coming soon to a TV near you!

So I have said it once and I will say it again (several times), I WATCH WAY TOO MUCH TV!! I don't know if I should be ashamed of that or not... My favorite time of the year is fall because what's on? New TV shows! Love it! So there are my old favorites starting up again but here are the new shows that I am looking forward to as well.

So You Think You Can Dance (Tues & Wed on Fox) is one of my top 5 favorite shows but it is usually on only in the summer. This year? Fall as well. I won't be doing reviews of this season like I did last because I don't think anyone cares what I think of my beloved SYTYCD! Haha!

Vampire Diaries. Cheesy, I know. It's received great buzz though and I love, love, love True Blood. Vamps are trendy might as well capitalize on it!

Modern Family (Wed ABC). Adoptive Families magazine even gave this one a thumbs up probably because it puts adoption in the spotlight in a positive way. Again, it's generating some major buzz.

Glee (Wed Fox). Did you watch the pilot for this in May? It was great! Left me wanting more. Quirky and fun and Jane Lynch is the mean cheerleading coach- even better!

FlashForward (Thurs ABC). This one seems very intriguing. Lost-ish. Good, good indeed!

Cougar Town (Wed ABC). I don't know. I thought I'd give it a whirl. It's another one getting good buzz.

Community (Thurs NBC). This one seems quirky funny. I like quirky.

(All photos from tvguide.com except for SYTYCD which is from Fox.com)

I am going to give the new Melrose Place a shot. I gave 90210 a chance- it is awful. The acting is the worst. But I liked the originals of both back in the day. (Remember that episode of Seinfeld where Jerry starts dating a cop and she gives him a lie detector test because he said he didn't watch Melrose but she didn't believe him? He totally did and cracked under the pressure of the test and spouted off everything about Sydney and Michael and Co.- that was funny!) My old favorites returning are Dancing with the Stars, Castle (a fun murder mystery show), How I Met Your Mother (one of the funniest on TV), Gossip Girl, Greek (I love it!! Starts on Mon!!), New Adventures of Old Christine (I like her 'TMI' moments- she says things that actually happen in real life but no one ever talks about), Grey's Anatomy (getting a little bored with it), Bones, The Office (I laugh out loud), 30 Rock (I used to not like this show when it first came on and then I gave it another try and I was hooked. Smart funny.), Psych (Steve tried hard NOT to like this funny under the radar show but he thought it was good. James Roday and his quick wit crack me up!), Desperate Housewives (Again, a little bored, yet still watch it), Brothers & Sisters (let the fighting continue!) and of course, Dexter (one of the best on TV today- deliciously wicked). Yes, my DVR will be full most of the time and the internet will be on overdrive at our house. I don't care, I like it!

I read TV Guide cover to cover. My fall doesn't seemed as booked up as it was in previous years. A bunch of the shows I watch are coming back midseason. That is probably a good thing.

Museum Fairy and Gnome Program

In early August I did a fairy and gnome program for 5-9 year olds at The Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum. The Woodson is a premiere art museum specializing in bird art. Artists from all over the world strive to become a part of their annual (runs from mid-Sept thru mid-Nov) art exhibit, Birds in Art. For an artist that does anything that has to do with birds- this is THE museum to be in. It is a 1931 English Tudor period Cotswold-style home that is so beautiful. What is even cooler about it is that on the grounds there is a beautiful sculpture garden. It is a gorgeous spot for reflection and natural eye candy! This was the setting for the program!

The view to the entrance of the museum and the Terrace Garden from the entrance to the Formal Garden.

The Woodland Pond just down the slope from the Terrace Garden and the sculpture Mountain Fishing (that mountain lion lurking near the pond...). The water nymphs left some sea glass treasures for the kids to find on the scavenger hunt here at the pond.

The gnomes... Made from Sculpey.

The gnomes and toadstools in an orchid plant's pot. They're cute, aren't they?

The gnomes were hiding by the Terrace Garden wall.

A fairy ring of toadstools by a trio of birch trees. This was the sight of the fairies' midnight ball the night before.

A fairy made from wire, beads and some paper flower petals.

A number of the petal fairies.

The fairies were hiding in the Secret Garden. Can you find two of them? There is a cool rock waterfall in the Secret Garden as well as the sculpture Two Herons in the middle of the small pool of water.

Tissue paper flowers were hiding in the middle of three large pine trees. The kids found them and some of them gave them to their moms. How sweet is that? There was a ring of stones by a clump of trees where the fairies and gnomes had a meeting that morning. The fairies make a special candy, Pixie Stix, that were found by The Heavyweight, a bronze sculpture of a very large hippo. The Formal Garden had shiny gems that the gnomes are very protective of but were willing to pass out a few for the kids and the tree line at the edge of the garden had Carmelitos, a very rarely seen creature that are friends with the gnomes. If found by humans they are edible if their clear, crinkly skin is peeled back.

We made fairy and gnome bookmarks after the scavenger hunt.

As well as fairy and gnome puppets.

The kids were really great. Our limit was 15 but there was a waiting list of about 10-15 and then there were a bunch of other calls from people trying to register for it! A very successful program indeed!! I look forward to working on another program in the spring (dogs are the theme) possibly with Jayna and Erin at the museum!

A funny side note: I think this is my first post about fairies... There should have been more by now since it is an obsession of mine... :)

Book Review: In the Woods by Tana French

This book was so good! The characters were very well developed and interesting. It is set in Ireland and it is a detective story. This book won the Edgar Award and it was worthy of it. I was bummed at the ending but I heard through the grapevine that the issue will be revisited in her 3rd book. I am reading her follow-up The Likeness now and it's gonna be another good one!!

Love you!

I am pretty excited... my little one very recently learned 'Love you!' and my heart melts just about every time he says it!

Vegas Baby!

Can't believe I haven't posted about Vegas yet! Actually I can believe it since I haven't had any real time to do it. My 'TO-DO' list has been drastically shortened now. Aaaaaahhhh! I love it! Everything is done for the most part! Now onto Vegas!

On Thursday night we ate at Diablo's which was good but WAY too loud! Maybe I am getting old... Oh wait I am old enough that I don't like too much noise- it makes my ears hurt. Anyway, I ordered the Frida Kahlo Margarita and although it is a featured cocktail and said to be sweet & fruity all I could taste was tequila. It had fresh raspberries and blackberries and lime and ginger ale, sounds good right? Blech! I should have had a blended strawberry marg instead.

On Friday I headed over to the spa at Bellagio. The spa was great but I liked the spa at American Club in Kohler better (the next one for me to try is Sundara in WI Dells). It was just more cozy and relaxing at AC. It was definitely more business-like at Bellagio. I had a massage, Vichy rain treatment and a hydrotherapy treatment. I met back up with my hubby at Paris' Mon Ami Gabi which was delish (2nd fave meal)! I had chicken and Gruyere crepes. The french bread was (of course) fantastic! Could have eaten that all day... Dinner was at Noodles in the Bellagio. Casual (overpriced) Chinese food. It was really good but I liked Steve's dish better than mine. He had a spicy noodle dish that was fantastic. I can't remember what I had. Maybe it was Hor Fun... We both got a chuckle out of that! :) After dinner we went back to Paris to The Eiffel Tower Restaurant for dessert and wine. I had a chocolate souffle that I thought would be better. I don't think I have ever had souffle before and I have always wanted to make one. I'm not sure what is stopping me (besides the fact that it is really hard for me to finish many desserts)... Anyhoo, I thought it was going to taste better then it did.

On Saturday we ate in a little bakery in the Paris for breakfast and the raspberry filled pastry that I had was SO good!! I wanted to stop there on Sat nite after dinner to pick up something for breakfast before we flew out (early flight) but by the time we got back it was just closing! :( I was bummed to say the least. For lunch we headed over to Mandalay Bay to eat at Border Grill. It was very good (3rd fave meal) and I had the Chicken Chipolte Enchiladas and Suprema Sangria and Steve had the Poblano Quesadilla. The chips and salsas were fab here as was the service. Saturday night we went to Canaletto in the Venetian and all I can say is YUM! It was fantastic. Another great waiter and service. We started with Formaggi dal Veneto (cheese plate) and had house salads (which were plenty big- we would have been fine to stop after that but that's no fun at all!). Steve had the Margherita Pizza and I had a Chicken Asparagus Risotto. Both were super yummy!! We sat out in 'Piazza San Marco' and there was a gelato/sorbet stand just outside the restaurant that we hit up for dessert. Coconut sorbet and cinnamon gelato for me and raspberry sorbet for Steve.

This is not our first time to Vegas so we have already done a bunch of what it has to offer. We sat by the pool both Friday and Saturday afternoon and since it was cloudy and we found a spot in the shade we didn't bake to death in the 107 degree heat. Our feet were tired from walking the Strip. We both won but we didn't risk or gamble much. We came away with an extra $100. We both won at blackjack and baseball. Lost money in the slots, but who doesn't? We went to Coney Island in NY,NY and played against each other in the basketball shooting game- the first time Steve won, the second time we tied. Hehe! We went on the roller coaster (at $14 each- what a freakin' rip off!!) and had bruises on our shoulders and shins from the harnesses. We saw a hooker on the Strip at 6 am... You know the usual when you go to Vegas!

I think it'll be a few years before we go back. The restaurants can't be beat there so if you are a lover of food (which we are- every trip is planned around food) it is the place to be but we like to explore places and we have much more exploring to do elsewhere!

SYTYCD is over now... for a month

So I don't have to wait too long to watch one of my favorite shows! Only a month! I will do a quick recap of my fave moments during Week 8 & 9.

Week 8:
I loved the routine with the 3 boys. It showed their strength and athleticism. I loved Jeanine's dress for the samba she did with Ade but I didn't like the dance. Melissa & Evan's Broadway piece was cute. I loved both of Kayla & Brandon's routines especially the contemporary dance (the other was disco). Brandon had a one armed pull that was amazing where he pulled Kayla onto him- I'm not sure how he does that... He is also always so in sync with his partner. And then he did his tryout solo- AWESOME! It is just phenomenal! Melissa & Ade ended up leaving...

Week 9: The Season Finale!
The football skit by Wade with the 4 of them was totally cute. I liked Evan & Jeanine's routine to Heartbreaker by Sonja. Evan jumped on Jeanine's back and that was very interesting touch. Brandon & Kayla's Bye Bye Love Broadway number from Tyce was AWESOME! I really liked the circle turn thing- so cool! Jeanine's solo was fantabulous!!! When she did the pirouette that stopped it was so good. I knew she was going to win at that moment. Brandon & Jeanine's Paso Doble was super intense- they were made to dance that dance. This style suits them well. I liked both Nasty with the 2 boys and the skirt routine with the girls. Thursday night's result show was packed with previous routines from the whole season. Always fun! I wanted Brandon to win but knew Jeanine was going to. Brandon was GREAT in every one of his routines throughout the season and Jeanine is much more SYTYCD. Nigel is a pervert.

I have to say though that I was disappointed that Brandon didn't get anything. Katee did last year because she was the #1 girl even though she came in 3rd place. Twitch should have gotten that money because he came in 2nd. So what's up? Why didn't Brandon get a well deserved prize? That show is making enough dinero to ante up!