I Pledge....

Did you see the Oprah Show today? What an eye opening show. Now.. I know that most people, if we are being honest, are guilty of talking or texting while we are driving from place to place. I know that I am one of those people. I am usually good about not texting, but talking I am for sure guilty of. Well... I am taking Oprah's challenge and deciding today that I will no longer be doing so in the car while driving.

I was shocked at some of the stories on her show today. It was sad, scary, and just plain unbelievable some of the things that were pointed out on the show. Mostly, it is the fact that it is all preventable and I hope to be able to do my part. I hope that others will follow along.

Read about Distracted Driving from Oprah HERE and please take the No Phone Zone Challenge and help save lives!

So You Think ELLEN Can Dance

This was a great way to kick off the new Ellen season. I think she is great and I think she did an awesome job... Love SYTYCD, love Tabitha and Napoleon who choreographed the dance and love Ellen!

The Six-burgh Steelers!

WE DID IT!!!!

You notice that Ben is giving me the eye in this picture!

Getting ramped up for the game....

So... after a long season, of UPS and DOWNS, tons of injuries and nail-biting games we finally came out on top, after a too close for comfort Super Bowl Game. But what a game and what a season. (I do love that I act like I had any part in any of it. But I so feel like I did!)

We spent most Sunday afternoons over at our friends' Brian and Cindy's house (who are from Pennsylvania actually) enjoying the games, so of course we had to go there to watch our team WIN the Super Bowl. We had a great time and they had lots of fun in the final moments while I nearly had a heart attack no knowing if we were going to be able to pull it out or not!

Dan enjoying some of the cookies that I made in honor of the big game.

#92 - Harrison. Dan's Favorite player

Cindy and I with our Terrible Towel

Our friend Dan and Cindy cheering on the "D-Fence"

All of us watching the commercials during half-time with our "cool" 3-D glasses on

What a great season... I can't until next season for more football and to watch my Steelers play. I am hoping they come to this side of the country this year so that I might be able to actually see a game in person.... (fingers crossed)!

Fight it out...

Tonight was a first for me (actually both of us). We were invited to watch the UFC fight between GSP and BJ Penn by some friends so we decided we would come. Neither of us usually watch UFC but we thought we would go and see what all of the fuss was about.

We had a good time. We enjoyed everyone's company, the food and just hanging out, and it was fun to actually watch the fights. But....oh, so brutal. The poor guys are literally just beating each other senseless. Not my sport of choice that is for sure. Fun to watch every once in a while like this but nothing I could stand watching on a daily basis for sure. You just feel so bad for these guys, but then I remembered that they choose to do this... WHAT?!

SPT - August Week 2

STRONGER, FASTER AND HIGHER.....

The OLYMPICS are fabulous and I enjoy everything about them. I love watching them and feeling the pride in our amazing country. I love seeing all the amazing athletes and watching their dreams come true as they stand up on the platform and the flag waves with the national anthem playing in the background. It really is an awesome moment for them and for us as a nation as we encourage them and cheer them on....

TV Talk

With so much stuff going on lately I have had to just TiVo some of my shows and last night after my dance recital I played catch up on some of them.... Of course I had to start with "American Idol". Now all along I have been voting for David Archuleta but secretly I had a feeling he wasn't going to make it all the way. I wasn't sure how long he was going to make it really. I was so glad each week when he was still there. I was getting very nervous when Sayesha was hanging around, but when it ended up with just the two David's I was pretty sure it would end up being Cook that won the whole thing. But no worries... David Archuleta will be fine and will go off and make a million for sure.

Now I am also back on to "The Bachelorette". I missed most of "The Bachelor" last season. A mishap with the TiVo..OOPS! But I hated the season where DeAnna was on and he didn't pick either of them. And lets not remind Dan about the whole situation.. he gets a little heated! I didn't really like DeAnna and was voting for Jenni but she seems to be different this time around and I look forward to seeing what she does in this situation. We will have to wait and see, but I am totally tuned in.

And of course we have "So you think you can Dance?" It starts tonight and I can hardly wait. This is one of my favorite shows by far. I can't wait to see who is on there and what they have to bring to the table. Last year was amazing and they are going to have to work their butts off to be better. I loved seeing them on the finale of "American Idol" too.


And now for all of the finales... so many of my shows have left us... "One Tree Hill" is over for the season and they totally left us hanging... BAD. "Lost" will be over next week and I am still totally confused on tons of stuff... What is Freckles doing for Sawyer? What is Jack doing with her? How do they actually get off of the island? Is anyone left on the island alive? Really are we ever going to know any of these things....? "America's Next Top Model" was named and I pretty much think it was a publicity stunt. While I think Whitney is pretty and all I think they had to finally give a plus-size model the title. I think there were lots of other girls that had done a better job than her but her time had come and that is why she got it... but that is just my opinion. And "Survivor"... poor Amanda. She has been in the final two twice and still no cash for her. What is the poor girl doing wrong? And James, everyone loves James. He hasn't come close to the finals and still wins money both times... I guess the only thing that Amanda got from this is a connection with Ozzy... but how true is a reality TV love connection??? and last but not least "The Hills" they are still fighting, but will be back for yet another season. Aren't we are so excited?

Man... I really do watch too much TV and too much Reality TV... I need to find something better to do with my time. I really need to get a hobby or something.

Pass the Remote!

We made it through Turn-off Week and lived to tell about it...

In reality it wasn't all that bad. Dan might have a different opinion but I can say it wasn't too bad. Our schedules were so full and our nights were packed that we HONESTLY barely noticed we were missing an entire week of television. It was actually kinda nice.

The only thing that I felt deprived of was American Idol. I hated not being able to see the show, and then VOTE, of course, and then see who went home. I of course knew the following day because of the Internet but not being able to see it was hard. We have since viewed the show thanks to TiVo.. but it is not the same. Other than that all of the other shows that we watch I didn't really miss too badly. Makes me have to sit back and re-think all of the time that I spend watching them.

I do also have to mention that I felt like I had so much more energy last week. I woke up much earlier than normal, but didn't go to be any earlier than usual. We were able to get a lot more reading done than normal and just be able to spend time together doing OTHER things which is nice. I think it was a great week and maybe we will do it more than just once a year... MAYBE!!!

Turn it off

I found out that this week is "Turnoff Week"... Dan hates it when I find out these random pieces of information. I on the other hand love to learn new things! What it is is a challenge to turn off your TVs and do something else. To spend more time with your families, to get the kids away from the TV set and have them doing something else, to read more, to be outside more (especially since the weather is so nice right now), just to break away from that TV for one week.

I think it is a great idea. I am saying this as it is only Monday morning and I haven't missed any or my shows yet! I am also saying this knowing that I have TiVo... I am cheating a little bit because in the back of my mind I know that I technically will not be missing any of my shows because they will all be recording and I will be able to watch them at a later date. But I still agree with the concept and think the idea is what is important.

We are going to give it a go! So I am stating right now Dan and Aranne are going to be 100% TV free from right now until next Monday. So that means no American Idol for us, we won't know who goes home, no ANTM, no One Tree Hill, etc. It is going to be a hard week. But at the same time, almost like a coincidence, our schedule is so full this week. We have something almost every night so hopefully we won't even notice that we aren't watching TV! Wish us luck that we don't go crazy without it.

The REALITY of it all

Okay our TV is officially broken! We called Directv and they can't come out until TOMORROW! What am I going to do?

We had a few days of really bad wind (of course) and now we get no local channels. We do get the cable stations, after a few times of re-setting it, but still no local channels. So this means no October Road, no One Tree Hill, Lost, Gossip Girl, Friday Night Lights, Ellen, Oprah, my new show Eli Stone and then of course none of my reality shows.... Three nights of American Idol, three nights of Big Brother 9 and of course Survivor. Real World/Road Challenge is the only thing I can watch because it is on MTV.

This may not be upsetting to some people but to me it is life altering. I have found some of the shows available in full episodes online, but it is not the same. I have to watch them a day later and I don't get the full affect on the computer. And some of the shows are not available online. Directv needs to hurry and fix my TV!!!!!

Get LOST

Last night LOST finally came back on TV. After MONTHS and MONTHS of waiting we were glued to the TV. The episode was great and left you wanting more that is for sure. The sad part is that they only have 8 episodes instead of the regular 16 of a season becuase of the dumb writer's strike. But for now I will just sit back and enjoy the episodes that they have and hope that there are more to come. I can't wait to find out what happens next!

You gotta see this

(Pause my music on the sidebar so you can hear the music that goes with the clips)

I just watched an "Ellen" episode where this guy, Dan Dunn, was on and it was AMAZING! You gotta watch this guy. I could not believe my eyes. He is absolutely crazy. It is so cool. I was like... what the heck and then I was like... OH I get it. I wish I had half the talent this guy has.

Here is another one just for kicks.

Your Going To Hollywood

Okay so the words that every one of the contestants wants to hear are "You are going to Hollywood" but lets face it not every one deserves to hear them. BUT.... it is so sad to watch the auditions. Every year it breaks my heart to watch some of these kids get up there in front of Randy, Paula and Simon and pour their hearts out and then to be laughed at and sent away in tears. The ones who really try and aren't just trying out to get on TV or doing it as a joke but the ones who really think they are going to be the Next American Idol. Those are the ones who break my heart as I watch the show. And I hate it when Randy and Paula start laughing and turning around in their chairs, and then they pan over to Simon and he is just sitting there with a pen in his mouth straight-faced... how does he do that? How can he keep a straight face when the two of them are laughing and the kid in front of him is singing horribly? That really does amaze me. Okay I will admit that I am sitting at home laughing right along with Paula and Randy, but that is just it... I am at home, not right in front of the kid making them feel worse. Oh well... we have one more night of this and then we get into "Hollywood Week" which I can handle. I just can't handle the disappointment on the kids faces when they are sent home and their dreams are shattered. I just feel so bad for them. I am just a softy I guess.

Love stinks

Dan speaking here.....
Well I am taking this opportunity to use this Blog to express my discontent with the happenings of a show called "The Bachelor". Some background on "The Bachelor" is that he dates 25 single women looking for LOVE. As the weeks and weeks progress through eliminations the Bachelor tries to narrow down the potential "candidates" to fall in LOVE with. As you may well know last night the season finale aired on TV. The Bachelor had two remaining females to choose from. The point of the show is to "fall in LOVE" with one of them. As Aranne and I watched the show the first female, Jenni, who he had a strong connection with (our pick) was turned down for the reason of wanting more. In our disbelief we realized, by process of elimination, that DeAnna, the second female, was then going to "win". As DeAnna stood in front of the Bachelor hearing the news that he was sending her home as well caught us by surprise. We have never seen this occur in the show before. I then immediately felt USED. I then realized that for the past however many weeks the Bachelor's season is was all for nothing. It will be hours upon hours that I will never be able to re-live. I am using this Blog to inform everyone of the anger that I feel towards Brad Womack aka The Bachelor. In conclusion the point of the show is to find "true LOVE" and if that does not occur in the show they (the network) should either A. have a disclaimer or B. not have the show. I will then be taking heed before watching another show of this caliber. Please do the same.