A cool cloud scene from the car window.

Project Runway: Final Three -
NO IT'S FOUR

I was so nervous with the final three selection. I wanted Michael, Laura and Uli, but I found myself not hating Jeffrey. Oh the beauty of editing, hate him one minute - and then the next I found myself almost endeared to him and his silly Detroit neck tattoo.

This week challenge really had no constraints. Which I think was actually difficult because for the past weeks, they have been forced to fit certain restrictions, but now you have creative freedom but finish it in half the time. It's crazy, but it seemed harder.

I loved Uli's look and so did the judges. It was Uli, but different than we had ever seen before. Laura was so Laura: the typical plunging neck line. Michael made a formal dress, but it wasn't his best work. I didn't mind the dress Jeffrey made but the judges did.

The big shocker: THEY ARE ALL IN. I was so happy because Michael and Jeffrey were in the bottom two, and I was so worried Michael was out. So next week we see who is in and what three are out.

ANTM is Back in Full Force with makeovers
& of course DRAMA

Tonight is make-over day. I love this day, because there is so much freaking drama. Let's see who is the most dramatic: Jaeda is getting the "Halle Berry" haircut. I feel for her, but she took it like a champ in the end. Let's see who was the most whinny. Let's see, Melrose: Wa wa wa... Melrose, I am going to be a blonde for the love of God, get over it girl. It's blonde, it can always go back. Then there is the crying from Monique about getting a new weave. She doesn't want anyone to see her without her weave in her hair, oh puh-lease. And A.J. is complaining because her hair is black enough, well honey, I think brown suits you.

The girls I am really starting to enjoy: Brooke, the former bubbly blonde, who's now a brunette and she looks fab. Megan, who survived a plane crash. She is just a cute pixie blonde. The twins, Amanda and Michelle. They look cute and different, and they have enjoyable personalities.

The challenge today grab make-up off a table, jump in an elevator, put the make-up on, get out on the next floor, grab a dress put it on in the elevator, get out on the next floor and get shoes, get back in and have your look finished by the top floor. If you didn't make the elevator in time at each floor you were elminated. Of course drama queen herself Monique didn't make it. Rock n' Roll Megg missed the first elevator, but it wasn't the drama of course that Monique had.

When they got back, oh the drama continued, Monique gets on the phone for 3 hours and 31 minutes. The rest of the girls are so upset. It just makes everyone so irritated with her, especially me. I believe the best line of the night from Monique's mother was, "when they mess with a child of God, they've got trouble on their hands. You tell them, I am a princess of the throne." It was hilarious.

So for the photoshoot they worked with weavologist. Yes I said it, a weavologist. What is a weavologist, well i am guessing it is an expert that works with weave. Wow, those hair does, were hair dont's. They had to model with these huge mechanical hair pieces that looked more like a circus than anything else. This was better than last seasons bald pictures.

The only person I want to go home is Monique, but Lord knows that wasn''t going to happen. In the end the judges sent the pixie blonde Megan home. Oh I am excited for next week already!

Why I love Jackson, Michigan?

I scream, you scream, we all scream
ICE CREAM!

I grew up in Manchester, Michigan which is nestled in between Ann Arbor and Jackson. As a kid, we spent plenty of time in Jackson. There are always family favorites in any town: we all love the Jackson Cascades, two of my dad's favorite places in Jackson are the Meijer and Cracker Barrel, but the ultimate is the Jackson All Star Dairy (it's new name is the Parlour, but to us it will always be the All Star Dairy.) When I was a kid, they made their own brand of ice cream, that was delicious, but like other small businesses they couldn't keep going, so they stopped making their own ice cream. Sorry I digress.

What we love about the All Star Dairy is their monstrous proportions: the ice cream sundaes are HUGE! And did I mention truly delicious. So when you go to the Parlour, despite the fact that they started serving food you don't ever order anything but ice cream. It is best to go on an empty stomach and eat ice cream for the major meal that day, just to ensure you have enough room to finish. My mom, dad and I went on Saturday, for dinner of course.

I had an Almond Sundae covered with hot fudge, caramel and almonds, pictured to the left. I was able to polish off most of it myself, however, my mom managed to help me a little towards the end. My mom had a safe chocolate soda, why safe, well it's large, but it's one of their smaller items. My dad had a junior banana split that would look like a normal size at most other ice cream shops.

If you are a brave soul and a true ice cream love you may dare to try the Dare to Be Great! This sundae is a mere 24 scoops of your favorite ice cream, covered in all the toppings. They say if you can eat it in one hour you don't have to pay the $24.99 price tag, yes the mega treat is yours for free. No one in my family has ever been brave enough to attempt this feet. We are amazed at each other when one of us braves away from the junior sundae, like I did this weekend. To the right you can see the after picture, of my most delicious sundae. Mmmmmmm, my mouth is watering just thinking about it.

America's Next Top Model is Back....

And all I have to say is wow Tyra. Holy Cow, she is over the top already this season. And I LOVE IT. I just finally sat down to watch the two hour season premiere which aired on Wednesday, but hey I was a book club, so TiVo saved it for me. In the first show they do two rounds of thinning out the pack, the first round is after interviews with Tyra, Jay & Miss J Alexander. Then they do this crazy dash to the magazine thing and kick out some of the girls. It really isn't that exciting. Except for the part where they interviewed the topless dancer that swore to Tyra that her entertainment was on the same line as modeling. It was hilarious.

Then to the next round where they do a nude photo shoot. Of course there is the little conservative girl from Kansas, that can't bare it all. All in the name of morals... come on people. Blah... she's 18 I give her one good year at University of Kansas before she gets topless at a frat party and the pictures end up all over the internet. Next the 13 girls move into the house, but there are only 11 beds, what gives. Two of the girls have to sleep on bean bags. So Monique who decides sleeping on a bean bag is beneath her goes and takes Eugena's bed. It was dumb, but this week we all learned to be annoyed with Monique. Who said that despite the fact that she is in a house with 13 girls she cannot limit her hour shower, she just needs it, there is no debate. Give me a break, I was just yelling at the tv, for god's sakes girl listen to yourself, I wanted to ship her to Kansas with the moral girl. So the first challenge is to undress male models and recreate a new look for themselves and walk it down the cat walk. Melrose won and she deserve to win. Her prize was a personal assistant during the next day's photoshoot, Oh course that went to her head, but can you expect anything less.

The photoshoot was the stereotype of a model: diva, dumb blonde, bulimic, aneroxic, model turned actress, ect. It was fine, but with so many you don't get the total drama yet. Christian was kicked off which was sad, because I liked her South Carolina personality. But I guess someone had to go. I am looking forward to this season, because it's such mindless television, and by now you should know that that is exactly what I know.

Next Post: Why I love Jackson, Michigan? One hint, ice cream for dinner!

Book Club is Better than Ever

Last night we had a great book club meeting. (And of course TiVo was recording my shows while I was away.) We read "My Sister's Keeper" by Jody Picoult. It is a very thought provoking book, that pretty much made me cry in every chapter. But hey I am a sappy girl. It was a a very small meeting, Sarah, her sister Donelle (our newest member,) Helen and of course the book club dictator: me. We had dinner and fruity drinks at Living Room/Amici's for dinner. We had a lot of great conversation on the book. The general consensus was that we all loved the book. I highly recommend reading it, but make sure you read next to a book of Kleenex.

So "Book Club" is still an ongoing experiment if you will, we don't have a steady group yet, but we are working on it. But I would like to say our newest member was acquainted with the book club much earlier than this her first meeting. It turns out book club was used in a ploy to get her to the restaurant where her boyfriend was waiting to purpose. Sarah, told her that she wanted to celebrate her recent graduation for University of Michigan Law School with a dinner at her favorite chop house in Rochester. She insisted that they dress up for dinner, but she had to drive separately because of, yes you guessed it: BOOK CLUB. So other than the book club lie, she had a textbook proposal. The hostess took her to the table and delivered a portable DVD player with a montage video of their years of dating, the he came and proposed. I am so happy that book club could be a part of such a happy day.

On another note, I thought TiVo failed me last night when I sat down today and turned on Project Runway only to find a rerun. So I make Bruce download it on ITunes only to find out it is also the Black and White rerun. Why does PR do this to me? The good news however it America's Next Top Model is back! It's going to take some time to catch up with my TiVo, but the good news it will always be there waiting for me. Tonight I am watching Grey's Anatomy at real time, all these commercials are horrifying. Never again.

And on a separate note, but here's a great picture of Andrew Harding, I figure if I can't get people to read my blog, I will keep them coming with pictures of babies and puppies. It's like television news, people always watch babies and puppies.

Studio 60 - Watch It!

Bruce and I just watched the premiere of Studio 60. It was pretty good. So of course I quickly added it to the season pass manager on TiVo. Premiere week is so much easier with TiVo in your corner. You don't have to stay up to watch any of the new shows just to be disappointed, instead we watch it on our time! Yes, it's another reason, I love love love my TiVo.

Tonight Bruce and I meet our new FABULOUS friends Marina & Ryan at the gym. Marina is my new best Lapeer friend. She just started working with Bruce and he set us up! I have found whenever I move, it's hard to make friends as an adult. It was so much easier in college. You are friends with the people you work with, but since I don't live where I work, it makes hanging out an issue. So I am so happy that my husband was thinking off me and making new friends! It turns out Marina I have a lot in common, mainly we are both Virgos (in fact our birthday is just days apart,) she likes to run too and much much more. We even had a couple date on Friday night, which we rarely do. Our next date is Thursday at the gym.

Run Wild & We Did

This weekend, I ran the Detroit Zoo's 5k Run called Run Wild. My goal was to beat my Crim time of 29:03. I ran with my personal coach, Helen. Helen is pictured above, with what could be one of the scariest costume characters ever that were traveling around the zoo after the run. Back to the run, I was aiming to run a 28:30. Helen who is a super runner, decided to help me reach my goal instead of racing. So she jogged with me and talked the whole time while setting a faster pace for me. Did I mention how wonderful she is, if not let me remind you. So we get to the first mile and we are at 8:30, the second mile is 17:11, then I slowed down a lot, but because we were ahead of pace, she let me. When I crossed the finish line, she clocked me at 27:41, my chip time was two seconds faster 27:39. I finished 27th out of 100. See the results. I was so thrilled, I even had the energy to sprint through the finish! Helen is such a great coach! Did I mention that if Helen was racing she would have won her age group, no problem! In fact when we were checking our times there was this woman in front of us that said to Helen, oh I beat you, so I had to say, well you only beat her because she was running slow with me. Yes I was talking smack at the results!

After the run, Helen gave me my very first tour of the Detroit Zoo. This is a sad fact, that it was first trip to the zoo, considering I lived just two miles from the zoo for three years, but just never went. Yes, I know I also grew up in Michigan, but we lived closer to the Toledo Zoo in Ohio, so that's where we went. But anyway back to the trip, Helen gave me a personal tour of the zoo, did I mention she works there. Yes everyone should go out and purchase a membership, support the zoo, and Helen, she's the head of the membership department. SUPPORT THE ZOO! Was that subtle enough. (This message is not paid for and/or endorsed by Helen and the Detroit Zoo.) Anyway back to the tour, she says that she hasn't had a trip to the zoo like I had in the 6 years she has worked there. We saw the baby snow monkey, the read panda was awake and walking around and the best part was that the polar bears were swimming and playing the water. Oh and I almost forget, my favorite thing at every zoo the gorillas. The big 590+ pound 35 year old silverback gorilla came up to so close to the glass in the ape house. It was so cool. Do you know that gorilla's can like up to 50+ years in captivity and they give the girl gorilla's human birth control! Yes, so get the pill and other get depro provera the shot. Wow!

So what did I do after the rest of the weekend, well you will never guess, Bruce and I went back to the zoo. Yes, why not double the number of times I had been to the Detroit Zoo in one weekend. It was fun, we went with Bruce's boss Dorothy and her three daughters, Lauren, Sophia and Anna. It's been a rough year for them because Anna has had some medical problems. She is now on a feeding tube and doing better. They are taking it day by day. Anna seemed to have a great time at the zoo, we were there all day and she never fussed. Bruce and I had fun acting like kids.

Let's rewind a little to Wednesday Night: PROJECT RUNWAY. Ok, so a busy week and weekend so apologize that this is overdue, not that I think anyone plans their week around reading my comments about project runway, but hey, I can pretend. So this week, we start the challenge on the runway, but Heidi tells them they have to learn the details at a party. Well the designers can smell something. They get to a New York Club and Heidi walks in and wants to introduce some special guest. The door opens and in walks: Vincent.. Then the next guest: Angela. Hey didn't they both get booted, yes they did. So I am thinking at first that the challenge is going to be so taxing they are going to need to employ the help of the last two designers kicked off. But I am very very very wrong! No they decided this year, that anyone that had won a challenge would get to come back, the only people that had one that were not yet kicked off where Keith, Vincent and Angela. Since Keith had been kicked off for cheating, only Vincent and Angela got the chance to come back. The other designers were needless to say irritated. The key was both Vincent and Angela had to win the challenge in order to stay, if not they were automatically kicked off again. There would be three eliminations no matter what this week, so if Angela won Vincent would be gone and so would two of the other remaining designers.

The challenge was a black and white cocktail dress. Michael did a stunning white dress with a black cumberbun belt. Lora, who was in the bottom two and quite shaken from the last challenge, won this week with a cute babydoll black lace gown over white. Uli was Uli, she had a crazy pattern, I didn't love this weeks version of the same dress she always does, but it wasn't awful. Kayne, well I love Kayne for his great personality, but his dress this week was pretty much just black. As Tim would say he missed the point. And Jeffrey, he did this hideous rock n' roll outfit with these cheeky pleather leggings yuck. When it came to the bottom two it was Jeffrey and Kayne. And unfortunately Kayne was out. This week they pick the final designers, the teaser is that it might not necessarily be three, I have a feeling it may be all four, but that is me. Who would I like to see in the final three: Michael (who I want to win,) Lora and Uli. Who do I think it will be: Michael, Lora and Jeffrey. Well stay tuned!

Also coming up this month the season premieres of my favorite show and all the new shows, I am very excited.

My temporary Michigan State tattoo. I got it for free after Run Wild. Helen of course got a block M for Michigan, but funny they didn't have anything for Mizzou, so in Bruce's honor, I got the Sparty! It has sense been washed off, but it was fun for the day.

Booger Wins Big Brother All Star

Yes, I called it, Booger won the big brother, Erika only got one measly vote from Marcellas. So Booger gets the grand prize and takes home $500K and Erika gets $50K. We watched a lot scenes from inside the diary room/confessional. Erika got to see what we were all seeing, that Booger made her out to be a really big whore. I think he put it best when he called his "Showmance" a "homance." Again, I was never a huge fan of Booger. When it comes to Chilltown, my favorite member has to be Dr. Delicious. He was smooth, attractive and funny. He was the one that made me keep watching the show. I must admit if he was kicked off sooner, I would have not kept watching.

Janelle wins $25K, she was picked by anyone who was willing to pay 2 bucks to vote via their cell phone. I must admit, I do get caught up in these things, but I have never broken down to pay to text message. I will only vote if there is a free online voting option. Yes, I am cheap.

And back to Booger, what was with his bro-mance with Will, to me it was almost more believable than his relationship with Erika. Is there something there? Does Booger really love Will? Is it more than friendship? You decide.

Tomorrow: Project Runway, which I won't have a chance to write about until Thursday, but stay tuned. Also if you haven't check out Tim Gunn's project runway podcast, they reveal inside information that you don't hear about in the shows, mainly his dislike for Vincent. It's worth the time to listen You have to love Tim.

On a side note: the leg is feeling better. For those of you have been following I hurt my hip/leg this summer. Now I am feeling much better, I had to take a lot of time off, which was a big bummer, but I ran at the gym on Monday and felt great. I am running Run Wild at the Detroit Zoo this weekend. I am going to play it by ear, I am running with Super Runner Helen. Helen is my amazing friend, who is a kick butt running. She was a two time Michigan-state cross country champ. She is the woman who was running a race and was out in front, she was bit by a poodle and still managed to come in 3rd place overall and 1st in her age group. Yes and I am proud of top 15 in my age group. She isn't racing the race, she has a newborn at home, which means I will be able to keep up her.

Also big news the mega millions is at $135 million, if I win, Helen and I plan to start an awesome cross country running organization for kids Michigan. Yes we have small dreams, along with paying off our mortgages. However, I am planning on going to work tomorrow and I am not holding my breath, but its fun to dream.

And I don't want to forget, my birthday was on Friday, September 8. I got to school in the morning and when my four morning seniors arrived to class, they came bearing gifts: a card, cake, Dora the Explorer Party Hats and Blowers. I am such a lucky teacher. I was so surprised. It was a great way to start my birthday. Then my family finished it off in Frankenmuth. Those of you who aren't from Michigan, have never experienced a place like Frankenmuth, it's our fake Germany. The road signs are all European, it's like stepping into Baveria for some great chicken and a the biggest Christmas store in WORLD. Oh yeah, it's a good time. Yes it was my idea, of course. Are you surprised?

On Saturday, Angie, Olive and I stepped into the Caribbean. We went to dinner at Bahama Breeze. You can't go wrong with the Jerk Chicken Pasta and the Ultimate Colada. I had to include a picture, because, well we looked so cute, well Angie and Olive looked so cute, but it was my birthday, so they had to take the picture with me. I have more great pictures, like Daisy my dog in her Halloween custome. It is so cute you have to love it, even though she hates it. And I can hear the groans already, but it was only 4.99 at Target, I couldn't pass it up. If you have made it to here, give yourself a pat on the back, because this could be the longest blog I have ever written.

Big Brother Season Finale

The countdown is on... T - 1 hour and 10 minutes. Stay tuned for my season finale analysis. Will it be Erika or Booger? I want Erika to win, so that means it will be Booger. I wonder what the line is in Vegas.

Project Runway Paris Couture

This week the designers were in Paris. It was a disappointing week for me why because there was no hope for Jeffrey being kicked off because he won immunity when he won the last challenge. As you can tell by now, I can't stand Jeffrey which means he will make it to the final three. He is just so condescending. I hate it when he is like, "I have the best outfit, these other idiots have no idea what they are dong, blah blah blah. " And of course it was more of the same this week.

So on to the challenge, the designers were told to create a couture dress in two days with $300 Euros. A side note, I hate the Euro. Do any one else remember when going to Europe (with the exception of London) meant great shopping? The lira to the dollar: the mark to the dollar: the shilling to the dollar. It was always in our favor. Now there is the Euro, which is never in our favor. Even when it the dollar was doing better it was still one to one. Ok, back to Project Runway: so they had to make this dress with couture (hand sewn) details. Laura's dress was the same dress she makes ever week with the crazy plunging next line and a different collar. My favorite Uli, because I like Uli. I also liked Kane's dress, apparently I have no taste. But I hate to say this, I actually liked Jeffrey's crazy dress. Michael's was ok, but it wasn't his best week. Vincent is well awful and crazy, his dress looked like an alien outfit.

I agreed with the judges when the kicked out Vincent. Not only did I hate this dress, I hated everything he made. It was about time.

On a side note: Big Brother just wrapped up tonight. It's Booger and Erika in the final two. Janelle was kicked off. I was rooting for her, I think I may have jinxed her. Yes, I have that effect on people. My parents thought about giving me the middle name of unlucky, it was either that our klutz, some how they settled on Lynne. More about big brother later, the season finale is September 12th.

It's my birth week!

Bruce sent these to me at work today. I am so lucky, because my birthday isn't until tomorrow.

The Best Time to Shop --- EVER

Rarely do girls/women get a day like today. I think this is the first time in the history of my life that I have had a day like today. So you are probably wondering what happened. Did I win the lotto? Did I get a shopping spree? No and No, what happened is I got up this morning, got on the scale to a number that was lower than expected. I had already planned on going shopping, but now with this ace in my back pocket I felt fierce (yes that is a reference to ANTM.) So I head off to the Somerset Collection. Yes I like living in the country but I still prefer to travel south for clothing, Pamida's nice, but they haven't yet hooked me for fashion.

Today was one of those days, that the stars were lined up in my favor, because not only did my scale play along but also the sizes at the stores. Yes, we all know that stores are in the habit of vanity sizing, but heck, it's always nice when the sales clerk says, can I get you anything, and you say, yes this, but in a smaller size! Can I tell you this was so much better than the times I spent crying in the dressing rooms in college, when nothing fit! I had to write about this day, because lord knows it won't repeat itself. So I am looking forward to wearing my fierce new outfit on the first day of class, hopefully my students can appreciate it.

Labor Day Weekend Activities & Big Brother on TiVo

The weekend started out with Bruce and I working for channel 4 for their Arts, Beats & Eats show in Pontiac (Sheree and I pictured above sitting at the desk.) Let's talk about Pontiac, Michigan for a moment. I call it the Bermuda Triangle of Oakland County. Why do I call it Bermuda Triangle, because once you make it into the city it is impossible to get out. All the streets are one way and go in circles. It's funny that I agreed to work for them, because I after getting lost there just the week before, I vowed I wasn't going back. Back to the show, Arts, Beats & Eats is the annual labor day festival. Its name gives it away, but if you didn't figure it out, there is an art show, concerts and food. The big headliner this weekend The Verve Pipe. Yes, remember the song "the Freshman," it was big in 1997.

I was field producing in the art section, it wasn't that exciting, but it was easy enough. Bruce got to fill the shoes of field producer, a roll that he is not used to. Usually he is stage managing at these live events. So it was hard for him to be in the roll of producer, he said he kept trying to through cues to the talent, which was not his job. It's a nice enough time, Bruce and I went back today, mainly because we had loads of free tickets and nothing else to do. We ate ourselves silly and it was all free, which is the best. Our favorite part was hanging out in Ontario, Canada, yes while we were in Pontiac. There was a whole Ontario tent. We Michiganders visit our Onatrio neighbors frequently. However now that the exchange rate is not in our favor we aren't heading over there as much, so apparently they packed up Canada into a tent and brought it to Pontiac, no birth certificate or passport required. The pictures with the fish are Bruce and I in Canada, in Pontiac, in Canada. If that makes sense. The streets of Pontiac were packed today, I am assuming it was mostly people who came on Friday but couldn't find their way out. Remember its the Bermuda Triangle of Oakland county.

Now let's talk about Big Brother. It's now down to the final four: Dr. Delicious Will, Janelle the big breasted blonde bomb shell, Booger and his Showmance Erika. Booger has won head of household. He says his "chilltown" buddy Will and puts Erika and Janelle up on the block. But Janelle is the Veto queen. If she wins it looks like Erika is a goner. Erika wins, Janelle is out. If Will or Boogie wins, I don't know who will go. Tuesday we will find out who wins power of veto. If you can't wait go to Todd's blog he is now watching the live feeds from the house, I knew it was only a matter of time. But if you want a surprise don't go to his blog, because he gives away details.