Kick it!

This week I've been participating in a blogging challenge that focuses on ways to make your blog work better. It's put together by the same lovely ladies that put this challenge together. I was pleasantly surprised to find that I had already instituted some of their suggestions (go me!), but mostly I've learned a lot and made some changes...some behind-the-scenes, some that you can see. I spy some nifty social media buttons, do you? I added those all by myself (okay, Jeremy helped a little). While working on this challenge, I realized that the best thing I can do to improve my blog is to post more. I'm up for that challenge. Stay tuned.

Guilty pleasure

"You should have been a ballerina." It's prom night and I'm walking down the stairs at my friend's house where we had all gathered to get ready. I never had a great desire to be a ballerina, but ever since that comment was uttered by my friend's mother I felt like I had somehow missed a calling. At the time, I felt incredibly conspicuous and embarrassed. She meant to compliment a gracefulness I didn't feel I possessed, but I thought immediately of my boyish frame (read: flat chest and no hips to speak of). Never do I feel the pangs of this unspoken desire more than when I'm watching my newest guilty pleasure, Bunheads.

When I read in WWD of all places that Amy Sherman-Palladino had a new show coming to ABC Family I knew I had to watch. The same speed-talking, reference-dropping dialogue that made my head spin in Gilmore Girls is there, albeit a little more choppy. Each week I feel like I am getting to take a stroll down the streets of Stars Hollow. There's the same small town setting with plenty of quirky characters and, of course, the fact that the cast is populated by many of the same actors doesn't hurt either. Emily Gilmore herself is a main character and you catch glimpses of other familiar faces here and there.

The similarities between the show pretty much end there. Instead of being focused on an impossibly tight-knit mother-daughter relationship as in Gilmore Girls, Bunheads follows the transition of a Vegas showgirl into a small-town ballet instructor. Yes, each episode is filled with the drama that caters to a more high school audience, but that hasn't kept me from parking my butt in front of my tv each Monday night to watch it. What is your guilty pleasure?

Can I take a raincheck on that handshake?

There has been a noticeable uptick in the number of sick people around me during the last couple of weeks. I have been taking precautions: asking my sick husband to please sleep in the other room, making sure I have hand sanitizer at my desk and in my purse, and of course lots and lots of good, old-fashioned hand washing.

Today, I was introduced to a new co-worker. As we exchanged our "nice-to-meet-you's" she reached out and gave me a nice, firm handshake. The first thing I thought was, "Oh good, she isn't one of those limp fish handshakers." You know the type. Then with horror, I began thinking of all the other hands she had shaken in her round of first-day introductions. I was on my way to lunch and made a mental note to wash my hands before eating or at least use the aforementioned purse hand sanitizer.

Well, between the short walk from my desk to the cafeteria I completely forgot to do either of those things and wouldn't you know, a couple hours later I started to feel nauseated and dizzy. Although it's much more likely that this nausea is due to the questionable cafeteria kabobs I consumed during lunch, I can't help thinking back on that handshake and wishing I would have just asked for a raincheck until after flu season.

Ps. I've always wanted to learn this secret handshake from the Parent Trap remake. :)