making up for tv lost time

I never used to be a big TV-watcher. I didn't have cable for about 7 years and found that life was ok without it. When Brian and I bought our house in 2004, we decided to get cable. And when we got our LCD TV in 2006, we bought a souped up HDTV cable package (because what is the point of having an HD-capable TV without getting HDTV?!).

So, over the last few years, I've been watching more and more TV. I love DRAMA - these days, I'm all about the CSI's, House, Grey's Anatomy, Brothers and Sisters and, the ultimate in TV melodrama - America's Next Top Model. I'm not big on reality TV, but I watch ANTM and The Amazing Race religiously.

This past season, the writer's went on strike and I found that most of my shows were showing repeats at the height of TV watching time - in the winter when it's cold and rainy outside! I was still able to watch ANTM, but The Amazing Race just ended a season and I found myself doing alot of channel surfing.

In the past, I've watched the round 1 auditions for American Idol. I found them pretty funny. But once round 1 was over, the humour was gone and I lost interest. This past season, there hasn't been much on Tuesday and Wednesday nights since January, so I found myself gravitating towards American Idol.

I didn't really watch Hollywood week and I channel surfed through the first 2 weeks of the top 24. But in the third week of performances, David Cook performed his version of Hello and I was hooked. For the first time, I was recording American Idol. Ugh.

I don't know what the show has been like in the past, but I keep hearing that this past Season 7 has had the most talent in a long time. All I know is that I was hooked on the performances. I actually had opinions on who I didn't like (Kristy Lee Cook, Ramiele Malubay and Jason Castro) and I went so far as to say that David Cook and David Archuleta better make it to the final 2 or the show was a crock!

Anyway, I'm sure alot of you know that the 2 David's made up the final 2 and David Cook was voted the American Idol. It was a good American Idol season. I can't guarantee that I will watch the next season, if there is one. But I'm sure I'll be downloading David Cook songs off iTunes over the next little while.

I wonder what TV show I can get hooked on this summer?! Anyone have any recommendations?

aqua

It's been 2 years since Brian built our fabulous deck and it was never painted. This is the year we are painting our deck! Unfortunately, with a kid, you have to divide and conquer, so we decided that Brian would paint and I would take Josh out somewhere to keep him out of trouble. There was NO way that I was staying indoors on a day that was forecasted to break temperature highs. So, I decided that Josh and I would join Gary, Erin and their family to the Vancouver Aquarium.

We went to the Seattle Aquarium when Josh was 7 months old. He seemed to enjoy it, but I'm not sure if he got anything out of it! At 18 months old, I think we had a pretty good visit. Of course, he doesn't have much of an attention span, but everything seemed to intrigue him for an average of about 15 seconds before he would move onto something else.

Luckily, the Aquarium didn't seem to be that busy - probably because of the long weekend. Erin's parents were in town and they accompanied Gary, Erin and Elijah, so we weren't necessarily a small group. It was great for me to have other adults around because it proved to be a bit challenging trying to push the stroller and run after Josh. I think if I were to take Josh on my own, I would abandon the stroller and bring a backpack and sling.

Having said all that, I didn't have much of a chance to take pictures, but here are a few I managed to snap...

Josh with Erin's family - looks strange, no?!

Elijah and Josh in Clownfish Cove

Josh spots a beluga...

...and the beluga spots Elijah!

high tech baby

My sister and I had a discussion about letting Josh play with the laptop. Brian and I were having the hardest time keeping him away from it and my sister suggested just locking it out and letting him tap on it for a bit. "He will eventually lose interest", she said.

She is right. It's unfair of us to let him watch us constantly sit down in front of this really interesting object with buttons and lights and not let him touch it. So, we brought one of our old laptops downstairs and set it up beside ours. Whenever one of us wants to check something out on the laptop and Josh wanders over, we can plop him down beside us and let him mimic us on his own machine. So cute.

Now, however, he has discovered that the keys come off. He's removed 3 keys so far. Somehow, I don't think he's going to lose interest quite that fast...

baby penguins

When a wedding comes around, it makes me think fondly of ours . Of course, I recall all the highlights of planning and of the day (and none of the stress!). Lenny and Tini are planning their wedding right now and I'm excited for them! I don't know whether they are excited or stressed, but I'm sure they will also look back at this time fondly.

They just asked us today for Josh to be their ringbearer! Josh will be around 2, so we warned them of the usual "may-not-walk-down-the-aisle" caveats, but they are OK with it and we are honoured and thrilled! Lenny is the last of mine and Brian's siblings to be married, so we never thought Josh would get to participate in a wedding party. So now, we are not only excited for Lenny and Tini, but we are also excited for Josh!

I imagine him in a cute little tux and I am reminded of penguins (of course!). Now, I know that Josh won't be wearing an "actual" penguin suit, but somehow, I can't get this image out of my head...

start them young

I'm not sure what possessed us to take Josh to the Wiggles concert today. I think it was a combination of the fact that he loves watching the Wiggles and we wanted to see his reaction when he saw them live.

For a kids show, they were quite entertaining! Brian is pretty creeped out by fully grown adult men singing kids songs, but he laughed at some funny moments that I think they cater specifically towards the parents. They are pretty laid back in the performance.

Josh LOVED it. When the Wiggles first came on stage he just stared, not really understanding/believing what he was seeing. It was one of those indescribable moments that made the show for us. Of course, he won't remember ever watching the show, so we made sure we took photos to remind him when he's older...

Josh has NO idea what he's about to see

Josh and thousands of kids enjoying the Wiggles

Dad is having a good time too!

shoe horse

Josh's big thing these days (besides saying "Mommy!" everytime he wants something!) is to put on shoes. He is fascinated by the act of putting them on. Auntie Caroline and Uncle Jon bought him a pair of mammoth crocs and the other day, Brian watched him put them on all by himself! It took about 2 minutes to get the slip-on shoes on, but he did it!

Here is a photo of him trying on my shoes. He LOVES to wear my shoes.
And here is a photo of him in honour of Northwest Profile #56. I'm not kidding, he WANTED me to help him put these on like this...

congratulations to lipgloss!

My co-worker, Derek, is super techno-savvy. In fact, he's just an all around wealth of knowledge! I can usually ask him anything about anything (especially technology) and he can give me an answer or tell me where I can find the answer.

A couple of years ago, Derek posted on his blog that his wife and her friend started a podcast called Lipgloss and Laptops, "a blog and podcast about beauty culture, beauty products and the cosmetic industry.

At that time, I had my first generation iPod Shuffle (that Navarik gave us in December 2004) and I was using it occasionally to listen to music. I thought, "what are podcasts for and why would I download them?". Also, I didn't really think a podcast about cosmetics and the beauty industry would appeal to me. Those of you that know me know I am a woman of little cosmetics.

Last October, when Brian gave me an iPod Classic, I suddenly had 160 GB of space and decided I needed to do more with my iPod! I finally decided it was time to see what podcasting was all about. And Lipgloss and Laptops was a good place to start!

Firstly, podcasts are great! It's like a radio talk show, but better. You don't have to listen to them at any specific time. I download podcasts from my laptop to my iPod and I listen to them in the car or on the Skytrain. I find it much more stimulating than just listening to music.

Secondly, I am really enjoying Lipgloss and Laptops! Like I said, I'm not much into cosmetics, but the podcast is more than just cosmetic reviews. The hosts, Kerry Anne and Airdrie (Derek's wife), are just 2 girlfriends having conversations mostly about cosmetics, but they touch into movies, current events, health and many other topics. It's like having a conversation with your girlfriends (but they do all the talking! hahaha...).

Also, the podcast gives me an idea of what kinds of products are out there. I occasionally think to myself, "I'm going to try that stuff out!". Now, I haven't gone out and tried anything they've recommended yet (finances are still too tight for that kind of splurging). But I know the next time I decide to change one of my current beauty products, I will try one of their recommendations.

Kerry Anne and Airdrie just celebrated their 100th podcast of Lipgloss and Laptops. It's quite a milestone! Congratulations, ladies - I love listening to you guys!