Emmy Fashion Roundup & Rundown! (Part 2)

JENNA FISCHER

I really like Jenna's look from the knees up. An improvement over last year for sure. The mermaid shape is surprisingly good for her, and black, while safe, is also sophisticated when done well. The beading is okay and the sweetheart neckline is a great choice on her. She looked so happy walking the carpet with her new fiance, and I also like her softer hairstyle. Oh, and even though you can't see them in this picture, her very pretty drop earrings. The only thing is, from the knees down, the fabric is doing something weird... like what is happening with the big stiff hem?

JENNIFER LOVE HEWITT

If it's not one thing with this girl, it's the other. I approve of the dress. The color is sweet and fresh. This is the right shape for a girl like J-Love with some shape to her hips. It is youthful without being inappropriate for her age. However. HOWEVER. Unless she arrived directly at the Emmys after performing the titular role in a new stage production of Rapunzel, those extensions have got. to. go.

KATE WALSH

If a redhead walked up to me and said, "Quick, name a color I would look amazing in," silver would not be the first thing tripping off my tongue. Thanks, Kate Walsh, for teaching me something new! Like Jenna Fischer, a real improvement over her heavy serious look from last year. I have no idea what miracle of technology is keeping that dress up, but color me impressed. And I don't know that I've ever had the pleasure of saying the words "elegant," "flattering," and "saddlebags of draping fabric" in the same sentence, but there you go.

KRISTEN WIIG

Hey, Kristen, thank God I caught you before you got any further down the carpet. Come a little closer... little closer... Riiiiiiip. Wait, let me get the other one. Riiiiiiip. Okay, okay. You're good to go! Knock 'em dead, you look great in that sleeveless halter dress!


KYRA SEDGWICK

Somewhere, Bridesmaid Barbie (1996 Collector's Edition) is crying in the bathroom because she showed up wearing the same thing as Kyra Sedgwick! And her stylist said it was a one of a kind! PS. This is awful.

LEIGHTON MEESTER

I probably had the hardest time making up my mind about this outfit. I'm still on the fence. On the one hand, I love it. On the other hand, from some angles those knots in the shoulder straps looked like giant weird puffs. On the other other hand, from other angles they looked smaller and gave her Grecian goddess gown a unique twist. On the other other other hand, I thought the whole look aged her a little bit. On the other(x4) hand, I love Blair Waldorf like Chuck Bass loves ascots and suspenders, and therefore I'm willing to allow Leighton some wiggle room here. I don't know. Please tell me what your hands think, in the comments.

Monday Nights Just Got Crazy

I know I blogged before about how we had to choose between Chuck & Gossip Girl, both airing at 7pm on Monday nights. And because apparently there is literally no other time slot available on any day of the week, FOX has now moved my Tuesday night show, House, to - you guessed it - Monday nights. At 7pm.

First of all, I don't know how they're going to get away with airing that show so early in prime-time. Seven o'clock is like, families-gathering-'round-the-dinner-table TV, not House-almost-overdoses-on-vicodin-and-is-discovered-by-a-hooker-before-solving-a-case-in-which-he-nearly-kills-a-patient-who-vomits-blood-everywhere TV. It's a pretty intense show!

Second of all, why do all these shows have to be on at the same time? I mean, true, I would guess the average adult is not likely to be interested in both a serious medical drama, a geek-spy comedy, and a rich-teen-angst soap, but using myself as an example there are at least a few of us! I think no one is brave enough to post anything on Tuesdays against the American Idol juggernaut.

So now, it would appear the new plan is watch House live, TiVo Chuck, and Gossip Girl will have to be watched online the next day. Sheesh.

The good news is all the other nights are looking good. Thursday has a lot going on, but since I dropped Grey's Anatomy last year and LOST moved back to Wednesdays, nothing overlaps. ER is still getting TiVo'd but... well, I haven't watched one of those episodes since about October. Hopefully when Amy Poehler's as-yet-untitled new NBC show debuts later this spring it'll fit nicely in there somewhere.

Of course we're most excited about the return of our one true love, LOST. Back on Wednesdays and back in our lives after eight long months. Only two more weeks left to wait!

Which leaves us with the following TV viewing line-up in the James household for Spring 2009... green will get the immediate watch, while red indicates the shows that will be relegated to TiVo-land and get watched when we have time.

Monday

7pm - Chuck, Gossip Girl, House

Tuesday

8pm - Fringe

Wednesday

8pm - LOST

Thursday

7pm - Ugly Betty

8pm - The Office

8:30pm - 30 Rock

Friday

9pm - Psych

Aaaand it's official. We watch too much TV.

100th Post! 100 Things I Like...

This is my 100th post on this blog! Little did I know all those years ago that I would be having this much fun sharing all my random thoughts with the world... or at least with my mom and the five other people who regularly read this blog.

I decided I would do a post about 100 random things I like... in no order, no rhyme or reason... These are not my top 100 things, or an exhaustive list of things I like. I just typed out everything as it came to me, and sometimes saying one thing I liked made me think of something else. Also I did some linking in case you like these things too.

Now on to the list!

1. Sleeping with lots of pillows
2. Baby name books
3. Libraries
4. Popcorn at the movie theater
5. Writing blogs
6. Shel Silverstein
7. Swimming
8. Artisan & Craft fairs
9. Leggings
10. Kraft Macaroni & Cheese
11. Red airheads
12. Getting stupid-excited about the Twilight movie
13. Kristin Wiig on SNL
14. Driving
15. Chubby cheeks on babies
16. Scalding-hot showers
17. Really bright red fall trees
18. Taking pictures
19. Target
20. Shredding papers
21. Guinea pigs
22. The music of Leeland, especially "Sound of Melodies"
23. Watching figure skating
24. My graphic designers I work with
25. Cookies & Cream icecream from Braum's
26. Snow
27. The really snarky writing on Gossip Girl
28. Exclamation points
29. Writing and receiving real letters
30. When Heather calls at 9 pm and asks if I want to go to Sonic
31. The movie "Can't Hardly Wait"
32. Estee Lauder's Beautiful Sheer & Ralph Lauren Romance perfumes
33. Garth Brooks
34. Hugging my dad after I haven't seen him in a long time
35. Acoustic guitar driven music
36. Celebrity gossip
37. Scruffy and how cute he is
38. The St. Louis Zoo
39. LOST
40. Daydreaming of working for a really cool company like Google or Pixar
41. T-shirts with pockets
42. Fresh flowers
43. Calvin & Hobbes
44. Knowing all the words to Kanye West's "Golddigger"
45. Re-reading books I love
46. The words to hymns
47. Michaelangelo's Pieta
48. Holidays
49. Having parties at my house
50. 1 John 3:1
51. Horses
52. Going to art museums and remembering all the art history I learned
53. Apples with peanut butter
54. My momma
55. Traveling to new places
56. Being barefoot
57. Getting a haircut
58. Fuji Apple Chicken Salad from Panera
59. Baz Luhrmann movies
60. The city of Chicago
61. Cello
62. Being goofy with Ben
63. Scrapbooking
64. Shopping for scrapbooking stuff
65. Potatoes
66. Children's books
67. Going to a St. Louis Cardinals baseball game in Busch Stadium
68. Headbands
69. Cute flat shoes
70. Quoting shows and movies I love
71. Steve Carell
72. Purple irises
73. My red purse
74. When kids say funny things
75. French fries from Kriegers with extra seasoning
76. Mountains
77. Doing laundry
78. Being "outdoorsy" through kayaking
79. When people have a funny laugh
80. Office supplies
81. My friend Rob & his family
82. Jason Mraz
83. Watching college football
84. Finding people on Facebook and looking at their pictures
85. When Jesus heals the little girl in Mark 5
86. The smell of outside in the spring
87. Milk
88. When my whole family is together at Christmas
89. Wearing jeans
90. Nicknames
91. Reading in the bathroom
92. Chips and cheese dip
93. Falling asleep to rain and thunder
94. Mark Rothko's color field paintings
95. Looking at beautiful wedding pictures
96. The X-Files
97. Getting a pedicure
98. Needtobreathe
99. Natural lighting
100. Taking naps

Monday Night: Battle of the Chucks

In one corner, we have Chuck Bass, who alongside his sometimes love/all-the-times nemesis Blair Waldorf, is the real star of the WB's deliciously bad Gossip Girl.

In the other corner, we have Chuck Bartowski, the adorabley geeky accidental spy after whom NBC's action-comedy Chuck is named.

Two shows. One timeslot - 7 pm, Monday nights. Only one TiVo.

What's a couple to do? Ben and I came to the difficult decision that we would TiVo Chuck since we (oh yes, he likes it too) could watch Gossip Girl online. But I made sure to put in a clause that stated that if I happened to get home on time I could watch GG live from the other TV.

And thank goodness for that, because last night both our Chucks were in fine form. Mr. Bass was showing his softer side, overcoming Blair's straight-from-Cruel-Intentions schemes and looking suave in his typically insane outfits to boot. Over on channel 4, Mr. Bartowski was HI-larious... maybe the funniest episode yet for the show. Plus, there were guest roles by Nicole Ritchie and - wait for it - CORY from Boy Meets World (actual name Ben Savage). If only they'd gotten Topanga, too...