I Love New York!

Nathan and I returned from a wonderful 3 day trip to NYC visiting my sister. Nathan had tons of fun riding the train (NJ Transit) and the subway (he was shocked he didn’t have to wear a seatbelt!). We are definitely suburbanites as Nathan got tired very easily walking around the city. I’m actually sore myself from all that walking, but I ended up losing about 2 lbs just from the short trip (with all the walking New Yorkers have to do, it’s no wonder NY is considered to be one of the “skinniest city” as opposed to Philly being “a fat city”). It was funny watching Nathan look at all the tall skyscrapers during the day and all the bright lights at night. Our days were filled with visiting FAO Schwartz, Toys R Us in Times Square, Chinatown, stopping at all the water fountains and the playground in Central Park. I’m thankful for the beautiful weather we had and the good food…we had dinner one night in Chinatown and I got my taro bubble tea and green tea ice cream. Having that always completes my trip and puts a big smile on my face! It was a great bonding time for me and my son and for Nathan to spend time with his aunt and uncle. Also, it gave Dan a break from him and to spend time with Kaitlyn…he did say the house was very quiet and lonely at times!

AI note: how shocking was it that Adam was in the bottom 2?!!! I really hope the top 3 ends up being Adam, Danny and Kris.

Twitter anyone?

Anybody out there twitter? Just got into and trying it out. Since my work blocks all social network sites like Facebook, Twitter, etc, I figure I'd give twitter a try since it's easier than Facebook. I don't have time at night for Facebook as it looks like too much work!

Check it out: http://twitter.com/ihnacho

Marriage Already?!

This was our conversation the other day:

Nathan: Mommy, you look pretty. Someday, I’m going to get married to a girl.
Me: Yeah?! (sad that we have to emphasize these days he has to marry a girl, not a boy!!)
Nathan: Where am I going to meet a girl?
Me: Anywhere….it can be at school, church, anywhere! Do you like Emily & Nicole? (girls from our church)
Nathan: Yes, I’m going to marry all of them and Georgia! (she’s our previous pastor’s daughter)
Me: No, you can only marry one girl! Who do you like? Emily, Nicole?
Nathan: I’m going to marry Georgia!

So sad that he’s already thinking about marriage and leaving me! Sniff sniff!

Pics

Side note on AI: I was mad the judges wasted their save on Matt. They're going to kick themselves if somebody good ends up in the bottom 2 this week. Adam should be safe with Disco week.

She loves the swing (some of you may have seen some of these videos on hubby's facebook). She's a lot more adventurous than Nathan as he was scared of the swing when he was a baby. I was sad I missed this.

Pics from New Year's Day

Her smiles are few and far between for strangers. You have to work hard to earn her smiles! I guess her personality is a lot like mine...cautious like me! Nathan on the other hand smiled for everyone.

Here's a smile!

AI - Top 7

Worst performance has to go to Lil. She was way off tune and just fell apart. Her attitude and sticking up for herself may land her in hot waters tonight and send her home. Also think Allison wasn’t as great as the judges claimed. Her growling is starting to grate on me. In general, I thought everybody was mediocre and there was no standout performance last night, so I have no favorites. Anybody can go home based on last night's performance.

I was thrilled that only 2 of the judges would be speaking for each contestant, but they still ran over 3 minutes!! What is wrong with the producers? Seriously, this is the 8th season and they still can’t get this show in under an hour! Luckily I recorded Fringe so I didn’t miss anything. I did though miss hearing Simon’s comments for each contestant because he tells is like it is and doesn’t tell everybody they sound wonderful (cough cough Paula). Maybe this is his way of sending the message that this show needs him because his contract does end next year and he recently stated that he may leave American Idol because of his other commitments.

Taxes

Talk about last minute, taxes are finally done in our house! If it were up to me, I would have them done in February, but Dan loves to put it off to the last minute. Last year was the first year we actually owed money, so we thought things would even out this year since Kaitlyn was born. We didn’t realize that the economic stimulus payments we received in 2008 for 2007 tax year gave us another $300 credit for her since our tax status changed in 2008, so we were thrilled we got that extra money. However, we got so many other credits we didn’t realize we were going to get, we got a huge refund. Most people are usually excited about getting extra money, but we actually want to owe. I always feel like the government is cheating us out of our money by keeping it throughout the year. I would rather have that money myself spreadout throughout the year!

In other sad news, I was sad and shocked to hear the passing of Harry Kalas, the Phillies broadcaster. I grew up listening to him while watching Phillies games. I can’t imagine listening to anybody else….it just won’t be the same anymore. At least he got to see the Phillies finally win the World Series and to call that final out.

AI Top 8 Performance

Unfortunately my TIVO did not record the last 6-7 minutes of the show, so I was livid that it went over so much and that I completely missed Adam’s performance (I couldn’t extend my recording bcs hubby had 2 shows to record @ 9. He absolutely HATES AI and refused to let AI run into his shows). Seriously, Ryan needs to do a better job at keeping the show moving and the judges need to stop jabbering. If this is FOX’s way of forcing everybody to watch the show Live to get extra ratings, it’s just really evil. I managed to frantically (and obsessively) search for Adam’s performance and a kind soul posted it online….thank goodness for the internet! What would we have done in the pre-internet days?!

Favorite performance is Adam by far, although I think he was off on a note or two. But who cares? I don’t remember the last time Simon gave a standing ovation. I forgot to mention last week that I like Adam even more when he gave kudos to the band. I know how it is being in that "support" or "accompanying" role and being forgotten or unmentioned. The band does a lot of work behind the scenes and people don't give them enough credit. I can't imagine the amount of practice they do everyday for all those singers. Next favs would have to be Danny, Matt & Allison.

Worst performance has to be Scott. When I heard the intro to Survivor’s “The Search is Over”, I thought for sure Scott was going to be on the piano again. I was shocked to see him playing the guitar, but after hearing him play horrendously, it might’ve been better if he stayed at the piano. Give him props though for trying to come out of the comfort zone, however his vocals just don’t even come close to the others. The judges were being awfully nice to him and not being as harsh as he probably deserved. Hard to say who’ll be the bottom 3. It could be anybody: Lil, Anoop (even though he was good last night), Matt (because he’s been there b4 even though he did well and he was shorted on the judge’s comment). But Scott should definitely go home.

Lost - Whatever Happened, Happened

Quick thoughts on Lost:

-I thought the conversation between Hurley and Miles were hilarious. The Back to the Future theory is exactly what I was thinking…it’s as if the executive producers were reading our thoughts before we were even thinking of it and addressed our questions directly through them! That’s just brilliant writing!

-Who would’ve thought Kate was the “blabber mouth” and would tell the truth about everything in the future?

-Did anyone find it disturbing that she left Aaron sleeping alone in the hotel room, even though it was 2 doors down? I would not feel safe doing that knowing that I “lost” my child a few hours before!

-So, it looks like we get to see how little Ben (or “Harry Potter”) becomes evil Ben (or “Voldemart”)! Looks like the “mind wipe” is similar to what they did to C3PO in Star Wars Episode III to explain why he wouldn’t remember Anakin or anything in Episode IV.

-Did anyone find it a bit creepy that Roger Linus was a little flirty with Kate?

Top 9

Top performances were Adam, Kris & Danny. These 3 are still my top 3. Funny how Kris wasn’t in my fav list in the beginning, but he’s really inched up there and had some great performances. Lil was really off key….I think the judges definitely hear something different in the auditorium than what we hear on TV, but she picked the wrong song AGAIN. Allison really messed up the chorus and wasn’t as good as last week. Scott definitely had his best vocals last night and he can definitely play, but don’t know if he’ll escape the bottom 3. He really needs to get away from the piano once in awhile and stop using that as a crutch. Did not like Matt’s performance, which is a shame because I was starting to like him after last week.

Bottom 3 should be Scott, Matt/Anoop & Megan with Megan going home. But I get this feeling she won’t even be in the bottom 3 as she’s somehow missed it the past few weeks.