NKOTBSB!!!! (Glitter Tops Required)

This last weekend, a time lapse happened to me.  I was transformed back into middle school with my discman on my way to a drama competition listening to the one and only Backstreet Boys.  I am not going to lie....I was a boy band junkie in middle school.  I loved them all:  Backstreet Boys, NSync, 98 degrees, O-Town, even LFO who had that "Girl on the TV" song with Jennifer Love Hewitt in the video.  I have no shame.  So, when I found out that New Kids on the Block would be touring with Backstreet Boys this summer, I knew I had to get tickets.  My friend Sarah from high school is doing an Optometry internship in Dallas for the summer and staying with me...after a quick phone call she was on board, along with her sister and my mom.  I got onto ticketmaster and got us pretty good tickets....bottom level halfway back.

Concert day came and we all met up to head over to American Airlines center.  My mom was super excited, but wasn't sure which band we were going to see....she mentioned both the 98 degrees and Boyz II Men.   I had to inform her that we weren't going to see either of those bands.  We then played the NKOTBSB cd in the car on the way over so she could familiarize herself with their songs.  I have to admit, I was a little young for New Kids on the Block growing up, so I had listened to the cd during the week to familiarize myself with their other songs besides just "Step by Step" and "Hangin'Tough".  However, Rachael, Sarah's sister, was a New Kids fan as she is a couple years oler than us.  Together, we had all angles covered.

I ended up having an extra ticket to the concert because Heidi was supposed to go, but had to cancel last minute.  Casey had no desire to see NKOTBSB (what was she thinking!)  My friend Lindsay called to see if I wanted to go on a walk.  I told her that I had a little bit better of an offer than a walk...how about a free ticket to NKOTBSB?  She was so excited and said she could be ready in 10 minutes.  She showed up and off we went.

A few of my friends from work had asked me to go with them to the concert about a month before.  I laughed when I told them I already had tickets and was going with my mom.  But they made sure to get seats right by us.  They were super stars and dressed in their full on 80s attire (Catherine even had a large Joey button attached to her shirt....so cute!)  We met up by the merchandise table before the concert started (where I secretly wanted to buy a shirt but refrained....I still regret it....I might buy one online....)

Below are my friends from work:  Catherine,  Lindsay, Anneliese, and me.  Why did someone not tell me to put my drink down?

Here we are in our seats:  Lindsay, me, Sarah, Rachael, and Nance.  Little did we know how good these seats were....

Then the concert started.  Now let me just tell you, I didn't have that high of expectations.  As much as I love BSB, it has been like 15 years since they were big and even longer for NKOTBSB.  And my favorite member was Kevin Richardson, who sadly did not join the group for the reunion tour (man, what an idiot).  I expected them to come out, do some songs with their old dance moves, maybe sing one or two songs together and that would be it.  Oh no.  This was WAY more than that.  

The opening number was huge and lasted about 10 minutes.  The show lasted over 2 hours, with a 15 minute finale.  The bands sang all of their original songs along with some new stuff and the finale was a battle between BSB singing "Everybody" and NKOTB singing "Hangin' Tough".  It was freaking awesome!  

There were two main stages with a long runway between them.  The two bands switched back and forth from the two stages and the stages raised up and down, there was fog everywhere, flashing strobe lights, fire and other pyrotechnics, major glitterized tops, hats, and shoes, 9 guys running around singing and dancing their butts off.  It was out of control!  In a really good way.

Some take-aways:

1) While the boys are older, they are all still in great shape and look great....especially Donnie Wahlberg who ripped his shirt off twice.

2) They can all still dance....like really good....only thing is there was a lot more pelvic thrusting and grabbing than I ever remember when watching their videos when I was younger.  Especially by Donnie Wahlberg and Nick Carter.

3) I forgot how great their songs were...swoon!

4)  The crowd was great.  It consisted mainly of 25 - 40 year old women, some gay men, and then some couples with straight guys that obviously hated their lives.  There was also the one off dad who brought his young daughter....so sweet.  Anyways, everyone in the crowd knew every word to every song, which made them all that more enjoyable.

5)  Our seats were great!  So, I must say I bought the tickets so randomly I didn't realize our seats were in front of the second stage.  Well, at one point in time during the concert the BSB boys picked an aisle to come down before they went to the stage....that aisle just happened to be my aisle...and our seats were on the end!  Not gonna lie, it was awesome.  I got to touch both Nick Carter and Brian Littrell while they walked down and sang "Shape of my Heart".  

Now I'm not going to hold anything back, I loved Brian in middle school.  He was my second favorite BSB member after Kevin.  But Nick Carter?  Not so much.  I thought he was ok, but then he grew up and the only thing I can put my finger on with him is that he sometimes is on the Carter reality show that doesn't air anymore and he dated Paris Hilton a few years ago....that's really it.  Well when he walked by you would have thought it was freaking Patrick Dempsey or something.  I was swooning....it was a little embarrassing.  I shook his hand, and when I say shook, I mean attempted to hold.  Anyways, this only lasted a second and then he was gone.  I thought, oh well, I got a good picture and moved on.  

Right after this occurred my phone blew up with text messages.  I hadn't even thought of it but when Nick walked by I was on the jumbotron....OMG....so now 20,000 people saw me freak out over Nick Carter, and I don't even care for him.  I was just caught up in the moment.  What I didn't realize is how many other people that know me were at the concert.  I received no less than 5 mesages in 5 minutes.  The texts varied from "I saw you on the big screen" to "Emily....Nick Carter....seriously?".  But I thought about it some more and decided I am not ashamed.  I got to freaking hold Nick Carter's hand....I decided to wait a day to take a shower.  

6)  As you can tell, I thoroughly enjoyed the concert.  After it was over, we waited by the tour buses and got to see Howie from BSB and Jordan Knight from NKOTB walk out and to their bus.  There were 13 buses.  We decided that they all probably had their own and made the stage hands share.

7)  After all this excitement we decided to head home.  The consensus amongst all of us....best concert ever!  I am serious, on a scale of 1 - 10, it was a 15!  Sarah and I both decided that we would pay the $100 ticket fee tomorrow and drive to another city to see them again if necessary.  It was that good.  And my friend Lindsay said that she was officially a teeny bopper, 10 years too late.  And my mom said that she really liked the show, but she thought there were 5 members in Backstreet Boys.  I told her we would discuss that later.

Ok I won't bore you with anymore chatter.  Here are some of the best pics from the night:  

The opening number.  Notice Joey McIntyre in his cutoff vest.  Major glitter required.  (Mom also got confused here because she thought that Joey was Joey Fatone...I had to tell her that was NSync, and that we weren't seeing them).

Working the runway.

One of the two stages, with fog enhancement.

BSB performing in their satin suits.  Their outfits were really out of control.

Donnie Wahlberg singing "Covergirl".  After he literally ripped his shirt off.  I mean the man is in his 40s and still has a 6 pack.

He's still got it, and he knows it.

My interaction with Brian Littrell.  Mom also got to shake his hand and she kept going, "He was looking at me Emily".  Mom lay off, he is married.

Nick Carter.  Apparently my new crush.

Finale of the concert.  They finished all wearing Mavs jerseys.  It was pretty awesome.

And what's a concert without confetti?

Lots of it....

Huddle up where the guys probably thank their lucky stars that someone thought about a reunion tour.  There is no telling how much money they are going to make this summer.  Genius idea.

Action shot of Donnie throwing his Mavs jersey into the crowd.  The man couldn't keep a shirt on.

End of the show.  Good job boys.

Sarah and I after it was over.  We were excited as we fit into the "Glitter Tops Required" theme of the night.

  

Hope you enjoyed my recap.  It doesn't even to scratch the surface as to how good this concert was.  Judge if you must, but for one night I got back in touch with some of my old favorites and first crushes.  It was good fun!

I want to tell you all about my recent Florida trip with Heidi and the family.  I have some great stories and pictures.  Coming soon....

Until then, Ciao for now!

     

Marathon, Royal Wedding, and So Much More!

Where did April go?  Sorry I had every intention of making a blog post sooner, the month just got away from me.  More and more things keep happening to me I am getting very far behind on keep you guys informed!  I just got back from a fabulous weekend in Chicago with Holly, but I am waiting on her to upload pictures, so that post will come later.

So until then, I wanted to make a few quick comments about what I wanted to talk about during my last entry and sadly still haven’t (I blame the accounting job, this was an incredibly busy busy season, no pun intended!)

I wanted to do a full recap on the Oscars, but since that is long gone I will say a few words. 

Best Dressed:  Mila Kunis in a landslide for sure.  Her lilac greek style dress was to die for and I want my own.

Most deserved Oscar:  Colin Firth, not only was he amazing in the King’s Speech, but I have been a fan of his since he was the love interest in Briget Jones’ Diary.  I have always loved Mr. Firth and glad he finally won!

Best Movie:  I was so torn here, while I was glad the King’s Speech won (I mean who didn’t fall in love with that movie?), I have to admit I really enjoyed both Inception and The Social Network possibly a little more.  All in all it was a great Oscar season and I was pretty satisfied with everything I saw.

Now on to the Marathon!!!  One and only important thing to know:  I finished.  Other big thing to know:  It rained THE WHOLE TIME.  I am not kidding.  For you to fully understand we must start from the beginning:

We went up to OKC (me, my roommate Casey, and her boyfriend John) to run in the big race.  I was running the full and John was running the relay with some of his friends.  My mom was also in town for a wedding.  My good friends Sarah and Ryan let us stay at their house for the weekend.  Mom and I had a wedding to go to Saturday night before turning in early in order to get up for the big day.  Now I have run races before, but this was my first marathon.  To prepare, I bought some new running gear at the expo (including a nice “spider belt” to hold water, id, and GU.  In all reality it is actually a glorified fanny pack, but who cares.  It served its intended purpose.

The race began at 6:30 am, so Casey and Ryan were nice enough to take me to the hotel where John and his friends were staying at 5:30am (you always are supposed to show up early for races, that is something I learned the hard way after almost missing the start at one of my first races).  My mom decided to sleep in and said she would see me at mile 6 when I made it by Sarah and Ryan’s house (they live right on the marathon route).  I knew it was supposed to rain (it was only a 30% chance when I went to bed) but when I woke up and walked outside I was excited to see that it was dry outside.  Needless to say, we got in the car and right as Ryan backed out it started to rain.  And we are not talking sprinkling here, we are talking monsoon.  I should have just given up then and there.  But, I made it all the way to the hotel to meet John and his friends and was ready to go.

However, once at the hotel I found John and his fellow relay friends only to learn that the race was delayed by 30 minutes.  The last thing you want to do when you get up early to run a race is have to stand around and wait for the weather to clear up when it clearly isn’t going to.  So we waited and waited and waited.  We then decided to head towards the start line about 15 minutes before the race.  One thing we didn’t realize was how long it would take us to get to the start line with all of the extra hurdles due to the rain. 

Basically here is what happened:  we found the corrals (which are these big fence things that the runners stand in, normally they have several openings for runners to enter, but not in OKC there were only two).  However, we were in the middle of the crowd and couldn’t get to the corral entrance to get in.  Then all of a sudden the announcer starts counting down from 10 and I realize that I am going to miss the start if I don’t do something.  I see other people climbing over the fence and I looked at John and he nodded for me to do it.  So John helps me up and over the fence.  I jumped down onto the ground only to have my ipod cord get stuck on the fence and rip my headphones in half.  This is when John did one of two things that would save my day.  Through the fence he handed me his headphones and just told me to run.  Now that might not seem like a huge deal, but to a runner, having your headphones for the big race is a must.  I would not have been able to race for 4 hours without my Lady Gaga, Britney, and Journey to jam to while I run.  So I grabbed John’s headphones only to also realize that I had cut my finger while hopping over the fence and was bleeding (thankfully because of the rain this didn’t stay a problem for long).  By then end of all of this (which was only about 10 seconds but felt like 10 hours in slow motion) the race started and I crossed the start line:  hand bleeding, with new headphones, in the pouring rain.  Here goes nothing.

 I will try to be brief as possible here.  The first 6 miles were fine.  My friend Aaron ran by me with garbage bags on his shoes and baggy sweat pants on.  Thankfully he saw me because I wouldn’t have recognized him.  He runs too fast for me though so he was quickly in front of me.  At mile 6 we ran through Crown Heights and right by Ryan and Sarah’s house.  My mom, Casey, Sarah, Ryan, and my friend Jenny were all outside holding signs and cheering.  Apparently a couple got married at mile 6, which is something I would never be interested in doing, but good for them.

The next 8 miles or so are a blur.  A lot of people ask me why I like to run.  All I can really say is that it is a great time of reflection for me.  But during a race it is important to remain focused and concentrate on your split times.  My split times were averaging between 8:45 and 9:15 minutes per mile, which is right where I wanted to be.  The key is to not start out too fast because then you won’t be able to finish strong.

I befriended a guy from Austin around mile 11 who gave me a few words of advice including asking me what time I expected to finish in.  By this point, I didn’t care what time I finished in, I just wanted it to be over!  But he told me that at the pace we were going we should finish around 4 hours.  The only good thing about your first marathon:  no matter what you will PR!  Thank the Lord!

At mile 14 we made it past lake Hefner.  Ryan was nice enough to check out the news channels and found this picture.  This is me at about mile 15.  The great thing is that right after this picture was taken the sun came out (don’t get too excited, it was only for about 20 minutes.  But it was the most glorious 20 minutes of the whole day).  If you can't tell I am the girl closest to the lighthouse.

At mile 18 my mom, Sarah, and Ryan were waiting for me again.   That is one of the most rewarding things about running in a race:  getting to see familiar faces along the way.  My mom didn’t really get this before the race, she kept asking me why I wanted her to come.  I told her that she would understand once she was there.  And sure enough she was there with her little umbrella cheering away.  At this checkpoint the funny thing is I was in pain, but needed to stop and eat some of my GU chomps.  For those of you who are non-runners, it is necessary to eat supplements along the way.  Some people do liquid items like regular GU, but I do the GU chomps, which taste like gummy bears, really delicious.  I stopped and chatted with mom, Sarah and Ryan, at the end of my chomps and gave them my cool spider belt (aka fanny pack).  It was necessary to lighten the load for the last 8 miles.

At mile 20 Casey and John were waiting for me.  Now, I have always adored Casey’s boyfriend John.  He is always nothing but nice to me and has really fun parties.  I have really enjoyed getting to know him over the past couple of years.  Today though, he raised the bar.  John was supposed to run the last six miles of the race for the relay.  However, as stated earlier, the beginning of the race was a cluster, to say the least.  What I didn’t realize (because I was hopping the fence) was that the rest of John’s team decided not to run the relay.  John however, stayed to ride back with Casey, and decided to run the last 6 miles with me anyway.

So John picked up the pace and ran with me from mile 20 to mile 26.2.  I was really concerned about hitting the wall, which can happen anywhere from mile 18 – 23.  During my 22 mile training run I hit the wall at about mile 20 ½.  I never really understood what the wall was, until I hit it.  Literally with a mile and a half left in that training run, I couldn’t move one more muscle and had to walk.  So, I was really scared of that happening to me again.  Thankfully it didn’t, and I really think it’s because I had a running buddy the last 6 miles.  And John was such a good sport.  At mile 22 the rain really started coming down harder and there was even lightening and thunder (motivation to run faster I guess).  But luckily my legs weren’t hurting too bad and I was feeling fine, so we ran the last two miles pretty quick.

We came around back to downtown to mile 25 and I knew I was going to be ok.  We turned the corner to the finish line and crossed in 4 hours and 6 minutes.  Below is a couple of pictures of John and I crossing the finish (PS - I am never cute in race action shots.  Some people have the gift of catching the camera at the right moment and smiling...not me....I always look like I am breathing heavy and about to pass out...which is mostly true.  Luckily you can't see my face that well in these).

  

Given the circumstances and the fact that it was my first marathon, I was really pleased with this time.  I would have liked to have broken 4 hours, but maybe that will be for next time.  After crossing the finish line I got my cool space blanket to keep warm and we immediately went into the food tent where I had some of the best Nutter Butter’s ever.  At this point in time I am soaking wet to where I looked like I just took a shower.  So I decided it was time to find my mom and Ryan and Sarah and get home. And fate was on my side.  The second I found mom and we got in the car it started to hail.  I felt really sorry for the marathoners that hadn’t finished the race yet. 

We then celebrated with a huge array of Mexican food at Ted’s and then I drove home.  Note to self:  don’t try to drive more than 30 minutes the day of a marathon.  I was so stiff and uncomfortable the whole drive home.  But, I made it and that’s all that matters.  That is one big thing to check off of my list of things to do before I die.  And turns out I finished in 671^st place (out of about 2,500 runners, so all in all my time wasn’t that bad!)

And I have to thank the 5 or 6 people in the Dallas Running Club that trained with me for the past 4 months.  It is such an accomplishment to train for something for so long and actually finish what you set out to do.  I wasn’t going to let rain stand in my way.  If I can make it through a marathon in those conditions, I can make it through anything.  My friend Kate and I are already planning another marathon to run:  Nashville, April 28, 2012….get excited!

Now on to my next favorite topic in the month of April:  a little thing called the Royal wedding.  Now if you know me you know that I have been obsessed with the Royal wedding since the engagement was announced backing January.  My sister and I both took off of work on Friday, April 29^th to tune in.  We had a little mimosa party and Chris, my sister’s husband, was nice enough to cook us pancakes, bacon, and eggs while we watched Wills and Kate get married.  As you can see below I also had my “All About Kate” magazine; we were ready to go!  That's Amy and Chris' dog Crimson in the background, he was apparently excited too!  

My opinion on the wedding:  All I can say is wow!  I loved everything about this wedding.  From Kate’s hair, dress, tiara, to her lovely family and beautiful sister, to Wills and Harry, and finally all the great hats that everyone wore, it was definitely an event to remember.  Amy and I had so much fun watching the wedding.  We literally didn’t move off of the couch for 6 hours.  It was time well spent. 

I have decided that Kate Middleton might be the person in the world that I am most jealous of at the moment (well her and Carrie Underwood and her sister Pippa).  I mean this chick is absolutely flawless.  She seems to be both beautiful and totally down to earth.  I want to be her best friend.  But until then I will just read about her in all of the magazines and wait for her to visit Texas so I can maybe meet her and put my name in the running on marrying Prince Harry.

Below are some of my favorite pics from the event. 

 Kate and that gorgeous veil and tiara.

 Kate and Wills kiss on the balcony.

Kate’s sister Pippa also looking flawless.  I love that in England it is traditional for the maid of honor to wear white.

And below are some of my favorite hats.  Not sure who the top two ladies are, but Chelsy Davy and Carol Middleton did great on their hat selections.

And I don’t care what anyone says, Princess Beatrice and Eugenie’s hats were the worst ever.  All I can say is ugh!  Not good choices.  Definitely a Glamour Don't in my book.

Ok, just a few more things to talk about before I let you guys go for now.

#1 – Super excited that Ashton Kutcher is set to replace Charlie Sheen on 2 ½ men.  I love Ashton.  And I must admit, that I did go see Charlie Sheen in Dallas a few weeks ago.  The show was bad.  Heidi and I went, and while I am still glad we went because of how good the people watching was, I would not recommend Charlie to continue this jaunt of a tour.  It was unrehearsed and all he did was curse a lot and try to sell his t-shirts and other products.  Again, I shouldn’t have expected anything more, but still – it was not good.  I guess he doesn't always have "tiger blood" running through his veins.  That saying has been a running joke with our friends.  See our sign below John made for a half marathon we ran in March.

#2 – I know most people probably already know of the gel or shellac nails that is all the new craze at all of the nail salons right now.  I must say, I am a fan.  I never get my nails painted because it never stays on.  However, I used a red during my first gel nail experience and I was super impressed.

Here is my manicure on day 1.

And again at day 20.  I mean I only had to take the polish off because the bottom of my nails were growing out so much.  Very impressive, I will never get a regular manicure again.

#3 – While I am not super domestic, I get real excited when I find things that make my life a little easier.  Since I am not married I haven’t registered for wedding gifts and checked out all of the coolest gadgets I am a little behind on great kitchen items.  While I was at Crate and Barrel recently Sarah showed me this apple slicer thing that has turned my life upside down.  You just put the slicer on top of the apple, press down, and it slices it into 8 equal sized pieces.  This may not sound like much, but in the morning when every second is meaningful it is awesome to save time from cutting an apple piece by piece.

It really is the little things in life, isn’t it?

You start out with your apple.

All you do then is put the slicer on top, push down and voila!  You have a perfectly sliced apple.  Perfection!

Let's just say I got really excited the 1st, 2nd, and even 3rd time I used this little contraption.

Ok, that’s all I got for now.  Sorry for the long and random post, but I had to get you guys updated.  Check back soon for a post about my recent trip to Chicago.  It was awesome and I can’t wait to share my little weekend adventure with you.

Until then, Ciao for now!

  

An Ode to Will Ferrell

As promised, this blog post will be a tribute to one of my favorite comedians, a Mr. Will Ferrell.  Now, I know you may think this is stupid, but for some reason I am always feeling like I am defending Will, especially to my mother who thinks he is stupid.  I also have an ex boyfriend who told me the same thing, so I have always been a little extra defensive!  But, after much thought I decided the following:  If you can't watch something with Will Ferrell in it and not laugh, then I don't even want to talk to you.  We will obviously not have anything in common.  So, I have compiled a list of my favorite things that have come from Will Ferrell.

Favorite SNL skits:  There are a couple here, I love the Spartan Cheerleaders and the Night at the Roxbury skits forever and always.  But, I think one of my favorite skits is one in which he plays some kind of guy showing love for his country in an American flag speedo....enough said.  All I know is that this skit involves him in an office setting bending over alot.....and moving on...

Favorite Line from an SNL skit:  "More cowbell..."  If you can't appreciate that one without further details you are not a true fan.  


PS - I saw a random person wearing this shirt at Cafe Du Monde in New Orleans on vacation once.  It literally made my day!"

Favorite Overall Will Ferrell Movie: Old School.  


I LOVE this movie.  I know it is more of a guy's movie, but I can watch it over and over.  I think it is a combination of the fact that it has Luke Wilson (yeah Dallas), Vince Vaughn, and Jeremy Piven in addition to Will Ferrell.  And who can forget Will Ferrell as "Frank the Tank" running down the street naked.  A few memorable quotes:


"Let's keep that on the downlow, she's not exactly street legal." 


"Hey honey, you think KFC is still open?"


"We're going streaking!"


"Bring your green hat!"


"I thought we were in the trust tree in the nest, are we not?" 

Most Quotable Will Ferrell Movie:  Elf.  


How can you not love this one?  I can watch this movie in the middle of the day on the 4th of July and still enjoy it as much as I do at Christmas time.  Recently, Casey and I had some friends over and we took a poll on everyone's favorite Elf Quotes.  They included the following:


"Buddy the Elf, what's your favorite color?"


"The yellow ones don't stop!"


"Bye Buddy, I hope you find your dad!"


"We elves try to stick to the four main food groups:  candy, candy corn, candy canes, and syrup!"


"Is there sugar in syrup.  Then YES!"                                       "Francisco, that's fun to say!"


"You smell like beef and cheese, you don't smell like Santa!"


"I waited 5 hours for you. Why is your coat so big? So, good news - I saw a dog today. Have you seen a dog? You probably have. How was school? Was it fun? Did you get a lot of homework? Huh? Do you have any friends? Do you have a best friend? Does he have a big coat, too?... "


"I just like to smile, smiling's my favorite!"

Favorite Will Ferrell Online Video: 
The Landlord.


Now we all know that really Pearl made this video memorable, but we will still give Will Ferrell credit here.  Sometimes when I need something from Casey I will just squeal "I want my money!!!!!!!!!!"  It's hilarious every time.






Favorite Will Ferrell Cameo:  Wedding Crashers.  


The first time I saw this movie, it was such a great surprise to see Will as a guy who crashes funerals.  Let's not even go there.  However the term "Mom, the meatloaf!" is now a pretty commonly used term between me and my friend Holly.


Ok, I think that is enough Will Ferrell experience for today.  I hope you enjoyed yourself a little bit.  And if I still can't convince you to like Will Ferrell, please just keep that from me the next time I see you.  I will like you a lot better if you do.


Until next time, Ciao for now!  


And always remember, If you ain't first, you're last! (a final tribute from one Ricky Bobby).

Emmys Recap 2010

So I know this is a few days late, but I had to give my opinion on the 62nd Emmys that were held on Thursday night.  First of all, I loved our host, Jimmy Fallon.  I have loved him since his days where he was featured on SNL playing his guitar during Weekend Update.  Kudos to you Jimmy for constantly making me laugh over the years!

The show started out with the always fabulous red carpet.  Now if you know me, you know that I absolutely LOVE the red carpet of all awards shows.  I love the good, the bad, and the ugly!  It is all good (or should I say entertaining)?  The good outfits are gorgeous and the bad ones are like train wrecks....you just can't look away.  So I will start off with my picks for best dressed.  For the women, we have a tie.  The shared golden award goes to both Lea Michele from Glee and Claire Danes, who won an Emmy for best actresss in a mini-series.  (I probably would have just given it to Claire, except I still can't forget that it is highly likely that she had something to do with demise of Billy Crudup and Mary-Louise Parker's marriage a few years back...I simply like to remember her as Angela Chase on My So Called Life...don't you remember how much you LOVED Jordan Catalano?)  Anyways, I think Claire absolutely shined in her gold dress while Lea Michele was mesmerizing in a pretty navy (the color of the night)!

Claire Danes, looking flawless.

And Lea Michele, PS - if you don't watch Glee you should start, it is pretty awesome.

Now on to the men.  There is really only one choice here, and that is Jon Hamm.  Now I know he has been around for a while, but ever since Mad Men began I have been somewhat obsessed with him.  I am not sure if it is the nod to the 1960s, Don Draper, or Jon himself that I am drawn to, but I am absolutely mesmerized by him and I think he is dreamy.

I think he agrees with me.

Now for the worst dressed.  This is most people's favorite part (however for me the best part is the best dressed, although the worst dressed can be entertaining).  For the women, this has to go to Anna Paquin.  Before I say anything, I will say that I have definitely seen worse outfits.  Overall, the Emmys were pretty successful this year.  But, I do think her outfit is a little out there.  It's like she is auditioning for Gladiator or something.  

And for the men, for me it goes to Kevin Bacon.  And honestly his outfit was fine, but something about the bad goatee, sunglasses and hair just made it all-over bad.  Kyra looks amazing though for sure.  

Now on to the awards.  I will recap my favorites:

Outstanding Comedy Series:  Yeah to Modern Family!!!!!  This was so exciting as the show took out Glee.  Now I am a big Glee fan as well, but Modern Family makes me laugh so hard that my sides hurt!  Congrats to the cast, cannot WAIT for the season premiere come September!

Outstanding Drama Series:  Mad Men.  Now this show is another one I love.  I don't watch it religiously, but I absolutely adore it when I do watch it.  I think it is a combination of the time period and the costumes and the story-lines that just draw you in.  Jon Hamm is perfection as Don Draper and January Jones plays Betty to a tee.  The subject matter can be very taboo for the 1960s, but it makes you think what all went on during that time period that people just don't ever talk about.  It makes you realize that people aren't always as clean and innocent as they look on the outside.  And the historical references are dead-on.

Outstanding Reality Series:  Top Chef.  I don't think there is any arguments here.  As much as I love to watch the trash that is the Bachelor, everyone knows that Top Chef is addicting and you don't have to be ashamed to say that you watch it, which is always good.

Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series:  Eric Stonestreet (aka Cameron from Modern Family).  LOVE him.  He plays Cameron wonderfully, and is a large reason why the show is sooooo good.  Casey and I particularly like the episode where he discusses being a crossing guard, and a scene where he squeals as loud as a 5 year old little girl.  Pretty priceless.

Outstanding Supporting Actresss in a Comedy Series:  Jane Lynch (aka Sue Sylvester on Glee).  Never before have Adidas track suits been more popular.  She was meant to play this character.  From her sarcastic remarks to her remarkable monologues, Glee wouldn't be half the fun it is without her.

Outstanding Commercial:  this onehands down went to the Old Spice commercial, which was pretty phenomenal if you haven't seen it yet.

All in all it was a great show.  George Clooney was also awarded the Bob Hope Humanitarian award, which was great to see considering all he has done for natural disasters, especially Haiti.  Man does he just get better with age or what?

Finally, it wouldn't have been a 2010 awards show without Betty White!  She was there in full force and looks remarkable for being 88 years old.  And I think she has made me laugh more this year than she ever did on all of the seasons on Golden Girls.

If you happen to have any thoughts, I would love to hear them!  I love to hear other people's opinions, especially on Best and Worst dressed (I know most people hated January Jones' outfit, but I personally kind of liked it, so I am not going to even discuss that one with you!)

Have a good week!  I am already looking forward to the weekend.  Getting ready for a little bachelorette party for Katie, a dear friend of mine from OU.  Gotta pick up some ones....just kidding!

Until next time, Ciao for now!