Hide Yo' Kids!

Courtesy: ABC 7 Chicago

Have you heard the news? People in 30 states are going to be shaking in their boots tomorrow and Wednesday as we deal with the worst blizzard in years. Forecasters are calling for 18-20 inches of snow. Yikes!

Here's my question--when don't they say a storm will be the worst in years? When don't they have the live shot of a reporter standing outside a grocery store talking about people stocking up on food? When don't they say you should avoid being outside if possible?

Okay, call me a cynic, but I've been that reporter who stood outside for 6 hours, doing live shots where I gave this "good" advice. I've been the person who showed the conditions saying "It doesn't look bad now, but just wait..." Heck, I've even been that girl forced to do "snow" live shots when there wasn't any snow. That one was embarrassing.

I could be wrong here, but I'm not worried about this potential Snowmageddon. It's Chicago people, not Miami...we know how to handle this. We are prepared. We get a lot of snow every year. I do understand when Atlanta shut down for a week last month because cities like that aren't used to the white stuff. But for us? This ain't our first rodeo.

Courtesy: Apartment Therapy

My solution? Stock up on alcohol...and donuts...and Cocoa Pebbles. Also, don't be an idiot. You can't drive stupid when conditions get bad. Oh yeah, and if you've shoveled out your parking spot on the street, put a piece of furniture there to protect your spot for when you get home. It's a Chicago thing.

 

Celeb Sightings

I am someone who gets, well let's just say, starstruck. I see a movie star, and I get weak in the knees. I'd probably even squeal if I saw a cast member of Jersey Shore. I am? A huge dork.

I guess it's because I just love Hollywood, and always imagined as a little girl that I would someday be as famous as Julia Roberts or Meryl Streep.

During my television career, I got to meet some cool celebs. Leslie Nielsen is probably the most memorable. He was funny and charming and extremely cool to interview.
90210's Jason Priestly was also very cool and willing to take a pic with me. His former co-star Ian Ziering, was equally as cool. I didn't get a pic, but he smiled and said "hello."

Jennifer Coolidge, a.k.a "Stifler's Mom" from the super popular "American Pie" movies was super fun! Mike's cousin rented out her New Orleans home for her wedding reception, and Coolidge stayed and got drunk with everyone. She rocked.


But then there are the celebs I've met who are total tools or not at all what I was expecting.....

Last night, my girlfriend and I were walking around downtown Chicago after hanging out at "Epic" for another girlfriend's birthday. All of a sudden, I heard some girls in front of me say, "Oh, there's Jamie Kennedy!" (He's a comedian and actor, probably best know for dating Jennifer Love Hewitt.) Before I knew it, he was flipping everyone in the crowd off. Weird, right? Like he was annoyed with getting recognized. But I thought B-list stars got annoyed if you didn't recognize them?? Then, he looked at his reflection in a window, fixed his hair, and went into the bar "Rockit." The whole thing was very odd.

Then there's the time I met Dustin Diamond, a.k.a "Screech" from the popular show "Saved by the Bell." He does comedy now, so some friends and I saw his show in Fort Myers, Florida. He is funny, but seemed a little jaded by the peak of his career being over, and I got tired of his jokes accusing Zach of being gay. Plus, I had to pay $10 for this pic and another $5 for his autograph. Lame.

 Then there was the time I got to interview Maxwell Caulfield, you know, the guy from "Grease 2." You can see from this pic with Michelle Pfeiffer he was a total hottie! I got up early that morning to make sure my hair and make-up looked perfect. Then he showed up..and well, let's just say, he hasn't aged well. He is now bald, except for a creepy little patch of hair on his forehead. Weird.

But perhaps my biggest disappointment was two years ago when I ran into Anthony Michael Hall, my favorite 80's actor. You know him..he was in Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, Weird Science. My girlfriends and I were in New York, and decided to have lunch at a busy Sushi restaurant in Times Square. We needed one more chair, so we asked the gentleman next to us who was sitting alone. Then we realized it was him! I was SO excited...I'd been a fan of this guy for 20 years. We asked if we could take a picture with him, and he said "no." Ouch. When I told Mike later, he said, "What? He didn't want to take a picture with 4 beautiful women?"

He did agree to take this picture of my friends and me, which you see here. But no pic with him. I was bummed. If he didn't want to be recognized, perhaps he shouldn't have gone out to eat in Touristy Times Square, on a Saturday and chosen to sat next to a huge bay window looking out towards all the other tourists.

Feel free to share your celeb sightings in the comment section!

That's a first...

I knew marrying Mike would come with a certain amount of benefits. Tax breaks. Someone to open really tight jars (yes Prego, I'm talking about you.) Someone to rub my shoulders after a long day. And perhaps the best benefit...being able to wear a shiny ring on my left finger that is essentially a shield protecting me from the strong force known as douche bags in the bar.

Or at least I thought it would protect me...

Last night, my friend Gene and I went out in Old Town. As soon as we sat down, I saw a couple of guys on the other side of the bar grinning ear to ear. Pretty soon they were heading our way. They introduced themselves and tried chatting with us, despite she and I acting like we were totally enthralled in the IU/IL basketball game, therefore, turning our backs to them. (By the way men-women don't care about sports. If they're acting like they do, they're just blowing you off.) Then, one of them asks her and me for our phone numbers. Gene said no. Then it was my turn, and I was so excited...I finally could use my shiny ring sword! I held up my hand and said, "Sorry, I'm married," with a smile on my face.

What happened next I wasn't prepared for.

He held us his left hand, which also held a shiny ring, and said, "No worries, I am too."

Douche bag.

At the time I laughed about it, and wrote about it on Facebook because I thought it was funny. But the more I think about it today, I get mad imagining his wife waiting at home..perhaps even with a couple of kids...and here he is trying to pick up a couple of women in the bar. Disgusting.

To all the men and women in the world who cheat or try to cheat: You're gross. If you weren't ready to get married, why did you? If you married the wrong person, why'd you get married in the first place? You just thought it was time to do so? You just wanted to appease her or as a woman, you just wanted to wear a big, pretty dress?

Don't do anyone any "favors" by getting married before you are ready to, or decide to marry someone who seems "almost right," because you might just end up hitting on a girl who writes a daily blog.




Indy's Homeless Got Talent!

When I worked as a morning reporter, I had to cover some really terrible stories. And when I say terrible, I mean they had absolutely no news content or value, but I was basically filling time.

Like the time I had to cover "flooding" when in reality, there was only a few inches of water in an Indianapolis neighborhood. Or the time I was assigned to go live from a school bus stop to show kids waiting in the freezing cold. In reality, it was Florida, 30 degrees and only one child used that bus stop. Or the time I covered the Edison Parade of Lights parade in Fort Myers, and the fact that people reserved their spot on the street with duct tape. Yep, 4 live shots with no interviews, just showing tape with people's names on it. (Mike's family still teases me about this story...and the fact that people actually obey the "tape rule.")

But I can honestly say, in 8 years as a reporter or anchor, and another 5 working in news in college, I would NEVER have done this story. Have you seen it? An Indianapolis reporter did a follow-up to the amazing story of Ted Williams, the homeless man with a golden voice. She decided to hit the streets and see if Indy's homeless have talent. Yep, doesn't it sound like a really bad reality show idea? It's perhaps the most ridiculous thing I've ever seen...and Jon Stewart agrees.

Check out Video Here or click below. (If you watch the video below, you'll have to scroll through the first minute.)

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Indianapolis Homeless Talent Show
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor & Satire Blog</a> The Daily Show on Facebook

Wow. I can't imagine what the news meeting was like deciding this was a story. It's exploitive, embarrassing but of course, funny.

I have to say my first thought after watching this is thank god I'm not in news anymore.




A New Adventure

www.healthyoga.com

In keeping with my New Year's resolution of trying things that scare me, I went to a yoga class last night. I've only been to one other class in my life, and that was years ago, so I decided it was time to give it another go.

My whole life, I've convinced myself that gym classes are not for me. Broken down that essentially means, "I don't want to do something that hurts or have someone push me to go farther, so I don't do it." What I've learned is that these classes are perfect for motivating semi-lazy people like me.

While I was waiting for the class to start, I was shocked by the people showing up. First a man who looked like one of my friend's fathers arrived. Then another man came, his arms full of tattoos.  Hmm, didn't expect that. Then another man arrived with his own yoga mat tied in a cute little bow. Well, I guess I did expect that. But wait, there aren't any women!! Finally I asked one of the guys, "Um, is this a class for the ladies too?" He laughed and said he hoped so.

Finally, our instructor arrived and he was a sweet looking guy dressed in casual pants and a flannel shirt. He took off his glasses and begin giving us poses to do in a soothing and relaxing tone. This class was Vinyasa Yoga, which I've discovered means "breath-synchronized movement." The whole focus is breathing, and the instructor took us from one pose to another emphasizing the need to inhale or exhale.

All I have to say is I can't believe I didn't do this years ago, especially when I worked in the stressful television news industry. I found the experience to be relaxing, purifying and confidence-building. My body did poses I didn't think were possible which totally rocks and makes me feel like a 20-year old.

Next step: spinning. It totally scares me, but it's the year to try it.



Big Day in Chicago News

Wow, what a crazy day in Chicago news! First, Oprah shocks us with the announcement that she has a half-sister, Patricia, whom she didn't know about until a couple of months ago. Oprah's mother gave Patricia up at birth, and she bounced around between foster homes. Can you imagine how her life is going to change now? I've got to say, I'm a little jealous Patricia. Do you think there's anyway I'm another half-sister? (This might work if the half part means my father is either Powder or a member of the Cullen family.)

www.freewebs.com

Secondly, an appeals court ruled that Rahm Emanuel, President Obama's former Chief of Staff, can not run for Chicago mayor because he did not live here for a year prior to next month's election. I have to say, I'm shocked by this. No matter what your political beliefs are, this just seems plain dumb. How could he live here? He was called upon to serve the leader of this country.

Antonio Perez, Chicago Tribune

One of the main issues is Emanuel's house. He kept his Chicago home, but rented it out. The court ruled that essentially since his family didn't stay here and they didn't keep all their belongings in the house, he can't claim residency.

Who wouldn't rent out their house while they're gone? Even if you have plenty of money, why would you let a house sit empty? We're in a recession people! I think this was fiscally responsible. And what politician wants to live in a different city from his or her family? (Okay, excluding John Edwards and Mark Sanford).

I'm not sure I would vote for Emanuel, but I think we need to at least give him a chance. This afternoon, he announced he will appeal this decision to the state Supreme Court. Good, hopefully they have'll more common sense.

Think it's too good to be true? It is.

I made a huge mistake this week. I temporarily forgot the expression, "If it seems to good to be true, it is," and now I'm getting punished for it.

On Thursday, I started looking online for coupons in sticking with my 2011 philosophy "I'm not paying full-price for anything." I got to browsing, and found a website that offered to pay people cash to take product surveys. I thought that sounded perfect, because I'm full of opinions and always need money. So I signed up...and then it asked if I wanted to sign up for other paid surveys. I checked "yes", thinking score! I'll be making sweet cash in no time.

Then I figured out the catch. You only get money if you take the survey and then buy some product like an acne-treatment system, or new tires for your car. Dang it! But did I learn my lesson and stop there? Nope. I continued browsing and found websites that offer free product samples so you can write a review on them. I signed up, but found out again you have to buy other products in order to get these. Crap!

I closed out that web page, but the damage had already been done. All of a sudden, my e-mail inbox filled up with spam and before I knew it I was getting offers for Viagra, going back to school, getting "free" TV's, fighting hair loss and meeting attractive dark singles in my area. Now, I'm all about meeting new friends, but I have a feeling I'd have to pay for these new good-looking companions. (And I'm not sure the creators of this website meant to send their info to the whitest person in America. Even the girl who does my spray tans says there is NO one paler than me.)

As soon as I saw my inbox fill up with 50+ messages, the phone rang. When I answered, the woman said she was responding to my request to further my education. Sorry lady, I didn't sign up for that one (at least I don't think I did.) Plus, I've never really had the desire to be a mechanic.

Lesson learned: there are a lot of people out there trying to sell you crap, so beware. I think I may have to go into hiding just to stop the cyber stalking. But it's not all bad news--I think I did score a couple of free Oreos.