Lexi's Latest Jams: You've Got Time

This really is Lexi's latest jam.  She picked it herself.  And it's the funniest thing ever watching her when this song comes on.  It is the opening/ theme song to the Netflix original series, Orange is the New Black (OITNB).  

For those who aren't in the know, it's a dark comedy about life inside a women's prison.  And it's in it's third season on Netflix.  John and I started watching it last year, and we were hooked.  When the new season went live in June, we were there again, and have watched all summer.  

Whenever the opening song comes on, Lexi drops whatever she is doing and runs to the tv to watch. She is glued to it until the song ends and then she returns to whatever she was previously doing.  I think it must be all the faces that she is looking at.  Silly, silly girl.  Here's the video.  What do you think?  Why else would a 15 month old be so enamored with this?

In any case, I really do also like this song.  It was written specifically for the series by Regina Spektor and was even nominated for a Grammy.  As always, here are the lyrics for you.

The animals, the animals

Trapped, trapped, trapped 'till the cage is full

The cage is full

Stay awake

In the dark, count mistakes

The light was off but now it's on

Searching the ground for a bitter song

The sun is out, the day is new

And everyone is waiting, waiting on you

And you've got time

And you've got time

Think of all the roads

Think of all their crossings

Taking steps is easy

Standing still is hard

Remember all their faces

Remember all their voices

Everything is different

The second time around

Animals, the animals

Trapped, trapped, trapped 'till the cage is full

The cage is full

Stay awake

In the dark, count mistakes

The light was off but now it's on

Searching the ground for a bitter song

The sun is out, the day is new

And everyone is waiting, waiting on you

And you've got time

And you've got time

And you've got time

Budweiser Ain't the King of Beers for Nothing

Budweiser, the Super Bowl isn't even here yet, and you've already done it once again.  Regardless of how cute, witty, clever, silly, or funny any of the other Super Bowl commercials are, you have already won.  

Caution, watch this one at your own risk- the tears are flowing here already.  But that's nothing new either.  Those clydesdales almost always get to me.  Add a sweet puppy to the mix, and I don't stand a chance.  Last year, every time the 2014 Budweiser commercial came on, my husband would quickly try to turn the channel or distract me because that one had the same effect. 

See what I mean?  Pass the kleenex, and play it again.  Budweiser, we love you.  Never stop making these commercials, ok?

ABC Family's 25 Days of Christmas Starts Soon!

Can you believe it?  And I, for one, am ready.  I LOVE Christmas movies, and ABC Family does a great job in corralling them up for us each year.  In case you haven't seen this year's schedule, here it is.  (You can click on the image to make it even larger.)

And this year, they have added a new feature that I've personally already signed up for.  You can register to receive text alerts each day to remind you which movies are on tap for that day so you don't miss any of your favorites.  You may want to give it a try too.  Head on over to ABC Family's 25 Days of Christmas Facebook page to sign up for those alerts. 

Now that just makes me want to light the fire, turn on the Christmas lights and snuggle up with a cup of hot chocolate and a good movie.  How about you?

Six Degrees of Separation

The song was right.  It's a small world after all.  We have all heard of the theory of "six degrees of separation".  You know; it's the one that basically says that everyone and everything is six or fewer steps away, by way of introduction, from any other person in the world.  So a chain of "a friend of a friend" can be made to connect any two people in a maximum of six steps.

Living here in Music City, USA, I think the degree of separation from country music royalty is less than six degrees.  I'm talking one, two, or possibly three degrees at most...

To give you an example, Taylor Swift shops at the same TJ Maxx/ Homegoods that we do.  She also has a brownstone about 5 minutes from our house, and she is seen in Downtown Franklin every so often too. Now, have we actually bumped into her yet?  No, but with odds like this, I'd say it's just a matter of time. Here she is with a group of lucky fans in Downtown Franklin just a month or so ago.   They are standing just outside of Binks Outfitters.  We go there all the time.  :)

The Judds are also frequently seen around these parts.  Naomi (the mother) shops at our Trees and Trends. In fact, one year we were there buying Christmas decorations, and the cashier told us that we had just missed her.  Dang!  AND, daughter Ashley dines at our favorite little Mexican restaurant.  I mean we are there almost every week, but we haven't actually seen her there yet.  But I'm pretty sure she's not waiting in line for a table on a busy Friday night either.

Many of our buddies have run into Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban.  Apparently, they are out and about often.

But, let's get to some real brushes with celebrity.  Check out this chair.  We found it in a local antique shop a few years back when we were redecorating our bedroom.  The shop owner had literally just put it out for sale, and told us the story behind it.  She scouts out shabby chic pieces of antique furniture and home decor for none other than Sheryl Crow, and this was one of the pieces she bought and was holding for her!  As it turned out, Sheryl had not had a chance to come in to look through the haul they were reserving for her for a while, and she told them to go ahead and sell it.  Wow!  Her loss was definitely our gain.  We LOVE this chair, and think the story is pretty cool too.  :)  By the way, that antique shop is the same one who introduced us to this awesome Halloween photo last year.

But back to our brushes with Nashville fame...  Many of you will know Trace Adkins from his years on the country music trail.  He is also well known for having won the most recent season of Celebrity Apprentice. However, we have a story about this country crooner too.

When Izzie the Wonder Pup first joined our family, we did our research and decided on a dog trainer for her out in the country who received all sorts of wonderful feedback.  So we took our precious furball out to her farm, and soon learned that she had just finished training Trace Adkins' pups.  You see, his Brentwood home (about 15 minutes from us) was destroyed in a house fire about that same time, and his pups were understandably suffering from behavior issues as a result.

You would think he would have his "people" take care of a task like transporting his dogs to training and attending the weekly "pet owner" trainings, but apparently not.  Our dog trainer had the pleasure of working with Trace himself only a few weeks before our sweet Izzie started her training.  Very cool!

But as it happens, John and I had our first ever encounter with a Nashville celebrity just a couple of weekends ago.  And when I say "Nashville" celebrity, I mean that quite literally.  We ran into one of the actors from the new television show Nashville.  If you are a follower of the show, then you will recognize Eric Close as the fictional mayor of Nashville from the series.  If you haven't yet seen this show, you should! - It's back for a second season this fall.   But you might also recognize him from his starring role on Without a Trace.  He is pictured below second from the right, along with the other men of Nashville.  Now, that should be motivation enough to give this show a watch.

But back to our celebrity sighting.  We were out and about in Downtown Nashville a few weekends ago, and we happened into the Station Inn, known in old Nashville for their Bluegrass tunes.  There is always a line to get in and a packed house inside.  Luckily we got seats and cozied in for the show just as none other than Eric Close should walk right by us on his way to order drinks.  Again, you might his "people" would be doing this for him, but nope.  We watched him get a couple of bottles of water and head back to his table. We didn't make a fuss but we both knew who he was.  And I'm sure he saw us looking at him and whispering to each other because he smiled and nodded at us as he walked back past.   

So, now I'm curious about your brushes with fame.  Have you met anyone famous, or are somehow connected to someone we would all know?  Let us know in the comments section below, and we will drool with envy from afar. 

Look Who's at the CMA Music Festival!!

And I'll bet it's not who you thought!  One thing's for sure, it's time once again for the CMA Music Festival, and once again, it seems like the whole world descends upon Nashville for the week.  Yes, every country music star under the sun is here this week, and all sorts of tourists, visitors, and fans are also running around all over the city. But this VIP made me do a double take.

My love for the Budweiser Clydesdales has already been pretty well documented, but check out Levi.  He is here in town for the CMA festivities, and even he gets his own (extra-large) CMA pass, and it would appear that he even had to sign for it!  Precious!!

John and I have braved the crowds and headed out to CMA Music Fest for many years, and it's always a good time.  There is music everywhere - on the streets, in the bars, on the Riverfront stage, and of course, the big concerts happen nightly at LP field.  And clearly, you never know who you might run into.  :)

And since they have all the big names in country music all in one place at one time, why not also throw in an awards show?  For those of you who might be interested the CMT Music Awards are on tonight.  It's one big party in Nashville this week, and trust me, you are all invited!

The Best New TV Show You Aren't Watching

Let me introduce you to Nashville.  Not the city, the TV show.  Although if you watch the show, you are also bound to get a quick lesson in the city of Nashville, too, which admittedly was probably my initial reason for watching this new series.  As a Nashvillian myself, I couldn't help but be intrigued by a television show that features my town and the big business that is country music.  

Now, I have stopped and asked myself if would I have been as interested in this show if it featured, say Seattle or Chicago, and honestly I must admit- probably not.  There is something fascinating about seeing the city you live in showcased on the small screen week after week.  But now that we are nearing the end of Season 1, with a second season almost certain in this show's future, I can honestly say that this show is a winner whether you are from Music City, enjoy country music, or none of the above.  Let me explain. 

The show follows fictional characters Rayna James, played by Connie Britton and Juliette Barnes, played by Hayden Panettiere.  They are both country music singers, one a veteran trying to stay vital in this cut throat business, and the other a hot up and comer.  Picture Faith Hill and Taylor Swift, for example.  Both ladies have their struggles both in the music business as well as in their personal lives.  And it's those struggles that take center stage to form the basis of this show's plot.  

Now, factor in a whole slew of talented singers and musicians who also co-star, as well as all sorts of celebrity country music star appearances (Vince Gill and Pam Tillis to name a few), and you have a great foundation for any country music fan.  I do understand that not everyone loves country music as much as I do.  So if you aren't a fan of the twang, fear not.  It is more the music industry that is featured in this show than the music itself.  There are some scenes where they break out into song (although this is not anything close to Glee), but most of you already know that today's country music is a far cry from the country music of even a generation ago.  The music is really more pop-ish, so don't let a disdain for country music stop you from watching. 

It's got a spicy plot, an excellent cast, and features some really great music (admittedly, the best music is performed by the supporting characters).  In any case, you can catch Nashville each week on Wednesdays on ABC, and if you haven't caught it yet, you can always replay episodes on abc.com.  This Nashvillian would bet the farm on this show.  So give it a try; you won't be disappointed. 

The Seinfeld Chronicles

Let me just ask you- who on earth doesn't recognize this cast of characters?  That's right- EVERYONE knows Seinfeld.  But I'll bet there are a few things you didn't know about this show.  

Hubbie and I record endless episodes of this classic comedy, and it has become our nightly tradition to watch at least one (if not more) episodes before we drift off to sleep.  Last night, we noticed that the episode we were watching seemed really early in the lineup.  For example, George had hair, Jerry's apartment looked noticeably different from what we've come to know, Kramer had a dog, and they were hanging out at some unknown restaurant.  So we did a little checking, and sure enough, we were watching the pilot episode.  Not to be confused with the episode entitled "The Pilot", this one was simply known as "The Seinfeld Chronicles".

The pilot episode features several differences from the rest of the series. The character of series regular Cosmo Kramer is named "Kessler," although this inconsistency is later addressed in the season 9 episode "The Betrayal". Another regular character, Elaine Benes, does not appear in the episode at all.  The character of Claire the waitress was originally planned as a regular but was dropped and later replaced with Elaine.  The main characters, Jerry Seinfeld and George Costanza, eat at "Pete's Luncheonette", as opposed to Monk's Café.  Originally, the pilot was to feature George, as well as Jerry, as a comedian. Early versions of the script featured George, named "Bennett," discussing his stand-up performance. However, this idea was abandoned, and George became a real estate broker instead. In the pilot, Kramer has a dog called Ralph, included so a stand-up routine Seinfeld had written about dogs could be used. However, this routine was cut, and as a result Ralph was never explained, and did not appear in any other episodes.  The pilot also features different title music, written by Jep Epstein, which was never used again. 

Interestingly, the pilot was a reference point for various incidents and storylines in later episodes of Seinfeld.

• The opening scene in which Jerry and George talk about the placement of a shirt button is repeated almost word for word in the final scene of "The Finale", the final episode of Seinfeld (with George remarking about having that conversation before).

• The process of making the pilot became the inspiration for the main story arc of season 4, in which Jerry and George write a sitcom pilot for NBC called Jerry.

• Jerry's calling Kramer "Kessler" is explained in "The Betrayal", the "backwards episode" in season 9. This features a scene from 11 years in the past, in which Jerry moves into his new apartment. Jerry calls Kramer "Kessler" after reading his name on the apartment buzzer, but Kramer quickly corrects him.

• George's philosophy of doing the opposite to his natural instincts reappears in the episode "The Opposite".

• George has an extra crop of hair in the front, which would later become bald for the rest of the show's run. A flashback in “The Slicer” is set in '89, the year this episode was filmed, and shows George with a full crop of hair at the beach.

And to leave you with one last fun factoid about this episode, Julia Louis-Dreyfus (Elaine) has claimed that she was not aware of the pilot before she became a regular on Seinfeld.  Out of superstition, she has claimed she will never watch the episode. 

Bring It On Down to Veganville

OK, so now that I'm getting on up there in years and I can't quite stay up late enough to see the genius that is Saturday Night Live when it originally airs, I tend to watch the highlights online.

This week, "Live from New York" it was: Justin Timberlake in perhaps his BEST "Ville" skit yet: Veganville. In it, he dresses as a block of tofu, and if you can believe it, he even manages to mention the benefits of fiber whilst rapping a parody of "Ice, Ice, Baby" - I was literally crying laughing. And, of course they end with a "Vegan" Harlem Shake. See for yourself:

Mark Your Calendars!

April 29, 2013! A day that will live in infamy! (OK, so maybe that last part was a little over the top.)

I give you the current cast of, wait for it, All My Children:

Otherwise known to THIS Harris sister as All My Childrens OR "the story" (what your grandmother might have called it), it will be airing this time on HULU and iTunes. Full details here: Deadline.com.

We Harris sisters grew up on ABC daytime programming: All My Children, One Life to Live, and General Hospital, and as schedules got more hectic, I had to pair down to just one. THIS was the one that I clung to until the bitter end (September 23, 2011 on regular television for anyone who might not have been paying close attention, which was also Aidyn's 6th birthday).

My family happens to have another special connection to this "story" - at some point, someone pointed out to us that everyone in my immediate family has a first name that matches a character from All My Children:

Donna: Donna Beck Tyler Cortlandt Sago Tyler
Ryan: Ryan Lavery
Aidyn: Aidan Devane
Jaxon: Jackson Montgomery

THAT is dedication, my friends. :-) I will definitely be tuning in on April 29 to see what my friends in Pine Valley are up to.

Right now, they are apparently doing the Harlem Shake:

And the Winner is...

Banana Joe, the Affenpinscher, took home the top prize for this year's Westminster Dog Show.  As you can see, this little fella represented the toy group.  I always love it when the winner is small enough to stand inside his prize bowl.  :)  Well done, B.J., well done.  

Bring on the Clydesdales this Superbowl Weekend

It's that time of year again!  SUPERBOWL is this Sunday!  And I know that many of us watch strictly for the latest, greatest, and in some cases- just plain over-the-top commercials.   Well, that and the snacks.   

So I couldn't think of a much better time than now to do a quick rundown of some of my favorite Superbowl commercials of all time.  No big surprise here- all my favorites feature those famous Clydesdales from the Budweiser ads.  For me, there will never be any better commercials than those.  I hope they never stop making them.  But I think all of America is pretty keen on them too, so hopefully we won't have to worry about that anytime soon. 

This one will always be my number one.  It depicts a young colt who has big dreams of pulling that iconic red Budweiser carriage like all the big horses.  He gets a bit of a helping hand, unbeknownst to him, to pull off this feat, ranking this one up there as my all time favorite. 

On the lighter side, this is another favorite.  Who can forget the streaker?

And the fetch the stick trick?

And those Clydesdales captured us all once again with their Superbowl commercial tribute to 9/11.

These beautiful and gentle horses just have me in awe.  In fact, when we visited jolly old England last year, we toured one of the local breweries there that still uses these work horses to deliver beer locally.  They even let us go down to their field to pet them.  They were gorgeous gentle giants. I wish I could have packed them up and brought them home with me.  

But back to the Superbowl...   For those who like to keep up with this kind of thing, there is even a Website dedicated to those famous Superbowl ads, http://www.superbowl-commercials.org/, that categorizes and archives them all for you in one handy place.  You can even catch an early glimpse of some of the ones scheduled for this weekend's big game, if it won't be too much of a spoiler for you.  I haven't peeked to see if there is a new Clydesdale commercial yet, and I don't think I will.  I plan to remain pretty glued to my TV on Sunday evening, along with most of the rest of you, so I will wait and catch it then.  And we will see whether it makes the rank for next year's review. 

So No One Told You Life Was Gonna Be This Way

. . . You know, with the aging and all . . .

. . . . Your mother warned you there'd be days like these, but she didn't tell you when the world has brought you down to your knees that I'll be there for you.

Clap, clap, clap, clap, clap.

Shetland Ponies in Winter Woolies

They may not have the long legs of traditional supermodels but we think these guys could rock any runway... or paddock for that matter. Watch CNN News TONIGHT to see these two uber cool ponies launch the Year of Natural Scotland!

Too precious for words!

Carrie Bradshaw Has Still Got It

Or should that be Carrie Bradshaw Has Always Had It? I don't know, I usually struggle with prequels, but I certainly have no trouble with this one.

I have a confession to make. My guilty pleasure has always been CW programming - you know, TV shows whose "broadcasts are intended for teen viewing audiences." Yes, THOSE shows. I have watched every single episode of Gilmore Girls, One Tree Hill, Gossip Girl, and Hart of Dixie not to mention Dawson's Creek, Angel, Charmed, and Felicity when they were on the WB (the CW's precursor).

So, that to say, when the CW announced that they would be airing The Carrie Diaries, I was beside myself.

What's not to love? Teenage Carrie Bradshaw? Check! 1980s in all its glory? Check! Carrie's beloved voice overs throughout the show? Check! Carrie's write-ups at the show's end? Check! (Of course, as the title would suggest, this is before her computer days and the write-ups are in actual diaries, but they are still window-side as we have come to know and love.)

In episode one, Carrie has already befriended a pre-Samantha friend in Manhattan, who reminds me a lot of Downtown Julie Brown with her perky personality and spiffy accent. And Carrie has three other close friends along for the ride, that I'm sure we'll find out more about as the show progresses.

All in all, I know I will be glued to this show on Mondays at 8:00. As long as you take it for what it is (nothing more than a lighthearted look back at one of your favorite characters), I'm sure you'll enjoy it too. That is, of course, if you tend to enjoy shows that are well beyond your age bracket as well. :-)