Hey There, It's Christa!

What I've Been Doing on My "Summer Vacation"...Part 3

When I haven't been working, hanging with friends and family or flying the friendly skies, my summer fun has often involved my personal entertainment trifecta—TV, music and movies.

While my DVR is certainly less crowded than usual, there are two guilty pleasures that have kept these warmer months interesting, namely "Next Food Network Star" and far, far more embarrassing reality programming, "The Bachelorette."

More than any other season in recent memory, "Next Food Network Star" has been a total trainwreck—and yes, I've absolutely been lovin' it. Unlike last season where the focus was clearly the food, this time around it's the contestants (and their respective drama, drama, drama) that's taking center stage.

Whether it's Penny the sabotager formerly known as "Stilettos in the Kitchen," Alicia the perpetual cryer who couldn't remember her famous cupcake recipe when duty called or Chris, the loud, beer drinking frat boy who's determined to show the judges that he's mature enough to be a star (yeah, right), it's been so delicious to watch.

As for who I think will succeed the lovable Aarti, last season's winner, my early favorites are Jyll, Orchid and Whitney—although I like Justin, the bow tie guy from Minneapolis, too. I'm pretty sure Justin would capture a demo that's been missing on Food Network since no one really has that geeky professor thing going, except maybe Alton Brown who is a little too sarcastic for his own good (and this is coming from a girl who's fluent in sarcasm).

Moving on to "The Bachelorette," lemme just say that I never, ever intended to watch this season. After surviving Brad's journey to find love, I was o-u-t. After all, weepy, boozy Ashley was nothing short of annoying, and I couldn't fathom watching an entire series featuring (gasp!) her.

But when I was flipping through the channels that particular Monday night, it happened again. I don't remember what it was exactly, but slimy Chris Harrison and his cohorts hooked me yet again.

So now I've basically signed up for several weeks of Ashley whining about Bentley (guess she must have skipped the obligatory single girl reading, He's Just Not That Into You), Ashley questioning whether the guys are really there for the right reasons and Ashley declaring how totally perrrrrfect Thailand is. Like every locale on "The Bachelor" or "The Bachelorette," it is the perfect place to fall in love, after all.

Yeah, I'm mocking, and yes, I already can't wait to watch next Monday night. Or make that Tuesday night since I'll be suffering through the third installment of Transformers while Ashley is handing out roses and reconnecting with Bentley in what's likely to be the most controversial episode of The Bachelorette ever! (Those joining me in watching will be the only ones who'll get the significance of that last sentence...ha ha!).

Of course, summer isn't summer without great movies and music, too. Truth be told, most of the summer flicks haven't been worth all the hype (especially you, Pirates of the Caribbean: Could've Used Some Even Stranger Tides.

Thankfully, J.J. Abrams rarely lets me down (the verdict's still out on "Fringe" mind you, since I've never bothered watching), so Super 8 has definitely been one of the highlights, as was Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris, which was pretty much the perfect valentine to the glorious City of Love I visited only months ago.

Musically speaking, I've been loving the new singles from Coldplay and Gavin DeGraw, not to mention the latest album from Death Cab for Cutie. But for some reason, I seem to be stuck on an oldies but goodies kick. So everyone from Rosemary Clooney to Ella Fitzgerald to Miles Davis has been providing the soundtrack to this summer...not a bad way to make it through those tragically hot months if I do say so myself...

Now it's your turn...what's been rockin' your world entertainment-wise this summer? Anything I should be adding to my DVR or iTunes pronto?

What I've Been Doing on My "Summer Vacation"...Part 2

When it comes to music, I've always been a bit of an old soul...

Even when I was a kid, I always liked the artists my friends hadn't even heard of, let alone listened to. In fact, when my peers were rockin' out to NKOTB, I was still in my Billy Joel phase. 

Basically, while everyone else was hangin' tough and crushin' on dreamy Jordan Knight, I was wishin' that Billy had written "Uptown Girl" about me instead of his model-perfect, now ex-wife, Christie Brinkley.

When I'd had my fill of Billy, I moved on to Duran Duran (and yes, I believed frontman Simon LeBon was my future hubby even years and years after "Rio" and "Hungry Like the Wolf" were radio singles) and eventually, my attention turned to the Fab Four when sporting flannel and listening to Seattle's finest was the thing to do.

While the grunge scene and The Beatles shared very little in common, I still felt pretty cool listening to them, even if seemed "dated" to my fellow high schoolers. Whether it was the happy pop of their early years or the crazy, tripped-out vibe of their records toward the end, I knew I'd stumbled on to something revolutionary every time I listened. To me, great songwriting and spectacular hooks never went out of the style, even if the accompaniment didn't exactly scream "now."

And like the girls back in the era of Beatlemania, I was very taken with Paul and those big, sad brown eyes of his. Truth be told, I've always said that if I were required to cry on cue (and I'm not sure exactly when this scenario would play out, since my acting ambitions are, oh, non-existent), all the director would have to do is play the first few bars of "Eleanor Rigby," and the waterworks would show up right on schedule.

There's just something about Paul's voice and poetic songs that has always resonated with me, so you can only imagine how excited I was when Will surprised me with tickets for his recent show in Vegas. Really, it was like two presents in one since Will and I always have so much fun in the city where we said "I do" five and a half years ago now.

Now I'll fully admit, since Paul is gettin' a little closer to 70, I tried to keep my lofty expectations in check. After all, there has been the odd award show—or even that halftime Super Bowl performance a few years back—where he's sounded a little rough. Thankfully, that sooo wasn't the case during the Vegas show. Funny enough, you could've told me he was 40, and I would've believed you. He looked that young and was full of energy—and his cheeky jokes and quippy stories between songs were a hoot, too.

Not only did his voice sound terrific, but he played flawlessly for nearly two and a half hours. And with 22 Beatles' songs on the set list, not to mention the best of Wings and recent solo efforts, it was a longtime fan's dream come true. Both Will and I felt like we were experiencing something truly special that night, namely one of the best shows we'd seen in a long, long time.

As an added bonus, Yoko Ono was even in the audience, too. And no, she didn't get onstage and sing or do performance art in a box. However, we did spot her joining in on "Hey Jude," which was pretty darn cool considering the song's context.

When all was said and done, the whole night was as close as I was going to get to seeing the Beatles play, which was pretty much the perfect way to spend part of my "summer vacation."

What I've Been Doing on My "Summer Vacation"...Part 1

In honor of the first day of summer and my utter shock about the calendar actually reading June 21st (seriously, where has this month gone?), I thought I'd blog about what I've been doing on my "summer vacation."

Now you might notice that I put quotation marks around summer vacation, and trust me, that's intentional. See, when you're a freelance writer, there's really no such thing as a true vacation—let alone a summer break like all the school-age kiddos and their long-suffering teachers get from June through August.

But if you work ahead on your assignments, you may be able score a few days off, so that's precisely what I did when my sister Lindsey and my cutie patootie niece Adelyn (see left for evidence of her sheer adorableness) came to town from Colorado Springs a couple of weeks ago.

I have to say it was really fun shopping in the ol' toy department at Target before they came. Not only did I get to buy a new edition of Candy Land, one of the best board games on the planet, but Memory, a hot pink beach ball and a ladybug pillow pal, too.

With my cart full of all things pink and enough groceries to feed a family of sixteen, I was so excited for them to arrive. And even though our time together went way, way too fast, having Linds and Adelyn stay was clearly one of the highlights of Will and I's summer—especially when Will taught Adelyn how to shoot a super soaker. Let's just say she was a quick study and didn't mind getting us all wet, which was actually pretty perfect considering it was about 1,464 degrees.

Other highlights of our time together include...Adelyn's impromptu performance of "Jack in the Beanstalk" at Barnes & Noble (I'm convinced she's a future thespian), Adelyn's first ride on the mall's merry go round, fajita night at Mi Cocina, our homemade chocolate chip waffle breakfast that Adelyn decided were cookies and lots of catching up with the coolest sister on the planet while watching LOST.

All in all, a really great time. Now I'm already looking forward to Adelyn's third b-day next month...