Wacky Wine Weekend

Three weeks ago, Wendy, Linda and I decided to go to the Toast the Season wine weekend on Leelanau Pennisula. We were leaving at 7 am on Saturday morning and given how slow Wendy can be in the morning, we decided to have a sleepover Friday night. So, what to do? We decided drinking, talking and reality TV. So, I got out my martini shaker and started to make Kahlua, vodka and milk martinis. As I was shaking the drinks like Tom Cruise in Cocktail, the cover popped off the shaker and yummy goodness sprayed all over the kitchen. After cleaning up that sticky mess and remaking the martini's adding vanilla creamer this time to make them even better, we settled down to watch White Collar, our new favorite show with the cute lead guy. Wendy promptly fell asleep and I was sitting there in essence alone on a Friday night while I tried to hear the TV over her snores. Wild women we were not!

Up the next morning and I am making my latte for the road. I got it all ready and took a big sip only to realize I had poured a big shot of Kahlua into my travel mug instead of espresso. Again, I needed to remake my drink before I could enjoy it. Linda's bus was late (aka she hit snooze on her alarm clock too many times) so we were off like a herd of turtles at 7:30 instead of 7:00.

The rest of the wine tour went well - we hit 13 out of 17 wineries in 2 days and we had a yummy dinner at the Mackinaw Brewing Company. We did not get pie, we fell asleep in a too much wine induced state around 10 p.m. but we did get to play Scrabble. All in all, success!

Where Has All the Good TV Gone?

Last night, 5 close friends, my husband and I sat down and watched the final movie that closed out the Prison Break series, Prison Break: The Final Break. How dramatic is that title? Us avid fans waited anxiously week to week to learn the fates of Michael, Papi and Lincoln. Why do my favorite shows always get cancelled?

Besides having extremely attractive actors on the show (which definitely did not hurt), it was a show that my husband and I could sit down and watch together. It had action, suspense, love and it was just plain interesting. Michael ended up breaking himself and others out of 3 prisons - who else can say that? He was a modern day MacGyver, but much cuter and without the mullet. His one stint in the Panamanian prison, Sona, made my trip to Panama for JCI so much more exciting. Even though it was a show, I was sure that I would run into Lincoln or Gretchen as I was exploring Panama City and I could help them rescue Michael.

Prison Break is not the only show that no longer fills up my DVR and causes my husband to tell me to erase the junk that I have recorded so he can record a sporting event. This past year was a bad one for my TV watching - Pushing Daisies, Lipstick Jungle, Dirty Sexy Money and Knight Rider all left TV land. Tell me please how shows like "I Survived A Japanese Game Show" and "The Biggest Loser" survive season after season while shows with interesting plots, sex, greed and fast cars ride off into the sunset?

I warn you now TV execs, don't even think about messing with Burn Notice or In Plain Sight. I don't know if I could survive the long week of reality television. Wipeout is the exception to the bad reality TV - this is the most hilarious show I have ever seen. What makes chubby, out of shape, crazy people think that they can tackle obstacle courses that would have even put of a fight with the best athletes? These people flip, they flop, they get muddy, they get the crap knocked out of them and they say stupid things on national TV in a quest for their 15 minutes of fame. However, I can not argue that the Big Balls are good for your weekly laugh quota!

So TV Execs it is time to bring back or start some new TVs shows for me to be obsessed with. My DVR is surprisingly empty, I miss Michael, Kirby from Lipstick Jungle and the cheesiness of the whole Knight Rider show. If not, I guess there are always the past seasons on DVD.