Purple Haze: What the WBAL team is doing this Sunday! January 13, 2012

Let your purple freak flag fly!!

Saw this car on my drive to work this morning(before you lecture me about taking a picture in my car…I was stopped at a traffic light!), but it made me think, what is everybody doing this Sunday for the Ravens playoff game? Here’s what I’ve found out so far:

J-Fran, in purple as always on Friday...

Jennifer Franciotti, who is the truest Ravens fan I know, is working this Sunday. Before you say, “Awwwww, that’s too bad“, let me add that she is at the game! So the girl is happy, you know? Wouldn’t be anywhere else. At home though, her family is saving her some Buffalo wings and sliders, and a glass of wine for when she gets home.

the I-team's Jayne Miller...also a big fan...

11 News I-Team lead investigative reporter Jayne Miller will take some time from investigating, and as a season tickets holder, will also be at the game Sunday. What’s she eating? She tells me she will definitely hit a few tailgates, menu TBA, and probably have a Guiness at the game…depending on how cold it is. “What’s the difference between a playoff game and a regular game?”, she asked me. Not knowing of course, she replied, “At a playoff game, everyone STANDS, all the time!”

Mindy Basara and me....comparing our purplicity....

Mindy Basara will watch the game from home….and she was thinking wings, but their grill has been acting funky, so they may switch to chili…or maybe a complicated buffalo wing dip thing, but she doesn’t have all the ingredients to it. She’s hoping she can con her hubby into shopping for it AND making it. Love that, girl.

And yours truly, as mentioned on Facebook,  is making a Pork Shoulder Braised in Apple Cider..a recipe I saw on the Today Show last week. It looks AMAZING…and I have the pork…just need to score the cider. IF you would like the recipe…here it is!

the lovely Sarah Caldwell sports some purple too....

Sarah Caldwell will also be watching the game from home….I asked her if she was making something special…..she said negatory on that…but you never know. Maybe she’ll change her mind.

John Collins.....a working man...

Meterologist John Collinsis working Sunday, so he too, will not be tailgating or baking purple pastries, or throwing a pork shoulder in the oven.(I’ll save you some John).

Lowell Melser.....looking lavender

 11 News reporter Lowell Melser has a little problem…which is kinda hilarious(Chris Daschille laughed out loud when he heard it). Lowell’s wife was invited to a baby shower on Sunday…that starts at 1 PM. And they did not reschedule. Yeah. So, things are a little up in the air…maybe view part of the game at a bar in Canton, maybe pizza in his basement on the BIG screen…you know. He’s keeping it loose(except being a little stressed over the baby shower thingie.)

hope you have a great time on Sunday…that the Ravens win(yeaahhh!)…that no players get hurt…that no one throws rocks, and you all come home safe…’cause we miss you! ♥

Tricks for some….and treats for others!! October 31, 2011

OK, I think this may be my favorite Jack-o-lantern so far this year….violent, well yes, a bit…but come on…it’s Halloween!! And not too hard to do…assuming you have an axe blade you can plant in his little pumpkin skull.

All you need is an evil laugh soundtrack.....Ha-ha-ha-ha....

This one’s good too….

maybe too much work????

And I found a great fun treat for the kids…(thanks Baltimore Sun)…..here’s the recipe.

Halloween pizza!!

This is super easy to make….just needs some storebought sugar cookie dough for the crust, some candy corns, chocolate, and gummy worms….and think how cool your kids will think it is. If they’re not impressed…stop spoiling them.

Wheeee...let's stop doing news and dress up in costumes!!

I was watching the Today Show this morning against my better judgement…their Halloween show is my least favorite. Serously, I really don’t like this show. I know, I know…why do I watch? I don’t know. Heaven forbid something serious happen during this hour…you’d have someone is the costume of a bride or a prince, telling you about something horrible that happened.

But I digress….poor, poor Savannah Guthrie..that girl got the dirty tricks this year. SHe is paying her dues, seriously. While Ann Curry gets to be the adored and beautiful Kate Middleton…

…and Natalie Morales is the glamorous Pippa Middleton

….Savannah is ….wait for it…Prince Charles, big ears and all.

I watched her…. thinking that she is a really good sport, but I don’t think she liked it much….The woman below in blue(never could figure out who she really is-do you know?) was complaining about her costume of a pregnant Victoria Beckham, Savannah replied dryly, “Well, at least you’re a girl!”

I feel you sister…and on national tv, too. Maybe next year, you”ll be the princess.

The odd, odd world of the blogosphere….includes me. March 27, 2009

So many factoids....

From time to time, I actually look at the stats about my blog….really, it’s more interesting than you might think(and that’s probably not very interesting), but it’s amazing to me how they gather all these factoids.  You can see a graph of the number of people to hit your blog over the past days, weeks and even months. …what a rollercoaster…And they tell you which of your blogs have been viewed the most since you first embarked on your uncertain journey into the blogosphere.

How many hits have I had since I began blogging?  As of this morning, 127,832.

Which blog has had the most views? This one may surprise you . For a few months,  it was Captain Underpants and the Angry Angel….a post I wrote last Halloween about the little boy who went bonkers on the Today Show, when his Dad displayed him in some tightie-whities and a weird bald hat. Seriously, I didn’t blame the kid for being a little upset, and it was weird. But lots of people must have heard about the incident and been searching for the video of it…this I didn’t have but I did have a picture and through searches, 1,298  people have found their way to that blog since then., and I still get hits on it.

Do they pass the sniff test??

But Captain Underpants has been overtaken by another blog I wrote last fall….about the extremely serious cultural problem of…..Stinky Uggs. 1,410 people suffer from this embarrassing and pesky condition and wonder what to do about them. And yes, I have an answer.

Third place is about another malady that must be sweeping the nation….mango allergy….that I wrote about in a blog called A Matter of Mangoes, after my daughter came down it herself…..Who knew that if you’re allergic to poison ivy, you may also develop an allergy to delicious mangoes. Lots of people do not know!

In fourth place, is I’m Not Intimidated by my Son’s Genius Girlfriend….all about the lovely and very smart Jennifer. And fifth is still one of my favorites just because of the oddball quality of it all….A Four-legged Woman is My Cousin….she really is.

The most single viewed day ever, was Thursday October 16th, when I wrote about my son’s engagement to the lovely Jennifer. And how do people find their way to my blog if they don’t see it on the WBAL website?  This I find really fascinating…these are search terms people used that led them to Hamilton’s Habitat….grits habitat…sticky Uggs…torture shoe…mango allergy… how do you pronounce tarte tatins(alas, they found how to make one but no pronunciation guide…just for the record, it is tart tah-tahn’)…today show boy in costume scream….woman with 4 legs….blood spot on eyeball(yes I wrote about it)….you get the idea. Such a serendipitous world out there that links us all together. In that spirit, I wish you all a lovely weekend…even if you have to work. Enjoy the journey.

If I just didn’t have to do my work…. June 19, 2008

You know, I’d blog a lot more often if I were a real blogger. I really wonder what bloggers do all day….But I’m just a kinda-sometimes blogger. When I got in today there was a story from the feeds that the producer wanted me to cut down and put some voiceovers in….technical talk for rework the piece, for the 5:00 newscast. And then something still staring me in the face…an online sexual harassment seminar we all have to complete( I think I’m already past the deadline…whoops..but I was off last week), and a story that airs on Monday needs to be logged (lots of looking at tapes, writing down what is said and what time on the tape it is located), and written today so it can be edited tomorrow, so I can shoot a story tomorrow about…oh, I can’t tell you that because if I did, our competitors might decide to do the story too, and try to get it on before us. Sneaky. Reminds me of a line from the movie Oh Brother Where Art Thou….the radio station manager who discovers the Foggy Bottom Boys, in a chat about the competition, says “Oh, mercy yes…got to beat that competition!” Hilarious line…at least it was in the movie. Seems to lose a little something in print. Sigh.

Sooooooo, if I didn’t have all this stuff to do (for which I get paid, and I do like that), then I could blog my little heart out. That, by the way, is not an invitation to my boss to make that happen for me….No siree…it’s more an explanation, ok rationalization, as to why sometimes I don’t get it done as often as I’d like. 

Oh, here’s a little note to the Today Show…which I generally love. Please don’t allot so much time  to a strange woman and her strange attorney who are suing Victoria’s Secret, because a buckle holding her thong underwear together popped and hit her in the eye.  Oh, we’ll have the story, be assured of that. But I thought I detected a bit of annoyance, maybe impatience, from Meredith Viera at having to do such a banal interview for so long, over such a nothing of a story.  It was worth 30 seconds at best…which is probably what we’ll give it tonight at five.