What's Up Wednesday!

Y'all.  How is it the last Wednesday in March already?  April is just around the corner and Baby Fisher will be here in under 16 weeks!  Eeek!  These weeks are FLYING by.

As usual, every last Wednesday of the month I link up with Shay and Sheaffer and give you all a peek into what the Fisher House has been up to.  Let's jump in!

 What We're Eating This Week

What's Up Wednesday

I feel like I say this every month, but how is the month almost over already?  July has moved way too fast!  I have missed the last couple of What's Up Wednesday posts due to summer travel, but I am here for this one!  Here's a peek back at July with the Fishers.

What We're Eating This Week

Monday - Veggie Burrito Bowls (one of our all time favorites)

Tuesday - Salad

Wednesday - Fish and roasted cauliflower

Thursday - Chicken with couscous and roasted asparagus

Friday - Whole wheat penne with turkey meatballs

Saturday - Dinner at Trufire

Sunday - Some type of crockpot/casserole meal

Just Desserts

I've been a fan of Top Chef for a while. Padma is a great host (and so beautiful, I want to look like her when I grow up) and Tom is a fantastic head judge. It's full of great cooking and some dramatic tension - you know those chefs have egos. So I was thrilled when Gail Simmons got her own spin-off, Top Chef: Just Desserts. Oh. My. Stars. The DRAMA. It's all drama all the time. I haven't yet decided if it's just in the nature of pastry chefs to be THAT. DRAMATIC. Or if it's just casting. Every week there is high drama and craziness. More than on any season of Top Chef I've ever seen. I love to bake and cook, so I am just as enthralled with the cooking on TC: JD, I'm just undecided on the crazy.

The Best Show on TV

Currently on tv that is. In my opinion the best show ever is The West Wing. But I digress, the best show currently on air? Castle. The casting is great, the writing is sharp, and Nathan Fillion is a doll. I could watch this every night of the week.

Splish Splash

I love to swim. I've always loved the water. Both sets of grandparents had pools when I was a baby so I was in the water right from the beginning. My gym has a pool and three mornings a week I swim laps. I don't know how many laps I do - I don't count. I just swim for about 30-40 minutes. At 5:45am, I'm usually the only one in the pool and the solitude is heavenly. No noise, just the sound of the water as I move through. It's kind of like running, you don't really have to think about it, you just go. That half hour gives me the chance to think about my day or plan ahead for stuff or really think about nothing whatsoever, I can just enjoy the quiet time. In the pilot episode of The West Wing, there is a scene with CJ Cregg at the gym and she's explaining to the guy next to her on the treadmill that her hour at the gym was her hour, her time, and then her pager goes off saying that the President had been in a bicycle accident and she falls off the treadmill. While my job and my life are not so high profile or as stressful as the fictional press secretary's, I feel that way about my time swimming laps. It's my time, my hour - no cats wanting breakfast, no laundry or cleaning to do, no phones ringing, no emails. Just me and the water.

Please Pack Your Knives And Go...

I don't watch a lot of reality tv, but there are two that I love - The Biggest Loser and Top Chef. I think I've rhapsodized about TBL on here before. I think I like these shows because the competition isn't so much about knocking someone else out, but doing the best that you can so you continue to advance. If you follow this argument, I should love American Idol, but alas I can't be bothered (my apologies to all you AI fans out there). Since I love to cook, watching Top Chef is contributing a little to my culinary education, which began with the late, great Julia Child. I've learned about different ways to cook food, I've learned who the best chefs in the country are, and it's all wrapped around this cooking competition that inevitably comes down to the wire. Sometimes what they deliver is just awful and sometimes it's genius.

The Biggest Loser

Want to talk about motivation? Watch this show tonight. This is the time of year when many people make resolutions to eat better, lose weight, go to the gym more, etc. If you want weekly motivation, tune in. Some of the people on this show have just basically given up - no self esteem or self respect. Since those things are lacking, they have given up on having a healthy life style. Others have just let the good habits fall away due to personal issues, having children, job stress or what have you.

It really is a powerful experience to watch the contestants week after week as they get stronger and fitter. Now, granted, they are away from everything and all they have to do is concentrate on being healthy and working out and they have a trainer there to push them every step of the way. I would love to go on this show. If I had weeks of time at my disposal and could afford to not work, I would probably apply. I'd want Jillian to be my trainer. She is hard core. She yells and screams and pushes. Oh to have Jillian Michaels as my personal trainer.



There are few reality shows that are "must see" for me. The Amazing Race is one and The Biggest Loser is the other. I think it's because while the contestants do compete for prizes, they always walk away with more than that. Whether it's a better understanding of how the rest of the world lives and how to survive in a strange land or it's a new appreciation for a new lifestyle that makes you a stronger, better person, the journey is just as exciting as the destination.

The Biggest Loser Season 7 premieres at 8pm on NBC.

CSI is back!

The new season of CSI premieres tonight! Woohoo!!! I've loved this show since day one. I am a little disappointed that they are bringing Sara Sidle back because she grates on my nerves something fierce. I much prefer Grissom with Lady Heather (who, I hear through the grapevine, will be making an appearance this season). But the show isn't about the romances, please, that is an afterthought. It's about the crimes and the interaction between the cast. We'll see how that dynamic is affected when William Peterson leaves the show and Lawrence Fishburne takes his place. That should be interesting. It's a shame they killed off Liev Schreiber's character last season - I would definitely watch more of him.

Grey's Anatomy is supposed to be really good tonight too - thank goodness for tivo! I also hear ER has had kind of a resurgence in its final year, so I may tivo that as well just to see what the fuss is about.

Yes, I am a tv junkie, but I also have never been one to just sit and park myself in front of the tv (ask my mom). I'll be reading or cleaning or researching on the interwebs while the t v is on. The researching and cleaning have happened as I matured and had other responsibilities. When I was a kid it was a book...always a book. I'd read at the kitchen table during dinner if my mom let me. Anyhow, CSI is on tonight...tune in because it's going to be good.

No New Gossip Girl

Okay, I have 2 tv vices (shows that I cringe a little inside admitting to). One being America's Next Top Model and the other being Gossip Girl. GG is the best show you aren't watching. Leighton Meester as Blair and Ed Westwick as Chuck light up the tv. They have the best lines and are completely worth watching the show for. It can be a little trashy and a little over the top, but it's my guilty pleasure on Monday nights. Unfortunately, there was no new episode tonight :( After a long weekend at Target, I was looking forward to relaxing and indulging a little.

And here I will show my age - the actress who plays Serena (she was also in Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants) is the sister of Robyn Lively who played Louise in Teen Witch, one of my all time favorite cheesy 80s movies. It ranks right up there with The Pirate Movie and Grease 2. Stop laughing, I am being totally serious here - I love those movies. I have all three on DVD. Before you cast aspersions on my movie viewing, keep in mind my sister and brother love them too, so it has to be genetic.

So here is my shameless plug for GG - Monday nights at 8pm on the CW. You can also catch episodes on the CW website. You know you want to. xoxo...

Tina Fey is a Genius