Game Show Inspo: What's in a Name?

They say that a rose by any other name would smell just as sweet.  And maybe they're right.  But when it came to our baby girl, the name was very important.  Maybe that's why it took the husband and me so long to pick one.  Oh, we each had our favorites, lobbying hard for the admittedly sometimes ludicrous front runners.  But it wasn't until we were watching Wheel of Fortune (why, I don't know, except that it follows Jeopardy!) and heard a contestant introduced as Charlotte that we looked at each other and knew.  Feminine and timeless, Charlotte had just the right ring.  What's more, our girl would be in good pop culture company.  After all, there was Charlotte from Sex and the City, Charlotte's Web, Charlotte Brontë, and last but certainly not least, Good Charlotte.  As for Rose, it just seemed to flow.  Also, there are a lot of Roses in my family.  Not to mention The Golden Girls' Rose Nylund.

So, Charlotte Rose, if you someday find yourself singing along to "Lifestyles of the Rich and the Famous," reading Jane Eyre, rescuing spiders, and/or debating whether to be on Team Mr. Big or Team Aiden, then Daddy and I will know that we've done our duty.

Just as if you unironically watch Wheel of Fortune, we'll wonder where we went wrong.

What the World Needs: What is, Women's Wit and Wisdom

When I saw Iliza Shlesinger promoting her books on Celebrity Jeopardy!, I knew that I would read them.  Not only do I love books by comedians, but Shlesinger's first, Girl Logic: The Genius and the Absurdity, has a foreword written by none other than Celebrity Jeopardy! host Mayim Bialik.  So when the husband gave me a copy for Christmas, I was psyched.  

In Girl Logic, Shlesinger shares laugh-out-loud anecdotes showing why we women think and act the way we do and why that both helps and hurts us.  Yet it's Shlesinger's more serious commentary toward the end that most gripped me:

"Point is, from the get-go, it's been excruciatingly difficult for women to be strong and make our way in this world.  We've had to fight hard for everything we've achieved.  And sometimes we've had to fight each other.  We're taught to do it, we're trained to do it, and our most reactive, base-level Girl Logic tells us we HAVE to do it to get what we want." (192)

I read that and thought, oh my goodness, she's right.  Women are taught to fight with each other.  That's where the whole mean girls thing comes in.  And why if you, for whatever reason, lack that killer instinct, then everything from playing musical chairs to competing for the corner office will rip you a new one.  Thankfully, Shlesinger goes on to say that we don't have to play this evolutionarily-rooted and socially-sanctioned game.  (Whew!)  We can be better than our biology and the men who try to control it:

"Though the irregular, sometimes-irrational headphone cord knots of GL might kick into freak-out mode and tell us other women are out to get us, it's on us to choose how to react -- to take the high road and attempt to act from kindness instead of fear or pettiness." (Shlesinger 192)   

Take that, Regina George!  (Not that Regina didn't already learn her lesson, what with getting hit by that bus.)

So yeah, I heart Girl Logic: The Genius and the Absurdity.  Because I'm always here for hard truths sugar-coated in comedy.  

Next stop (at some point!) Shlesinger's, All Things Aside: Absolutely Correct Opinions.

I'm sure it will be absolutely awesome.

Quiz Show Bow: Magnificent Mayim

Jacket: Material Girl, Macy's; Top: A New Day, Target; Skirt: Dolls Kill; Shoes: Shoe Carnival; Bag: Xhilaration, Target; Sunglasses: Amazon

For the last two weeks, I've so enjoyed watching Mayim Bialik guest host Jeopardy!.  From her  prettily professorial garb to her well-timed witticisms to her banter when interviewing contestants, she's the total package and the only guest host to date who reminds me of the late great Alex Trebek.  After all, who but an accomplished actress-slash-neuroscientist could deliver the kind of cerebral star quality worthy of Jeopardy!?  What's more, Bialik's charity of choice for Jeopardy's! donation match of the winnings is the National Alliance on Mental Illness.  Advocacy for mental illness, which affects so many, has never been more important.  There couldn't be a more fitting cause for a show all about braininess.  If Bialik's sitcom Call Me Kat hadn't gotten picked up for a second season, then I'd be keeping my fingers crossed that she be crowned host for keeps.   

That said, what's up with this outfit?  Well, watching Bialik made me think of blazers, which reminded me that I have this cherry-print one and that it had to come out of hiding!  So, one if-not-professorial-then-schoolgirl skirt later, I put together an ensemble including my newest necklace.   

Real Teal Necklace

Strung with stars in a subtle salute to our stellar scene-stealer, this Real Teal Necklace is simpatico with "What is, celestial."

Maybe I'll wear it when I tune in tonight to watch Bialik go out with a bang.

Screen Prints and Princesses

 All Tied Up Necklace

Tee: Arizona Jeans, JCPenney

Skirt: Bubblegum, Macy's

Shoes: Bongo, Kohl's

Bag: Princess Vera, Kohl's

Leggings: JCPenney

 Girly Gumball Necklace

Tee: She Said,  JCPenney

Skirt: Decree, JCPenney

Shoes: Payless

Bag: Xhilaration, Target

Sunglasses: Gifted

 Mellow Medallions Necklace

Sweatshirt: Eric and Lani, Macy's

Skirt: Xhilaration, Target

Shoes: Guess, DSW

Bag: Betsey Johnson, Macy's

Sunglasses: JCPenney

 Bright Bird Necklace

Tee: Gifted

Jeans: Princess Vera, Kohl's

Shoes: Ami Clubwear

Bag: Bisou Bisou, JCPenney

Sunglasses: Cloud Nine, Ocean City

 Affection Confection Necklace

Tee: Delia's

Skirt: So, Kohl's

Shoes: Payless

Bag: Apt. 9, Kohl's

Sunglasses: JCPenney

My latest bead bonanza from Etsy's Olivia Madison Company.

Last week I received an exciting new shipment of Olivia Madison Company beads.  I used half of them to make the (relatively) simple necklaces featured in this week's post.  The other half I used to make some of my least simple pieces ever -- but more on that next Sunday (or Monday or Tuesday).  This week the focus is on the beads.  And what beads they are!  The thing I love most about Olivia Madison Company is its astonishing stock of colorful, kitschy, kawaii-crazy styles.  Every shape, color, and material imaginable is up for grabs -- the shop is a veritable craft supply candy store!  What's more, it almost always has just what I'm looking for.  Although the glass and shell styles you find at most brick and mortar chains are pretty, for so many projects, nothing but punky plastic will do.  That was certainly the case when it came to accessorizing the screen tees (and one sweatshirt) in this week's ensembles.

That was the screen print part of this post.  Here's the other part.   

People like to say, "There are two kinds of people in this world . . .," filling in the blanks with infinite combinations of descriptors, such as morning people and night people, winners and losers, rich people and poor people, introverts and extroverts, city people and country people, and so on.  There are sound arguments for these truths and legions of others.  But on weeknights between 7:00 and 8:00, only one comes to mind to me: "There are two kinds of people, those who like Jeopardy!, and those who like Wheel of Fortune."

Before I talk about where I stand on that one, I should probably backtrack a bit.

I didn't used to like Jeopardy!.  I thought its players were boring and pedantic, and I found the all-blue set as unforgiving as an igloo.  To be fair, I wasn't all that into Wheel of Fortune either, (apparently I've already alluded to this; as I've always feared, this blog is turning me into a rambling, repetitive relative type), although I did like the wheel's wild colors and Vanna's impressive parade of dresses.  But there was something especially foreboding about Alex Trebek and his battalion of brainiacs.  It wasn't even until I moved in with the husband, a longtime Jeopardy! fan, that I began to watch the show regularly.  Each evening at 7:00, the familiar theme song would fill our living room, often over my litany of dinnertime woes, the star of which was,  "Can you take a look at this chicken?  It still looks a little pink to me."  At first, I just didn't get it.  What did the husband see in these eggheads?  I dismissed his fascination with the same psychological shrug I gave his Discovery Channel and History Channel habits.  Knowledge, unsweetened by the sugar-spun snares of fiction, held no appeal for my story-soaked sensibilities.  But as the weeks went by, I was surprised to find my disdain giving way to delight.  I began to look forward to the nightly dose of clever category titles, snarky sidebars (from Alex), and quirky contestants.  One of my favorite parts was when the players talked about themselves.  Their odd jobs, offbeat hobbies, and interesting anecdotes transformed them from personality-challenged ivory tower dwellers to the kind of people who probably had trouble navigating dinner parties or finding their way to the subway.  They were vulnerable, and as such, suddenly more sympathetic than their Wheel counterparts, who blithely bleated about amazing spouses and darling children with the kind of overzealous emptiness of awards show presenters reading from teleprompters.  Sure, those people seemed warmer with their talk of family and pets and volunteer work.  But it was a warmth that seemed to be missing something.                  

That having been said, I was a Jeopardy! devotee by the time that Julia Collins began what would prove to be her history-making twenty-game streak some four weeks ago.  Each night I tuned in to see if the thirty-one-year-old supply chain consultant would rack up yet another victory.  When she invariably delivered, I was as impressed by her down-to-earth demeanor as I was by her mastery of minutiae.  And I wasn't the only one.  A Google search yielded articles in which viewers referred to Collins as "humble," an assessment Collins herself challenged, asserting that she was nothing of the sort and played at the top of her competitive powers.  I found this interesting; if anything, her amiability was an asset, not a liability in need of defense.  Then again, when pressed (interviewers being what they are) Collins also mentioned the bit of bias embedded in being labeled as the top ever female Jeopardy! earner (she walked away with more than $400,000), so I could understand how she might feel the need to distance herself from traditionally female (i.e. weak) traits such as niceness.  Still, niceness, when genuine, is perhaps the rarest and most precious of social commodities, no matter what your gender, and, as I mentioned previously, part of what endeared me to Jeopardy! in the first place.

Deep thoughts, and certainly not the kind to be found revolving around the Wheel.  Unless, of course, you want to delve into an analysis of Pat Sajak's global warming tweets.         

TV Tuesday: Two Media Icons

After having heard about Alex Trebek's heart attack this past weekend, the bf surfed the Web for details, which was only fitting given his love of Jeopardy!.  So, I shouldn't have been surprised to see this old picture of Trebek and Betty White on our computer desktop.  (The bf changes the picture every few days or so.  I never know if I'm going to find a forest fire or a funky shoe.)  "Huh," I said, "it's each of our favorite TV icons."  "Well, let's just say it's two media icons," he replied.  He's a wily one, that bf, never wanting to be pinned down as favoring one small-screen star over another.  Favorite or not, I'm glad to report that Trebek is doing fine.

Now, That's Novel!

From the first moment I saw this novelty Wheel of Fortune clock (excuse me, "Time is Money Game Show" clock) on Fred Flare, it was only a matter of time before I made it my own.  And really, how could I resist?  Anything described as "novelty" has that unmistakably magnetic pop culture pull.  You need only to spy a cartoon character-plastered ice cream truck or flip through an Oriental Trading catalog to be tempted by an onslaught of colorful novelty offerings.  The same can be said for Fred Flare itself.  I'd originally envisioned their campy clock in my kitchen, but when the bf hung it on the living room wall above the very desk at which I sit, I knew it had found its home.

Despite my infatuation with this trendy timepiece, I don't much care for Wheel of Fortune.  I caught a bit of it the other night because it follows Jeopardy! (of which the bf is a fan), and I couldn't help but feel that it was a lackluster chaser to Jeopardy's! stimulating if sometimes-snarky fare.  (Which is saying something considering how much I love color and the quantity of it unleashed on the Wheel.)  I'm referring, of course, to those quirky, sound bite-style contestant interviews and to Alex Trebek's know-it-all post-question ad libs.  Still, I don't see Jeopardy! churning out any novelty paraphernalia.  Which means they lose the cool stuff round. :)