With so many things you can worry your pretty little heads about now-a-days celebrity baby gossip seems to be the most trivial thing ever. However I must make my vote for cute little Sam Woods(Tiger Woods’ daughter) as the cutest celebrity baby. Kingston Rossdale(Gavin and Gwen) was my number one for ages but this little princess has taken over the top spot.
Now excuse me as I try to redeem myself by listening to NPR!!!
For some it is The Bachelor, American Idol,The Deadliest Catch, Big Brother…etc. For me it is Ice Road Truckers, Dirty Jobs, Rock of Love, The Hills and this season of The Real World. I am a sucker for this, the 20th season, of the show that birthed all reality TV shows. Why do I care if Joey has to go to rehab or Nick’s boss at Movies.com dies of cancer? I don’t know but what I do know is that I was bawling when both of these things happened. I know I need to get a life but really it is just my guilty pleasure. If Amy Winehouse can have her crack I can have my angst-ridden, drunken 20-somethings.
So with that being said, I send showers of praise over one of the Real Worlders….Brianna Taylor. Now this girl came to the house fresh off of the strippers stage and battery charges against her ex but I still liked her immediately. Her failed attempt at American Idol did not squelch her dreams of being a singer and that was what brought her to the fabulous house in Hollywood that MTV built. She wanted it bad but not bad enough to get her butt off of the sofa until roomy Will said, “You have to make it happen for yourself here. Don’t waste this opportunity”. She began writing songs,cutting back on the smokes(a little bit), and singing in front of Manns Chinese Theatre for tips. And the girl can wail too.
As things do in MTV land one thing lead to another and she got to sing with Alex Band(The Calling) at a small nightclub. Next she met and chatted with one of her roomies producer friends who granted her request to help her with her demo. The result is a great song called Summertime. It is great summer, feelgood, chick music and I love it. Go over to iTunes and check it out and the other songs on her EP. And if you like them throw the girl some bucks. Haven’t you ever had a dream?
My most favorite morning ritual is listening to NPR. The afternoon shows rock too but when I listen to it in the morning I just feel as if I have begun my day a wee bit smarter.
If you are an NRP geek too you understand my deep love for their early morning program The Bryant Park Project. The New Music Tuesdays are always a great source for the latest tunes and their daily news targets topics of interest to our generation. The show initially appealed to me because one of the hosts is Alison Stewart. MTV, CNBC, MSNBC, ABC and other networks have had her serve as correspondent. Her work at ABC during the September 11th attacks garnered that newsteam an Emmy and she has won the prestigious Peabody award for her election ’88 political reports on MTV. All of that and she has awesome hair too!! 
She co-hosts the show with Rachel Martin and together they make the spectrum of today’s news palatable and free from tirades and screaming. While Alison is on maternity leave Mike Pemka is taking her place and believe me when I say the program is still my favorite. I consider it listening to my smart friends in the morning.
Get smart and listen. http://www.npr.org
The keylime pie that I made for Joe was beyond successful. He had several pieces and so did I. Truth be told my Saturday breakfast was PIE with whipped cream and a cup of coffee. Saturday evening he left to return to his crashpad in NYC. Made from all fresh ingredients, the pie was destined to go bad quickly so I took it to my mother. See ejoyed the graham cracker crust and tart bite at the end of every bite.
Speaking of good bites I had an amazing dinner at my friends Christie and Mike’s house last night. I brought my mother along to see the beautiful baby Katriana Alyce and to enjoy some of Mike’s cooking. He outdid himself serving an appetizer of grilled peaches, honey, cinnamon and whipped cream. 
The main course consisted of beef and chicken cabobs, baked beans and cole slaw! Baby Katriana, who turned 1 week on Friday, feasted on breast milk and formula. YUM!
Our hosts and their little one.
My next recipe that I hope to succeed at will be Heidi Swanson’s Spring Panzanella. She makes amazing healthy and organic meals and I picked this one up on my Gmail tickler bar from 101cookbooks.com. Click here to try making it for yourself and to view other good food ideas!
Maria Pinkelton 