Nicole Marie Who?!: September 2011

Having a good friend live in the same building as you is amazing. It’s like having a roomie, but without the personal space encroachment. At the end of the day you each have your separate space and can then run around naked if you shall feel inclined to. What’s even more amazing is when that friend is also currently unemployed. Which means that we can eat, play be lazy together at any time we feel like (and we do!).

Here are some top reasons why having a friend in the building is amazing:

I really can borrow a cup of sugar if I need it.
We borrow each other’s clothes, shoes, nail polish and accessories. It’s like having a second closet ;)
We try to wake each other up in the morning and work out. Notice the try. Sometimes we are successful, sometimes we aren’t.
We can grocery shop together at weird hours.
She is Super Sara and kills spiders for me. (My fave perk. Heehee)
We can have a bottle of wine in our pajamas and walk home a few feet.
If you run out of envelopes she has one.
If your new computer doesn’t have a camera card holder and you lost your camera cord you can upload them to her computer.
She can teach you how to create a blog.
If you need help hanging a painting, you have help.
If you are on your last bit of food you can put your food together and make a meal out of it.
You can lay out on the back patio in the sun at noon.
It’s fun to play Super Nintendo together till late night on a Wednesday because you don’t have to be up early for work on Thursday.
We get to go on fun trips in the middle of the week to Vancouver, Canada and the zoo!

I think you get the point. Its darn good fun to have a….shall we call it Buildie buddy?! It was perfect timing that we both got laid off at almost the same time. I am having the time of my life. Next up on our to-do list is:

PJ and movie day all day while consuming lots of bad food.
Visiting museums and other sites around Portland.
Eating at some restaurants we have been dying to eat at since we both moved to Portland just never got around to doing.

The only thing that sucks is that we can’t go shopping 24/7. We both LOVE shopping and staying away from a mall when you are bored is extremely hard. I think about it at least once a day. It’s calling my name from here, I can hear it. Someone hire me as a personal stylist please!!!

I would like to publicly talk about my sick obsession with reality TV. I know, I know, for some of you the thought of this makes you want to barf, start yelling out, change the channel/blog, hit yourself in the dome or gouge your eyes out, but I love it!!

Why do I like watching so much do you ask? Why would I want to watch a bunch of untalented idiots running around basically doing nothing but look stupid. To that I say, why do you want to watch fake crimes and fake ghost stories every week?

Everyone has different preferences in TV, some like watching the news, some like watching sports, some like watching the history channel and some people like watching cartoons. I personally love the game like reality shows such as; Survivor, Big Brother, Price is Right and Amazing Race. These are action packed. Yes of course I also love the real drama type shows such as Mob Wives, Real Desperate Housewives, Rachel Zoe Project, Jersey Shore and Tori & Dean. Who doesn’t like some real life drama?! Some people will never fully understand reality television but here are a few reasons why I LOVE it!

First off, are you aware of the fact that YOU could be on it?! What is more exciting than picturing yourself in those peoples’ shoes and executing the competitions they are doing (of course I know I can do it better than them). You have a chance to win free money just for playing a game! Yes, you are competing against quite a few…..thousand…..maybe hundreds of thousands people to be on the show, but you still have a chance to be on it, a better chance than winning the lotto my friend.

Second, the DRAMA! We all love the drama, we all live for drama (don't deny it). You know you are one of those people who slows down to see an accident on the freeway and don’t look away when there is a fight in the bar, drama! Reality TV is all about the drama. You get to see real people lie, cheat, steal, backstab and do weird and crazy things and that is what gets people talking. Drama is like a puppy, you can’t take your eyes off of it and always want more.

Another cool thing about a lot of these reality shows are the amazing locations they are set in. More and more of these shows are finding the most breathtaking places as a backdrop for their sets, so you get to watch real drama in real beautiful places all over the world and pretend like you will actually get to go there one day (I swear I will go to some of the places).

Survivor was one of the first real reality TV type shows that started the reality overload. Now, you can find reality on almost any subject! Here are some great shows you can watch by category.

For the Entertainer:
-So You Think You Can Dance One of my favorites! Watch amazing dancers take the stage and get pushed to their limits in every style dancing you can think of (The best part is watching the auditions in the beginning!).
-American Idol A classic, watch to hear some great voices and the best part, some not so great voices fighting for a record contract.
-America’s Best Dance Crew This show focuses on dance crews performing together. They get a new challenge every week and must come up with their own new fresh choreography for it.

-X-Factor The infamous Simon Cowell's new singing talent show. Same as American Idol I think except they don't discriminate against age like Idol. (The crazy and always entertaining Paula Abdul is back with Simon on this show!)

For the Gossip Lover:

-Real World Full of gossip, fighting and backstabbing as 7 strangers try to live together. Always always always guarenteed craziness in this house.
-The Real Desperate Housewives These poor real housewives have nothing to do but eat and drink together and best of all, talk crap about each other. This is jam packed with gossip.

For the Celebrity Obsessed:
-Keeping Up With the Kardashian’s See your favorite Kardashian’s here live their crazy everyday lives. They are funny and wild people.

-Holly’s World Watch Hugh Hefner’s ex-#1 girlfriend live her crazy life in Vegas as Peepshow’s main star.

-Kendra Watch another Hugh Hefner’s ex-girlfriend adjust to her new life as a new wife and mother.

For the Food Lover:
-Hell's Kitchen Watch to learn what it takes to cook in Chef Ramsay's kitchen as he breaths fire down these wannabe chefs necks as they sauté their way to head chef at one of his restaurants.

-Cupcake Wars For cupcake artists compete in a one day competition to be able have their masterpiece showcased at a certain major event.

-Restaurant Impossible See a struggling restaurant that is about to go under be revamped, redone and given facelift.

-Chopped Chefs are given two ingredients and must incorporate both ingredients together in an appetizer, entrée and dessert.

For the Romantic:
-The Bachelor or The Bachelorette One guy gets to pick from 25 girls (or vice versa) to find his dream match and hopefully live happily ever after.
-Ummmm that’s pretty much it I think oh or there is…

-Million Matchmaker See some entertaining matchmaking at its finest with the strictest and straight up matchmaker around.

For the Competitive: (MY FAVORITE CATEGORY!)
-Survivor The original reality show where people are thrown on a crazy island to survive and flight for their lives in competition and in their social game.
-Big Brother MY ULTIMATE FAVE. I swear I need to get my lazy butt going and send in my video and app. OR shall I say make my video, haven’t done that yet. I need to be on this show. It’s about people who get shoved into a house together for the summer and are isolated from the world completely and have a chance to fight in competitions for 1/2 a million dollars.
-America's Next Top Model This season is full of old diva’s who have been on the show before but was not ANTM so they get one more shot at it.

-Amazing Race Pairs of people race around the world with clues to their next destination. Along the way they must compete in competitions and make sure they do not check in last to each finish line or they may be eliminated. Very suspenseful.

For the Creative/Fashionista:

-Project Runway Heidi Klum whom I love, is the host, watch fashion designers compete to show Heidi what kind of fashion talent they really have. Each week the designers have a new challenge to test their design and sewing skills to the extreme.

-The Rachel Zoe Project See my fave stylist style the stars in to die for high-end clothing. You will drool over the pieces she has. Wish I could drape myself in Chanel.
-Million Dollar Decorators Follow some of the top interior designers in the industry design million dollar rooms for the rich.

For the Architect:

-Selling New York Watch New York’s finest real estate agents sell million dollar listings throughout New York. I don’t know about you but I love seeing the inside of people house and these ones are not to miss, they are amazing.

-House Hunters International I love architecture and I love travel, what a better to see both in this show. Follow a different couple in a different country every week as they find their dream home away from home.

Well, I could go on all day listing reality shows (I have about 40 more I like to watch) but my fingers are cramping from writing. My point is that there are so many reality shows out there, some you may not even realize they are a reality show. Sure there are plenty of stupid ones, but there are even more great ones. Have fun watching the boob tube, I always do.

P.S. I am destined to be on one of these shows I just know it so watch out for me! Hopefully you won’t see me on Bridezillas, Jerseylicious, Bait Car, American Idol or Wipeout.