Brightening up the January BLAHS

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Does anyone else feel like January is SERIOUSLY dragging on forever? I know we're at the home stretch now, but it has been such a dreary few days around here. It seems like January is always kind of lame - this year it's been much better thanks to fun road trips breaking up the monotony, but I've still been struggling. SO, what's been keeping my spirits up lately? My birthday and reality TV. That's right.
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I turned 25 on the 18th, yay! The birthday celebrations actually started a day early in Elko, where my awesome family-in-law surprised me with delicious 'monkey bread' (adorned with candles and accompanied by song) and some presents. Thanks again!! Monday morning I slept in (we had driven back to Nampa the night before) while Chuck wrangled the boys and took them grocery shopping so I could play on facebook and excitedly tally all of the birthday wishes I received :). That afternoon my mom watched the boys so that Chuck and I could go see a movie; I picked 'Sherlock Holmes' and I REALLY liked it. Then my mama had us over for a delicious dinner and made me a birthday cake, yay!
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For some reason, the milestone of 'TWENTY-FIVE' was freaking me out a little, so that day I included the following accessories in my attire to maintain the illusion of youth: my peace sign necklace, black fingernail polish, and capri leggings under my cute jean skirt. Nothing like aging gracefully. . . but I think I pulled it off.
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The Biggest Loser started again at the beginning of January, which has brightened my weeks considerably, especially since Chuck relented to watching it with me this season. First of all, I thought it was SO HORRIBLE that the yellow and blue teams had to leave immediately. I understand that they have the chance at returning, but still, they were so excited to have been selected and then they're punished for being out of shape and coming in last in the challenge? LAME! I understand that it's a competition, yadda yadda yadda, but still, let them hang out for a few days first!
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Sorry about that. Anyways, my other thoughts are: Just like everyone else, I hate the red team. The green team has some serious issues to deal with. The pink team kind of annoys me, and doesn't the daughter look EXACTLY like Shanon from the pink team two seasons ago? I love love LOVE the gray team. When Koli was talking about watching Filipe and his wife and how he wants that kind of love, I was seriously bawling.
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Next up, American Idol. For the purposes of full disclosure, I will admit that I haven't watched this show since I was a freshman at BYU and we would all crowd in my dorm room (I had a TV, which meant instant popularity) and cheer on the Mormon kid, Jon Peter something. Weren't those the days, Jaime? I think that was the season Fantasia won . . . Anyways, my complete devotion to Ellen DeGeneres brought me back, and I love it so far.
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So, being newly back on the Idol bandwagon, I don't get all the Kara-bashing - what's wrong with her? I like her! As far as guest judges, I was less than impressed with Katy Perry and Avril Lavigne. Could Katy have been more of a wench, and could Avril have been more immature? Thoughts?
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Next, I am recently slightly obsessed with wedding shows. It started with Platinum Weddings, which I mostly watched out of morbid curiosity - how is it possible to spend HUNDREDS of thousands of dollars on a wedding? Do you hand out wads of cash as favors? It turns out, it's definitely possible but also kind of annoying, so I moved on to better shows, like:
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Say Yes to the Dress! (And yes, I'm sure that some of these eventual weddings are as 'Platinum' as the other show, but I don't have to hear about how 'no expense was spared' on the tablecloths).
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My favorite consultant is Sarah. She is amazing at understanding exactly what a bride wants, even if the bride herself doesn't know! And I also love Randy, the fashion director. He cracks me up.
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Ugh, I actually just watched this episode the other day, this bride was SO ridiculous. She vetoed almost EVERY dress, and then just made fun of the ones she actually agreed to try on. Randy was getting sooooo ticked off, and finally at the end it came out that she already pretty much had a dress at home, but she just wanted to make sure she didn't like something else better. I had it when people waste the valuable time of both the consultants and ME as a viewer.
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Lastly, My Fair Wedding with David Tutera. LOVE it. He's this a-mazing wedding planner to the stars, and on this show he starts working with a normal, everyday bride three weeks before her wedding. David gets to know the bride's personality and vision and then seriously classes up the wedding a few notches with the financial resources and contacts that weren't accessible to the bride. He often replaces/improves dresses (bride's and/or bridesmaids'), centerpieces, decor, reception locations, and often entire wedding themes.
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I was a little wary during the first episode I watched when he announced that he was replacing the dress that the bride was going to wear. The new dress options were gorgeous, but you could tell that the bride was upset. He sat her down and talked about it later, and she explained that she and her mom had picked out her dress together and that her mom had paid for it, so she was worried about her mom's feelings if she didn't wear it. David proposed that the bride wear the original dress for the ceremony and then change into the new dress for the reception. The bride seriously looked SO happy at that compromise.
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I love this show, because the premise could lead to the wedding planner being condescending and rude, but David is so kind and friendly. He genuinely cares about each bride and wants to help her have the most amazing wedding day ever. He really listens and draws out of them how they want to feel that day, and if they're dead-set on a concept, he just works with it to make it better. David's definitely honest when something won't work - his pet peeves include fake flowers and finding a reception location online without visiting it in person - but he's so good at finding alternatives and making it all such a positive experience for the bride.
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AND, that's what's getting me through January. Is it spring yet??