So Much To Watch...So Little Time

I think I have taken exhaustion to entirely new levels this week.

I'm not talking about your normal, garden-variety tired. I'm talking a numb limbs, word slurring, unable to concentrate kind of exhaustion. The kind borne of night after night of very little sleep. Of late bedtimes, early mornings, and nary a nap during the day. When I sleep, I sleep like the dead, but unfortunately I haven't slept nearly enough.

And where, you may ask, can I place the blame for this sudden stretch of fatigue?

On a confluence of events so rare that it has never happened before, and may never happen again.

It all began a couple of months ago when Netflix announced that the season 2 of House of Cards would be released in all of its 13-episode glory on February 14th. Then I looked at the calendar and realized that February 14th was right in the middle of the 2 week-long Winter Olympics and happened to be just before the ice dancing and ladies individual competitions began - my most favorite Olympic sports. Soon after that, a glance at my DVR's upcoming recordings informed me that the week after House of Cards was released was also the week that American Idol went to its 3-episode a week format to choose the top-13 for the finals.

So what's a girl to do?

Well, at first I figured that we would just plow through all 13 episodes of House of Cards in a single weekend, thereby eliminating one arm of the television trifecta that was threatening to take over my life. The idea of a 13-episode binge, complete with sweatpants, snacks and dirty hair, filled me with glee in a way that only people who have experienced it themselves will understand. But pesky personal lives and various errands and responsibilities over the weekend sadly made that impossible. We were relegated to watching the episodes two or three at a time, thereby ensuring that the entire series would take us at least four or five days to get through. Unchartered territory for us, as we are champion binge watchers, but we were determined not to let it get us down.

When Monday night rolled around and we still had five episodes to go, I knew I was in for a doozy of a week.

I knew that not watching all 3 1/2 hours of the NBC prime time Olympics coverage the night it aired was a total non-starter. The idea of missing some unforeseen Olympic moment made my palms sweat and my severe Fear of Missing Out (FOMO) when it comes to pop-culture events simply wouldn't allow for such a thing. So the Olympics had to make the cut.

I guess I probably could have saved American Idol for this weekend once we were done with House of Cards and I had my entire Sunday free to do nothing but watch TV, but I knew that Twitter and my favorite American Idol recappers would give all the results away, and well, we couldn't have that, could we?

So I decided to watch them all, and my nights this week have gone something like this: 

Get home from work...rummage around in the kitchen to find something for dinner...take said dinner to the couch and commence Olympics coverage until David gets home from work...pause Olympics coverage when he gets home, make cursory "how was your day" conversation while he takes off his shoes and takes his place on the couch...hook iPad up to the TV for 2 episodes of House of Cards and sit in front of the TV with mouth hanging open because Frank Underwood did what??...Go upstairs to bed except don't actually go to sleep...Finish Olympics coverage...Prop open eyes with toothpicks and start the 2 hours of American Idol...Realize I have fallen asleep in the middle of a really bad performance...Rewind said performance anyway because don't want to miss a thing...Finally finish American Idol and turn off the light...Check phone only to realize that favorite AI recap has been posted...Fall asleep with phone in hand in the middle of the recap...wake up when my alarm goes off with phone still in hand...Get up and get dressed for work...

...And repeat.

Needless to say, I'm pretty tired. But honestly, it's the good kind of tired. The kind that tells you that you have really accomplished something great. Because smashing seven hours worth of TV into a single evening is no easy feat. It takes years of conditioning and training and an unrivaled love of TV, which we possess in spades.

By this time next week the Olympics will be over, we'll be done with House of Cards, American Idol goes back to its regular twice-a-week format, and I'll finally be able to get a little sleep.

Except, starting on Tuesday, all 25 of my shows that have been on hiatus these past few weeks will be back and my DVR will once again be entirely filled up, just the way I like it.

Who needs sleep anyway?

Happy Blogaversary to Me!

Monday. In case you missed it, over the weekend there was a huge snowstorm in the Northeast. We were buried under about two feet in my neighborhood on Friday night, and spend much of the rest of the weekend digging out. I love a good snowstorm, and this one was particularly epic. But more about that - with pictures - later in the week.

Because today, I have some rather important business to attend to. Yesterday, was a pretty important day. One I feel compelled to mention, and to write about. On February 10, 2012 - one year and one day ago - I started this blog on a whim. It was a dreary Friday afternoon, and I wasn't busy. I had been toying with the idea of writing seriously for some time, and that rainy Friday seemed as good a time as any. So in the space of an hour, I went from regular person, to blogger.

At first, I didn't have too many readers. My family, of course, but that was about it. But still, I wrote. And the more I wrote, the more I needed to write. The words just poured out of my head, and there always seemed to be more. And I read. I discovered other blogs I liked, and bloggers I respected, and I haunted their sites daily. And reading made me a better writer.

And then, about six months into this blogging gig something happened. This past August I linked up a piece I had written with the Yeah Write weekly challenge, and it was there that I discovered my community. And through them, I truly found my voice. I met other smart and talented writers, and, although we have never met in person, they became my friends. All online, we have learned about each others families, offered a hand and a shoulder in times of challenge, supported each other through Hurricane Sandy (because, amazingly, many of these lovely ladies live mere minutes from me), shared funny blizzard stories, and became a kind of family. And for them, I am incredibly grateful.

So, one year later, here I am. Writing, growing, learning, and changing. Just the way it should be. Over the weekend, I was going through my old posts trying to find a way to sum up the past 365 - now 366 - days. And rather than write more words about what this space means to me, I thought I would do a quick run down of my favorite post or two from each of the past twelve months.

Thanks for sticking with me for a whole year. Looking forward to year two.

February 2012

During my first month, I wrote about coming from a family of women who love books, and I wrote about how I can live anywhere as long as I have my romance novels in tow.

March

I was training for my first half-marathon when I started this blog, and one morning in March I had a completely transcendental run, followed almost immediately by an absolutely disastrous run.

April

In April, I took a trip to Israel, and discovered that Israeli women like romance novels too, and I explained my number one rule when I choose the books I read.

May

I recapped my first half-marathon in May, and I read the book Quiet, by Susan Cane, and wrote about how it completely changed my life.

June

In June, I finally read Fifty Shades of Grey, and to my utter astonishment, I really didn't like it.

July

This month I celebrated David's birthday, and the triumphant return of the Summer Olympics.

August

I wrote my very first post for Yeah Write about some very special shoes, and got a little political on the eve of the Republican National Convention.

September

In September, I wrote my very first fiction, and started thinking about our move away from Manhattan that would take place in a few short months.

October

In October, an article CNN published about how women vote based on their monthly cycles infuriated me, and I said goodbye to my favorite place on earth with a post that still makes me tear up every time I read it.

November

I embarked on a 30 day blogging challenge in November, and wrote about my first date with David, in two parts.

December

My mind was on Newtown and Sandy Hook Elementary School in December, and I wrote about gun control, and the comfort of Jewish tradition.

January

And this past month, I celebrated my thirtieth birthday, and remembered a trip I took to crazy-town just a few years ago.

February 2013

Just last week, I wrote about my new morning routine that I love, and tried my hand at a little more fiction.

Countdown to Sochi

If you have been reading this blog for awhile now, you know that I love a good pop culture event, and that my most favorite pop culture event of all is the Olympics. Every two years, in a burst of patriotic pride, I am glued to my TV for the better part of two weeks. I devour news stories about Team USA, and regularly check the medal count. I cheer for ice skaters, gymnasts, runners, swimmers, skiers, and even for the athletes in the more obscure sports like shot-put and bobsled.

This past summer I was, quite literally, consumed with all things London. And when the torch was extinguished, I started counting the days until Sochi - 541 days from the closing ceremonies of the 2012 summer games, if anyone is interested in keeping track of that sort of thing.

Well. This morning, as I was walking to work, I happened upon this sight when I passed Rockefeller Center. Now, being more of a Good Morning America girl myself, I usually walk past Rockefeller Center as fast as possible to avoid the fanatical Today Show crowds. But today, for just a minute, I joined the masses. Because right on the plaza where Matt, Al and Savannah usually make their appearance for the 8:00 hour, stood a fully functional ski slope. And milling around and on the slope were Olympic figure skaters, skiers and broadcasters, all celebrating one year until the 2014 games in Sochi, Russia.

So I stopped to join the celebration. And because when there is a ski slope in Midtown Manhattan, one must pause and enjoy the moment.

I love me some Olympics, and there are only 365 days until they once again grace our TV screens.

Let the countdown begin.

2012: A Year in Review

New Years Eve.

I have spent some time these past few days reading through my blog archives from the past eleven months, trying to find a way to sum up the past year. And I have spent some time reading other bloggers' end of year posts trying to find some inspiration. Some people were posting their favorite blog posts by month. Some were listing all the books they read, or the places they traveled, or their favorite songs. But none of those felt quite right to me, so I decided to do a little bit of everything. Because, well, I am a woman of many interests, and because for me, 2012 included a little bit of everything. And more.

In January I turned 29. My birthday was on a Wednesday, but I celebrated on Saturday night with dinner and my best friends. It felt a little weird to turn 29. Like I should be focused on the fact that this was the last birthday that would have a 2 in front of it, and that 30 was looming in the distance. But I wasn't focused on that. Instead I was focused on the people around me, and how lucky I was to be living this life with them, at any age. And in January I started training for my first half-marathon. I had been running for awhile, and it was time to kick it up. For four months Central Park became my second home, as I circled its loops four times a week and counted the days until the race.

In February I started this blog. It was February 10th. A Friday. It was raw and rainy outside, and I got an idea. An idea for something I wanted to say. I wanted to write about the books I love, and the people I love, and after I wrote my very first sentence of my very first post, the ideas just flowed. And over the past eleven months my blog has taken on a bit of a different flavor, but I am so proud of it, and will be forever grateful for that first spark of inspiration on an otherwise ordinary day.

In March D and I started talking about moving. About leaving our apartment in New York City and venturing out to parts unknown. About buying a house and another car and becoming suburbanites. We looked at our first couple of houses, and thought how it would probably take months and months to find the right one for us. I fumed over the rhetoric about abortion and contraception coming from the federal and state governments, and took to my blog to express my outrage. And in March we boarded a plane late on a Saturday night and flew to Israel for a 10 day vacation on the beaches of Tel Aviv. And in a Tel Aviv mall I discovered that Israeli women love romance novels too, and my heart sang.

In April I spent the last days of Passover in Pittsburgh surrounded by family. I battled a running injury I thought might keep me out of the half marathon that was a mere four weeks away, and we made our first offer on a house we loved, but walked away after a week-long bidding war. And in April I read Nora Roberts' new book The Witness, fell instantly in love with the premier of Shonda Rhimes' new show Scandal, and bid farewell to One Tree Hill, a show that I had been watching since its premier my junior year in high school.

In May I went back to Pittsburgh to run the race. It was an unseasonably hot day that felt more like the end of July than the beginning of May. For three hours I joined thousands of other people to run the streets of the city I love. And there were some dicey miles, but I finished strong. It was my biggest accomplishment to date. And in May I read Nora Roberts' The Last Boyfriend, the incredible book Quiet by Susan Cain, and the less than incredible Fifty Shades of Gray trilogy.

In June we went to see the house that would ultimately be ours. The first time we saw it I couldn't see the potential, but D did, and twenty-four hours of negotiations later, the contracts were being drawn up, and plans were being made, and I started thinking about what it would feel like to live somewhere that wasn't Manhattan. I discovered Bunheads, a new TV show by the creator of Gilmore Girls, one of my favorite shows of all time, and spent some happy Monday nights with the quirky characters of Paradise, CA. And I stayed up until 4am one night just to finish Gillian Flynn's incomparable thriller Gone Girl.

In July we flew to Cleveland for the weekend to visit my sister and brother-in-law and to smother my little niece with love and presents, and I started the torturous process of applying for a mortgage. I watched in horror with the rest of the nation as news broke of a gunman inside a movie theater in Colorado, and I watched with excitement and glee as the Queen of England declared the Games of the 30th Olympiad open. I watched hours and hours of Olympics, and managed to make some time for the miniseries Political Animals, and the delicious debauchery of Bachelor Pad.

In August I suffered from a post-Olympics hangover and entered my very first blogging competition. I was approved for a mortgage. I watched the Republican National Convention and struggled with how I, a pro-choice, pro-marriage equality Republican, could fit into this modern incarnation of the Party. And in August we found out there was an open permit on our house and that our closing would be delayed, and traded a million e-mails with our lawyer and our mortgage company trying to get it sorted out.

In September we took a late night drive to the Jersey Shore to celebrate Labor Day Weekend and I spent a day looking back eleven years. We celebrated the Jewish holidays, and I wrote my first piece of fiction. We closed on our new house, and I started writing about the nostalgia I felt for leaving the home I had known for more than seven years. The twenty-one TV shows that I watch on a regular basis came back from their summer hiatuses, and my DVR was once again filled to capacity.

In October we celebrated our two year wedding anniversary with dinner and dessert on our living room couch. I started counting down to my last run in Central Park, and started thinking about packing boxes, and whether our cable would be hooked up in time so I didn't miss any of my shows. I wrote a post I love about the female vote, and I took my last Central Park run (or so I thought). And in October our move to the new house was delayed by three days as New York City was devastated by Hurricane Sandy and her aftermath.

In November I took my actual last run in Central Park, we moved into our new house and commenced six weeks without a kitchen as our construction was finished, and I entered a challenge to blog every day of the month. The third book in Nora Roberts' Boonsboro Inn trilogy was released, and it saved my sanity during our first real weekend in our house. D built our kitchen cabinets, I started learning the streets of our new neighborhood, and I saw camels on 51st Street on my way to work. I spent Thanksgiving with my family in Pittsburgh, and I celebrated with my best friend when she got engaged. I finally unpacked my romance novel collection, and spent some serious quality time on my new couch in front of the TV.

In December I got my first blogging award, and saw those camels again. The construction on our house finally came to an end, and I started cooking in my brand new kitchen. My heart broke for the Sandy Hook community as they struggled to make sense out of a tragedy, and I grieved alongside one of the families as they laid their little boy to rest. I finally got my running mojo back, and spent a cozy night in our new home in front of the fireplace.

What a year indeed.

Happy New Year.

Here's to 2013.

Easing Back Into Life

For sixteen glorious days, I was completely and utterly consumed by the Olympics. I stayed up late, woke up early, and was extraordinarily unproductive in any part of my life that did not involve medal counts and NBC Olympics coverage. I watched hours and hours of coverage on TV, and I streamed it on the internet (thank you NBC for this amazing fuel for my Olympics obsession). I read articles, and watched highlights. I followed my favorite athletes on Twitter, and learned more facts about their personal lives, training habits, and eating regimens than anyone would ever need to know, save the athletes themselves.

I sat glued to my TV as athletes from 204 countries marched into Olympic stadium for opening ceremonies. I welcomed the veteran athletes to my living room, and wondered for them whether these games would measure up to their last. I cheered for the young athletes, and got excited for all their Olympic appearances to come. And I felt nostalgic as some of the best finished their final races and played their final games, having announced that these Olympics would be their last.

I get a tiny bit fanatical about major (and lets be honest, minor) pop culture moments. And the Olympics is the biggest pop culture game in town. 

So, now that the torch has been extinguished, the athletes have gone home, and "London 2012" has been replaced with "Rio 2016," what's a girl to do? I could start counting down to the 2014 winter games (541 days, in case anyone is interested), but that seems a little obsessive, even for me. So instead, I'll spend the week setting my DVR to tape the Olympians' appearances on The Today Show, Good Morning America, The Late Show, The Tonight Show, and the like. And I will read articles about how London is cleaning up, and shaking off the hangover of a two-week long party. And I will ponder what NBC does with Bob Costas in between Olympic games, and why he never, ever seems to age. And I will go back to my regularly scheduled TV shows that have been sadly neglected as I soaked in Olympic glory - not because I reached my television-watching capacity, if there even is such a thing, but simply because there weren't enough hours in the day to fit it all in. I had to sleep sometime. 

But before all that happens, I think we should take a moment to honor the most transcendent athletes of the summer Olympic games. A group that made these Olympics something to remember, and who made history with their sheer numbers, soaring achievements and stunning poise. I am talking about the U.S. female gold medal winners. 

For the first time in history, women outnumbered men on the U.S. Olympic team 269-261. Our women athletes accounted for 63% of the gold medals won by the U.S. team, winning 29 out of 46. They set five world records across two sports. If the United States women were their own country, they would tie for third place in total gold medals won in this Olympic games. That is something to talk about. 

There are a lot of them, and they are worth mentioning. Our biggest congratulations and heartfelt thanks to: Claire Donahue, Katie Ledecky, Rachel Bootsma, Jessica Hardy, Shannon Vreeland, Missy Franklin, Breeja Larson, Allison Schmitt, Allyson Felix, Dana Vollmer, Rebecca Soni, Aly Raisman, Gabby Douglas, Carmelita Jeter, Sanya Richards-Ross, Serena Williams, Venus Williams, Dee Dee Trotter, Lauryn Williams, Kayla Harrison, Kim Rhode, Kerri Walsh Jennings, Misty May-Treanor, Jamie Gray, Jenn Suhr, Kristin Armstrong, Keshia Baker, Alyssa Anderson, Diamond Dixon, Brittney Reese, Bianca Knight, Jeneba Tarmoh, Tianna Madison, Claressa Shields, Lauren Perdue, Francena McCorory, and the U.S. women’s gymnastics team, soccer team, basketball team, water polo team, and women’s eight rowing team.

We are amazed. And we are proud. 

What was your favorite moment of the London games? Are you, as I am, suffering from Summer Olympics withdrawal?

Passing the Torch

Until 2016. See You in Rio.

Runners Never Settle

It was a night for U.S. runners at London's Olympic Stadium. 

Ashton Eaton and Trey Hardee take Gold and Silver in the Men's Decathlon. 

10 Events. 2 Days. World's Greatest Athletes.

Manteo Mitchell runs the first leg of the preliminary round of the Men's 4x400 relay with a broken leg. A post race x-ray showed that Mitchell suffered a complete break of his left fibula.

His team wins the heat.

After the race he was quoted as saying "As soon as I took the first step past the 200-meter mark, I felt it break. I heard it. I even put out a little war cry, but the crowd was so loud you couldn't hear it. I just wanted to lie down. I saw Josh Mance motioning me in for me to hand (the baton) off to him, which lifted me. I didn't want to let those three guys down, or the team down, so I just ran on it. Every step I took, it got more painful. But I was out there already. I just wanted to finish and do what I was called in to do...Even though track is an individual sport, you've got three guys depending on you."

Tianna Madison, Jeneba Tarmoh, Bianca Knight, and Lauryn Williams win their preliminary heat of the Women's 4x100 Meter Relay

They cross the finish line nearly one full second ahead of the second place finishers.

Golden Girls

Threepeat. 

Quotable Wednesdays 7: Highlights

Because I love me some Olympics, for the next 2 Wednesday, Quotable Wednesdays becomes Amazing Photo Highlight Wednesdays. Check out the pictures below for the best highlights of Olympics Day 11.

Olympic Highlight of the Day

Lashinda Demus Wins Her 400m Hurdles Semifinal

To Cheers of "GO MOMMY" From Her Twin Boys in the Stands

For more Olympic moments from London see This, This, and This

Runner Wins Gold

"I'm going to lay my gold medal on top of his Super Bowl Rings"

Sanya Richards-Ross

Olympic Gold Medalist - Women's 400 Meter

Wife of former New York Giants Cornerback Aaron Ross

God I love runners.

Quotable Wednesdays 6: Pictures

Because I love me some Olympics, for the next 2 Wednesday, Quotable Wednesdays becomes Amazing Photo Highlight Wednesdays. I may or may not have been up until the early hours of the morning watching the U.S. Fab Five take gold, and Michael Phelps become the most decorated Olympian of all time. So worth it. Check out the pictures below for the best highlights of Olympics Day 4.

Olympic Moments

They're here! This past Friday night, the world watched as the Queen of England declared the games of the 30th Olympiad open. The athletes marched, the crowd cheered, and Great Britain staged a gorgeous spectacle complete with James Bond, David Beckham, the Royal Family, and hundreds of Mary Poppins look-alikes falling from the sky. Can't get better than that right?

What has followed since the Opening Ceremonies is three days of tears, heartbreak, and overwhelming triumph. And I can't get enough. In predictable fashion, I watched it all. Every minute of the opening ceremonies, and many, many hours of the TV coverage since then. God bless NBC for live-streaming every event, and then showing the major highlights every night in a four-hour prime time broadcast.

For two weeks every two years (Winter Olympics, I dearly love you too), this is how I get. The heady mix of pop culture moments and sporting event history is more than enough to send me into a euphoric haze. For those of you who are not quite as passionately obsessed as I am, I thought I would take today to count down my five most memorable Olympic moments from the first three days of the games. Not necessarily the most triumphant (although a lot of them are), but the ones that we will remember, and the ones that we will continue to talk about long after the Olympic torch leaves London and heads to Rio for 2016.

5. U.S. Earns Medals in Men's and Women's Synchronized Diving

It has been twelve years since the United States won a diving medal. In two days in London, they won two. U.S. men's pair David Boudia and Nick McCrory and U.S. women's pair Kelci Bryant and Abby Johnston won bronze and silver, respectively, in synchronized diving. If you have never seen a synchronized diving competition, get ye to YouTube immediately, because this was absolutely amazing to watch.

4. Jordyn Wieber Fails to Make Gymnastics All-Around Finals

Never since the "Magnificent Seven" of 1996 has the United States had such high hopes for a Women's Gymnastics team. Well, the Magnificent Seven have become the Fabulous Five, and they are heavily favored to win the team competition, and unseat China as the best gymnasts in the world. But before the team finals could start, the top eight countries had to qualify, which the U.S. did, spectacularly. But the dark cloud over the team finals is favorite Jordyn Wieber's failure to make the all-around finals. Only two athletes from each team can enter the all-around finals, and Jordyn just missed the mark. She burst into tears as the scoreboard flashed teammate Ali Raisman's floor routine score, dashing her hopes for individual all-around gold. 

3. Misty and Kerri Win Again

Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh Jennings have won 31 straight sets in their Olympic career, which has now spanned twelve years. That means that, in all the years they have competed in the Olympic games, they have never lost a single set. Not one. Their streak continued last night, when they beat the Czech Republic, continuing their quest for three straight Olympic gold medals. What makes their quest even more spectacular is that many thought they would never make it to London. In the years since Beijing, Misty May tore her achilles and retired. Kerri had two children. But despite the fits and struggles, they returned to the London Olympics in fine form, in the hunt for gold.

2. Lochte Soars, Phelps Stumbles. Or Do They?

Phelps v. Lochte. Lochte v. Phelps. Its the world's longest running soap opera, and it is playing out before our very eyes. On Sunday, Ryan Lochte won gold in the Men's 400 IM, and Phelps, for the first time in twelve years, failed to make it to the podium. So is Lochte 2012 the new Phelps 2008? Probably not, judging from Sunday's freestyle relay and yesterday's 200 Free. So maybe all the Lochte-lovers spoke to soon when they anointed this man the God of London 2012? Or maybe this media-manufactured rivalry is causing the missteps? It's anyone's guess. There is lots of swimming over the next few days, so we'll see what we see.

1. Swimming Has a New Golden Girl: Missy Franklin Wins Women's 100m Backstroke 

During the Olympic Trials last month, I fell in love with this unaffected 17 year old from Colorado. An effervescent high-school student, Missy Franklin has turned down lucrative endorsement deals so that she can remain eligible to swim for her school's team. And she is fierce. Last night, she swam a race to qualify for the Women's 200 freestyle finals. She then jumped into the diving well after receiving special permission from the Olympic officials to do so, to cool down and then warm right back up, because she was swimming in the finals of the 100 backstroke 10 minutes later. She won gold in the 100 back, and set a new American record. Expect to see her smiling face lighting up your Wheaties boxes any day now. 

And as if we didn't love her enough after her amazing back-to-back races, when she stepped up to the podium to receive her gold medal, the announcers let the crowd know that Missy hails from Aurora, Colorado, the site of the Dark Knight movie theater shooting. Bob Costas then cut to a pre-taped shot of Missy's high school friends watching her race from Colorado, and cheering their hearts out when she won. And the tears fall.

BONUS MOMENT THAT NEEDS NO EXPLANATION - Ali Raisman's Parents Watch Her Uneven Bar Routine, Hilariously

Tuesday Round Up

As a whole I am pretty optimistic. Happy even. Funny sometimes. But there is just this one thing. One little bit of gloom in my otherwise sunny existence. And that little bit of gloom is Tuesday. Weird, right? I know. But since the beginning of my professional career four years ago, Tuesday is simply a day I don't enjoy. Some people (most people) feel this way about Monday. But not me. For me, it's Tuesday. Tuesday is the day I can't get out of bed, the day I can't find anything to wear. The day I accidentally miss my subway stop because I was reading an Entertainment Weekly recap of The Bachelorette, and have to go down to 42nd Street and turn around. True story. It happened this morning. 

Needless to say, on Tuesday I look for a little something to brighten the day. And usually, I find something fun. So starting today, every Tuesday, I am going to start sharing these little bits of excitement.

So what, you may ask, is brightening my today?

First, a story. 

In a few short weeks, London will host the 2012 Summer Olympics. I am, quite literally, counting the days until the opening ceremonies. I love the Olympics. Every two years, in a burst of patriotic pride, I am glued to my TV for the better part of two weeks. I devour news stories about Team USA, and regularly check the medal count. I cheer for ice skaters, gymnasts, runners, swimmers, skiers, and even for the athletes in the more obscure sports like shot-put and bobsled.

I'm not exactly sure where this complete obsession with all things Olympics started. It might have been when I was in fifth grade in the Winter of 1994 and stayed up way past my bedtime to watch Nancy Kerrigan's silver medal performance at the Lillehammer Games. Or it might have been in the Summer of 2004 when our family vacation was cancelled due to hurricane, and we instead spent the two weeks at home, watching on our brand new HD TV as Michael Phelps swam to six gold medals in Athens. But whenever it was, at this point, I am well and truly hooked.

And while I love all Olympic games, the Summer Games are my bread and butter. So I am completely psyched for London.

So what does this have to do with shining a bright spot on my otherwise mundane Tuesday? Well, I discovered something recently. I discovered that a few weeks before the Olympics, there are  Olympic Trials to determine which hopefuls will represent Team USA come the end of July. I always knew, of course, that these Trials happened, but I never watched them. Until this year, that is. And let me just say, I have been missing out. Because watching Olympic Trials is nearly as exciting as watching the  Olympics themselves. I held my breath last night when Ryan Lochte beat Michael Phelps in the men's 400 IM final. And I celebrated with Elizabeth Beisel and Caitlin Leverenz as they made the  Olympic team in their own 400 IM final. It's like watching the  Olympics twice - once in June and once in July. A huge, extra-special bonus for those who know to watch. 

Well, this year, I'm in the know. As I type this, my DVR is recording six hours of swimming and track and field semifinals, and will record another hour of prime time swimming coverage tonight. And that's just for today. Obsessed? Perhaps. But I'm good with that.

If you, too, are looking for a lift to your Tuesday, I suggest you check out these videos from nbc.com of the 30 greatest olympic moments. And then tune in tonight to find out who we will all be cheering for in July. I promise you, you won't be sorry.

Happy Tuesday!