Bachelor Wk 2: Home is where the heart is

Welcome back to week 2 of abc the bachelor commentary. Each week I will share what happened on the show as well as share my views. This week the ladies’ all went to Ben’s hometown of Sonoma, CA., where is wine vineyard is located. He has two  single dates and a group date of 12 women.

I have incredible memories of growing up here and it’s important that I share that with these women

Ben & Kacie One on One Date

He shares his hometown with her, showing her around including a cute novelty store where she shows him how to twirl a baton. Then they go to the local theater and see home movies of each other growing up, it’s sad for him seeing his dad in the movies. She gets the rose and gets closer to him. I feel that she’s a great girl  and she is fitting right in with his life so far.

Group Date

Ben and the women went to the park to do auditions for a community theater play written by the children of Sonoma. None of the women expected children but they all auditioned for the roles in the play. After auditions they went to the theater and got into costumes. of Prince Peno in bachelorville, with characters ranging from a weasel to a princess. The play ended in applause to the prince and princess being united. After that the women and Ben went swimming. Some of the girls shined while others failed. Blakely stood out in that she was clingy and hogging his attention, she did get the rose but I felt that rose belonged to Jennifer who let the real her shine in this date.

Ben & Courtney  One on One Date

He brought his dog Scotch along on the date with Courtney , enjoying a ride in the countryside. They walked on the local trail and hiked though the woods .Scotch was so cute with his little howls I just wanted to take him home. Ben is totally blown away by Courtney and so is his dog.  They then had a candlelight dinner in his vineyard. She got the rose and was safe another week. I’m still not thrilled by her but she held her own on the date.

Rose Ceremony

Kacie, Courtney, Blakely, Monica, Elyse, Jennifer, Emily, Jamie, Rachel, Samantha, Nicki, Brittany, Erika, linzie

( 7 out of 16 picks )

This meant that Shawn and Jenna both were sent home this week. (Picture Credits: from abc.com)

Bachelor 1: Where is the love ?

It’s time for another  abc the bachelor season and I’ve decided to bring back my weekly blog post about the shows, each post will come out by at least Wed morning. I decided to forget about my regular preview post and jump right into the first episode.  Since this is a commentary recap I will not be going in exact order of how the events happened.

Last season of the bachelorette we got to know the future bachelor as he romanced Ashley and opened up about his life. While she turned him down for JP, he captured america’s hearts and is now this years bachelor.

BEN FLAJNIK

 Ben lives in Sonoma, CA and is a winemaker at his family’s vineyard. His background is in business, Internet Advertising. After losing his father he moved back home to take over the winery. He also loves dogs, owning a jack Russell terrier named Scotch. he feels that he would have regretted not laying his heart on the line for Ashley but is now healed and ready to find true love.

One hopes that you can find love at any point in time and If I can find it as the bachelor I’m all for it.

The woman had a variety of pickup lines and actions to get his attention : Brittany brought along her grandma, Holly wore a huge hat to represent her Kentucky roots, Jenna tried to quote him and messed up, Emily was bold and give him the first kiss of the night, Samantha came in wearing a beauty queen sash,  Amber tried to do 2nd change walk around, Shira’s statement she knows it all about wine backfired, Dianna got the giggles, Jennifer bored with the numbers, Lyndsie wrote up a goofy poem, Anna walked right past with a hi, Kacie was just adorable, the top entrance was Linzdi on her horse ! The worst pick up line was from Amber who claimed to be the baconator ; um yeah that totally lost my interest.

 Now on to fashion most of the dresses were nice  but there was some that stood out or at least got my curiosity: Erika’s dress looked gorgeous but was suprized she was a law student.Anyone else think of Vampire girl from last season when they saw Casey’s dress ? Also, Holly’s hat was overkill it overshadowed her whole outfit. Best dress goes to Rachel, it was classic in red yet added a bit of sparkle loved it.

Emily after her love rap

Ben’s solo times with the woman were interesting: Rachel starts off with simple chat then the bombshell ( She left her job for the show ), Nicki believes everything happens for a reason and she impressed him. Lindzi’s grape story was cute but I thought the first impression rose should have gone to Emily, she won me over with that romance rap( could someone hook me up with the lyrics ). Elyse I’m not sure I would have made the bachelor do push ups but I guess it worked , he picked you. The candy ploy was not interesting and immature. Courtney enough of the hair playing ( not all of us want you for your looks ). 

Monica started out being liked mentioning her dog but quickly went down to the bottom of my list, it’s not cool to pick on others and threaten and why on earth would you be on the bachelor if your flirting with other women , she was openly flirting with Blakely which was also chosen to stay ( guess they can continue there  love affair ).

Why must everyone be picking on Jenna (I’ve heard rumors she was drunk but I’m not so sure ). It seems to me that she doesn’t handle confrontation well and she’s really insecure.  I know what that’s like, I used to be insecure and it makes you assess everything you say and do and criticize yourself when you do anything wrong. I am so glad he let her stay another week to prove herself, now lets how she doesn’t dig herself a hole.

Jenna and Ben

The whole argument was valid I mean I’m siding with Jenna, ( your here for the guy cause your attracted to him not cause of the competition duh), they show also overplayed the whole incident .  Rachel was a sweetie for trying to be a mediator and a good listener, I think Jenna and Rachel will be good friends in the house. It’s like as soon as the women showed up and met each other rarr the claws came out as did all the opinions of each other, they seem to be focusing on the drama and not as much on the romance which is a pain. This show is my weekly dose of romance and all the drama got me down.

Out of the  18 bachlorettes selected 9 of them were my picks for the season (my picks in bold):

Rachel, Monica, Jenna,Blakely, Jamie, Nicki,Emily, Jennifer,Kacie B, Casey, Lindzi, Brittany, Erika, Shawn,Elyse, Samantha, Courtney, Jaclyn. ( Jenna recieved the final rose of the night )

Sadly this means that the two Ambers, Shira, Lyndsie, Holly, Anna, and Dianna were sent home. next week the bachelorettes start their dates and the sparks will fly.

Vacation Tales- Charleston SC

Day 1-

left detroit at 7 am arriving in Baltimore early, well this was to my disadvantage I thought I had more time than I did. I was away from the gate when they boarded and so they had to page me. I take my bag down the flight stairs to find out I was the last person on the plane. Got to Charleston around 11 am and headed to the hotel. dropped off my bag then found the trolley that went to downtown, did lots of walking to get to aquarium and then lunch then back to trolley , so I didn’t get back to hotel till around 5 pm. except for dinner my meals were great that day.

Day 2-

started the day out early and headed back to the trolley, got dropped off downtown and walked to the different houses and museums to see things and did some shopping on king street which is the major shopping district of the town. went to another great restaurant downtown and headed home early. Decided to check out the nightlife in Charleston and the bar scene, went to two bars O’Malley and Tommy Codons ( mostly i ended up with blisters on my feet from the walk in heels across town and a decent meal, then men were not interested).

Day 3-

started out the day with a harbor tour which was fun and entertaining, learned a lot about Charleston and got a whole new view of the area. Then that evening went to Folly Beach and saw the ocean. Wow what a sight it was gorgeous, wish it hadn’t been as crowded but the upside was that i had the inside of the restaurant I went to all to myself since everyone else wanted an outdoor table.  It seems all the men who are flirtatious and nice to me are taken, just my luck. Finally got back to the room around 10 pm.

Day 4-

My last full day in Charleston and it started out with going to Boone Hall, a plantation on the outskirts of mt pleasant, sc (filming location of North and South and Queen). The gardens were beautiful as was the house. The carriage tour left a bit to be desired, half the tour as about farming and crops (which im sure to the city folk was fascinating but to me from rural Michigan it was boring I wanted history). I mean why go on a tour when I can just go to my local farm across town.  Finished my day by exploring the downtown by now I knew the streets and my way back to the trolley route.

Day 5-

spent most of the day in airports from 6 am-2 pm. It was odd going from slow Charleston to  fast paced  Chicago was a bit disorienting, such different ways of life between the two.

I did around 10 miles walking during my week away and I learned to relax, enjoy life and not stress out over the little things. Saved my biggest news for last I’m getting a Wii as an early birthday present. It’s just the basics for now  but later will get Wii fit plus and planning on turning the basement into a fitness and lounge area, totally mine to decorate as I want.

For all my photos please visit my Facebook page its in albums under Charleston only half of photos are up now still have to upload the rest http://www.facebook.com/lorrie.brooks

How Do You Know A-

I recently got to see this movie on pay per view and it was well worth the time. Despite some bad reviews I totally got the message of this film and am glad it was put out there. Sometimes in this world of love prospects and wrong turns, it’s hard to know when you’ve found that right one to spend the rest of your life with. Life has a way of surprizing you and then out of the blue you figure it out

 

Lisa (Witherspoon) an athlete whose life’s path is altered is on the road to finding mr right yet has  issues fiquring out who that is. Her current boyfriend Matty (Wilson) is a bit self-absorbed yet he had his moments or  new friend George (Rudd) who seems like an opposite yet totally gets her.

This tale of love lives is an adventure from the start, the writers tie up all the loose ends by the end of the movie and they manage to keep the viewer on track with the storyline. The path of this tale makes sense and with the few extra characters added in makes an  intersting story, a serious love tale yet comical and lighthearted. 

The main actors do an awesome job of portraying their characters, I felt for them and wanted them to be happy in the end. The comical addition of legend Jack Nicholson, who plays George’s father added to the value of this movie.  George’s father adds to the stress of his life yet they understand each other perfectly.

The only negatives of the movie were that they didn’t focus much on Lisa’s personal life more on George’s and they never told what life path she choose we are just left to assume she picked the right guy and ended up happy.I would recommend this movie as either one to see with friends or with your mate it suits both purposes and will stir up some great conversations afterwards.