Cougar Town, that hilarious town

If you're not watching "Cougar Town", you MUST MUST MUST. I have the first season on DVD which you're welcome to borrow. It is the funniest show on TV (in addition to "Parks and Recreation")- and yes, I'll argue that to the death.

If you do watch the first season, it takes a few episodes for the show to find itself. It was originally a show about a 40-something "cougar" in Florida, but quickly became the new "Friends". The show stars Courtney Cox as Jules, a sassy real-estate agent with a white-trash assistant Laurie. Jules has an golf-pro ex-husband, Bobby Cobb (who drives around town in a golf cart), who she is still friends with and who is also pretty white-trash and consistently broke. They are best friends with Jules' next door neighbors, Andy and Ellie and they are all friends with their other neighbor Grayson (nicknamed "Tiny Eyes"), who makes up songs on the fly which are actually hilarious. They all drink a lot together and are constantly making fun of each other in a hilarious but good-hearted way.Like "Friends" before it, "Cougar Town" episodes are a whole lot of funny, but are generally funny because of the characters and less because of the plot.

If I were a talented writer, I could write the show up in a way that sends you to Netflix POST HASTE, but alas, I am not, and so you will need to just take my word for it. Trust me, I have impeccable taste in TV.

"Cougar Town" is an underdog of the TV world right now, as it has a devoted cult following but keeps getting put off the same way that "Scrubs" did. In attempts to get itself out there, they have done some cross-over with "Community", and Jules and Elly can be seen wandering through random shows, such as "Private Practice". It is this off-beat, un-Hollywood approach that makes the show so additionally lovable and I am rooting for it with all my might.

Check it out NOW - and when you find yourself falling over laughing, pass the word along!!

Woody Allen

Last night Jason and I watched two Woody Allen movies.

First we watched Midnight in Paris, a much-buzzed about movie that is predicted to be nominated for Oscars. It was funny and well worth a watch - although it seems that even Woody knows that it is not representative of his best work.

Having been delighted by that film, I threw in my all-time favorite Woody Allen movie, Everyone Says I Love You. If you've never seen it, you REALLY REALLY must. The film is an ode to the movie musical and honors the traditions of musicals like Singin' in the Rain. It is incredibly funny and has a star-studded cast including Alan Alda, Goldie Hawn, a young Ed Norton, Drew Barrymore, Julia Roberts, Tim Roth and even a young Natalie Portman. I am blown away by this movie every single time I see it and it is definitely a member of my top-10 favorite movies (which list also includes Amadeus and Jaws, but that's for another post...)

Woody Allen can be very hit-or-miss, but his creativity is astounding when he chooses to exercise it. What is your favorite Woody Allen movie?

Honeymooners

A honeymoon is a nice thing, even if you've been a couple for 13 years by the time you go.

Actually, this was our first real vacation together, can you believe it??? We go back and forth to Chicago a lot, and we had gone to Philly and L.A. for weddings, but other than that, nada. Also, while Jason has gone on vacation with friends over the years, this was my first real vacation since we met.

We went to the Dominican Republic for 8 days and stayed at a resort called Royal Catalonia Bavaro. Neither Jason nor myself had ever been to the Dominican Republic, and this was also our first stay at an all-inclusive resort.

The resort was nice and right on the beach. The food was not great and gave my stomach quite a challenge. It was interesting to mingle with people from all over the world and I appreciated not being with a bunch of Americans.

The key to our honeymoon was the room, which was great because of our deck. The room itself was a 2-level suite with a loft-style bedroom area and it was nice to have the space. Our deck was great!!!!! It was fairly private and we had such a large plunge pool that we didn't have to go to the resort's pool at all. That had been the thing that we wanted most for our honeymoon and this room totally delivered. Plus we could see the beach from our pool, and it was amazing to sit out and read in the evening with the sounds of the ocean.

We loved spending every day, all day laying by the pool and then at night we watched DVD's that we had brought with. I really loved spending a week doing something that I can't do at home.

We are back in the U.S. now. By the end of the vacation, I was definitely ready to come home and sleep in my own bed, eat my own food and snuggle my cats.

All in all, I would not return to the DR (although I'm glad to say that I've been) and probably would not do another all-inclusive. As a choice for our honeymoon, this was a great choice and I'm so glad we were able to go.

The question is...where do we go next??