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Monday Musings: On burgers, hotel beds and backlash.

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Good Monday to you. Here are some of the random, wacky things on my mind this week:

shake_shack_burger

I don’t know if you heard, but I’m trying to be a vegetarian. Except for the cheeseburger I ate this weekend in NYC at Shake Shack. Or the brisket and sausage at Hill Country. But now, back on the horse.

I love hotels. There’s something icky about them, especially if you really think about it: all those people in and out of the same rooms night after night, how quickly you can really sanitize a bathroom or “clean” a carpet. But I relish a nice, upscale hotel experience. For one, I sleep better. I find the orderliness and luxury of the room relaxing, the beds warm, soft and comforting, and when you have few personal effects to distract you, that’s all there is to do: watch TV, read a book, sleep. And then there’s room service. Bliss.

Have you all been following the flack about Anne Hathaway following the Oscars last week? I didn’t realize so many people are annoyed by her. However, she’s always been on my list of actresses I irrationally hate. None of them have ever done anything to me, and I actually think some been amazing and charismatic in certain roles. I loved Anne in Les Mis, Renee Zellweger in Cold Mountain AND Bridget Jones, January Jones in Mad Men. But then there’s Scarlett Johansson. Gwyneth Paltrow. Taylor Swift sort of counts, and Kate Hudson and Katie Holmes are dangerously close to being officially included. Who might be on your list?

Who designs most women’s pants? What’s with the weird placement of pockets that make our hips look bigger?

Speaking of Mad Men, I heard a rumor that it returns to us in April. You have no idea how happy that makes me. No idea.

Have a good week, all.

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Monday Musings: On Oscars, beets and more Downton Abbey.

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Good Monday to you. As we recover from our Oscars hangovers, here are some of the random, wacky things on my mind this week:

When the book “Life of Pi” came out several years ago, we tried to read it for a book club. But none of us made it past page 10, since I remember it being a little … abstract. With all the hoopla about the movie at the Oscars last night, I’m wondering if it needs a second chance. Have you read it? The whole thing, I mean. What do you recommend?

I went to dinner with six friends recently, and every single one of us loves beets. That’s odd, no? Surely not the statistical norm.

Have you all recovered from last week’s shock ending on Downton Abbey? ***BEWARE: Spoilers afoot.*** Luckily, I was able to watch it as it aired, though I already knew. When DA was airing in the U.K., The Daily Mail was not polite enough to bury their spoilery headlines, so I accidentally read about both Sybil and Matthew, but just not how it would go down. For the entire episode, I sat on pins and needles waiting for the figurative (or literal) axe to fall — and I was pretty convinced something was going to go terribly awry during the Scottish hunt. Alas, it’ll open up a new chapter. DA is filming Season 4 now so let’s hope we don’t have long to wait.

One thing to know about me: I almost always say the wrong thing, or at least it seems that way in my head. Call it social anxiety or whatever, but I can trip over my words or they can come out in totally the wrong tone or level of confidence I intended when I’m caught off guard or meeting new people or intimidated. Well, the other day my boss introduced me in a meeting as “Whitney Houston.” Thank the good Lord — other people do it too!

Isn’t it weird how you can stave off a cold with stress? How you don’t really start to feel unwell until you start relaxing? Well, my saving grace — given my recent travels and lack of sleep — is Zicam. The orange melty ones. That’s prevented me from getting sick about 17 times in the last 4 days. A miracle product.

Have a good week, all.