Hilariously enough I was randomly chosen to be a beta tester for the upcoming Cataclysm expansion pack for World of Warcraft. Serious gamers around the world are now giving me the finger in earnest I assure you. I only recently started playing WoW again in the last few weeks after not touching the game for probably six months. So far I’ve only played Cataclysm for a few hours. I made a Worgen (aka werewolf) which I promptly christened “WatsonTKitty.”

Now every time I’m asked to do something serious — you know like save the world, everyone is pleading for WatsonTKitty to help. It cracks me up. I know…I know. I’m a total geek.

Gilneas, where Worgen characters start their journey, is very Dickensian which really speaks to my inner anglophile. Although I’m pretty annoyed that you can’t create a female Worgen character yet. When I finally can I think I’ll name her “Mini-Me.” Just kidding!

I also made a girlie girl goblin which I drive around the little goblin town in a car. I’m terrible at this so I inevitably keep running over the villagers who angrily yell things back like, “I’m going to sue!” I’d share a picture with you but the goblins have been disabled for days now due to a crashing issue.

Below is an image of my current favorite non-beta character, Deyadora, and her pet “Catra.” I recently leveled Deyadora, who is a Blood Elf hunter to level 36. The reason I snapped this screenshot was A. my cat jumped on the bed in this cottage — hmm…just like in real life and B. there was pineapple wallpaper on the walls. Adorable!

Oh boy…what to say.  I alternated between disliking and loving this book practically every other chapter. In the end I think I finally decided that I liked it but do yourself a favor and read it at a beach while you’re slathered in sunscreen. I think it will come off in a more positive light with a little personal atmosphere.

One of the problems I had with The Carrie Diaries was simply that it would have been much more interesting had it not been framed as a Young Adult novel. Now, before anyone jumps down my throat I adore YA. I eat it up weekly with a fork and spoon, but since the general audience of Sex and the City is decidedly not the 13-17 set in 2010 (or maybe it is…I think they’re more in-tune to Miley Cyrus and Justin Bieber at the moment though) it doesn’t seem to make sense to release the title as YA. Why not spice it up a bit and ship it off to the adult market ? Just because YA is super hot right now doesn’t mean that every mainstream author needs to release books in the genre. It’s total overkill.

That being said it was entertaining to watch Carrie morph into shades of the woman, writer, and fashionista that she becomes later in life. I feared that the outfits Bushnell would describe her wearing would sound way too much like a Claudia Kishi out take from a Baby-Sitters Club book but much to my chagrin clothes weren’t really mentioned very much. Carrie sports a mink stole of her grandmother’s at one point and has the dead animals heads drink beer at a bar — that’s about as quintessentially Carrie as the fashion gets. It’s been a long time since I read the original book though so I may be basing my thoughts on how the character should dress a little too much on the Carrie from the television show.

The Carrie Diaries opens in Carrie’s senior year of high school. The class of 1980 is filled with your typical cliques and Carrie pals around with some interesting characters including:

Mouse — the brainy plain friend
Lali — the competitive frenemy
Maggie — the neurotic romantic
Walt — the gay BFF (who only comes out half way through the book but believe me this isn’t really a spoiler as you’ll see it coming a mile away)
Sebastian Kydd — the bad boy

Sound familiar? Yes, it’s all a little too cookie cutter. The strength of the book was almost always internal scenes where we are granted access to Carrie’s inner thoughts, feelings, and confusion over her future: to go to Brown or not to go to Brown, whether or not to lose her virginity, and how to deal with her broken family.  Yes, Carrie actually has a family. Two younger sisters, a scientist father who cries at the drop of a hat, and a dead mother.

The love interest, Sebastian Kydd, (to be frank) is a total dick and it’s excruciating watching Carrie attempt to date him. He’s definitely no Mr. Big.

In the end what I enjoyed the most was the sprinkling of 70s and 80s references to pop culture and I loved that Carrie and her friends were constantly going to their small town’s local bar, The Emerald. Yes, once upon a time the drinking age used to be 18. In case you’re wondering Carrie’s signature drink is the Singapore Sling. Every time she ordered one I cracked up and my stomach churned a bit as I recalled my early drinking days of hideous Midori and Whiskey Sours.

Fans of the book, television show, and movies (of which I most decidedly am) will undoubtedly enjoy this book even with the flaws, and those of you who haven’t had conversations with your girlfriends trying to decide if you’re a Carrie, Miranda, Samantha, or Charlotte should definitely stay clear. I hope the next book is about Charlotte. I can’t wait to hear all about her tennis lessons and pearl shopping.

The loft we’ve lived in for barely four months has been sold. CK and I looked at a number of apartments locally and they were all either lacking hugely in aesthetics, or completely devoid of necessities like parking, closets etc… The one place I loved was the second and third floor of a renovated Victorian with the most fabulous kitchen but it just wasn’t practical or frankly affordable. So other avenues had to be considered and CK managed to find us a cute three-story townhouse for a really reasonable rent in Lexington.

It took me a long time to agree to this new arrangement. My biggest issue is that I like living in the city — or at least a city like neighborhood. In fact I was a little hysterical about the whole thing until CK rationally pointed out that I was being ridiculous and that we were moving a whopping ten-minute drive from Cambridge and not to Antarctica. So while I can’t roll out of bed ten minutes before work anymore (I suppose I’ll have to push it to 30 now) and when I feel like a bottle of wine I can’t walk out my door and down one block — I will have an on-site gym, swimming pool, central air, a private garage, kitchen cupboards (!) and an enormous balcony for my tomatoes and herbs to grow on. There’s even a complimentary shuttle in the neighborhood that will drop you off at Alewife in the morning and pick you up at night to bring you home.

The management company also offered to paint accent walls if I want. I’m pretty excited about that because I haven’t lived in a place where I was allowed to paint in 5 years. What color do you think I should use in the bedroom and which should I use in the living room? I really like the blue that is the fourth from the left. I’m sure that would work for the bedroom…maybe the creamy yellow for the living room?

One small potential issue is that the door handles are once again “Dexter friendly” so CK and I will undoubtedly be locking ourselves into our bedroom at night, but at least we’ll have a door to lock.

Here’s the thing though…I know NOTHING about Lexington. Is there anything exciting there? Good places to eat? Nice grocery stores perhaps? Please clue us in to what we need to check out in our new suburban hood.

According to a random online application I write like Margaret Atwood. I’m sure she’d strenuously beg to differ.

My friend Anna got me completely addicted to the Angry Birds iPhone/iPad game a few weeks ago and now I keep finding myself stuck on seemingly impossible to beat levels. See above for an example. Any thoughts on how you can get these rock trains to move using only three yellow dive bombing birds? Ahhh!!!!

I have no idea how or why this happened but I now watch a lot of HGTV. This isn’t particularly strange I suppose.  Many of you do too I’m sure, but until recently I had been a very vocal hater of all things HGTV. In high school and college I would practically go into apoplectic shock when my mother would have the channel on. Granted she tended to have it on day and night but that’s not the point.

Ten years ago the sight of some random man sodding a lawn and ripping out a wall would have resulted in me having a sudden fit of exaggerated yawns followed by a string of impatient and rude comments, but now it just elicits excited exclamations.  I regret to inform you that I find myself saying wistful things like, “I wish we had a house.” or “Why can’t I have a wine fridge?” to CK with big puppy dog eyes.

Lately, my favorite HGTV show has been season three of Marriage Under Construction. It was  simply EPIC. CK and I ate it up with a fork and knife. This show follows a newly married couple as they renovate their home under the professional guidance of a designer. The end result being the home of their dreams. This season featured the coolest Canadians ever. Rodney and Natalie Bowers are the ultimate couple friends you wish you had. Rod is a chef and Natalie works somewhere cool like Lululemon. I may have made that part up though. I feel like I read it once upon a time while I was googling their names, but now I can’t seem to find it.

Anyway, all stalker-like behavior aside, Rod and Natalie hire this hot shot designer named Melissa to redo their monstrosity of a fixer upper. Melissa seems to always wear really cool boots and a gorgeous amethyst ring that I covet wholeheartedly. Then she creates these magical visions from crappy old spaces in this house that turn rooms into the Toronto version of the Taj Mahal. Probably 98% of the outcome of this house was exactly my aesthetic.

Not only was the house spectacular but following Rod and Nat’s adventures in renovation was a blast. I just loved how they interacted with one another and I really enjoyed how genuine and real their relationship seemed. Rod had CK and I doubled over in laughter on more than one occasion with his on camera hi-jinx.

Sounds awesome right?! Well it was. That is until HGTV stopped airing it several episodes before the series ended. In the US we’ve been left high and dry and apparently I’m never going to find out how Rod and Natalie’s gourmet kitchen and nursery turn out. You know, only the best parts of the whole house!

I’m more than a little annoyed with the whole thing. They’ve even pretty much removed all mention of the show from the HGTV website. You can still view a bit more info on the Canadian site. All-in-all I find this to be incredibly shoddy behavior. At least burn off the last few episodes at some point so we can see what happens! I NEED to see this kitchen. Anyone have any hints on how I might be able to do this? And yes, before you say it I’ve already checked the torrent sites without any luck.

I finished Ann Brashares latest novel My Name is Memory last night and instantly wondered if maybe my review copy had left out a much needed “to be continued…” at the end of the book. The way the first novel ends is incredibly frustrating, but thankfully after a little online research I discovered that this is going to be a trilogy so I can now stop my eyes from bugging out of my head in annoyance. In all seriousness though a little clue into that fact right up front might have helped me deal with the agony I was feeling when I was down to the last five pages and nothing was wrapping up. I’m curious if the actual copies that are for sale in bookstores now alert readers to this fact or not? I’ll have to pop over to Porter Square Books at lunchtime and see.

Notwithstanding the rather abrupt ending, My Name is Memory weaves together elements of so many genres that I love including historical fiction, romance, and sci-fi. The best part is that they all seem to work harmoniously together. The basic premise of the book revolves around the many lives of Daniel. Daniel has a memory that stretches across centuries. Thankfully not in the “I’m a vampire and I’ve lived for 2000 years” mode. Daniel lives and dies like a normal man, but somehow Daniel is able to retain his memory from each of his lives as he is reincarnated over and over again.

Many of his lives intersect with a woman whom he refers to as Sophia. In each of these instances he is consumed with persuading this woman of their destiny. As you can imagine having a strange man you’ve never seen before explain that you have hundreds of years of history together could be a bit daunting. The present day incarnation of “Sophia” who is actually known as Lucy essentially runs screaming from Daniel when he starts spouting his seemingly crazy notions. But his strange tale stays with Lucy and she begins to wonder if perhaps there could be something to Daniel’s claims.

While Lucy ponders, Daniel takes the reader on an epic jaunt through his past lives. I loved Daniel’s portions of the book. Reading about his many adventures in various foreign and far-flung places offered an exciting pace to the story, and the frequent near-misses in Daniel and Sophia’s tragic inability to ever be together left me feeling frantic for them to meet in the present day.

Of course, nothing comes easily to these star-crossed lovers. In true villain fashion Daniel’s evil brother, who also harbors the same supernatural ability but with a more wicked twist, decides it’s time to make his presence known.

Will Sophia and Daniel ever live happily ever after? Well you wont find out in this book, but perhaps by book three we’ll all be able to celebrate a merry resolution to this epic love story.

Just as an aside, I actually had this book with me on a flight home from Houston where Alexis Bledel sat two rows in front of me. I was instantly star struck and thought it was such a cool coincidence that the star of the film versions of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants was on the same plane with me while I read an Ann Brashares novel. I know…I know…I’m a total geek.

I have a little problem. I’ve become obsessed with a television show called Being Erica and I can’t stop watching it. Please take note as you may need to stage an intervention.

It all began innocently enough last week with a random browse through Hulu. I didn’t have intentions to stay. Truth be told I believe I was there to see if the newest episode of Real Housewives of New Jersey had been posted. I was hoping for some big hair and even bigger attitudes to enjoy while I ate my boring lunch but it was nowhere to be found. Instead I happened upon Being Erica and decided to give it a shot. Now it’s only one week later and I’m already on episode ten of season one and ever so completely smitten.

The premise of the show involves a 30-something woman’s attempt to straighten out her seemingly directionless life. Unfortunately she’s crippled with past regrets and can’t seem to move on from a line of endless mistakes that she’s made in her past. Even though she holds both an Undergrad degree and a Master’s in English she’s stuck in a dead end job, dating inappropriate men, all the while feeling like a complete failure. Erica just can’t catch a break.

The next part is going to make you have to get back in touch with your “suspension of disbelief” side. Erica begins seeing a therapist, Dr. Tom, who asks her to create an extensive list of everything that she regrets in her life. Then in each episode she’s given the chance to go back in time and attempt to alter her past. My description probably sounds a bit formulaic but the show is done incredibly well. Erica is played by the adorable and incredibly relatable Erin Karpluk. You may recognize her as “Alice” the radio station manager on the equally fabulous show Life Unexpected.

Other things I love about the show include:

The music. Every time Erica goes back in the past (especially during the college years) I have some sort of personal nostalgic break with reality complete with The Spin Doctors and Blind Melon. All I can say is that my life is pretty plain. I like watchin’ the puddles gather rain …

The clothes. Say hello again to flannel and all of the other accompanying accessories of the 90s. Plus, in the present, Erica is always sporting a sassy dress or outfit that makes me want to run out and go shopping immediately. She also has gorgeously styled long loosely curled hair that all women with straight hair (aka me) covet. Yes. I admit it. I have a total girl crush on Erin Karpluk.

So far there’s very little “happily ever after” occurring while Erica attempts to change her regrets. And that’s what I love and appreciate the most. Like many people I too tend to fixate on “what ifs” and “if onlys” but the lessons Erica learns from her jaunts into the past are rarely brought about by simply picking another path. Usually her new perspective is achieved via looking at the events as they unfold with an older and wiser set of eyes.

I find myself drawing a great deal of comfort in thinking that perhaps all of those “might have beens” that I think about so frequently probably wouldn’t have altered my life too terribly much. Perhaps what I really should focus on is moving forward with the choices I’ve made and learning more fully how that applies to who I am today. Who says you can’t learn anything from TV?!

And there you have it. Being Erica is the new love of my life. Check it out! Plus it just got picked up for a third season so I wont have to cry crocodile tears when I get to the end of season two. Thank you Canadian TV!

It’s a special day in the Nichols-Kelly household. Today is Watson T. Kitty’s first birthday! This has been a crazy year for our “little orange alive thing.”

Some of the highlights included:

Meeting Baby Emily and prompting declaring her the enemy.

Suffering through his first bath and refusing to ever like it even though he gets one almost every month.

Meeting his adopted big brother Dexter and learning that he possessed mischievous super powers.

Surviving a very scary medical emergency that left him sporting the cat equivalent of Uggs.

Being forced to celebrate the holidays.

And finally moving into a new home that is essentially a gigantic cat playground. He seems to be adapting to his new surroundings without any problems though.

Tonight Watson (all 11.2 pounds of him) is going to enjoy a can of birthday tuna and receive lots of cuddles — if he deems me worthy of being allowed to take such “liberties” with the “royal person” of course.

We had a fire alarm go off at work this morning so I meandered over to Paper Source to kill some time with my co-worker Elisabeth until the building could sort itself out. I didn’t intend on buying anything but then I stumbled across these Gone with the Wind sticky notes and I “fiddle-dee-deed” myself right over to the register.

My favorite is, of course, the Rhett Butler notes that declare, “Frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn.” My only wish is that one set sported my absolute favorite Scarlett quote: “I can’t think about that right now. If I do, I’ll go crazy. I’ll think about that tomorrow.” Which is pretty much how I’ve been dealing with my entire life since the move, but I digress…