Malia and Sasha Obama are Friday's Fun Fearless Females of the Week!

What a week they've had. They have seen their Daddy accept the Democratic Nomination for President and give a moving speech. They also looked on as their Mom gave a moving speech. They may be living in the White House within the next year. But don't they just seem like normal little girls?

Malia was born in 1999 and Sasha was born in 2001. Malia participates in soccer, dance and drama, while Sasha does gymnastics and tap. They both are in piano and tennis lessons. According to the AP, when they visited the White House in 2005, they were bored until President Bush's dog Barney showed up. After that they had tons of fun playing with him on the South Lawn. These seem to be ordinary young girls thrust into extraordinary circumstances. Their parents seem to have made it a priority to keep life as normal as possible. Early in the campaign, Michelle had limited involvement in which she traveled to political events only two days a week and stayed away from home nights only if their daughters could come along. Their parents seem to truly love each other and their daughters, and have put family first.

Malia and Sasha are on their way to becoming fashion icons. I know they're young, but they have a good influence in their mother Michelle who is always dressed well. They looked so cute last night!
Anyway, here's to Malia and Sasha--who seem like such nice young ladies. I hope they are enjoying this historic moment as a family as much as we are as a nation. Have a great weekend!
Love,
Elle Bunny

Every woman in the world can be classified as a member of the BSC.

Alternatively titled: Everything I need to know, I learned in Stoneybrook.

Second Alternative Title: I'm a Dork.
Growing up, I was obsessed with these books. I have every single book from the series, including my recently acquired collection of California Diaries and the Friends Forever Series. As an adolescent, I wanted to be Claudia (didn't we all?), but was really more of a Mary-Anne/Stacey hybrid with a dash of Dawn thrown in.
How, you might ask (or maybe not), can a series of books for little girls change the way you look at the world? How could it not? After reading every single book in a series, you are bound to be influenced in some way, especially as a child/adolescent. I have been heavily influenced by Twilight, and not only am I an adult now, but I have only be reading those books for the last few months. The BSC books were a part of my life for so long, I knew the characters better than some of my friends and family.
My sister and I used to share a room (not by necessity, but by choice. I know...we were weird) and I remember begging her to read out loud to me from her Baby-Sitters books (I think this was either before I could read or before my parents thought I was grown up enough to read BSC). I also remember that she preferred to read to me from her Scary Stories to Tell in The Dark books. Needless to say, I didn't always sleep very well when I shared a room with my sister, and eventually we grew tired of the arrangement and I moved back into my old room.
The first chapter book I ever read was Karen's Roller Skates. And while in later years I found Karen to be incredibly annoying, I will always have a soft place in my heart for that book-especially when I think of the surge of pride I felt when I ran in to my parent's room to tell them I had just finished reading my first chapter book all by myself (sounds like I was having a Karen moment myself).
I first started reading the BSC books myself during their heyday. Every girl was reading them and I felt like I was part of the "in" crowd. As I grew up, they waned in popularity, but I remained loyal. My friends and I kept reading. I finally dropped off around the Friends Forever series. The last book I remember reading was The Fire at Mary-Anne's House. I remember reading one California Diary when I was young and I didn't like it--especially the handwriting throughout the whole book. They seemed so much more grown up than the BSC--and I think that scared me. So I never explored those two series until many years later.

I have to thank my parents, who first of all, took me to the book store every month so that I could pick up the latest copies. My mom was the one who made me keep buying them towards the end--she kept saying "Don't you want a complete set?" They also never made me get rid of my books. From what I understand, having your parents insist on getting rid of your BSC books is a pretty common, and very traumatic occurrence in BSC fandom.

And yes, there is a BSC fandom. There are a lot of people out there who enjoy re-reading these books. For me, they are like a warm blanket of that I can curl up in. I know what's going to happen, and I'm okay with that. Is it Hemingway? No. But I think we all enjoy reading books because of the way they take us away to a different place and tell us a story different from our own. Who's to say that place has to be unfamiliar, or that you can't revisit a character's story?
Even though it is kind of ridiculous that the girls are frozen at age 13 in the eighth grade, there is also something comforting about the fact that the girls never grow up. We can imagine what they might have become, but it's not in the BSC canon; therefore we never have to learn about the BSC breaking up, or one of the Baby-Sitters becoming Homecoming Queen while another becomes a nerd. And it would have been unnatural if they had grown up and continued with the club, because that's not how high school works (not that the BSC has ever been noted for it's realistic nature).

So, as I was saying, every woman I have ever met fell into at least one of the following categories: Kristy, Claudia, Mary-Anne, Stacey, Dawn, Mallory or Jessi. They may not fit all of the characteristics, but I can't tell you how many times I have met somebody and thought "She is such a Jessi" or thought something somebody did was "such a Mallory thing to do." The more I get to know someone, it is likely that they will become a hybrid of two or even three Baby-Sitters. So here is a list of some of my friends and even some famous people who fit each category perfectly.

Kristy-Tomboy, take charge/bossy egomaniac.

Famous Kristys: Hillary Clinton, Rosie O'Donnell

Claudia-Fashion Forward, Hospitable Host, messy, junk-food lover, creative, not the best speller.

My Best Friend Meredith is SUCH a Claudia. She always wears the best clothes and puts together the most amazing outfits--however, I would look ridiculous in the same outfit. Over the years, my friend Rachel and I have always joked about how it was time to go over to "Claudia's house" because her home became like our headquarters. I'm not really sure why, but that is where we always wound up. Meredith has also taken to making jewelry lately. She is most definitely the Claudia Kishi to my Stacey McGill.

Mary-Anne-Sensitive, sweet, doormat, has a temper, cries at the drop of a hat, crushes on male actors, loves cats!
I'm a bit of a Mary-Anne myself--I am quite sensitive, get crushes on male actors and can sometimes be a doormat. I also like kittens!

Famous Mary-Annes: Ann M Martin,

Katie HolmesStacey-Boy-crazy, Fashion-conscious, has diabetes (but really any life threatening disease works), good with numbers, and a teensy bit spoiled and selfish. I would say that I am mostly a Stacey because I would consider myself to be fashion-conscious, a little boy crazy, and I've had a life threatening disease. I would never claim to be good with numbers, though, and I don't think I'm too spoiled.

Famous Staceys: Stacey is such a character that all I can think about is characters in other books and movies that remind me of her. Elle Woods from Legally Blonde comes to mind, along with Shelby from Steel Magnolias ("Drink your juice!") and Rosalie from Twilight.

Dawn-Individualistic, opinionated, California Casual, environmentalist. I hate myself for the fact that in some situations, I act like Dawn--i.e., get stuck on my soap box and won't get off of it until someone agrees with me or at least understands my point.

Famous Dawns:

Al Gore,
Elisabeth Hasselbeck,
Sheryl Crow

Mallory-bookworm, likes horses, nerdy, lots of siblings, frizzy red hair.

Famous Mallorys (take into consideration that Mallory had a lot of growing up to do since she was only 11): Sarah Jessica Parker, Julianne Moore, Cynthia Nixon

Jessi-Obsessed with dance, likes horses, knows sign language, from New Jersey, Black (I'm not racist, but unfortunately they never developed Jessi's character enough..this actually became one of the only traits people could name about Jessi).

Famous Jessis: I have no doubt that Jessi could have grown up to be someone like Beyonce or Brandy.

Maybe we all have a different frame of reference, but I bet everyone has their own version of the "Baby-Sitters Club" that helps them to understand people. I'm glad that I had these books growing up. I am glad that I can still read them and return to a simpler time, when I could go to the book store, pick up a new book, and escape to a new adventure in Stoneybrook.

Happy Reading!

Love,

Elle Bunny

The New 90210

Dear New 90210 people,

I can hardly wait for it to start. I'm so excited that Kellan Lutz is going to be on the show.

And I can't wait to see all of the backstabbing and bitchiness. It will be a pure joy to see Brenda and Kelly duking it out again

it is quite possible I might cry, I will be so happy.

I have to admit, though-I'm kind of worried that I'm not going to like it. It looks so glossy. I know, I know, you have to attract the kids today who are all watching Gossip Girl, but I recently saw this picture of the updated Peach Pit

and it scared me.
This is what the Peach Pit should look like: Are you taking notes? It might be a good idea.
I'm hoping you won't take away what is magical about the show. The most important part of the show is the bond between friends--these kids felt more like a family, and despite the fact that they were living in a very ritzy neighborhood and had very glamorous problems, it often felt more like a small town, where you could go to the local hangout and sit around with friends and talk. It is important that the Peach Pit is still that place for these kids.
And these kids better be worth bringing the show back for. Now I am very happy that you are bringing back folks like Brenda and Kelly,

and I giggled with delight when I learned that Aunt Becky

would be the new "Cindy Walsh." But if you are going to make this about a whole new bunch of kids, make it interesting. It is okay to update the kids--I don't have a problem with that--but is it possible that they could be more Seth Cohen and Summer Roberts

than Dan Humphrey and Blair Waldorf?

I want to actually care about them.
Jennie Garth-

yes, I'm calling you out. You know Kelly's always been my girl. But I have to ask you about this statement you recently made on why you were returning to 90210 when many of your male co-stars weren't:

“I want to give the show the credit it’s due for giving me my start, so I couldn't turn my back on it. And, the girls now look a hell of a lot better than the guys.”

Now, I appreciate your loyalty to the zip code, but I don't know why you had to dog the boys along the way. We already know they don't want to be on the show and that many of them are not able to be on it because they are already working on other projects. And while I think you look great, I think these faces would be a welcome addition to the cast:

And bring Donna Martin back!

Thanks!
Love,

Elle Bunny

UPDATE:
Kelly and Dylan 90210 (2.0) Reunion?!

Another UPDATE:

No, For Now--BOO! Come back, Dylan!

Even more nostalgia: I miss epic videos!

I know, I know, I'm awfully nostalgic for a 23-year-old. But I really miss when they actually showed videos on MTV. And they were good videos, like this one.

I love that they have a wedding in a church in the middle of the desert and no explanation for how anyone got there (i.e., no cars). There is nothing better than the awesomely awful bridal gown that Stephanie Seymour is wearing in this video. And it is so bad ass when Slash leaves the church and goes out and plays his ridiculously indulgent guitar solo.

I miss the indulgence of the 80s and 90s. I miss videos like this:

Now it may not be my favorite cup of tea, but I like it every now and then. There is something so refreshing about the unabashed indulgence of these videos. They were completely secure in the fact that they were acting ridiculous and spending ridiculous amounts of money for a 6 minute video (which is really long for a video, but still, 6 minutes?)

Now, the money and time it would take to create that video would be going to waste because nobody would see the video--they might see a clip of it as the credits roll on Shot at Love with Tila Tequila. The point at which the entire network jumped the shark was when they started only playing portions of videos on TRL.

What has our world come to?

I want MY MTV!

And I refuse to watch it until some changes are made!

By MY MTV, I mean this:

1) Videos. Lots of them. At least 12 hours a day of videos. MTV does stand for Music Television, right?

2) A limit of 3 reality shows on your program schedule at all times.

3) Instead of marathons of America's Best Dance Crew or Engaged and Underage, how about you bring back the 80s weekends? They were so awesome-all you did was show videos and programming from the 80s. Now you could even do it with the 90s.

4) Try bringing some people of substance on your shows. Remember Tabitha Soren? How about Pedro Zamora? Do you think either of them would have had a chance on MTV in 2008?

5) No more Real World/Road Rules Challenges--force those lazy bitches to get a job!

I think that pretty much sums it up. It wouldn't be that difficult, and while I'm sure you might lose some of you 15-year-old audience, do you really want that to be your only audience? I always thought it was funny that when I was in college, nobody watched MTV-when I was young and dreamed about going to college, I always thought that was all we would be watching. I remember my friend Amy laughing at her boyfriend when she went over to his house and found him watching the Spring Break coverage. It is seen as too juvenile to be watched by college students, who are the ones being shown in the Spring Break coverage.

Do you agree? I know I can't be the only person who feels this way.

Enjoy the ridiculousity of these epic videos!

Love,

Elle Bunny

Nostalgia--I miss early 90s Nickelodeon shows

I really do miss them. Yesterday, at dinner, we were talking about all these shows and how great they were. They were clever--they didn't talk down to the audience just because we were kids. Okay, maybe they were a little cheesy, but this was good television-and in my opinion, they were much better shows than ones that are popular today (cough, cough, Hannah Montana, cough). Hopefully this brings back as many memories for you as it does for me.

Oh my goodness. Words cannot express how much I loved this show. My sister Meredith and I used to play "Hey Dude" for hours when were little. This consisted of pretending to serve people on our patio, pretending to lead people to their rooms after pretending to get them checked in, pretending to ride horses, and pretending that we were Melody teaching kids how to swim in the pool.

Meredith told us yesterday that she recently discovered a diary in which she wrote everyday for two years. The problem was, she didn't really have anything all that interesting going on at that age, so the pages are all filled with "I Hate Jenny" (a brat in her class), "I love Bobby" (a boy in her class that she could only admit that she had a crush on in her diary), and "I love Ted!" She was of course referring to that hot hunk of man meat with the mullet in the above video. This show also influenced my feelings that Brad is a perfectly normal name for a girl.

I remember next to nothing about "Welcome, Freshmen" except for the fact that they had a fountain at the school that they all used to sit on and I thought that was awesome.

"Fifteen" was a show full of teen angst, as any show about fifteen year olds should be. The two things I remember about it: on the breaks they always used to show a lot of Teen Spirit commercials (remember the deodorant?) AND Salt and Pepa guest starred on one episode!

This show used to scare the Bejesus out of me. It was awesome--it always made me want to sit around a campfire with my friends telling ghost stories. The kids were very dramatic (to the point of being ridiculous), but it was a great show.

"Clarissa Explains it All" was an amazing show. Talk about not dumbing it down for the kids. Clarissa was the smartest person on that show, and she was like 13. Ferguson grossed me out, but I had a Mega-crush on Sam, the best friend (maybe this is where my yearning for a heterosexual male best friend started). I had a horrible physics teacher in high school named Jamie Shore that was Ferguson 20 years down the line. I get the heebie-jeebies just thinking about him today.

"Salute your Shorts" was really funny and had an awesome theme song. I couldn't find an unaltered clip of it, so here it is with some dumb guy inserting his annoying, albeit cute mug at certain points.

I loved the show Doug. I can't think of one thing about this show that wasn't perfection. How I longed to be like Patty Mayonnaise and have a Doug to love with me. He was just so sweet in the way he crushed on her, not at all like the freaks who liked me in middle and high school.

Well, I finally found my Doug, it just took me awhile. Mr. Bunny is definitely the Doug to my Patty Mayonnaise--and today is his birthday. Happy Birthday, Mr. Bunny! Thanks for being born! The world is a better place with you in it.

Have a great day everyone!

Love,

Elle Bunny

Oh Get Out of Here You Crazy Fool...Bernice Clifton aka Alice Ghostley is Friday's Fun Fearless Female!

Bernice was hands down the funniest character on Designing Women, one of the funniest shows ever on television. She was a friend of Perky Sugarbaker, Julia and Suzanne's mother; when Perky moved to Japan, she put the girls in charge of making sure Bernice was okay. Bernice had a little "arterial flow problem" above the neck that causes her to behave rather outrageously.

Bernice lives in a retirement community called Hillcrest Leisure Land, and, since she is easily bored there, makes frequent visits to Sugarbakers for the afternoon. After a while, the ladies become used to Bernice's craziness and often delegate the responsibility of entertaining her to Anthony. During the time she spends with Anthony, she will serenade him with the song that he inspired her to write-"Black Man, Black Man."
Bernice's late husband, Louis Clifton, came from a circus family where he was billed as a "dancing fool." One of Louis' uncles was a fire-eater, a talent he taught to Bernice. Her father was a Southern Baptist minister and when "all her circuits are burning," Bernice is a scripture authority.
Having never had any children, Bernice thinks of Anthony and the ladies of Sugarbakers as if they were her own. Her odd behavior drives Suzanne absolutely crazy, and she often refers to Bernice as a "little fruitcake."

Bernice is very active, participating in senior citizen beauty contests and dance contests, but she has been known to loudly question the concept that growing old gives you a talent for arts and crafts. Therefore, Anthony ends up spending many afternoons shuttling Bernice around town as she tries to turn each trip away from the retirement village into a roller coaster of an event.

The actress who played Bernice so brilliantly was Alice Ghostley. Doesn't she look pretty here? She died after a long battle with colon cancer in 2007 at the age of 84. Alice played Stephanie Crawford, Dill Harris's Aunt in "To Kill a Mockingbird", one of my all-time favorite movies (and my favorite book ever).

Here are some of my favorite Bernice moments:

RIP Alice Ghostley--thank you for bringing such wonderful characters to television and movies. And thank you for reminding us that it is okay to be a little batty sometimes.

Have a great weekend!

Love,

Elle Bunny

So Much Drama on the Couch!

Well "the Hills" is back for another season. It's funny to think that this all started when they followed some kids around in Laguna Beach. I think that anything that I could say on the subject would be summed up much better and succinctly by this clip.

Enjoy!

Love,

Elle Bunny

Things I learned on my summer vacation

We had a great time on our vacation. I only wish it could have been a little longer. This was my third trip to Washington. I took my first trip up there during the end of December 2004 and the beginning of January 2005. It snowed while we were there and it was really beautiful. Corey and I had been dating for around a year at the time. During that trip I met almost all of my future in-laws and a lot of his friends for the first time (I had met Mr. Bunny's Dad once before when he came down to Texas for a visit and an excuse to bird watch). We went to the main hot spots--Seattle--to visit the young folk (i.e, friends, brother, etc); Yakima--to visit Mr Bunny's Dad and Stepmom, along with some of his friends that still live there; and Wenatchee--to visit Mr. Bunny's Mom and brother.
The second trip I took was in August of 2007 for my brother-in-law's wedding. I flew in to Kennewick and went to Walla Walla, which is where my now sister-in-law grew up. Walla Walla is a beautiful town; unfortunately, on that trip we were only able to stay for two days because I had just started my current job and couldn't take any time off.

So this is my third, and to date, best trip to Washington. It was different to see the places that I had seen covered in snow now lush and green; although I love white, Washington is much prettier in the summer and I can't wait to see it in the fall--hopefully next year. So now I feel it is necessary to share with you some of the things I saw and learned on this trip, which might sound similar to something we would have done in grade school after an awesome summer.

1) It is really beautiful up there. The phrase "everything is bigger in Texas" does not refer to the trees or the mountains. I like to think that phrase refers to our personalities in addition to our trucks, hats and hair. But I digress; Washington has big beautiful trees and mountains. However, Mr. Bunny's hometown, Yakima, looks very different than the stereotype of the "Pacific Northwest"-it is in a valley surrounded by sand colored mountains. There aren't a lot of tall trees-in fact, a lot of them are apple trees. When I first came to Washington they scared me because they were bare and it reminded me of those scary apple-throwing trees from "The Wizard of Oz." 2) The people in Washington are, for the most part, just as friendly as most of the people I come across in Texas. The people in Seattle aren't quite as friendly, but I'm a city girl, so I love it there anyway. But otherwise, everyone went out of their way to be nice. But my husband always says that people in Texas are so much more friendly than people in Washington. I wonder if he's right?
3) Reunions are much more fun for the people who are reuniting. We went to Mr. Bunny's 10 year high school reunion and while I enjoyed watching people smile and laugh, most of the time I felt like I was at a job interview, alternating back and forth between the interviewer and interviewee. My husband was amazed when we left by how much I knew about what the people in his class are up to now. Of course, that is because while he was busy reminiscing, I was busy getting info. People love to talk about themselves, especially at events like a reunion. So when I got bored , I would ask one of the girls who was too dressed up for a bar what she was up to now, and smile and nod while she went on and on about her kids and her husband.

4) I'm a girly-girl. My best friends have always been girls and gay men. I always dreamed of having a hetero-male best friend, who could give me a man's perspective on things (I've also always dreamed of being the girl singer in a band full of boys like Gwen Stefani). And while I would consider my husband to be my best friend, our relationship has a different dynamic because he is my husband. I discovered on this trip that I really prefer the company of girls. My dream would suck in reality. It's not that I don't love my husband's friends, they are all great, but when I'm all alone in a sea of testosterone, I long to watch Steel Magnolias or laugh about something funny that Michael K. said today on Dlisted . It doesn't help that the majority of my husband's friends in Yakima still act like they are in high school and the one that is married wasn't able to come to the reunion.

4) Apparently, it isn't my accent that gives away the fact that I'm not a native of Washington; it's my vocabulary. People laughed at me for saying "y'all". I started to feel like a hick; I guess I should have said "yous guys" instead so I could really mess with their heads. I also got a lot of looks for using phrases like these jewels: "fixing to," "good enough for government work," and "bless your heart." Although Mr. Bunny's friend, who is an attorney laughed at the way I said "lawyer." I guess my accent might have a little to do with my not blending in. How do normal people say lawyer? I just add a yer on the end of law. Apparently, Mr. Bunny says it like lo-yer. Now, that just doesn't make any sense to me.
5) Small boring towns breed interesting people. Yakima isn't much to look at (I'm not trying to offend anyone, it just isn't my cup of tea), but the people that come from there are really cool. I had some really great conversations with a lot of great people, including my husband. We spent six days together 24/7 and never once got in a fight or even snippy with each other. Anyway, I enjoyed spending time with Mr. Bunny's family and friends who are all very sweet, entertaining people. 6) The most important lesson I learned on my vacation was that these people are no longer just my husband's family and friends; they're also my family and friends. It has been an amazing realization to make, but once I accepted the idea, it was an easy transition. They are all such warm, welcoming people. I am very lucky to call them my family and friends.

Have a great day!

Love,

Elle Bunny