Bachelor Season 16 Spoilers Ben Flajnik!

Heather Freshwater

The filming of The Bachelor is well underway and we can only assume that Ben Flajnik is already in love. The Bachelor airs January 2012!

Meet the women on this season of THE BACHELOR!

1. Elyse Myers, 24, a personal trainer/fitness instructor living in Tampa, FL.
2. Erika Uhlig, 23, is the current Miss Chicago 2011.
3. Heather Freshwater, age 25, from Knoxville, TN, Teacher.
4. Jamie Otis, age 23, maternity nurse at Cortland Regional Medical Center in Cortland, NY.
5. Shawn Reynolds, age 28, from Phoenix, AZ. Financial advisor.
6. Blakeley Shea, age 34, an Aesthetician. 

7. Jaclyn Swartz, age 27, New York, Account Manager.
8. Samantha Levey, age 26, lives in Los Angeles.
9. Casey Shteamer, age 26, Chicago, Illinois.
10. Courtney Robertson, Model from California.
11. Rachel Truehart, age 27, Sales Rep.
12. Kacie Boguskie, age 24, is from Knoxville, Tennessee.
13. Anna Snowball, From Grosse Pointe, Michigan.

For Bachelor updates, follow @LiveBachelor on Twitter!

Who is Bachelor Ben Flajnik? 

Read more »

The Bachelorette: DeAnna Pappas' Wedding Photos!

Don't you just love DeAnna's wedding dress? Check out the latest issue of US Weekly for more on former Bachelorette DeAnna and Stephen Stagliano's wedding!

Krisily Plays For Both Teams?

I guess when you've been rejected on The Bachelor and then rejected again on Bachelor Pad, there's only one thing left to do: it's time to start dating women.  Life & Style Magazine reported on Monday that Krisily Kennedy, a former Miss Rhode Island, has been dating women for the past three years.   Krisily was the runner-up on Charlie O'Connell's Bachelor season back in 2005.  Now she's 31, and still hasn't found love.  But if you're wondering why she went on the Bachelor if she's into women, you don't have to worry - she's still into guys too.

"I want to fall in love with anyone and I don't care who they are," she tells Life & Style. "I just want love. I want long-term and I want commitment. I really want those things and if people open their hearts to it, you can find that with anyone."

Does that include dogs and dinosaurs too?  I'm trying to debate whether Krisily gave up on the men she kept meeting in the Bachelor circles, if this is another publicity stunt or if she is actually bi-sexual.  She claims to have broken up with her girlfriend of a year, and that triggered her desire to "come out."   Opening herself up to dating girls will certainly widen her dating pool.  Perhaps she can start a Lesbian, Gay and Bi-Sexual season of The Bachelor.  The contestants can be men or women, competing for a man or a woman willing to go both ways.  That sounds amazing.  Or kind of like an episode of Jersey Shore.

One other very important question I have besides whether Krisily is actually bi-sexual or faking it...
Is Jessica Simpson going to admit that she's pregnant or that she ate a watermelon?  Because there's no way in hell she's just "curvy" as the magazines/blogs keep saying.  A curvy stylista like Jessica would never wear a top that hugs at the hips, accentuating a plump belly.  This pic totally sums it up.

Bachelor Pad Contestants talk about The Bachelor Season 16

Bachelor Pad's Krisily Kennedy reveals she's Bisexual!

Bachelor Pad's Krisily Kennedy (Charlie O'Connell's season) recently revealed that she is bisexual.
"The former Bachelor contestant, who was runner-up on actor Charlie O'Connell's season in 2005, says she can no longer hide the fact that she dates men and women and that she began dating women three years ago. "I'm completely open to still dating men," she tells Life & Style Magazine. "For me, this is all very new, and I was very lucky to have had my friends and family behind me."

Doing My Business at My Place of Business

I take my bathroom time seriously.  Sometimes during the work day, it's the only few minutes where I can let myself relax, not having to be "on."  The bathroom becomes a place of solitude, my hideout from the ever increasing demands of the day.  Nobody can reach me in the bathroom.  They can try, but I probably won't answer.  If I can swindle my iPhone into the bathroom stall without being busted and judged by germaphobes, I can usually get a few turns of WordsWithFriends, the Scrabble game, in so long as I'm sitting in the stall that allows internet access.   Sometimes that work bathroom time is the best time I'll have all day to respond to an email or read an article on People.com.   I've never gone so far as to actually have a phone conversation while in a bathroom stall as, for starters, the sounds of flushing clearly gives away where I am and second, I don't want anybody else listening in on my conversation.  Also, I have something equivalent to stage fright when someone comes into the stall(s) next to me.  That said, I envy the people that can go in to the bathroom and freely do their business no matter how crowded the bathrooms are, no matter who is listening in the stall next door and have no worries about how long a particular bathroom trip might take them.

There's only one major issue I have with the bathroom stalls at work.  The cleaning lady, who comes five days a week to the office, is always in the bathroom when I need to get in there.  The majority of the time she's in there, she's not really cleaning.  Often, she is on her cell phone and I feel like I'm interrupting her when I have to charge into a stall and do my thing, particularly since this happens about twice a day.  Blame it on the coffee.  I often wonder who she's chatting with on the phone, if they know that she's in a bathroom, or mind all of the incessant flushing of the automatic toilets.  I've gotten over that she probably thinks I spend way too much time in the bathroom.  My biggest problem, is when she decides to mop.  Because it's always when I'm in a stall for a while.  And sometimes she must forget that I'm there, because she mops right under my stall, to the point where I have to lift my feet up to prevent her mop from hitting my legs.  It's such pressure to coordinate doing my business in the bathroom with lifting my feet in time to avoid getting whacked with a mop.

Besides the cleaning lady, the only other awkwardness comes when running into colleagues in the bathroom.  Especially when you coincidentally walk into the bathroom together, and end up in side by side stalls.  I often will immediately exit the bathroom just to avoid a situation like this, opting to go to a different floor or even holding it until they exit.  I realize this is ludicrous.  Everyone needs the bathroom.  At the same time, nobody wants to see, hear or smell what you do in there.

Have you had any awkward run ins at your bathrooms at work?  How do you deal with running into people in the bathroom?  Am I the only lunatic who things about these things?

DeAnna Pappas Weds Stephen Stagliano

Former Bachelorette, DeAnna Pappas married Stephan Stagliano over the weekend. DeAnna and school teacher Stephen (brother of Bachelor Pad winner, Michael Stagliano), wed in her hometown of Georgia. The bride wore a Disney bridal wedding gown. "They were giddy with excitement," an observer tells PEOPLE. "She looked incredibly happy." The couple met in 2009 at The Bachelorette: Tell All Special.After the wedding, DeAnna later tweeted: "Thank u all 4 the wedding wishes! We had an amazing day!" 

Who Attended Deanna Pappas Wedding to Stephen Stagliano? Some Bachelor guests included Michael Stagliano, Natalie Getz, David Good, Graham Bunn.  

Check back for more photos and video from DeAnna's wedding!

Where's Wally?

I have a new obsession.  Every weekend day after a jog through Central Park, the Husband and I have fallen into a pattern of going to visit a puppy store a couple blocks from our apartment.  It's a habit we can't seem to break as we go from sweating beasts, straight into Starbucks to grab the beloved egg white spinach wrap and an iced coffee and then happen to pass the cutest looking things in the world in the pet shop window, luring us into the store.

This started a couple of weeks back when we happened to wander in just to see what was inside.  I didn't even want a dog.  Had no interest in it or remote desire for that sort of responsibility.  But then I saw him.  Big round brown eyes, floppy ears, black, tan and brown fur color and a happy wagging tail.  As soon as the dog and I made eye contact, he stuck his nose straight up against the glass cage and stared at me with his puppy dog eyes, begging me to get him out of there.  His tail was wagging furiously and I scratched my finger against the glass where his face was.  At that point, he got so excited that he jumped up, hitting his adorable little puppy head against the ceiling of the cage and letting out a little whimper.  That did it.  I was heartbroken.  I looked at The Husband and he looked at me, and we knew we had a problem.  Were we ready for a dog?  Was this our dog?  We stood there, mesmerized at how much this furry little King Charles Cavalier Spaniel had eaten up our hearts in a matter of minutes.  Newborn puppies at this store were over $2000, but because the dog before us was over 5 months already, he was a discount puppy - at $799. 

The Husband whispered into my ear about how you're not supposed to buy dogs at a pet store, that it's supporting puppy mills and how pet stores buy these animals from places that abuse the dogs, etc.  He somehow managed to get me out of the store, but the entire way home and for the next two hours, we agonized over what to do.  We did research on the breed and found out these King Charles dogs make great apartment pets as well as loving companions.  They were a very popular breed for being so easy going and trainable.  I called my law school friend whose mother owned one of these dogs, who reiterated how much they loved the breed. 

At this point, I had already started calling the dog, "Wally."  We called The Husband's parents, as they are big dog lovers and had just adopted two dogs from the pound.  They were concerned by how much the dog cost and commented that we could get a dog for much less and save a life by going to an animal shelter.  This was true, but it was not Wally's fault he ended up in a pet store.  My mother said she'd be happy if we got a dog, as long as she could be a grandma to the dog and not have to take care of it.  My father said we should get a "real" dog like a golden retriever or lab, and that we should go to a breeder, not get ripped off by a pet store.
 
We decided, after two hours of debating, to go back to the store and get more information about Wally.  Where they got him from, what health guarantees they could provide, where the dogs go if nobody adopts them and any immunizations/neutering that would need to get done.  We made a mental list of questions and talked about how our scheduling would work for walking, feeding and grooming Wally. My last hesitancy was about picking up the dog's poop on the sidewalk.  Still, I wanted more information. 

So with growing excitement as we approached the pet store, we walked in only to discover that someone else had bought and taken away our Wally.  His cage was empty.

We have now spent the past five weeks going back to the same pet store, checking out the other King Charles Cavalier Spaniels.  Twice when we were there, two of these types of dogs got purchased.  Apparently they sell like hot cakes.  And now every KCCS I see on the street is immediately a "Wally," and I ask The Husband if he thinks that's our Wally.  Chances are it's not, but I can't help but look for him.

Are we ready for a dog?  Do you have a great dog that you love?  Let's hear about it.

Ladies That Lunch

I finally had the day off today from work and was anxious to see what the rest of the world does when not in an office building all day.  Not sure if it's just a New York City thing, but I am always amazed at the large amount of people, from all ages and walks of life, who seems to have absolutely nothing to do but walk around, shop and eat at restaurants.  Who are these people and how did they come into this life of leisure?

I'm not talking about students, the ill, homeless or retirees.  I'm talking about women and men in their 20s, 30s, 40s and 50s, dressed down as if they're going for coffee with a friend, to the movies, a leisurely walk in Central Park,  just strolling around with not a care in the world.  True, these people could also be on their day off or taking a lunch break, but there were so many of them - and most of them looked like what they were doing was not a novelty - it was their life style.  This is unlike me who walks around with perma-smile any time I have a day off from work.  I usually pack in so many things that I end up over scheduling myself until a day off seems just as action packed as being at work.

This afternoon, I was happy to get a visit from my SWF (Scottish Work Friend), who was also off from work today.  She brought her adorable 7 month old baby, Freya, in to the city.  It's a rare day when both of us get to be off at the same time, even rarer for me to snag some time with my favorite American born Scottish baby - so my SWF kindly made the trip into the city to hang with me and The Husband.  Who knew we'd end up getting a first hand view of the city leisure crowd by going to lunch?

After getting rebuffed by JG Mellon, the NY old school burger establishment, for having the nerve to go in there with a stroller, we opted for Go Burger. Unbeknownst to us, Go Burger is the week day mommy mecca of the Upper East Side.  We were immediately sat (strollers welcomed) next to a table of five, mid-20 something year old moms and their toddlers.  A few minutes later, another pair of moms came with their kids.  Before we knew it, we were surrounded by baby carriages, toddlers and conversations about nap times and music class.  The Husband, who thought he was just joining us to eat a burger, immediately consoled himself from this Mommy Madness by ordering the Duck Fat Fries (see photo of these tasty slices of heaven).  We also decided that it would be insane not to order a Twinkie milkshake as the SWF had never had a twinkie in her life (can you believe??).

Anyhow, I couldn't help wonder about these mommies, who were definitely past the point of being off work for maternity leaves.  Their kids were too old for that to be a possibility.  Perhaps they worked part time, or just happened to coincidentally be taking the same day off as all of their mommy friends and had planned this lunch weeks in advance.  But my SWF and I decided that this must be a mommy meet up group of some sort.  It was fascinating and scary to watch them all.  Toddlers screaming out for no reason, food flying and them all just continuing to chat with each other through every possible disruption as if they didn't even hear or notice anything out of the ordinary.  I wondered what these women did for a living, if they worked, what their husbands did and if not, how the financials worked amongst these ladies that lunch.  Does the husband hand them cash every day to go for these little lunch outings?  Do they share a bank account and credit card?  Or do the women earn enough on their own to pay for it all themselves?  I realize these are very nosey thoughts to have and definitely come from a place of complete jealousy that there is an entire sub culture of Ladies of Leisure That Lunch on weekdays - all without me in it.

Some day I will join this sub culture.  Whether as an independently or dependently wealthy lady of leisure - it wouldn't bother me either way. I want to wake up whenever I want with absolutely nothing to do but the following: work out for 2 hours, get coffee, meet up with friends for lunch, read a great book, take an even greater nap, have a personal chef who can cook wonderfully healthy and tasty dinner meals for me and The Husband, curl up with our pretend dog who doesn't poop or need to be walked in rain or snow storms and watch some great TV.  Is this possible during this lifetime?  Apparently in New York City there are hundreds of people walking outside our apartment every day who seem to have some sort of arrangement like this.  Except for the dog that doesn't poop part.  Anyhow - if anyone knows an easy and quick way to achieve this, I'm all ears.

Signing off now.  My Lady of Leisure status is limited these days, so it's best to go enjoy it while I can.  Enjoy your weekends!

-Stacey B

More Than Fluff

Today was one of my best days of work in a long time.  Perhaps that's because I spent minimal time actually in the office.  Arriving a little after 9 AM, my Scottish Work Friend (SWF) and I grabbed some breakfast in the cafeteria, gathered our belongings and headed over to the Habitat for Humanity team build project that our department volunteered for.  Habitat is a non profit based on the notion that every human should have a decent, safe and affordable place to live.  That's where us volunteers come in.

Our mission for the day:  insulate the ceiling of the third floor in a townhouse that will soon be occupied by a deserving family.  Having absolutely no experience in the construction world, the concept of building anything resembling a place where humans may want to live is extremely foreign.  Showing up at the construction site wearing contact lenses and no hat already put me at a huge disadvantage.  We broke up into small groups of 2 and 3 and began insulating.  See the way this room looks on the left?  That's kind of what we did today, except instead of the walls (which would have been a cinch compared to our project), we did the entire ceiling.  Shoving that cotton looking stuff any way we could around cable wires, electric sockets, 2 by 4s (I loved saying that word) and pipes.  Only it wasn't cotton, it's fiberglass. R-38 fiberglass, to be precise and it's no joke.  If you've never dealt with fiberglass before - take this as a warning: it gets into everything and feels like a thousand little splinters eating away at your flesh.  This includes your eyeballs if you're smart enough, like I was, to wear contact lenses instead of glasses.  We had work gloves, some dirty glasses and disposable face masks, but these didn't really help too much.  My SWF's husband said that people are supposed to wear disposable suits when dealing with fiberglass.  So glad we signed that waiver.

Anyhow, besides doing a good deed, I actually learned a couple of new things today in addition to how to insulate a home.  After I had put in a couple of rows of fiberglass into the ceiling with the General Counsel and I sharing a ladder, I went on a search for staples for our staple gun only to have another member of the department take my spot.  Not to worry, the Americore volunteer guiding us on today's build found a new job for me.  He handed me a broom, told me to stand at the very top of a ladder (see ladder above - that's what I was using), and asked me to start fluffing the fiberglass up into the ceiling beams as each strip of fiberglass was set up into the rafters.  So there I was, fluffing my little heart out, risking my life standing on top of the gigantic ladder, waving a broom into the fiberglass that was being inhaled into my lungs when the General Counsel of the department asked me why I had abandoned his team.

"I'm now a fluffer.  I was told to fluff," I responded.

This got a huge laugh from the group and all sorts of questions such as how badly did I want to fluff and how long had I been a fluffer? I sensed something dirty going on.  Turns out there's another meaning of fluffer.  According to Wikipedia.com:  

A fluffer is a hired member of the crew of a pornographic movie whose role on the set is to sexually arouse the male participants prior to the filming of scenes that require erections.

Commonly, fluffers keep adult film stars "cleaned up" in between takes so that the actors do not have to move from their positions. These duties, which do not necessarily involve touching the actors, are considered part of the makeup department. After setting up the desired angle, the director asks the actors to hold position and calls for the fluffer to "fluff" the actors for the shot. 

Clearly I am way too sheltered.  Not only was I the only person who had never heard of this term, but it seemed to be as common as if we were talking about the iPhone.  I guess you learn something new every day.  Now I just need to learn how to remove fiberglass from my lungs and clothing and I'll be all set. 

DeAnna Pappas Is Getting Married this Weekend...

To Stephen Stagliano, Michael's twin brother.  The former hostess of the "Get Married" show finally gets to have her wedding day.

She tweeted yesterday (in several tweets):

What a journey I have been on to find my soul mate.  Through it all, I have found a man that I can trust & depend on.  A man that's leads me [not sure what she meant to say here] and a man that loves me unconditionally. Thank you all for following me throughout my love story.  In 4 days, I will marry the best man that I have ever known.  Thank you@StephenStag for making me the woman I always wanted 2 be.  U are the best thing that has ever happened 2 me.

Wow-sers.  That sounded straight out of a finale of The Bachelor!  Congratulations to DeAnna and Michael Stag's brother!  Here's hoping Michael can find the same.

Here's also hoping that DeAnna will have something to do once the wedding is over.

Great Art.

Former Bachelorette DeAnna Pappas Marries this Weekend!

DeAnna's engagement photos from http://greenweddingshoes.com

Former Bachelorette, DeAnna Pappas, will be walking down the aisle this weekend. The former Bachelorette beauty (who dated Brad Womack, and then broke off the engaged to Jesse Csincsak), will be marrying Stephen Stagliano on October 22. Stephen is the twin brother of Bachelor Pad winner, Michael Stagliano. On her wedding blog, DeAnna talks wedding details:

DeAnna talks about her wedding color: "When Stephen and I first got engaged, we were determined for our color to be chocolate brown. Somewhere along the way, we changed our mind to burnt orange. I’m still going to incorporate brown into the wedding, but the main color is burnt orange. I am going with burnt orange bridesmaid dresses, burnt orange flowers, and a little hint of burnt orange on the wedding cake."

DeAnna's Dress: "I was awe struck.  I began to cry.  This was it, I had found the one! 
It fit like a glove, it was stunning, and I finally felt like a gorgeous bride! We spent another two days in New York.  For those two days, I came into the showroom to “visit” my gown before heading back to Los Angeles.  I was in love with it. Finding my gown was the first moment when I actually felt like a true bride.  I was so excited!"

DeAnna's guest list: " Our guest list is over 230 people! That is 80 people over our original number. I’m afraid we are not done yet, either. Our parents keep reminding us of certain people that we have to invite. I am beginning to think our guest list will finalize at 250 people."


Congratulations to DeAnna Pappas and Stephen Stagliano on their wedding! 

Work Dinner Gone Awry

Have any of you had to attend a work dinner recently?  For some reason, I am always hesitant to accept invitations to these things, though usually, there isn't much choice.  At a glance, getting a free meal and having the chance to mingle with colleagues who I might not normally get to chat with during the work day may seem harmless and even a little fun.  But then I remember that this means my "on" time gets extended by another 2 hours minimum and will plant me back at my apartment no earlier than 9 or 10 PM. 

So while I was happy to be included on a work dinner invite list to all-you-can-eat sushi at a local restaurant near my office, I was already anticipating a long day.  I left my apartment at 6:50 AM that morning and the dinner didn't start until 6 PM.  And though I knew this meant a good 14 hour work day, door to door, this was a nice opportunity to spend time with a group of people outside of my immediate work group and I genuinely liked everyone that was there.  Plus one of the senior managers had organized it as a "thank you" to a group of people, myself included, that had recently helped out on a particuarly challenging project.  How can you turn down such a generous offer?

When I arrived at the restaurant with a colleague friend of mine, we were relieved to be the first people there. This meant that we had our choice of any seat at the table and could strategically plant ourselves to make a quick getaway when needed.  We ended up sitting towards the middle of the long table, deciding that at least if the dinner conversation topics grew awkward on one side of us, we could turn the other way and have the option of diving into someone else's conversation. 

So when the organizer of the event, the senior manager, sat down next to me, I was a bit taken aback.  Now I really needed to be "on."  No casual chatting about The Bachelor.  Oh boy.  Did I need to sound intellectual?  What else was I going to talk about at these things?  Certainly not "Banking" or "The Law."  How boring!

We made small talk about the menu, the all you can eat amazing bargain of a $20 per person dinner (WAY cheaper than any sushi place I've gone to in NYC) and luckily one of The Husband's commercials came on the television in the restaurant - his voice over work is far more interesting to talk about than banking! 

Then the food started arriving in an endless parade of platters.  Separately, a nice big steaming bowl of edamame, those blessed little green pea pods I can eat like popcorn, came out as well.  I started eating these and discussing The Husband. How he got into voice overs, etc.  The Senior Manger Host Guy seemed very excited by this.  Then his cell phone rang and I got the hint relatively quickly that this was a work related call.  So there I was, munching my edamame, pushing out the pods with my fingers and popping them into my mouth when suddenly BAM, one of the peas shot out between my fingers and hit Senior Manager Host Guy right in the forehead. 

Time was frozen as I waited for his reaction.  He was still talking on his cell phone and I contemplated, then decided against, apologizing.  I only had a second to do it and the moment came and went really quickly. I looked around to see if anyone else caught this edamame bullet event and the friend I had come with was already cracking up across the table.  Busted.  Senior Manager Host Guy never even acknowledged being attacked and I didn't want to embarrass him or myself by bringing it up in front of the group.  So I did what any normal person would do under the circumstance: I pretended it never happened.

Dinner went on and the time came to leave to catch my train.  On the ride back I emailed Senior Manager Guy the following:

Dear [Senior Manager Host Guy],

Thank you so much for including me in the dinner tonight.  The sushi was delicious and I hope to be invited to future outings like this.  Also, I'd like to apologize for hitting you in the head with one of my edamame peas.  I was aiming for my mouth, but obviously missed.  I hope you can forgive me.

Sincerely,
Stacey

I hope all of your work dinners this week and those in the future go a little smoother than mine did.  Happy Monday!

Jake Pavelka Parties in Atlantic City

Jake Pavelka seems to be recovering quite nicely from his time on Bachelor Pad.  My sources tell me that he was visiting Atlantic City, partying at the Pool After Dark at Harrah's Resort and the "girls were going absolutely crazy for him!" 

Rumor has it he may have a girlfriend, but apparently he would not give out specifics.  Overall, he was "exceptionally nice" and "not the 'monster' Vienna made him out to be...at all." 

For all of you that couldn't go another 6 months without an update on Jake, there you go...

Curse of the Werewolf by Jack Oleck and Reuben Yandoc.

For Gnostic', this is from House of Mystery # 214.

 

DC Challenge.