On Big Brother, the loser was Renny, who was sent packing last night. The winner was Dan, who snagged the HoH. Buh Bye, Jerry! I loved the sumo wrestler when they went back inside. Glad that was about a luxury comp and not for POV. This coming week will be intense! I’d like to see Memphis and Dan go to the Final 2 and I’d be happy with a win for either of them. (And wow, catty much in the Jury House about Keesha? Talk about the mean girl brigade. Wow.)

We have more winners to announce!

I held a contest on my website this past month to announce the launch of the new format, and to celebrate, the winner receives a complete signed set of the Black Sheep trilogy and an advance copy of To All A Good Night. The contest ended this past Labor Day Weekend, and I’m happy to announce the winner is Valerie E. of North Carolina. Woo hoo, Valerie! Thanks so much for visiting the site and entering the contest! Your goodies will be on their way to you soon.

In this week’s SHaQ Attack contest, I asked you to name the three Christmas anthologies I’ve been a part of. The correct answer is Merry Christmas, Baby, Jingle Bell Rock, and To All A Good Night. There were a bunch of entries this week, but only one winner! And that would be Cheryl C from Georgia!

Way to represent the south ladies!!

Tune in next week for another giveaway. In the meantime, I hope everyone stays safe in the impending hurricane and tropical storm zones! I know my family and I are scattered up and down the southern east coast and we’re doing a little battening of hatches here as Hanna heads our way. Let’s hope all it brings us is some rain.

In the meantime, let’s DISH already!

Tags: Writing // 1 Comment »

Okay, so it worked better when Marlon Brando did it. What didn’t work? Stella’s outfit last night on Project Runway. Do I agree with the ousting? No I do not. But that matters not. PR didn’t consult me. (The nerve, really.) Yes, I get she’s been in the bottom over and over, mostly due to poor construction, I don’t think she sews fast, but her ideas have been interesting and focused and she definitely has a point of view. Mostly I wanted her around because she’s interesting and entertaining. Unlike, say, Joe, who has gone so far down my I Like List as to not be on it anymore. I’d have sent him packing.

And both Jerell and Blayne made serious wtf outfits and neither got called out? Oookay. Sure, Suede’s wasn’t all that and a questionable back slit, but seriously? Did you see those pantaloons on Blayne’s model? And, well, every damn thing Jerrel’s model was wearing?

Terri is apparently wearing thin on everyone, but I still like her aesthetic. Korto is definitely starting to come out of her shell, but needs to do more of that on the runway. (They’re saying nice things, Korto, smile for god’s sake.) However, someone needs to keep Kenley on her meds as the mood swings are getting a little overwrought. Yes, it was touching that she was so in awe of Diva Von Furstenburg, but after a while? Just sew, Kenley. And next week it looks like she’s back to inappropriate giggling girl. Yikes.

I will get behind Leanne for the win last night, which surprises no one more than me as I’m not generally a fan, but that dress was smokin hot and the shrunken coat was a cute contrast. And, most importantly, she listened to Our Tim about the jacket and actually Made A Change. Other designers? Pay attention. I also liked her more after her I Want To Be A Spy moment. Actually cute.

Next? Kenley and Joe need to leave. And maybe auf’d designers come back? Yay. Not.

No chance to watch the new Top Design, but perhaps after the latest update on Big Bro, it will happen tonight. Maybe MAC tomorrow.

Don’t forget to enter this week’s SHaQ Attack contest - details in Tuesday’s post and winner announced tomorrow!

Your turn - DISH!

Tags: Writing // 1 Comment »

So, last night on Big Brother, Memphis wins the POV (woot!) which was another one of those freaky face meld things. Renny takes ten times as long as anyone else, but according to the live feed recappers, both she and Keesha were smashed out of their minds going into the event, which apparently took the hammies by surprise. So….ha. Memphis saves Dan, Renny is the only hammy left, so up she goes and I fear it’s buh bye Renny. A shame, but she made waaaaaay longer in the game than I thought she would. Funny how that works out, same as with Sheila last season. Most impressive is that Memphis managed to, more or less, keep his bargains with all three hammies that will be left. Pretty tricky game play my mixologist friend. But, for the love of Fruit of the Loom, can you please stop with the deep v-neck tshirts? Not doing you any favors. That said, can’t wait to see how Thursday shakes out with the HoH! Just Not Jerry. Please.

In other news, there was some fantastic tennis played in New York yesterday at the Open. Federer was pushed to five sets, Djokovic was never going to get off the court, then Roddick was done in ninety minutes. Some really fun stuff was going on for us home viewers. It’s been a good fortnight so far! Looks like we might be headed to another Rafa-Fed finale, which wouldn’t break my heart in the least. But I fear that Federer, who is overcoming a hefty bout of mono, will be the weaker of the two, literally, after that five setter. We’ll see! Roddick, with new coach Pat McEnroe, is playing like the Old Andy, so he could be the upset in this. I wouldn’t mind that a bit, either. Fun stuff.

Don’t forget to enter this week’s SHaQ Attack contest - details in Tuesday’s post. Tune in tomorrow for some Tim Time Project Runway MAC…..and maybe some Top Design MAC to boot! Woot!

Your turn…..DISH already!

Tags: Writing // 2 Comments »

Hope everyone had a wild and wonderful holiday weekend. Today is the first day of school here in my home town and for the first time in 20 years, I didn’t have anyone to send out the door! So weird!

I did get to watch Big Brother on Sunday - not nearly as satisfying as last Thursday. I wanted Dan to win the HoH, but noooo, it was Jerry. The only one I really wanted gone. Kinda hard to do that when he’s the HoH now isn’t it? Which means one of the Final 4, or what was supposed to be the Final 4, will leave a week early. I was kind of looking forward to the Memphis/Dan vs Keesha/Renny week. Now we get PeePaw hanging around another week to bore them silly with his long stories. (Feed viewers apparently were entertained by his story of hiring a Korean hooker for a month while in the service. Way to make your family proud, JerBear. Mention that on camera and then go into great detail on how great it was. You gotta wonder.) Btw, he puts up Dan and Keesha.

So, being a feed recap reader, I know who wins POV and what happens on the block, but in the interest of not spoiling anyone, I’ll wait until tomorrow after the official airing tonight. Regardless, it’s gonna be an interesting week.

Now for the SHaQ Attack contest! As of this fall, with the release of To All A Good Night, I will have been involved in three Christmas theme anthologies. Name all three and you’ll be in the running for a free book. Just send an email to donna@donnakauffman.com with “Dear Santa…” in the subject line and the title of the three books in the email. Winner announced Friday! Good luck!

Only a few more weeks until the fall season kicks in and we have fun stuff to dish about. In the meantime, who’s your odds on fave to win Big Bro? (Dan or Memphis for me.) Who would you like to see depart next on Project Runway? (Buh bye, Kenley please.) Oh, and this week launches Bravo’s second season of their interior design reality series, Top Design, with Todd Oldham. I’m tuning in!

Tags: Writing // 1 Comment »

So, I actually wrote this last night and set it up to post automatically this morning. Turns out that 8pm isn’t the same as 8am. Go figure. Perhaps I’m still more sleep deprived than I thought! But, better late then never, here ya go!

Big Brother had a quite satisfying evening for me. It was Fast Forward night, were two players are sent packing. In this case, Michelle was the hands down fave to walk first go around. No surprise there. Well, except, apparently, for Michelle. Best moment of that segment for me was when she went on and on to Julie that Dan just had to be a plant because no way would anyone do the things he’s done…only to be assured by Julie that, no, he’s just a player. Just like you, Michelle. Just like you, who is sitting out here, with me, and not still playing the game. Like Dan. Or, words to that effect.

Second best moment of the night, was after being shown a very, very heavily edited version of Ollie’s meltdown (live feed viewers recapped that he went on quite the rampage of destruction that many thought should call for his immediate ouster, and that his blow up with Memphis went on for quite some time and contained quite a few nasty, nasty epithets that live feed viewers know are nothing new, but that home viewers have been completely spared from knowing about. So much for the non-drinking, non-swearing PK, hm? No words for that behavior. I hope his family can handle the flak.) Anyway, his complete lack of ability to compete - again - for HOH puts him on the hot seat, and once again, when he can’t manage to find even one POV tag in the POV comp he knows his time is up. Thank god. (He has never once, this entire season, performed well in competition, and hasn’t even played the game, really until April left, and he was forced to stop hiding behind her - and you don’t even want to know what kind of behavior those two were indulging in, for the cameras, paid feed viewers, Showtime viewers, aaaand with all the houseguests within earshot - again, quite some selective editing there, CBS.) And, seconds later, he’s outta there. Yay!

Now things get interesting, as Jerry is the only one left from the “other side” and he’s already proven he’ll go with whoever is in power. Leaving the original alliance of Memphis, Dan, Renny & Keesha to figure out how their alliances are going to break down, now that they have to cannibalize themselves. Jerry should figure out pretty quickly that he’s the swing vote here and use it to his advantage. Should be good times this coming week. Works for me. I have no idea who I really want to win. I don’t have any real strong favorites, but I don’t dislike any of the remaining players, either. Probably I’d go with Dan, as he’s definitely been the most strategic to this point. We’ll see how that play flies with the jury, however.

And now, time for this week’s SHaQ Attack winner! (FYI - all previous winners’ books went out today! Wahoo!) This week you just had to send me an email, and many of ya did. But there can only be one winner - and that winning Blog Babe is? Jane C!!

Don’t forget, you have until Sunday to enter the big launch contest on my main website - just go to my homepage and click on contest! Winner announced next week. Have a great, safe holiday weekend, and I’ll see you back here on Tuesday!

Tags: Writing // 5 Comments »

So, I missed out on MACing the drag queen episode from Project Runway last week, but I did finally get a chance to watch it and thought it was a blast. Loved seeing the guys in and out of drag, but loved even more that Clueless Whinypants Daniel finally went home. He always seemed so lost in that environment. As to the clothes…still strikes me as more costume than couture. I just don’t see it as an arbiter of mainstream or even haute couture fashion, but it was definitely entertaining. And I loves me Chris March, so any chance to see him again is always a Good Thing.

Last night’s episode finally seemed to get them in the Project Runway groove. It was the first episode of this season that felt like it was on the PR track. Our Tim was especially Tim-ish. Love. I like the innovation challenges and thought that everyone finally seemed to understand what was being asked of them. I was shocked that Stella chose that challenge, which seemed completely tailor made to her aesthetic, to step outside her comfort zone, but I applaud her for at least trying. You don’t know where you stand until you take some chances. Keith, on the other hand? Shut up. It was very satisfying that they sent him packing. What an attitude. Wow. No words. But anyone who watches competition based shows knows that the person who says “I’m not here to make friends” never wins. Sure, it’s a contest with one winner, but social dynamism and ones ability to work well with others is a vital ingredient in the success of any working professional, in any field. If you don’t get that, you won’t get far. Buh bye, Keith.

That said, I loved Kotto’s coat and thought it should have one, on silhouette alone. I understood the talent shown in Leanne’s dress…I just didn’t like the lines of it. At all. I’d have gone with Jerrell’s over hers, but thought his skirt was a bit weird, though I loved, loved the top. I also loved Terri’s outfit once again, but want to know more about how she’s perceived by the other designers. Jerrell’s two faced comment was interesting, and I loved Kotto’s muttering under her breath, Hating. On. Me. Ha! She’s in my top three. I even laughed at Blayne’s “Love your face” comment to Tim. I know, I’m getting soft. I blame Keith. Any levity to balance his woeful, snitty attitude made me smile. If we’re really lucky, they’ll send Kenley packing next week, and the housecleaning will amost be complete. (Loved how Jerrell set her in her place about her model maybe needing to, oh, I don’t know, earn a paycheck. Pay the models, PR!!) So many whinypants this season. Also, thank you PR for making an almost Suede-free episode. The less I see of him, the more I tend to like him. But if he calls out one more dead relative, he’ll be dead to me.

What did you all think? Who would you have given the win too? And do you think the work room had that new car smell? Next week we get Von Furstenberg. Wow. Can’t wait.

Don’t forget - last day to enter the contest for this week. Check Monday’s post for details. I hope to get the whole book pile sent out tomorrow, so previous winners waiting for your goodies, they’re coming!

Aaaaaaaand, dish!

Tags: Writing // 1 Comment »

And you know what that means! Yes, Amazing Race, Survivor, and Dancing With the Stars is back!

Thank you blog babe Susan for posting the line up for this season on Dancing/Stars. Wow, it’s really all over the place. I kinda like it. Very interesting to see Lacey on there as one of the new pros. Can’t wait to see the Ballas papa on there as well. (And am I the only one who was shocked that Cloris Leachman is 82 already? Wow, am I old or what?)

In case you missed it in the replies yesterday, here is a repeat of all the pairings. What do you think?

• Lance Bass (formerly of *NSYNC and a trained cosmonaut) is paired with Lacey Schwimmer (a onetime So You Think You Can Dance finalist and the 2007 World Swing Dance champ)

• Celebrity chef Rocco DiSpirito is paired with Karina Smirnoff

• Team USA beach volleyball queen Misty May-Treanor is paired with Maksim Chmerkovskiy (who was absent last cycle but is now returning for his fifth season)

• Track star/former “World’s Fastest Man” Maurice Greene is paired with Cheryl Burke

• Grammy-winning recording artist Toni Braxton is paired with Alec Mazo

• Reality TV star Kim Kardashian is paired with Mark Ballas

• Hannah Montana’s Cody Linley, Dancing’s youngest celeb, is paired with “older woman” Julianne Hough

• Oscar and Emmy winner Cloris Leachman, 82, is paired with Corky Ballas (Mark’s father and a World Latin Champion)

• TV vet Ted McGinley is paired with new pro Inna Brayer, the current U.S. Amateur 10 Dance Champion

• Brooke Burke (Wild On, Rock Star) is paired with Derek Hough

• Comedian Jeff Ross, aka TV’s “celebrity roastmaster general,” is paired with Edyta Sliwinska

• Recently retired Super Bowl champion Warren Sapp is paired with Kym Johnson

• All My Children Emmy winner Susan Lucci is paired with Tony Dovolani

I think this season is going to be entertaining to say the least. No clear front runner pops out from the list above. (Seriously, Rocco DiSpirito? Oh, the joy of amusement I will have watching him humbled. Ha.) Yeah, yeah, I know Lance had the boy band moves, but I don’t know that I see im commanding the dance floor in a Kristi/Mario Lopez kinda way. Guess we’re gonna find out. Who’s your fave? Who has you scratching your head in Jerry Springer amazement? Are you worried Cloris might get hurt? (I’m a little concerned here. But she’s pretty feisty.) And, most importantly, how will Shannon Elizabeth handle the fact that her still ongoing boy toy-er, friend from last season is now paired with the universally hot Brooke Burke? Really, enquiring minds….

Check out Monday’s post for a chance to win a free book. Everyone who has been patiently waiting for the recent winnings, the To Be Sent pile should go out a little later this week, as soon as I recover from laundry mountain and have a year to spare to stand in the forever long line at my post office. (I will never understand why they built this amazing new facility in our very, very overcrowded area, then only staff it with like, one guy.) Thank you for your understanding!

Aaaaaaaaand, dish!

Tags: Writing // 7 Comments »

9 days, 14 states, almost 4000 miles…and I lived to tell the tale.

It was a great trip, made even more fun by my two travel companions and a family visit pit stop. My son is already enjoying school (we’ll see how that plays out as actual classes start today…) and his gf and I thoroughly enjoyed the return road trip. She’s great fun. Couldn’t have asked for a better travel bud.

As for last week’s SHaQ Attack, the deal was, everyone who posted comments to my blog last week is officially entered to win a free book - which could include an advance copy of my upcoming October release, To All A Good Night as they finally arrived while I was gone - so those of you who have already won a copy, it will go in the mail sometime this week! And the winning Blog Babe is? Maureen! Woot!

This week’s SHaQ Attack Contest? Since I’m in recovery mode, I’m taking it easy on us all. Just send an email to donna@donnakauffman.com with “The nest, it’s finally empty!” in the subject line. Winner announced Friday and can take their pick from my spankin’ new website bookshelf. Don’t forget to also enter the contest I’m running on my website - entries end August 31st! Check out the link at the bottom of my home page for additional details.

So…did everyone love the Olympics? Didn’t it go by really fast? What was your favorite event? We got caught up mostly in the track and swimming events this year, with gymnastics being a close second. I wished they’d shown more of the variety of events, given all the air time they had, but what can you do? Wait for London, 2012, that’s what! I’m excited. And Winter 2010 is Vancouver, right? Woo hoo, something close to our own time zone!!

Now it’s time to tackle Vacation Laundry Mountain. Which, it turns out, isn’t nearly as intimidating when it’s only your stuff. I might get used to this whole empty nest thing faster than I thought!

Tags: Writing // 3 Comments »

Well, the girlfriend and I successfully left my son behind….I believe he was playing beach volleyball as we pulled out of town. Or was he already swimming in the Yampa…. Or taking test runs down Howelsen Hill’s Olympic training run…. Yeah. Poor kid. Hope he manages to fit in and not miss home too much.

So, the gf and I decided we’d take an extended, scenic trip out of the state, which took us through several national parks. It was one wow moment after another. Gorgeous ride.

Roosevelt National Park

Which is a good thing. Because the next twelve hours? Yeah. The view? See below. Rinse, lather, repeat. For hours. And hours. And hours.

home on the range

But the drive out was well worth it. Today we’re vegging in St Louis, there might be some retail therapy involved, preparing for the Big Drive home tomorrow.

See last Friday’s post for a way to win a free book this week!

Tags: Uncategorized // 8 Comments »

…can you squeeze into a dorm? More than you’d think.

But, boy I’m glad I have sons… We’re standing in the store, picking up last minute supplies, and another parent asks me “What colors are you going with?” At my confused look, she added, “You know, what is their room theme?” Um, theme? Boys don’t have themes. Or colors. They shove stuff in every nook and cranny they can, set up all their technology asap, make sure the mini fridge and microwave work, stick up a few posters. Aaaaand, done.

I’m okay with that.

Dorm View

I took this shot standing outside my son’s dorm building. I know. Sucks to be him, right? Poor kid, forced to study and look at that all day.

So, the return road trip commences early tomorrow. Looking forward to getting back on the road and my son is anxious to get started on his classes. He’s majoring in outdoor education and leaves on his first orienteering trip in two weeks. (He starts with river orienteering, and moves on to mountain, desert, canyon, glacier, etc.) I know. How cool is that? Is it too late for me to go back to school?

Don’t forget to check last Friday’s post for details on how to win a book this week. I’ll post the winner’s name on Monday.

More news from the road this weekend….somebody warn the butterflies!

Tags: Writing // 16 Comments »