My, what big sunglasses you have

Off on a tangent:
ISSUE #55 - My Photo

There's a good reason I have on enormous sunglasses.

We had the Good Life photo shoot at 9 am last week. That might not seem early for some, but for me it was an ungodly hour. Not to mention I went to a photo shoot the day before at 8:15 a.m.

Oh yeah, and this was after the 12-hour day of travel from Austin to New Jersey.

Anyways, the stylist brought all these sunglasses. For some reason the large ones with rhinestones caught my eye. I don't know why. Maybe it's my love of sparkly things.

The catch: They were by JLo. That alone was hard to stomach.

I liked them nonetheless and put them on. That was it. This was going to be my new blog photo.

They had already taken my picture earlier that morning. I looked pretty crappy.

So we took it again.

This time with the rhinestone sunglass (mainly to cover the circles under my eyes) and exposing my new "Austin" T-shirt.

The photo editor snapped one shot and said, "That's it. Why go on? That was perfect."

So there it is. My "perfect" photo.

Yeah, at least you can't see the dark circles under my eyes.

On the iPod: Trapt - "Waiting" single

I heart Tony

Hello. My name is Lucy, and I'm a Sopranoaholic.

No more than a couple of months ago, I hadn't seen an episode. I was blissfully ignorant of who got whacked and if Tony and Carmella were still together.

I wasn't one of those people who talked about the show and looked into the deeper meaning for plot points.

I also didn't have HBO. Friends recorded the shows I did watch ("Sex and the City" and "Entourage") for me. That was it.

So how did I become a Sopranoaholic? How did this turn into an obsession, an addiction?

It started in January when I had to stay at home and recover from surgery for six weeks. My mom came to stay with me and brought her Netflix. Among her movies was disc two from Season One of the "The Sopranos." I never watched the show, so she figured she'd watch a few when I napped.

Then it happened.

I watched an episode. Then another. Then another.

And then I knew the theme song by heart. (It got to the point where my mom would fast forward through it just so she wouldn't hear me sing. I could hear it only once per DVD, that was the compromise.)

I knew the characters' names; I knew the actors who played them. I could point out the Shore, and I knew places they talked about. I knew the backstory. I checked online for more information, for anything related to the show.

And then it happened. I went from being hooked on the show ... to obsessed.

When did I reach that point?

The Season Four disc three was bad. It wouldn't play. It was cracked. I was heartbroken. I couldn't stop, not at that moment. There were more disks to watch. I couldn't skip those episodes and return to them later.

So I called Blockbuster. They had it. They had the Holy Grail. But I didn't have a membership; my mom left hers in Texas. So there it was. I opened a membership just to get one disc of the show instead of waiting the two days to get the replacement from Netflix.

I knew I was an addict at that moment. That and when I decided to take "The Sopranos" tour and see all the places from the show.

So kids, I ended up watching five seasons in five weeks.

Now, with the new season. I have a bigger challenge. No HBO ...

On the iPod: Madonna -- "Confessions on a dance floor"

Hi y'all!

I'm really tired. No really, I'm tired.

I just spent 12 hours in airports, cars and shuttle buses to get from the Lone Star State to the Garden State.

I left 80-degree spring weather and returned to a 30-degree winter. It's always a shock for this Southern girl to step out of EWR and freeze her butt off.

Not so good.

I left hipsters invading my hometown and returned to Don's Pizza King.

Pretty good.

Now, back to my story. I'm originally from Austin, Texas. (Do you understand the hipster comment now?), the Live Music Capitol of the World, the birthplace of Austin City Limits and Whole Foods, home of the University of Texas Longhorns and where I lived until three years ago.

In 2003 I lived in Florida. I may have been out of Austin, but I was not too far from friends and family. I was still a short plane ride away and still living in the South.

Now, 1,728 miles away (according to Google local; yes I checked) and on the East Coast -- I find myself with culture shock.

Things that boggle my mind: circles/jug handles, Dunkin' Donuts on EVERY corner and all the little towns that could really be one city.

Things I love about Jersey: pizza by the slice, NJ Transit and The Sopranos.

This is a fish out of water blog. What it's like for a Southern girl on the East Coast. And it's a chance for y'all to help me understand you folks better. Shoot me an e-mail at lucyq@app.com. Someone explain the Dunkin' Donuts obsession to me, please.

What's next: My addiction to The Sopranos and Don's Pizza King
On the iPod: The Toadies, Rubberneck