WHY???

Why are the returns of Mad Men and Breaking Bad on tonight till 1am?  I think I missed an earlier showing but I can’t miss them!  I’m compelled.

Breaking Bad is Really Good

We just watched the Breaking Bad marathon on AMC and are hooked like a tweaker on glass!!  I love this show.  Not as much as Mad Men, but almost.  Yay for AMC.  Who do I thank for producing such good shows?

Good Morning America Visits Riverside

What would possess Riversiders to get up at 2:30 a.m. and stumble down to the Mission Inn, still casting the sleepies from their red eyes? Good Morning America and the presence of Sam Champion! Sam has been traveling around the country this week, from Coeur d’Alene, Idaho to Leavenworth, Washington, to our own beautiful Mission Inn in downtown Riverside, to light up the holidays.

Jay and I rolled out of bed, hopped in the car and drove 3 minutes to the Mission Inn, where we joined a couple hundred of our fellow Riversiders (including the Bee Guy and a slew of feisty seniors with cryptic signs) to watch the trees light up and Riverside Community College’s band play Christmas Songs. For our troubles we received green bags from the City’s electric company and free coffee and cinnamon buns from the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf on Mission and Main. We called all of our friends who might have been up on the East Coast watching and then my mom and Jay’s mom and our friends who were watching it on the West Coast a few hours later.

Why did GMA choose Riverside and the Mission Inn to include in Sam Champion’s tour of the country’s most extravagent holiday displays? From GMA’s site:

Here’s why the Mission Inn Resort in Riverside, CA made our list:

16 foot toy soldiers greet you the Inn’s main entrance.
2 million lights illuminate the buildings and landscape of this 320,000 sq ft resort.
250 automated Santa’s Helpers sprinkled around the Inn help stir up holiday cheer.
The Inn’s original owner, Frank Miller, collected over 800 bells, including one dating from the year 1274 and described as the “oldest bell in Christendom.”
Miller also helped fill the resort with $7 million of antiques and artifacts, including an 18th century altar screen covered in gold leaf and a chapel with elaborate Tiffany stained glass windows.
The Inn’s current owner, Duane Roberts, is the man who actually invented the frozen burrito.

Not included in their list, but absolutely wonderfully amazing to me… a skating rink in the middle of a non snowy downtown area. Jay and I had a great time screaming and waving and soaking up the pre holiday, communal joy. We have made plans to go ice skating or take a horse drawn carriage ride after a lovely meal at Mario’s this week and further bask in the holiday atmosphere.

I wonder if the torrential rain will be gone by tomorrow.