Monday on Today 7/16

Hope everyone had a great weekend. According to The Today Show news, it was a good weekend for Harry Potter which took in more than 77 million at the box office, followed by Transformers and Ratatouille--which Ann Curry still either refuses to pronounce correctly or just can't. Anyway, it's no surprise that Harry Potter was the biggest movie, after all, it did open on Wednesday with practically no competition except for a few art house and foreign films. I hate when they brag about how much money a movie made over "the weekend" when they add two more days and neglect to mention it. Since when did Wednesday and Thursday become part of the weekend?

Moving on to Today's Money: Best Places To Live. Money Magazine's Jean Chatzsky focused on the top three places: 3) Louisville, CO, which about six miles outside of Boulder. A great place for outdoor life. It also has a booming economy. 2) Hanover, NH, where Jean went on about how you can get a house for under $400,000. Is that what she considers affordable housing? I live in the highly overpriced Northeast and that is around the median price, but she didn't elaborate on what you get for that price. A four bedroom colonial? A two bedroom ranch? A one room shack? I think they're really out of touch with what the average home buyer can afford. 1) Middleton, WI topped the list for its slow pace and 350 acres of nature conservancy. One thing Al pointed out was that all these areas are cold. So if you're looking for a warmer climate, number four on the list was Lake Mary, FL. You won't get any snow, but hurricanes do a lot more damage. Isn't there a place on that list where you won't have to deal with either? Check Money Magazine's website for the full list.

Today's Style featured a segment that I'm sure will be extremely helpful to those of you who have sarongs and don't know how to tie them. They showed how to tie the hip hugger--wrapped around the hips, the halter, the wrap skirt and the strapless dress. This was hilarious because this so-called expert could barely get them on the manikins by herself, yet you're supposed to wrap them around yourself with no problem. Ladies, skip the aggravation and just get a cover-up for the beach. Who needs clothing that you need a tutorial to figure out how to wear?

They had another Today's Harry Potter Mystery question, read by Sarah Ferguson, who was just on the show last week. Perhaps she's looking for a career change? Just what is her job, anyway? Go to the website if you care about that question.

On to Today's Health: Eating For A Beautiful Smile. Here is today's page from the book of the obvious: brush your teeth every day and don't forget to floss. This is The Today Show, not Sesame Street, right? Here is some more useful and less known information for your teeth: cheese neutralizes tooth decaying acid. Drink out of a straw to keep staining and enamel damaging liquids away from your teeth. Vitamin C helps prevent gum disease. Get at least 1000 mg of calcium every day. Black and Green teas help protect teeth and some even contain fluoride. Cranberries and Shitake mushrooms are good for preventing bacteria growth. And finally, crunchy veggies help clean your teeth.

Today's Summer Page Turners featured one of my favorite authors, Janet Evanovich, talking about her new book in the Stephanie Plum series, "Lean Mean Thirteen." In this one, Stephanie's good for not much ex-husband goes missing and she's the prime suspect. I love this series and have a few to catch up on, but they are all must reads. These books are so funny. There's always a good mystery, a taste of chick lit and a whole lot of humor thrown into every one. And you'll fall in love with the characters--especially Joe Morelli and Ranger. Use my Amazon search box and start reading now.

A new segment (at least to me) is Take It Off Today which today featured best hotel workouts. The Hyatt hotels have a stay fit @ hyatt program where you can do stuff like a bedtime yoga routine that you watch on TV in the comfort and privacy of your hotel room before your turn in. Westin Workout rooms have fitness equipment in your hotel room, but you do have to pay extra for it. The Fairmont Fit Program has mp3 players. Hilton has Precor equipment and Marriott features a Navy Seal Workout.

Phew, that wraps up today's info-packed final hour.

Till Tomorrow

Wednesday on Today 7/12

On The Couch with Dr. Gail was how today's third hour started off in a segment called How Sex Keeps You Healthy. It's good for your relationships as well as your physical health--unless you're having sex with people with STDs. Yeah, I don't know about you, but I've heard most of this all before. She rattled off a list of reasons to have sex 1-2x/week, including reduced risk of heart disease. Then why do all those ED drug commercials say you must ask your doctor if your heart is healthy enough to have sex? If you're having sex, then it should be healthy according to Dr. Gail--who is not a cardiologist. And there were other benefits like weight loss and better bladder control. Also from today's page from the book of the obvious: if a woman (or a man) is confident about their sexuality, they'll be more confident in other areas of their lives.

They moved on to a segment about wedding gifts with Elizabeth Mayhew, Lifestyle Expert. Like yesterday's Pet Expert, I wonder how one gets to be a "Lifestyle Expert." Anyway, she had a few suggestions for different wedding gifts such as customized wine bottles with labels like "Perfect Vintage." If that isn't corny enough for you there's more. You can get soda bottles featuring the happy couple with labels such as "Pop Star Couple." You can also get monogrammed napkins. The best/worst wedding gift idea (at least according to me) was the key chain engraved with "The Key To My Heart." Ugh. Why not just get them something they could use--like cash. But if you're thinking of buying any of these gag-me gifts for them, they obviously don't need any--and neither do you.

They held up the cover of OK Magazine which featured Eva Longoria and her new husband, Tony Parker, on the cover.

Then Harry Potter himself, Daniel Radcliffe, stopped by for a visit. He's promoting the fifth movie installment, "Harry Potter and The Order of The Phoenix," which opens today. Daniel was sporting his old dorky do that he wore in all the Harry Potter movies. He sure looked different from the pictures I saw of him when he did that play recently in London. You know, the one where he stripped naked onstage?

Moving on to a segment entitled, Trash Talk: How To Declutter Your Car. Rose Mary Ellis from Good Housekeeping Magazine suggested three items to make the job easy: a laundry basket, a garbage bag and a box. You can guess what the garbage bag is for: cleaning your crap out and getting rid of it. The box is for taking the stuff you still need and storing it somewhere else. Do people really carry that much stuff around in their cars? I've got two kids and two dogs and still haven't accumulated enough to fill up a garbage bag of junk. The laundry basket was a good suggestion, though, because you can use it to store your groceries, library books, DVDs--you get the idea. That way they don't rattle around while you're taking corners. Also, use baby wipes to clean the inside of your car like the dashboard and dials. Those baby wipes can be used for almost anything, I swear, including cleaning out the wrinkles on my bulldog's face. You can also use pill bottles for storing coins--if you pay a lot of tolls. And you can use hand sanitizer to get stains out. I guess it's for all that spilled coffee, juice and whatever gets dumped on your car seats and floors. Some pretty good tips there.

Today's Kitchen featured Ingrid Hoffman from the Food Network in a segment about Latin cooking with lemon. Simply Delicioso is the name of the new show on Food Network.

And there you have another hour of fascinating facts.
Till Tomorrow.