Sunday Shoutouts 2: Return of the Shoutouts!

It's been a while since I've done a Sunday Shoutout, so here are a few of the things I've seen and appreciated recently!

First, the premier for Season 6 Mad Men was announced! Woot!

AMC will begin airing the next season of the best television show ever created on Sunday, April 7. Spring, here's one more reason you are my favorite season! I can't wait to catch up with Don, Peggy, Joan, sexy silver fox Roger Sterling and even creepy Pete!

KMS Free Shape Quick Blow Dry. Those of you with thick hair, heed this! My hairstylist recommended this to me. My individual hair strands are fine, but there's a lot of it on my head and it takes forever to dry of a mornin'. Standing there with your head bent forward waiting for your hair to dry? Ain't nobody got time for that!

But the Quick Blow Dry helps hair dry faster while adding heat protection and shine to your hair. Truly, I love it! It did speed up my dry time significantly (now I can actually get it all dry instead of arriving at work with still damp hair because this non-morning person did not get up early enough to dry her entire head of hair)! And my hair is noticeably softer. Thanks for the tip, Rachel! I give this product two enthusiastic thumbs up!

Ipsy.com! Have you heard of this site? Well, maybe I should be thanking the uber-beautiful and trendy and sweet Kandee Johnson for turning me onto it! Makeup lovers, remember this website, because it promises to be awesome. For the low, low price of $10 a month you can get a monthly glam bag mailed to you filled with all kinds of beauty goodies – and these are not lame samples, these are high quality, name brand items!

This month's bag contains a sample size of Big Sexy Hair Volumizing Spray, Pacifica's Tuscan Orange Body Butter, a FULL SIZE Nailtini nail color, Josie Maran Argan Oil and a Soho makeup brush! If you're counting, that's worth way more than $10, so in the wise words of philosopher Charlie Sheen, WINNING!

The CW's The Carrie Diaries. Based on Candace Bushnell's prequel to her other novel, Sex and the City, The Carrie Diaries should not be compared to the HBO show (also known as a half hour of perfection) or really, to the Carrie Diaries book. Many changes have been made, but the feeling and heart of the show feels true to me, so I'm game!

The show centers around Carrie Bradshaw, a senior in high school trying to regroup after the death of her mother. She lives in small  town Connecticut, but dreams of life in the big city - Manhattan! In the pilot, Carrie begins an internship at a law firm, hoping to distract herself from life without Mom. When she snags her hose when falling on the sidewalk (a classic HBO Carrie Bradshaw moment!), she's forced to go buy more at Century 21, where she bumps into an edgy reporter from Interview magazine! Now she's swept up into the glamorous New York lifestyle!

The series takes place in the 80s so the soundtrack is kickin'! And the costumes are totes 80s, so I love them! Of course, as with the original Carrie Bradshaw series, each episode is narrated by our leading lady. But there's no Samantha. No Miranda or Charlotte. Not even a Big. At least not yet. But, fans of Sex and the City, I recommend you check out the Carrie Diaries. But I urge you, don't overanalyze! It's not meant to be a literal prequel to the HBO show. Just sit back and take it for what it is – a fun, fashion-filled romp, a fan letter to New York City through the eyes of one much younger, much more innocent Carrie Bradshaw. Enjoy!

Last Night I Took A Trip To Nashville...

Last night I took a peek at ABC's new drama, Nashville. 

What can I say? I'm not a country fan, but there was plenty for me to like, namely having the uber-awesome Connie Britton back on my TV! I have loved her since Friday Night Lights and, while I loved her in American Horror Story, I've missed her southern twang and her awesome "y'alls." Thank you Nashville, for giving those back to me.

The show revolves around Rayna James (Britton), an aging country star whose current album isn't selling as well as she likes. Or as well as the record label would like. Now she's being asked to co-headline on a tour with Juliette Barnes, played by Hayden Panettiere (co-headlining is code for being an opening act, btw). Juliette is a young crossover artist with mass appeal. Picture her as kind of a slutty Taylor Swift and you're there.

I've never really been a Panettiere fan and her turn as the conniving, spoiled Juliette is not helping matters at all.

I was worried the show would be a TV version of Gwyneth Paltrow's Country Strong, where she plays a used-up country star trying to rebuild her career while staying clean, but up-and-comer Leighton Meester is dangerously close to eclipsing her fame.

There is some of that storyline at work here, but Nashville is about a lot more too. There's Juliette's junky mom who calls begging for money, thus reducing her daughter to tears. And then there's Rayna's power-hungry, hard-as-nails father played perfectly by Powers Booth. I took an instant dislike to this man. I am looking forward to seeing him get his comeuppance. And then there's her husband, forced to live in her shadow until her father convinces him to run for mayor. And her band leader, who is apparently a former lover.

It's a tangled web Rayna is caught up in and I could easily find myself getting hooked in as well. Nashville is soapy, but in the best way possible. And with music supervised by renowned producer T Bone Burnett (he's worked with BB King, Elton John, Tony Bennett and John Mellencamp to name a few), the show is sure to launch more than a few radio hits.

If Nashville holds up to everything the pilot promises, we'll be visiting these ladies for quite a while, and I, for one, am ready for the trip!