I love it/I hate it

Here's a fun game: what is one thing you love and one thing you hate today? Here is my example, I hope you will all post your own.

LOVE IT: Hardware stores. What's that, you say? It's true! Today I went to three hardware stores in search of some illusive air filters and something about the chaotic but systematic organization combined with the smell of who knows what (wood? tools? metal?) just makes me feel like I'm in a happy small town and I'm about to walk outside to get my Bernese Mountain Dog who is waiting patiently by the parking meter and take her to get an ice cream cone. Or something like that. I think my love for small, non-chain (well actually they are all owned by ACE--who you can now follow on Twitter according to their website...what the heck do they post? Hammers have now dropped in price from 9.99 to 7.89, come on down--@drillbitwoodshavings) Don't get me wrong, I love a good trip to Home Depot when you need something obvious, but these smaller hardware stores are really where it's at. They remind me of going to the hardware store with my Mom on the main street in the town where I spent the first 7 years of my life and feeling like all was right in the world because the nice man behind the counter gave me a lollipop while mom picked out an outdoor light bulb. Today, for instance, at Busy Bee Hardware in Santa Monica, the 100 year old man behind the counter let me go in the employees only section with him to locate the air filters and then climbed up a ladder and dropped them down to me. Where else can you find 100 year old employees climbing ladders so gracefully, so cheerfully? He even gave me a discount--I think I may be the only female who ever comes into the store. Either way, I think local hardware stores may be the key to feeling that home-town feeling in a city as big as LA.

HATE IT: Fox's up and coming show More to Love. (for those of you who Tivo past all commercials, it is essentially The Bachelor with all the women contestants being on the heavier side) OK people, here comes a rant. FIRST of all, since when is it OK to define "real women" as either size 2 or size 14? Last time I checked I was a real woman (or at least that's what Shania told me) and I am in between. Second of all, and what I hate the most, is that this show parades itself as some sort of friendly, accepting, "finally letting the big girls have their moment in the spotlight" show, while really objectifying those very women and doing so in front of the whole world. I could go on and on, but here is my main point. Obviously shows like that are anything but real anyways (this coming from someone who actually likes watching The Bachelor/Bachelorette), so why even bother trying to claim that this larger version is any more "real"? Corralling 30 women into a mansion to compete for a man's attention so he can propose and then later break-up with her (or vice versa with Bachelorette) is not generally the way real people fall in love, so let's just call this show the shock factor factory that it is. Honestly, my heart breaks for these women, who have some how been convinced that they will feel better about themselves if they confess their deepest insecurities about love/their bodies/etc in front of millions of viewers. Reality dating shows can be fun to watch, but honestly this latest version makes me sick.