guilty pleasures

Okay, we all have them. Some we can put out there, others are locked away deep inside for only our enjoyment. I'm coming clean - here are a few guilty pleasures that I enjoy (but won't readily admit - until now):

1. Dog the Bounty Hunter (yes, the Hawaii-based reality show, bad-guy-gettin', white trash, chain-smoking Dog). I can't get enough. It drives Josh crazy, but I just love this show.

2. Kelly Clarkson. I admit this one shamelessly. There are not many songs that touch my soul the same way as her live version of "Beautiful Disaster." Download it today; you won't be sorry. I'm very anti-American Idol (with the brilliant exception of Clay Aiken, but that's another story), and yet I find myself mesmerized by the vocal talents of Miss Kelly. She rocks, no denyin' it.

3. Diet Coke. Okay, this one is hardly a secret; and hardly guilt-inducing, but it ranks up there on my daily must-have list, so I'm including it here.

4. Musicals. I love them; in fact, I have yet to meet I musical I didn't love. My friend Jackie once told me I was like a gay man when it came to my love of Broadway. I took that as quite the compliment. From the opening note to the closing of the curtain - I become mesmerized, lost, captured. I love it and will always pay good money for what it does to me. My favorite of late is Wicked...and has been for quite some time now.

5. MTV. I know, I know. It's shameful...I'm well past the age where this is acceptable. I can't help it, I love it. Ironic, though, is the fact that what I do enjoy about MTV is not the music videos - no, mine is an affection for all the rest. The Real World. True Life. The Osborne's et al. That's where my viewing love affair takes place, the un-music of MTV.

6. Chocolate. This one needs no justification; I will offer none. It is what it is. We all must have that naughty little cacao seed. You know what I'm talkin' about. My favorite forms of this tempting vice are Kit-Kats and the Reeses Peanut Butter Trees, Hearts, and Pumpkins. Do not be confused with the regular Reeses Peanut Butter Cups - true perfection is found in the ratio of chocolate to peanut butter found only in the special edition holiday treats. Lucky for me, the devils at Hershey seem to have found a way to make them into all holiday shapes - thus making them available to me almost year-round. Shoot, there goes my number one new year's resolution...

7. Bad Magazines. There is something so great about holding the latest edition of In Touch or OK! Magazine - just waiting to share with you the smutty gossip of celebrities and psuedo-celebrities alike. I feel like a fly on the wall at a great party I was never invited to. So, so fun.

8. Manicures and Pedicures. I adore having my hands and toes done. Something about sitting in that big, leather chair, feet soaking in hot, sudsy water - all the while my hands are getting massaged and babied. Makes me feel like I'm a princess getting all pampered and primped for the ball. So what if my "ball" is waiting on a stone-cold bench while my boys fence their hearts out, taking my turn on the preschool field trips, or that blessed of all events - pack meeting. I'm a princess and I deserve it!

The ultimate for me would be getting a mani/pedi, sipping a diet coke and munching on a Reese's PB tree. In my free hand is the latest edition of a gossip magazine that features an article on the Dog. I've got Kelly Clarkson or Wicked blasting through the headphones of my I-Pod, and I'm watching The Real World on the t.v. in the corner. All my loves in once place... aaaugghhhh (ala Homer J., another pleasure I haven't owned up to yet.)

Now it's your turn...what are your guilty pleasures? Do share...