Miranda Hart

If you watched "Call the Midwife" on PBS on Sunday nights, I would bet that you have fallen in love with Camilla Fortescue-Cholmondeley-Browne, known to her friends/fellow midwives as "Chummy" and played by the wonderful Miranda Hart. Chummy comes from an upper class background, but couldn't be more "of the people" if she tried. She is warm-hearted and generous and socially awkward and thoughtful and clumsy and is my absolutely favorite character on the show. I loved her since she first fell off the bicycle. (Okay, that isn't true. I loved her from when she protected her first patient from the doctor's insensitivity.)  She is the reason that I stuck with the show; I was ready to give up after the first episode, but I said I would watch one more and that's when her character was introduced.

So because I became such a fan of Chummy,  I went on a hunt to find "Miranda", Miranda Hart's eponymous Brit sit com. Luckily, I found it on my local PBS station. It is HILARIOUS!!  It is on after 11pm on Friday nights here so I DVR it and watch it first thing on Saturday. It is my new Saturday morning cartoon. I have literally laughed out loud at the show at least three times every episode. It is a bit "Bridget Jones"-esque with the single girl and the pushy mother and the kooky friends and the unattainable hot guy and the embarrassing situations, but the tone is so much more upbeat than "Bridget Jones".  Plus, "Miranda" has this uncanny ability to bounce back from all of the embarrassing situations. (Granted, it is television, but, boy! don't I wish I could be more like that?!?) Normally, I don't like shows that put the main character in embarrassing situations (Meet the Parents was a nightmare for me; I wanted to crawl under my chair and die!), but I haven't had to fast forward through "Miranda" at all. (Okay, well, honestly, I did fast forward during one of the first episodes I watched. Then I rewound and watched the bit I thought would be too painful to watch, and it was fine. In fact, it was hilarious. Lesson learned.)

Anyhow, the show isn't out on DVD in the US, so you can't get it from Netflix or the library, and it isn't worth buying on DVD unless you have a regionless DVD player, which I don't, although I can watch Region 2 DVDs on my laptop, but I digress... So you have to hunt it down on PBS (or the interwebs, but you didn't hear that from me) because it doesn't seem to be on BBC America either. (But "Star Trek the Next Generation" is... that's a topic for another time.) Hopefully, the BBC will try to capitalize on the success of "Call the Midwife", and  "Miranda" will end up on DVD here soon. Until then, I will not be purging my DVR, and you can watch clips on the BBC One website. A new series of "Miranda" is set to broadcast soon; I can't wait until they show it here!! As Miranda's mother Penny would say, "Such fun!"



[And for all of you playing "Name That Brit" at home: I knew that I had seen Gary (the unattainable hot guy) before: he was Tom the doctor on "Doctor Who" that Martha was going to marry until she decided to marry Mickey instead. ]

Happy Thanksgiving!

This year I have so many things for which I am thankful. Just within this last year, I am grateful for selling my condo rather quickly, having all my stuff moved by a fantastic moving company, taking some much needed time off, starting a new job, and buying my house - and my continual blessings: my family (especially the newest addition) and my friends (who have stuck by me through all this moving around).  For all the whinging I do, things are actually really good. And I am thankful.

The Start of the Christmas Season is Closer than You'd Think

Image from Ebay

Because I am currently concerned about where all my British Christmas stuff is going to be purchased this holiday season now that I am no longer living in Boston, I thought I would share last night's discovery here on on the blog.

I was at BJ's picking up some household items and while walking through the Christmas section, I noticed that they had Tom Smith luxury and juvenile Christmas crackers! There were some stunning silver and black full size ones (similar to the ones in the photo), but I restrained myself as I went overboard last Christmas at TJ Maxx and bought enough crackers last year for more than twice the number of people I was going to see on the big day. A box of eight was selling for $9.99 which is a steal great bargain, in my opinion.

So you if you are in the market for Christmas crackers, you might want to check out your local BJ's wholesaler! (For anyone reading in the central Connecticut region, this was the BJ's in Southington on Queen St.)  Also, if you know of any place where I can find a Christmas pudding and some brandy butter in the area, I would love it if you told me in the comments! It isn't practical for me to drive to Cardullo's in Harvard Square just for that... or is it? ;-)