Last Friday, while visiting my parents in New York, I made a quick stop at my favorite clothing store (Ann Taylor Loft) while I was waiting for my folks to get home from work. Luckily, ATL was having one of its fabulous sales, and I found a beautiful, turquoise, empire waist dress that fit me perfectly AND had been marked down from $79.99 to $29.99. What a find! I brought it up to the register, the sales woman rang it up, and to my wonderous surprise, the dress rang up at only $11.19—BONUS!

While I have never seen American Idol (at least that’s what I say publicly), I know a fair amount about the show. Students talk about, the media is obsessed about it, it has become part of the political vernacular, and, of course, it is nothing but good news. People coming together to sing and enjoy the American dream. It seems that if you do not know about American Idol, you have somehow missed the (swift)boat to paradise.