My Friday Five: News, Music, and The Bachelorette

Well, it's Friday again, and I'm excited to share five things on my mind lately! Here we go!

1~ I'm co-hosting a huge giveaway by Emily from The Freckled Fox with nineteen other ladies, in which you can win a Canon Rebel T3i camera! It ends the middle of next week, so don't miss out!

2~ I'm so excited to have launched my blog design and editing business, KV Designs, on Tuesday! And I'm looking for a couple of blogs to design for free, so if you're interested, please let me know!

3~ So, The Voice finale was this week. A lot of times I don't vote for their finales because I usually am neutral by the time we get to the top 2 or 3 because either all of them are equally awesome or my favorites have been eliminated. Since my very favorite, Audra, was voted off a couple weeks ago (really now?? Ugh.) I was without someone to root for, but I decided I was gonna pull for Jake. Such a good ol' boy. ;) But he didn't win, and Josh did. I'm happy for Josh, as I know he deserves it, but I was a wee bit disappointed.

4~ Meanwhile, the American Idol finale was also this week. (Thank goodness these two shows finished up now that The Bachelorette is back. Gosh, it was a big enough predicament that the latter overlapped with The Voice for one night!) And like with The Voice, I was pretty disappointed that Jena didn't win. I am happy for Caleb, but Jena was a favorite of mine from her audition, and once my other two of three favorites went home, I was so rooting for her. I just really hope she and Caleb both make it big, or at least a little big, and I can't wait for Jena to release her first album! (Though can someone please tell me whyyy "Can't Help Falling in Love with You" isn't on iTunes??)

5~ I really did not expect to be so into this season of The Bachelorette, considering Andi was part of Juan Pablo’s disaster of a season that left 99% of us angry, super crazy frustrated, and disappointed. (I don't think I've seen something on TV so frustrating as that "After the Final Rose" show since the Canadian pair figure skaters were robbed of the gold back in like 2000 or somewhere in there. Remember, when the judging was fixed? Strange comparison? Well, both made me sick...) Anyway. I was also SO disappointed they didn’t pick Sharleen for the Bachelorette (I’m still wondering if they asked and she said no), but by the time this Monday arrived, I was ready to go! And I'm really liking how honest and real Andi is in all this. I feel like she's so more open than Desiree was. Do you think so?

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Yep, I’m gonna pick this one apart, you guys: I’ve faded out the ones who have been sent home so we can start sizing this thing up. If you want to get brushed up on the names (I certainly don’t have them all down by any means) you can here. ;)

When they first released the guys’ pictures and info, my top picks for Andi were Patrick and Marquel. Now that we’ve “met” them, and also seen sneak peaks of drama to come, Patrick is not quite how I thought he’d be and I’ve now bumped him for Carl, and I’m still holding out hope for Marquel even though it appears he may be quite the troublemaker. I may be wrong, and I kinda hope I am, but based on those oh-so-strategically-edited sneak peaks, it appears Nick V. might be a troublemaker too, and if that’s accurate, he is SO reminding me of Ben from Desiree’s season. Anyone else getting that vibe? It’s kinda scaring me.

And the giant white B you see on Marcus’s shoulder? (First of all, can you say Drew from Desiree’s season?) I’ve already picked him out as the next Bachelor. Yeah, it’s early, but I like to try to predict these things! If not Marcus, and if it turns out Marquel isn't a major troublemaker, and if he doesn't make it until the end, he's my second pick. ;)

I also think Brian and Andrew will make it pretty far, and I would include Ron, but considering they showed very little of him even though he made the cut, that generally means the person will only be around for a couple more weeks.

It is just awful about Eric though. He and Andi seem like they could go so well together that it surprises me when they say that the accident was after he'd been sent home, because I'm kind of surprised he ever got sent home. I'm not including him in my top picks because we already know he wasn't her final choice, but if we didn't know that, he would be pretty high on my list. 

Meanwhile, there are of course already dumb spoilers all over everywhere, so here we are just starting out, and on the first night I already saw who all these people are saying it’s leaked she’s with. I won’t say, because I’m  nice like that, but just for the record, I had him picked as one of the last two or three standing since she seems to really like him, but I really didn’t feel like he’d be the final one. I guess I can see it though, but I’m still rooting for others for now. But you never know what we’ll learn about these guys as the weeks go on, and it may end up I picked the bad guys. But I’m with Marquel and Carl for now. ;)

Just for the record, last season Nikki wasn't even on my radar for the longest time, and my top pick for dear Juan Pablo was a girl he sent home the first night. So yeah, there's that.

Who were you rooting for to win The Voice? Are you glad Caleb is the new American Idol? And please tell me your thoughts on The Bachelorette! Who are your top picks?

P.S. Linking up with Thinking Out Loud, Lovely Thursdays, Little Friday, Five Things Friday, High Five for Friday, Friday Favorites, Fab Favorites, Friday Favorites