Dec 17: Staying in Style

Tonight's the night. Yep, the night for fans of reality TV. The night for fans of housewives. Especially the night for fans of Fort Lauderdale. So since it's such a big deal for all those folks, I felt that one more blog about this thing might be helpful. You see, the "Real Housewives of Orange County" came to town in July to tape their popular cable program for Bravo - hey, that should show you we're no longer just a winter tourist destination, right? July and August are our hottest months, but these TV stars obviously enjoyed themselves. Anyway, that program airs tonight at 10 pm ET. I confess that I've not seen the "real" housewives before but I sure plan to tune in this evening. I'm told they're quite a trip, these California ladies.

They evidently got all glammed and glitzed up for their stay in a part of the country I'll take over Southern California any day, quite frankly. If they had been really smart, they'd have moved their show here. But it's nice they came to visit. And tonight the viewing public gets to see what happened while they were in town.

What's pretty cool, though, is that you also can enter a contest to win a free trip to Fort Lauderdale -- "Real Housewives of Orange County" style. Just click on www.sunny.org/RHOC for a chance to snag round-trip air on Virgin America and two nights at the ultra-chic W Fort Lauderdale, where the California girls stayed. The winner also receives a fancy spa treatment, a fancy dinner and a trip through the Everglades that's never fancy but sure is a blast. I also learned that there's another "Real Housewives" offering, even if you don't win that freebie. The discounted package is called "Live It Up Like a Housewife." Cute name. It includes accommodations at W Fort Lauderdale as well, along with the spa and Everglades visits, cocktails at W's very hot Whiskey Blue lounge and a poolside cabana so you can go home with a Fort Lauderdale glow. Just like the OC housewives. For details, click on www.wfortlauderdalehotel.com/realhousewives. It spells out all the details for you. Meantime, program your TiVo for tonight's show or just set your alarm clock or whatever works for you. Since you're reading this blog, I know you're probably a fan of Fort Lauderdale just like me. You may or may not love reality TV and I don't need to know what you think about housewives. But I'm pretty sure that, for South Florida junkies, this will be something to see.