Source: bossypants.tumblr.com.

Costume idea: Liz Lemon of "30 Rock"

Halloween is right around the corner, and if you're looking for an easy, no-fuss TV costume, why not choose the First Lady of Couch Potatoes, Liz Lemon of "30 Rock"?

Dressing up like Liz Lemon is pretty simple. Start with her standard uniform of a button-down shirt under her "TGS with Tracy Jordan" hoodie.

Good news: you can snag the hoodie from the "30 Rock" NBC store. Bad news: it'll run you about $50. But come on, can't you think of a thousand other occasions you might have to wear it?! No? Well, come on, you can have it all! Including this sweatshirt. You can find a plaid-ish button-down anywhere, from the Gap to Goodwill, for not much cash. Throw 'em on with jeans and sneakers and you're ready to go!

Don't forget Liz Lemon's trademark glasses! Bonus if you already wear them (or, like me, are required by law to wear them while you operate a motor vehicle or take more than five steps in a row), but if not, just grab some cheapies from a drug store or dollar store and pop out the lenses if they're prescription. I was also "blessed" with naturally Liz-ish brown hair, so when I threw this costume together last year it didn't take much extra effort:

For good measure, I bought a cheapie "backstage pass" lanyard at iParty and wrote "Liz Lemon" on it, for any certified non-geniuses who couldn't already figure out who I was supposed to be. And voila! Suck it, nerds.

"30 Rock" daily diversion: one-minute dance party

Daily diversion: One-minute dance party.
Origin: "30 Rock" episode 104, "Jack the Writer", written by Tina Fey and Robert Carlock.


Sometimes we all need a little break from the day-to-day dullness. What better way to bust out of a funk than to bust a move? Liz Lemon and her staff of "TGS" writers like to take a quick dance break when frustration sinks in.

Incorporate it into your life: throw together a quick playlist of awesome songs to break it down to. (Use songs that start strong; you've only got a minute, so don't choose anything that builds up to a crescendo. You want it to bump all the way through.)  Then, when you're having an "ugh" moment, play a random song from the list on your iPod, iPhone, computer, or boom box (props for goin' old school) and dance your little heart out for a full minute. Even more fun if you bring friends or coworkers into the mix!

Song suggestions: Liz and her team "love the music of Chamillionaire" and dance to "Grown and Sexy". Some other good options are: "Gonna Make You Sweat" by C&C Music Factory, "Beat It" by Michael Jackson, "Push It" by Salt-N-Pepa, "Lose My Breath" by Destiny's Child, "Bust a Move" by Young MC, and anything by Girl Talk.

"30 Rock" vocab lesson: "buying all the hot dogs"

"Buying all the hot dogs"; expression:

• overreacting to a situation and doing something illogical or grandiose just to prove a point; impulsively enacting an over-the-top solution to a not-so-major problem.

Origin: Liz Lemon, portrayed by Tina Fey, in the pilot episode of "30 Rock" (written by Tina Fey).

Screen cap credit: Lore-85.

In the pilot episode of "30 Rock", Liz Lemon gets upset that a man cuts in line at the hot dog stand, and further incensed when people in line behind her leave to start a second line behind him. Infuriated, Liz buys all of the hot dogs so that the cutter and his followers can't have them. She proceeds to hand them out to the "good people" who stayed in her line, as well as random strangers, homeless people, and the writers on her show. She also eats four of them herself. She later explains to Pete that she hates it when people cheat or break rules, so her solution was to buy all the hot dogs. She realizes that it was irrational, impulsive, and over-the-top, but it proved her point and the "bad" people didn't get hot dogs.


Use it in a sentence: "Joey wouldn't stop chewing on the pens I lent him, so I bought all the hot dogs and threw away all the pens in the office."