you better believe it's bachelor time.  as you may recall all the way back from, well, yesterday's post, this show is absolutely a guilty pleasure of mine.  i started watching it with my mom back in the first season, when the guy wasn't ripped or good-looking in any way.  in fact, alex was kind of an all-around tool, which means, at the heart of it, this show hasn't really changed at all.

in high school, all of my girlfriends used to speed to my house from youth group to gather 'round, watch and discuss.  and on finale night, you better believe we used to have a sleepover...on school nights.  watch out, folks, we're getting dangerous here.

same story in college.  my roommates and i would all pour a glass of wine and meet up in the living room for some quality bonding time.  fast-forward another three years to tonight's finale and you'll find that nothing has changed.  at the last minute today, i texted some girlfriends of mine to see if they would be up for watching together.  i figured it would be a long shot, as the rest of the girls have children, but the bachelor is serious business, so they found a way to work it out.

as cheesy as it sounds, and as much as boys would roll their eyes over this, some of my favorite memories with my friends over the years have come from watching this show together.  on a special, last year, about the show's history and popularity, one group of women explained that this show is like the super bowl for chicks.

they were absolutely right.  we talk about and relate to each other over this show like men talk about and relate over sports.  just like each player has their stats, each female contestant has a list of pros and cons, and sometimes just plain crazies.

and that's why i've decided to make this season a bit of a competition among friends to thicken the plot.  i found cheat sheets with all of the women's names and pictures on ABC's website and printed them off for each of my friends.  we made notes as we developed first impressions, discussed, and before elimination, we voted on which girls would go.  only one of us even got half of them right.  seriously, brad, what were you thinking?  we even rewound the preview at the end to try to analyze which girls look like they'll be around for a while.  we'll continue to vote each week, only being able to select from the pool of girls we originally thought would go on.  it's like our own bachelor march madness.

based on first impressions, i think brad should stick with these three:

marissa, the sports analyst.  beautiful, down-to-earth, and seriously?  any girl that likes sports is more than welcome to take up residence as my friend.

emily aka holly madison (the resemblance is uncanny).  i love how the previews make it look like she is going to challenge him in a real way and actually question this experience and the relationship.

shawntel, the funeral director.  she was by far my best first impression and just seems so natural.  plus, hello, she's a funeral director.  awesome.  she wasn't featured much, so i'm excited to see more.

and now for the ladies i'm a bit more skeptical of:

ashley.  okay, yes, she's a cute nanny with a sob story, and she got the first impression rose.  but really, she grabbed his butt within 15 seconds of meeting him.  i also feel like she's trying to be tenley.  quality?  meh.

meghan, fashion marketer - did you see her huge pink shoes?  woof.

and for painfully obvious reasons, model madison.  fangs?  really?

who's on the top and bottom of your list?  i'd love to hear!  seriously, gossip away.

*all images from abc.com