Yay for Jay

Yay to Jay McCarrol for winning Project Runway! Jay was catty and bitchy, but very funny, very honest and very talented. I love the skirt with the circles on it. I want one.

I was hooked on this show - the American Idol for fashion designers. It was great to watch them create something from scratch... and slightly amusing to hear Michael Kors rip their designs apart.

And in the finaly, Parker Posey looked Fab-u-lous with that crazy hair - you go Indy Girl!

My one rant for the show - I hated that the Producers manipulated the results to pick someone who they knew would add drama. Save that crap for the shows that need it, like Real World and Surreal Life. There was enough drama and suspense in Project Runway in watching the designs come together and seeing who won.

Paris Trumps National Security

The state of our culture today - Paris Hilton's sidekick getting hacked garners more law enforcement activity than a guy getting Secret Svc credentials for the Wht Hse with a fake name... which probably wouldn't even have made the news until they uncovered that he was a homosexual male escort who published nasty web sites. Then it becomes at least newsworthy.

I think it's all a PR stunt anyway. Paris' livelihood depends on her name being in the news. Helllooooo. Doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure this out. She probably seduced some 15 year old kid to "hack" into her stuff.

On that note, I now possess the phone# of the lead singer of Maroon 5. I wonder if he'd like to meet me for a spot of tea.

Pretzels + Chocolate = Yummy

Tomorrow is Cookiepalooza at work - our fifth annual cookie baking contest. I think I won "Best Looking Cookie" last year for my frosted sugar cookies in the shape of ice cream cones.

This year I made Chubby Hubby Cookies. Yes, the name got me (though my hubby is no longer chubby as he has lost almost 30 pounds since last year and is continually shrinking and will soon fit in to my pants at which time I might truly lose my already loose grip on sanity). But moreso, I'm all about mixing pretzels and chocolate.

It started with the White Trash Mix given to us at Christmas - pretzels, crispix, cheerios, nuts all coated in white chocolate. I didn't think I was even going to like it. I was SO WRONG. Now I find myself at home, whipping up a batch as if it's popcorn and I'm sitting down to Colin Firth Fest.

Then Aaron and Jenny introduced me to the Take 5 bar. It was yummy. And now I'm hooked on the idea of pretzels with chocolate.

So I found this cookie recipe that includes pretzels. They're not that attractive, but I'm hoping they are tasty. Funny thing is, after all that, I have no desire to eat one. Perhaps the cookie dough getting in the way of the pretzel truly meshing with the chocolate dampens my desire.

Boarding for Breast Cancer

Our good friend Tony is riding for the 2005 Boarding for Breast Cancer Board-A-Thon. Tony helped teach me how to board and look at me now, I cut up the slopes like Kelly Clark... ok, not so much... maybe more like Kelly Clarkson. But I have the cutest snowboard ever, with pandas on it, incase I actually get serious about it. If not, I can still hang the snowboard on my wall as an artistic centerpiece.

Go here to donate for Tony

iPod Me

Got hubby an iPod Shuffle for Valentine's Day. He's happier than a pig in, well, poop. It came in this adorable green box and just seemed to say, "I've been waiting for you my whoooooole life!"

After a few bouts of him singing along to the song that was playing only in his ear, I've started to wonder what I've gotten myself in to here. Though he has multiple talents, singing is NOT one of them. Let's just say, not only should he not quit his day job, he shouldn't subject the shower walls (much less me and the dog) to this spectacle.

But let's be honest here, I'm just jealous. These days, having a white cord flowing out of your ears definitely increases your hip quotient... so needless to say, I am feeling like the nerdy, out of the loop member of this union - a position I am not used to.

I want an iPod!

Maroon Me on a Desert Island

Yay for Maroon 5, they just won the Grammy for Best New Artist. After Los Lonely Repeat the Chorus Over and Over Again Boys won Best Pop Performance By A Duo Or Group, I wasn't hopeful that Maroon 5 would win, but they did. Thank Goodness it wasn't a Jethro Tull wins Best Metal Album moment!

They look pretty handsome in those suits too. Looks like suits are the new black. I don't think I could endure another thank me lucky charms I've turned from rapper to golfer outfit like Missy Elliott wore that one year, ugh!

photo: Wireimage

Chomp

At this point, scary, but there's not alot of food that would make me feel happy (usually I can rattle off a long list). My food fantasies are fizzling.

I was going to mail order a Giordano's Chicago Stuffed Pizza, which definitely has potential for momentary bliss, but it was going to cost $41.25 for a 12" pie and I may be desperate, but I'm not crazy.

Matt, coming home for a visit anytime soon? =)

Cat Killer

My favorite SuperBowl commercial was the Ameriquest one where the guy looks like he is murdering the cat. Sick but damn funny.

Neither team is a favorite of mine (I'm still partial to the Miami Dolphins), so I cheered for NE only because I had heard on NPR that the QB was a QT, but let's face facts, he's certainly no Steve Young.

Krispy Krack

I realized that my blog has strayed from what my title implies... my lust for food. I had contemplated telling my brother that I was going on a hunger strike, but I know he would know I was full of crap. I cannot, in fact, stop myself from eating. To the contrary, I am finding myself eating everything in site, assuming it will give me a moment of pleasure to distract me from the drama. And you know what, it does. Sound familiar? Like an addiction maybe? Because even something as seemingly harmless as Krispy Kremes can be dangerous if taken to the extreme. Let me elaborate...

Research says that if we take in 3500 calories more than we burn, we gain one pound.

According to this Calorie Needs Calculator, I burn about 2000 calories per day.

Each Krispy Kreme Original Glazed donut (my drug of choice) has 200 calories.

I'd need at least 3 dozen donuts per day to continually dull my pain (and, I assume that over time, I'd need more and more to get the same results).

That's 7200 calories in donuts.

Plus I'd need to wash them all down with soda, so that would easily bring me up to 8000 calories.

That means I'd gain almost two pounds per day.

So if I went on a Krispy Kreme "runner" for just two weeks, I'd gain over 25 pounds! I would definitely need a new wardrobe, but probably couldn't afford it because I'd be spending all my money on donuts. Any clothes that did still fit would probably have glaze stains on them.

Then things would turn really bad... I'll have gained so much weight that I'll be depressed... and even though I know how hard it will be to lose the weight, I won't be able to stop because I really love how the donuts make me feel and can't bear the thought of not eating them... then I'd think about how I've let my family and friends down because I don't want to go out anywhere, I just want to stay home and eat donuts, so to keep them from bugging me, I'd lie and say I was having "tummy troubles", then I could hide out in the bathroom with no one bothering me to stop eating my donuts and even if they did beg me to stop, I'd say "to hell with it, I've already gained ridiculous amounts of weight" and keep eating the donuts... and the vicious cycle would continue.

Amazing how frighteningly similar this is to actually being addicted to a narcotic substance! Only I don't think on the Krispy Kremes you'd bug out or pass out. Then again, I don't know for sure because I don't think I've ever had that much pure sugar flowing around in my bloodstream!

More Brazil Pix

Bas put up more pictures from Brazil...

EF

What a horrible week so far. Brother is not doing well at all. My back is about to give out. My hair, well, we won't even GO there...

The horrible thing about having a loved one who is destroying themselves is that you wonder why they don't love you enough to be able to stop. It's a silly thing to think because you know damn well they do love you and you know addiction is not rational, but you can't help but feel hurt.

I wish I had the money to hire a couple big guys to go and kidnap him and keep him in a bungalow at Chateau Marmont for a month and only allow room service and a Psychiatrist to visit. Alas, independently wealthy I am not, so I'll continue on the Prayer route (though since that didn't work for my Mom's situation, I'd also like to win the lottery and hire the thugs).

Couch Potatoette

Along the lines of the state-the-obvious-research that showed drinking alcohol makes others appear better looking, they've now proven that couch potatoes tend to be obese. Duh. The major scientific breakthrough - they surmised that the drive to sit or lounge is genetic, rather than caused by the fact that they are/become obese.

...undergarment readings confirmed that the obese participants sat or reclined an average 2.5 hours more per day than their skinny peers... Despite their newly svelte status, these participants continued to prefer lounging over being more active. "This drive seems very fixed," he said.

Bottom line, whether it's genetic or just lazy-ass syndrome (which I suffer from often), everyone still knows that you need to get off your ass to lose weight. I probably have a genetic predisposition to become addicted to drugs but I know it's bad (very bad) so I don't give myself the opportunity. Not to compare this to being a couch potato - because it's not as if I'm surrounded by chunks of crack that I just choose to pass up each day. The opportunity to sit on you butt and watch Scrubs or reruns of Friends is constant and unrelenting. I understand this. I just think that to spend money on this research is ridiculous when they could have donated some memberships to Weight Watchers and at least helped create thinner, healthier couch pototoes.

Snow Peeves

As you may or may not know, we got dumped on with snow last week. I've lived in snow almost my whole life (minus those three years I spent in Vegas learning to be superficial and morally bankrupt), but there are some things I just can't get used to.

For example, how can someone who, for the past 7 or so snow-free months, understood the appropriate parking distance thanks to the yellow lines, suddenly, when those lines are covered by snow, become devoid of any sensibility such that they park soooo far away from the next car that each could open their doors and not ding one another... yet just close enough that another car cannot fit between them, causing the parking lot to now only fit half the number of cars it could in the spring? I cannot comprehend the stupidity present when someone parks like this. They are someone I want to beat over the head with a mallet.

And then there are the morons who are too damn lazy to wipe off their cars. I kid you not, a guy drove by the other day... his windshield barely wiped clean, and the rest of his car - including the back window - covered with 5 inches of snow, which was blowing off his car and leaving everyone behind him to navigate through his home-made blizzard. Mallet please.

And of course, those that drive too fast or too close. I pity the soul who decides to ride my bumper, then as I have to break for a wayward chunk of snow, plows into the back of me. Hello road rage! I better get a nerf mallet to put in my car.

Strangers with Candy

I am a huge fan of The Daily Show and of the now-defunct tv show Strangers with Candy. So I was delightfully surprised to turn on NPR (as I always do) to hear an interview with Stephen Colbert - who is brilliantly funny on both.

Strangers with Candy was just so wrong on so many levels... such as this one of many quotes:
"How many of you wanna wake up in a public bathroom, lying in a pool of what you HOPE is your own filth?"

So I was estactic to learn that they made Strangers With Candy movie - which is premiering at Sundance tonight. If I were independently wealthy, I would be on a plane to Salt Lake City right now.

My Friends

I have some very cool friends. There is Jenny, who is insanely creative and always finding new ways to express it, from Christmas Cocktails to Lollipop Cozies. There is Daniela, the dynamic sexpot, who got me my first pair of high boots and has inspired me with her taste and class ever since. There are the musicians - Jessica, with the voice of an angel, and Sarah who plays a mean french horn and tickles the ivories so well. There is Amy, who took a risk and pulled ideas together to author the hippest knitting book yet. There is Peppermint Tina, whose thoughtful words and gifts make me feel so special. There is Joel, who won't put his knives in the dishwasher, but will put chicken bones down the garbage disposal. There are many others - actors, painters, writers, artists, thinkers, travelers, mothers, fathers, and those who have a talent for humor.


The latest to impress is Mikha, who has had two really cool books published this past year. One is all about good luck charms and the other about spices. Unfortunately, they are in Portuguese, but even though I don't understand the words, the books are little works of art, with great pictures and beautiful design.

My friends insprire me. I am a lucky girl.

Oreo Personality

I took the Oreo Personality quiz and this is what it said about me:

Everyone likes you because you are always upbeat. You like to sugar coat unpleasant experiences and rationalize bad situations into good ones. You are in total denial about the shambles you call a life.

Sounds about right =)

Pictures!

It has taken me awhile to get back to my blog. I have been spending my evening computer time working on editing and sorting and adding titles to the pictures I took.

One of the drawbacks of buying a 1GB memory card for your camera - you take a TON of pictures and then have to sort through them to get to a collection that might not bore the hell out of everyone else.

So, after sorting through over 500 pictures, here, finally, is a photo album of pictures from Brazil.

Some quick highlights:

Tsunami Sadness

While I was away, we heard little news. When we left Sao Paulo, the death toll in the tsunami was estimated at 11,000. When we heard of it again a week later, it was up to 140,000. As I've returned back and am watching the news, I am seeing the true devastation and it deeply saddens me. I see images of beaches that prior to the waves, looked just like the beach I was on in Brasil. It is scary to think about being subjected to the fury of the sea. It's hard to understand why these things happen, sometimes to the smallest, most innocent among us.

Back from Paradise

Arrived home from Brazil yesterday, exhausted and a little bit in shock. It's not easy to go from warm, sandy beaches to cold, snowy roads. It was an amazing trip - gorgeous scenery, great weather, and wonderful people.

So as not to type a dissertation, I will try to list some highlights of the trip:

- Beautiful wedding
- Brasilian coffee
- Cheese for breakfast
- Fruit, fruit & more fruit
- Guarana Light
- 3 day bus trip north thru Brasil
- Flip Flops
- Churrascaria - Brasilian BBQ - a carnivore's dream
- bumpy, dirt/sand roads to Beach house
- Paradise
- Falling asleep & waking to sound of waves crashing
- Rising moons & starlit skies
- Sunscreen
- Caipirinhas
- Coconut Water
- Cashew Water
- Sunscreen
- Trying to learn Portuguese
- Riding in the dune buggy (pronounced boogy in Portuguese)
- Brasilian bikinis
- Sunscreen
- Gorgeous Brasilian women
- Hunky Brasilian men
- Skinny Brasilian dogs
- Boat Trip up the Lagoon from Marau to Barre Grande
- Lots of Sunscreen
- Yoga under the stars
- Getting hit on by a cute young Brasilian (que é seu nome?)
- Beach Volleyball
- Bug spray
- riding Shakey (the horse)
- Harry the dog taking my sneaker
- Pousadas - Bahia Boa
- Shrimp with faces & legs (yikes!)
- Yoga in the rain
- Family & Friends & Friends who have become Family

Feliz Natal

With things looking much better on the family front, our first day in Brasil has been wonderful. A bit jetlagged from an overnight flight, but between the Guarana and espresso, and the best Christmas Eve I´ve had in three years, I´m feeling pretty energetic.

We exchanged gifts, had a delicious dinner of lamb (yes, I tasted it and, to my surprise, liked it), turkey, rissoto, and rice, panettone filled with ice cream for dessert, and then listened to Daniela´s very talented friend Edrick play the guitar and sing for us. After Edrick sang, another friend of the family, Caroline, played the piano and sang opera. The evening was topped of when Daniela´s Dad sat down at the piano (something he rarely does) and played some beautiful music.

Merry Christmas Everyone!