catheroominations

You all know how much I love competition and how winning an awesome prize motivated me to eat healthy and be more active during my 10-week boot camp challenge. Well, while reading Fit Bottomed Girls yesterday, I came across a review of this awesome book. Even though the title contains the word DIET, which I detest and don’t believe in anyway, everything else in the review made me want to immediately pick up a copy of The Game On! Diet and find some friends to play with me.

As the title says, the idea behind the book is to kick your friend’s ass while shrinking your own. You form two or more teams of at least two people and try to earn more points than the other team(s). You play for four weeks at a time, checking in weekly. You earn points each day by getting at least 7 hours of sleep, drinking lots of water, making healthy food choices and eating 5 meals, getting at least 20 minutes of exercise, practicing healthy habits, and keeping in touch with teammates and opponents. When you lose weight at the weekly weigh-in you earn bonus points too! But it’s not all good: you lose points when you snack on crappy food, try to sabotage someone else, or drink alcohol.

I know what you’re thinking – NO ALCOHOL?! I can’t do that! But every week you get one day to eat and drink whatever you want. Deprivation breeds failure, at least with me, so I like this free day stuff. I call it Baconday.

Authors Krista Vernoff, a producer for Grey’s Anatomy and Az Ferguson, Body-For-Life million dollar champion teach you how to rid your diet of junk and focus on whole foods (not to be confused with Whole Foods). They give you recipes, suggestions for healthy habits and yoga and workout instructions. I’ve only just thumbed through the book, but from what I have seen this is a great way for someone whittle into shape and I can’t wait to get started. I just need more people to play with!

If you’ve struggled with staying motivated or have just begun your journey into healthy eating and exercise, join me and my friends! It’ll be so fun kicking each other’s asses, we might forget we’re doing it for our own good! And we’ll have to think of a fabulous prize at the end. This is one competition where being a loser means you’re awesome.

I just got the new Brendan Benson album (if I can still call it that) and holy shenanigans it is AWESOME. I can’t stop listening to it and when I got home today, I popped it into the BOSE and immediately had to shed my tennies and socks and clothes – to change into shorts and a tank top – so I could dance all around the kitchen like a whirling dervish.

Just listen to Feel Like Taking You Home and tell me if you can sit still while it plays. (Just click the play button to start the track.)

And A Whole Lot Better

And Don’t Wanna Talk

If I had had this CD a month or two ago, I’d be at my goal weight from spinning around and jumping up and down so much.

I could shop on Etsy for days. I just adore looking at all the pretty things. There are so many shiny, sparkly, cute, sweet, kickass items for sale at Etsy and I need almost none of them. But I do need a cute little apron, like the ones here. (Yes! I do! I need it!) So, I entered this contest over at Loralee’s Looney Tunes to win a free one. Because 1) I love free stuff; 2) I love winning; and 3) if I had this apron, I would cook more. Naked. (I just added that for more hits coming from “cook naked” on Google, by the way.) But seriously! This apron would help me channel my inner Rachael Ray (who I hear is a bitch but we were born on the exact same day) and make some fine vittles for my husband. Can’t you just see me baking homemade snickerdoodles, with flour on my cheeks and nose, puttering around my kitchen in this Saucy Dots apron? It is Teh Cuteness, no? If I don’t win, you want to buy it for me, don’t you?

*Yeah, I know the quote from Phil Hartman is sassy, but it just didn’t work as well here.

Which of the following is the correct definition of muffin top?

1. The phenomenon caused by the bit of pudge that oozes out the top of one’s jeans (AKA Dunlop’s disease: “My belly done lops over my britches!”)
2. The only item on the menu at Elaine Benes’ bakery, Top o’the Muffin to You!
3. A cereal found exclusively at the Dollar Tree
4. All of the above.

Until tonight, I was only familiar with the fashion don’t and the Seinfeld reference. But now I’ve discovered these calcium-rich muffin tops! So much better than the belly kind.

By the way, they also sell these at the Dollar Tree. But, ladies, please get a second opinion, OK?

Also, be sure you take a close look at the bakery items at the Dollar Tree, to ensure freshness. Look at the large version of this photo to see just what makes this bread “extra sourdough.”

The Dollar Tree is a great place to pick up gifts for Thanksgiving. Thank your host or hostess with a nice can of sardines (2 for $1), or bring an appetizer of Fiddle-Faddle (just $1). And be prepared for the weather with some raingear. A 5-pack of rain bonnets is just a buck and it includes a fabulous carrying case! I’m giving the pack to my mom. Nothing’s too good for you, Ma!

Matte found some inspiration for an artsy shot. Scrumptious, I’m sure!

I’m watching an episode of The Colbert Report on TiVo, and they just aired an ad for…

GUYS GONE WILD

Yes, ladies. It’s true. It’s payback time. Woohoo! Choose from The Big Easy, Heatstroke, and Dude, Where’s My Pants?* (Nice grammar on that last title, guys.) Hurry, get to guise gone w!ld daht com (I’m so not linking to that) and order your very own copy, each for just $19.99!

THUD (I just imagined it on the 65-inch screen.)

*In Spanish, that’s El Grande Facil, Insolación, and Hombre, Donde Estan Mis Pantalones**, but really, do you care about audio for this type of thing?

**OK, so maybe it isn’t gramatically Spanishly correct, but I really just wanted to say “Hombre, donde estan mis pantalones?”

One of the perks of my new cohabitation situation is that my commute has been quadrupled. No, really. It is a perk. My old commute was a mere two miles, so I never got to listen to Dave Morey for very long, or hear more than a couple of songs on my iPod (Stairway to Heaven? Wouldn’t even be able to hear the whole song). Besides, living so close to work, I could go home for lunch and that was bad. Once I was home, I never wanted to leave to come back to work.

Because I live so far away from work now, I can happily tune in to KFOG, or hear up to 12 iTunes on my kickass new stereo as I enjoy my 15 minute drive to the office. Bonus! There’s a Jamba Juice on the way! I’ve become somewhat of a regular since my friend June touted the joys of her daily dose of Jamba. Here is how she describes her favorite smoothie:

“I get the Berry Fulfilling…it’s one of the Enlightened ones and it really feels you up!”

You can see why June loves her Jamba. Doesn’t every girl want to start her day with a nice feeling up? I had to try this. So, every morning, I pull into the parking lot on my way to the office, maneuvering my way through the crooked parkers and bad puller-outers to enter the fruitilicious establishment that is Jamba Juice.

I’ve been getting the Berry Fulfilling every time I go and have yet to be felt up. I don’t know why this is, but I can no longer handle the rejection so this morning I switched to the Mango Mantra. I figured mangos are melons, and well, boobs are melons, so this will hopefully enhance my chances for gropage. So far, I haven’t gotten any action. But it is only our first date, and perhaps Mango Mantra is a gentleman. Or maybe he’s gay. Yeah, that would be just great. I’m just grateful that each time I visit Jamba, I get some booty. Yeah, Baby!

I’ll keep y’all posted as my smoothie and I become better acquainted.

I don’t have a problem. I can quit whenever I want to.*

Iron Sudoku.

*Because there’s only one puzzle a day.