who knew sporks were so hot?

okay, i *really* really need to post about bonnaroo, cali trip, team in training, bootcamp, and all kinds of other fun stuff that's been going on lately, but here's a little something in the meantime. i'm not super-crazy about zachary quinto (although star trek definitely gave me second thoughts there), and i think chris pine's hotness may be tempered by his limited acting abilities... but captain spork is the definition of HOT! thanks to jarrett from nypost popwrap for this!

http://blogs.nypost.com/popwrap/archives/2009/06/i_love_captain_spork.html

one in eight

i'm not going to word this any better than sara, so take it from her:

One in eight.

That's an ugly statistic. That's a woman's chance of being diagnosed with breast cancer. My chance, your sister's chance, your mother's chance. Survival is more likely now than ever, but it's a miserable path - and an expensive one for many women.

Let's be real. Money makes the world go 'round - money for research, lobbyists, medicine, outreach. Where does that money come from? You and me.

So this year I'm doing a bit more than donating my own money. I'm running the Komen Race for the Cure here in Atlanta, and I'm asking for donations. I'm not a fan of "benevolent consumerism" - buying something pink is lovely and all, but I want my money to have the greatest impact. Susan G. Komen for the Cure is a four-star charity as rated by CharityNavigator.

So if you have a few bucks left from tax season and you're wondering what to do with it, think about giving to Susan G. Komen for the Cure, as a general donation or as a team or participant sponsor.

not the first, or the second, to the party

the blissful glutton is one of my favorite blogs, as you may imagine from the title. bliss, as she's known, did a year-end wrap up entitled the bliss list: 2008. the boy and i have worked our way through a good bit of this list (almost half!) already, and i thought it was funny when yet another dude tackled the task on a new blog called the blissful challenge. i love lists, and i love food, so after the huz's comment i figured i would make it official. so for my (and M's) amusement, here is our version. next up: honey pig, la pietra cucina and/or la churreria. we're actually going to be home this weekend, so i have a feeling at least two of those are gonna be checked off in a few days. yum. this is why i run!

1) The Korean gluttony at Honey Pig
2) The wings at Jamal's Buffalo Wings
3) Freshly-fried churros at La Churreria
4) Chef Liu's new menu at Tasty China
5) Pristine sushi and just plain awesome homestyle dishes at Sushi House Hayakawa
6) The burger, drinks, folks and everything else at Holeman and Finch Public House
7) Weekend tacos at Chicago Supermarket
8) New York-style pizza at Verra-Zanno Pizzeria
9) Korean BBQ and bibimbap at Hanil Kwan
10) The massive and delicious sandwiches at Muss and Turners
11) The fried green tomato BLT at Parish Market
12) The fruit cups, paletas and pressed sandwiches at Lottafrutta
13) A dirty martini and ground-to-order ribeye burger at Kevin Rathbun Steak
14) The fried pies at the Chick-fil-A Dwarf House
15) A hot dog and freshly made sweet onion rings at Barker's Red Hots
16) Kamal Grant's craveable doughnut creations at Sublime Doughnuts
17) Chef Bruce Logue's La Pietra Cucina
18) The meat pies at Australian Bakery & Cafe
19) Anything with barbecue at Ming's
20) The comforting cuisine of Cakes & Ale
21) A big greasy cheesesteak at Roys' Cheesesteaks
22) Shabu Shabu at Nakato (been there but didn't do the shabu shabu)
23) Bagels, breads and more at H&F Bread Company
24) The yakitori and ramen at Yakitori Jinbei
25) The dan-dan noodles and fish with tofu at Cafe 101
26) The consistently good Italian cuisine at Sotto Sotto
27) The classics at Canton Cooks
28) The gorgeous Indian vegetarian fare at Udipi Cafe
29) Afternoon tea at Park 75 Terrace and Lounge
30) Tlayudas, tacos and more at Taqueria Oaxaqueña

this does not bode well for side effects

i've become a lot more conscious of what i put into my body lately, which means i've actually started paying attention to ingredient lists and food labels for once in my life. this usually leads me to make better choices, but i think i committed a serious indiscretion recently.

we saw milk (as should you, btw) at the artsy theater down the street, and their concession stand was nothing short of awesome. i mean, they had booze AND pocky. if you have never had pocky before, you have no idea what you're missing. it is crispy, crackery, chocolatey goodness, and because it comes from japan you can stuff your face while congratulating yourself on how very cultured you are in your choice of snack. as i was sipping my adult beverage and waiting for the movie to begin, i decided to read the pocky label to see what exactly made it so yummy. while trying to justify the amount of saturated fat that was about to go into my face (dark chocolate is GOOD for you! and pocky is made with WHOLE WHEAT flour!), i scanned the ingredient list and discovered pocky's dirty little secret. what on earth are the side effects? and who knew there was a seed for that? and does this mean i have to give up my pocky habit for good? i am so torn.

what i do know is this: those japanese chocolate cream-covered biscuit stick makers are not right in the head. see for yourself (hint: read lines 5 & 8):

oprah is always right

i got my enell sportsbra (aka "the last resort bra") in the mail this week, and let me tell you that thing really is a beast. i opted for the pink version, as a portion of the astronomical price goes to breast cancer research. i am all for giving money to breast cancer research (more on that later), but can't we have another color option besides the ubiquitous pink? i'm with R's mom on this one: there is only so much pink a girl can take. but i digress. they were all the same price, and the pink one helped out a good cause, so pink it was.

pink and shiny.

holy moly, this thing shoulda come with matching pink satin boxing shorts and robe. it made me want to bust out my wimpy little kickboxing gloves (more like glovelets, if that is even a word (it is now)) to go running down the street, punching at the air all rocky balboa-style in my matchy-matchy shiny pink boxing ensemble. get me some pink chucks, and i'll be all set. i would be so awesome.

oh yeah, one more thing: it works. it looks ridiculous, but it works. breathing is overrated.

sportsbraorama

fitsugar recently posted about a subject, uh, near and dear to my heart: fitness tips for the well-endowed. the comments section was full of girls who share my pain (literally) and my quest for the perfect sports bra. let's just say that i am evidently both tiny and enormous, so i avoid bra shopping like the plague because nothing seems to work for me. and don't even get me started on bathing suits. i'm kinda-sorta training for a few road races right now, so i've stepped up my quest as of late. and because R asked and i'm bored, here is the rundown of my extensive research thus far:

moving comfort fiona (aka title nine "three reasons") bra - nooooo. not tight at all around ribcage = bad things. and that's a 32 (the smallest band size to be found in sportsbraland)! it's too bulky to double up on, so this one is going back.

title nine frog bra - yes & no. it mashes, all right, but it still isn't tight enough around my ribcage. closer than the fiona, but that's not saying much. if i use it to double up, it is pretty awesome, so there's that. (but beware if you hate the chicken cutlets effect! nobody's looking at your pits, but if you have mental issues with that you have been warned.) the fabric is super stiff and scratchy, but S promises it will soften after a few washes.

title nine 2-in-1 full support wicking bra (pretty sure this is the moving comfort maia bra) - backordered. will let you know mid-april-ish. i have high hopes, but i was also hopeful about the first MC bra i ordered.

target champion cotton uniboob bra - no idea what possessed me to buy two of these (years ago), except that they matched a couple of my racerback workout tops. maybe it was a nostalgia thing? i used to wear bras like this in high school for basketball and track, and they worked just fine. but then, i was about a b-cup in high school and probably thought bouncing was cute. these are pretty much worthless except to cover up your ugly bra with one that matches your workout tank. yep, i'm that into the matchy-matchy sometimes.

i may try the moving comfort grace bra, but that depends on the fit of my second (backordered) MC bra. it *says* it's a 32, but unless my ribcage has magically shrunk (shrunken?) recently, i think their sizing is a bit off.

under armour shaper bra - the name makes me laugh because the shape this bra creates is "uniboob." not sure what i was thinking when i bought it because it's not very supportive (hence UA labeling it "mid-support"). it was probably on sale and i was probably desperate. mine is a pretty teal color, though, so perhaps i was once again blinded by cuteness.

the next bra headed my way is the supposed grand master: the cleverly named enell sports bra. this thing is a beast. if oprah can run in this sucker, so can i, dammit! i avoided it on title nine's site because a) it's ugly as hell b) they didn't have my size, and c) it ain't cheap. they called it the last resort bra. enell's site, however, has 10 different sizes, and they'll even do custom sizes. sweet. i'm going to close my eyes and pretend i'm not wearing something that looks like my great-grandma's bra fashioned out of duct tape. or maybe i'll just keep my eyes open and be glad i'm not bouncing all over the place. i have a hard time walking normally, so i'm pretty sure i'll bust my ass if i close my eyes while running down the gnarly brick sidewalks around here. (note: check rei for your size to save some dough. enell's shipping is crazy expensive and you can do rei store pickup for free.)

other (discontinued) bras in my arsenal:

i have another under armour bra that they're evidently not making anymore, and i love it. this is not the bra (although close), but you really should click the link to see the "pelvic shield" on the right of the page. scroll over said shield to see the link name. nice.

i have had a champion bra similar to this one for years, and it really was great before i washed it a zillion times. the body is all non-stretchy material, so it really didn't go anywhere when i moved. the band, however, was both stretchy and contained cotton, so that part has just deteriorated over time. i may try to replace it soon. in its heyday, i could even wear it by itself (under a shirt, that is), and that is a pretty big deal around here.

my favorite bras to layer are actually a c9 by champion (target) double-layer bra that they don't make anymore and an adidas masher bra kind of like this one. the old-school, racerback, uniboob style is easy to double up, doesn't have any uncomfortable hooks in the back to bother me while i'm doing ab work, and squishes me to almost-normal-looking proportions. oh, and no bounce. by themselves, eh. together, magic. i also have a cotton hanes bra with all the same qualities, but i'm not as big a fan of cotton due to the sweat factor. synthetics are the way to go for wicking cuz sweat retaining bra = added grossness.

so that's my long, weird post about sports bras. good blogs focus on one subject with an intensity and passion, and mine is obviously all over the board (much like my thought process). maybe i should have a sports bra blog instead? thrilling, i know.

no concrete boots required

i am a water baby. the happiest you will ever see me is in/on/near any body of water, so the huz knew what he was doing when he picked my christmas present this year: we got to swim with the fishies at the world's largest aquarium! pretty convenient that it happens to be here in atlanta. if you live nearby and haven't visited, you need to get thee to the georgia aquarium, pronto!!

we swam at the surface of the ocean voyager tank with the four ginormous whale sharks -- yushan, taroko, trixie, and alice -- swimming just below us the whole time. even nandi the manta ray (the only manta ray in an aquarium in the US) came up to pay us a visit a couple of times.

of course, we weren't allowed to touch any of the fish (or mammals), so when one of the divemasters saw a visitor approaching, he would signal us all to flatten out and float with our hand straight ahead. naturally, i like everyone to think i'm cool as a cucumber, so the first time our divemaster did this, i didn't think much of it. and then this MASSIVE creature appeared just a few inches below me and proceeded to swim on through. it was completely indescribable, although if i made an attempt, the description would include the word "hyperventilating." you can't tell, but that's what's going on at about the 2:19 mark in the video below (i'm on the right). meanwhile, matt got bumped by not one but two of the whale sharks' tails during our swim. pretty funny. you can see the camera lady get clocked at about the 5:38 mark.

i sprung for the cheesetastic video they recorded while we were swimming (and some of the shenanagins pre-swim), and the huz converted it for your viewing pleasure. no making fun of how we look in the wetsuits, kids. evidently the bikini with the ruffles was not the best choice.

the barbecue song

i'm a blog slacker and this is a rerun from a facebook post (and the creative loafing omnivore blog - love!), but it's still funny every time i watch it. of course i disagree that my south carolina bbq is even a little bit off, but i do agree that alabama's version is freakin weird. their take on florida is dead-on, too (notice the shape of the state: florida, california, whatever... same thing). now i'm gonna go heat up some of the good ole dukes barbecue in my freezer and enjoy. as K would say, nummers! if you're not from the south, make sure you watch all the way until the end, where you will learn a VERY important lesson!!




The BBQ Song - Funny bloopers R us


one more thing: just in case you've ever uttered the phrase "carolina-style barbecue," here's yet another reference guide to set you straight: