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:

mmmmm soup

my home away from home every thursday night, the fabulous souper jenny, has finally published a cookbook! and there's a launch party tonight with wine and s'mores. soup, booze, fire, and dessert on a rainy december night: what more can a girl ask for?

what do iowa, pie, raid, teflon, dextrose, rei, cobra, chlorine, sow, vatican, lebaron, nx, and neri-heka-aset-re have in common?

all names given to children born in georgia in the past seven years. and all names of kids who will be getting the crap beaten out of them on the playground in the next seven years.

except the 46 (forty-six!) named tequila. they'll be curled up in the doorway, uh, taking a nap.

because we kick ass

more reasons to love georgia tech football:

1. acc coach of the year, paul johnson.

2. acc player of the year, jonathan dwyer. (and only a sophomore, too. watch out!)

3. all-american defensive end, michael johnson.

4. they're no dummies, either.

5. a nice, sound stomping of the most-penalized, possibly most-arrested team in college football, the georgia bulldogs. oh, they were ranked #1 in the preseason, btw. (i particularly love this article.)

bonus: see title.

prop 8: the musical

shamelessly stolen from funny or die

what do you call a georgia tech grad who reigns over thousands of georgia grads?

CEO

jimmartinjimpowellsaradoyle

i got another awesome sticker today.

you should go vote. again. georgia's big runoff election (heard about it?) is this tuesday, december 2.

i'm not gonna tell you who to vote for or anything; i'm just telling you to GO VOTE! again.

why bother?

tuesday tuesday tuesday

you may have figured out that tomorrow is kind of a big day. i've already posted on how much i love voting (and think you should too), but don't just take it from me. take it from the people who are willing to give you free shit in exchange for your vote. and i don't just mean that fabulous sticker.

my personal favorite: ben & jerry's. if free ice cream is not reason enough for you right there, i don't even know why you're reading this because we obviously have nothing in common.



second place for all you caffeine fiends: starbucks. they're a bit cheaper than our pals from vermont, and they're only giving away about $1.50 worth of free-ness, but they're going to keep it up all day. many would argue that a free cup of caffeinated water should be number one on this list, but there is really no better free shit than free ice cream. period.




and what better to go with that coffee than a nice, healthy, krispy kreme doughnut? yes, you can get the best doughnut on the planet (again, do not try to argue with me; i am a wee bit opinionated on my junk food preferences) for free with your lovely peach sticker. and it's even cute.


no health food kick is complete without fried things, so shane's rib shack is giving away just that. it's not on their site, but i did read about it in a relatively reputable publication: shane's is giving you a free chicken tender meal, complete with fries and a drink. i recommend fully-leaded coke classic, unless your location serves jolt. if you're going to partake in everything on this list, don't even think about letting a diet coke or, god forbid, caffeine-free diet coke, ruin your streak of healthlessness. sweet tea is acceptable. (this being an atlanta-based blog, we won't even talk about non-coke products. pepsi is sacrilege.)




and if your conscience starts to get to you because, oh, i dunno, you're doing three weeks of boot camp complete with a strict diet where you aren't supposed to be eating any of this crap, i have a great place for you to get some exercise: the zoo! no, it's not free, but you get 1/2 off your admission if you're wearing that handy dandy sticker. what, you think the one healthy thing on this list would be free? sooooo not the way my world works.



there are plenty of other freebies outside of atlanta, including piercings in missouri, tattoo removal in dallas, a vibrator of your choice in new york (no lie)... but we know i'm all about the food. plus, i'm too lazy to post it all here, so just google it. i'm so helpful, no?

now get off yer ass and GO VOTE!

back in the day

i was driving down the connector as the sun came up this morning, trying to see the bright side (no pun intended) of being up so early. and then this little 'atlanta sounds' clip came on NPR.... just add river, fog, & cold and you have many of my early college mornings:


http://www.pba.org/programming/programs/atlantasounds/1654/
Jamie Mellars is the coxswain for the Georgia State University rowing crew. The group practice sessions are held on the Chattahoochee river well before sunrise. Their motto is, "Row Steady State".



another version with appropriate early-am pic (but still the same arms-only boat clip) and a bonus link at the end:
http://www.pba.org/programming/programs/atlantasounds/1831/
Many of the rowing crews, such as Georgia State University and Georgia Tech use and compete on the Chattahoochee River. This kind of competitive rowing has roots that go back to 1430 BC. Records show that the Egyptian warrior Amenophis II was renowned for his feats of oarsmanship. And the benefits of the sport are not just limited to exercise, but can have parallels in how to live a successful life.

root for atlanta

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i am a blog slacker.

my mom got a kayak for her birthday. yep, she's 58 years old and got a kayak for her birthday. i think that's awesome. maybe that's the way grownups are supposed to float down the river? we used to just hop in inner tubes.

the edisto has been pretty low this year, and i was pretty disappointed that we weren't able to tube down the river in july. in my opinion, if there's enough water to float a cooler, there's enough water to float my butt.

yes, the cooler is an integral part of floating. you fill a cooler with as much beer, winecoolers, and whatever other nastiness you can get your underaged hands on, wrap a tire tube around it, blow it up, and throw it in the river. tie a string to the cooler and attach it the the wrist of the biggest lush in the group, and you're good to go.

you also need to make sure you have a couple of extra tubes for the inevitable flat at some point. and if you only have one extra tube, one person gets a flat, and you find the cooler's tube is also in danger, well... somebody had better be comfortable swimming.

the weather was beautiful today, and it was the perfect kind of day to sit on the dock and watch the water. but i always lament the end of summer. (okay, i rejoiced when each of my four summers in arizona came to and end, but that's a different story.) i like to play outside, soak up the sun, and find any excuse to be in some kind of water.

the only consolation to the end of summer?

football season.

how 'bout them dawgs?

hehe.

pray the rosary

i posted this on myspace a couple of years ago, and here it is again per liz's request. i spend too much time in my car! (and, reading my last couple of posts, could stand to clean up my language a bit.)

.........................................

a few months ago (around christmas maybe? definitely before boot camp -- see food choice for proof), i was driving back to atlanta from the parents' in south cackylacky. my mom always tries to shove food down my throat as i'm leaving, but i always say no since the whole production of going through the refrigerator to list any and all of the selections, picking something, preparing it, finding other side items to go along with it, and actually sitting down to do the eating would result in my getting on the road around midnight -- no matter what time the whole process began. it's about a 3-hour drive, so on this particular night i started feeling the hunger pangs around the state line, and my little head could focus on NOTHING else besides a mcdonald's filet-o-fish by the time i reached washington road in augusta.

not being all that familiar with the area, i missed the turn and ended up taking a left just a few feet past a traffic light, at a rather nasty little intersection. this truck pulled up RIGHT behind me and stared honking its horn. okay, i thought -- i'll pull up a little so he can go around me. the truck pulled up with me, millimeters from my bumper, and continued to sit on his horn.

now here is where an important lesson comes in: NOBODY gets between me and food. when that blood sugar dips, i am a nasty person to be around, and most people around me know to just administer the IV of fully-leaded, original recipe coca-cola straight to my veins, and soon i will return to human form. straw polls i've taken through the years tell me i'm not the only one like this, and most humans of the female persuasion have similar reactions to low blood sugar crises. dude in the truck did not get that memo.

i wanted to turn into that damned mcdonald's just as badly as truck man did, believe you me. the shining beacon of all things fried and unholy was gleaming just to my left, just taunting me, as all of these stupid cars just kept on coming. and dude just sat on his horn, attached to my little VW bumper. so i did what would be expected of me in this crisis: i turned around, looked straight at him, extended my arm as far as it would go -- with one finger held skyward -- and loudly enunciated, "FUCK. YOU."

and then i turned in to the mcdonald's. everything was going to be all right.

so i gave my order (mmmmmm filet-o-fish and coke), paid at the first window, and looked up to proceed to the manna-distribution window. and there he was. this beat-up, piece o'crap old blue chevy truck, right next to my car. with a nasty, 50's-ish redneck, mesh hat, chewing tobacco, nasty teeth and all, leaning out of the window, STARING at me.

um, okay.

i moved up a little, thinking he'd go away. he moved up right alongside. i kind of sat there between the two windows, dumbfounded. if you can stun me enough that i'm not even going to go get my food, you've really gotten me. redneck dude leaned out of his window, extended that same finger i had shown him earlier, and drawled, "NAW, FUUUUCK YEEEEW!"

holy shit.

he drove away, i proceeded to the food window, and the highschool girl holding my filet-o-fish bag at the checkout was pretty freaked out. she wordlessly handed me the bag, eyes wide, surely wondering what i had done to warrant such a display. i mustered a comment to assure her i'm not as big an a-hole as dude, took the bag in my shaking hands and drove away. i took a sip of my coke, felt my humanity return a little, and figured i should get out of there asap.

i went around to the stoplight (where i now know i should have turned earlier), and who was in front of me but that damned blue truck. so i called M's cell and shakily left the following message: "uh, if i don't make it home tonight, write down this license plate number...". (not even thinking, of course, that that is probably NOT the message that one's fiance wants to hear on his voicemail, but i digress....)

when i looked over and saw that the truck had a bumper sticker. a bumper sticker with a pair of prayer hands that says, "Pray the Rosary."

seriously?!

actually, i think i was over all shock by this point. so i rolled down my window, put my little prayer hands out, and started yelling over and over, "PRAY THE ROSARY! YOU PRAY THAT ROSARY!!!"

like you didn't know i'm going to hell.

i called my friend K, the super-devout catholic with the sick sense of humor, to tell her the story, but that call went to voicemail, too. when she called back later that night, i found out why her phone was off: she was at mass. praying the rosary.