TGIF doesn't even begin to describe how happy I am that it's Friday!!!

Hello blogland! Sorry I've been MIA lately... I've just had nothing new to report on the homefront. I've had a pretty crappy week- the weather has been just awful, cold and rainy and gray all week- I don't think we saw a ray of sunshine once this week! Boo-hiss! The blah weather didn't do much for my blah attitude all week either. I just dragged everywhere- work, the gym, home- blahsville all around. And work was really stressful and busy for most of the week- which normally doesn't really get me down that much, because work stress always comes and goes, plus I've got a lot of vacation time coming up so I don't mind a busy few days; they'll just make my two-week vacation even sweeter!- but when you combine work stress with a blah mood and serious slackerdom, it's just a recipe for disaster.

So needless to say, I'm immensely happy that it's Friday! And it's a payday Friday, so an extra yay for that!

What's everyone up to this weekend? Here are my oh-so-exciting weekend plans:

*Tonight: I hit the gym after work, ran a small quick errand to the local grocery store to grab a banana for breakfast tomorrow and a few other items- my favorite popcorn was on sale- Smart Balance Heart Healthy Popcorn- they were 3/$5. Now how could I turn that down? I needed more anyway, and even if I didn't, that's a deal! I also picked up two ThinkThin Cranberry Apple Bars, because they were on clearance for .84 cents each. Score. As for the rest of the night, it's cold and rainy out, and I am totally worn out from this miserable week and have no desire to be anywhere tonight except at home in my comfy sweats! I am making one of my faves for dinner (baked sweet potato with some grilled chicken, broccoli, chipotle salsa, and melted reduced-fat Provolone cheese- drool), and then I have a date with my DVD player. I ordered a movie from Netflix called Pieces of April, with Katie Holmes. It's about a young girl who's estranged from her parents, and she has them over and makes them Thanksgiving dinner in her tiny little NYC apartment. It reminds me of the real family drama that goes on during the holidays, LOL. The movie's a few years old but I've always wanted to see it, and I was in the mood for something holiday-themed but not cheesy, so I ordered it. I think it's a good night to watch it! I'm also going to start a new book! More on that in a few. And since I'm in for the night, I might as well do some laundry. I want to wash my flannel sheets and then put them on my bed and climb in them when they're still warm! That's the best feeling ever in winter! :-)

*Tomorrow: Errands, errands, errands galore: I need to pick up some stuff at the dry cleaners, pick up a prescription at CVS, hitting two of my favorite places- Trader Joe's and Wegmans- and starting- yes, I said starting- my holiday shopping. In my defense, I don't have much to get! We don't exchange presents in my family anymore so the only person I really get stuff for is my sister, and I actually already have her presents. And my roommate's presents too. We're doing a gift exchange both at work and with my group of friends, so I just need to bring in one gift for each of those events. My boss is getting something small and my teammates are getting mugs filled with candy, so when I say I really don't have much to get, I'm serious! Anyway, after lunch my roommate and I are taking our cat to our local pet shop because they are offering free photos with Santa, and she really wants to do that. The only reason I agreed is because it's going to be really, really funny to see how pissed off the cat is going to be trying to get his picture taken with Santa. Talk about a Kodak moment! LOL.

*Sunday: Any errands that I forgot or was too lazy to accomplish on Saturday, going to the gym, and maybe squeezing in a quick yoga workout in the evening... after a busy weekend, I'm sure I could use it! I have a great 30-minute tape (yes, tape, I still have my VCR!), that is specifically designed to be "PM Yoga", and is supposed to help you sleep better at night. I've only done it twice since I got it, so I'm not really sure if it truly works or not- more research is needed, I guess! :-)

So it's going to be a busy weekend! Luckily most of it will be fun errands, although I really can't get too jazzed over the dry cleaners and CVS. :-) But, I love grocery shopping, and I've got a few new products in mind that I want to scout out and buy, so hopefully I'll have some exciting new treats to post about later in the weekend!

So I finished up Consuming Kids at the gym this evening. The verdict? It was pretty good. Interesting read. Nothing I didn't really know before, but never thought too much of either. My only gripes about the book were that the research was a little outdated (the book was written in 2004), and the author was a little too preachy. She wants to ban marketing on children, and I see her point; however, that would be virtually impossible. Marketing and the media are everywhere. Everything's an ad, a product placement in someway or another. That's how companies and products and businesses thrive. Even the most simple of activities, like coloring and playing sports, involve some sort of branding and advertising- using Crayola crayons to color in a Barbie coloring book, kicking around an Adidas soccer ball. I mean, it's evitable, you know? I agree with the way children are targeted and influenced can be appalling and disturbing depending on how the message is sent, for example, suggestive clothing to young girls, but you can't just do away with marketing altogether. That's just not even practical. But all in all, an interesting read.

Which brought me to pick a new book from my Book Box:

Tada: Life's Work: Confessions of an Unbalanced Mom, by Lisa Belkin (she's a columnist for The New York Times- her column is actually titled "Life's Work"). Basically this book is about her story of trying to balance work, marriage, motherhood, and sanity. It looks like a fast, fun read, and I'm looking forward to starting it tonight! I LOVE starting a new book!

Okay, it's almost 8 PM, and so I think it might be time to get dinner started. I'll check back in over the weekend. Hope you all have fun and fabulous plans lined up! :-)

Exciting change to the blog

I decided a few weeks ago that I kind of hated the name of my blog. I never really liked it much, to be honest, but someone suggested it and I really wanted to get my blog up and running, so I used it. But I've never really been on board with it. I always thought it was kind of stupid. I mean, "no book left behind"? What does that even mean?

So I renamed it. What do you all think? Better? Worse? Anyone? Bueller?

Hardly amazing

Okay, so I was wrong. Nothing amazing  happened. Actually, today was pretty suck-tastic. One of those days where everything goes wrong from the time you wake up until the time you whine about it in your blog before bed.   :-D   But I DID say I'd post. And I do enjoy keeping my word. Sorry it wasn't a happier post!

I don't really want to get into why today was so horrible; it just was, and I'd just like to forget as much of today as possible! LOL. I hope you all had MUCH better Tuesdays than I did! At least it's one more day closer to the weekend, right?  ;-)  Gotta think positively!

On a side note, yay for The Biggest Loser- I'm so glad that Michelle is in the top three! I want her to win!!!! Vicky, not so much. I can't stand her. If she wins, I swear I will not watch next season... out of all the remaining contestants, she deserves to win the least. I can't stand her or her husband. As for Ed and Heba, between the two, I like Heba more, but that's not saying much because I don't really like either of them. I'm rooting for Michelle!!!!! Any Biggest Loser fans out there? Who are you all rooting for?

Okay, well, that's all I've got. Time to curl up in bed and pull the covers over my head. Goodnight!   :-)

No excuses

I wish I had a really great reason for my lack of posts, like I was out doing a ton of holiday shopping, or I was off having a jet-set weekend getaway in Bermuda... but the truth of the matter is, I was just lazy and didn't really have much to update anyone on anyway. :-D

My weekend was nice. I went and saw Four Christmases on Friday night with some girlfriends, and it was really funny and cute! I liked it a lot. I mean, how can you go wrong with a cast like Vince Vaughn, Reese Witherspoon, Mary Steenburgen, Robert Duvall, and Kristin Chenowith? I also saw a preview for He's Just Not That Into You... I'm definitely going to have to see that! And I'm starting to see commercials for Bride Wars too... I forget when that's coming out, but I'm definitely going to see that! I heard that Anne Hathaway and Kate Hudson didn't get along on the set... oh, how I love to hear about feuding celebrity on-set drama!!!! :-) And one of my favorite books is going to be a movie soon too- Confessions of a Shopaholic- have you read that? It's a series, and that's the first book... they are so funny! I <3 British chick lit. The Brits have such a great sense of humor!

I had a seriously difficult time getting out of bed this morning. I just felt extra warm and cozy in bed today. Plus, the cheerful weatherman letting me know how cold it was going to be today certainly didn't make it any easier. Jerk. I pretty much dragged all morning at work too (although the chocolate-flavored coffee helped).

I'm about 90 pages into Consuming Kids, and I'm really enjoying it. I just started the chapter on food marketing to kids in schools, so I'm all sorts of excited about that.

No exciting meal concoctions lately either. I just picked up some more Arnold's Whole Wheat Sandwich Thins this weekend, so a lot of my meals have been in veggie burgers or chicken sandwiches. I was inspired by See Sarah Eat to try and use it more of the stuff I've had lying around my cupboards and in my freezer for a while. So there might be a lot of veggie burgers and chicken going on this week. It's all good, though, because then I can go crazy on my next grocery trip, LOL.

Sorry I'm not a more exciting blogger this week! Maybe something amazing will happen tomorrow. Either way, I'll post anyway. :-D

Time to go read all your blogs and hit the hay. Goodnight!

Introducing... Happy Moments of the Day

In an attempt to bring more positive energy into my life (I've been feeling out of sorts lately... I totally blame winter for this), I have decided that from now on, each day, I will jot down what I oh-so-creatively refer to as "Happy Moments of the Day". I decided to write them down in a little notebook/journal as they occur, so if I start feeling negative or discontent, I can just whip out the notebook and remember all the good things that happened that day, and not the bad, and to appreciate all the little things that occur throughout the day. I tried it out today, and I must say, I think it helped- I was in a pretty upbeat mood all day today! Maybe all those psychologists and "joy experts" are onto something!

Without further adieu, I present you with today's happy moments of the day!

*I had a very tasty bowl of oatmeal this morning.

*My first day back at work from Thanksgiving vacation was not as painful as I thought it would be... I was busy enough to feel productive, but not so busy I felt bogged down or overwhelmed. I was not inundated with e-mails, and I had no voice mails waiting for me- believe me, I have learned from experience, that is a good thing... people usually only leave messages when there's a problem! Guess there were no "proofreading emergencies" in my absence! :-)

*I received several compliments from coworkers on the sweater I wore today.

*I had a great first cup of back-to-work coffee (we have a coffee club at work and we each bring in all kinds of yummy flavored coffees... my contribution this month is Gingerbread Cookie- we haven't opened it yet but I'm excited to try it)- Chocolate Truffle! I threw in some fat-free half-and-half and a Splenda packet (yes, Splenda, I know, I know, I'm working on it! I'm down to one packet per cup, and believe me, for someone who used to use SEVERAL packets of Equal PER cup of coffee, this is a huge improvement!!!), and it tasted just like a mocha!

*I had a GREAT workout at the gym today- 45 minutes on the epliptical + cooldown+ some leg weights... it was great! It felt so good to get in a good workout, because I really feel like my past few workouts have been a bit lackluster.

*I started Consuming Kids on my lunch break today, and it's GREAT so far! It's interesting and informative but not boring, you know? And it's really disturbing just HOW badly advertisers target children! I read today that children see 400,000 commercials every year. That's crazy!!!! And it's especially dangerous to target children at such a young age because then they grow up thinking that they need all these material possessions in order to be "cool" or "happy" or "popular", etc.... and because they are too young to have fully developed their information and judgment skills, they're especially vulnerable to these messages. Also, according to the book, 26% percent of children under the age of TWO had TVs in their room back when this book was written in 2004! Oh my God! Why does a two-year-old need a TV in their room??? And I'm sure that number has only increased within the past four years... that's so messed up. Anyway, the book has all sorts of interesting (and kind of sad) statistics like this. I'm only on page 13 and I'm already loving it!

*I had a very yummy- and simple- dinner- a Gardenburger Chik'n Patty with spinach and some crushed red pepper, turmeric, and chopped onion, and steamed broccoli and carrots on the side- I have completely given up with rolling up wraps the way that Chandra does- I just rolled this up, LOL. Whatevs- it tasted great! I wasn't very hungry for dinner, so this was perfect. I had planned on finishing up the meal with some grapes, but since I finished dinner so late (past 9), I figured I'd snack on them with some Apple Cinnamon soy chips for dessert.

All in all, a good day! Hope everyone else had a good day too! I'm off to watch Stylista and Top Chef- later, kids! :-)

Another happy dinner concoction

   What you are looking at: 1/2 cup brown rice, steamed broccoli, and pepper and onion stir fry mix that was stir-fried with Boca crumbles in chili sauce. This was very tasty!

I <3 Boca crumbles. I really do. They're so versatile, and cheap ($2.49 a box, and there's six packets in there, so that's basically six fun meals for $2.50! Can't beat that!). This was my last one in my freezer.

Other than dinner, nothing too exciting happened today. It was my last day off until Christmas, and I just bummed around, did some yoga, put gas in my car, went to Barnes and Noble to look for a wall calendar for my room for 2009, although that was unsuccessful. I've had a headache off and on all day, and aspirin hasn't helped at all, so that's kind of sucked. I think a nice cup of Sugar Cookie tea will be in order tonight. I've already had three cups today. I wasn't kidding about this new addiction. I just can't get enough of this stuff!

Going to work tomorrow is going to be so brutal!!!! I'm not looking forward to it! Well, I am and I'm not. As much fun as days off are, I'm always a creature of habit and routine, and my body and mind are definitely ready to get back into my normal routine. Still... I will miss sleeping in and having breakfast in my pajamas while watching The Golden Girls!   :-)

Okay, time to finish watching The Biggest Loser (I want Michelle to win!), and try to go to bed early! I have not gone to bed at a decent hour the entire time I was off, and so I definitely need to try to go to bed early tonight!

Still in vacation mode!!!

Hey blogland! What's shakin'? How's everyone's first day back after the holiday weekend? I'm actually still on vacation from work!!! Woo-hoo!!! I have off until Wednesday... it feels so nice! I'm not really doing much of anything exciting, really- catching up on errands, laundry, LOTS of reading and writing, catching up on all the daytime TV that I never get to watch (Rachael Ray and Ellen!!!!), going to the gym, just kickin' it in my apartment, haha.  :-D  I SHOULD probably be doing my Christmas shopping, but I just can't bring myself to do it... hey, what can I say, I'm in lazy vacation mode!

So how was everyone's weekend? I've been reading everyone's blogs and it looks like you've all been having a lot of fun! Lot of football fans out there, apparently! I have had a great past few days myself. On Saturday my sister and I went to go visit our grandmother. We wanted to spend some one-on-one time with her. Our grandmother has always been a bit of a private woman, and so it really hasn't been easy to get to know her well, not as well as I would have liked. In light of her diagnosis, I have a feeling that is something I am going to regret later in life- that I didn't get to know her as well I would have liked to. But I'm trying not to think like that. I'm trying to live more in the moment and appreciate the time that we have together now. And ever since she's been diagnosed, she's been a lot more open with everyone and sharing a lot more about herself- I think she's realizing that she should do it now, while she can. So my sister and I drove to her apartment in New Jersey and we all went out for lunch and Christmas shopping (she wanted to go to Macys to pick up some things that were on sale). And we had a great afternoon with her. We got to hear some stories about her that we never knew before- stories about her childhood, her parents, etc. Parts of her life that I never knew about, and that I learned in just one afternoon. It was great. It was SUCH a nice visit and I'm so glad we got to spend some quality time with her. She will be moving to an assisted living/retirement community in the city over the next month or so, and she's really excited. She grew up in Philadelphia and has always loved the city, and so she's already talking about going to the art museum and shows, taking morning walks, doing yoga, starting a glee club within in the center, haha. One thing I have always admired about my grandmother is how feisty she is. She's determined to make the most of the time she has left, which hopefully is a long time!!! Saturday night was low-key- my sister was spending the night and we were both pretty wiped out from running around all day, so we chilled and stayed in and watched The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2, which was pretty cute!

Sunday was dreary and blah. It was cold and gray and rained all day long! Ick! I took my sister home and ran a few errands, came home for a quick soup lunch, hit the gym for a quick epliptical workout, and that was about it! Also some high-quality TV watching and reading... more on that in a minute!

Today was similar to yesterday, only with less rain (although still cold). A few quick errands, the gym, two loads of laundry, leftover soup for lunch, vacuuming. I know- I really know how to live up those vacation days, don't I?   :-D     Tomorrow, I'll probably do some yoga and read. The holidays are fast approaching and that is always such a crazy, hectic time, and so I'm really looking forward to one more day of R&R before I come back to work. Although I tell ya, after being off for six days, Wednesday is going to be nothing short of brutal.

Here's a piece of exciting news to share with you all- my roommate bought a Wii, and it came today! She's already set it up and has been bowling, skiing, playing tennis, you name it! She also got Dance Dance Revolution and Wii Fit. I'm looking forward to trying out Wii Fit. And the Wii tennis. I've actually never tried out the Wii, so I am really excited for this new addition in our home!  :-) 

Now, on to fun and exciting book news. I finished The Perks of Being a Wallflower on Saturday morning. It was SUCH a quick read! Anyway, it was pretty good. The main character, Charlie, was such a sweet, sensitive person... it was hard to remember that he was just a fourteen-year-old boy. He definitely was an "older soul", if you know what I mean. Very intuitive and compassionate and caring towards others, and always putting his friends and family before himself. Not too many teenagers like that walking around in the world! The ending of the book was a total shock, and very unnerving and unsettling. I definitely felt a little shaken up when I finished this book. But it was a good story, and I liked it. My favorite line from the entire book was in the last few pages: "So, I guess we are who we are for a lot of reasons. Any maybe we'll never know most of them. But even if we don't have the power to choose where we come from, we can still choose where we go from there. We can still do things. And we can try to feel okay about them." This particular passage definitely hit me- I come from a very troubled and dysfunctional family, and so this spoke to me on a personal level. Anyway, it was a good book. It's kind of for the high-school crowd maybe, but I think that anyone who suffered through feeling like they didn't fit in at school and/or in their family would really appreciate this book. Two teen-angst-filled thumbs up for this book!

So I picked a new book at random, and came up with The Simpsons and Philosophy. I bought this, like, years ago for $1 at my favorite annual book sale. I tried to read a few pages last night and today, and I gave up. I couldn't get into it at all. I just don't think I have enough of an interest in The Simpsons OR philosophy to really be able to get into this book. I might hold on to it to see if any of my friends wants to read it; otherwise, I'll just donate it to a library. Oh well... they can't all be winners!

So I picked another book! Wanna see? Wanna see?   :-)

Score! Consuming Kids: The Hostile Takeover of Childhood, by Susan Linn. It's a look at how the marketing/advertising industry shamelessly targets children, and how this can affect children's health, education, creativity, and values. I'm very excited to read this. This is WAAAAY more my kind of book than The Simpsons and Philosophy. Sorry, Homer.

Children aren't the only demographic that succumb to shameless marketing and advertising ploys:

Yes, I bought four boxes of Sugar Cookie Sleigh Ride Tea this weekend. I kind of couldn't help it. It's the best tea I've ever had in my life, and it was on sale, and it's Limited Edition, and so I really had no choice. I wouldn't be surprised if I did this at least one more time this holiday season. I've been drinking at least one cup of this tea a day, sometimes two. I've never been a huge tea drinker, but I think I was just waiting for "The One". Well, I have found The One!!!

Sugar cookie tea and my book sound pretty good right now... I think it might be time to get nice and comfy with my book! Goodnight!