small package - big personality

Petite Survey from http://petitefashionista.blogspot.com/ with my answers:

1. Do you consider yourself petite, and why?
Yes! In terms of clothing, I avoid buying pants at all costs everything is too long. For a while I thought petite meant small old lady - or at least that's what all of the petite sections seemed to carry - clothes for small old ladies. I've always been short - I'm the shortest in my family of not tall people (my uncle is a Giant at 5'10").
2. How tall are you?
I'm 5'0" (60 inches).
3. Where do you shop for clothes?
secondhand shops (crossroads trading company); Banana Republic petites (when they have a sale); H&M for tops; Old Navy and Express used to carry their slacks in groupings of short, average and tall - they don't anymore and it's sad.
4. What obstacles do you find challenging when shopping?
Pants - I almost always have to mentally add $15 onto whatever the price is because I'll have to have them hemmed. I also have hips & a butt so the prepubesecnt pants in department stores don't work (I've tried). Also sometimes the waist line in dresses can be awkward and I don't do baby-doll; I don't have pencil thin legs adn don't need any help making my legs look short and squaty
5. Do you have small feet as well?
no - size 7/ 7.56.
Do you wear jewelry? If so, what kind of pieces do you usually purchase?
yes. earrings, rings, necklaces, I'd love to wear more bracelets but I can't/don't/choose not to wear bangle-type bracelets because my wrist and hand are both so small that most bangles either slip right off or just look silly. Not all cuff bracelets will squeeze in as much as I need either
7. If there was an event that catered to petite women of all shapes and sizes would you go? What kinds of things would attract you to such an event?
yes. Not crazy expensive (I don't by $100 jeans and $40 T-shirts), They have to understand that all petities are not built the same. I'd LOVE on-site alterations for pants.
8. Would you be interested in learning about upcoming fashion designers for petite clothing?
yes
9. If you're not in the Toronto and or Ontario area would you want an event like this in your town/province?
yes, and I think there would be HUGE turnout. I'm in the California SF, Bay Area.

Drink Water

From Yogacoffeeoutlook:

"As part of many, but not all autopsies. The cranium is evaluated. A saw is used to cut the skull open around the circumference, the face is quite literally peeled down. In a case study that I witnessed at a conference, a girl suffered from an eating disorder and denied herself water because it made her feel bloated. Ultimately she died of dehydration and after seeing photographs of her brain, I will tell you it's like nothing I have ever seen. Drink water. If you don nothing else today... drink a glass of water."

Where oh where?

Where have I been, what have I been doing and why I haven't I added anything to my blog in almost 3 weeks? Laziness, pure, unexcused, "I'd rather watch episodes of ethically troubled Discovery Channel shows and Grey's Anatomy than actually get up and look at the computer for another second after staring at one most of the day at work" laziness.

I've actually been simi-productive in other areas of my live- I've organized my recipes in a way I think I might actually stick with; I've reorganized one of the hall closet (hence forth called the shoe closet); I've been to Ikea - twice - and didn't spend more than $30. I've rearranged the furniture in the living room 3 different ways...only to put it back exactly as it was before. I've rediscovered Miso soup and cheese rolls (I haven't had them together yet but that is the most obvious progression)

*sigh*

And now back to your regular scheduled program.

The Human Factor

He's played God - twice
The President of the United States
He's narrated everything from Batman Begins to War of the Worlds
He's even played a character called "the Boss"

And now - now, in 2009 a movie will be released called "The Human Factor" and Morgan Freeman will be playing Nelson Mandela.


Because really, who else could play Nelson Mandela?

Happy fall

goodbye berries, hello apples. Between you and I, by about February I can't really stomach another apple. So I try to get my fill of the other fall fruits first:
Persimmons
Pomegranates
Mandarin Oranges
Tangerines
Cranberries
Kiwi
Grapefruit
Pears


...oh the joy.

Registered Dietitian

Question: Why don't you go back to school to be a registered dietitian?

Answer: I'd love to but I don't have the time to get a second Bachelor's Degree, do an internship for a year, then (finally) take the registration exam. I will, eventually, but not now.

Plus:
"Money is a tremendous obstacle, Mueller agrees, adding that dietitians usually start out at a salary level approximately $10,000 to $15,000 lower than registered nurses. “RNs don’t need to have a bachelor’s degree; they are only required to have a two-year nursing degree, though many do go on to get their bachelor’s,” he says. “In dietetics, though, all of us have our bachelor’s, and at least 50% have a master’s degree. We are at a higher level of education than RNs, but starting out at a far lower pay level. Right away, from the very beginning, money is a problem.” To add insult to injury, reimbursement has been a continuing problem for RDs, whose contributions to wellness and disease prevention are often overlooked by the healthcare insurance industry."
(there's more where that came from: http://www.todaysdietitian.com/newarchives/td_0303.shtml )

100 reasons to get rid of it

Did you know that most people don't use 80 percent of what they own. Eighty percent! That's a lot of stuff.

Need more incentive to start throwing stuff away? Read 100 reasons to get rid of it (Well, there aren’t really 100 reasons it's more like several reasons and lots of ways)

Looking for a place to take your old cell phones, digital camera, or computer monitor? Did you know you can trade in your old iPod and get a 10% discount on a new one? That you can trade in books or movies you don’t want anymore for ones that you do?

Some of my favorite reasons:

• Around 23 percent of people pay late fees on bills they cannot find.
• Because you don’t want to end up like the Bronx, New York, man who, in 2003, was trapped in his home under an avalanche of books and newspapers for two days before being rescued.
• Because what's the worst that can happen if you throw it out?
  

"Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful."
-William Morris


Read the full article in the March/April publication of Blueprint

The Diet...fork?

OK , what?


Apparently the new "revolutionary breakthrough in dieting" is this:

The Diet Fork!!

Apparently these are the key points. The diet fork has:

• Shorter and dulled teeth inhibiting user from grasping larger pieces of food at any one time
• Smaller triangular shaped surface area allowing dieter to hold less food than many other forks
• Uncomfortable grip compelling user to put fork down between bites, slowing the user's eating speed

So, make it uncomfortable and annoying and then you'll eat less?.... someone help me understand.

Morning Workout Snacks

Two days a week I go to the gym early in the morning, very early, 5:15am. Way too early to make or eat a "proper" breakfast. So, at first I tried to go sans-nourishment. Not the best idea; after 8+ hours of sleeping - OK, more like 6-7 hours. In either case, heading to the gym without munching on something means running on empty.

I still have neither the time nor the appetite for a full breakfast, but here's an idea of some of my grab-and-go morning workout snacks:
- a small handful of trail mix
- 1 graham cracker
- 1/2 an apple
- 1/2 of a breakfast muffin (more on this wonderful concoction of mine in later posts)

some other ideas from some of the ladies at fitsugar
*yogurt *banana *clementines
*small handful of cereal
*a piece of whole wheat toast (with or without peanut butter or jam)

Pear Shape

According to ivillage, my celebrity body double is J Lo, because I'm bootylicious (Beyonce being another option). Now I'm not sure if I'm more annoyed at ivillage for the lack of originality...or myself for taking the dumb quiz....

What's in Your Snack Drawer?

It's almost Monday which means the opportunity to start yet another week off on the right foot. On Mondays I bring a bigger lunch bag than usual so I can restock my work foods. I spend about 9-10 hours a day at work and, though I'm not one to fall for the lull of the vending machine, if I'm not well prepared one step out the building's courtyard and I'm faced with more cookies, muffins, grande-mocha-frappa-with-whip-concoctions than I know what to do with.
I bring fruit, yogurt, and yummy leftovers each morning; so, though not ideal, this is what's in my snack drawer right now:

1 tube of Smarties, Cashew Cookie LaraBar (my new favorite thing), Trident whitening(peppermint...only 5 pieces left), 1 Annie Chun's Udon soup, 1/2 empty box of cranberry flavored emer'gen-C, and a LOT of tea (green, white and black);

I keep my chai tea mix, soy milk and almond butter in the office kitchen.
Whole wheat fig bars and whole wheat english muffins are in heavy rotation. Plus a square or two of scharfenberger dark chocolate.

Juice Beauty thoughts

About a month ago I bought the Juice Beauty "Organics to go" kit from Sephora. Here's my run through of getting your beauty to go - Juice Beauty style:

Sensitive Green Apple Peel: First note is that really smells like apples, real apples not apple flavoring, extract or some other artificial concoction - just apples. It has a nice, creamy consistency and was slightly tingly about 30 seconds after application. I left it on for 10 minutes. It tightened nicely but not to harshly. I could see this being a repeat purchase.

Antioxidant Serum: I liked it well enough. It has a light feel and texture going on, but I would rinse my hands afterward because i felt a residue on them, but not on my face - I know, odd. Overall, it was nice but didn't do anything special for me.

Cleansing Milk: Very mild. Honestly I'm so enamored with my current face wash that it really didn't stand a fighting chance. But, that said, I do like using it as my second night time wash. If I wear makeup I'll sometimes wash my face twice so this is nice to use the second time since it's so mild.

Oil-Free Moisturizer: OK...so,first things first. It stinks - literally, stinks. It smells like either steamed asparagus or broccoli (both lovely in their own right, but not a fragrance of choice for a moisturizer in my opinion). The label says " lightweight moisturizing antioxidant apple juice" so I was expecting a smell akin to the green apple peel. No such luck. As for how well it works, it is very lightweight, too light for me. Honestly, I only used it 4 times because I just couldn't get past the smell. Granted, the smell doesn't linger - it just makes the actual application unpleasant and rushed.

Free Bamboo Face Cloth: Nice bonus. I tucked it into my travel kit.
Overall: Although there are some nice products - and many more that aren't included in the "To Go"kit, if you're not already sold on organic face products, Juice Beauty probably won't sway you.

*originally posted May 18, 2007

Did any one really believe the "Dairy Diet" would work?

The USDA requested that the dairy industry end its ad campaign suggesting that dairy products promote weight loss. The dairy industry complied. Why? most of the studies that supported a positive correlation between diary and weight loss were funded by the dairy industry in the first place - and even then the benefits were minimal.

Don't toss your three servings of dairy a day out the window (you are getting 3 servings right?), just don't expect to shed pounds with every latte.



So, no more skinny cows well, except for the actual Skinny Cow ice creams...those are delicious and, hopefully, here to stay. yum.

New Home!!

Welcome to my new blogger home. I'm slowly moving old posts here but in the meantime you can still find the, over at: www.brownskin.typepad.com