High fructose corn syrup is apparently good for you now.

Have any of you seen the ad campaign that the Corn Refiners Association has been running recently? There have been a couple of commercials, one in which a guy and a girl are sitting on a blanket in a park and the girl is trying to give her boyfriend a popsicle, but he won't eat it because he says it has HFCS in it, and then she says it's fine in moderation and nutritionally is the same as sugar and honey.

There is also this ad in magazines:















Why is it that WOMEN are the ones convincing everyone that this nasty processed stuff is OK to eat? Don't men talk to each other about these things? Why aren't THEY telling people to eat more of this stuff?

The other thing that bugs me about this is the fact that there is corn in almost ALL processed foods. So if you're eating that kind of food on a daily basis, you're eating it every day. So why are they trying to convince people that it's OK in moderation when most people are eating it more than they should, and not even on purpose? I'm pretty sure the man in the commercial I mentioned earlier already had a bowl of corn flakes for breakfast, and probably a soda at some point, so unbeknownst to him, he's already had more than his fair share of corn products for the day. And yet, he refuses to eat the measly little popsicle because it has HFCS and that's bad for you. And the rest of the stuff you ate earlier in the day DOESN'T have that stuff in it? Hmmm....OK.

I just wish that a) women weren't always the evil and misinformed people, and b) that the CRA would just admit that the stuff is bad for you when you eat more than you should, which MOST people do. Sugar makes you want more sugar, so there's no such thing as eating it in moderation for anyone in this country, because the majority of the population doesn't do that.

There. I'm done ranting now. And I'm going to go check my cupboards for stuff that has HFCS in it. And I promise if I find any, I won't try to stuff it down your throat and tell you it's good for you.

Another news flash: the sky is blue!

Did anyone REALLY not see this one coming?













I think it's admirable that he's coming out of the closet because he doesn't want his infant son to be raised on a lie. But honestly, Clay, we figured this one out a loooooong time ago.

Happy Fall Equinox!

Fall officially began today at 8:44:18 a.m. our time. And yet, our air conditioning is still on.

I know I've done a previous posting on fall, but now that it's actually here, I'm so excited! I can't wait to see the leaves (and the weather) start to change.

I suddenly have a craving for caramel apples, pumpkin pie, mashed potatoes, candy corn, beef stew, apple cider and chicken soup. Yum.

Relating to fall food items: Thanksgiving is 66 days from today! Woo hoo!

Thought of the day.

I found this in an old copy of body and soul (a really good magazine, even if it is Martha Stewart):

"A mentor once inspired me to remember that each person I pass is just like me: we all want to be happy, and we all have pain. Whenever I find myself envying another woman's slimmer waistline or someone else's shiny sports car, I pause to consciously remind myself that they are both like me. By not comparing, our basic human compassion replaces envy with peace."

Isn't that great? I felt so much relief in reading that statement. I'm guilty of wanting what someone else has more than once before, thinking their life is better than mine, but we all have issues and private matters we don't share. Everyone struggles, no matter who they are or what they do. And that makes me so much more compassionate than I ever thought possible.

What a nice way to end a Sunday.

A worthy cause and a celebration of life.

My mom and I are walking in this charity walk tomorrow night to raise money and awareness for ovarian cancer, and to celebrate my grandmother's survival of the disease. Two years ago, my grandmother was diagnosed with stage 3 ovarian cancer. She went through 5 months of grueling chemotherapy and was the sickest I've ever seen her. But my grandmother is a very strong woman, and she pulled through perfectly. Her most recent doctors' visit showed no more signs of cancer and she is healthier than ever.

And to all my female readers: please be aware of this disease and its symptoms. They don't call it a silent killer for nothing. If you have unexplained weight gain or persistent bloating, a change in bathroom habits, fatigue, and in my grandmother's case, a persistent bladder infection, please don't ignore it. Unfortunately, because of the vague symptoms, it often gets misdiagnosed and is found too late. When it is found early, there's a 90% survival rate.

So we'll be joining countless others tomorrow night to celebrate those who have survived and to raise money for more research. And I'm so grateful to say that my grandmother has survived this disease and that we are walking in her honor, not in her memory.

A serious case of the mehs.

Do you ever have one of those days where you just feel...blah? You don't feel bad, you don't feel good, you just...are. I had one of those days today. There's nothing in particular that brought it on, I just felt like I was going through the motions and not really present (not that I wasn't paying attention to my job duties). It may have been the overcast skies that brought on this mood, but I'm not certain.

Also, as I type this, I keep feeling a phantom Wii remote attached to my right hand. And so the addiction begins.

Wheeeee!!! Wiiiii!!!!

We finally got our Wii tonight! We bowled a little bit (Rob won by a stinkin' point), played a little bit of baseball (Rob is AWESOME at it, I can't hit anything to save my life), and some tennis (we're both mediocre at it). Soooo much fun! I can't wait until we get our Wii Fit so I can do some skiing and some hula hooping! Oh, and some running and some yoga, too.

Wii Sports has a feature where you can take a fitness test to see what your Wii Fitness Age is. Rob went first, and came out to be 41. Not too far off from his real age. So I thought, "I've been exercising for awhile - I bet I can get an age a lot younger than my actual age."

Ha. Ha. HA. HA!

When I finished my turn, the Wii told me I was 57.

FIFTY. SEVEN.

(No offense to anyone who might be reading this and is in their 50's . There's nothing wrong with your fifties, and it's not old by any means. I just assumed I'd get a number much closer to my actual age, not twenty some odd years older than I am now.)

Apparently, not being able to hit a homerun means you are completely out of shape. I guess I'll be taking up baseball soon!

The weather is changing!

Have you noticed lately that the mornings and evenings are getting significantly cooler? The weather forecast for this week is supposed to be warm during the day and down to the lower 50's/upper 40's at night. Our SMUD bill will certainly be going down very soon, and thank goodness for that.

Although I do love summer, I can't WAIT for fall. I love this time of year. Soon it will be time again for stews, fires and sweaters. Hooray!

I'm thinking of taking a trip up to Apple Hill once the weather really starts to change. I haven't been up there for all of the festivities in at least 10 years.

Only 8 more days until fall begins!

Delicious Friday.

I got to work this morning thinking this would be a pretty typical day for me, but I was wrong. And I was happy to be wrong.

Around 9:00, one of the executive administrative assistants that I've been working on a project with called and asked me what I was doing for lunch today. I told her I had no plans, and she said she wanted to take me to lunch to thank me for all of the help I've given her over the last few months. I, of course, said yes, and asked her where we were going. She said she had heard of a restaurant downtown called Ella that was supposed to be really good, so she thought we'd try there.

Am I glad she made that recommendation. This place was just fabulous. It was very sophisticated and classy: white linens, very sharp dressed waiters, very quick and friendly service. We shared everything we ordered (at the recommendation of our waiter), so to start, we had grilled prawns with fresh cranberry bean salad and romesco. Amazingly good, and I'm not a big seafood person. The prawns were cooked perfectly and so delicious, and the bean salad was light and the perfect companion to the prawns. Delish.

We also ordered sauteed broccoli rabe with garlic, chili flake and parmesan. Also delicious, but I wasn't aware of how bitter broccoli rabe is. I'm not sure if I'll ever eat it again, but the way they had prepared it was excellent.

For our main dish, we ordered pan roasted halibut with lemon-caper brown butter and arugula. It also came with little potatoes that were so delicious I was beside myself.

And for our finale, we had the chocolate brownie with toasted almonds, fudge sauce and chocolate chip cocoa nib ice cream. OH. MY. STARS. It was so unbelievably good. And the best part was, it was just a little bit, so I wasn't stuffed after eating all of this.

The other nice thing? I didn't have to watch the clock while we were at lunch and was out a little longer than normal (about an hour more than usual). Nice, huh?

It was one of the most pleasant Friday afternoons I've had in a long time. The weather was perfect, the food was excellent and I enjoyed getting to know a co-worker a little more.

If you're interested, the link to the restaurant's website is here. If you go, you will not regret it. Just be prepared to spend a little more than you normally would.

7 years.

7 years ago was one of the worst days of my life. It was one of the worst days of everyone's lives. I remember waking up feeling pretty terrible: I was on a course of really strong antibiotics for a spider bite and decided to stay home. I called Rob at work to tell him so, and when I asked his supervisor if I could speak with him, he responded, "He already knows."

Huh? Knows about what? Knows that I'm calling to tell him I'm staying home? I didn't get it.

Until Rob got on the phone and told me to turn on the TV. Right now. An airplane had hit one of the buildings of the World Trade Center and it was getting ready to collapse. And the plane was a commercial airliner.

I quickly turned on the TV and was positively horrified. I said a quick prayer for all of the people in the building and those on the plane.

Until I saw the second plane hit the other building. And I felt like I was going to be sick.

I have never been more scared in my entire life. I felt so totally helpless in that moment, and there was nothing I could do but watch the whole thing unfold in front of me on television. It was gut-wrenching, disgusting, shocking and surreal.

For the entire day, I sat there in front of the television, my stomach twisting inside of me from the antibiotics and from what was happening. I just wanted to throw the blankets over my head and pretend it was all a very, very bad dream that would go away. But it didn't. And as the news kept coming, it just kept getting worse.

I remember my mom came over after she got off work to make sure I was OK, and was just as shaken up as I was. I remember being very grateful for her in that moment, because a lot of people lost their mothers that day. Mine was sitting on the couch, safe and sound.

Today is a very somber day for all of us. I'm sure no one will ever forget what they were doing that day, and more importantly, those that we lost. The mother. The boyfriend. The best friend. The co-worker.

My heart goes out to all of the families who lost someone that day. My memories of the pain of that day are nothing compared to theirs.

Gratuitous cat photo of the day.

No, it's not of one of my own. But it's still funny.



One of my new favorite websites: www.icanhascheezburger.com. If you're a cat lover, you'll agree with me.

Oh JT, how I love you so.

My favorite man (besides Rob, seen here) was at Fashion Week (yes, he's a designer, too) and apparently really impressed the crowd with his Spring 2009 collection.

I just wish I could get a hold of a pair of his jeans.

(I meant a women's pair from his clothing line, of course!)

A new incentive to be good.

I went to my Weight Watchers meeting on Saturday as I always do, and our leader announced that WW is running a special campaign from September 7th through October 18th called Lose For Good. For every pound lost, WW will donate a pound of food up to $1 million dollars to Share our Strength (an organization that makes sure no child grows up hungry here in the U.S.) and Action Against Hunger (helping hungry people globally). Isn't that fantastic? So it's a total win-win situation - you lose weight, get healthier and help those in need become healthier, too.

So if I'm down just one pound at my next weigh-in, I can contribute to this cause. If I didn't have a reason to ramp up the exercise, I certainly do now.

A perfect evening.

I met up with a former co-worker tonight whom I haven't seen since January, and I was amazed at what I saw. He'd lost a significant amount of weight when I saw him last time, but he's lost more since then and he looks fantastic. He looks younger, healthier and is so incredibly confident. It's wonderful. I was so happy to see how well he's doing. After dinner at the Buckhorn Grill downtown, we went to Yogurtagogo. It's a lot like Big Spoon, except not quite so many toppings. Still really delicious, though. We spent most of the evening outside talking, and the weather was just perfect for it. The only thing that gave away the fact that summer is starting to slip away was when it got dark at 8:00.

I love it when the weekend starts off in such a great way!

The many sides of Amber.

Here, in pictures, are a few of Amber's many sides:















Have you ever wondered what it looks like when you're being ignored by a cat? See above. See how her ears are pointed toward me? She can hear me calling her, but she is choosing to ignore it and stare at the wall. Hmph.


Here she is digging around in her catnip bag trying to get her mouse:















And here is a picture of her cute little paw:


















I couldn't resist. She has the shortest little legs I've ever seen on a cat. For Halloween this year, I want to get a tiny little wristwatch and put it around her paw so she can be Daniel Tiger from Mr. Rogers. Wouldn't that be so cute??

God help us all.

Read this article and then tell me the world isn't going to end tomorrow.

I know she's kidding (right?), but still. It's enough to make anyone hurl.

Labor Day pains.

Last night, after spending the entire weekend eating until my pants no longer fit (worth it, by the way!), I felt as you'd expect: like crap. I was jittery from too much sugar and bloated from eating too much. I also felt out of sorts, not just because I had eaten too much, but because it was Labor Day: the infamous day-before-the-first-day-of-school.

As a child, I never liked the first day of school. It caused me an immense amount of anxiety and uneasiness. New people, new routine, new teacher, new homework, new everything. I would spend most of the day before worrying about what was going to happen the next day. Of course, it was incredibly counterproductive and I essentially wasted my last day of vacation agonizing about what was ahead. And usually, it was nothing that I couldn't handle and I'd get home from school after that first day feeling pretty foolish about what I'd done the day before.

But the following year, it would always happen again. The worst was always nighttime. I could distract myself during the day with other things, but as soon as it was bedtime, I was left to my own thoughts and drove myself insane with worry. I had stomachaches and headaches galore, and usually would only get about 4 or 5 hours of sleep that night. Which did not make for a very pleasant morning, as you can imagine. You'd think the thought of seeing all my friends again would put me at ease. But no.

So last night, as I tossed and turned from a weekend of overindulgence, it dawned on me that here it was, Labor Day, and I was cursed with insomnia again, just as in years past. It's funny how certain things awaken the same feelings you had years and years ago.

It was a comforting thing for me knowing that I would never have to have that kind of anxiety ever again. And as soon as I realized that, I was out like a light and slept for a good 7 1/2 hours.

My old school-age self would have loved to get that much sleep on Labor Day.

The taming of the shoe.

I bought a new pair of running shoes today after pretty much exhausting my regular pair after 2 years of use. It's bittersweet for me to have to stop using them - they helped get me into the best shape of my life. They saw me through the barely walking on the treadmill a couple of days a week to running 3 miles three times a week. They helped me run my first competitive 5k 2 years ago (and get my best time yet). They helped turn me into the fitness-loving person that I am today.
















Now it's time for me to break in the new shoes and get them ready for November. I only hope that this pair takes me further and faster than I've ever been before.