Do you have friends that are walking calorie counters? Who always say, “Oh, I shouldn’t” whenever you offer them anything other than a rice cracker? Or that constantly talk about starting, stopping, failing, or succeeding at diets? Any of your friends can’t stop mentioning how fat they are? Always wish you coud keep them quiet about fat long enough to let you eat your double chocolate fudge cheesecake guilt free? Well, now is the week!

It’s FAT TALK FREE WEEK!!!! Read again, not FAT FREE TALK WEEK…FAT TALK FREE WEEK!!! So for all you food obsessed people out there…shhhh…find new topics, enrich yourselves, and let the rest of us nourish ourselves in peace! Your weight is not who are you. I know it’s hard, but we need to stop judging ourelves based on our bodies…there are much more important things in the world! Start accepting yourself for who you are!!!

So head to this TriDelta Sorority initiative’s website and promise to eliminate FAT TALK. While you’re at it, get your friends to do it, too…and enjoy a whole new realm of conversation! Happy talking, eating, and loving yourselves!

Let us know what you think of this initiative…we love to get your comments!

Image source: Pursuant4.com

I don’t know about you, but I hate it whenever someone uses a phrase like, “that’s so gay.” I cringe when people use words like “faggot” or “pussy” as insults. While we’re on the topic, I can’t stand the phrase, “I got gypped,” either. Did you know that gypped comes from gypsy? When I found that out in high school (thanks Steve from my Spanish class), I immediately erased the phrase from my vocabulary! I find phrases such as these out of line and irrelevant. How did these words/phrases take on their current meanings? They don’t even make sense. What do you do when you hear them used? I usually say something because I think my silence makes me an accomplice.

Well, for those of you who are uncomfortable, too, but don’t know how to handle the situation, I have a HOW TO video for you (more available at thinkb4youspeak.com):

For those of you who never thought about how hurtful words can be (sticks and stones probably broke a lot of your bones), check out this new TV ad featuring Hilary Duff. The aim of the TV ads is to eradicate the phrase, “that’s so gay.”

In Japan, two very special waiters have become internationally famous. Yatchan and Fukuchan are waiters in a restaurant north of Tokyo. They serve customers hot towels and drinks and are tipped in a very special currency…. soy beans….. why not real money? Because they are - monkeys!

How did this happen? The family that runs the restaurant welcomed Yatchan and Fukuchan into their home as pets. The owner, Mr Otsuka, says that the monkeys watched him serving customers and remembered how to do it. Monkey see, monkey do, right? “Lots of customers come to watch the monkeys. They work every day,” said Mr Otsuka. And they seem to have fun while doing it!

The question is: Are monkeys better waiters? I think so. I’d prefer monkeys to lazy waiters who never let me order or pay when I want to.

I don’t know anything about fashion and won’t even begin to let on that I do. I mean, I still wear the same jeans I bought when I was 16. Maybe I need to renew my wardrobe. But, don’t think I am a fashion nightmare. I would hope that my friends would have nudged me by now and whispered: “pull yourself together and change your look.”

In any case, as a non connoisseur of haute couture, I would just like to share my observations regarding Paris’ Fashion Week and, in particular, some creations by designer Bernard Willhelm:

I just can’t help but ask myself if people actually dress like this. It looks like something out of Where the Wild Things Are. Now I assume the sausages around the neck are just for fun, but I still don’t think I could pull off an outfit like that. As for the design below, all I could think was The Little Mermaid as soon as she reaches the shore and wraps herself in a sail with a pretzel bow on top. Am I far off?

Photo credits: nytimes.com

I was really excited to find out about Michael Moore’s new film Slacker Uprising. For those of you not yet “in the know” it’s set to be released in less than a week, on September 23.

I am sure you never thought slackers would make it to the big screen, but boy were you wrong. Slackers are our hope for the future. After all, they aren’t the ones who voted my best friend Mr. Bush into the White House again in 2004 (result: I fled from the good ol’ US of A).

So what is this uprising and who are these slackers that need to attend rehab? Well, Moore tried to rally up young voters (slackers when it comes to voting) for the 2004 elections by traveling through 62 cities in 42 days. Go him! To change their slacking ways he offered them all sorts of goodies: Top Ramen and clean underwear. He did a pretty good job since Kerry ended up winning the youth vote.

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