Photo by sillygwailo / by NCND 2.0 CC

“Sweeeeet!” I said, and before I’d struck the final syllable I thought, Dear Lord, when did the word “sweet” enter my vocabulary? Then I remembered how fat I’ve been for most of my life and realized the word “sweet” probably entered my vocabulary before I was tall enough to grab ice cream out of the freezer. But I was not using the word to describe the taste of cupcakes or the unexpected kindness of a friend. No, I was stretching out the “ee” in the middle as if my lower jaw were arthritic and needed extra time to swoop in to make the sound. I was using the word as if it were substitution for “Narly!” or “Rad!” or some other slang from a subculture I do not belong to. I began using it sometime in the past few months, and every time I do I feel as though my mouth as been possessed by a ventriloquist.

I know many books and doctoral dissertations have been written about the [...]

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I am in upstate North Carolina this week, though I didn’t know North Carolina had an upstate until they kept mentioning it on the local news. (Upstate weather, next! What’s happening in the upstate? Upstate, upstate, UPSTATE!) My mom is visiting for the week, so we took a road trip to visit the Biltmore estate in Asheville. It’s America’s largest home, has 43 bathrooms, and no public restrooms. (Take your pee break before you enter!) We also just missed getting on local television when they were filming a story about a freakishly huge mushroom found on the grounds.

I thought you guys would be most interested in the recreation areas in the basement of the Biltmore. Here’s the swimming pool:

Don’t jump in! There is a noticeable lack of water. The 70,000-gallon pool was heated and had underwater lighting. There are also call buttons near the edge so guests could call for a servant.

And here’s an early 20th-century gym:

Those wooden pins hanging from the wall made me think George Vanderbilt was a closet juggler, but they’re evidently [...]

• Continue reading "Turn of the century athletic equipment. (Um, last century.)"

Congratulations to Roberta Hutcheon who was the randomly selected winner of the “Plus Up” Your Gym Bag giveaway! Thanks to everyone who entered. I’m sorry to hear that so many of you do not have actual gym bags. I have at least 3 stuffed in my closet that I received as part of various promotions from different companies. I feel like I should launch some sort of gym bag relocation program.

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The UPS man handed me a typical UPS shipping box last week with a surprise inside—the copyedited manuscript for my upcoming book, CHOCOLATE & VICODIN (in stores February 2011)!

It is certainly thrilling to see my book printed on paper and adorned with a cover letter on official publishing-house stationery. It makes me realize that the Word document I’ve slaved over for so long is soon going to put on its best clothes for its coming-out party at bookstores. However, it also means I have to review the copyediting, which is by far my least favorite part of the publishing process. I am not detail-oriented by nature, and copyediting is all about details. I’ve trained myself to be more detail-oriented in my work because it’s a necessary skill, but it’s definitely something I have to work at. It doesn’t come as naturally to me as other things.

By the time you get to copyediting, you’ve already submitted your manuscript and completed any revisions requested by your editor. The book is then printed, double-spaced, and given to a [...]

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Disclosure: The cost of the “Plus Up” Your Gym Bag makeover for me and the upcoming winner was covered by Kellogg’s FiberPlus.

As I teased yesterday, I recently got the opportunity to “Plus Up” my gym bag from Kellogg’s FiberPlus. They gave me a coupon for a free box of FiberPlus bars and $75 in gift certificates to buy whatever else I wanted.

After putting off this makeover to the very last day and then reading Lanie’s comment that the bag “needs glitter,” I was momentarily tempted to run to Michael’s and spend $75 on a Bedazzler and glitter glue. Or I could have followed Lady Gaga’s lead and made myself a meat gym bag or meat sweat suit—made from lean cuts, of course.

Instead, I went to Target. I always end up buying stuff at Target that I didn’t know I needed. After cruising the aisles, this is what I threw in my cart:

Yoga mat sling

I’ve always wanted a yoga mat sling. I like how cool the yoga people look with their mats slung over their shoulders [...]

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