I’d like people to start spreading the word about the book. I know that most of the books I read are recommendations from friends, bloggers or people on Twitter or Facebook. I want to encourage you guys to let your friends know about Chocolate & Vicodin, so I’m launching a contest.

Visit the Chocolate & Vicodin: Spread the Word Contest page and you can enter numerous different ways to win either an iPod Shuffle, a $25 Amazon gift card, or a $10 iTunes gift card. You can tweet, like the book on Facebook, leave reviews on Amazon or Goodreads, email your friends, or post the video trailer or a site link on your blog. Once you do, submit proof via that form and you’ll be entered to win!

Winners will be drawn randomly. Anyone is eligible, including international readers. The contest is open until 11:59pm EST on May 30, 2011. Thanks for spreading the word!

Head up, seven up! I’m going to send out my e-newsletter on Tuesday morning and it will include an exclusive chance to win an advanced release copy (ARC) of Chocolate & Vicodin. If you want to know how to enter, you’ll need to subscribe and confirm your subscription before then. The subscription box can be found on the home page of JennetteFulda.com as well as in the footer of any page there.

Back to your regularly scheduled blogging soon, I promise.

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 like backpacks. But I could never justify spending $9.84 on a piece of string and Velcro. I told myself I should make one myself, but now I don’t have to, which allows me to cross one item off my long list of craft projects I shall never complete. (It’s listed right after “Bedazzle gym bag.”)

Earbud headphones (nice ones)
I hate earbud headphones. They feel funny. They fall out easily. They get all gross and waxy. However, I must admit that I look like the Queen of Dorkitude wearing these bulky headphones while I’m walking:

The ear pads absorb sweat, so they get kind gross too. Now I bought a pair of earbud headphones that are designed more like earplugs. They fit snug in my ear, don’t fall out, and don’t make me look like a dork. The covers are washable, too. I’ve always wanted to get a pair of these, but I was never going to spend $18.99 on them for fear I’d hate how they felt. Luckily they fit great!

Sports watch
Finally, I got a new sports watch with lots of fancy sports functions, like memory recall, which I probably will never use but will enjoy knowing I could use if I wanted. It’s much smaller and cuter than my old watch, but again, I would never have splurged $39.99 on this when I could get my old watch at Big Lots for $5.00.

All together, that comes to $68.82. Add an additional 7.75% North Carolina sales tax and the grand total was: $74.16. Woot! Am I good, or what? I should totally be on The Price is Right. Of course, I also used my coupon to get a free box of FiberPlus bars. I went with the dark chocolate almond flavor and they were very tasty indeed. You can read about their nutritional information online.

Finally, here’s a shot of my gym bag now, all made over, though still lacking glitter:

Now you guys have a chance to “Plus Up” your gym bag. The official rules are available here (PDF) (I know! Official rules! So fancy!) Here’s the general gist: The contest starts now and ends at 11:59pm EST on Sunday, September 19, 2010. Only US citizens residents are eligible. (Sorry, foreigners! Give us your huddled masses, but not for giveaways.) You may enter by 1) commenting below stating why you need to “Plus Up” your gym bag or 2) sending a message on Twitter to @pastaqueen about why you need to Plus Up your gym bag and including the #plusup hashtag. I’ll announce a winner by Wednesday, September 22.

Good luck, everybody!

I also drew winners for both of my recent giveaways. They have been notified and have accepted their prizes. Congrats to Linzmat for winning the Mary Lou’s Weigh Platform and to Becca for winning a copy of The Amazing Adventures of DietGirl.

To enter, leave a haiku about oatmeal in the comments below by 11:59pm on Saturday, November 15th. A haiku is a three line poem in which the first and third lines contain 5 syllables and the second line contains 7 syllables. Four winners will be drawn randomly, not by the quality of their haikus. However, if it is not a true haiku, you will be disqualified. Count your syllables, people!

To inspire you, here’s a pic of Roni, Mo and me in the taxi on our way to the Quaker Oats headquarters, are faces beaming with thoughts of oatmeal. Let us be your muses!

Win or lose, you can also click this link to get a coupon for $1.00 off any two packages of Quaker Oatmeal. You must be using Internet Exploder for it to work though.

My fellow Seal Press author and cupcake blogger, Rachel Kramer Bussel, has proposed a food blogging panel for the annual SWSX festival next year entitled, “Nom Nom Nom: The Secrets of Successful Foodblogging.” Go vote for her. If she gets in and you attend, you will get a free cupcake.

Bitch about sportswear and get a free bra

MizFit is hosting a contest where everyone who leaves a comment about what bugs them about athletic apparel will get a free sports bra. (Looks like the bra is for A/B size runners, so busty women be warned.) Be sure to read the post, because you have to email the sponsor after leaving a comment. Only runs until midnight tonight!

ETA: MizFit commented below that “It’s HIGH IMPACT for A/B and low impact for larger cup women. My sister is a C almost D and likes hers (ok, she steals mine :)) but she uses it for lifting weights/elliptical machine.”

Welcome back Internet Explorer 6 users!

All of you who use Internet Explorer 6 are probably happy that you can see the site again. Yesterday I embedded a video of a Coco the Colossal Colon in my state fair entry which IE6 could not digest. I’ve removed the video, so everything should be fine. But let me just say, screw you, Maven player! You suck. Don’t be crashing my blog.

ETA: Kelly now has a blog at Losing it! Check it out.

You’ve still got 4 days left to enter my Viral Video Contest and be entered to win a $25 gift certificate to Amazon.com, a Burt’s Bee’s gift basket, a free autographed book and a spaghetti scepter. (Do it for the spaghetti scepter.) Details are here.

Catch me in South Bend

I’ll be in South Bend, Indiana, holding court in the Barnes & Noble at 4601 Grape Road at 4pm on Saturday, June 28. I’m sold out of autographed copies on my book site, so this is one of the last times you’ll be able to score a signed copy unless you randomly bump into me on the street while carrying a copy.

Please spay and neuter your pets

It’s important to control the pet population…oh wait, sorry, this has nothing to do with me or weight loss. I’m just flashing back to the prime time edition of The Price is Right last night.

Contest! Woo-hoo! If you enjoyed the video above (and even if you didn’t) you can enter to win the Half-Assed Prize Pack in celebration of the release of my book, Half-Assed: A Weight-Loss Memoir. The prize pack includes:

• A $25 gift certificate to Amazon.com
• A signed copy of Half-Assed: A Weight-Loss Memoir
• A signed galley copy. (Galleys are early uncorrected proofs that are sent to reviewers.)
• A Burt’s Bee’s gift basket
• My favorite kitchen gadget, the apple corer and slicer
• A Spaghetti Scepter from the PastaQueen

Interested? To enter, all you have to do is:

1. Embed the video in your blog, MySpace, message board post – whatevah. The code to embed the video is here:

   <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/hU8L0l85dp8&hl=en"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/hU8L0l85dp8&hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

2. Link back to this post: http://www.pastaqueen.com/halfofme/archives/2008/06/how_to_lose_192.html
3. E-mail me a link to your entry at contest@halfassedbook.com

I’ll check your post to verify you did everything correctly and then you will be entered for the prize. The contest runs from now until 11:59pm EST on June 30, 2008. A winner will be randomly selected in July. You may enter as many times as you like, though each entry must be on a different site. Official rules are available after the jump.

Super Secret Bonus Content!

The purpose of the video is also to announce a promotional experiment I’ve been cooking up – Super Secret Bonus Content! If you bought a copy of my book, you can submit a ticket to access extra content including:

• 16-page commentary track pamphlet that provides additional insight and observations on the writing process
• Every recipe mentioned in the book
• Humorous video of what my cat does while I’m away, mentioned in one of the chapters
• And more!

Details on how to apply are here. I know when I hear about an interesting book my first reaction is usually, “That sounds cool. I’ll go get that….from the library.” Because I’m cheap. And looking at the number of requests for my book at the local library, I’m not the only thrifty person in town. While I’m honored and grateful that so many people have given up hours of their lives to read the words I’ve written, I’d prefer it if they bought a copy instead of borrowed one. So I asked myself, what would make me buy a book instead of request it from the library? I would need some sort of extra incentive. Thus, the Super Secret Bonus Content was born. We’ll see how it goes. I reserve the right to redact the bonus content offer at anytime (if I determine it’s not worth the hassle), so get your entries in now.

Half-Assed Viral Video Giveaway

Ground Rules

1. You may enter the contest by embedding the video on your site, linking back to this post, and sending a link to your entry to contest@halfassedbook.com
2. You may enter as many times as you like as long as your entries appear on different web sites. (You can’t post 10 times on your own blog.)
3. Be respectful of other people’s web spaces. Don’t get spammy! It’s rude.
4. Contest is open to anyone on the planet.
5. A winner will be drawn randomly from the verified entries. I decide who is verified. My decision is final. No arguments.
6. I will not sell, trade, or barter your email address to anyone, even for Ho Ho’s.
7. I will not print your name or address without your permission.

Thank you to the following sites for listing my sweepstakes:

Online-Sweepstakes

Also, Amazon is currently offering an extra 5% on all books pre-orders. So, if there was something you wanted to preorder, you can save an extra 54 cents and buy yourself some gum afterwards! I don’t know how long they will be running this offer, but thanks to Sara for pointing it out.