Zumba with a Purpose

Attention Zumba lovers in Minnesota!

Zumba with a Purpose to benefit Toys for Tots with a $10 donation on December 12, 2009 from 1-3pm at Gold’s Gym in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota. This Toys for Tots benefit will feature a group of local Zumba instructors and, keeping in the spirit of Toys for Tots, Marines.

Click here for more information and enjoy!

Easter Bunny Emoticon

Send an Easter Bunny in your next email or text message!

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Cute! Enjoy!

I Like Diet Coke, But I Like Losing Weight More

I wouldn’t describe myself as religious, but I gave up pop for Lent. It was more or less for something to do, or something not to do. With 9 days of Lent to go, according to the Offical Lent Countdown site, I ask myself, will I be giving up soda for good? The truth is, I haven’t decided yet.

I am one of the many unemployed people in the United States. I currently collect unemployment while looking for work and studying for the GRE. I spend most of my free time at the gym (Zumba(!), yoga, etc.) and/or running.

I lost about 20 pounds pretty easily after I was laid off due to less money for dining out and more time for exercise, but by mid-February, I had hit a wall where regardless of how much I ate, drank, or exercised, I wasn’t losing any weight. I was stuck at 126 pounds.

Then came Lent. I had never given up anything for Lent before and I decided it would be a nice challenge to give up something for a few weeks.

I don’t eat very much and I don’t eat a wide variety of foods so there were no food stuffs I could realistically give up for Lent. It came down to Mint Conditions from Caribou Coffee or Diet Coke. I love Mint Conditions, and I mean love. Mint Conditions, while expensive and unhealthy, are a treat and pick me up when I’m feeling blue. Giving up Mint Conditions for Lent was not an option. Giving up Diet Coke was my only option so I decided to give up all pop/soda.

Life went on as usual (minus soda) and about two weeks ago, I noticed that I started losing weight again. I am currently down to 121 and the only change I’ve made in my diet and routine has been cutting out pop for Lent.

On the downside, giving up soda has increase my alcohol intake. I am often the driver on nights out and Diet Coke with a slice of lemon was a nice alternative to alcohol. Diet Coke is not as boring and easier to drink than plain ice water, plus based on appearance, it could be a mixed drink and helps me feel like I fit into the bar scene when I’m not drinking. Since I gave up pop, I tend to order a Miller Lite even when I don’t really want or need one.

Will I give up Diet Coke for good, or will I take it back up on Easter Sunday? Only time will tell.

The REAL St. Patrick

We celebrate March 17th in commemoration of St. Patrick’s great and noble deed in driving the Norwegians out of Ireland.

Centuries ago many Norwegians went to Ireland to escape the bitterness of the Norwegian winter. Ireland was having a famine at the time, and food was quite scarce. The Norwegians were eating almost all the fish caught in the area, leaving the Irish with nothing but potatoes.

St. Patrick, taking matters into his own hands like most Irishmen do, decided the Norwegians had to go. Secretly, he organized the IRATIONAL (Irish Republican Army To Rid Ireland Of Norwegians At Last).

Irish members of IRATIONAL sabotaged all power plants in hopes the fish in Norwegian refrigerators would spoil, forcing the Norwegians to a colder climate where their fish would keep. The fish spoiled all right, but the Norwegians, as everybody knows to this day, thrive on spoiled fish.

Faced with failure, the IRATIONAL sneaked into the Norwegian’s fish storage caves in the dead of night and sprinkled the rotten fish with lye, hoping to poison the Norwegian intruders. But, as everyone knows, this is how lutefisk was introduced to the Norwegians and they thrived on this lye-soaked smelly fish.

Matters became even worse for the Irishmen when the Norwegians started taking over the Irish potato crop for lefsa to go with their lutefisk.

Poor St. Pat was at his wits’ end and finally, on March 17th, he blew his top and told all Norwegians to go to Hell, and it worked…

All the Norwegians left Ireland and went to Minnesota.

Get Two Snuggies for the Price of One!

A bit of advice for anyone shopping for a Snuggie, the blanket with sleeves, for a Snuggie pub crawl or in my case, to give as a gift:

My 60-something-year-old mother in rural Wisconsin wanted a Snuggie after seeing a commercial on cable (probably Lifetime). I didn’t want her to be taken advantage of by calling the 1-800 number from tv, so I told her I would go online and order one for her for her birthday.

I went to getsnuggie.com first, but really didn’t want to pay the $7.95 s&h fee on top of $19.99 for a blanket with sleeves!

I next tried searching for Snuggie on Amazon
and got results from Target… I discovered my local Super Target had Snuggies on the “As Seen on TV” end cap in the Housewares department near the kitchen utensils for $14.99 (+ tax)!

Shop locally, and you can get two Snuggies for the price of one!

If you are like my parents and the nearest Target is still 60 miles away, you are still better off ordering from Target.com or Amazon. Wal-mart does not appear to carry them at this time.

Candy Heart Generator

My favorite Valentine’s Day website is the Candy Heart Generator at www.cryptogram.com.

Just type your message into the text box (up to four lines), click on a candy heart color (yellow, green, orange, pink, purple, white, & blue), and cryptogram.com generates a realistic candy heart with pink type for you!

To share  your candy heart as a jpeg, right click on your heart and “save image as.”

If you don’t love Valentine’s Day, you can switch to “Goth Mode” and make a black heart with white, orange, red, or green type.

Enjoy!

Alternative, Green Gift Ideas for Men, Women, or Children

Tired of giving “stuff”? Here are a few alternative, green gift ideas for men, women, and children.

Heifer International Gift Site
Give the gift of animals (or a partial gift) to help increase sustainable development and end world hunger and poverty.

A $20 donation can buy a flock of chickens, ducks, or geese. $60 will buy a trio of rabbits. $120 buys a pig, sheep, or goat.

For example, from the Heifer International web site:

Goats are great for families. The gift of a dairy goat represents a lasting, meaningful way for you to help a little boy or girl on the other side of the world.

Goats can thrive in extreme climates and on poor, dry land by eating grass and leaves. The gift of a dairy goat can supply a family with up to several quarts of nutritious milk a day – a ton of milk a year. Extra milk can be sold or used to make cheese, butter or yogurt. Families learn to use goat manure to fertilize gardens.

And because goats often have two or three kids a year, Heifer partners can lift themselves out of poverty by starting small dairies that earn money for food, health care and education.

The Gift of Giving
When you give The Gift of Giving, you make a charitable donation, you choose a form of gift packaging, and your gift recipient chooses the actual charity!

There are hundreds of charities to choose from including ASPCA, Oprah’s Angel Foundation, St. Jude Children’s Hospital, Special Olympics, Chess in the Schools, Arbor Day Foundation, Meals on Wheels, Locks of Love, Yellow Ribbon Fund, Heifer International (see above), and the World Wildlife Fund (see below).

World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Gift Center
Adopt an animal or give apparel, crafts, or gift cards to benefit the WWF.

WWF has something for everyone! Adopt a polar bear, lynx, bald eagle, bison, sea otter, orca, wolverine, walrus, black-footed ferret, big-horned sheep, cougar, moose, snowy owl, grizzly bear, Mexican gray wolf, hellbender salamander, woodpecker, harbor seal, monarch butterfly, red-footed booby, great white shark, Galapagos marine iguana, Galapagos sea lion, giant tortise, Darwin’s fox, blue whale, jaguar, macaw, pygmy marmoset, red-eyed tree frog, anaconda, spectacled bear, toucan, vampire bat, black jaguar, three-toed sloth, giant anteater, emperor tamarin, pink river dolphin, golden lion tamarin, dolphin, manatee, crocodile, mandrill, chimpanzee, Afrian wild dog, western lowland gorilla, okapi, bonobo, hippopotamus, ring-tailed lemur, hedgehog tenrec, sea turtle, cheetah, zebra, dugong, leopard, giraffe, meerkat, snow leopard, tiger, amur leopard, wild Mongolian horse, panda, red panda, white-cheeked crested gibbon, mekong dolphin, douc monkey, clouded leopard, pygmy elephant, tarsier, orangutan, Sumatran rhino, proboscius monkey, clown fish, stingray, octopus, whale shark, sulphur-crested cockatoo, emperor penguin, rockhopper penguin, koala, duck-billed platypus, wombat, Tasmanian devil, or kangaroo. I hope I didn’t miss anything!

Here is a link to the 2008-2009 WWF Gift Catalog.

I know I would love getting anything from one of the organizations listed above as a gift instead of a silly trinket or some chocolates this Valentine’s Day…

Perfect Gift Idea for Anyone

The perfect gift for anyone is a Roomba. Men/women, boyfriend/girlfriend, lover, spouse, parent, grandparent, or special friend – everyone will love this gift.

Roomba home robots by iRobot maneuver around and under furniture to clean floors so you don’t have to. All you have to do is make sure it is docked properly to keep it charged, empty compartments, and clean filters, rollers, and brushes regularly to keep your Roomba running like a champ.

Roomba vacuum cleaning robots are generally priced from $100 USD to over $500 USD on irobot.com or Amazon, but you can often find refurbished models on deal sites such as Slickdeals or Woot for less. iRobot also makes Scooba floor washing robots, Dirt Dog shop floor cleaning robots, Verro pool cleaning robots, and Looj gutter cleaning robots.

I was given the Roomba model pictured below as a gift last year. I own two short-haired cats and a jersey wooley house rabbit so between pet hair and hay for my bunny along with everyday dirt, my Roomba has had its work cut out for it. It is still going strong.

Men, we all know how women are: I advise you to pick up a bouquet of flowers or piece of jewelry to give a girlfriend or wife along with the Roomba.

Last year, I received a Roomba (specifically, a refurbished model like the pictured below) with a nice pair of diamond earrings. I wear the earrings constantly and use the Roomba daily and think about my boyfriend and what great gifts he gave me every time I don’t have to vacuum.

How to Write SMART Goals and Make SMART New Year’s Resolutions

A SMART goal and New Year’s Resolution is one that is:

Specific
Measurable
Attainable
Realistic
Timely
 

Specific
Decide in advance exactly what you want to accomplish. Ask yourself, “What am I trying to do? How am I going to do it? What am I assuming is true? What if my assumptions are not true? What is Plan B?”

Measurable
Incorporate specific ways and dates to measure your achievements. Measuring your progress will help you stay on track and give you a sense of satisfaction when you hit a milestone. The feeling of success will also help you stay motivated.

Attainable
How can you make your dreams come true? Achieving your goal might require baby steps. You might have to start by simply developing the skills, abilities, and financials to reach your goal, and that is a goal in itself. Break a big goal into bite-size pieces to make your resolution more attainable. Also prioritize your goals or multiple parts of a large goal to make it more attainable.

Realistic
Be in control. Make your goals doable, but not easy. Achieving goals requires personal effort and change. Are you willing to make an effort and tolerate the changes that will take place as a result? You will only achieve results with your own enthusiastic agreement that the effort and change required are necessary and important to reach your goal.

Timely
The timing of your goal must be all of the above: specific, measurable, attainable, and realistic. Set a specific date you would like to reach your goal, and also dates to check your progress. Be realistic to give yourself the best chances to achieve your goal.
 

Now… Get started! 
Brainstorm. Don’t worry about the SMART principals and write down whatever goals for yourself that come to mind. Prioritize the goals in order of what is most important to you. Apply the SMART goal principals and make the goals you select for yourself specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely.

Print or write copies of the SMART goals and carry it in your purse or wallet at all times. Post it around the house, office, cubical, car, or wherever it needs to be so you are constantly reminded of your objectives.

Check your progress at the specific, realistic dates you incorporated in your goal. If you are not progressing like you had planned, make changes asap! What’s Plan B? How can you make your dreams come true?

What is the Christmas song about Maria and “the first nightingale’s song”?

“The Gift” is one of my favorite Christmas songs about a girl named Maria who finds an injured bird and nurses it back to health.

“The Gift” was written by Montana singer/songwriter, Stephanie Davis. It appeared on Garth Brooks’ 1992 holiday album, Beyond the Season. A young Canadian pop and Celtic music singer, Aselin Debison also recorded and released “The Gift” on Sweet is the Melody in 2002. Enjoy!

The Gift
Stephanie Davis

A poor orphan girl named Maria
Was walking to market one day
She stopped for a rest by the roadside
Where a bird with a broken wing lay
A few moments passed till she saw it
For its feathers were covered with sand
But soon clean and wrapped it was traveling
In the warmth of Maria’s small hand

She happily gave her last peso
On a cage made of rushes and twine
She fed it loose corn from the market
And watched it grow stronger with time

Now the Christmas Eve service was coming
And the church shone with tinsel and light
And all of the townfolks brought presents
To lay by the manger that night
There were diamonds and incense and perfumes
In packages fit for a king
But for one ragged bird in a small cage
Maria had nothing to bring

She waited till just before midnight
So no one would see her go in
And crying she knelt by the manger
For her gift was unworthy of Him

Then a voice spoke to her through the darkness
Maria, what brings you to me?
If the bird in the cage is your offering
Open the door and let me see
Though she trembled, she did as He asked her
And out of the cage the bird flew
Soaring up into the rafters
On a wing that had healed good as new

Just then the midnight bells rang out
And the little bird started to sing
A song that no words could recapture
Whose beauty was fit for a king

Now Maria felt blessed just to listen
To that cascade of notes sweet and long
As her offerings was lifted to Heaven
By the very first nightingale’s song

(Corrected 12/23/2008.)