Thursday, January 29, 2009

Leave Jessica Simpson Alone

I'm sorry, but is this fat?????



By now I'm sure you're aware of the scrutiny Jessica Simpson is getting over her weight gain. Apparently she performed at some Chili Cook off the other day and people can't stop talking about how "fat" she's gotten.

I don't know about you, but when I saw these pictures, it made me happy. She looks normal. No, she looks great! She looks like a girl in love. I never saw her as Daisy Duke, but I did see pictures and videos of her 2 hours a day/6 days a week/South Beach Diet body. She looked incredible! So incredible, in fact, that it made me kinda sick in the head. It made me want to modify my schedule so that I could workout like that. It made me want to eat stuff I don't like so that I could like that. And sadly, it made me feel like a fat cow. I'm a size 6. I shouldn't feel like that. If I were a size 12 it shouldn't make me feel like that because she isn't my standard. And she shouldn't feel like that either because because Hollywood stars and fat reporters (that sit behind their desks, eating donuts as they write crap like this) aren't her standard. I don't get Hollywood standards. I really don't. I don't get the obsession with spending hours away from family, starving yourself to fit some mold....to look like everybody else. And where do half these girls get the energy to even workout! I just wanna tell them guess what? You get hit by a car and I guaran-darn-te that you wish you ate pizza with your boyfriend the night before. And I guaran-darn-te you'd regret being rude to your loved one because your stomach hurts from hunger or your legs hurt from your 2 hours workout!

I found an article online at The New York Post that says, "Wow, Jessica Simpson looks as if she could be an offensive lineman for her quarterback boyfriend. A plump, jeans-busting Simpson stunned fans with her new bulky build over the weekend. Simpson, 28, has packed on some serious pounds in recent months..."

The article was written by David K. Li who writes for The New York Post. Well, I have been digging for pictures of this David Kid so I could report to y'all how radiant and good looking and svelte he is. I wanted to post his picture so we could put it on our refrigerators or under our pillows because homeboy must have been chiseled by God. Well y'all, I'm sad to report that I got nothing. I'm not gonna say anything ugly about this guy because I don't know him....and I like to sleep at night. But one can only reason that since I can't find one single picture of him and given the fact he has built a career on making fun of people...(Insert your own assumption here). Here's what he said today when he caught wind of Jessica Simpson's sister sticking up for her. "Ashlee Simpson is sticking up for her big - really big - sister." Dude, get a life. That about sums it up for me.
Don't get me wrong, I'm in no way endorsing we all start super sizing our fries and sit at home and watch Lifetime (though that could be a little fun!) And I'm not saying there's anything wrong with working to have a good body. A lot of stars get it right. Look at J Lo and Jennifer Garner and Fergie! I'm talking about the need, the sick need, to feel as if these girls are our standard. And for being defeated because we will never look like that. Confession: Sometimes I buy into the Hollywood thing and diet and exercise like a mad woman. I get all, I can look like her....I have to look like her! And you know what? I usually end up grumpy and light header from hunger. Then sometimes I go the other way and eat like a cow for a week, indulging in everything that comes my way because I will never look like that. "No thank you" are bad words. And I usually end up sluggish from the sugar overload and mean because I feel out of control. That's no way to live y'all! People that are a size 2 don't have perfect lives! What on God's green earth do we hope to accomplish with this!
What I'm talking about is balance. Balance! Watch your calories, diet if you have something you need to lose weight for. Exercise as much as you can. Eat healthily, but my jingle bells have a stinkin' piece of pie every now and then. I once heard Dr. Phil say something that has stuck with me for awhile. He said something to the effect of, "It's okay to have a piece of cake on your birthday. It's not okay to eat a whole cake on someone else's birthday!" That's the balance I'm talking about.
Y'all, we are not defined by what we eat. We aren't defined by anyone's opinion-even our husbands and boyfriends. We are responsible for how we feel. I think everyone should be as skinny as they want to be. If you feel good and can maintain a healthy lifestyle at a size 14 then more power to ya. If you love your size 4 figure and enjoy working hard to keep that then more power to ya too. But if you mull over your week's calories. Or slap yourself for having Mexican food with your gal pals then something ain't right. Size 0, size 6, size 20.... you should never be defined by this. Calories ingested and numbers on a scale are not litmus tests of our worth. Beauty is truly skin deep. And in the eye of the beholder. And when I see Jessica Simpson, I see a girl in love! And I understand that feeling. I love a guy who loves to eat. I eat fried chicken now. I eat real ice cream and it feels great. Now some days I have to cut him off and say, "I need healthy until my pants fit!" And he gets that.
Jessica Simpson looks great and it pains me to think that she's at home on her treadmill running until she can no longer stand. Or that someone out there is home from work because they had a "binge" last night and feel too fat to leave the house. I'm guilty of all of this, and as a woman I can attest that we need girls like Jessica Simpson to look at. Just like we need girlfriends that we can split chocolate cake with to keep us balanced. Because life is about balance. And it's about living to the fullest. Anyone of us could die in 5 minutes. And I don't know about you, but I'd like to go down with a full tummy....maybe even a tiny pooch!

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

My List

I know this is morbid but...people die. I'm gonna die. Like there is a 100% chance that I will die. It could be in 5 minutes. It could be in 50 years. My point being that:

1. You MUST know where you're going. I hate the whole Hollywood/TV thing where the loved one asks the dying person if they believe in God and they say respond, "I think so." Then they go into this long speech about going to church as a kid and you're supposed to think they're a good person, yada yada yada. Y'all I just I wanna hand them a Bible and say, "Honey, that's not good enough!" Because it's not. You have to know that you know that you know that Jesus Christ is the way. The only way.

2. You MUST always tell your loved ones that you love them. Even if you don't like them. Take this morning for example. I got mad at my mother, and she said I love you anyway. I'm sure she didn't want to because I made her mad. But she did. And I said I love you, too. I don't always do this. Shoot, sometimes...No, often, my pride gets in the way and I leave in a huff. Well shame on me. Another case in point: When Andrew falls asleep on my couch, and I'm mad at him when I leave for work. I should still say I love you. I know this. (Sorry babe. You know I do. But stop sleeping on my couch!) My point being that we should ALWAYS tell our loved ones that we love them. We should always treat our conversations as if they are our last. Even if we're mad.

3. You MUST live life to the fullest. I'm sorry. I can't stand people who say, "I just wanna go home to Jesus. Anytime. That's all I want. He can take me now." Don't get me wrong. I want that too. Of course I want that, but why not have both? Life a full life. Then die. Then go home to Jesus. Why not have your cake and eat it too! God created me to have human desires so forgive me for wanting to graduate. Go to Prom. Get married. Have sex. Have babies. You catch my drift?

All this being said, I encourage you to have a list. It doesn't have to be a physical, methodological list where you are all anal about checking stuff off. Just a loose list of things you MUST do before you die. Here are a few of mine....I may have left some stuff off. I may add a few, but here they are (in no particular order):

1. Write another book
2. Tour Jane Austen country
3. Have a child
4. Get married
5. Have sex
6. Go on a cruise
7. Go to Greece and Italy.
8. Run a half marathon (Jury's still out on if I'd even wanna run a full marathon. I'm thinkin' no right now.)
9. Surf (or attempt to)
10. Go to Africa (on missions and on a safari)
11. Rescue a dog (I actually just did this, but I had written my list prior to Belle)
12. Hang out with a celebrity
13. Have no debt (Don't panic Andrew. I only owe my Dad a few G's)
14. Swim with dolphins
15. Learn another language
16. Kiss Andrew on top of the Eiffel Tower...then sit with him at an outdoor cafe clad in a beret, while drinking espresso (Shut up y'all!)
17. Spend the night at The Plaza in NYC
18. Stay at a Haunted Hotel for a Murder Mystery weekend
19. Visit all 50 states (Maybe not all 50 states. Can't say I care about places like South Dakota. But Hawaii, Alaska, Washington, and places like that. Yeah buddy.)
20. Ride a Hot Air Balloon
21. Change someone's life for the better

Of course there are other things like milk a cow, ride a mechanical bull. And the obvious: watch my children get married. But seriously, I could go all day with this.)

Now I'm sure I have more but these are the ones that come to mind. Now go home or if you're already home, get up and get a piece of paper and start pondering these things.

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Hollywood and Politics....a bad cocktail!

You know what's annoying....Hollywood. I will be the first to admit that I follow all the diets, love triangles, who is dating who and fashion in LaLa Land. I often visit popsugar.com and people.com. I love it. I am a hoe for it, but the whole Hollywood goes to Washington makes me wanna hurl my Wheaties. Take Jessica Alba for instance. I watched an interview with her yesterday, and I wanted to throw my tub of Ben and Jerry's at her. She was badgering some poor reporter because he refused to answer what he admired most about Obama. He was trying to do his job and the B list actress was in his face scolding him for not wanting to answer. What the crap! Stick to your bikini wearing movies with no plot and let the man do his job. I love stars like Jenny McCarthy who take a cause, like autism, and advocate and speak out. She's educated on the subject and has done so much for the cause. And Bono! He's the stinkin' man! But these little starlets that have diarrhea of the mouth and are oh so educated need to shut their pie holes. Like all these environmental activists who fly in their private jets on a weekly basis and use more electricity a month to heat their mansions then I do all year. Those are the people I'm talking about. Half of these Bush-is-an-idiot-and-ruined-our-economy freaks didn't even finish high school! Here's the deal Jessica Alba... When you graduate from Yale or Harvard at the top of your class, then you can call Bill O'Reilly a b-hole (she did that in the interview, too). Until then, stick to your starvation regimen, baby making and crap movies. Now don't get me wrong. I have no problem with people having opinions. Shoot, I have an opinion about having an opinion. I don't begrudge Ben Affleck for being liberal and having opposed views from mine. He's actually a pretty smart guy. What I am saying is to have an educated opinion, not just throw out insults. Or be hypocritical. How many "Green" celebrities flew to DC yesterday on a commercial airline? My point exactly. I'm not gonna go all crazy and boycott movies. Shoot, that would suck for me! All I'm saying is do what you do best and act. And if you wanna advocate, talk to Jenny McCarthy or Bono and learn how to not look like an idiot!