Dine Out For Life Today!

Today is the official Dining Out For Life day. What is Dining Out For Life?

From their website:

Dining Out For Life® is an annual fundraising event involving the generous participation of volunteers, corporate sponsors and restaurants. In exchange for their financial support, restaurants are listed in a city wide marketing campaign in an effort to increase customer traffic.

In 1991 Dining Out For Life® was created by an ActionAIDS volunteer in Philadelphia. Dining Out is now produced in over 55 cities throughout the United States and Canada. An average five to six cities are added each year.

More than 3,500 restaurants donate a portion of their proceeds from this one special night of dining to the licensed agency in their city. Nearly $4 million dollars a year is raised to support the missions of agencies throughout North America. With the exception of the annual licensing fee of $600, all money raised in these cities stays there.

Hit the website up here - http://www.diningoutforlife.com - find a local restaurant and eat out to fight AIDS!

On The Swine Flu

I'm not scared of getting the swine flu. I make it a point in life not to be scared of any population killing viruses. It's all too "Outbreak" for me. I would, however, like to pretend that I'm scared of the swine flu. Then I could walk around in one of these masks.
(I have also been waiting forever to find something that will look good with my high waisted pants)

Slurpees Are Vegan

The better half and I stopped into 7-11 last night for a Slurpee while out walking the 'hood. Since going vegan, I've had to give up most of my fave desserts, so I was pretty pumped to have a Slurpee as they are mostly carbon dioxide, ice, and high fructose corn syrup. Yes, I know that high fructose corn syrup will kill me, but, well I honestly have no excuse, I just like Slurpees.

As I was walking home, I was thinking to myself, "Dude, I should totes take a pic of my Slurpee and then post on the blog that Slurpees are vegan and my Piña Colada/Mutant Berry mixture rules the world of all slushy drinks." Then I decided to do a quick google search this afternoon and it turns out that Piña Colada Slurpees are not Kosher, which in turn means, not vegan. So, I basically may or may not have ingested dairy last night. Sonofabitch. Here's a picture of my Slurpee anyway. And the Piña Colada/Mutant Berry does seriously rule. For non-vegans.

Old Maid Rules The World

Yo doggies, check out my very lovely, very talented, very hysterical friend, Celeste Pechous in the movie, Old Maid. It's playing at the Toronto Lesbian and Gay Film Fest May 14-24!!! Wahooooey!

http://www.insideout.on.ca/festival/

CELESTE PECHOUS RULES!!!!!!!!!!

Mas En El Bano

Sorry, I swear I will get off of this topic after this post. When I was searching for a good bathroom image for that last post, I came across THIS -



It's a "space toilet". It's wearable. You go #1 or #2 and it gets flushed into a separate container. This amazing product was developed by the Japanese for their astronauts. I personally know some people who could use it when out on the town (what up friends who have gotten too drunk and eventually peed their pants). Can you imagine if you were at a club and someone had that huge bulk under their pants? "Oh no, I'm not bloated, I just don't want to have to stop dancing to take a wiz!!!"

On Bathroom Etiquette

I need to address something with bathroom etiquette. I'm not going to get into a list of things, for I am not a Countess, but I just want to discuss this one little thing. If you go to a public bathroom with your friend, and you both go into a stall to do yo' business, do you or do you not continue with whatever conversation you were having? It quite honestly doesn't bother me either way... to a certain extent. But, I got to thinking because I just went to the bathroom at my office and had this happen: two women came in, chatting away, both went to the bathroom, but then (here's the kicker) one of them was totally grunting and groaning as she was talking. Anyone else grossed out? I sure was.

On a plus note, this experience got me thinking about bathroom things a bit too much and I started feeling kind of pukey. Maybe if I throw up, I'll get skinnier. Yessssssss.



***Editor's note - throwing up to get skinny is NOT cool. The writer of this blog is simple a sarcastic jackass.

Rest In Peace Bea Arthur

Bea Arthur, you will be missed.

What Did YOU Do For Earth Week?

Okay, I know that it's not really Earth Week, it's just the week that encompasses Earth Day, but it seems like the world of marketing has taken over the entire week. I kept meaning to post various fun things, but my unfortunate day job has been ruling my life and depriving me of all things fun and entertaining (including blogging). So, what's everyone been up to for Earth Week? Greening things up? Changing light bulbs? Taking shorter showers? Opting for the bicycle rather than the bus?

One of the posts that I was planning and never got up was about various companies that were doing fun things for Earth Week. I'm not going to give all of that information now, as the week is coming to an end, but I do want to point out one company - Threadless. Threadless happens to be my favorite tee company, and not only because they are based here in Chicago, but also because their tee-shirts simply rule. All this week, when you buy a tee from Threadless.com, Threadless will donate $1 to PlantABillion.org (see side widget for more info. on those guys). So, while it's the end of the week, there's still time - get over to threadless.com, get yourself some cool new tees for summer, and save the Earth!

Oh, Jillian...

Is anyone else watching The Biggest Loser this season and having, "whuuuut" moments when Jillian speaks? I mean, she is in FULL OUT therapist mode this season. And, I have to admit, I don't really find it attractive. It seems like she can't speak unless she's yelling and telling someone what they're feeling and why. It's not that I don't like therapists, I may or may not be sleeping with one, in fact. It's that Jillian is just not as hot when she's all up in everyone's emotional business. I can't believe that I'm actually saying this, but I think that my crush is fading. Sad.

Choosy Moms Choose Organic Peanut Butter

I have no idea why, but I woke up this morning thinking about the Jif Peanut Butter slogan, Choosy Moms Choose Jif. Really? Latest recalls aside, wouldn't "choosy moms" choose organic peanut butter? I know I choose organic peanut butter. And I'm not even a mom! That I know of... What? Anyway...

Why should we all eat organic peanut butter rather than regular peanut butter? Pesticides, my friends. Pesticides are the chemicals that farmers use to get rid of pests (sound it out). Now, they can be washed off of some fruit and vegetables, but the vast majority of the time, they not only get onto your fruit and veggies, but they get into the entire plant itself and, thus, washing will do nothing. Someone once told me that peanuts are protected from pesticides by their shells. This is NOT TRUE. Not only do pesticides penetrate that nutty shell with ease, but nuts in general are more susceptible because they absorb more and hold on to more pesticides than other fruits and vegetables because of their high fat content.

So do me a favor, next time you're at the market and you're picking up peanut butter. Be a choosy mother f-er and go organic!

National Day of Silence

Today is The National Day of Silence. The National Day of Silence brings attention to anti-LGBT name-calling, bullying and harassment in schools. Come together and encourage your classmates, friends and families to speak out against anti-LGBT harrassment. You can find more information here: http://www.dayofsilence.org/index.cfm.

No Mas Countess

Though I love to rip the Countess for her inflated view of herself and immeasurable ability to look down on everyone around her, I have to say that I feel bad for her. It's apparently true and confirmed that her husband is leaving her. And, not only is he leaving her for a much younger woman, but he allegedly broke up with her over email. It makes me wonder what (or who) he was doing when they showed him showing up late to places and missing his daughter's horse shows in past episodes.

I'm sure she'll still stay ridiculously rich and I'm sure that she'll still stay ridiculously snooty, but I still feel bad for the Countess. I'm poor when it comes to money, but my better half loves me, I'm surrounded by love really, and I'm thus, much richer, no matter lack of title.

You can read a full article about it here: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/16/fashion/16COUNTESS.html?_r=1

Ezekiel Bread

Ezekiel 4:9., "Take also unto thee Wheat, and Barley, and beans, and lentils, and millet, and Spelt, and put them in one vessel, and make bread of it..."
I bet you all never thought you'd see the day when I started a post off with a quote from the Bible. Well, surprises come every day in life. Learn.

Don't worry, I'm not getting religious on you. I'm referencing the verse from the Bible that was the inspiration for my new favorite bread - Ezekiel Bread. Ezekiel bread is SO good. No joke, guys. It tastes really, really good. And the best part about it is that it's amazingly good for you.

Ezekiel bread uses sprouted whole grains and legumes and they combine to create a complete protein. What's that you say? A complete protein in BREAD?! Yep! The protein quality is so high that it is 84.3% as effecient as the highest recognized source of protein. The bread also offers 18 different amino acids - all from vegetable sources. It's certified organic and flourless.

The company that makes Ezekiel bread, Food For Life, offers a plethora of amazing products that are organic, vegan, gluten free, diabetic friendly, allergy friendly, and high in fiber. Who cares if they feel the need to spout scripture, their product is actually amazing! You can check it out here.

Aaaand, I'm Back!

Hello my loves. I know that I have been neglecting this blog like the right wing conservatives neglect checking urban slang before starting new campaigns. I am here to tell you now, though, that I finally got my home tech issues resolved, I updated the look of the page, and I'm back and teabag free!

So... what's new with the Brain? I got sick of the dark look, so I decided to lighten it up. And, in addition to lightening up my blog, I've recently lightened up my diet. I decided about three weeks ago to go vegan, only I'm also going to eat fish. It's been quite a change and I've had to do a ton of research on nutrition, food contents, recipes, etc. That research has turned into a true interest, so I've decided to use the blog to share what I've learned with the world. Don't worry, I'll still have fun snarky commentaries on other random things in the world, but I'll also now have some worthwhile reading for your brains and bodies!

Love and hugs,
Garvey

A Few Notes About RHONYC

A few quick notes about RHONYC lately...

- Ramona is out of control crazy and Mario is an ASSHOLE.

- What's with everyone ganging up on Bethenny lately? She's the hottest one in the group, but all of the other women feel the need to give her tips... apparently on how to pick up ugly men since not one of them has a hot husband. The Countess was a jealous beotch about Bethenny's magazine cover. Kelly is... well, crazy, but the "confrontation" just didn't make any sense. And this week we see that Ramona lays into Bethenny? How do you lay into her? She's the only real person on that show!

- Kelly... so two weeks ago she goes ape shit on Bethenny and acts like a huge douche at Jill's meeting for her fundraiser. Then last week she comes back all normal seeming and totally into helping with the fundraiser? I don't get it. Other things I don't get about her are her mouth when she speaks (the way it moves scares me) and the reason why her face is constantly really bright red when she's giving her interviews. I don't get it. It looks like she gets daily chemical peels.

- My buddy Cameron texted me a while ago and I keep forgetting to post - word on the street is that the Countess and the Count are separated? If they get divorced, what title will she force people to use when addressing her??????? The mere thought of it is giving me anxiety on her behalf...