To my friends...I'm so, so, sorry!

I know I've influenced you in this life's journey. Little did I know that I made you fat. I understand if you don't call or write anymore. *sniff* *pout* I hope that when I see you again, you will be at the weight you were intended to be. Clearly, you won't be bloated anymore by our friendship. *sniff* *pout* Read more on why I've caused you such a fat fate, here.

To my so called "friends" who are thin. Bitch, I knew you didn't like me...and it clearly shows in your waistline. *hmph* ;-)

10 Ways To Be A Body Positivity Advocate

I cannot recommend this "Big Fat Deal" post highly enough. I've been telling ya'll most of this the past 10 years, but this is beautifully direct and concise! Click on the title to read it and actually DO IT. Some changes take time, but make a promise to yourself to start. Ok? Ok.

Fashion Forward

Please tell me that this isn't THE best photo of the jacket. Pretty please? I'm thinking the photographer just submitted the entire collection of photos taken on that day rather than bothering to delete the doltish shots. Then, some art director randomly selected the shot to be used in the ad. Right? I mean, no one would intentionally use a photo like that to sell clothing. Would they? Oh wait! I know that mentally challenged individuals need clothing, too, but I didn't know they were using them as models in fashion photography now. How very fashion forward of them!! By the way, I found it at Nordstrom.com. Be sure to thank them for their extreme diversity in fashion models.

Popular Tourist Attraction MeMe

I don't do MeMe's very often, but you know, to fit in, I better do one. Ok, here's a list of frequently visited touristy spots in the world, followed the the annual number of visitors. For your edification (a little too strong of a word, really) and relief of boredom (again, relief?? Doubtful), I've bolded the ones I've been to:

1. Times Square, New York City, NY: 35 million visitors every year
2. National Mall & Memorial Parks, Washington, D.C.: About 25 million
3. Disney World’s Magic Kingdom, Lake Buena Vista, Fla.: 16.6 million
4. Trafalgar Square, London, England: 15 million
5. Disneyland Park, Anaheim, Calif.: 14.7 million
6. Niagara Falls, Ontario and New York: 14 million
7. Fisherman’s Wharf/Golden Gate National Recreation Area, San Francisco, Calif.: 13 million
8. Tokyo Disneyland/DisneySea, Tokyo, Japan: 12.9 million
9. Notre Dame de Paris, Paris, France: 12 million
10. Disneyland Paris, Marne-La-Vallee, France: 10.6 million
11. The Great Wall of China, Badaling area, China: About 10 million
12. The Great Smoky Mountain National Park, Tennessee/North Carolina: 9.2 million
13. Universal Studios Japan, Osaka, Japan: 8.5 million
14. Basilique du Sacré-Coeur de Montmartre, Paris, France: 8 million
15. Musée du Louvre, Paris, France: 7.5 million
16. Everland (amusement park), Kyonggi-Do, South Korea: 7.5 million
17. The Forbidden City/Tiananmen Square, Beijing, China: At least 7 million
18. Eiffel Tower, Paris, France: 6.7 million
19. Universal Studios/Islands of Adventure at Universal Orlando, Fla: 6 million
20. Sea World Florida, Orlando, Fla: 5,740,000
21. Pleasure Beach (amusement park), Blackpool, England: 5.7 million
22. Lotte World (amusement park), Seoul, South Korea: 5.5 million
23. Yokohama Hakkeijima Sea Paradise, Japan: 5.4 million
24. Hong Kong Disneyland, China: 5.2 million
25. Centre Pompidou, Paris, France: 5.1 million
26. Tate Modern, London, England: 4.9 million
27. British Museum, London, England: 4.8 million
28. Universal Studios, Los Angeles, Calif.: 4.7 million
29. National Gallery, London, England: 4.6 million
30. Metropolitan Museum, New York, NY: 4.5 million
31. Grand Canyon, Ariz.: 4.4 million
32. Tivoli Gardens (amusement park), Copenhagen, Denmark: 4.4 million
33. Ocean Park (amusement park), Hong Kong, China: 4.38 million
34. Busch Gardens (amusement park), Tampa Bay, Fla.: 4.36 million
35. Sea World California, San Diego, Calif.: 4.26 million
36. Statue of Liberty, New York, NY: 4.24 million
37. The Vatican and its museums, Rome, Italy: 4.2 million
38. Sydney Opera House, Sydney, Australia: More than 4 million
39. The Coliseum, Rome, Italy: 4 million
40. American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY: 4 million
41. Grauman’s Chinese Theater, Hollywood, Calif.: 4 million
42. Empire State Building, New York, NY: 4 million
43. Natural History Museum, London, England: 3.7 million
44. The London Eye, London, England: 3.5 million
45. Palace of Versailles, France: 3.45 million
46. Yosemite National Park, Calif.: 3.44 million
47. Pyramids of Giza, Egypt: 3 million
48. Pompeii, Italy: 2.5 million
49. Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia: 2.5 million
50. Taj Mahal, Agra, India: 2.4 million

Clearly, I haven't left the continent. I ought to change that at some point. If I were a terrorist, I would think a list like this would give me a good place to start when considering the greatest impact in terms of human lives. Note to self -- avoid the above when feeling a little hinky about terrorism.

Reading and Killin' Time

I thought I really ought to post about blogs that I read with regularity. There are quite a few so I'll mention 'em at random rather than doing a "blog roll". If you want to see my "blog roll", ask for my favorites file. Here's the first recommendation... Shorpy the 100-Year-old Photo Blog. For the love of old photos! Most photos are 1930's and older. A great time killer and quite entertaining. They started publishing a scant few months ago, but their archive of pages is HUGE. If you have two hours to kill, sit back and start clickin'! I love, too, that they provide large size copies of all of the images so that you can see pretty decent detail. To help provide a "fat" angle, the woman pictured to the side of this post is proof that there were fat/chubby people long before the supposed "epidemic".

Oh, and since you didn't make it to the party...

Have a piece of fruit pizza! It looks a bit like a color blindness test, doesn't it? Enjoy!

Here's the recipe if you're so inclined:

Fruit Pizza

Crust: Shortbread Cookie • 3/4 cup butter, softened
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 cups all purpose flour

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Mix the butter and sugar together. Add flour. Knead about 20 times -- don't over knead. Press into pan and bake for 25 or so minutes. You'll want the top of the crust to just start to turn brown ever so slightly.

For the pizza shown above, I needed to double the recipe. If you're using just a regular size pizza pan (12"-14"), one recipe should do it.

Sauce: Cream Cheese Goodness

• 1 - 8 oz cream cheese, softened
• Sugar to taste -- usually about 3 tablespoons to 1 pkg of cream cheese
• Vanilla and/or fresh lemon juice to taste. It's a personal preference thing! I prefer quite a bit of vanilla.

Mix it all together and spread on cooled crust I doubled the recipe for this large size pizza. For a regular 12" or 14" pizza pan, again, one recipe should suffice.

Toppings: Fruit!
• Any seasonal fruit will do. Especially good are tangy fruits such as orange/pineapple/strawberry. Whatever you think would work well with cream cheese, really.
• Optional - Coconut to give it that "cheese" appearance.
• If you use fruit that browns, apply some "Fruit Fresh" or lemon juice to keep it looking decent.

Refrigerate until served. It can sit out for quite a while and still be safe/tasty.

Burnin' in Utah

It's hot, dry and firey here in Utah. I'm about 100 miles north of the big Milford Flats fire. I think it was supposed to be sunny today, but now, there's nary a mountain to be seen through the valley. It's all just a thick haze. With any luck it will keep us from getting up to the 100 degree mark again.

Speaking of the heat, this is turning out to be much like my first summer in Utah -- the hottest ever on record. The good thing is that now I've got central air to keep me from dryin' and fryin' in the late afternoon heat. We've had quite a long string of 100 degree heat so far and it appears that the forecast is calling for even more. Also, if you're in Texas and you've got some extra rain, please send it this-away. We need it!

Get Lucky in Utah!

OH, yeah, ummm...you're invited, too! I'm hosting a 7-7-7 party on Saturday, so if you're not busy with a wedding, stop on by! Apparently it is THE wedding day for thousands of people -- I'm sure it helps to remember the date and you know, it sounds sooo "lucky". Sorry I didn't get the invite to you sooner! Click the mini one to the left to view full size. OH, and if you can't get lucky in Utah, be sure to get lucky somewhere else. :-)