But I thought it best to keep this short and straightforward, as it will essentially seem as though I’m bragging about my recent feats.

It’s less about bragging and more about my own amazement though.  Amazed that I managed to pull these things off, without embarrassing myself or vomiting with nerves.

Here we go…… Three things that happened in January and February:

1/

I  was asked to join the Online Fashion Agency, which is THE place for all of your online fashion needs and I am listed next to other great bloggers (Shini of Park & Cube, Navaz & Laetitia of Mademoiselle Robot).  Check it out.

2/

I sat on a panel (with lovely ladies; Courtney Blackman of FBC, Frances Card of FCC and again, lovely MademoiselleRobot) for the Drapers E-commerce Summit.

That was my first experience speaking to a large audience about blogging and the future.  A very interesting afternoon!

3/ I presented an episode of FashshotTV for LivingTV.  I’m going to put the YouTube version here but you can also watch it on LivingTV or the Now Magazine website.

That’s me on the voice-over, chatting about skiwear(?) and with the REALLY messy hair! oops.

If you can’t see the video in your google reader, just visit my actual blog site, or click here.

x

Stephanie > You

After the “Biggest Loser” premiere I chose 3 favorite teams: White (Michael & Maria), Orange (Daris & Cheryl) and Yellow (Sunshine & O’Neal). That was about a month ago. Let’s see how my little big losers are faring… and add Purple Stephanie to my list.

All of the young women on this show are Snookin’ for Love (I can say that because it’s not yet copyrighted… you just wait), and I think that Purple Stephanie is going to land a man in the very near future. She’s already beautiful, and once she loses the weight she’s going to have a huge confident boost. Watch out, boys!

Stephanie “lost” her mom (aka her mom got sent home) several weeks ago, but Stephanie never complained about losing her support system. In fact, Stephanie seems to be a rock for the other contestants. Last night when Jillian told the women (and Michael) to run for five minutes on the treadmill, several of the women (especially new-to-the-ranch Sunshine) seemed dumbfounded by the challenge. But Stephanie encouraged them all through it like a pro, even though she was just as tired and unsure as the rest of them. For that, I love her.

As I hinted at above, this week Sunshine & O’Neal (don’t they sound like a ’70s band?) returned to the fray and won back their slot on the ranch by losing more weight than the Blue team (they did great, too). They also seem like really great, supportive people to have around– and luckily they didn’t have to make any enemies last night, because Brown John got an automatic send-home.

Michael “lost” Maria a few weeks back and people seemed to doubt his commitment to Sparkle Motion, but last night he surprised everyone (including himself) when he won the pushy-thingy challenge. He is getting a major ‘fro (as is Daris). I can’t wait until makeover week. (Red Lance’s dangle-beard, especially, has to go.)

Cheryl kind of faded into the background after her week-one primal insanity moment, and Daris was struggling because he was failing to “hit his burn” and kept getting low-ish numbers. But this week Jillian finally had a talk with him and tried to make him realize that he was more than the designated “funny fat friend,” and he ended up breaking into the double digits. It was surprising because Jillian didn’t “break him” like she does with a lot of the contestants. She just had nice little chat. Jillian works in mysterious and surprisingly effective ways with the individuals.

I’m still really curious to see how Daris will look once he loses the weight and the ‘fro. He should start taking dating lessons now, if those are a thing. (And if they are, I am offering them? For… $700/hour?)

Speaking of… next week they’re training with Olympians! Inspiring Olympians! And two people are getting voted off… it’s the end of team weigh-ins.

And… oh yeah–I have to mention this. She’s not on my faves list (although she is Michael’s surrogate mom?), but Miggy had a freakin’ appendectomy and came back to the ranch and walked like 40 miles during the next three days. WTF. That does not seem like a recipe for recovery. But whatever, she lost five pounds. Next week: her stomach falls out through her ruptured surgery site. And she can never eat solids again. Problem solved! (Just kidding. I hope.)

Apparently when you have surgery, the doctors pour gallons and gallons of salt water into your body? That seems like a bad idea? But what do I know? I’m not a doctor, and I don’t even play one on TV. Truth is stranger than fiction, etc etc. I can’t handle the truth!

Have a safe week, exercise with care, and try not to let your appendix burst. If it does, just start drinking salt water as fast as you can. (And if you think your appendix has burst and this is the first thing you found in the Google results… please stop Googling and call 911 immediately.) (And don’t drink salt water! For the love of Jacob!)

xoxo…

Well the cards got here yesterday and i couldn’t be happier, Two hanley auto cards plus a really nice looking Miggy!! I would really like to thank Dan from Saints of the Cheap Seat for holding the box break again and to Austin from Omega Cardboard for putting together a great trade…. I hope you enjoy the card as much as i did! Thanks again!!

illustration by Samara Pearlstein

Nothing like a quick, crisply played game after an offday, eh? A game with few pitching changes, so the action marches right along without a lot of annoying stoppages. A game of control and determination, the pitcher matching wits with each batter as he steps in. A magnificent example of finely played baseball indeed.

Also the complete opposite of Tuesday’s game.

Combining the Tigers and the Mariners, there were

–24 hits, with

–4 doubles,

–1 triple,

–7 homers, and

–1 Magglio Ordonez grand slam in this one.

The Tigers won, so I’m not complaining. I’m just saying, you know: a stately and dignified pitching duel this was not.

Although the collective Tigers pitching entity only issued a single walk, which is rather encouraging, and the Tigers batters managed to eyeball themselves into SIX walks, which is almost unheard-of for them. WHAT MADNESS IS THIS?!

Miguel Cabrera is a freak of nature, which I mean in the nicest possible way. He was 3-for-3 today with two walks, three runs scored, and a homer. He’s toyed with batting slumps for a couple of months now and he’s still hitting .330 and OPSing .949. At this point I would not be particularly surprised to learn that he sweats phoenix tears and that his chin tuftlets are actually portals to another dimension where the world is free of hunger, war, and human suffering.

I also very much appreciated the Magglio grand slam, because poor Magglio cut his hair for naught, let his shining glory be eclipsed by the Clippers of Misguided Dreams, and he’s still been hitting so little that… well. To give you an idea of how truly abysmal he’s been, behold, the following Tigers are currently OPSing better than Maggs:

Ryan Raburn, Placido Polanco, Brandon Inge, Curtis Granderson, Miguel Cabrera, Ramon Santiago, Marcus Thames, Clete Thomas.

The only Tigers currently OPSing worse than Maggs? Gerald ‘mostly ironic G-Money’ Laird; Adam ‘what are a power bat’ Everett; Josh ‘not in any way Curtis Gr’ Anderson; and Dusty ‘I play so infrequently nobody ever remembers I’m even here’ Ryan.

Let’s face it, when you’re supposed to be a hitting superstar and an imposing batting figure to strike fear in the hearts of your enemies, and Ramon Santiago has hit one more homerun than you in half as many at-bats, you will begin to feel that you have Problems. So the grand slam– which ended up being absolutely necessary, as it was only a two-run win– was especially nice, coming from Magglio, who so desperately, obviously needed it.

Anyways, for a video summing up this game nicely, I suggest you head on over thisaway.

My Daughter Faith Marian “Miggy” as she enjoys a horse ride at Baguio’s Mines View

But since I’m unabashedly compelled to see him, I’ve resolved to give in to a 5-minute tryst and then leave for good.

I might have said this a lot of times before but this time, I mean it.

Jay & Dianne

Faith Marian

“The free bird leaps
on the back of the wind
and floats downstream
till the current ends
and dips his wings
in the orange sun rays
and dares to claim the sky.”

“But a bird that stalks
down his narrow cage
can seldom see through
his bars of rage
his wings are clipped and
his feet are tied
so he opens his throat to sing.

The caged bird sings
with a fearful trill
of things unknown
but longed for still
and his tune is heard
on the distant hill
for the caged bird
sings of freedom.”

Miggy has a dream. A Dream of the Empty Cage.