More Details About The Summer Blog Party

I’m putting together the details of the Summer Blog Party scheduled to start on Memorial Day, May 26^th.

So far I have a few things planned including:

Virtual 5k walk & run: map out a 5k route in your neighborhood and walk or run it and claim the 5k badge. I’m considering adding a 10k walk & run for those of you who like more of a challenge.

Scavenger Hunt: I’ll send you looking for things that can be found in the blogs of people participating in the giveaways (see below) and on health and fitness sites. First person to email me the correct answers will win a prize.

I have several other ideas and a few things that I'm just giving away so stay tuned!

I’d also like to invite all of you to participate not only in the winning but the giving by hosting a Summer Blog Party event on your site.

How would it work? If you want to give away something on your blog as part of the Summer Blog Party, I’ll promote it on my blog. We can work out the rest of the details together.

What can you give away? Anything from a gift card to a service. Maybe you’re good at designing blogs and would like to offer a blog makeover or maybe you have a talent or skill at making handcrafted items and would like to give away one of your creations. Anything is fine, just think healthy and summer theme! You will be responsible for picking a winner and shipping their prize so giving away a 10 ton rock sculpture might not be the best idea.

Why would you want to participate? Besides sharing in the fun and festivities, its a great way to increase your traffic and let more people see just how fabulous you are so they'll want to come back to your site again and again.

The Summer Blog Party is going on all summer long so I want to find out how many people are willing to participate so I can schedule out the festivities.

Ready to participate? Several people have already contacted me to let me know they want to host the Summer Blog Party on their site but I need everyone to contact me at scalejunkie at gmail dot com with their ideas for their contest or giveaway by May 23, 2008 so I can put together the schedule and make sure we don't have duplicate challenge contests. Be sure and let me know if you have a time frame in mind for your prize especially if you need time to put together your hand crafted item so I can schedule you for later in the summer. If you aren't sure if you can participate let me know what you're thinking and we'll work something out together. I'm making buttons for each person participating in the giveaway based on the badges I've made for everyone. If you have your own logo that you'd rather use for the promo, thats fine too.

Can’t Host The Summer Blog Party? No worries! The Summer Blog Party is all about enjoying a healthy and fun summer with your friends in blogland, everyone is invited to the party.

Sound like fun? I've made a few badges for your side bar so everyone can join in and share the fun.

<a href="http://blog.scalejunkie.com/" target="_blank"><img src=" http://i265.photobucket.com/albums/ii230/scalejunkie/sbp120x200boy.jpg" border="0" alt="Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket"></a>

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I'm ready to make this summer all about health and fitness. Are you ready for some fun?

Random bits of nothingness all pulled together into this thing called life

I was walking through Target yesterday, bombarded by visual reminders that not only am I reproductively challenged, I’m also an orphan. Really, I’m not upset about not being a Mom, despite a quote by a sales rep in Cleveland in a recent Newsweek article, I know there is more to look forward to later in life than wrinkles. A childfree life can be quite fulfilling and you get to spend that college tuition money on a cute little sports car. I do have my two fur children Sadie and Max and they got a preapproved Visa card offer in the mail the other day so maybe they’ll surprise me with a new chew toy from Petsmart.

One thing I’m very grateful for today is that, my Mother-in-law lives an ocean away in England. However, they don’t celebrate Mother’s Day in May like we do and yes I found that out the hard way when I neglected to wish her a happy “Mothering Sunday” in March that first year we were married. Oh sure Ken brought flowers to her house that day but I thought he was just being nice but of course he didn’t bother to clue me into the reason. He just assumed I knew and I just assumed that all of those card shops were really excited about Mothers Day and wanted to get those cards out super duper early.

One of the first things Ken learned about men in America when we moved here was that its their duty to barbecue. Oh sure they BBQ in the UK but only on the two Saturday’s of the summer when the country isn’t soaked in rain, here in Florida, the land of sunshine, a BBQ could happen any time and he’d need to be prepared, he quickly realized he lacked BBQ experience. He consulted with a friend of ours who taught him that real men don’t just walk into the kitchen to cook; they go outdoors and use charcoal and flames, the more flames and smoke the better. The danger of smoke and fire puts the MAN back in the caveman. They Barbecue!

Ken takes his role as husband quite seriously and wanted to be the best husband in the world to me and when he heard that the green card applicants in Florida had a special interview section on BBQing he knew it was something he had to master because there was no way in hell he was giving up living in the land of sunshine and going back to that cold rain soaked city called London.

On Saturday he flexed his caveman BBQ skills and smoked a piece of beef that was simply cooked to perfection, grilled corn on the cob and I made fruit salad for dessert. My sister joined us for dinner and I got a little Mother’s Day gift from Sadie and Max that my sister helped them pick out, a ped egg. It was a nice evening.

Sunday we have a trip to the park planned so the guppers can play and later he’ll fill up the foot spa so I can pamper my cavewoman feet and try out the new ped egg. I’m a little scared of it, it sort of looks like a cheese grater for feet. I know several people who have them and they have all raved about it, none of them have complained of cheese grated feet so I’ll be brave and try it. Hopefully it won’t be like the Epilady I bought in the late 80’s; the infomercial that made hair removal look so easy and painless. It hurt so bad I had to drink half a bottle of wine just to use the damn thing, my eyes still water and I feel slightly hung-over just thinking about it.

Aside from the commercialism of the holiday, I really believe that Mom’s are very special and should have more than one special day in the year. So for all of you mothers out there, be it of two legged children or four legged children, Happy Mother’s Day!

And for all of you in the UK who celebrated Mothering Sunday in March….sorry I missed it again, but can you do me a favour? (not a favor but a favour) Can you go leave some flowers on my mother-in-laws front gate? Just sign the card: Happy Mother’s day from your son and the Yankee bitch. Thanks so much!

and me too .... YAY

I’m thrilled to share with you that Scale Junkie has been added to Alltop.

Those of you who are familiar with Alltop know why I'm so excited but for those of you who aren't familiar with Alltop let me introduce you to this fabulous site!

Alltop is sort of like a “digital magazine rack” of the internet broken down into nine collections; Work, Living, Culture, Interests, Geekery, People, Good, News and Geos.

Scale Junkie has been added to the People collection under the Women category. This is such an honor for me because there are some pretty fabulous sites listed over there, some might be familiar faces to you like MizFit or Back In Skinny Jeans, some might be new but you’ll never lack a good read browsing on Alltop.

Lessons from spilled milk

I was cleaning up a mess in the kitchen last night and wiping down all the surfaces. Who says you can’t cry over spilled milk? This was a MESS and I felt like crying since I had just cleaned the kitchen but accidents happen.

As I was wiping down the cookie jar I starting having little cookie fantasies and on a whim I opend the lid thinking I could inhale the sweet intoxication of cookie memories. I opened the lid…THERE ARE COOKIES IN HERE!!

I know what you’re thinking, nothing so unusual or earth shattering about cookies in a cookie jar. I put the cookies in that jar around Christmas. How is it that I didn’t devour these yummy chocolate chunk and macadamia nut delicacies? I forgot they were in there!

All of those times when I really wanted something sweet, if only I had just reached my hands into the cookie jar I would have been rewarded.

When I opened the lid I noticed something about the smell. The sweet smell overwhelmed me, I felt my eyes flutter and my nose crinkle to push away the smell as I physically stepped back for a second. When I stepped forward I plucked the jar from the counter and emptied the contents into the trash. Who would have thought that I could ever feel sick from the smell of sweet cookies?

The more I thought about this the more I know that the old saying is true, out of sight, out of mind. With that thought I plan on spending time this weekend arranging my cupboards and refrigerator strategically. As if smelly neighbors didn’t do my head in, I see pancake mix every time I open the pantry door. With a bit of creative arranging, I can put the foods that I need to eat and should eat in the front and the foods I need to visit less frequently in the back.

So what about the fruits and veggies tucked away in the drawers? I already started putting single portions up on the top shelves in plain sight so they are the first thing I see when I open the door. The healthy stuff needs to be highly visible. A few months ago I saw some realistic fruit magnets, I might see if I can find those again and put them on my refrigerator.

All of these little changes we make add up and make a difference long term. Just another piece of the puzzle!

Don't Forget to Free Your Y

Don't forget to stop by and leave a comment for your chance to win a new Fuji bike from Lipton Free Your Y.

Want to up your odds of winning?

These fabulous sites are also running the same promotion.

Zandria

John is Fit

No More Fat Dad

Finding Flabuless