May Day

Please.  Please tell me that you've heard about May Day...

source

The one where you put a bunch of popcorn and candy into paper cups, punch holes in the sides, string pipe cleaners through them to make handles, drive around to your friends' houses, put the 'baskets' on their door knobs, ring the door bells, and run away?!?

It's like a 'ding dong ditch,' Midwestern-style  -- polite, and includes jelly beans.

Happy May Day!

Emotional Calorie Counter

Managing your weight can be hard work.  You have to pay attention to every little detail -- like, did I just eat four or five hand-fulls of that "candy corn salted nut roll mix"?

Part of managing weight, of course, is monitoring caloric intake.  However, if you're like me, you get frustrated by all the websites out there that seem to have different calorie counts for the same foods, making it hard to determine the 'right' answer.  It can also be difficult to balance healthy eating and weight management with our emotional well-being, which as we've seen before, are intrinsically linked.

With these things in mind, I've compiled a partial list of feelings, along with rough estimates of their caloric values, which I hope can serve as a useful reference point...

Emotional Calorie Counter

Feeling: Mild Existential Crisis
Value: 1,295 calories
Detailed Breakout:

-- A hearty, balanced breakfast of fruit and cereal: 300 calories
-- What am I doing with my life, I'm so bored and nothing even looks appetizing: 0 calories
-- A full log of herb chèvre, paired with an entire sleeve of Club crackers: 1060 calories
-- Regret, followed by riding the recumbent stationary bike for 19 minutes at 0% incline: -65 calories


Feeling: Stressed OUT
Value: 2,253 calories
Detailed Breakout: 
-- WORK IS SO STRESSFUL, I HAVEN'T EATEN ANYTHING ALL DAY: -125 calories
-- Are you kidding me with this "working late" crap?!: -20 calories
-- Getting home at 9pm, changing from disheveled business casual into workout clothes: -2 calories
-- Not actually working out: 0 calories
-- Eating everything in the freezer: 2,400 calories


Feeling: Everyone is Getting Married and Having Babies Except for Me!!
Value: 4,823 calories
Detailed Breakout: 
-- Homemade White Wine Spritzer, with equal parts White Wine and sparkling water: 45 calories
-- You know what, make that two: 45 calories
-- Laugh-crying while watching videos on http://www.cutethingsfallingasleep.org: -7 calories
-- Screw this busted spritzer, where's that Bacardi I just bought?: 190 calories
-- "Scotcheroos sound really, really awesome right now": 450 calories
-- Deciding to bring some Scotcheroos into work tomorrow: 0 calories
-- DID I EAT THAT ENTIRE PAN OF SCOTCHEROOS?!  Those things are like 90% corn syrup!!: 4,100 calories

Happy Hallow-neen!!

Yesterday was Hallow-neen!  You know, the centuries-old tradition of celebrating the day-after-Halloween??...

(photo credit goes to my fake boss)

I'm sure everyone has his or her own special way of marking this important holiday.  For me, it included:

1. Dressing in business casual

2. Eating the entire bowl of candy leftovers brought in by co-workers

3. Regretting that decision

4. Shopping for 50%-off Halloween candy

5. Eating an entire bowl of said sales candy

6. Ruing the day I allowed myself to buy generic "candee corn"