It sucks because it considers the ridiculous "size 0" the "standard size" and thinks a pretty, healthily thin, size 4 model is too fat.
Click the link and look at her. Gee, what an oinker! 
But seriously, she's perfectly lovely and I would practically kill to have her shape. I admit, I am overweight. I need to lose weight to be healthier. My main issue is I need to get off my butt and exercise. I would be happy to be a size 10, 12 or even a 14. (I'm tall enough that a 14 would probably be just in the healthy range). This is, of course, leaving aside the issue that a woman might fit a variety of sizes just by the style of the clothes.
You know why I think so many women suffer from obesity and don't try to lose weight (or try and fail, over and over)? I think many women see crap like this and they just give up. Why get fit and healthy if that's not considered "good enough"? Any regular (non-model) women who are a size 0 are usually very petite. Tall women are used as models, not petite women. Most normal weight, average height women probably range from size 4 to size 8. Yet, according to the fashion industry, these women, who they are trying to sell their clothes to, are fat. If a healthy weight woman is considered fat, what are we fat chicks supposed to think? 
As for me, I just have to ignore what other people think and concentrate on getting to a healthy weight. If I'm a tall woman who is a size 12 and some jerks still think I'm fat, but yet I'm healthy, I have to ignore the jerks and not give up.
I twittered this earlier and I decided to make it a post...
I have decided to give up my ennui for Lent. Ennui is the best word I can think of for the weird rut I've been in the past few months.
I'm going to try to make soap and blog again. Be on time for work. Walk my dog. Not let political crap get to me (that will be hard). Get some exercise. Go to church regularly again. Read the Bible regularly again. Care more about my job even though my work right now is boring. Be more patient with my family instead of being full of resentment.
This seems like a tall order, but I need to give it my best attempt.
I just want to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving! Last night, I made my most excellent yams and some cranberry sauce from scratch (using fresh cranberries). May your Thanksgiving be blessed and delicious! 
Below are pictures of my yams and cranberry sauce:
All commercials should be this honest. Via.
This tribute was originally published at my previous blog on 9/11/2006 as part of Project 2,996. I am participating in Project 2,996 again this year and I'm reposting my tribute to Carlos Dominguez.
Carlos Dominguez was 1 of 2,996 souls who perished in the 9/11/01 terrorist attack. He died at the World Trade Center. He was 34.
He was an employee of Marsh & McLennan and lived in East Meadow, N.Y. with his wife Maureen and three young daughters Maria, Amanda and Michelle.
Carlos was born in New York City's Little Italy to Cuban immigrants. He was their second son -- his older brother's name is Benjamin. He met his future wife when they were teenagers and they married in 1991 when she finished college. Theirs was an interfaith marriage -- they were married by both a priest and a rabbi.
Carlos went to New York University and was the first in his family to go to college. He majored in political science. However, he ended up working as an IT professional. He worked as an independent contractor for Marsh & McLennan. He set up firewalls for their computers. After three years as a contractor, Marsh & McLennan made Carlos a permanent employee -- on September 10.
Carlos was known as a very open-hearted and kind person with a wonderful sense of humor. Those who knew him say that he was very intelligent and had a way of being able to make things easier in tense situations. He was also known for his love of gadgets. When he and his future wife Maureen were courting, they volunteered in soup kitchens on the Bowery. When they married and started a family, he worked long hours so that his wife could stay home and be a full-time mother to their three daughters.
In addition to his wife and daughters, Carlos is survived by his mother Eugenia and his brother Benjamin. Carlos' father died of cancer shortly after 9/11.
Carlos had so many friends and family members who loved him. One friend of his took this panoramic photo of the New York City skyline just four months before 9/11. He calls this photo "Innocence Lost" and dedicates it to two friends lost on 9/11 -- Carlos Dominguez and Mark Shulman -- along with all the other victims.
Carlos was a family man. He was a caring man of faith whose kindness made the world a better place during his lifetime. It was my honor to write this tribute to him. I would like to thank D.Challener Roe for allowing me to be a part of the 2,996 Project.
The information used in this tribute was collected from the following sources:
- "Deeply Shared Values" - a profile that appeared in the New York Times and is now part of the Legacy.com 9/11 memorial.
- Carlos' page on the site September11Victims.com, where Carlos' brother Benjamin and many of his friends share their memories of him.
- This square in the 9/11 victims memorial quilt. Carlos also has another square here.
I just wanted to ask for you to pray for my family right now...especially my sister. She is in poor health, and now in addition, has recently made a painful but very necessary decision. My Mom and I fully support her in this decision as it is one that was a long time coming and should have been made long ago. Please pray for her health, for strength and for safety during this difficult time. Thank you.
After closing my old blog (LilacRose v1.0), I mulled over whether to start a new one. If I did, I wanted to use a different platform and have a different approach. I decided to use Bloo, which is a project by Bill from The Thinklings. Bloo has a clean, easy-to-use interface plus a lot of great features. And you can add more features with SnapOns.
I have decided to not discuss politics, current events and other controversial things on this new blog. I have a Tumblr blog* that I use as an outlet for all that stuff. That blog is my place for catharsis and polemics. Another outlet for this kind of thing is my Twitter account. Again, my Twitter presents my light and dark side, so if those things offend you, beware. However, this blog will be free of all that.
On this blog, I will simply blog about the other things in life, like faith, music, movies and other fun stuff. I plan to take the Bible study pieces I posted on my former faith journal site (An Appeal to Heaven) and repost them here, with maybe additional insights. I would also like to proceed with completing the project of going through the whole Bible and Apocrypha and posting my thoughts. That's what I planned to do with AATH, but it got overtaken by events.
This blog will also be the home page for LilacRose Radio on Live 365. I will post updates here regarding changes to the playlist.
As far as design goes, I've settled on this theme for now. However, I would like to take some of my past designs for the old blog and modify them for Bloo. I will do this as time permits.
So, with Lilac Rose v2.0, there will be more roses and much less thorns. 
*That is the only time I will link the Tumblr blog on this blog.
