My roommates and I just put up the most beautiful live tree:

so here are some tips that I’m going to use to make sure that 1) kitty doesn’t get sick and 2)our tree is still standing at the end of the day.

1. MarthaStewart.com: Anchor the Tree – To make sure that you’re little kitties don’t climb up your Christmas tree and knock it over, trying using cable to anchor your tree to the wall or the ceiling.

2. Dfs-pet-blog.com: Skip the Tinsel – Cats and dogs can’t resist anything shiny, and while that often means that they’re likely to play with it, when it comes to tinsel, it means that it’ll likely be eaten.  Tinsel can cause upset stomachs, gastro-intestinal problems and other stomach problems.

3. Clallam.net: Say No to Mistletoe – While for us Mistletoe causes some kisses, it can cause death in animals.  Both the leaves and the berries of the mistletoe plant are highly poisonous to pets, so if you’re serious about the smooching, switch to the plastic plants instead.

4. RealMacaw.com: Watch the Water – Pets are apt to drink water from anywhere (ie, dogs from the toilet bowl) which includes water from the tree stand.  To avoid your pets getting sick, refrain from adding chemicals to the tree water and make sure that the tree skirt is wrapped tightly around the trunk.  Also, make sure that pet water bowls are full so that thirsty pets don’t drink tree water because their water bowls are low.

5. News.Holidash.com: Hang Glass Ornaments High - Like with tinsel, glass and breakable ornaments should be avoided, but if they are a must for your holiday tree, make sure to hang them high and out of the reach of playful paws.

The commercial is less than informative and I really don’t see how cavemen have anything to do with saving on car insurance.  If I had never heard of Geico before, I’d be hard-pressed to glean any sort of important information from the commercial.  The commercial barely mentions what Geico does as a company and to be honest, the cavemen seem unprofessional and silly.  I’d much rather be a customer of Allstate or Progressive, which provide commercials that are full of pertinent information and help explain the company’s vision and mission statement.

5. The Godfather Trilogy:

Ok ok, not exactly the warm, fuzzy feelings type of movie, but it’s always on loop Christmas Day.  And lets face it, they’re really good movies.

4. Love Actually:

Its a recent movie, so i’ts not one many of us have grown up with.  But who can deny that this is a great movie about love, family and friendship during the holidays?? Plus, who DOESN’T love Hugh Grant?

3. Elf:

“The best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear.”  This is a pretty recent one too, but who can resist a cutesy Christmas movie coupled with the antics of Will Farrell?  It’s not just cheesy cute, but really funny, which makes it a holiday winner.

2. The Santa Clause:

I’ll admit it: I used to really love this movie because I had a crush on one of the elves, but it’s actually a great turn around story – the humbug dad becomes the epitome of Christmas spirit.  Plus, Santa’s workshop at the North Pole is full of fun and imagination.

1. Home Alone:

“Buzz, your girlfriend, woof.”  Need I say more?  Ok, yeah, I probably do.  ”Home Alone” brought 12-year old fantasy to life – being without your parents for a few days.  Ice cream, pizza, staying up late, jumping on the bed, it’s what every pre-teen hoped they’d get for Christmas: a few days without rules and full of fun (minus, Harry and Marv).

What are YOUR favorite holiday films?

I loved them. Spinning was challenging and step was so much fun. Then my instructors stopped showing up. At first, it was no big deal, I’ve certainly had professors send in substitutes before. But then it started happening on a more regular basis and I started to get angry. How was it that I was required to be at every class, but my instructors could 1) have constant subs or 2) fail to show up altogether?

I wasn’t as upset by my spinning instructors absence as she always set us up with a great substitute. But my step instructor wouldn’t show up, wouldn’t email is that class was cancelled and wouldn’t set up an sub. I would show up at the FitRec and have no class to attend. It was extremely frustrating and a complete waste of my time.

Now, I have no step instructor. She quit. I’m not quite sure what the whole missing link is here. So much is required of students and I feel like instructors, at least at FitRec, aren’t held to the same standards. Additionally, a lot of the instructors are students and I wonder if they are at a place where they really know how to balance teaching and schoolwork.

I was really excited about my FitRec classes this semester, and now, I’m really just more disappointed.

1.  Healthcastle.com: Don’t go to the Thanksgiving dinner hungry. This makes sense seeing as so many people are so excited about Thanksgiving dinner, that they forget their normal daily routine of eating breakfast and lunch too.  By eating regular meals throughout the day, you’re less likely to overeat come dinner time.

2. BetterHealthUSA.com: Leave what you don’t want. When I was growing up, I never had to clear my plate, I just had to eat a sufficient amount so that my mother was satisfied and thought I was getting the nutrients I needed.  This isn’t so for many other people.  During holiday time, forget what your parents always used to tell you and for once, don’t clear your plate.  Also, eat more slowly.  It takes a while for the brain to catch up to the stomach, and you’ll probably continue eating way past your stomach is full because you’re brain has yet to say stop.

3. Menus4Moms.com: Alternate high-calorie/alcoholic drinks with water. Not only will this keep you hydrated (and less likely to be hungover the next day), it will cut down on the calories – you’ll be drinking less calorie laden beverages and will also feel fuller quicker, thus eating less too.

4. Weightloss.about.com: Take a walk. Not only does walking after a meal help burn some of those calories, it also helps with digestion.  The weather’s supposed to be great in the Boston-area, so no excuses!

5. Glamour.com: Make better substitution choices. It’s easy to have the great holiday feast without going overboard, do so by making the right choices.  Avoid sides that have “sweetened” or “candied” in the name, sugar just packs on the calories and can make you feel ravenous, and choose regular mashed potatoes or carrots instead.  For the meat, take the white over the dark, as the dark has a much higher fat content.  Also, make wise choices when it comes to dessert.  You can still get your sweet fix with cookies that have half as many calories as that slice of pie.

The program’s first winner, Ryan Benson, admits that he used dangerous tactics to lose the 122lbs he shed while on the show.  I’m not surprised.  I’m also not surprised the Benson has declined to attend the upcoming “Biggest Loser” reunion due to his massive weight gain; he is now well above the 300lbs he was when he appeared on season one.  Given the fact that contestants are prone to overworking and underfeeding themselves while on the show (essentially, the show is glorified exercise bulimia, where instead of purging, a person exercises their calories off), it’s no wonder that they gain the weight back when the leave The Biggest Loser Ranch and enter the “real world,” where they can’t work out 6 hours a day.

“The Biggest Loser” isn’t the only weight-centered show on television either.  Lifetime, VH1 and TLC all have had weight loss/body improvement shows as part of their schedules and while they seem to be helping the lives of their contestants, I can’t help but wonder what kind of impact these shows are having on their viewers, especially the young, females viewers, many of whom may have serious body issues.  Seeing contestants lose massive amounts of weight in such short periods of time may inspire viewers to try to do the same, and may do so without the medial and professional supervision the contestants have.  I’m honestly surprised that I haven’t heard any horror stories linking back to the show.

If at the end, the contestants are happy and there’s no harm done, then fine.  But is dieting really worth it?  Morbidly obese people need a change in lifestyle, not a television show that may very possibly be setting them up for failure.

What do you think about “The Biggest Loser” and its possible impact on not just the health of the contestants but on the health of its viewers?

Photos courtesy: NBC.com and  Trae Patton/NBC Universal via NYTimes.com

Article source: Wyatt, Edward.”On ‘The Biggest Loser,’ Health Can Take a Back Seat.” New York Times Online. 24 Nov 2009. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/25/business/media/25loser.html?src=twt&twt=nytimes. Accessed 24 Nov 2009.

Growing up in East Lyme, there was no Starbucks (we got our first one about two years ago).  It was only small mom and pop cafes/bakeries and Dunkin Donuts.  When I went to the University of Connecticut for undergrad, it was the same scene – most people I knew went to Dunkin’ Donuts.  We did DD runs every Sunday morning before recapping our weekends, before sitting down to cram for every exam and before every early morning class.  There was a Starbucks on campus, but I think I might have gone once in my entire four years.  So imagine my surprise when a look of pure disgust ran across the face of a friend of mine at the mention of this coffee chain (she’s from Michigan).  She turned to me and said, “No one from the midwest or the west coast likes Dunkin’ Donuts.  America runs on Dunkin’? Puh-lease.”  Another classmate hailing from the great state of Missouri confirmed.  I couldn’t believe it.

Had I been so closed off from the rest of the country, had so little interaction with those not from the East Coast, that I didn’t even know that brand as huge as Dunkin’ Donuts wasn’t liked everywhere? The thought hadn’t even occured to me.  I guess it wasn’t so much the idea that my friends didn’t like Dunkin’ Donuts as much as the fact that I now felt like I knew so little about that other half of the United States.  Looking back on it, until coming to graduate school, I had had little to no interaction with people from anywhere else in the U.S. other than New England.  Sure I’ve been on vacations in Florida and California, but even at UConn, most people were from the Northeast.  I was shocked to realize that I knew so little of my own American culture.  I’d travelled to Greece, Switzerland, Spain, Kenya even, and yet, I barely even knew what my country was about.

It’s not a big deal really, them not liking Dunkin’ Donuts.  It was more the fact that I didn’t even know that America didn’t run on Dunkin’.  I’d spent so much time in school learning how to not be ethnocentric and how to be open-minded to other cultures and other countries.  It’s funny that while schools try so hard to teach you about foreign cultures, they forget to teach you about your own culture.  It’s like we learn how American began and how its being run, but we don’t really ever learn about the culture.  I wish I had been able to learn more about my own country, so that I wasn’t so dumbfounded when silly Dunkin’ Donuts wasn’t as popular as I thought.

In October of 2008, during a very unnecessary (and absolutely heartbreaking) trip to the Humane Society, I found Coco (well, at the time her name was Kay-Kay). She was adorable; sticking her little paw through her cage, looking up at me with those “please take me home” eyes. I couldn’t resist. (Yes, I am a 23 year old cat owner. It’s ok; you can insert the crazy old cat lady joke here).  Much to my roommates’ dismay, I brought her home (my mom insisted that if I didn’t, she would).

And then she peed on my bed.  Lovely.

A few days later and she was litter box trained, thank God, and things were running smoothly.  My roommates loved her, she was so cute and cuddly and we loved playing with her.

And then she fell down a hole.  That’s right.  A hole.  Well, a heating vent duct actually.  As my apartment had been recently renovated, there were no covers over our heating vents, there were just wide-open holes.  Of course, we had covered them, but in her “I’m a fun little kitten” inquisitiveness, she pushed aside our temporary cover while chasing a ball of foil and whoops, like Alice, down the hole she went.  Hysterics and a call to the fire department ensued.  Eventually (with no help from the fire department might I add) my roommates, my friend who was visiting and I were able to extract her from the maze of heating ductwork spiderwebbing the basement ceiling.  $200, a 4am trip to the emergency room at the MSPCA-Angell Animal Hospital, a hellish bathtub de-sooting later and we were back to “normal.”

And then, a month later, she had to wear this as a result of licking herself too much after she was spayed:

And then I had to buy her these:

The LeBistro water dish (the blue water cooler-looking thing) was bought when I started spending more time away from the apartment and when she started overturning her more traditional water dish, getting water everywhere (one night, she flipped over her water dish three times in a row).  This one makes sure she gets enough water, but she’s still managed to spill it, hence the duct tape.  The LeBistro automatic feeder (the HUGE, cream colored contraption) came when she, due to daylight savings time, started waking me up at 5am to feed her.  I could have just filled her bowl up at night so that she would have food in the morning, but, unlike most cats that have some common sense and self control when it comes to eating, she will finish an entire bowl of food (no matter how much or how little) before leaving the room (no wonder she’s 12lbs).

She’s a little pain in the butt sometimes, but we love her.  And now that we have a laser pointer, she’s quite the entertainer too.

So as it turns out cats (or at least Coco) aren’t as independent or self-sufficient or as trouble-free as I had thought.  Here I was getting a cat thinking that yeah, she’d be a little work, but she’s definitely been a challenge.  It’s funny how things work out that way, the way you never think they would.  I guess life never really turns out the way you think it will, and if crazy little Coco isn’t an example of that, then I don’t know what is…

Got any crazy pet stories you want to share??

With the ebb and flow of the waves came the rise and fall in the volume of traffic clogging the streets. New Yorkers coming to their summer homes on the shore, inlanders coming to breathe in the sweet salty air, families busing vans full of sun burned and sandy kids to the numerous sweets shops up and down Main Street. And then, in the fall, the streets quiet again, with only the not so distant memories of sand castles and sun bathing lingering in the crisp autumn air. Every year, the same rush of summer and hush of winter.

On a particularly warm day during a recent trip home, I went and sat down by the boardwalk. The sun was shining, there were barely any clouds in the sky and the water was calmly lapping against the sand. It was as if it were summer again (just minus the hoards of people).

The beginning of the Boardwalk in downtown Niantic, CT.

The beach is called Hole in the Wall, its only entrance being through a walkway underneath the train tracks that run down the shoreline from Boston to DC. The park in the background is McCook Point Park, obscuring the neighboring beach of the same name.

It was amazing to see how little had changed since the summer prior. There were less people, sure, a slight coolness to the air, of course, but it was the same. The people had come and gone, just their footprints left in the sand, but the beach, even in the winter, was as it always had been. Every year, new people lay their blankets down on the sand at McCook’s; every year, there are new faces, people I don’t recognize. It’s strange to see the people change, but to see the places always stay the same. Sure, there’s a new pub on Main Street, a new grocery store on Chesterfield Road, a new boutique clothing store growing out of a lot that was once occupied by a mom and pop fish shop, but the beach, it’s always remained unchanged.

After a while at the boardwalk, I climbed the path up to the park and down on to the small rock cliff that hangs over the beach. It was surreal sitting on those rocks, remembering when I had last been there, in that exact same spot, looking over the water. It was over five years ago, on the morning before I graduated high school. But there I was, now in the last semester of graduate school, watching that same ocean break upon the same rocks. So much of me had changed, yet so little of this place had. It was comforting sitting there, feeling as if time had almost stood still. It was comforting knowing that so much of my life can and will change, but that the town, the beach where I grew up and made the memories that have helped shape me into the person I am today, will remain constant.

The people had changed. I had changed. But the place had stayed the same; the beach had stayed the same.

But what happens when you’ve done all the preparation you can, and still you find yourself completely and utterly unable to handle what’s in front of you? You got the grades in high school, went to the college of your dreams (or maybe you hated it, who knows), got your degree and then STOP.  Nothing.  All the preparation, the studying, the reading, the homework, the problem-solving, for nothing.  What then?

If there’s one thing I can take away from all the studying and reading and discussions, its to yes, be prepared, but also to know that there are so many things that are out of your control, so many things you cannot be prepared for, one of them being “nothing.”  How does one prepare for “nothing”?  Learn to roll with the punches, take things in stride and don’t be afraid to change the plan at a moment’s notice.

School teaches you to prepare, prepare, prepare.  Prepare for the SATs, for that final exam, for your interview.  I say school needs to teach you how to cope when preparation doesn’t work.  It should teach you how to be spontaneous and unpredictable.  It should teach you that even when you’re second, third and fourth plans have fizzled away in front of you, things will be ok.

School teaches you how to prepare.  I think it should teach you how to be A, for alive.