Giada De Laurentiis… AND ME!

I met Food Network star Giada De Laurentiis yesterday!

Not only that, but I’m gonna be on her Food Network show, “Giada At Home”! It was a very exciting day.

Marinated Pear and Celery Salad

Another weekend, another big salad! Two weekends ago, I brought a blackeyed pea and Canadian bacon salad to a potluck, where it was a big hit. This weekend, I was asked to bring a salad to a family get-together for my aunt’s birthday. Since I don’t like repeating myself (and I wanted new food content for the blog), I came up with a delicious seasonal salad that’s perfect for autumn. Here’s how to make an easy and healthy marinated pear and celery salad.

You’re gonna start with the dressing. It’s super simple: 3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar and 3 tablespoons honey, whisked together. Combine them in a good-sized bowl, because you’ll be adding other ingredients to it.

Now it’s time to start

Another Use For A Parking Garage

I took a picture earlier today. Looks like a parking garage, right?

Well, guess what? It IS a parking garage! Yesterday, though, it served another function… as my gym.

Black-Eyed Pea and Canadian Bacon Salad

Need an easy, healthy salad recipe? I got one for ya! I made this over the weekend to take to a BBQ, and it was a hit. It was the first time I’ve bought black-eyed peas, and quite possibly the first time I’ve eaten them, and you know how I love trying new things!

Before we get to the black-eyed peas, though, let’s address the other titular ingredient: bacon!

My As-Seen-On-TV Stair Workout

I’ve been hitting the stairs hard. I have two big stair climb races coming up, and I want to be ready! Read about those races here, and support me by making a donation here or here (if I don’t make my fundraising minimums, I won’t be able to compete, and you don’t want to see me cry. I’m an ugly crier!).

Last month, I completed an awesome stair workout on stairways seen in classic Hollywood comedies. On Friday, I did another fantastic stair workout, this time on stairs that were just featured on TV! Have you seen the new NBC comedy “Welcome to the Family”? It premiered a few weeks ago, and on the October 10th episode, one of the stars, Mike O’Malley (who also plays Kurt’s father on “Glee”), was shown running up a big public stairway:

I’ve been

Last Night at Slimmons…

As most of you probably know by now, Richard Simmons is my friend. I’ve known him for almost 4 years now. He was instrumental in my weight loss, and he continues to be an unending source of support, inspiration, love, and friendship. I see Richard about once a week, when I take his workout classes at Slimmons. I went to Slimmons last night, and it was a particularly good class and fun evening.

That’s Kirsty Spraggon on the right. Last week, Kirsty interviewed me for her YouTube channel KirstyTV – an interview you can watch here.

Richard started class dressed, in his words, as

Mid-Month Check-In

Who wants a quickie?

I wasn’t planning on blogging today, and waking up with a pounding headache sorta cemented that plan. But then, on a whim, I got on the scale, liked what I saw, and decided to put together a quick post, headache be damned!

Boing with Kangoo

I took a really fun, bizarre class at my gym the other night that involved wearing these crazy boots!

The boots are called Kangoo Jumps, and they’re basically boots with springs on them.

My New Goal: Racing 3,000+ Steps!

It’s been 2.5 weeks since I completed my last fitness challenge: racing up the 75-story US Bank Tower in downtown Los Angeles. Around the same time, I reached a big goal I’d been working on since June, my 274-mile CARDIO TO VEGAS challenge. So… I’m due for some new challenges!

And I found some doozies!

I’ve signed up for TWO new races, both of which I’ve never done before. They’re both

Watch My Interview with KirstyTV

I had the pleasure of being interviewed yesterday by Kirsty Spraggon of KirstyTV. She has an online talk show, and we ended up chatting for over 50 minutes, talking about my weight loss, and how my life has changed in a myriad of ways.

The interview happened live as a Google+ Hangout, but afterwards, KirstyTV uploaded it to their YouTube page. Now you can watch it right here!

If for some reason