Nike.Com Audition Video: I did this in approximately 3 hours start to finish.

I am applying to be the new Nike.com female field reporter, where I would report on various things from October '08 to April '09. Kind of get in the way of my schooling, but I don't care. I can go to school while doing this, and this can be my internship!

Here is my video that I taped and edited today. It's not the best it could be, but I am still pretty freaking proud of it :) :) :)

Thank you BRADLEY for your patience in my artistic endeavors and creative visions while taping this for me.

Let me know what you think~~~~

Deter, Defect, Defend: Don't Steal My Money HO

I logged onto my Bank of America online account today and noticed there was a money through the form of an e-check taken out that I did NOT authorize, which resulted in my account being over-drawn. And B of A pillages your accounts with fees. I was not a happy camper. I called my bank, and was like, what is up, I did not approve this, and then I realized... I've been STOLEN FROM.

I am a victim of identity theft. (Take this quiz to see if you're safe from ID theft). I now have to close my account and open a new one.

Dear Whomever Stole My Money,

I want to kick you in the shins.

Sincerely,

Tracie

On top of everything else, I have been drinking Diet Coke every day this week (I worked 8-5p Monday at my receptionist job, then 6p-3a at Victoria's Secret, then got up and went to work again at 8a... Diet Coke was the only way to survive), and I haven't had one yet, and I am sluggish and tired and starting to get a headache and incensed/irked that my body has developed a dependency on Diet Coke so quickly.

BTW, I am overly-thrilled that Comfort went home last night on SYTYCD.

~~I'm fascinated/smitten/enamored with Stephen "Twitch" Boss~~

One Word: Divine.

Time for a Diet Coke run before I pass out from exhaustion.

"So You Think You Can Dance?" is my new favorite Reality-TV Competition Show.

Every time I watch a reality dance competition TV show aka Dancing with the Stars, I think to myself, 'I could do that!'. And then I have visions of grandeur about becoming a professional dancer and eventually dancing on the show. And then I go online and find dance classes I can take, sign up for them, and proceed to do just that (barring said "become a professional dancer" constituent). Example: After "Salsa" night on DWTS, I found the most exhilarating salsa dance studio here in Bakersfield... ~~Cha-cha-cha!~~.

I had an exceptionally titillating reality-dance-competition-show experience last night, complete with more visions of grandeur---I thought I liked DWTS---but "So, You Think You Can Dance?" is wayyyy better. It has so many different elements on their show---I feel like I connect on a deeper emotional level with the contestants than with DWTS, through the amazing choreography. (Only those who have not seen the show would dare roll their eyes at that statement). And though I despise the judging panel and host, and it makes me SO HAPPY [:)] to just sit and watch the show. Even happier than watching Kristi Yamaguchi do her jive.

The below video shows the best--by FAR--dance/choreography number from last night, a Bollywood number (Love love love belly dancing and shaking those hips!), featuring Katee and Josh. (Please ignore any hebetudinous-masked-as-witty comments made by host Cat Deeley.)

I could do that, right??

I voted 5 times for them and I feel goo-oo-ood about it.

Yay for elimination shows on reality competition shows so there are TWO nights of goodness to look forward to, instead of just one~(!)~

Yahoo! Answers is the best thing that's ever happened to me.

Brittney West told me the other week that Yahoo! Answers is a really cool website and I should get on and ask any question I want, and it will be answered, and that answering questions is even more fun than asking. And I was like, Britt, it sounds cool, but it can't be as cool as you're making it out to be.

I was wrong.

Thousands of questions are being asked by people all over the world, by the hour. As a member of Yahoo! Answers, I get to answer any question I want.

The questions are broken down into categories. I spend all my time in the Health-Diet & Fitness section. I can't describe the elation I feel each time I answer a question related to diet or fitness, off the top of my head, thanks to the many many books I have read on this subject the past months. So far today, I've answered 18 questions.

This is it. I've found my calling. No need to spout off to friends, family, or my BLOG anymore about what to eat, how to exercise. I can answer questions by the MINUTE on what to eat, how to exercise, what constitutes one as an anorexic, and my favorite so far, "Should I stop eating artificial sweeteners?" (I've already blogged about this). I literally feel joy in my soul right now because I have an outlet for all my now-useful nutritional and excercise information.

Ask ANY question you want, and it will get answered. It made Time.Com's 50 Best Websites of 2008 list.

Because Harvard Business Review Said So...

Apparently splurging on over-priced items is good for your health in the long run, according to the Harvard Business Review. Read the article on Wall Street Journal Online.

All self-imposed limits have just gone out the window.

Take that, World! Science is on MY side.

Best Oatmeal and Chocolate Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Muffins EVER by ME

Whole Wheat Oatmeal Muffins:
2 c. Whole-grain Wheat flour
1 1/2 c. Whole-grain oatmeal
2/3 c. sugar
1 c. vegetable oil
2 c. milk
2 eggs
2 tsp. salt
6 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. nutmeg
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
3/4 c. applesauce

Mix together dry ingredients (flour, oats, baking poweder, salt, nutmeg, cinnamon). Beat together eggs with milk. Add to dry ingredients. Add vegetable oil and applesauce. Fill muffin tins. Yields about 24 muffins. Bake @ 400 degrees for about 20 minutes.

I changed the Betty Crocker Oatmeal muffin recipe around to make them more moist and healthier than the regular one. I made them last night and, according to everyone who has tried them, they are AMAZING.

Chocolate Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Muffins:
2 c. whole-grain wheat flour
1 1/2 c. oatmeal
1 1/2 c. sugar
4 tbsp. cocoa powder
2 1/2 c. chocolate chips (semi-sweet)
1 c. vegetable oil
1 tsp. salt
4 tsp. baking powder
2 eggs
2 c. milk

Mix together dry ingredients (flour, oatmeal, sugar, cocoa powder, salt, baking powder). Beat eggs together; add milk and vegetable oil. Alternate mixing dry ingredients in with egg mixture. Beat until lumpy batter forms. Add 1 3/4 c. chocolate chips. Put into muffin tins. Sprinkle rest of chocolate chips on top of muffins. Bake at 375 degrees for about 20 minutes. Makes approx. 24 muffins.

These muffins have gotten the best reviews so far by my guinea pigs. (Thank you Jill, Neil, family, and office of SBS)

Give Me Liberty, Or Give Me Death, Zogwarg Queen!

Confession: I'm a closet pyro. I LOVE fire. I LOVE matches. I love seeing things lit on fire. I LOVE bonfires (at the beach, not in Provo Canyon). Good example: Spring Break, 8th grade, in Claremont at my grandpa's house hanging out with Carol. I spent most of the time lighting matches and playing with all her candles (she had a lot). Kept me busy while she was at work. Bad Example: I lit my hair on fire blowing out birthday candles for my 14th birthday. Inadvertently created layers in the front.

I cannot contain my excitement for the holiday tomorrow. It combines all of my favorite things: swimming, barbequeing (although I don't eat meat, I find the aroma intoxicating), fireworks, parties, concerts, lots of people, matches, family, friends, food, parades.

I'm just sad there was no trip to Vegas to get the really GOOD fireworks. Like M-80s. So I could make tennis ball bombs. And light them and throw them up high in the air.

Whatever, I'll just have fun with my over-priced, cheap, "California-legal" fireworks. And get dangerously close. And throw the lighted spin-y fireworks at people so they freak out. (Tawnie: consider this your warning).

God Bless the U.S.A. Thank you for producing a holiday that coincides with my fire fetish.

Oh, and thank you, Founding Fathers, for signing the Declaration of Independence and fighting for our freedom and all that too.

Um, yeah. I'm still more grateful for the opportunity to ignite things that explode into pretty colors.

I Got In A Fight With A Hershey's Chocolate Bar and I Lost.

I lasted yesterday and (so far) today with out my vanilla Diet Coke! I DO have will-power! :) :(


But... I just ate a miniature size Hershey's Special Dark Chocolate bar. Ok, maybe two. Ok, maybe three.

My charlatan consuetudes are going to keep me out of heaven.


I need to atone for my deviltry. Or at least stop preaching the frightening (to me) nutritional facts at every family meal.


But the chocolate is SO GOOD.


Help!!??!!


Healthy or Hershey's? Healthy or Hershey's? Healthy or Hershey's?


ACK. I just Googled what I ate and it has PARTIALLY HYDROGENATED OILS IN IT (trans fat, worst kind). AND high-fructose corn syrup, which is the most refined sugar product available. And the worst kind of sugar one can consume. I'm well on my way to having CAD.


This is what happens when it is slow at work and I have unlimited access to Google anything I want. Geez. I just need to get over it and over myself. And I need more friends in Bakersfield (most are out of town) to occupy my time with so I don't obsess over what oils and sugars and fats I am eating and what they are doing to my digestive system. Thank goodness Tawnie is coming into town today!

I'd like a Diet Coke with Vanilla and extra ice. Hold the cancer, please.

Around 2 PM every afternoon, I get sooo sleepy (I believe these are called the "sleepies"?). Definitely nap time for Tracie. I head on over to the Sonic around the corner and get a Large Diet Coke with Vanilla, extra ice, which comes to a total of $2.03 (woot woot).


However, I am somewhat slightly obsessed with what I put in my body, thanks to "Fast Food Nation", which sparred my moment of enlightenment (EW MCDONALDS... NEVER AGAIN!!) and started the snowball rolling down the Nutritional/ Ethical/ Moral Information Mountain. I was baptized into the Church of Healthy Food Freaks in March 2008. I didn't realize how much crap there is in the grocery store/fast food places/restaurants. I try to eat raw foods only--unprocessed, clean, pure, fresh, no chemicals or preservatives.


And yeah, okay, I KNOW Diet Coke does not qualify as a "raw food". But I get really tired, ok??


Diet Coke may not have any calories, but it is chock full'o artificial sweeteners, mostly ASPARTAME. Warning: For those of you who like diet colas and other low-calorie snacks or drinks: Don't read the following excerpt. Continue on in ignorant bliss 'til your insides start rotting from the chemical crap storm you put in there.

"When aspartame was put before the FDA for approval, it was denied eight times... Aspartame has been blamed for a slew of scary maladies, like arthritis, birth defects, fibromyalgia, Alzheimers, lupus, multiple sclerosis, and diabetes. When methly alcohol, a component of aspartame, enters your body, it turns into formaldehyde. Formaldehyde is toxic and carcinogenic. Laboratory scientists use formaldehyde as a disinfectant or preservative. They don't f-ing DRINK it... When aspartame is combined with carbs, it causes your brain to slow down its production of serotonin. A healthy level of serotonin is needed to be happy and well balanced. So drinking soda can make you fat, sick and unhappy." (Skinny B, 14, 32)


Ok, so, do I want to die "unhappily" being happy, sipping my vanilla Diet Coke with extra ice, rotting my insides with FORMALDEHYDE, and dance the Dance of Hypocrites as I spout off to friends and family about how red meat/any processed meat has an unquantifiable amount of carcinogens and toxins and partially hydrogenated oils ruin the digestive system?


Or do I give up EVERYTHING that is bad for me, including Cinnamon Toast Crunch and Diet Coke (the very thought hurts my heart), and practice what I preach?


I don't know! I don't know! The moral tug-of-war in my head is exhausting. It's so hard when those "sleepies" hit and I need my legal upper.


Countdown to Moment of Truth: Will I or Won't I Stand Up For What I Believe in? What do you think?: One hour, 39 minutes.

Ache, Crave, Desire, Hanker, Itch, Long, Lust, Pant, Pine, Pity, Want, Wish, Yen

The ONLY thing that gets me through the day without:

1. Clicking the "Purchase" icon on (example) the Victoria's Secret Shopping Check-out Page and

2.Shopping in general after work

is---cue drumroll---chanting the following Miracle-(dubbed miracle by me because it WORKS) Mantra:

"My credit score/financial future/growing savings account is MORE IMPORTANT than this _____________ (insert potential merchandise item)."



I can say no.

I CAN say no.

I can SAY no.

I can say NO.

Note to self: Must Fight Intense Internal Craving to Buy Lots Of Pretty New Things.