I’m trying to convince my husband that as a Health Education student and a future Health and Fitness professional, I need this shoe for my career. I wonder if it would count as a tax write-off, because this is a seriously hot shoe. I’m supposed to be saving money for our rapidly impending move, but I REALLY WANT THIS SHOE.

So, Carmen Electra is pretty hot. I mean, I guess that’s kind of obvious in a certain way, since she was on Baywatch and in Playboy, and her movie roles tend to focus on her physical assets. But she’s more than just a collection of well-proportioned parts. I remember when she had her MTV show (Carmen and Dave: Til Death Do Us Part) that what I liked most was just getting to know about her: what kind of clothes she liked, how she decorated her house…that kind of stuff. She’s interesting, and funny, and charming, and I totally get why she became famous, when other equally pretty girls end up as waitresses or porn stars. She has that total package thing going.

Anyway, earlier this month I read her book How to Be Sexy. On one hand, it was not that inventive: be yourself, have confidence, wear clothes that make you feel good, etc. But, on the other hand, it’s encouraging to know that someone who is considered universally sexy is also pretty normal. She shares her favorite makeup tips (stick with the colors that work for you, but don’t be afraid to try “personas”) and hair suggestions (short hair doesn’t work for Carmen), as well as other tidbits: she’s afraid of eyelash curlers, she’s spent years learning to know what kinds of clothes look best on her body, she advocates good posture and hot lingerie. In other words, sexy is attainable for anyone, and you can be your own form of sexy, even if you don’t look like Carmen.

I also just watched disc 1 of her 5-disc cardio striptease series. I think that so many people get caught up in Carmen the Playmate that they forget she’s also a classically trained dancer. She’s in amazing shape, and is super flexible. I liked the DVD because she does a 15 minute warm-up that shows all the basic “stripper” moves in slow motion, and then she demonstrates two different routines. She breaks everything down into learnable blocks, and she teaches it both in 8-count segments and then along with the music. It’s fun, silly, sexy, and apparently a really good workout. There are also little tips that flash along the bottom of the screen that point out which moves work which muscle, i.e. pelvic thrusts engage the hard-to-reach lower abdominals. All in all, it was a fun little workout, and I’m looking forward to watching the rest of the series.

I woke up last night (this morning? whatever.) at about 4:00 because I was really hot. I dragged myself out of bed to adjust the AC, only to discover that neither my husband nor I had “shut down” the house before bed. This means that the kitchen light was still on, the door to the screened porch was open, and the cats had potentially escaped. After I rounded up the kitties (no easy feat since I wasn’t wearing my contacts or glasses), locked the door, got a drink, turned off the lights, and went to the bathroom, I headed back to bed. I woke up about an hour later, and realized that in all the mayhem I had turned the air down too much, and the bedroom was freezing. So I got back up, readjusted it and went back to bed. Again.

Today, I developed a headache around noon, so I popped a couple of knock-off Excedrin. Then around 9:30 or so this evening, I started having extreme pain in my very lower back (almost my tailbone) that was radiating down my legs. I took Ibuprofen, which helped a little, but not entirely. Since standing, walking, packing, etc. were out of the question, I settled down with Shape magazine and stumbled upon this blurb:

Before you stock up on aspirin, get some quality shut-eye. A new Johns Hopkins University study found that women whose sleep was disrupted multiple times in one night experienced significantly more bouts of pain the next day–like headaches and backaches–than those who snoozed soundly for eight hours. “Disturbances to sleep cycles seem to impair your ability to process and cope with pain,” said study author Michael T. Smith, PhD.

How completely weird. It’s normal for me to have trouble sleeping. In fact, typically I’ll have trouble for a few night in a row until I’m so exhausted that I sleep like the dead for a couple of nights and finally feel rested, which leads to more trouble sleeping, and the whole thing starts again. I’m also no stranger to headaches (which I generally blame on barometric pressure) and backaches (which I generally blame on work). But I wonder if my sleep cycle has something to do with it?

I guess that it’s only fitting to choose a photo of Charisma Carpenter (circa 2001ish) for my latest Hairquest inspiration. After all, it was her cut that inspired me to chop it all off and color it blond. Now that I’m going back to school, I need to grow it out so that I can pull it back and go. I also want to return to darker roots, so that it will require less maintenance and last longer between touch-ups. Once I move to Texas, I’ll be leaving behind my beloved stylist, not to mention giving up the income that keeps me in $200 haircuts. So, as it grows out, I’m thinking something along these lines: an easy simple bob in a rich, healthy brunette. But I may add a few caramel and honey tones to it, just to jazz it up and make it mine.

As you may have noticed, I’m very interested in health and fitness. I’ve toyed with the idea of becoming a trainer or registered dietitian, but I never really pursued it (especially because you have to have a Master’s to be an R.D.). But then I found this. The American Fitness Professionals and Associates website offers a certification as a Nutrition and Wellness Consultant. It sounds really cool; they suggest all sorts of job options and they send you everything, as well as the testing material. It isn’t cheap, but I think it would pay for itself shortly. If I’m not going to pursue librarianship as my career (and it’s possible that I might be moving soon, thereby giving up my job), then this is certainly worth considering.