I’ve said before that I’m pretty much fascinated by all things Playboy. I don’t have a problem with nudity as art, or even nudity as erotica (in fact, I think I have more of a problem with modesty). I’m forever frustrated with the United States’ puritanical outlook about sex and the body, especially when, as a culture, we have no issue condoning violence. For instance, an action movie full of shooting, blood, maiming, exploding, etc. will almost always get an “R” rating, but anything with sex runs the risk of the death-kiss NC17. This teaches our children that killing and fighting are acceptable, but sex and nudity are shameful and bad. Grrr. Now, I’m not promoting rampant sex in public, or exposing young children to porn, but I just think there is something twisted about the way we perceive sex and the body.

ANYWAY, to that end, I have no problem with institutions like Playboy, which make money off of nude women. I’m not in favor of women being objectified, but if people want to pay to look at us naked, I’m cool with that. It’s empowering in a way, which is why I don’t mind going to strip clubs or Hooter’s (which is where my mother-in-law always take me. How funny is that? She’s great.) So, when my friend pointed out The Bunny Book: How to Walk, Talk, and Please Like a Playboy Bunny at a nearby bookstore, I just had to buy it. Written by three former playmates, it’s carried in the Sex section (sexion?), which I think is just a further example of the public perception of Playboy, since this book isn’t necessarily a sex book. Sure, it has sex info in it, but it’s primarily about how to cultivate a bunny persona: the importance of good bras, staying in shape, spa treatments, sexy shoes, butt-boosting jeans, Rogaine and more. Honestly, a lot of it is more like the stuff you read in Cosmopolitan than anything you would actually read in Playboy itself.

That said, the last three chapters are called Tease, Please, and Love, and they are a little raunchy. It’s geared toward single girls and how to attract and please a man, but it also has important information about birth control, sex positions, and how to take a good “naughty” photo. It’s actually a very entertaining little read, and I recommend it to anyone who is interested in the Playboy culture or who is curious about what it takes to be a Bunny.

So, we all know that Jessica Simpson is a pretty mediocre singer.

I assume that she’s not much better as an actress, but truth be told, I’ve never seen any of her movies.

However, she seems to be a pretty talented designer. I don’t know how much help she has, but her shoe line is cute, and this weekend she debuted some pretty adorable swimsuits:

According to People:

The models hit the runway in teeny bikinis and sweet one-pieces accessorized with floppy hats, oversized sunglasses and loose waves (remind you of anyone?) And while the swimwear may have been “all-American girl”, the attitude was totally tongue-in-cheek. As the song “Dirty Laundry” played, the models tossed into the audience mock magazine covers depicting an overweight Jessica and her actual skinny self, with the tagline “Not Okay!!! Weekly July 14, 2007, Jessica’s Dramatic Weight Loss! Drops 100lbs in 6 days.” Jessica tells PEOPLE, “I thought the flier was funny, it was really about my personality. We laugh along with them [the tabloids]. It’s funny, it’s the exaggeration that people believe, or maybe they don’t believe it but they still love to read about it.” But, she assures us, the truth is that “this time of my life is awesome!”

Well, it sounds like she is doing well, and perhaps returning to the funny, goofy/sexy Newlyweds-era Jessica that everyone loved, as opposed to the depressed, putting-on-weight, living-in-Ashlee’s-shadow, talking-about-cocks, Dear-God-she’s-dating-John-Mayer version we’ve been dealing with for the past year. I admit that I enjoyed Newlyweds (as well as pre-Federline Britney Spears) and I welcome the return of her bubbly blond ditziness.

I also really like these suits. For more pictures of the cuteness, check out Fabsugar.

or is there something of a resemblance between Mischa Barton and Holly Madison?

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?

Years ago when I worked at a bookstore, one of my responsibilities was to organize the New Age section. This was where all the tarot and divination, wicca, and astrology books were (and still are) kept, and it was a fascinating section. Of course, the trouble with being responsible for that section meant I frequently shopped from there, and I snagged a lot of stuff. Books about astrology and love, Atlantis, a vampire encyclopedia and more (after all, I got an employee discount!) I also picked up my first set of tarot cards there: The Goddess Tarot. This is a beautiful set that I love to look at, but not once in six years have I ever tried to read a spread. I bought them for looks alone. Recently however, I’ve started to get into the New Age stuff again…

I’ve been hanging out with my wicca-practicing friend lately, and one rainy day she whipped out her cards to do a reading for me. She uses the tarot standard: the Rider Waite deck. I really like these cards: they are easy to find and easy to interpret. The results of my reading were fascinating, so naturally, I picked up a deck for myself and did a reading for my husband. It turns out that his reading and my reading were the same: proceed with the move to Texas and pursue changes in terms of our careers. I guess our future really is in the cards! This just might be better than the online magic 8 ball.