My husband has this unnatural fear of Reese Witherspoon. He refuses to watch any of her movies, because he finds her “creepy.” I, obviously, do not understand this. I haven’t seen that many of her movies, either, but that’s based on lack of interest in the films, and has nothing to do with Reese personally. However, while I don’t find this picture intimidating, I don’t think it’s all that flattering either:

Her hair is kind of weird, and that turtleneck just emphasizes her chin, which is a pretty prominent feature anyway. But since this picture was taken, a lot has happened to Reese. She won a Best Actress Academy Award, and filed for divorce from her husband. Generally, celebrity break-ups don’t faze me, but this one made me sad. They were such a cute family. According to reports, after the break-up, she stopped eating for a while, and then turned to running for therapy. I don’t know if this is true, but one thing is for sure: post-Phillippe Reese is stunning. She looks awesome. Good hair, good color choices, good arms. Well done.

‘Tis the time of year for change. As spring approaches, it seems that women can’t just can’t help themselves. We like to shake off our winter doldrums, in favor of new looks for spring. This is just as true for celebrities as it is for us regular folks: just look at Cameron Diaz’s lovely soft brown hair, or Posh’s new blond crop. Since everyone seems to be turning over a new leaf, I thought I’d introduce a new category: Celebrity Makeovers. The first? Lindsay Lohan.

Okay. I’ve been annoyed for Lohan for the past few years. When Mean Girls came out, I really liked her. She was pretty and talented, and seemed like she had the potential for a great career. Plus, she was so cute in The Parent Trap. I just really had high hopes. And then, well, you know…there was the freakish weight loss, the gallivanting with Nicole Richie, the awful blond hair, the permanent orange hue of her overly tanned skin, the constant partying, the rehab…ugh. Lindsay got old fast and I totally lost interest in her.

And then this picture emerged (courtesy of popsugar).

What is this? Is she on set? Actually working? Is her hair really a nice, deep auburn? Is her skin a normal color for a redhead? Is her makeup attractive and well-applied? Is she slender without being bony? Could this be?

Maybe Lohan is making a comeback. Maybe there is hope for her yet. Maybe I’ll start caring again. We’ll see.

Let me start off by saying that I subscribe to three fitness magazines. As the serials processor at my library branch, I easily have free access to all of them, but I happily pay to subscribe, because I am obsessed with fitness information. I’m not a model of health, but I do know a lot about nutrition. Anyway, every spring Self magazine offers up the Self Challenge, a three-month exercise and healthy-eating program that virtually guarantees you’ll lose weight if you follow the plans. It offers cardio and strength programs, meal plans, calorie counters, a food and exercise journal, forums and more. It really is pretty cool. Every year, thousands of women sign up, and I tried it for the first time last year. I didn’t actually lose any weight, but that was because I didn’t keep the food diary (I HATE to count calories. Hate it!) or do enough strength training. This year’s challenge started on the 26th, and I’m trying to do better. This week I’ve kept a pretty strict food journal (I may have left off an oreo or two, but I’m not fooling myself) and I’ve done one cardio workout and one strength workout. I’m going to try to hit the gym today, and I also try to just be active in general. I have a pretty active job, despite what you might think; yesterday my co-worker and I shelved five shared carts, and went for a walk in the park on our break. I think I might also try to clean off the back porch or the garage, so that will be a little extra workout. At any rate, I’m in this for the next 12 weeks, so we’ll see how it goes! It helps that the weather is finally warming up–it’s supposed to be 71 degrees today. Yay!

So, here’s the list of diet modifications I’ve put in place:

1. Check portion sizes and then eat them. Don’t overeat.
2. Switch from 2% milk to 1%.
3. Replace my cinnamon applesauce with a natural, no-sugar-added kind.
4. Avoid trans-fats and high fructose corn syrup whenever possible.

On a side note, I don’t know why, but I’ve chosen the above fitness model as my source of inspiration. She has a totally different body type, and I know I’ll never really look like that, but I’m just drawn to her long, shiny hair and cute board shorts. And the pineapple.

So, when I mentioned to my husband that I had netflixed Blue Crush, he got this expression on his face: half confusion/half derision. “Is that that surfing movie?” he asked. Okay, I was totally embarrassed, but I had a day off and wanted to do something girly. Since I am stoked for my impending trip to Hawaii (8 months and counting!!) I opted for a film set there. The movie is totally ridiculous (as my husband pointed out, it has almost no dramatic conflict. In fact, it was inspired by an article). BUT…the movie is filled with gorgeous people, beautiful scenery, and Kate Bosworth before she was anorexic. Her body is sick in this! I’m so jealous.

It was a totally enjoyable piece of fluff, although now I’m pretty scared of surfing. It looks terrifying (Kate Bosworth keeps banging her head on coral). But, it has some good tunes (Yay, Bob Marley! Boo, P.O.D.), cute boys (I’ve never seen so many six-packs) and a little bit of comedy courtesy of Faizon Love. So if you’re bored, into surfing, or just want to watch the lovely scenery go by, check it out.

I’ve avoided talking about the whole Britney thing, because honestly, what’s left to say? I don’t necessarily think that shaving one’s head equals crazy, nor do I believe that rehab is always the best place to go for emotional problems (perhaps she should try therapy?). So, I’ve just left the whole thing alone. But this. This deserves to be posted. Write your own caption here. What the hell is this? Crazy, bald, shorts-wearing, unbrella-wielding maniac. Eek. But I’m still looking forward to her next album!