CONFESSIONS OF A FAT GIRL

What's Up, Friday?

Well how was everyone's Fourth of July? Did you get to see some fireworks? Better yet -- did you get to create any fireworks? *wink*wink*

And here is the week's "WUF" for your enjoyment (or your displeasure - I'm not judging):

1. The TSA has created an Instagram account showcasing the ridiculous things people try to bring on planes. I guess that'll shut a lot of people up. (No it won't. I don't know about your local airport but the TSA employees I've encountered at mine are typically assholes and/or idiots. Sorry, TSA.)

2. The Minnesota Twins gave legendary Yankees closing pitcher Mariano Rivera, who is retiring at the end of this season, a custom-made chair composed entirely of broken bats, a clever homage to Rivera’s famous cutter pitch, which has broken more than its fair share of lumber. The Angels paid tribute to Rivera when I was at a game a few weeks ago -- very classy moves, guys. 

3. This article. About having big boobs. It is pretty effing accurate. Also, the writer uses the term "pre-gazongas" which makes me giggle because I am 12. Enough said.

4. Buzzfeed published a video entitled: "How to make the perfect ice cream sandwich." I'm sold.

5. So You Think You Can Dance is back on -- it is my FAVORITE! I smile the whole time I watch it with the exception of judge Mary Muprhy's commentary, which annoys the ever-loving shit outta me. So far, my favorite dancer is Aaron Turner. His routine this week with partner Jasmine Harper, choreographed by Tabitha and Napolean, was HOT. Watch:

 

Yes, it's true - Healthy at Denny's. It's Possible!

I was invited to try Denny's new Fit Fare® menu. In exchange for my honest review, I received samples of some of the menu items... and a milkshake (approximate value $30). 

I guess I gotta be all FTC compliant and shit now. USA! USA! USA!

(I'm sure I'll be judged for that.)

But moving on... 

This is how the pitch started: "With the weather feeling warmer and summer on its way, it means it’s that time of year when we start to consider getting our bikini bodies in shape."

And then I scanned down and saw: "DENNY'S." 

And I was like, "WTF?"

But yes, it's true. Denny’s now offers a wide range of lighter, leaner meals as part of their "Fit Fare® Menu." These dishes are lower in fat and calories and higher in protein and fiber. Plus, Denny’s online Meal Calculator provides additional support for people looking to plan their healthy meals ahead of time. That's pretty forward-thinking of them.

As such, I was intrigued. I could not resist the strange lure of "Denny's" and "healthy," so I invited my friend - a proud and true Denny's fan - to join me to try some of these alluring new menu options. 

Here are your critics:

Clearly I was SUPER SURPRISED to be eating that apple. My friend there is totally seducing you with her apple, though. Yeah she is. Get it, girl.

Well first of all, I have to tell you about our waiter. A lovely man named Ronnie. Who hails from Thailand originally, where he owns - I shit you not - an Ostrich farm. (No, you cannot ride an Ostrich, in case you were wondering - we asked.) And he's basically the nicest dude on the planet. A 15-year Denny's veteran a month away from retiring, in fact. He is delightful and should you find yourself at the Denny's in North Hollywood before July 31, ask to be in his section and give him a big tip.

And out came the food -- which I've decided to score for you in Dennys. If you have never seen Boston Legal, you won't get the joke so I encourage you to watch this first.

FIT SLAM: Egg whites scrambled with spinach and tomatoes plus turkey bacon and an English Muffin. A side of fruit is not pictured. Under 15g of fat, under 550 calories, over 20g of protein. 

Rating: 5/5 Dennys

 

I mean, the dish included bacon, so....

 

CHICKEN AVOCADO SANDWICH: Well, I am sure you see the french fries. Don't worry, I ate like two of them. The dish normally comes with broccoli and I just cannot eat that stuff. Kudos to those of you who can. In addition to the obvious, the sandwich also had lettuce, sour cream and pico de gallo on it. This was delicious. Again, under 550 calories and over 20g of protein.

Rating: 4/5 Dennys

I would have preferred it cold. Warm sour cream and avocado was a bit weird.

 

FIT FARE VEGGIE SKILLET. Yeah, so I had to pick around the broccoli here. And the mushrooms. And I wished it hadn't been SO overcome by vegetables, actually, but I guess it is a veggie skillet. And the potatoes were great. And I love the combination of tomato and eggs. It is also under 550 calories and over 20g of protein.

Rating: 3/5 Dennys

CRANBERRY APPLE CHICKEN SALAD. We agreed this was our favorite. The salad, which is also under 550 calories and over 20g of protein, has glazed pecans (well, normally - we are both allergic so we got it without), chicken, apples, cranberries (craisins!!!) and mixed greens. The balsamic vinagarette on the side was delicious and totally made the meal.

Rating: 5/5 Dennys

Again, I say, CRAISINS!!!

 

Things went a bit awry after we picked at all of those meals because this is what Denny's placemat looks like:

So when Ronnie offered us a dessert, we decided to split a strawberry milkshake.

It would be rude to refuse such generosity. 

Afterword, I also tried to win a One Direction pillow from the claw arcade machine but failed miserably. Hanging my head in sorrow but with a satisfied, full belly, we departed. 

Thanks so much for having us, Denny's. You surely earned my endorsement. I was pleasantly surprised and enjoyed it so much! 

P.S. The Denny's Tumblr is totally adorable.

 

Happy birthday, America!

 

Quote of the Day

I'm in love with this. I saw it on someone's social media and was reminded of it -- it's from one of my favorite books. I decided it needed a graphic, though. Pin it if you love it, kiddies! 

A Whovian Moment (That's a Time Travel Reference, Non-Nerds)

Anyone else a Doctor Who fan? No? Just me?

*crickets*

I don't believe it. Shame on all of you. Go DVR some Doctor Who, you guys. 

But anyway, I digress. The whole point of this post is to unveil yet another recurring feature of my blog:

Look! Another logo! The phonebooth is called a Tardis. Again, it's a Doctor Who thing. (I bet you really wish you watched it now, don't you?)

If it helps, think about the phone booth in Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure - it's a time travel thing. Get it? I guess we can all conclude that in the future, all time travel will be happening in phone booths since that seems to be a thing.

And I thought it would be fun if now and then I revisited something fun or useful I posted about in years prior. And thanks to the Timehop app I mentioned in my June 20 post, it's pretty easy to find something I want to revisit.

So about this time, two years ago, I was getting SUPER EXCITED for the New Kids on the Block/Backstreet Boys concert.

Oh yes.

I love boy bands. I am not ashamed. I mean, I love pop music a lot and just especially Boy Bands. *NSYNC, BSB, NKOTB, Hanson (yeah, I'm including them) and even the present day'ers like One Direction and The Wanted... I just turn into a giddy 12 year old. Going to the NKOTBSB concert was a nostalgic, screaming, joyous, teen-idol-crushing mess of a great time. And the tickets were a gift so thank you once more to Leslie, who took me and my +1 to the show. 

 

Yeah, our seats were kind of ridiculous.

The Right Stuff.

Oh hi, Jordan Knight in my section.

Oh yeah, we got Kevin, too (who was on leave at the time).

Biggest and bestest boy band ever - NKOTBSB

And then, also, I got some priceless video out of the evening. I mean, I touched Brian Littrell's hand, you guys. I was basically a puddle.

 

 

I'd like to also point out that since this concert, I've met Donnie Wahlberg (NKOTB), Kevin Richardson (BSB) and, of course, my FAVORITE EVER, Joey McIntyre (NKOTB). I've seen Hanson in concert and am seeing them again this Fall. 

Happy two-year anniversary NKOTBSB!

"’Tis but thy name that is my enemy... What's in a name?"

Well first of all, I should explain that I made the decision the day I started this blog to not keep my identity a secret. Doing so seemed ridiculous to me. Frankly, as a publicist, I am always hesitant to work with bloggers who do that so why would I? You're blogging. On the internet. It doesn't get much more public than this. Long ago I had a blog wherein I used code names and blurry photos (don't worry, you weren't on it) but it was a short-lived creative writing experiment that died quickly since I simultaneously wished for it to be popular and a secret.

So yeah, all that said, I don't think it's a secret that my name is AJ. And that is stands for Amanda Joy. It's not a hyphenate or anything -- that is my first name and my middle name.

For most of my life, I've been Amanda. My father may have called me Mandy from time to time when I was little but I put a stop to that as soon as I was strong-willed enough to do so (no offense to any Mandies out there, it just didn't suit me though I allowed one former boyfriend the "perk" of calling me that since I wanted to get in his pants). In college, in a sophomore year media class, a sassy red headed gal I befriended started calling me AJ. I don't remember why. But I really liked it and started to introduce myself to people that way, but it wouldn't stick. Too many friends in Tucson, where I was at the time, knew me as Amanda already and couldn't make the switch. 

My junior year, I transferred to NYU. And there was another AJ (a guy). So I went back to Amanda full-time. But at the top of my senior year, I met the people who would become my best friends and one night, one of them was listening to my drunken name rant as I've just similarly explained it out to you here, and determined that AJ suited me better and he was on a mission to make it stick.

And so he did. Thanks, James, for naming me. ;)

When I moved back to Los Angeles post-college, I kept it socially. Professionally, I was still using Amanda, though, as I did not want anyone to be surprised when a woman showed up to an interview (I find most people think AJ is a man's name). However eventually, I just stopped caring. And I started to let people at work call me AJ. Even people I didn't like (I used to say it was a name "reserved for friends only"). 

People often ask me which name I prefer. And for a while, I did prefer AJ. It was more about who I'd become through and after college. I felt like the person I was at 25 was hugely different than who I was at 16. I guess now at 34 there's still a grain of truth to that, too. 

But on Saturday night, I spent some time with a big group of high school friends. These friends all met me and knew me as Amanda. And for the duration of our evening, I was only Amanda. And suddenly my "old" name gave me a tinge of nostalgia and felt more like an old, familiar hat than a smelly sock. 

And it suddenly ocurred to me that any negative feelings tied to my being Amanda exist because I regret some of the things I did in high school. And at 34 I didn't care about those things anymore. I guess at 16, 17 and 18 we all fantasize about being someone else and I actually was able to achieve that in a way. But now, that doesn't seem like such an appealing idea any longer. And it's not about regretting what I did when I was young (I mean, whodoesn't regret something stupid they did when they were young?!), it's more about what I do with what I learned from those experiences. And that if it were not for "Amanda," I certainly wouldn't be this version of myself. 

So... yeah. There's that. I guess that's a really wordy version of "I had so much fun on Saturday night!" I'm sure you all enjoyed this prophetic dip into my id. You're welcome.