The first ever World Fitness Day is taking place this Saturday here in Atlanta and I’ll be there exercising with Jane Fonda and other fitness gurus like Denise Austin, Billy Blanks, Richard Simmons and Dr. Sanjay Gupta.    We all know these people as the best exercise instructors and motivators around.  I know Jane Fonda as a personal inspiration to stay healthy and fit at any age.  When I visited her ranch last summer, she exercised an impressive amount everyday by taking long hikes with her dog and swimming or lifting weights as well.  She is truly committed to physical health and it shows.

photo by Andrew Eccles/JBGPhoto.com

I’ve been involved in World Fitness Day for a few weeks now because I’m also….*drumroll please*…. the Blog Ambassador for World Fitness Day.  It sounds so official and regal, right?  Like I should march around in a big hat.  Really, it means that I got to invite some of Atlanta’s best bloggers to cover the event.

If you don’t already follow these blogs, you should.   (more…)

© 2010 – 2011, Funkidivagirl.com. All rights reserved. Republished only with permission.

My family and I love to eat.  In the spirit of the Food Network show by the same name, we’re going to share the best thing we ever ate and hope that you will tell us your favorites too.

This post was dictated to me by my 8 year old daughter.  We call her Girly.

The best the french fries I ever ate are at Cafe Bistro at Nordstrom.  I get them every time I go because they are delicious.  They know us there because we eat there when we are shopping.

I like the fries because they are crispy (well, most french fries are crispy) and they have herbs like rosemary, thyme and a whole bunch of other green things.  And there’s salt, but not too much salt.  It comes with ketchup and olive sauce, but you don’t need anything because the herbs are so good.  I can eat a whole cone all by myself and it doesn’t bother my belly.  But if you only want a little bit and you order the fries from the kids’ menu, they don’t put any herbs on them, so be sure to tell them to do that.   What, they don’t think kids like herbs?  I love ‘em!  Don’t they look yummy?

What are the best french fries you ever ate?  Tell me, because I want to go there!

*Funkidivagirl agrees with Girly; these are the best french fries I ever ate.   I’m still dreaming about the best pie I ever ate…..

© 2010 – 2011, Funkidivagirl.com. All rights reserved. Republished only with permission.

My kids’ school is very Green: they recycle, compost, organize environmental clean-ups and recently built a LEED addition to the school.   There is a parent-run Green Team that is serious about making the school have as little impact on the earth as possible.   I am always in awe when I hear that the school-wide Thanksgiving Feast produces a single tiny bag of trash.    All the food scrap food is composted and the containers recycled.  The dishes and forks used are made of corn.   It’s amazing that they can feed over 900 kids at a traditionally glutenous meal and not have any trash!

So, practicing Green habits is a daily occurrence at the school, not just something that they do on Earth Day.   But once a year they ask the parents and students to do something that they might not normally do: walk, carpool or ride bikes to school.   There are meet-up points near and far for walkers and bike riders to travel to school together, so it’s fun.   We don’t normally walk to school; it’s a 6 minute drive, but a 40 minute walk.   The walk is not so long, but it would require getting up early (!) and moving quickly in the morning and we don’t do that very well.  But today we got up at 6:30 and met the science teacher at the corner at 7:15 to walk as a group.   It was chilly outside, but fun walking and talking together.

We were able to do it because we didn’t eat breakfast before leaving home.  We knew that this would be waiting for us:

HAPPY EARTH DAY!

© 2010, Funkidivagirl.com. All rights reserved. Republished only with permission.

Right now, for just a few short glorious weeks I have a longer than usual day without kids or puppy and all the responsibility that goes with that, so I’m using that day as “me time.”  I drop the puppy off at daycare (yes, he goes to daycare; don’t judge me), come home to exercise and then I have a whole 6 hours to myself.  Sometimes I get my hair done or a pedicure or go shopping.   I even have enough time to see an early movie and yesterday that’s just what I did.

Monday – Thursday Fork & Screen AMC has $6 movies.  If you have never been to this theater in Atlanta, you must try it.  Or I’m sure that there are similar theaters where you live as well.  The seats are very comfortable, the theater is small and best of all, you can eat a meal while you watch the movie.  I had a very good chicken quesadilla, but passed on the alcoholic drink.  I was surprised to see that there were at least 14 other people in the movie with me (and they were drinking too).  Who goes to the movies on a Tuesday at noon and orders a Cosmopolitan?  Apparently many people.

I saw Death At A Funeral.

I was excited to see this movie because of the cast: Loretta Devine, Chris Rock, and Danny Glover among other talented and funny actors.  I purposely did not watch any trailers or interviews on morning talk shows because I didn’t want to be tainted.   I wish now that I had known what I was getting into because I wouldn’t have gone to see the movie.   I did not know that it was a remake of the 2007 British movie of the same time.   I saw that movie and liked it.   But I did not need to see THE EXACT SAME MOVIE three years later.

The new Death At A Funeral is EXACTLY the same as the original.  EXACTLY.  Except for the African American cast and references to American culture.  And they changed the funeral food to potato salad and macaroni and cheese.  Other than that, EXACTLY the same.  One of the actors, Peter Dinklage, even has the same role in both movies.

I suppose if you hadn’t seen the original movie a mere three years prior than you might think that this movie was hilarious.  Except for Chris Rock; he was wooden and emotionless.  I know that he was playing the straight man, but dude, did you have Botox before the shoot?  Can you move your face to express some emotion?    Martin Lawrence was Martin Lawrence–not that funny, but not horrible, just played; I’ve seen him act like that so many times.  Luke Wilson’s character was totally off and if I hadn’t seen the original movie then I would have been confused to why he was even there.  James Marsden played the part of the drugged boyfriend perfectly; I enjoyed him.  And while I am not a big fan of Tracy Morgan, surprisingly he was my favorite in this movie.  He was funny, spot on and didn’t overact.   The scene in the bathroom–which almost made me throw up, even though I knew what was coming–was the funniest scene in the movie.  I really can’t tell y0u much more than that without spoiling the movie.  The hilarity of the movie is in the surprises and exposure of family secrets.

If you haven’t seen the original movie, then perhaps you will like Death At A Funeral.  It’s a family comedy (meaning, that it’s about a family–not that you can take your family to see it because the language is about as bad as it can get) and mostly funny.  Also, some people, like my husband, don’t “get” british humor and would better appreciate the American version.

But, if you have seen the original movie and liked it, then don’t bother seeing this one.  It is almost EXACTLY the same script.  And really, who needs to see that bathroom scene again?

© 2010, Funkidivagirl.com. All rights reserved. Republished only with permission.

I think The Food Network is one of the best channels on television; the shows are innovative, entertaining and interesting.  It’s a station that my whole family can watch together and our favorite show is The Best Thing I Ever Ate.

The featured chefs talk about their favorite foods with such authenticity and passion that I always want what they are having right now.  The other night I watched a show about Obsessions and Delilah Winder talked about her obsession with a particular Triple Coconut Cream Pie with so much ecstasy and the slice looked so fluffy and creamy, that I was salivating–and I don’t even like coconut.

Well, you know my family, everyone’s a food critic; we always have opinions about what we eat.   So in the same vein as The Food Network, I am going to start blogging about The Best Thing I Ever Ate.  And I hope my son, daughter and husband will contribute as well; they all like different food and, man, those people can eat!

Pie.  I don’t really like pie.  Except for Key Lime Pie and sometimes Sweet Potato Pie, pie is not my thing; I love cake.  But recently I had pie that I dream about.  I changed my Facebook profile to a photo of this pie.   I talk about this pie to anyone who will listen.

It’s the Buttermilk Pie at Hominy Grill in Charleston, South Carolina.

I don’t remember where or how, but the dessert part of my brain had tucked away information about  the Buttermilk Pie–that it was supposed to be good.  But we had been eating too many sweets during our South Carolina vacation, so I foolishly ordered just one piece for the table.

That was a mistake.

One bite of that pie and I claimed it as my own.  I had to get stern with my family to put down their forks–NOW.  Or someone was going to get hurt.

It was sweet, but not too sweet.  Lemony (my favorite), but with an unexpected kick of nutmeg.  The custard was light and the crust was perfect.

Hands down the best pie that I ever ate.

Leaving Charleston on the way back to Atlanta we stopped by Hominy Grill for another slice of Buttermilk Pie for the road.  One slice for my family to share, and one slice for me.  I had learned my lesson.

What about you? What’s the best pie you ever ate?  Oh, and if you have a good recipe for Buttermilk Pie, please pass it on.

© 2010, Funkidivagirl.com. All rights reserved. Republished only with permission.