While I’m on this little vacay from the blogosphere (which I promise will not last much longer!), I have to leave you with a few things that I am absolutely loving lately:

• EcoNation Speakers: Thanks to Sarah, my MoH, for introducing me to the wonder that is this set of eco-friendly speakers. I adore them! And for $15 (at Chapters/Indigo), they’re very hard to pass up!

• The Wedding Dance: Forget choreographed first dances… It’s all about the big entrance! I’ve now watched this vid a few times, and it never fails to make me smile.

• Super simple baked brie: We served this at the cottage on the weekend, and it was an instant hit. Ready in about 20 minutes, delish when paired with crackers and green apple slices… And most importantly, it’s brie. How could I NOT love this? Check out the link for instructions, or follow my lead: Wrap a medium-sized round of brie in crescent roll dough (ie. a tube of Pillsbury dough) and bake according to the instructions on the tube. When the dough is golden and delicious looking, remove from the oven, transfer to a plate, and dig in!

• Buzzfeed.com: What would a lunch break be without hilarious gems from all over the web? This site is now officially my go-to for the latest viral videos and wacky new finds.

• Outtrip’s Yo…Lounge: Okay, so this album certainly isn’t new, but it’s made its way back into heavy rotation on my iPod as of late and I need to share the love. Have you heard it? If not, you’re seriously missing out. “Yo… Lounge” is the ultimate summer chill album. Check it out on MySpace and then pick it up on iTunes. You’ll thank me later.

As for what’s coming up on my little corner of the web, I’ve got plenty to share! So please stay tuned, and bear with me… MoveFest 2009 will be over soon!

Before I head out, though, I have to show off my new business cards, because I think they look pretty darn snazzy. Big thanks to my friend, Jon Rennie, for the awesome design. As you can probably tell, he’s also the talented guy behind my web design. But what you may not have known is that he’ll also be starring as Best Man in our October 2010 wedding. (More on that soon. No, really. It’s coming!)

No idea what I’m talking about? You can check out the trailer here. (And while you’re at it, check out their website. This is marketing done right, friends. It goes beyond being another video game website and has an almost magazine-website-like feel with articles about nutrition, health and wellness. A “Motivation Center”? A “Community”? Brilliant, EA. Srsly.)

From what I’ve seen so far, it seems like this fitness “game” is going to be a lot less judgmental than my old friend, the Wii Fit. Which means that exchanges like the one I had this weekend are much less likely to occur.

Wii Fit Scale Dude: Well well, Alicia! I haven’t seen you in 216 days!

Me: Uh, yeah dude, I’ve been pretty busy.

Wii Fit Scale Dude: You’ve gained 10 pounds since your last session!

Me: Um… About that. As it turns out, playing RockBand drums hasn’t burned as many calories as I thought it would… so… yeah. My bad.

Wii Fit Scale Dude: You’ve failed to meet your weight loss goal. Next time, set smaller, realistic goals that you’re more likely to achieve.

Me: Okay, you know what, scale? You don’t know me. I don’t need this. So eff you, scale. Eff. You.

Wii Fit Scale Dude: Silence. (Likely caused by a lack of power to the Wii.)

Despite bickering with my TV like a crazy woman, I do love the Wii Fit. But honestly? I’m super psyched to give EA Sports Active a try. I’ll let you know how it goes!

Happy Friday, all! I have many stories to share, but after soaking up the sun with the Terrible Two (aka my adventure-loving cats) this afternoon, I’m a bit wiped out. Before I head off for a night of Wii and wine, there are a few things I’ve stumbled upon in my travels around the Interweb this week that I simply have to share. Enjoy the link love!

• F**k You, Penguin
If you can get through the entries on this blog (that tells cute animals what’s what) without laughing, let me know, and I will send you a prize. Because seriously? Hilarious.

• Viva La Love Story
If you’re just tuning in… Hi, my name is Alicia, and I’m a bit of a music junkie. That said, is anyone really surprised that I am loving this instrumental mash-up of Taylor Swift’s Love Story and Coldplay’s Viva La Vida by John Schmidt? It’s fab. Trust.

• Wordle
Fun fact about me: I love words. Shocking, right? But perhaps a lesser known fact is that I’m also a big fan of art. Wordle is kinda like the best of both worlds, because you can take a URL or a bunch of text and turn it into a word cloud with different colours, designs and fonts (a la the image above). Super nerdy, right? But let’s be honest… It’s pretty cool.

• Target Women vs. Twilight
I totally have a girl crush on Sarah Haskins. Watch a few segments of Target Women and you’ll understand why. She is one funny lady.

• Britain’s Got Talent: Diversity
While I wait (im)patiently for So You Think You Can Dance to return, I am more than happy to keep watching this clip. Yes, we all know that Susan Boyle is the big BGT story right now… but these guys? Fantastic.

Also from the “pretty darn cool” files, earlier this week my post about One Million Moms got a shout out from Canadian Family! And did I mention that the letter writing campaign against Miley has vanished from their website? Note to self: Don’t eff with Disney.

Tune in next week for some long-overdue updates re: The Wedding(!!!), my 101 in 1001 list, and a new category called “Remember When?” As for me, I’m off to deal with some crazy bunnies.

Have a great weekend! (AND! If there are any awesome links that you think I should include on this list, please let me know! I’m all about supporting procrastination…)

On the plus side, there is a no-fail way to distract yourself from an injured knee—read a great book. And thankfully, I just happen to have one. In fact, today is a day that my inner book nerd has been eagerly anticipating for the past couple of months, because the new Jen Lancaster memoir, Pretty in Plaid, is finally available… And I’ve got a copy!

If you’re not familiar with the awesomeness of Jen Lancaster, let me sum it up for you: the woman is made of win. I’ve been hooked on her memoirs since a shiny dress called out to me one day from the cover of Bitter is the New Black while I was strolling through Chapters (What can I say? Like a goldfish, shiny things amuse me). An associate VP for a tech company during the Dot Com boom in the US, Jen found herself suddenly unemployed following 9/11 and her subsequent (mis)adventures in job hunting and frugality became fodder for her blog, which eventually became her first book. Snarky, smart, and full of hilarious footnotes, Bitter is the New Black definitely cemented my girl crush on the Governor of Jennsylvania. Her next two memoirs, Bright Lights, Big Ass (which helped me make a new friend) and Such a Pretty Fat (an excellent weight loss memoir) feature the same brand of wicked humour that makes Jen so endearing.

Pretty in Plaid is a different kind of memoir, though. Instead of focusing on the hilarity that is Jen’s life as an adult, this time she’s taking readers back to her childhood, or “the Wonder Years Before the Condescending, Egomaniacal, Self-Centered Smart-Ass Phase.” I was already laughing to myself while reading the first page, so I have a feeling I’m really going to enjoy this. (Who am I kidding? There was never any question.)

I’m just going to go ahead and say it… Recession be damned. If you haven’t read any of these books, go ahead and pick up the entire set. You’ll be glad you did.

AP Photo/Chris Pizzello

*UPDATE: The Miley Cyrus campaign has been removed from the One Million Moms website. Thankfully, the Interweb is a magical place and someone was wise enough to take a screen capture. If you’d like to see the campaign that inspired this post and made me want to hulksmash things, please click here.

Confession: I am not a mom. But for the record, I have a mom, am friends with moms, and intend to one day be a mom. Please keep this in mind, because I’m about to snark a lot of moms. One million, actually...

Some quick background on me, for context: Growing up, I was lucky enough to be raised by people who actually practiced the old “love your neighbour” line. Ultra-liberal, incredibly supportive, march-to-the-beat-of-your-own-drum kind of people. Which was wonderful, but also made going into the Big Bad World a bit of a shock. It took me a long time to wrap my head around the fact that people could actually hate each other over something like sexual orientation. I mean, seriously? You’re going to hate someone for being attracted to another person because they happen to be the same sex? You’re going to hate two people for being in love? For wanting to commit to each other? For wanting to start a family? But… why?

I don’t get homonegativity, I’ve never understood it, and to be honest, it just makes me angry and disappointed in humanity (which is no small feat for a hopeless optimist).

So when it comes to my attention that a Christian group in the US is targeting Miley Cyrus (who identifies as a Christian, fyi) for making pro-gay statements on Twitter like “I am a Christian and I love you—gay or not—because you are no different than anyone else! We are all God’s children,” I get a little riled up. Okay, a lot riled up. I get ranty. Especially because the group is made up of moms.

Yes, One Million Moms—a “special project” of the American Family Association—apparently hates Miley Cyrus and her evil messages of love and acceptance so much, that they’ve started a letter writing campaign. Now you, too, can let this poor, misguided teen icon know that the positive comments she directed at fellow human beings on the Interweb are “shocking and heartbreaking,” not to mention “not Biblically correct,” and that she needs to STFU before her soul burns in hell and crazy people picket her funeral. (Okay, I’m paraphrasing that last bit, but trust me, the letter is just plain ridiculous.)

It’s not just Miley, though. One Million Moms (and Dads!) is also “taking action” against companies like Quiznos and Campbell’s Soup. That’s right. Soup. I kid you not. Here’s why:

For example, Campbell Soup Company bought two, two-page advertisements in three of the past four issues of the nation’s largest homosexual magazine, The Advocate. In one of the ads, Campbell Soup Company featured two lesbians and their son. According to the company’s website, the lesbians are married. Not only did such ads cost Campbell’s a lot of money, they also sent a message that homosexual parents constitute a family.

I’m sorry, let’s rewind the tape for a minute…homosexual parents with children don’t constitute a family? And you’re serious? I think I may have just had a small stroke. (And as a side note, can someone PLEASE make me a “Soup is Gay” t-shirt to wear to Pride? Thanks.)

As someone who will one day be a mother and be responsible for shaping a little growing mind, I understand wanting to protect your kids from harmful images and advertising, I do. But to boycott entertainers and companies because they support same-sex couples? It’s way off base. Rally against drugs and violence and sexualized advertising (Axe, I’m looking at you), absolutely. But don’t teach your kids to be ignorant and fearful. Because if this kind of intolerant thinking keeps being passed from generation to generation, how will we ever live in a peaceful world?

Parents, non-parents, cat-parents, let’s hear it… What do you think of One Million Moms?

But the awesomeness doesn’t stop there! At some point I was apparently hit with a major dose of inspiration (I’m going to say it was the Nerds Rope that did the trick) and decided to (finally) update my portfolio page. Wondering what I’ve been up to since 2008? Go have a look!

I’ll be scanning some more pages tomorrow, so stay tuned!

At a recent dinner to celebrate a friend’s upcoming wedding, I was asked if I  had ever seen a video called “99 Balloons.” Immediately I thought of the pop song by Nena and German lyrics that I can never seem to remember. But I was assured that it was a video worth checking out, and having now seen it, I’d say that is possibly the understatement of the year. It is, quite honestly, the most beautiful video that I have ever seen on the Internet. It is a story that is simultaneously heartwarming and heartbreaking. It’s a story that I think everyone ought to know, because it is the ultimate example of hope, faith and love. Honestly, there is nothing that I can say that will do it justice… Just watch.