Of course, you can't bowl with a group without coming up with creative nicknames. Our monikers ranged from "Million Dollar Meg" to "Honey Bear." I hauled out my engraved bowling ball ("Fuego") and personalized bowling shoes (okay, so the company's name happens to be my nickname). And I'll tell you what I told them: my game level does not match my equipment. I even took bowling as a class in college! You'd think I'd be getting strikes left and right, but not so much. I'm lucky to break 100. Oh well! It was a really fun way to spend an afternoon.

The only downside was we missed Richard Street (of Temptations fame) serenading our office: 

It's in the reach of my arms
The span of my hips,
The stride of my step,
The curl of my lips.
I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.

(Excerpt from "Phenomenal Woman" by Maya Angelou)

Why Women Need Fat authors William D. Lassek, M.D., and Steven J.C. Gaulin, Ph.D., would agree with Maya that a woman's hips are part of what makes her phenomenal. Their work explores how the low-fat trend in recent decades has not been in the best interest of our health. Comparing how Americans eat vs. how other countries do, and how we eat versus how we ate 50-60 years ago, reducing the fat in our diets has harmed us much more than helped us.

So why do women need fat? In their research, Lassek and Gaulin looked at why men are attracted to certain physical characteristics in a woman (legs, thighs, bottom). These are areas where women store more fat, specifically omega-3 DHA, a good fat that benefits our brains. When and if women have children, this DHA helps their babies develop healthily. A low waist:hip ratio is also viewed very favorably.(Apparently, this child-birthing ability makes us hot). 

The solution, then, is not dieting. It's reducing our intake of bad fats (such as omega-6 found in soybean oil, corn oil, many processed foods) and increasing our intake of good fats (omega-3). To help your body find its natural weight (its set point), cut down on commercially fried foods (tortilla chips, French fries) and processed foods and increase omega-3 rich foods, such as meat from grass-fed and free-range animals, fish, and seafood, along with supplements like fish oil.

The book concludes with helpful tools in calculating your natural weight and BMI, as well as tips on what foods you should be eating. It's hard not to appreciate a book that concludes with the chapter "It's Not Your Fault If You're Heavy, But You Don't Have to Be This Heavy." :) Basically, you may not ever be an ultra-thin model-type by following their guidelines, but you will be healhtier and, more than likely, thinner. What's not to love about that?

For more on Why Women Need Fat, visit: http://www.blogher.com/bookclub/now-reading-why-women-need-fat and join the discussion!

And for my book-loving buddies, they're also having a Life Well Lived Moments Sweepstakes! Share the well-lived moments you're looking forward to in 2012 for a chance to win a Kindle fire and an Amazon gift card. What's not to love about that? 

Here are two quotes that inspire me to live life well:

“When it's over, I want to say: all my life 
I was a bride married to amazement. 
I was the bridegroom, taking the world into my arms. 

When it is over, I don't want to wonder 
if I have made of my life something particular, and real. 
I don't want to find myself sighing and frightened, 
or full of argument. 

I don't want to end up simply having visited this world.” 

-Mary Oliver

“I want to see beauty. In the ugly, in the sink, in the suffering, in the daily, in all the days before I die, the moments before I sleep.” 

-Ann Voskamp 

                                    My mom made us dresses to match with our Cabbage Patch Dolls.

                                        When we were living on opposite ends of the country...

  My brother's wedding day!

                                              My cousin Kirsten's rehearsal dinner

My own favorites that came to mind were: 

http://iruninheels.typepad.com/blog/2008/05/my-true-hollywo.html

http://iruninheels.typepad.com/blog/about-me/

http://iruninheels.typepad.com/blog/2008/12/a-21st-century-woman.html

http://iruninheels.typepad.com/blog/2009/02/im-29-single-and-im-okay-with-that.html

http://iruninheels.typepad.com/blog/2008/02/another-valenti.html

It's hard to believe that I've been blogging here for five years! I started out writing a blog to keep friends and family in the loop after moving from Chicago to L.A. And now here I am back in the middle of the U.S. and blogging from Oklahoma.

Since 2011 is almost to a close, I can't help but reflect on the past year. I uprooted my life and left a state, a church, a community, and friends and family members very dear to me, and I began again in my hometown which was familiar and foreign all at once.

I never expected that a new job would come with wonderful coworkers who I look forward to seeing every day.  Or that running into one of my brother's friends would result in me joining the Assoc. Board of the Philharmonic (and getting to see Ben Folds perform with them!) And whoever said you can't go home again never met my parents. I am so thankful for their willingness to house me during this phase of life. (Getting to hang out with their shih tzu and pug doesn't hurt either!) 

Here's hoping 2012 is filled with more of the same!

I'm watching: Muppets, Mayhem, and Missions

I'm missing: California

I'm reading: One Day

I'm making: Felt Flowers

I'm trying out: Edmond's new outdoor ice rink and a Wine & Palette painting night, 

My coworkers and I have gotten into the habit of playing the game Things over our lunch break at least once a week, if not more. The song from the music video often pops into my head as we prepare to play.

You can play an online version of the game here if you're not familiar with it:  http://www.thingsthegame.com/#. The game's site describes it as a game that "presents players with provocative topics...and allows each player to say whatever comes to mind." We did a Thanksgiving version last week with the prompts: "Things turkeys are thankful for" and "Things you shouldn't say as your grandpa is carving the turkey." Everyone writes down an answer, passes it to the "reader," and you have to guess who said what. We also decided to award two points to the funniest answer each round.

Because we've been playing so much, we've all gotten a feel for how each of us writes. For example, if it's sci-fi related, or uses really big words or obscure quotes, it's probably Thomas. If it's going for shock humor, it's Laura. Alex and James might be the culprits if it's political humor, wickedly funny, or football-related. Patrick's answers tend to be longer and have a certain clever humor to them.
And Alex said he can pick mine out if they have an urban/hip-hop flair. (For example, my answer to what turkey's are thankful for was a nod to Rihanna's big hit: "My waddle--it brings all the turkeys to the yard.")