No food is more patriotic than a hot dog in a bun with the fixings, but it can cost you 250-350 calories and up to 18g of fat.
INSTEAD: To get more bang (and less fat) for your buck, have a turkey frank in a whole grain bun with a few tablespoons of salsa…and you’ll still have room for an ear of corn on the cob and a cup of grapes.

A typical hamburger might smell great off the grill, but at 350-400 calories and about 15g of fat, you might want to reconsider.
INSTEAD: A turkey burger on half a whole grain bun will satisfy your craving, plus you can feel free to add a green salad with vinaigrette and ½ a cup of light ice cream.

For more smart eats, check out the full story at Vital Juice Daily

So maybe you forgot to turn off your car lights.  Or maybe your car engine won’t start without you even knowing why.  Before you start to panic, take these easy steps in jump starting your engine so you can make it to your desired destination.

First thing’s first.  Pop your hood open and check to see if you find any cracks in the car battery. If so, jumpstarting will not help you.  It means that your battery is dead.

1. Assuming there are no cracks in your battery, whether you’re in a social mood or not, now’s the time to suck it up and make a new friend.  Find someone nearby that would be willing to help you.
2. If you don’t own jumper cables, now is the time to find someone with them.  To prevent spending a great amount of time looking for someone to help you that has them, purchase your own. Expected cost: approximately $20
3. So you’ve got your cables and someone to graciously volunteer their time and car. Next, make sure the other person’s car that will be giving you a jump is parked closeby.
4. Now it’s time to go back under the hood. Check your battery and locate the two knob looking pieces. These are called terminals. One terminal is positive, it is indicated with a + sign. The other is negative and is marked with a - sign. 
5. The positive terminal should have a plastic casing, which should pop off easily.  The negative terminal should be uncovered.
6. Now take one cable and attach it to the dead battery’s (your car’s) positive terminal (the terminal that you uncovered in step 6).
7. Take the clamp on the other side of the cable and attach it to the positive terminal of the car that is jumpstarting yours.
8. Next, clamp the second cable and attach it to the negative terminal of the other person’s car.
9. Take the clamp on the other end of this same cable and attach it to a non-painted metal surface (for instance, a nut) on the main engine block of your car.
10. Now, the person that is jumpstarting you should start their engine and let it run for a couple of minutes. After a few minutes, try starting your car and see what happens. If your car doesn’t start on the first try, try it again a few minutes later.
11. If your car doesn’t start after two tries, it’s time to call it quits.  If this happens, you’re S.O.L. and you need to find a ride. You should most likely be up and running on the first try or two.
12. As you disconnect the cables, make sure that you detach them in opposite order (disconnect the clamps on your engine block first and work backwards).
13. Thank your new friend and you should be good to go.

Daring Diva you are not afraid to be the center of attention. In fact, you thrive on being bold and fearless while the world watches in awe. Always sexy and sophisticated, you definitely know how to make a grand entrance.

Sweet and Simple you are the quintessential girl next door. You are calm and confident about who you are and your sense of style reflects a cheerful easiness about your personality.

Fun and Flirty you are the life of the party. You radiate charisma and are always invited to all the A-list social functions. You have a keen sense of when to mix trendy pieces with your own to create a visual masterpiece every time.

Wild and Crazy you are the glamour goddess. One minute you might be seen climbing Mount Kilimanjaro and the next basking in sunlight in Mustique. You are not tied down to conventional ideas of schedules and appointments. You roam the Earth constantly on the lookout for the next adventure.

Classic and Timeless you are a regal beauty inside and out. You exude elegance and femininity without lifting a finger. You enjoy pieces that are tailored and form-fitting. Your style is always admired and effortlessly thrown together, but no one would be the wiser.

Baltimore’s own ABC Channel 2 News tested the ‘low fat, low calorie’ menu options from some of the restaurants where you dine and learned that you may be getting a lot more than you ordered.

Check out the reports about Macaroni Grill, Chili’s, Applebee’s and others.

Because many of the schools have been slow to embrace the now-common social network features found on the web, many are struggling to re-engage young readers. Most schools have set up password-protected sites where graduates can change their contact information, drop a class note or donate money, but few have been able to create dynamic communication and participation online, until now…

Read the full article in the New York Times.

Sex and the City arrives only in theaters on May 30th, 2008 and it promises to answer all of the lingering questions – will Carrie and Big finally tie the knot? Can Samantha really be satisfied with just one man? Will Charlotte ever get pregnant? Can Miranda and Steve actually live happily ever after?

Enter to win a FAB SATC ‘Goodie Bag’ which includes the following:

• Five different titles of the Sex and the City DVD essentials provided by HBO SHOP in NYC at 42nd & 6^th
• The Sex and the City Soundtrack featuring brand new songs from Fergie, Jennifer Hudson, Jem and more! In stores May 27th.
• The must-have book for every devoted fan, Sex and the City takes a unique look behind-the-scenes of the most anticipated movie of the spring. In Stores May 30th.
  

ChickSpeak members are automatically entered to win, so sign up as either a member or for our newsletter in the month of May and watch for your name to be drawn to win! Winners notified via email By June 1st.

Photo credit: Craig Blankenhorn/New Line Cinema

Ralph Lauren Boys First Monogrammed Coverall

Retro Pink Floral Reversible Rockin’ Baby Sling

Jacadi Clothing to drool over

Les Bebe de Floriane Infant’s Iphigenie Dress

Fancy Nancy Book

We’ve all heard it said before: a diet rich in fresh fruits and vegetables lowers the risk of heart disease, cancers, and other conditions. Fresh fruits and vegetables are high in antioxidant vitamins such as Vitamins A, E &C. It is these antioxidants that aid in the fight against such cancer and disease. Dietary fiber is another nutritional benefit derived from fresh fruits and veggies. Adults have a recommended amount of 25 grams of dietary fiber per day. Adding fruits like strawberries and blueberries to cereal and yogurt will not only add to your daily fiber intake, it also sweetens your food with fructose, a natural sugar.

There are many different ways you can incorporate fresh fruits and veggies into your everyday diet. Start off by picking out your favorites and incorporate them into your meals and snacks. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, and yet so many of us skip out on it! Blame it on lack of time or lack of hunger; none the less it is the first and most important meal to start off your day. If you are not an early riser, learn to plan ahead. Take a few moments in the evening to chop up fresh fruits. If you are really in a pinch, throw some fresh fruits (let’s say strawberries & blueberries) and low-fat yogurt in your blender. In a matter of seconds you will have a vitamin and protein packed smoothie to devour while getting ready or to accompany you on the drive to work.

Always be sure to integrate fresh veggies with lunch and dinner. Meals that include salads, soups, and stir-fry, can all be created with your favorite vegetables. A vegetable soup can include anything from tomatoes, zucchini, green beans, celery, and carrots. Steamed broccoli can be added to pasta while sweet baby corn can top a pizza: the possibilities are endless!

Summer parties and picnics are a great place to incorporate fruits and veggies. Simple veggie trays, consisting of raw vegetables or a colorful fruit salad are simple options in which to choose. Fresh Macintosh apples baked with a sprinkle of brown sugar and cinnamon provides a great low-cal dessert.

Below you will find a list of fruits and vegetables that are in season during the summer months, along with some suggestions for use:

FRUITS:

Blueberries: Sweet enough to eat raw without added sugar. Blueberries go great in pancakes, muffins, and atop cereal and yogurt.

Apricots: Eat alone or you can cook and puree this fruit and add to ice cream or pies.

Cherries: Sweet cherries are good to eat raw and can be added to fruit salads. The more tart varieties can be used in pancake fillings or made into a tart sauce that can accompany meat.

Strawberries: Most everyone’s summer favorite! They can be consumed alone or by simply adding cool whip or atop ice cream. Strawberries can be added to pies, cakes, and many other dessert recipes.

Plums: Many different varieties of plums are available throughout the summer. Most are sweet enough to eat raw, or you can bake them into pies, tarts, or add them to fruit salads.

VEGETABLES:

Broccoli: Goes excellent in soups and stir-fry’s. It is also good when consumed raw along with other vegetables. Serve with low-fat veggie dip.

Carrots: The smaller the sweeter with carrots. Serve on a raw vegetable tray, steam, or add to a roast.

Celery: Cut into sticks for snacking, add to soups and roasts, or simply use to accompany a meal.

Cucumbers: Slice them into salads or eat raw with low-fat veggie dip. They can also be added in veggie wraps and subs.

Peas: Great for a salad addition or lightly steamed. Peas can also add flavor to casseroles, soups, or a side dish to a meal.

Peppers: They can be found in yellow, red, orange, and green. This vegetable goes great in omelets, stir-fry’s, salads, or on the grill with our favorite meat.

As you can see, the possibilities with summer fresh fruits and veggies are many and quiet simply up to you. Venture out and think of creative ways to incorporate them into your diet. Once a habit of using fresh fruits and veggies is formed, you will wonder how you ever enjoyed your meals without them!

Sources:

1. http://www.marialiberati.com
2. http://Mediterraneandiet-healthy.blogspot.com

Maybe some denim that’s stretched, shrunk or faded past the point of no return?

Don’t toss them- revolutionize them.

We recently read Denim Revolution, by Nancy Minsky, and loved her novel approach to denim fashion. Find plenty of creative DYI ideas, with step-by-step details and colorful shots of the finished project.

Our favorite style? The jeans-turned skirt with pleated back detail and accents.

Go out, get some fresh air and pick up a copy of Farnoosh Torabi’s fabulous book “You’re So Money”. Farnoosh’s work at the street.com and relationship with entertaining money manager Jim Cramer has helped her create a book about finances that is educational, entertaining, and full of just good advice for how to handle your finances sans Mom and Dad’s purse strings and have a fairly fabulous existence in the meantime.

Recent studies have shown that even though we are some of most educated people to have recently stepped into the working world, young people, those of us right out of college in our early twenties are making the most uneducated financial decisions and are graduating from college with more debt then we can handle.

Farnoosh’s advice makes sense and it also is loaded with witty quips from friends, colleagues, and other about how to live within your means, and not takes vows of poverty. So many financial guru’s such as Suze Orman or books such as the “Millionaire Next Door” advocate financial boot camp, or giving up everything fun and uncessary in order to get yourself back on financial track. While that is all good and heartfelt advice, it’s fairly hard to stick with. Much like a way too strict diet, you can stay on track for awhile and then you go on a big binge.

As someone who could always use a little financial words of wisdom and a few extra Diane Von Furstenburg dresses, I certainly was able to take Farnoosh’s advice to heart. She advocates knowing what your needs are versus what your wants are. Taking stock in a general sense of where your money is going and knowing when you should make a sacrafice like living at home with parents after graduating in order to save for a home or get out from under some debt. She also believes in having fun and having nice things, which is a refreshing breath of fresh air from a financial writer. She too loves Diane Von Furstenburg, so I can relate. She dedicates a whole chapter to how to save money and still go out in style.

In the end her advice is quite valid and true. If you can live on tuna and crackers for year so you can have that pair of Jimmy Choos, by all means do it. If you can’t and know you don’t have the willpower, not many of us do, then think about what you buy before you put down your American Express. It’s all about financial checks and balances and that is why her book is so money!