I already have a bikini body.

Hey lovelies!

Today we're going to talk about exercise.  Now before you start feeling all guilty on me, don't worry- this isn't one of these "you better get your butt in shape before spring break" posts.  You guys know me better than that.  In fact, it's almost the opposite.

My relationship with exercise has changed a lot over the years.  In fact, I would almost say I've come full circle; five years ago, I would work out until I made myself sick just to burn those few extra calories.  I thought that injuries were a sign of dedication, not one of obsession.  The summer I decided to do a triathlon, I ended up with an injured body and a strained mind.That's why, when I woke up with the flu the morning of my first marathon, after running over 500 training miles in the past year, the real feat was allowing myself to pull out of the race when I started feeling bad at mile 4. 

Since then, I've realized that the best kind of exercise is the one that works for your soul as well as your body.  I've been spending a lot of time recently trying to figure out what I enjoy doing and what I can see myself doing for the rest of my life, not just in the period of time leading up to a big race.  For me that's hiking (incorporating my love of being out in nature), swimming laps (so meditative!), and yoga.

As a broke college student, I'm not one to spend a lot of money on a gym membership or fitness classes.  That's why I've been teaching myself yoga and practicing in my own home.  So last night, I was on the hunt for new yoga sequences to try, and one of the first hits from a quick Google search lead me to a Women's Health Magazine article on doing yoga at home...  Perfect!

What wasn't so perfect? The pop-up ad that appeared in the middle of my reading the article.

I took a screenshot:

Notice anything bad?  Like really bad?

How about the fact that to close this ad and get back to whatever you were reading, you literally have to click a link that says "No thanks, I already have a bikini body"... For shame, Women's Health.

Now I know bikini bodies are always a major focus this time of year: spring break is upon us, summer is on the horizon, and by now most of us have given up at least partially on our annual resolution to score that dream body once and for all.

But that doesn't mean that we should revert to all-out body shaming!  Seeing this made me feel that what I'm doing for the good of my body and my soul simply isn't good enough.  I found myself sitting there thinking, "maybe instead of doing a yoga practice I should be heading out for a run.  I'd burn more calories and maybe I'd look thinner for that event I have on Saturday night."  It didn't matter that this is the first time in my life I've really felt like I'm finding some inner peace through my workouts instead of even more objectification, or the first time I can feel my injuries healing instead of getting worse.  That all seemed irrelevant when I looked at that model's body at the edge of the ad and realized there's no way I'm going to look anywhere near that in my spring break pictures.

And that's exactly where the problem lies: this ad leads you to believe that the only reasonable excuse you could have for not signing up for their plan is because you're already perfect.  And because they know you know you're not "perfect," whatever you've decided that word means to you, they're running a successful marketing campaign based off of that fact.  And that's a pretty low blow.

I sat looking at this ad for a while last night, puzzling over it as well as my feelings about it, and here's what I came up with: I think it's time we stop buying into this kind of marketing.  It's time we stood up for ourselves and our right to feel comfortable, even sexy, in our own skin, in the body we have right now.  It's time we clicked the "No thanks, we already have a bikini body" button because, you know what, we do!

And to prove how much I really believe this, here's mine:

It took me a long time to come to terms with this picture.  It was taken on a diving trip during a spring break island-hop to Maui, and I had spent nearly 3 months counting calories and running religiously so I would look great on this trip.  I'm even wearing a brand new Victoria's Secret bikini I bought to reward my hard work as well as to make me feel extra confident.  So when I asked a tourist to capture the moment and I stood there sucking in my stomach so I would look even better, I was expecting this picture to be pretty fabulous.

And by "expecting this picture to be pretty fabulous," I mean I was expecting that I would look really skinny.  I was expecting to see a magazine-ready photo that I could plaster all over social media to show my friends what a glamorous life I was living, flaunting my amazing body all over the Hawaiian islands.  I wanted something that would make my high school friends comment that I was "looking really good these days," something that would make my exes realize that they really had lost the break-up game.

And what I got was this.  A picture of me in a bikini on a boat.  A picture that didn't magically change my perspective on my body or lead me to drop all of my insecurities like I had hoped it might.  In all honesty, it may have made me feel even more critical! Why?  Because of the value I placed on it. 

I can basically promise you that no matter how much you insist on looking to your body to validate your self-worth and put all of your insecurities to rest, you're always going to end up disappointed.  Self-acceptance comes from your heart, not from what you see when you look in the mirror.  So this bikini season, let's give up the whole charade.  It's high time you realized that the body you're sitting in is pretty okay.  In fact, it's more than okay.   It's beautiful, it's real, and it's yours. Come spring break, go rock that bikini you just had to have without shame, without regret, knowing that you may not look like a model, but you'll look happy, and that's just so much more beautiful.

Enjoy the slice,

xo Sonja

P.S.  Just in case you need a little extra inspiration, check out this little diddy from country music up-and-comer Kacey Musgraves.  It had me smiling ear to ear!

Getting back to work.

Hello old friends and welcome to War and Pieces of Pie, 2014!

One of the things I notice when I take breaks from writing this blog is that I start to slip back into the old habits of body-shaming we all have: lingering a bit too long in front of the mirror, weighing and measuring yourself obsessively, fixating on "quick fixes" instead of on a healthy lifestyle, etc.  Loving your body takes a lot of practice, and when you get out of practice, it becomes a lot harder to incorporate in your daily routine.

So long story short, I'm back.  Again.  Better than ever, as always.

I've been meaning to start blogging again for a few weeks now, but I was waiting for the right opportunity to arise... so when I came across an article called "Why 'Love Your Body' Campaigns Aren't Working," you can imagine I was intrigued.  Now before you get yourself all riled up (my initial reaction!), check out a few of my favorite highlights from Isabel Foxen Duke's article:

• Like an unfortunately large percentage of women in the U.S., I grew up criticizing my body and dieting regularly from a young age.  I spent years of my life terrified I would never get "there," the place where my weight and all perceived rewards of thinness would finally fall into place.

• I remember seeing body-positive campaigns like Dove's Real Beauty or Victoria's Secret's Love Your Body -- campaigns that encourage women to "love the skin they're in" -- and thinking, "that's nice, but I still wish I was thinner."  

•  While changing the figures and images in the media is an important and wonderful first step (particularly for building new beliefs in younger generations), it may fall on deaf ears amongst those who have already been brainwashed that "thin" is where life happens.

• If we don't actively dismantle the myths that have been embedded into women's psyche around weight historically, those myths will linger, regardless of how many plus-sixed models they see on billboards.

• What are YOU making "fat" mean?  Are you making fat mean that you'll never find a suitable partner?  That you're unworthy of the respect of your peers?  That you'll never "make it" professionally?  That no one will take you seriously?  CHALLENGE THAT.

Now I more than anyone am clearly a proponent of loving your body, in good times and in bad. But I also know that we as women place pressure on ourselves to achieve a certain physical standard even in the best of times.  I myself am sitting here writing this half-trying to remember how many meters I got in at the pool this week- I want to look good when I meet my sister's college friends for the first time come spring break.  

Even when I see pictures of beautiful women who are near my size, I find myself thinking, "she looks great, but I'm not shaped like that," or "I'd need to lose a few pounds to pull that off" or some other self-deprecating remark along those lines.  You guys know what I mean.  I know you know what I mean because I'm pretty sure this is a near-universal issue for at least most first-world women, even though we are more and more surrounded by pictures of "real" women as the love-your-body campaign progresses.

I think what Ms. Duke, who also writes a blog on self-acceptance, is getting at is that no amount of reading inspiring quotes about how wonderful you are in your own skin is going to shift the notions that you've developed over the past decade or more about what being "worthy" means, and for almost all of us, being worthy of love and respect and admiration at least in part revolves around our physical being.

Don't get me wrong, you guys know how much I value a healthy lifestyle, but what you feed your body and what you feed your soul are two totally distinct, and equally important, aspects of your own personal well-being and, as such, require much different considerations.

What do I mean by that?  I mean that the stigma you yourself attach to your body is more powerful than any magazine ad could ever be.  It may be that media influence initially helped to shape your notions of what being "deserving" means, but it is now your own personal responsibility to allow yourself to let go of all the things you've attached to your self-image.  You WILL marry that handsome gentleman you've always dreamed of and you WILL land that amazing job and you WILL rock that super cute bikini you've been eyeing for months!  Don't let your jean size get in the way of the things you've worked hard for and the things that you've earned in the body you're sitting in right now.  

I understand that that's a pretty big task to undertake, but it's my belief that the first step, and perhaps the single most important step, in beginning down a path towards self-acceptance is taking the time to become conscious of the beliefs you hold about yourself and your body, and what that means in terms of what you feel you deserve in your life.  So when you're having that moment when you realize summer is on its way and New Year's resolutions kind of suck, try to keep in mind that while it is of course necessary and important to appreciate your body for all the amazing things it does, "loving your body" has little to do with your body itself; "loving your body" comes from realizing that your body, whether you love it or hate it, is not the be-all and end-all of your own being.  You are beautiful for so many reasons, and your body is just a single piece of the puzzle.

Enjoy the slice!

xo Sonja

New year's resolutions.

Hey beautifuls and happy holidays!

I'm sorry I missed you guys last week.  We ended up having a last-minute family day together to celebrate Christmas Eve...  I find that sometimes you just need to get away from it all and reload!

With that being said, Happy New Year's Eve!!  Let me just preface this post with the fact that I am known to be a bit of a fuddy-duddy about this holiday.  I love watching the ball drop as much as the next girl but what I don't love is the ridiculous New Year's resolutions everyone feels obligated to make, and I'll tell you why.

The tradition of making these resolutions is based in using an obvious time-marker as a moment to consciously put our best foot forward for the coming year.  Nice, right? Right.

But what I often see as a result of this is my friends and family making resolutions based on the inherent feeling that they need to change something about themselves, that they somehow aren't enough the way they are at this very moment and they need to make an effort now so that they can reach that ever-transient "enough" in the future. 

As far as the women in my life are concerned, most often these resolutions revolve around the physical changes we want to make to our bodies in order to be thinner or hotter or whatever, and that really gets me.  Most of you guys know what I preach by now: you are beautiful and amazing and wonderful exactly the way you are, and you certainly don't need to change anything to be worthy of all the love and happiness in the world.  Don't get me wrong, I'm all for self-improvement, but that improvement should be based on what's going to genuinely make you happier and healthier, not what will be more acceptable to your friends or what will lure in the hottest guys or what will make you more attractive to our society.

Take it from someone who has made this mistake one too many times:

I used to spend each New Year's Eve stuffing my face with the idea that come January 1st, my resolution to "finally lose the weight for good" would take effect and this time it would really stick.  The first time I made that resolution was in 4th grade. Each year was the same pattern: I would stick with a diet/exercise plan for a few weeks, gradually get bored and be back to my usual ways without much to show for it.

However, when I made the same resolution at the beginning of 2010, the second half of my freshman year at college, it really stuck.  I stopped eating almost entirely, subsisting on the one cup of miso soup I would allow myself each day.  I started skipping classes to go to Bikram hot yoga, a welcome relief as I was freezing all the time.  I stopped going out with my friends so they wouldn't see how strained my relationships had become; instead, I would go to the gym and spend 3 hours on the StairMaster, watching myself in the mirror and calling myself fat, telling myself that this was the punishment for a lifetime of overeating.  And, not surprisingly, I lost 20 pounds.  And it felt amazing and I could wear whatever I wanted and everyone told me how great I looked and all my guy friends were suddenly interested in me.

But what they couldn't see was that it wasn't actually amazing, that underneath that new, thin front, I was suffering.  I was hungry and cold and sad and scared and even though I had this amazing new body, I didn't have the soul to fill it up anymore.

It took me years to recover from that New Year's resolution.   Since then, I have discovered that the best resolutions you can make are those that will feed your mind, body and soul as one.  I know it sounds a little earth-child of me, but really, if you're going to spend a whole year focusing on some major goal, shouldn't it be one that is going to add joy and happiness to your life instead of one that will force you to give up the things you love?

Now keep in mind, I'm all for self-improvement.  I'm constantly looking for little tweaks to make my life a happier and overall healthier one.  But in the same vein, realize that many of the body-based New Year's resolutions we make don't actually make us healthier or happier.  Often they just make us miserable!

So how about this New Year, we try something different?  Instead of making that same stale resolution to lose five pounds or tone your butt or whatever it is you freak out about, how about you focus instead on what will lead to not only a healthier body but a happier one?

Instead of resolving to "exercise more," make time for active recreation that makes you happy and that you can look forward to.   There's no need to hit the gym when you can go for a hike, walk your dog on the beach, kayak at the lake, take a salsa class with that sexy man in your life, or even play tag with your nieces and nephews!  Forget that "eat less" resolution, but work on nourishing your body by learning how to cook healthy, homemade meals, hitting the local farmer's market as a weekly date night or kicking some of those processed foods to the curb.

See what I mean?  Resolutions can be at once a lot more fun and a lot more beneficial to your body and your soul if you take the time to consider what will make you genuinely happier and healthier not just for 2014 but for the rest of your life.

With that, I am off to enjoy tonight's obligatory glass of champagne and some homemade tamales (guilt-free!) before we embark on another beautiful year of growth and self-discovery. Happy new year and I'll see you in 2014.

That's the slice!

Sonja

A little bit of inspiration.

Hello beautifuls.

Today's blog is a bit of a cop-out on my part due to the fact that the phylogeny of vertebrate evolution is a lot more difficult to memorize than I thought it would be...

BUT never fear!  Instead of writing an article, I decided to post a few of my favorite quotes about loving and accepting yourself and your body, quotes that I go back to when I'm having a hard time doing the same thing myself.  I definitely think they'll speak to you, hopefully they'll inspire you, and just maybe you'll have one of those awesome "aha!" moments that so many of these have brought to me.

One of my favorite things about quotes, really good quotes, is that you can hang onto them.  I keep a list of the ones that inspire me most on my phone so that I always have them with me for those moments I need a little push in the right direction.  I truly believe that the attitude you have approaching problems big and small determines 99% of your success, and so when I just can't seem to put a smile on, sometimes I can find solace in these.  Hopefully you can do the same!

So check it out!  I find it most productive to read one of them, pause, and really consider it.  I know that sounds so 6th grade ("don't forget to pause and think about what you've just read!"), but it really does help get the message across.  Here are 8 of my favorite quotes about loving and accepting yourself just as you are:

 

There you have it!  If you don't have time to go through and think on them right now, no worries.  Maybe you can find a few minutes over the upcoming holiday to really meditate on a few of your favorites and see where that takes you!

If, on the other hand, you need a little something extra to get you through the holidays (which are unfortunately sometimes filled with the innane opinions of family and old friends about who you should be and how you should get there and why whatever you're doing right now is somehow wrong), I also maintain a Pinterest board where I pin tons of quotes and pictures that I find inspiring and encouraging.  Check that out here: "One Size Does Not Fit All".

More than anything, just remember that, even if certain others don't recognize how amazing you are, even if you can't see it in yourself yet, you truly are beautiful and wonderful and inspiring, just the way you are.  And once you realize that, nobody can take it away from you.

One more for the road, party rockers:

And that's the slice!

Enjoy,

Sonja

VS Fashion Show (Round Two)

Alright, ladies, today's the day, the day when millions of beautiful and amazing young women will sit themselves down in front of their TVs with a pint of Haagen Dazs and try to figure out where they went wrong, why they will never have the big breasts or the slim waist or the long, lanky legs society demands from them...  Today is the day of the annual Victoria's Secret Fashion show.

Before we dive in, I just want to put the disclaimer out there that I'm not saying you can't watch the show or even that you shouldn't watch it.  I love the spectacle of the thing just as much as you do!  Who doesn't want to see a $10 million bra paraded down the runway amidst a surely even-more expensive production?

What you aren't allowed to do is sit there and wallow in your own misfortune, wishing you could look like one of those women.

Why, you ask?

Well, first of all, if you've been following me for a while, you'll remember that in my last post about the VS Fashion Show, I explored a professional make-up artist's take on how to pull off the VS look.  (If you haven't read that post or would like a little refresher, find it here: "Victoria's little secrets.")  Spoiler alert: throw in some extensions, a fake tan and some HAC-ing and we could all look like a VS Angel.

Still not convinced?  I have proof (a picture's worth a thousand words, after all). I give to you, for your viewing pleasure, the transformation of a VS Angel, from untouched to photo- or runway-ready:

I'm not the best at recognizing faces, but I'm being honest when I say that if I saw some of these women on the street in normal dress, I really don't think I'd recognize them as models.  In no way am I trying to suggest they aren't beautiful, they're just normal women like you and me.

Feeling a bit better?  Now remember that these beauties don't just go walking around looking like they just got off the runway every day; it takes hours (sometimes even days) of intensive beauty care by industry professionals to get these women looking their best, and that's after all of the months spent with personal trainers and nutritionists.

Adriana Lima (the brunette in the first picture) has spoken at length to the amount of work that goes into her preparation for the show, including "twice-daily workouts, drinking gallons of water (literally) every day, a high-protein diet" and a full-out, liquids-only diet leading up to the show.  And that's before the hours of professional work.  Doutzen Kroes, another Angel, further told the New York Post, "Sometimes it makes me feel guilty now that I am in this profession that makes... girls insecure. I always say, I don't look like [that]."

Just think about this for a second: looking fantastic come show-time is these women's lives.  It's their job.  They are paid millions of dollars a year to look the way they do at this show, and they don't do it on their own.  If you had a personal trainer, a personal chef, and a dozen hair and make-up experts working on you day and night,, don't you think you'd look a lot closer to that ideal you're always aiming for?

But you know what?  That's not your life and it's not your job and it's not your responsibility, no matter how much society would like you to think so.

I'm going to guess that you're a lot like me.  You probably have two or three more commitments in the air than any sane woman would take on, on top of trying to balance school and a job and maybe even a relationship with a healthy lifestyle.  Sound familiar?  Right.  So why in the name of that catrillion-dollar bra do you expect yourself to look like a model while you're doing it?  Unless you're willing to spend 8+ hours a day making this your one and only goal, you shouldn't.

And you know what else? You are brilliant and amazing and wonderful at what YOU do, and that is plenty.  So go, watch the show, but keep in mind that you are just as worthy and just as wonderful as those Angels, and as long as you're doing your best in your own life, that is more than enough.

Enjoy the slice,

Sonja

Transformation tuesday!

Hey y'all! (I spent Thanksgiving with an amazing Southern family and I'm feelin' the vibe.)

You guys know how much I love internet phenomena, so it should come as no surprise that today I'm drawing from yet another picture that's making its rounds in the online community this week.  What's a bit different than usual is that it's actually something positive!

You know those before-and-after photos you see in essentially every weight-loss commercial/ad/etc. known to man?  Yeah, me too.  You know how they make you feel like you're some great, unfinished work and if you could just lose that weight that drives you crazy, you could be as happy as those "after" picture people? Yeah, ME TOO.

So you can only imagine how much it brightened my day when I found this gem from fitness blogger Mel V.:

(Sorry about the awkward sizing, I'm still figuring out the blogging world!)

Here's the full caption that she posted with this photo:

"Check out my transformation! It took me 15 minutes.  Wanna know my secret?  Well firstly I ditched the phonewallet (fwallet) cause that thing is lame, swapped my bather bottoms to black (cause they're a size bigger and black is slimming), Smothered on some fake tan, clipped in my hair extensions, stood up a bit taller, sucked in my guts, popped my hip- threw in a skinny arm, stood a bit wider #boxgap, pulled my shoulders back and added a bit of cheeky/Im so proud of my results smile.  Zoomed in on the before pic- zoomed out on the after & a filter. Cos' filters make everything awesome.  What's my point? Don't be deceived by what you see in magazines & on Instagram.. You never see the dozens of other pics they took that wernt as flattering.  Photoshop can make a pig look hotter than Beyonce."

Cue round of applause!

I actually went to Mel V.'s blog to check out what she's up to, and it turns out this whole "screw the transformation pictures" thing is like, a movement or something. 

Here's another one for all the guys out there reading along!  This is Andrew Dixon, a personal trainer:

The caption on this one reads:

"I decided to take my own transformation photos to see what was possible with just a few easy tweaks...  I was feeling particularly bloated on the day, so I asked my girlfriend to take a before shot.  I then shaved my head, face and chest and prepared for the after shot, which was about an hour after I took the before shot.  I did a few push ups and chin ups, tweaked my bedroom lighting, sucked in, tightened my abs and BOOM!  We got our after shot.  As you can see, I'm no bodybuilder, but I had enough muscle on me to catch some shadows from the all-important overhead lighting."

Here's another one he did where he tries to replicate "a few months of hard work and dieting" over the course of an hour:

Another round of applause?

Alright, enough clapping.  In all seriousness, I think that seeing these is so important for us because we live in what Mr. Dixon calls "a world of manipulation, false promises and exaggeration."  We all see those before-and-after photos and we wish we could be the "after"s- by Christmas or by our next birthday or by our next big date even, we could be thin, tan, beautiful, and (supposedly) so much happier.  But you know what?  Just like the high fashion ads I'm always ragging on, these transformations aren't real.  Not even close. 

I'm going to quote Mr. Dixon again here because he really just gets what I'm all about:

"Forget about the quick transformations and focus on a life of healthy eating, well-managed stress levels, quality sleep and plenty of movement. Spend time with people who have similar goals and values and take time to appreciate yourself the way you are right now. Don't beat yourself up if you eat a cookie, just enjoy that cookie and everything else life has to offer.

We all spend too much time sucking in our guts, trying to look the way we think society thinks we should. Don't waste any more energy trying to compete with everyone else.

It's all smoke and mirrors."

Boom.  If that doesn't inspire you, I don't know what will.

Also, I know a lot of us are entering that high-stress period of finals that drives students crazy, so if this is you, please try to remember that your well-being is the single most important thing in your life.  Take care of yourself, take care of your body and keep everything in perspective- just like a few pounds don't decide your future, neither does a test.  Trust me: I've been there, I've failed that test, and I lived to tell the tale. 

Alright ladies and gentlemen, that's the slice!

Much love, 

Sonja

"I choose to be fat."

An old friend from my hometown sent me a truly incredible piece of writing this past weekend from Laura Bogart, a freelance author who recently wrote an article called "I choose to be fat" (find it here).  It's a piece in which she discusses the self-esteem issues she's dealt with for the majority of her life as a result of being overweight. If you've struggled with your weight at any point in your life, as I have, it's a wonderful read.  But even if you haven't, this piece is truly empowering in that it speaks to the underlying issue most of us routinely face: never feeling like we're enough.

I would highly recommend you take the time to read the full article at some point, but in case you only have a few minutes right now, here are two of my favorite points:

• Whenever the women around me talk about how great so-and-so looks now that she’s joined that pricey gym or gone under the knife (even if so-and-so is still sort of a bitch), I remember purging and popping pills and eating three well-balanced meals a day; binging and starving and reading “Anna Karenina” on a StairMaster. But none of it left me happier or healthier. Just hungry.
• In every special episode about weight loss, tearful brides lament how big they look in wedding photos, as if the 26-inch waist they have now negates the husbands who’ve always loved them. Fathers choke up remembering the day they knew they “had to make a change,” the day their toddlers randomly called them fat, as if that observational indictment means more than all those “I love you’s.” There’s always a former Miss Lonelyheart, a thirtysomething virgin who — after a gastric bypass or militant adherence to the Paleo diet — has shed half her body weight and is finally ready for Mr. Right. I’ve no doubt that they really do feel healthier and happier, and honestly (truly) good for them. I just wish that the entirety of their lives weren’t reduced to a single achievement. 

Ms. Bogart hits on something really important here, and that thing is that your body does not define you.  Yes, it's where you live and it's what you carry with you through life, but the number of calories you eat or the size of your waist has nothing to do with who you are really are.  I've spent years watching people judge me for my weight - cashiers asking if I'm making a "good choice" when I buy brownie mix at the market instead of some sort of cruciferous vegetable; a man laughing at me in disbelief when he overheard me talking about how I had recently completed a triathlon; a nurse retaking my vital stats twice because she couldn't believe that they were all within the "optimal" range.  However, they know nothing about the groundbreaking work I've done in the animal welfare field or how much I love Christmastime or how I hope to open a bakery someday or really anything that defines who I am as a person.  And even worse, I carry this constant fear that even if they knew me, really knew me, none of it would matter; all they would see is "fat."

The point is this: you are so much more than your appearance.  Even if you were to transform yourself and reach that body you've always dreamed of, it certainly wouldn't be the most important thing you'd do in this world.  The amazing things you think about and feel and love and want to change are so much more important than any pair of jeans could ever be.  So how about this Thanksgiving, instead of putting even more energy into worrying about those few pounds you're constantly trying to stave off, try instead to be thankful for the beautiful body you were given, a body that allows you to do some pretty amazing things in this world.  You are not the size of your pants or the number on the scale.  You are real and you are incredible in the very body you're sitting in right now, and that is enough.

Oh, and have that second slice of pie if you have room.  Trust me on this one, you deserve it.

Enjoy the slice,

Sonja