A few weeks ago I planted these:



And now I have this:



Anyone know what this is?? I know it's an herb (not that kind, stoner) but am just not sure what kind. Duh.

From Gawker....this is hilarious!



"Prison inmates in the Philippines practice their "Thriller" routine. This WILL be the best thing you see all day. Or month."

Are you HOT for Hillary?? (cough, choke, wheeze...)



I think there will be more voters for best candidate video than for the candidate themselves!! : )

Click here for one of those cute (if public) engagement stories....

I know the answer!!!!

But our friends over at iVillage are taking a poll - "What's Your Favorite Sex Position".
Vote now!



And see what you probably already know!

(but tell us if you think differently!!)

When I lived in New York, I used to be supremely jealous of my artsy friends who got Fridays off in the summer. Turns out it isn't just an artsy thing anymore - according to Gawker.com, Lord & Taylor, MTV, and even Pfizer at least get out early on Fridays (say, at 1pm).

Do you have to work on summer Fridays??

We do! Now that it's summer, when your office starts clearing out early remember that ChickChat streams live Monday-Friday from 2-4pm ET!

The original: "Obama Girl"


The "reply": "Obama Girl vs. Giulliani Girl" and really - a much more danceable tune....


We're finally gettin' somewhere here! : )

Congrats to RockStar Mommy, winner of the 2007 Flag Cake Smackdown People's Choice Award!!

Thanks to everyone who voted!

Now that the official judges have declared their favorite Flag Cake, kind of like the Academy Awards of Flag Cake, we thought it would only be fair to let everyone vote for their favorite - welcome to the 2007 People's Choice Flag Cake Smackdown Award!!

Voting is an American tradition, right?? And what's more patriotic than voting for your favorite flag cake?

Voting is anonymous - you can only vote once/computer - please review the entries below - you will be voting for a NAME from the ballot, not a picture!

Click Here to take survey (and by survey, we just mean VOTE!)

The People's Choice Award voting will not be up for long - so get goin'!

***UPDATE: You have til Monday 2pm EST to vote!***

The 2nd Annual ChickChat Radio 2007 Flag Cake Smackdown WINNER:




And its a MAN. a DUDE. a GUY! It's tesco!

Here "he" is!



Does that look like a baking contest winner? I think he's breaking a few stereotypes!!

tesco will be joining us tomorrow at 3pm for his "Acceptance Speech

Thanks to ALL the AMAZING entries. You didn't even hear every one of the nice things the judges said about all the entries. We were ALL SO IMPRESSED.

Thanks to Judges Rori Trovato, and Celia Barbour.

And will RockStarMommy be the Susan Lucci of ChickChat Radio's Flag Cake Contest???

Here are the TOP FLAG CAKE ENTRIES:

tesco:

Two layers of Velvet Red cake, one Classic White with blueberry filling and buttercream icing between, all rolled fondant icing pieced together -one by one and an edible print of the Declaration. I made a pattern for the stars out of sheet metal and cut them out of fondant as well.


snickrsnack:



Amber:

What? The American flag isn't pink-ish, white and bright blue?!
That's Ghirardelli white chocolate chips, ladies. Nothing but the best. And the cupcakes next to it are courtesy of my hubby. He says they are fireworks.


Carrisa:

Do you all need to know what ingredients I used? If so I'll say it's a red velvet cake with a frosting I made myself out of Cool Whip, Cream Cheese, Vanilla, and Powdered Sugar.
I used cherries from a can of cherry pie filling and washed them off so they wouldn't be messy. And then mini marshmallows. I used fondant to make the blue patch and the stars.
My coworkers absolutely loved it.



RockStarMommy:



Marisue:

As I hate Jello, my second thought was to "decorate" the inside of the cake as well.
I dyed white cake mix red or blue and only used five tubs of white frosting.
It tasted fairly normal and each piece had about a gazillion grams of sugar.
Although it looks like I had a 7 years old helping me, I did it all :>


The winner? Listen today to ChickChat Radio to find out!! : )

Now that you've perfected the art of baking, how are your mad toilet paper skillz??

The 2007 Annual Toilet Paper Wedding Dress Contest is officially underway. I love this contest! The ladies at cheap-chic-weddings.com rock for coming up with the idea. Here are some past winners:

2005: Rebekah even had working buttons up the back:



2006: Stephanie:



2006: Hannah was runner up but HELLO? See that detail? I had to show you!



For more info on the 2007 Contest (which ends July 31, get your entry in!) - click here!

The entries have been submitted to our esteemed judges: iVillages Food Expert Rori Trovato and Oprah Magazine Food Editor, Celia Barbour.

Wednesday is JUDGEMENT DAY. We will chat with both Rori and Celia on Wednesday to see what they thought!

In the meantime - we are not in the contest -- but we "felt your pain" (well, some of it anyway - NONE of it fondant induced...)

LARA'S WORK!!

FlagFireworks was a meringue torte with whipped cream frosting. The shards of the crust combined with red and blue berries to represent the explosion of fireworks on the Fourth of July. It’s the first time I got to use my brand new mixmaster. And, my fiancé did something to the colors to make them look so dramatic!



FlagCake2007 was a traditional flag cake, from Betty Crocker pound cake, strawberry jell-o, and cool whip topping. It was made and decorated entirely by my 10-year-old soon-to-be stepdaughter.



HEIDI'S WORK:

Just carbon copy of last year.....old skooooool




Thanks to all the 'entrants' -- we'll be displaying their work all in one place here - VERY soon

Something like 70,000 couples are getting married tomorrow. Why? It's a lucky day, it's the only chance they have at remembering their anniversary, they love Tony Parker and Eva Longoria...I could go on. My wedding is less than three months away, and I'm constantly looking for ideas to make it a fun day for my guests. Couples are taking their first dance pretty seriously these days, and my fiance and I are no exception! I do think that some people take things a bit too far - like that couple that did the "Thriller" dance for their guests. That's just weird.

Would you do this at your wedding???

If you are bringing your best game to enter the RUDE, the CRUDE, the WILD and the UNBRIDLED 2nd Annual Flag Cake SMACKDOWN -
Boy have we got a TREAT for you.

Introducing your 2007 Flag Cake SMACKDOWN Judges:

Last year's fabulous iVillage Food Expert RORI TROVATO

And new this year OPRAH Magazine's Contributing Food Editor: CELIA BARBOUR


Last year's fabulous iVillage Food Expert RORI TROVATO:

Rori was kind enough to jump on in and judge the FIRST ever Flag Cake Smackdown. And we learned so much from her. We met Rori through our fabulous friends at iVillage. She's the Food Expert for iVillage.
Food stylist and cooking teacher Rori Trovato and her husband, acclaimed photographer Luca Trovato, make delicious food look beautiful. Their work can be seen in Rori's new cookbook, Dishing with Style, as well as in O Magazine, Food & Wine and Bon Appetit. Currently, the couple resides in Santa Barbara, California.

Wow- just wow!!

And new this year OPRAH MAGAZINE'S CONTRIBUTING FOOD EDITOR: CELIA BARBOUR:
As we understand it, prior to The Oprah Magazine, Celia previously worked with Hallmark Magazine, Martha Stewart Weddings, Martha Stewart Kids, AND Martha Stewart Living. She's also written about food a lot for a small paper you might have heard of, The New York Times!!!


We'll be speaking with each of them on the show after we announce the results next week.

Good Luck ladies AND gentlemen!!

We are READY to RUUUUUUMBLE!