Diva Taunia's Backstage Pass Official Blog

NEW MICHAEL AARON VIDEO: Tori Amos Cover of "Baker Baker"

DIVA TAUNIA'S GLITZ, GLAMOUR, GOODIES & GIFTS! December Radio

What do you get when you take two of my very favorite things (the holidays & giving away stuff) and put them together??  You get a MONTH-LONG HOLIDAY PROMOTION, that's what!

Tune in every Monday to find out about all the different glitz, glamour, goodies and gifts out there to make your holiday season as "Diva!" as possible!  Listener giveaways, secret Twitter and Facebook Giveaways, special guests, and special co-hosts!  Lots of fun stuff for the holidays. 

Listen live every Monday in December at 7pm EST to win!

www.backstagepassradio.com

Don't forget to watch for special shopping discounts using the "DIVAT" coupon code, and keep an eye out for sponsors and prizes that will be continually listed here.  Happy Holidays!

SPONSORS AND PRIZES  FOR MONDAY, DECEMBER 6TH:

www.handperfection.com

HAND PERFECTION:  Diva Taunia’s FAVORITE HAND CREAM EVER! 

Our Day and Night Kit  gives you full time hand protection. The Complete Day Cream shows immediate benefits of brightening skin tone and blurring imperfections – plus cumlulative, clinically proven benefits of diminishing age spots, lines and wrinkles in as little as two weeks. Night Solution is our overnight, restorative miracle serum that accelerates hand renewal while you sleep. Awaken with hands that are supple, soft and younger looking. REDBOOK calls Night Solution “The Ultimate Anti-ager.”

SPONSORED PRIZE:  One Day and Night Kit Valued at $99!
DIVA DISCOUNT:   Use "DIVAT" at checkout for a 20% discount on your order! 

     

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www.shatobu.com

ShaToBu - The Workout You Wear - is the revolutionary shaper that helps women shape, tone and burn more calories during everyday activities – even during your busy holiday shopping!

The benefits go beyond ordinary shapewear - ShaToBu instantly gives a sleeker silhouette, but women can also see and feel a difference in their bodies with regular use over time. By incorporating resistance bands right into the garment, muscles work a little harder and more calories are burned during daily activities.

ShaToBu helps women fit a workout into their normal day, while looking and feeling great.

SPONSORED PRIZE:  Your choice of (1) Shapewear from www.shatobu.com!

DIVA DISCOUNT:   Use "DIVAT" at checkout for a 20% discount on your order! 

   



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www.futureoxygen.com

Future Oxygen offers distinctive products with an eye toward improving the environment. The charming pendants, key chains, greeting cards and stationery can be planted after use to grow into beautiful flowers, grasses or trees, making a living, lasting connection to a special life moment, relationship or memory. The beauty of the world around us and within us is reflected in the use of our products and in the new life created by the subsequent planting of such a symbol.

All FO2 products are 100% biodegradable, including the packaging and are available for gifts,personal use, awareness, school/club fundraisers and as promotional items. A portion of our proceeds are donated through GreaterGood.org to support breast cancer awareness, animal rescue and support of the environment. Enjoy life’s beauty naturally!

SPONSORED PRIZE:  Two (2) pieces of FO2 Ecowear from the website!
DIVA DISCOUNT:   Use "DIVAT" at checkout for a 20% discount on your order! 

  

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 www.frownies.com

Frownies has been called an ‘institution’ in the beauty industry. The small, woman owned and operated business is still run by the same family that started the company in 1889.  B&P Company, owners of the brand Frownies, stands for Beauty and Personal Wellness. Today B&P Company is committed to woman’s health as well as beauty and bring to market products free of synthetic preservative or other ingredients that are known carcinogens and estrogen mimickers.

CEO Kat Wright ND is committed to creating a simple, effective line of all natural products that preserve both beauty and skin heath. Frownies products address acne towrinkles and everything in between. Dr. Kat Wright has published a book to go along with the company philosophy of creating safe and healthy products titled, Your Health in Your Hands empowering women and exposing health.

SPONSORED PRIZE:  "Face Lift In a Bag!" Complete Skin Care Beauty Program!
DIVA DISCOUNT:   Use "DIVAT" at checkout for a 20% discount on your order! 

  

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www.flirtydivatees.com

Women need to have more fun! At FlirtyDivaTees.com, we believe there is a name for this. It's called harmless cheap fun! That's all we offer here at Flirty Diva Tees, harmless cheapf un for women! Let's face it...isn't life more enjoyable when you laugh and have some fun? Flirty Diva Tees makes our women's flirty shirts available in all sizes, plus sizes too. We offer them in a soft style fitted ladies t-shirts and the looser fitting ladies t-shirts both styles are femininely styled fashionable t-shirts. When you wear our Flirty Diva Tees, two things will happen...people will laugh, and you will have fun! People love interacting with ladies who know how to have some fun and have a sense of humor and isn't that what you want to do? If it's not...well, maybe you should. Flirty Diva Tees flirty funny ladies tee shirts quotes are all about making the best ofyour time out with friends, laugh at life and cheer up the population! It will do you good.  Visit www.flirtydivatees.com to see more designs and join in the fun!

SPONSORED PRIZE:  One Flirty Diva Tee of Your Choice, Size & Design!
DIVA DISCOUNT:   Use "DIVAT" at checkout for a 15% discount on your order! 

    

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www.iyoba.com

Iyoba Body Essentials is known for super creamy soap bars - always made with olive oil, essential oils, shea butter, mango butter, cocoa butter, and "love." We also offer a complete skin and hair care line of the most nourishing products available. So whether you're looking for a specific therapeutic skin or hair care product or you simply want to pamper yourself with our all-natural beauty products -- we invite you to experience the Iyoba difference.  Iyoba products make wonderful holiday gifts, and you can feel good about giving yourself or your loved ones a quality product made from all-natural ingredients.

SPONSORED PRIZE:  

 SPONSORED PRIZE:  Foot Butter, Foot Scrub, and Spicy Caramel Body Set!
DIVA DISCOUNT:   Use "DIVAT" at checkout for a 25% discount on your order!

  

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SECRET FACEBOOK & TWITTER GIVEAWAY!

www.braceletmate.com

Want to win one of these super-cute, and super-convenient Bracelet Mates?!  Become a fan on the Diva Taunia Facebook Page OR follow on Twitter @divataunia to find out how to win! 

Each Bracelet-Mate® & Bracelet Plus® is beautifully hand-beaded. Besides the numerous design options available, what makes them truly unique is that the bracelet is attached to a mini wrist wallet capable of carrying your ID, credit cards, currency, lipstick and key. When worn, the wallet sits discreetly on the inside of your wrist, and can be worn on either wrist; you always know where your belongings are!

SPONSORED PRIZE:  One Bracelet Mate of your choice!

  

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Check back daily to see the latest sponsors and holiday giveaways!

I'M WORTH IT

A beautiful and inspirational video put together by the lovely Elle Williams:

2010 WLS AWARDS RECAP! Congrats to all! :)

Did you miss the live awards last night?  No problem!  Here's all the info you could ever want to read/listen/watch about it:

RADIO SHOW - CLICK HERE : BACKSTAGE PASS RADIO LIVE SHOW WITH WINNER ANNOUNCEMENTS

BARIATRIC TV LIVE CHAT ACCEPTANCE SPEECHES - CLICK HERE:  BARIATRIC TV ON USTREAM

2010 FULL NOMINEE & WINNER LIST - CLICK HERE:   WWW.WLSAWARDS.COM

Congratulations to all the nominees and winners!  

TONIGHT!! 7pm EST: The 2010 WLS AWARDS!

AUDITIONS! Singers, Dancers, Actors - Diva Taunia Dolls Burlesque!

I'VE BEEN OUTED

Ok, I may as well come clean.  I've been avoiding this for a long time - hoping it would just go away. Alas, with my propensity for making almost every detail of my life public, I can't believe I expected to somehow make it through this without being found out.  Sigh.

Remember how I was taking a big trip last summer to somewhere very secret?  Well:

            

Believe me, I'm just as digusted as you are.  Here's the scoop on what went down:

I was contacted about potentially being on a show, but the show had an altogether different name when they spoke with me.  The show also had an altogether different concept than what this show is about.  It was about getting your dream wedding, and yes, plastic surgery if you wanted BUT, the focus on my "inspirational story" was really pushed harder than the wedding and way more stressed than any mention of plastic surgery.  They made a VERY BIG DEAL about how inspirational my story was, and I was led to believe that the weight loss itself, the journey I had been through with the hospital and everything else was a story that would be interesting.  Wrong.

Now before you judge me, hear me out.  I lost my job well over a year ago, and since then Rob and I have been struggling to make ends meet.  When I tell you we barely get everything paid each month, I'm not kidding.  I'm lucky enough to have someone who loves me enough to support all the volunteer work I do each week because he knows how passionate I am about it,  and were lucky enough to still have a roof over our heads.  So when I was contacted about the show initially, I thought two things:

1.  This is probably the only way Rob and I would be able to afford a wedding.   We don't want anything glitzy (they didn't like it when I said that), but being able to celebrate with the friends and family we love is SUPER important to us.  We thought this may be a way to make it happen. (And no, we're no different gazillions of other people in this country right now.)

2.  I have been denied coverage for reconstructive coverage of any sort.  I have at least 15-20 of extra skin hanging from my body.  I wake up in pain DAILY.  I'm in pain DAILY.  The thought of having that done and covered?  SIGN ME UP.  I honestly cannot even remember the last day I had where I did NOT have back and neck pain - it's just part of my every day routine now.  The thought of that ending was overwhelming, and I saw an opportunity and wanted to try.

The production assistant screwed up before we left, sending an email out to all the girls slated to be on the show (without BCCing, so all email addys were revealed).  Being a Google and Facebook detective, I quickly found out my competition.  Twenty-something bikini models.  It wasn't looking good for me, but I thought that maybe my late-bloomer weight loss-bride story might be interesting enough for me to do well.

Now fast forward to me arriving in "Hollywood."  I was immediately stripped naked for the whole crew to exploit.  Yes, I knew it was coming but I had no clue how deeply and emotionally that would affect me.  Honestly?  If I had known I'd come back in the near-suicidal state I came back in, I would never have gone.  But, I went there a bit naive about my own coping abilities. (And now? I'm in hard-core therapy, yo.  At least FINALLY getting some help was a good thing to come out of this.)

When I was in with the plastic surgeon, I looked down at the desk and saw the title "Bridalplasty," on the doc's folder.  I immediately knew that this was not how they sold it to me, and I felt really embarassed that I had been so naive and so ready and excited to go.  One of the production assistants realized what I had just seen and tried to cover it up by saying they kept changing the title, but I knew what was going on, and I knew it wasn't good.

I also knew by the time I put my clothes back on, that I was not going to be on the show.  The surgeon told me that my surgery was very extensive, and recovery would take a very long time and because of my kidney issues, it could potentially be a risky surgery. They had previously told me what the production schedule and airing schedule was, and I knew as soon as he said that, I knew I would not be on the show.   The night before I flew home, they knocked on my door at almost 11pm (after I was already in bed) and told me that I had a 7:30 am flight back to NH. And honestly? I was relieved.  

So there you have it.  Yes, it's Bridalplasty.  Yes, it's horrific.  Yes, I was naive and not thinking clearly when I made that decision and things sometimes things look way better than they actually are.  In my case, I was lucky enough to be sent home and not part of it.  And I've been breathing a sigh of relief ever since.

 

Best Christmas gift ideas for Weight Loss Surgery patients - Nashville weight loss | Examiner.com

Best Christmas gift ideas for Weight Loss Surgery patients - Nashville weight loss | Examiner.com.

Fantasic article with gift suggestions for weight loss surgery patients.  Written by Chris Griffy, a lap band post-op!

WHAT WOULD YOU DO?

Many thanks to Patricia for sending me this. 

If you saw someone overweight being berated in the grocery store, what would you do?  If you respond to this and are comfortable indicating it, I'd also be curious if you are overweight or thin, and/or if you've ever struggled with your weight.   I'm going to reserve my comments for now, but we are DEFINITELY talking about this on the show tommorrow, so I'd LOVE your feedback.

DIVA TAUNIA's QUICK-FIX KORMA: YEOWZA!

I will not go down in culinary history for this recipe, nor do I make ANY statements that this is good for a post-op diet.  It's just DEEEELICIOUS.  And super easy to make in a pinch!

You'll need:

Trader Joe's Korma Simmer Sauce

 

 

 

 

 

A Taste of Thai Chicken & Rice Seasoning (both packets inside)

 

 

 

 

2 to 4 cups of any chicken stock

 

 

 

 

 

One small can of Carnation Evaporated Milk

 

 

 

 

Trader Joe's Jasmine Rice

 

 

 

 

 

ADDITIONAL ITEMS:

• One package of chicken tenders, cut into chunks
• Handful of almonds and/or cashews (more or less to taste)
• Handful of dried cherries
• Handful of dried cranberries
• Chopped up dates (if you have them)
• Chopped Red and Green Peppers, Red Onion - large chop
• Rice Cooker
• Crockpot

HERE WE GO - INTO THE CROCKPOT:

• TJ's Korma Simmer Sauce
• 1 cup of Chicken Stock
• 1/2 can of Evaporated Milk
• Both packages of Taste of Thai Chicken & Rice Seasoning
• Cubed Chicken
• All chopped veggies
• Cover and simmer on HIGH for two hours or LOW for four hours

HERE WE GO - INTO THE RICECOOKER:

• 1.5 CUPS of Jasmine Rice
• 2 cups of chicken stock
• second 1/2 of evaporated milk can
• chopped dates, dried cherries and cranberries
• nuts
• Cook until that shiznit is done!  Then keep on warm

This was fast and deeeeelishious.  I'm not even bothering to look at the calorie count, because I'm sure it would be something very unfriendly.  So tonight, I'm just going to bask in the warm indian-ish flavors in my belly.  Enjoy!