And a good day to you, too.

Phew - this is, as Mike so aptly put it, the "calm before the warm" - as we prepare to give away a Trip a Day to Sandals Grande St. Lucian, starting tomorrow after the 7:30 am news.  Yesterday, it was a 2008 Suzuki Grand Vitara to a Whitby woman who says she has never won anything.  Well, a new car is sure a great way to start!  How lucky we are to be able to change people's lives (for the better) simply by announcing their names.

Here we are, Mike and I, at Sandals last year.  And the trips!  I have to tell you that since a group of CHFI listeners goes down together, the friendships that are forged are often for life, or at least are so far!  It's an amazing thing to see.  Because they share CHFI as their favourite radio station, these men and women all have something in common from the get-go.  Mike and I just get to mix them all together and have a great time, then watch the memory making begin.

Hope you're in on it starting tomorrow morning and running every morning for the next several weekdays.  If not, just log on to chfi.com and start allocating those rewards points today.  Believe it or not, last year at Sandals Royal Bahamian, one of our winners only had one ballot in.  (She'd meant to enter a contest for her daughter to see Hillary Duff, but clicked in the wrong place and ended up in the RIGHT place - on the beach with us during a wickedly cold Toronto week in November!)

Let's go back to summer for now, shall we?  Mike, Rob, Debbie and I were out for a lovely warm stroll on city streets together on Tuesday night and we ended up trying a sushi restaurant that was new to us.  That's always an adventure: agreeing upon and then sampling a place none of us has been.  It was a good experience though; we shared a lot of laughs over that sashimi and edamame, and agreed how good it feels to be back in the saddle.  Even though we were only off for a long weekend - with Friday tacked on for good behaviour - Mike and I both really feel as if we're in the starting blocks for an amazing year.

Do you ever get that feeling?  When a wave of optimism or happiness washes over you?  I hope you do.  I'm getting that.   Maybe it's the drugs (!) or quite likely the exercise.  The doctor I went to see about getting some orthotics for my runners Thursday told me that there's data showing that serotonin levels - the juice in our brain that makes us happy, sad, and so on - are routinely higher in people who work out.  And I believe it.  'Cause it's not just the physical exertion of putting on your sneakers and working up a sweat, but the way your jeans fit, the compliments you get and the knowledge that no matter what else happens to you, you're taking control of your body.

Boy, there are a lot of ads for cosmetic this and that.  I was flipping through a magazine while toiling away on the elliptical at the gym (needed something light and fluffy 'cause I don't have the energy to work out and read) and saw how to have so-and-so's abs or Jessica Alba's butt.  Actually, I'm closer to having her abs...now that she's pregnant... :)  But I digress....

I'm more a fan of the whole Queen Latifa angle in the weight loss ads; she's her own size but healthy.

Can I tell you what a crock of lard the BMI is?  In case you're not familiar with it, BMI is the Body Mass Index and it tells us all if we're obese, overweight, normal or underweight.  In our house, as part of Wii Fit, we've gotten to know the BMI scale.  And it's BS.  Lauren's boyfriend Nathan, who is extremely thin (and partly because the poor kid has so many food allergies that every mouthful is dangerous - and that's not just my cooking), is considered normal.  Rob, who at 5'10" has exercised and eaten his way down to 173 this week, is just barely "normal" in the BMI and one fibre-free day away from being overweight.

He wanted me to tell you that he's wearing the exact same size jeans now as he wore in high school.  And since Rob edits this each morning at 4:00 am before we post it, I had no choice.  (But honestly Rob, don't you think the rainbow suspenders are just a bit much?  We get it!  We get it!)

Weightwise, Rob and I are revoltingly alike.  Of course, that's not a surprise; when we were first married we even had the same contact lens prescription.  But while we both swear that our adventures in pursuit of health and wellness are not a competition, there's nothing like a bit of a race to keep you both on track.  On days when he weighs a little less than I do, I just hang him by his ankles from the balcony until he promises to eat a cruller!  I have another bit to go, but as a wise woman once told me, the way you take it off is the way you keep it off; I'm happy with 1-2 pounds a month.

At any rate, if you were away and missed any journals in August, I did quite a comprehensive (and hopefully helpful) couple of blogs here on working out, BMIs and so on.  Click HERE and scroll down to the 20th and 21st of August.  You're welcome to join me as we embark on this healthy new year devoted to feeling good, looking better and setting a great example to our increasingly lumpfish kids.  I'll tell you - the sweat and work are hard, but the results are just so worthwhile.  Not only for the photos on the beach in November, but for our new TV ads, which start airing next Thursday.

Take care and have a great day.  We'll be back here to help you welcome the weekend tomorrow.  A trip would be a great way to celebrate a Friday now, wouldn't it?

Erin

Hey - welcome to Wednesday (already) - on the heels of yet another spectacular summer day.  It was so nice that last evening, Mike, Debbie, Rob and I strolled over to Yorkville and enjoyed a nice sushi dinner.  Nobody famous there yet (that we saw) but, of course, the Toronto International Film Festival doesn't get going 'til this weekend.  I don't usually venture to that area during TIFF, but this year, I might just snoop around to see who we see!

At this time of year, it's even more fun than usual to window shop in Toronto's "chic-est" area.  And really, isn't vicariously the only way most of us can shop there anyway?  The windows are all dressed up in film themes; Harry Rosen's window mannequins caught our eye - check out the white Marilyn Monroe dress "billowing" in the winds à la Seven Year Itch.  These days, rather than gentle breezes that flirt with her skirt, it's the jarring aural slap of jack hammers and cement mixers coupled with the obstacular impediments of fenced-off sidewalks and speeding cyclists who can't fit on the reduced roadways and are quite willing to take your life into their hands as well as their own.  Other than that...it's a nice stroll....

Have a terrific day and we're back with you here tomorrow.  Don't forget that we're taking you for a glorious, luxurious week to Sandals Grande St. Lucian in November, with trip-a-day giveaways starting on Friday.  Today (just after 7:30 am) we're giving away that 2008 Suzuki Grand Vitara.  I just wish I had a litre of gas for every listener who said, "That car is MINE!"  Someone is going to be right - and we'll find out who today!

Erin

Welcome BACK!  This day has always seemed to me like the real "new year's day".  And just like all of those first days back, today's forecast will prove far too warm for the hoodies, jeans and other must-haves of the fall school wardrobe.  You do remember those days, right?  Wearing that new sweater-with-blouse combo or those flared, cuffed cords, despite the fact that it was most definitely warm enough for shorts and tees?

Ah, September.  Not quite summer, not quite fall.  I vote for at least another month of what we enjoyed Saturday, Sunday and yesterday.  Awesome!

There was a lot of news to keep us riveted this weekend, from tracking Gustav's course as it bore down on Louisiana, to the latest "As the Oval Office Turns" from the US election campaign.

From the moment it was announced that she would be John McCain's running mate, developments in the Sarah Palin story were coming in faster than 680 News could re-cue its "this just in" sounder.  From rumours that her new baby son Trig was actually her 17-year-old daughter's child (false) to stories that the same teenaged daughter is now five months pregnant (true), this election campaign has gone from interesting to downright juicy!

If Governor Palin really is a proponent of teaching abstinence in schools - as opposed to educating about birth control - maybe this baby will prove to be an epiphany for her and her party.  Or not.  The ramifications of this predicament happening to a woman who's just stepped into an incredibly public and all-encompassing role in the white hot spotlight are myriad.  Now, if we can just stick to the facts...please.

While Americans loudly debate who has more (or less) experience on their Democratic and Republican tickets, Canadians learned that Stephane Dion went to Stephen Harper's Prime Ministerial digs yesterday.  Yes, that's just about as exciting as it gets.  But our campaign signs will have gone up and come down before Americans even get a chance to vote.  Our election day is shaping up as October 14th; theirs comes the following month.

But enough of all that!  Today Mike, Ian, Gord and I are so excited to be starting up a brand new season of mornings with you.  Everything you love: from the most music every hour to the Wise Guys, daily winners to see Celine Dion on the Ticket Blitz and - as you'll hear officially later this morning, or read in your Scoop Newsletter - the original (and by far the BEST) Trip a Day giveaway returns!

We don't just send you away to the Caribbean...we take you, entertain you and give you a weeklong trip to a spectacular all-inclusive resort.  The Air Canada Vacations flight leaves in November and we can't wait to help you make memories at the opulent, super luxurious Sandals Grande St. Lucian.  There's a link here if you want to start dreaming, but in the meantime, get your CHFI Loyalty Club membership in order and start thinking of how you'll tell your boss you're going to need some time off in two months!

Have a wonderful Tuesday.  It's a short week, but with so much going on and kids getting back in the swing of things, it's going to fly by.

Thanks for letting CHFI start your day every morning.  In a city where radio stations seem to switch morning shows like gas stations change prices, we're glad you've made CHFI home.  Now, let us show you.  Get in on those daily Sandals Trip a Day Giveaways!  Plane starts boarding (figuratively speaking; that's a long time on the tarmac!) this Friday morning.  Have a fast week, and we'll talk to you here tomorrow.

Erin