Blog Posts by The_Stir

If there's a pair of jeans to have this season, it's Current/Elliott's Leopard Stiletto skinny jeans, which retail for $198 at stores like Singer22.com.

You would not believe the number of celebrities who've been spotted in these jeans. (Spotted. Get it? Heh.)

Here are just a few of the celebs who own a pair: Sarah Jessica Parker, Katie Holmes, Emily Blunt, Mandy Moore, Heidi Klum, Nicky Hilton, and Isla Fisher.

I love these jeans because they give you the leopard print look without being in-your-face about it.

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Also? They go with just about everything!

There's only one problem: $198 is a lot of money to spend on a pair of jeans.

The good news is that I've found an identical pair for a fifth of the price!

Keep reading to find out where to get them.

These Spoon Jeans (Macy's, $34.99 on sale) are totally affordable, giving you the hottest celebrity look of the season for far, FAR less.

In celebration of my latest book, Hot Sex: Over 200 Things You Can Try Tonight, I've decided to round up 50 sexy or sex-filled things that you can do -- easily. Well, depending on the kids and time, and without much prep, to help keep things cayenne-pepper hot in the sexy time department. And I want you to add to the list too, please!

Ready?

• Kiss like you did before you had ever done anything else.
• Breathe together, holding and hugging each other while you do it.
• Eat seductively. Really pay attention to how you lick ice cream or chew meat off a bone.
• See how long you can stay turned on without taking any of your clothes off.

• Dry hump with your clothes, or at least your underwear, on.
• Rub your hair all over his body.
• For at least one minute, both of you stare into each other's eyes.
• Set up email accounts using aliases. Then send dirty emails and pictures to that account.
• Play a

Natural hairOh good Lord. I love being a black woman, but I must confess I've grown tired of this ongoing conversation about our hair. Grow an Afro, lock it up, slap a perm in it, lop it off - just groom the stuff and let's talk about something else. Sheesh. I get there are deeper issues that go along with what comes out of our scalps, mental conditioning that's pressured us to hate our hair as is. But I just can't discuss it anymore. At least, that's what I thought.

Curly Nikki sucked me in after one guest blogger posted about a one-time meltdown in her relationship. Her husband threatened to leave her when he no longer found her attractive because she'd grown out the perm she'd been sporting when she initially met him. Despite the fact that she was five months preggers at the time, he told her that they needed to split up. Yes y'all. Split up. Over her hair. Those are her words, not mine.

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Now, let me say first that I

November is only a week away, which means hibernation mode is near and a whole lot of kids will be saying, "I'm bored." While I have a moment before the whirlwind of the holidays starts, I'm saving project ideas to fill those days of being cooped up inside. Here are some of my favorites to make from a good old cardboard box, something we all have lying around or will after opening all those Christmas packages!

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Grab some old socks and make a day out of crafting a puppet theater and putting on a play.

This play kitchen is so clever; plus, it's better-looking and cheaper than a plastic one.

If the weather is preventing your bikes from coming out, take the transportation inside.

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You could make your own family band starting with a guitar with colorful strings.

Maybe staying in on a cold, rainy day isn't looking

stopwatchI decided a long time ago that I would never, ever stop having sex. Ever. Of course, that all changed when I met my first lousy lover. Which was followed by my second, third, and, well, you get the idea.

I get it, not everyone is born knowing all the tricks, or there wouldn't be a market for Cosmo's recycled sex tips. Through my own experiences, I've been able to compile a list of my top six types of lousy lovers.

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1. The Leg Humper. In high school, I remember dry-humping being the pinnacle of awesomeness. Nights on the couch "watching a movie" ruled. However, once actual penetration was achieved, dry-humping went by the wayside. For good reason. Dry-humping is NOT better than actual sex. Ever.

2. The Minute-Man. Okay, so don't get all up in arms at me about this one. It happens. It's flattering ... until it's not. If every time we get naked, it takes me more time to remove my bra than to complete sex, something's got

dr oz and wife lisaEveryone! Drop what you're doing, call your husband, and get busy. Dr. Oz and his wife Lisa sat down with Shape magazine for their November issue and shared details about how they keep the love flame burning after having been married for 26 years. The key? Something about lighting "your own damn candles" (we'll get to that) and having a ton of sex. Hey! Now there's something interesting.

Dr. Oz, who's been Oprah's medical guru since 2004 and who now has his own show, says that sexual intimacy is of the utmost importance if you want to have a fulfilling, long-lasting relationship. His prescription is sex with your partner twice a week, every week.

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Whoa ho ho, there, Ozzy! That is a heap-ton of pressure. I'm sure that's not his intention, but dang, once you start telling people how many times a week to have sex in order to have a "healthy" relationship, it might make couples too anxious to

Another day, another food recall everybody, so check your cabinets! If you bought Turkish pine nuts in bulk from Wegmans in New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, or Virginia, you're going to want to take those back for a refund. So far 42 people have become ill with salmonella since August 20 from the tainted nuts. If you purchased these pine nuts between July 1 and October 18, purge your shelves! You don't want the abdominal cramps, diarrhea, and fever that accompany this particularly painful food poisoning.

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But what I really am concerned (and confused) about is how a nut could get contaminated like this in the first place.

Pine nuts come from pine trees, and these were grown in Turkey, where they've been grown and harvested since ancient days of yore. No information has been forthcoming about how they were processed in Turkey, or if anything happened to the pine nuts once they reached

Did you know there are certain places with more walking zombies than others? No, I'm not just talking about Halloween haunted houses here. The mattress company Sleepy's recently did some research and came up with the 10 most sleep-deprived cities. And let me just say, now it makes sense why a lot of people in New York City are a tad bit grumpy early in the morning!

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Ready for the results? The most exhausted city in the U.S. is Detroit. The others include (in order from most tired to least): Birmingham, Oklahoma City, New Orleans, New York, Cincinnati, Louisville, Raleigh, Columbus, and Boston.

To be honest, the list doesn't surprise me too much. These are cities we're talking about here -- they're always bustling! But if you live in one of these places, it definitely doesn't mean you don't deserve some solid shut-eye. Check out these 5 tips for a good night's sleep:

1. Invest in your sleep space. It's