I don't know how it's already 10 pm

There is too much truth to "time flies when you are having fun".

I slept in today till 11am (first time in a year).

Got Starbucks for breakfast.

Went to a Christmas tree farm with my in laws.

Ran 10 beautiful miles.

Ate my second Thanksgiving dinner.

Played scrabble. 

Shopped at Target (second time in 24 hrs-Pure happiness).

Now laying in front of the fireplace with wine.

I am pretty sure I just described the best day ever.

I wasn't the only one to have the greatest day. Emma would tell you it was her most favorite day too. 

Seriously. Just to prove it to you I will give you a photo diary of her day. 

The drive thru lady at Starbucks liked Emma so much she made her a pupacino. No lie. That's what she called it. It was a cup full of whip cream. I don't even know if that is healthy for a dog. Don't tell me if it isn't.

As you can imagine, Emma got to the Christmas tree farm and was on a sugar high. She loved rolling in the shrubs (I am most likely lying to myself. There was probably something disgusting that she was rolling in.) and running around like a lunatic. She was also a ham on the hayride.

Last but not least, this lucky duck got to lick the turkey pan clean after dinner. 

I think Emma will go home from this weekend with her belly hitting the floor. 

And now since I am sure you really needed to know the life of my dog today you can sleep better- So I will let you guys go do that :D 

Unless you are way cooler than me and plan to do something NOT in pajamas on a Friday night :) 

Happy weekend!!!

Turkey Trotting

Happy Thanksgiving!!! I hope you are reading this happily stuffed! I cannot wait to get everything delicious in my stomach soon. 

We are driving back from our first Turkey Trot and this will be the first blog post I do from my phone so be prepared for probably the most bizarre mistakes and/or probably zero cohesiveness :) 

Ok so cover your eyes and just skip this part if you want to miss the cornball comment I am about to make... Standing out in the freezing cold with a bunch of happy, enthusiastic runners made me realize the quality of people who run. In any other situation in life being forced to stand outside in the miserable cold, crowded by other people would bring out the worse in many individuals. Runners nah. I suppose you could say we sign ourselves up for this nonsense but really who enjoys standing and freezing and being bumped by strangers??? You still have a choice to be radiating positivity and I will say that it hit me. I felt incredibly thankful to be a runner and be surrounded by that this morning. 

Cool now let's get to the running. I had an egg mcmuffin again for breakfast and a small latte. I am still thinking it's a great breakfast for me. I didn't take any GU cause I was only going out for 5 miles. 

Jacob ran the 5k and finished in about 28 mins! That's awesome for him :) he was also really excited about this race which I feel pretty good saying hasn't been the case in any previous races. I think he is starting to get some confidence with running which makes me so happy. I already know he's awesome. Mainly I am so excited to share this sport with him. 

We ran about the first mile together and then split. 

I wish I had more for you then this but it was freaking cold and that's mainly where my mind was at. The course was greatttttt. I thought about that a lot too. It was so flat. No major hills. We also weaved through town, neighborhoods and trails. Variety is a wonderful thing. I dedicated my last mile to my grandpa. He isn't with us today and by far this was his favorite holiday so it felt right. He'd love that I was running and would totally be there if he could so it was nice to spend some time with him. It was also my fastest mile (8:01) so I felt good about that. 

Overall: 

(Unofficial) 

I am incredibly happy with my time. I was NOT expecting to maintain a 8:14 average!! So close to the 7sssss :) 

Total bonus of this run:

Great swag!!! Love my new sweatshirt. 

Ok out of here! Home now & I just heard a cork pop!!! 

Xoxo

turkey plans

If you are looking for my Thanksgiving post. I wrote it a week early. You can read it here :)

I am really glad I got a jump start because I think everyone can agree...this year the "thankful" posts and statuses have been overwhelming. I don't think anything is wrong with it, but they sure were everywhere. 

I will say that after tomorrow's big meal, I think I am ready to put the turkeys away.

I am ready to sing with Mariah Carey loudly on repeat, while forcing Emma to wear a Santa hat permanently for a month and wrap some presents : ) Now don’t get me wrong, I will still be thankful but I am sure my thankful thoughts pack a little more heat when I am actually thankful in a different month than November. So bring it December.

Tomorrow morning I will be participating in my first TURKEY TROT !!! I can’t wait. It is in Long Grove, IL which is such a cute little town. Jacob has never been so it should be a great morning. They are supposed to have a Santa’s village set up and all their cute little shops will be open in the morning for the runners. I hope I don’t freeze my butt off but I am sure I will.

Speaking of cold…It is 15 degrees here today in Wisconsin. Kill me.

Then we will be eating and drinking all afternoon with my side of the family. Jacob’s parents do Thanksgiving on Friday. I think it is the nicest thing in the world. I know how many couples/families have to stuff themselves twice on Turkey Day & I am so happy we aren’t one of them. Enjoying two full days of yummy food is wayyy better.

I have two major thoughts for today. First, I really wanted to be sure to THANK you for reading. I know I am still very new in this blog world but I could not be more flattered & thankful that you are taking even a second out of your day to read my thoughts or care about what I have to say. This place is growing slowly but surely and with every comment I get I grow more sure that I made the right choice to start my journey as a blogger.

Blogging really is so rewarding and I am so grateful to each of you for being so supportive and so sweet : )

Secondly, I hope you all have a fabulous holiday!!!

But on the flip side I know and wanted to mention that for one reason or another sometimes the holidays are really hard too. I had some tears on the way to work this morning. They were quick and fleeting but there is still a little hole in our family on Thanksgiving and Christmas without my Grandpa. Some of you may be fresh out of hard relationships or even on the verge of losing someone you love so I know all of these happy, thankful internet messages can get draining (i.e. Twitter, Facebook, Blogland). Just know that everyone has holidays that are hard in their life. Not all will be perfect. It is just another day, but if you get a chance to be with the ones you love, don’t take those moments for granted. 

So with that, I hope to get a Turkey Trot recap up tomorrow afternoon. Try to stop by while you are nursing your turkey coma & I hope you enjoy every single bite of whatever is on your menu tomorrow : )

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

What is your favorite thing to eat on Thanksgiving??

hostess with the mostess...or at least I try

As promised I am back today with a better attitude and some holiday spirit  : )

I have been kind of a complainer the last few days & I know that can’t be the most fun to read, so thanks for your sweet comments. I’d rather be honest about having a few hard days than faking it on here. Also it is so nice to know I am not alone in my crabbiness... and tendency to only want eat my feelings for days, while contemplating never doing a physically strenuous thing again. So double thanks for that.

I mentioned a few weeks ago about how Jacob would be going to law school next year. We haven’t nailed anything down yet but one thing is pretty for certain. We will need to sell our house.

I am not really sure how I feel just yet about this because some days I am so excited for a new adventure and to start over again. I love the idea of throwing a bunch of stuff out! I swear once you own a house you acquire more crap than you thought was even possible, especially for only two people and a dog.

However since the holidays are basically here, I can’t help but feel sad. We had so many high hopes for our little house and it meant everything that last year we were able to get in and settled just in time to host Christmas for both sides of the family.

Last Christmas Eve.

I found out I absolutely loveeeee hosting holidays. Quite possibly it could be because currently we are a family minus little people and I have the time to attempt being a Pinterest princess but I don’t know… I think at the root of it go ahead and make fun of me it makes me feel like a real grown up! I think the downfall of being an only child is always having this weird need to prove yourself…and although only children often grow up as “one of the adults”, once you ARE an adult everyone can only see you as the little girl in the family.

But whatever the case, I am going CRAZY this year because god only knows the dorm room version of an apartment we will be squeezing into come spring : )

Let me also note that I love hosting parties but I am not a great cook and dare I try something and fail, so I’ve got two of the simplest appetizers EVER for you today. I just have to share because whether you love hosting or you run to everyone else’s parties you could always use a new dish.

When I say these are simple I mean a three year old could easily help. 

I don’t know who made up "save the best for last"- I don't agree, so let’s go with THE best first.

GLAZED BRIE.

So I don’t even care if you hate Brie, you WILL like this. I swear. I have had numerous people who said they can’t even think about choking down brie try it and then they died, went straight to heaven, and came back for more.

This stuff is straight up candy.

The night before you want to mix the following:

¼ cup of brown sugar

¼ cup of pecans

1 tablespoon of brandy

Put it in a bowl & then in the fridge.

~~~~~~

The next day and shortly before you are ready to serve, take a 14 ounce Brie round. Looks like this.

Put it in a pie pan & in the oven on 500 degrees for 5 min.

Then pull it out. Dump your mixture, from the night before, on top. Put it back in for 2 more min.

Serve with apple slices and crackers.

SERIOUSLY without the crackers and apples, this app is four ingredients!!! and you will impress everyone. I bet my life on it.

Next up: CAPRESE SALAD TOOTHPICKS. 

These are so great because they look so festive. 

OK. Ready for your mind to be blown. It does not get any easier than this.

Take a chunk of fresh mozzarella. Cut into tinier chunks.

Get some cherry tomatoes. Extra points if you buy the ones from my picture. They are actually called “Santa Sweets”. Guess the big guy grows ‘em himself.

Put a chunk of cheese and a tomato on a toothpick and squirt a dollop of the basil on the top.

Sprinkle the whole plate with balsamic vinegar.

This is a picture with basil leaves but it will look something like this.

You can find these tubes of basil or other herbs everywhere now! They are usually by the refrigerated salad dressing at the grocery store.

I guess you could use real basil leaves but this stuff in the tube is really flavorful and so easy. I actually think it looks cool too. If you are really feeling artsy you can do little designs on the plate with it too.

Please, let me know if you try either of these!!!

Do you have any simple dishes you cook up for parties??? Please share. 

Hosting? Take it or leave it.??

a holiday rut

So I just wrote a post TWICE and accidentally deleted it BOTH times.

Honestly it isn't surprising. Work today has been beyond difficult and I think if one more tab was open on my computer it would explode. I have been slammed with emails and excel files. My phone has been ringing off the hook and I am so frustrated that no one else got the memo that this week is a holiday. I don’t talk a lot about my job on here and I probably won’t but when it is challenging, boy! is it challenging. This is just one of those days I can feel the tears welling up for no real good reason kind of day.

…So as you can imagine, it was probably fate that my original post disappeared. It was full of very “unthankful” thoughts.

I think the real cause to my inability to deal with today’s stress comes down to a lack of “me” time this weekend.

This getting dark early thing, plus work kicking my ass, on top of it being veryyyy cold is just really not helping me make good choices. I simply am not taking good care of myself and it sucks.

It will pass and I need to just invest more time in finding what is going to work for me during these winter months but here’s the deal.  I took this weekend off. Not entirely on purpose mostly because I felt lazy. I didn’t go to the gym or run. I think it has been months since I haven’t ran on a Saturday.

I did clean my house top to bottom. Jacob and I decorated for Christmas. I probably drank two bottles of wine myself & we saw a movie. Everything was really fun but I made excuses. I could have fit in a short run or have thrown a yoga DVD in. Excuses bite you in the ass if you didn’t know.

Catching Fire

tree!

As much as we need weekends off, I really want to note that after those weekends are over you don’t always feel the best. Taking care of yourself is different for everyone. It takes some trial and error & I think I know now that taking a number of days off in a row is not good for my mind.

I didn’t have to go hard this weekend but just fitting some time in to sweat a little would probably have made a huge difference today. I feel like I can’t even deal with the littlest things; i.e. snow, snow on my car, driving in the snow, shoveling the snow, walking in the snow, snow (catch my drift???).

So lesson learned, I could have used two miles on the treadmill and maybe one less glass of wine. No use beating myself up today…It’s just worth it to share that it’s important to reflect on what works for you & maybe why you don’t feel your best or want to scream at someone who doesn't deserve it.

This is as much a reminder for you as it is for myself.

With the holidays coming up we really start to put others first, and although that is completely the point of the season, try not to forget what you need to be the best you : )

I am going to get my run on now. See you tomorrow with a new attitude : )

Not much more to say but this...

Oh my gawd.

Do you ever get to Friday and wonder how the hell did I make it here?

Well confession time.

I have ran a whopping 2 miles so far this week.

I have not eaten the best- Unless Velveeta has gone organic?

I have gone to bed late every night except yesterday.

I have sat almost all 9 hours at work, 4 days in a row. 

I have drank more Coke Zeros than I can count.

Photo Credit 

So in conclusion, the fact that my husband is still alive and my co-workers are still speaking to me is a miracle.

I know all the right things to do. I talk about them all the time on here...BUT I guess today’s post is just going to be me admitting that I blew it this week.

So on this gloomy cold Friday up in herrr, I am calling it Monday and getting my ass into gear.

If you have had a similar week, I dare you to join me :) 

Happy Monday Folks. Have a fabulous weekend, wouldja?

holiday shopping, a running update, and even a proposal

Only one week till Turkey Day!

& boy! am I ready for some time off from work...

...which got me to thinking about all the unfortunate people that will have to work during the Holiday weekend & I can't help thinking how that used to be me. 

Look! now that it isn't me, I will be honest. I absolutely love Black Friday and all the shopping that surrounds the holidays (mostly because I have a problem) but I promised myself when my retail days were over I would never forget how horrible it is for the employees. 

So I planned to write a little ditty on why it was so awful and how gracious we should be when we shop but then I saw this posted on Facebook, by none other than my last manager, and I couldn't have said it better myself. So share this. Read it. Preach it! 

I get that it has become a hot topic, should we or shouldn't we shop on the holidays??? but this is America. We have one big shopping addiction. I don't think it will stop anytime soon so just be nice & thoughtful & respectful even if others are not, no matter what your opinion is OK?

Just for the record, this is not me...I swear (Photo Credit) 

Second, I wanted to give you a running update because I have talked a lot about my racing schedule and recapped races but I feel like I have left some of the day to day out so just to clarify, in case you missed it...

Running lately has been hard. I am taking my mileage down to about 20 miles or less a week.

I am going to try to get two treadmill runs in during the week and one long run done on the weekend.

At least in my head I have been putting a lot of pressure on myself trying to figure out how to keep running through the winter. The thing is, I work. Its dark in the morning and at night. I don't really have a full time running buddy (accepting applications now) and so I am just going to have to become friends with the treadmill. Its hard though. I am snail slow on that thing and have a bad attitude about it.

However since I won't be running as much, I am going to try my best to fit in some new fitness classes this winter. I reallly realllllly realllllly want to try Barre and get back to a regular hot yoga schedule. How are you dealing with winter??? I NEED to know, especially if you have been running for awhile? How hard is it to take a break and then get back into it?

& last but not least, I am always late to the party (both metaphorically and in real life) so if you have seen this I am sorry... BUT oh my gawd, this is so incredible. I haven't gotten to the end yet but I had to share!

Watch Video Here.

Happy Thursday Turkeys!!!