Scenes from the Holiday

Rather than do some extremely long and boring recap of the past few days, I thought I'd let the pics do (most of) the talking.

There was lots of driving and lots of coffee.

We went down to St. Louis and had lots of holiday fun with my 6 year old nephew, C, (who, btw-- is SO TALL for a 6 year old!) and sisters! I even got to see my Dad, stepmom, Aunt, Uncles and cousins. Successful and relaxing and SO FUN visit! 

(Top left, clockwise: Me, the Hubs and  C hanging out ; the Hubs and C playing Wii ; C writing his letter to Santa (Can't believe he can write now!! He's SOOO big!!) C visitng Santa)

A couple workouts.

(Top left, clockwise: Elliptical on Friday ; 4 mile run Sunday ; 4 mile run Monday)

 

 

Getting ready for Santa's visit.

(Top left, clockwise: Sprinkling "reindeer food" outside ; Leaving cookies and milk for Santa ; baking lots and lots of cookies)

SANTA CAME!!!

C got SPOILED by Santa for sure. Batman everything, clothes, Bay Blades (whatever the F those are), books, coloring stuff, puzzles and more. I've only opened the gifts from C and his mom (my sister) so far (we're doing x-mas with my in-laws this weekend), but I'm already spoiled just from that! I got running socks, a bomb-ass purple zip up New Balance running jacket (see long run pic below), and some lotion. My sis and C definitely spoiled me! :)

Lots of yummy treats!

This is just one example... that is a peanut butter cup that was SOOOO big. I used my iPod as a point of reference just so you could see just how big we're talking. This was HALF a cup. There were also LOTS of cookies and candy consumed. Sorry I'm not sorry.

 

 

 

A long run in "feels like" 17*, 22 mph winds, and snow showers. AKA: FREAKING COLD and MISERABLE.

 Despite the miserable conditions, I still managed a pretty great run: 9:07/mile pace!). As you can see, I wasted NO time breaking in my Christmas gift jacket. I loooove it. LOVE. I have a feeling you'll be seeing a lot of it in the future. I also wore the socks I got (Adidas brand). I'm pretty picky about my running socks and these lived up to my expectations. LOVE them! Thanks, sister and C!! :)

 

Cooking soup!

 To me, there's nothing better than a big bowl of hot soup when there's tons of snow on the ground, so I made this recipe for Sausage and Lentil soup. I used white lentils instead of green, turkey sausage, and upped the red pepper flakes. SO, SO, SOOOO good. Seriously. Make this soup.

 

 

And, lastly (and worst of all) stupid snow + my driving skills (or lack there of) = disaster.

 We had a lot of snow come in on Wednesday (starting when I was out on my long run!) and I just HAD to go to the store (STUPID, Meagan) and slid into a speed limit sign on my way home. Luckily, no one was hurt and I didn't hit another car or anything. Still freaking blows though. I HATE driving in the snow. HATE.

Ok, ok-- I didn't want to end of that bad of a note, so here's a motivational sign I saw while going to the gym today:

"Goals are the fuel in the furnace of achievement"

 

 

 

I thought that was fitting as I'm starting to sit down and really think about my goals for 2013.

 

So, that's been about it! Lots of family time, driving, sleeping in, good food, snow, movies, and just relaxing. Hope your holiday has been as amazing as mine! Best news of all?? It's not over yet! I'm off til the 2nd and plan to enjoy every, single second.