Hello 2012!

I could not be more excited to get up and brush myself off after being so sick these last couple of weeks. I still hack occasionally but my energy is back and I'm operating at 98%. I am back at work (BOO) and my kids still have this week off. They are going to a little sleepover at their grandparents tonight and mama is getting a massage! The Christmas decor is packed away, and I am looking forward to a quiet night reading The Hunger Games and watching some TV and drinking tea. I plan to wake up tomorrow totally healthy, and kick 2012 into gear.

Don't worry party people, I did manage to enjoy myself on New Year's Eve despite still being in recovery mode. Our good friends came over with their kids and a babysitter. We drank, we nibbled, we laughed. And then we left our children at home with the sitter and went to a great dinner at a restaurant here locally that we love called Odeum to ring in the New Year. This is the first time in our 7 New Year's Eves that my husband and I have gone OUT. We always do something, head out of town or host friends at our home. We usually avoid going out because everything is over-priced, over-crowded, and service is terrible. However, this year, we had faith that our small town restaurant would not be any of the above. We were not disappointed and had a great time. We returned to our house and sleeping children to continue the festivities and this year I made it to 2:30 a.m. Our friends spent the night and we had champagne and watched the 49er's win the next day. Later, we spent the afternoon/evening with my family for more eating and football. It was a great day.

I am not a huge "resolution" gal but I don't think its ever bad to have a goal at any time of the year. Right now I am focusing on de-sugaring my body. Please note I did not say detoxify...only because I am not giving up coffee and will still have the occasional glass of wine. I just indulged in way too many desserts over the holidays and have been having way too many carbs in general. My plan is to try to prepare healthy lunches that are less bread and meat centric and to keep my snacks small and healthy. I am stocking up on almonds, greek yogurt, and bringing big salads to work. I usually focus on eating healthy, but I don't typically pay much attention to calories and need to be better about portions. I am going to start off hardcore and taper off after a couple weeks, as I know once I start running again I will need more fuel than this:

Breakfast: Soft boiled egg and coffee
Snack: A cutie
Lunch: Mixed greens salad w/chopped cucumber, tomatoes, 1/2 packet of tuna w/ 1tablespoon sunflower seeds, 1 tablespoon of balsamic vinaigrette dressing
Afternoon snack: An apple and green tea
Dinner: TBD

Heaping Mound of Healthy Salad

One for My Mid-morning Snack

I really want to try to shrink my stomach and lessen my appetite. When I start to feel hungry, I will stop and drink a glass of water first. I am curious to see how starving I am going to be when I get out of my massage after eating a majorly reduced amount of food like this today. I will make sure to have some almonds beforeI go in so my stomach growling doesn't freak out my masseuse.

If I am up to it I may do a walk on my treadmill tonight, which sounds crazy after a massage but I need to take advantage of the fact my kids will be at my parents. I plan to try my new Skinnygirl Workout that I got in my Christmas stocking tomorrow morning. I am DYING to run, but I need to get rid of this chest congestion for good...I don't want to prolong it by hitting the pavement to early.

Did you indulge during the holidays? Have you stopped your holiday eating or are you having trouble putting the brakes on? 

The Christmas Crunch is ON!

So remind me again why I decided not to take any time off this week? Ok, breathe. It's going to be ok.

In the fitness department I've been doing pretty good. Did Ripped in 30 all week before work, did a treadmill run on Friday before we went to a party and Saturday did a trail run that killed me but it was so worth it!

I am sore in places I apparently need to be sore from this trail!

We went out to a nice dinner on Saturday night, at Odeum, which is in my opinion the best restaurant in our town. I almost didn't take a rest day yesterday, but we had no plans as a family and literally just hung out ALL DAY. Relaxing breakfast, pajamas til noon and just enjoyed being home.  I feel like I'm never there due to work/commuting, etc., so to actually just be home and take in our decorations and have the fire going made me feel like I was on vacation at a lodge.  I did some cooking for the kids dinners for the week since I am often arriving home when they are eating and hoped to do some baking but didn't get that far. However, I baked Christmas cookies with Monkey tonight and he was very, very stoked.

I should be getting a lot of mileage out of this Disney trip.

So I'm hosting Christmas Eve this year and feel pretty ready in that department. However, we have not yet taken our boys to see Santa. Bad Mom. My parents are taking the kids Thursday night to spend the night at their house, so that I have all day Friday to prep for Christmas Eve. I have yet to wrap one gift! When I pick them up Friday I am going to take them through Fantasy of Lights at Vasona Park, which is a cool drive-through exhibit of lights set to music you listen to on the radio. This will be ideal since a) they can be in pj's and don't have to get out of the car and b) my hubs will be working so I won't have to worry about wrangling my two wild ones on my own.

Could the line for Santa rival the line for Pirates of the Caribbean?

The bad part of me waiting until now to worry about seeing Santa is that I'm sure there is a massive line since its so close to Christmas. I don't know why we just didn't take them when we were at Disneyland, because Santa was there. Surely I procrastinated because I had plenty of time then! But hey, they met Mickey Mouse. That's gotta count for something. I don't talk to my kids very much about Santa, not purposely but because I just don't think about it. I know one day they are going to find out the truth, but I should let them enjoy the wonder and excitement of Christmas as much as possible until then. Note to self: talk a lot about Santa this week.

I woke up with a sore throat Monday morning and was feeling a little too drained to get out of bed and work out. Then, this morning, my iPhone died and did not wake me up early so I missed my work out AGAIN. I will definitely fit something in later today, which shouldn't be too hard since I'm working from home today. Even if its just getting out with the kids. Have a great Tuesday y'all! Peace out.