Bring On The Holidays!

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 Aaah, the days of summer have officially passed.  The cold weather has arrived and is here to stay...which means, no more coming down to breakfast in short sleeve pj's to eat fruit and read my email with the sun streaming through the window. No, when the weather turns, it means the holidays are nearly upon us and my mindset totally changes. There are so many things that I look forward to when Thanksgiving and Christmas are on the horizon. After the Halloween decorations are packed away, I start getting really....nesty. Nesty to me means, wanting to be home all the time. Wanting to be warm. Wanting to eat delicious, heavier foods in the company of my family and loved ones. How do I settle in at this time of year?


First of all, I have to admit I am a sucker for the RED CUP. What red cup might you ask? The red cup which may contain an eggnog latte, or a white chocolate peppermint mocha depending on my mood. You know the one...

That's right. Starbucks has totally made me a sucker.

I am not one of those people that is cold all the time. But around this time of year, I find myself starting my day and ending my evening with a nice fire. We have a gas fireplace, which doesn't have the nice smell or give off quite the heat of a wood-burning fire. It sure does have a lot of the charm, and less of the mess. I just want to sink into my couch and never get up. Wouldn't you??

During the winter, I get super excited about cooking for the holidays. Fortunately my family helps out a lot. We don't always have the same thing every year, but there are things I surely look forward to consuming on either Thanksgiving or Christmas. My favorites are: Honeybaked Ham, Mom's mashed potatoes, Mom's yams, my green bean casserole (no creamed soups are harmed during the making of this casserole) and my Grandpa's tamales. The years we have tamales are fun. Because they are so much work, we all get together to help. And, we enjoy them like we won't have them again any time soon, because, well...we won't. 

They look so harmless, but so bloody time-consuming

Beyond special holiday meals, I just get really into cooking and domesticity in general. Out comes the crock pot this time of year! I love making hearty stews, soups and do a lot of baking. We deck out our house in lights outside, and the inside of our home is a winter wonderland.

Probably the thing I love the MOST about the holidays is the extra time off I get to spend with my family, especially with my boys. They are growing up so incredibly fast, and nothing makes me happier than enjoying lazy, cozy days with them. 

They look so innocent but they are a handful!

My kids have 4 full days off in November, and a slew of minimum days. December has about 2 weeks off from school...and in between all that this year we are doing a 3 day trip to Disneyland. Have you ever been to Disneyland around Christmas time? My family just loves all the decorations, and they have the best parade. We realize we are fortunate to live in the same state and its more convenient for us to go than for others. It's still a big trip for us but with kids our age, its so worth seeing their eyes light up. 

The Castle At Night

What holiday comforts do you enjoy most? Do you get really into it and go all out with decorations and cooking or are you ho hum about it and content to enjoy those things in other people's homes where you don't have to unpack, put up, and take down decorations?
 

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Time to Stop Celebrating Already

OK Girl, the Holidays are OVER!

I know, I know, the holidays are so 2010!! I drank, I ate, I partied, I enjoyed. As I do every year, with a birthday in January, I don't start to really tighten my belt where food is concerned until after my birthday is over. I typically celebrate with friends and loved ones on my actual birthday, but have a slew of other lunch dates and what not that trail in afterwards. 

Liquid Lunch

If you follow my blog, you'll know that I spent most of my birthday weekend in Monterey with my husband and dear friends. We ate and drank our way through that town in a little over 24 hours that we were there. I tried to be good during the week...but on Sunday, my husband opened a bottle of wine that we bought on our weekend away, which we drank Sunday and Monday. Thursday, my boss bought our office a round of pints from the pub that is (unfortunately/fortunately) adjacent to our office. Then on Friday, I had lunch with a dear, old friend of mine at Ragoots which is an amazing place near my home. Of course a birthday lunch wouldn't be complete without a couple glasses of wine! I had this fabulous Tuscan Linguine that had artichoke hearts, sundried tomatoes and other yummy things that I love. I ate the whole thing! I skipped dinner that night because I wasn't even slightly hungry.

Liquid Breakfast

Saturday I had breakfast plans with some other dear girlfriends at Bill's. We decided to have a round of Bloody Marys. They were quite good, so we decided to have another round. Someone happened to mention that it was my birthday, in an offhand way, like "Let the birthday girl order first." I didn't give it a second thought, I mean, what would they do for your birthday at a breakfast joint anyway...surely not bring out cake with a candle in it! I had an omelet with spinach and gorgonzola, and hash browns. We were chatting it up and having a great time and enjoying our omelets when I start to hear a tambourine. I was about to say, "Why on earth would someone have a tambourine in here?", when it got louder, and then I heard another tambourine. Soon our table was surrounded by a group of waitstaff, who also starting banging on white plastic buckets with sticks and singing to me. I may have been crying, I was laughing so hard. I was surely stunned, and a little embarrased but it was so funny! AND, they bring your whole table a round of tequila shots! Can you say, liquid breakfast?? We were feeling no pain. After our "meal" we decided to walk around, and walk it off. Somehow we decided it would be a great idea to go to stop at Aqui, another great restaurant in town, but for their swirl margaritas which are to DIE for. It is a frozen margarita, swirled with sangria. We had a great time celebrating my birthday. I had a blast and I'm not mad at myself, my birthday only comes once a year. I think that is the last time I am celebrating this birthday, and I am going to buckle down.

Betty Ford

I started my morning with egg whites and wheat toast. And I made sure to get out for a run, although it is pretty rainy here. I managed to get 4 miles in and am feeling pretty good. I will be running for the next 4 mornings, and cutting out alcohol in any form during the week. I really enjoy having a glass of wine at night, but don't need the calories or the relaxation it brings when I have so much to do...like folding laundry or core/ab workouts while I watch TV. My running buddy decided on a positive affirmation that would help her get through the extra 1/2 mile we have decided to add to our morning runs. I thought I would share with you the song that runs through my heads when I feel like I want to quit. It's called "I'm a Survivor" by Destiny's Child. It's actually about a woman surviving the break up of her relationship...but I don't think about that. I just like the chorus and apply that to my running.

Have a GREAT week!!

Last Day of Excess

Disneyland Christmas Tree

I have thoroughly enjoyed the holidays. I have not written any posts about how successful I have been in meeting my fitness goals because I honestly have hung it up since Tuesday, December 21, 2010. I didn't do this purposely, it sort of just happened. I worked until Wednesday the 22nd, had last minute Christmas stuff to do as we were hosting on the 24th...on the 25th I packed for Disneyland and we were gone until the 29th. I did, however walk for miles and hours and hours both days we went to Disnyland so I wasn't a complete slob. I didn't attempt to adhere to a particularly healthy diet although I didn't go off the deep end and eat endless fried foods and sweets while we were there.

Crowds were out of control, they had to close the park!

When we returned, I had to scramble to get ready for a semi-last minute New Year's party we were having. We knew we were hosting friends at home, but literally did not now until the day before exactly how many people were coming. Everyone pitched in to help and we pulled things off without a hitch. Even with about 13 or so kids under 10 running around my house nothing got spilled, stained, broken or ruined. None of the adults even broke a wine glass. And it wasn't tame, I swear we had fun. I made a huge pitcher of appletini's which were delicious and a hit with the ladies. There was SO much food...everything was great, red wine, beer, champagne, cupcakes, See's candy, shrimp, salami, cheeses (including a brie en croute), meatballs, quiches, etc. I enjoyed all of it, and drank my share of calories as well. I stayed up til  3 a.m.which I have not done in quite some time!  We had friends spend the night so the next morning we nibbled on mini quiches and leftover cupcakes and See's candy. I only cleaned up part of the mess the next day and still have some fine tuning to do. My kids had a lot of fun. They got to stay up late (well Buddha went down at 10 p.m.) and Monkey made it to midnight...barely! He thought everyone chanting the countdown to midnight was pretty cool. It was quite a decadent night for us all the way around!

Some of the kids watching the TV and blowing their horns

Picking up the playroom, UGH.

The ladies!

Remnants of a fun time

LOVE these napkins

So my running buddy and I were supposed to resume our routine this morning. It is pouring pretty hard here today so we cancelled. I am going to try to hit the treadmill at some point after I am done cleaning and also try to do my Jillian Michaels yoga DVD. I'm going running tomorrow at 6 a.m. It will be a shock to my system after sleeping in until 10 a.m. today. Wish me luck!

Happy New Year to you all, I wish you a happy and prosperous 2011. xoxo

What Not to Do: Eating and Drinking During the Holidays

Right now I am laughing at myself. I know my blog is typically about striving for a healthy lifestyle. This morning my dearies I am the poster child for what not to do during the holidays. I went to a party last night, and I knew I was hungry. I also knew I was dehydrated, as I was busy all day and never filled my aluminum water container which I have with me at all times. I did drink a small glass of water while I was getting ready, and I was definitely thirsty for more but didn't have time to go downstairs for a refill. I ate a couple crackers, but they did nothing for me. Since we were running late, the roads were wet and traffic was bad I knew Chip and I needed to get our buns out the door and had no time for anything unnecessary. My MIL was staying over night at our house with the kids so we just needed to make sure she was all set to feed them dinner and we took off. I will drink water right when I get there, before my first drink, I told myself. I knew there would be a lot of good food and figured I would have some substantial snacks before the alcohol hit my system. Right.

I walked in the door and was happy to see faces of friends I hadn't seen in months. If you follow my blog you know my schedule (mainly my husband's schedule) and we don't get out and socialize nearly as much as we used to, especially after 2 kids. There was a nice big table with lots of yummy food - right next to all the bottles of hard alcohol and mixers. Naturally I forgot all about my plans to start with water. While I did a decent amount of snacking, I was mostly socializing while drinking absentmindedly. Before I knew it, I had 3 cocktails and I was drunk...laughing, catching up with friends. My husband thought I was hilarious. The host was working on an amazing spread for dinner which I believe came out around 9 pm, long after I'd pickled myself with vodka. I didn't have a watch and probably didn't care at all last night what time it was! The dinner was great, I wasn't too wasted to enjoy it. I didn't make an ass out of myself or do anything stupid. I was just honestly having a good, old-fashioned fun night. I did have a couple small glasses of water before we left, but I already knew it was too late to reverse the damage. I am quite out of practice!

This morning I sort of felt like crap. I could have slept forever but my 4 year old Monkey came in to wake me up at 8 (which really is sleeping in for me, but it didn't feel like it after my indulgences last night.) I went downstairs to lay on the couch, wondering what an Egg McMuffin would taste like at that point. Thank goodness I was feeling crappy enough and it was raining so I didn't actually go out. I am grateful my MIL made my kids breakfast and once I decided it was time to function I made myself some scrambled eggs and wheat toast, and a nice big cup of coffee. Since then, I have been cleaning like crazy although somehow my house is still a mess.  I've been pounding water and I'm feeling pretty good.

What I've learned: 1) Don't go to a party hungry. This usually is meant so that you don't over eat "party food" and go crazy with calories. What this meant for me: don't go to a party on an empty stomach so there is nothing to soak up your liquor. 2) Don't go to a party dehydrated/thirsty. Really at all times you should remain hydrated, that's just smart living. What this meant for me: don't go to a party dehydrated and try to "hydrate" yourself with vodka tonics. It just doesn't work like that. Why must I document this? Because year after year, I re-learn these same lessons the hard way. As a matter of fact, I just had my office party last week, and I did the same thing. I am 40 years old, and not sure this is really going to sink in. But I have plenty of opportunities to keep trying!

Hope you are enjoying your holiday season and that it is loaded with good cheer!