It's New Years Eve!

I can't believe 2013 is basically over. Where did the time go?

We had a pretty low key weekend. Friday when I got off work at 2:00 I went straight home. This hasn't happened since I started this job in August. When I got home I went straight into the catch all room aka the guest bedroom. It happens every year & that room is a huge mess. Not anymore! It didn't take long either. That's one thing I can check off of my list. Of course Friday night we were at Caliente. It was just Dean & I. Everyone else was out of town.

Saturday morning I got up early & took down Christmas decorations. I never take them down this early but I was just ready for the house to be back to normal. It didn't take nearly as long as I expected so I rewarded myself the rest of the day & did nothing. It rained all day so I read & took a nap.

Saturday night we ate Mexican again. We went to Superior Grill for a going away dinner with our friend Bill. He's leaving LSU & going to work for Miss. St. We went to a going away party for him a few weeks ago. It was just us Saturday night & we had a great visit.
My Rumrita was good but not as good as Caliente. Of course I love the styrofoam cups.
Me & Bill. Freezing & raining = layers & a hat.

Sunday morning I ran. My plan was to go 5 miles but I was feeling good so I went 6.5.My second half is 3 weeks away! As hard as I tried I ended up napping Sunday too.

This morning I ran 4 miles before work. It was cold - 41 degrees but it felt colder. I've been cold since Friday & the only time I'm warm is during/after a run. sigh.

I'm crossing my fingers that the office closes early today. It did the day before Thanksgiving & the day before Christmas Eve. It's not like we have plans because we don't but who wants to be at work when you don't have to be??

Hope everyone has a great NY Eve & Happy New Year!

Toodles!

Merry Christmas - Late!

I've been so scattered  that nothing has gotten done in a timely fashion. I'm convinced that I have ADD. Dean is convinced that I don't. Secretly, I think he thinks I'm losing my mind. It's possible.

So our Christmas celebrations started Saturday. I went to lunch with my friend Vicki & her son Lane. Lane is our Godchild. Sunday we were at Dean's parents house with the extended family. I wasn't the greatest picture taker & you'll notice the Saints game on in the background. It may be Christmas but it's still Sunday. HA!

Dean's cousin's little girl, Emma. All the kids were singing before we opened gifts. Emma was very animated.

Dean's other cousin's daughter, Lexie .She's also Dean's Godchild. Again, a lovely picture. This day I was the queen of capturing weird expressions.

Our niece Camille. Off all the pics I took there is not one of her actually looking at the camera.

Emma, me & Samantha with puppy dogs Macy & Trixie!

I had to work Monday but the bosses surprised us & closed the office at 3:00. Since I was home early I went for a run. I wasn't sure how far I'd go but I felt good so I did 8 miles. I needed to burn some calories considering all the junk I ate Sunday!

For the first time in 18 years (except for when Christmas fell on a Saturday) I was off on Christmas Eve. It was glorious!!! Dean & I actually got up early & went to the mall. Crazy I know! I was able to get some cute slippers on sale, Starbucks & stock up at Bath & Body Works for the next year! What's crazier than the fact that we went to the mall on Christmas Eve? The way I looked. I got out of bed & put a sweatshirt over my t-shirt, I had slept in yoga pants & I put a hat on & left. It was awesome! Now I know what it's like to be a guy or a college kid.

We went to Christmas Eve Mass & then came home & Dean grilled steaks before the big pajama party. All of the neighbor crew went to Dennis & Jackie's in our pj's & we did the White Elephant Game. There were funny gifts & really stupid gifts. It was hilarious! I lucked out being last & got a Caliente gift card!
The crew. Dennis took the pic & he told us to put our hands in the air. We thought it was a joke. It wasn't.

Christmas Day our families come to our house. We had way too much food as usual & too many presents!

Here I go capturing weird expressions again.

Logan, Brooke & Dylan. Brooke & Dylan are my cousins kids. Brendan is the oldest but you won't find him in any pictures because if he saw the camera his head turned. He's 15 so I guess that explains it.

Logan was hilarious! Everything he opened was "Ohhh, I wanted this". Christmas is so fun with kids.



Dylan & Brooke

My mom & Mrs. Joyce (Dean's mom)

Lydia

My daddy with his personalized hot chocolate mug that Logan gave him.

Logan with his Nonke.

My cousin Leslie, me & my brother Scott.

Me & Dean aka Best Husband Ever!!!

So that was Christmas. It was a wonderful day!

For the first time in many years I'm ready to get my Christmas stuff down & get back to normal. I need my routine. I'm not good being all willy nilly running around without a plan. I took the first step this morning. I got up early & ran 4 miles before work. Now if I can just get the eating back under control......

Toodles!

Sugar Makes You Crazy

We had such a fun weekend! Well, I did especially! When I left work Friday I did a  little shopping & a lot of aimless wandering. I've learned that's nothing but a waste of time. Rarely does something jump out at you as a wonderful gift to give Except of course when it's something for me. I have zero problems finding plenty of things for myself while Christmas shopping. It generally ends up something like buy 2 gifts for other people, buy 4 things for me. Not good.

So once I finally made it home Friday night at 6:30 we had dinner at Caliente as usual. It was just us Friday though. Occasionally that happens. Saturday morning my friend Allison was running her very first 5K race & my brother was running the same race so I went out there to cheer them on.
The infamous cow bell from my race last weekend! I'm not a Miss State fan but I come to love the cow bell!
He had fun ringing it.

Allison's hubs & son, Cael came out to watch. Cael wanted a pic with the gingerbread man. Logan? Not so much. He was much more interested in the dogs that were at the race. He wanted to pet them all.
Not a very good pic but my brother won the race. Santa was giving him his medal. Scott's fast & it annoys me!!! HA!
Me & Allison

After the race Logan came home with me. I had big plans of cookie baking & gingerbread house decorating. I told Logan we needed to wash his hands & this is what I saw.

Whatever works right?

 

We worked on the house.

Does anyone know if you're supposed to decorate the house first & then put it together? We did the opposite & it didn't work out too well.
At this point Logan decided that rather than decorate, he'd just play. That was fine with me. He named the gingerbread family & made them a pool on their porch made of icing & they swam.
He has a fabulous imagination!! We watched some Christmas Mickey Mouse shows & Toy Story & some motorcycle racing - not my thing but Logan loves it. Then Logan built a tent with the bar stools & blankets. I was tired watching him. At the end of the day Logan told me "Sugar makes you crazy". HAHA! We had a really good day.

Sunday morning was my annual Christmas Brunch with Allison.We went to Frankie Marcello's.
Everything was delicious! Allison brought me a treat!
When I won my new Keurig I gave her the one I had so got me this cute mug! I'm a sucker for mugs & cups. We spent the afternoon shopping & I'm still not finished.

Sunday evening Dean & I had a going away party to go to.
We met Bill years ago when he was a student at LSU working in sports information. We've been friends every since. In January Bill will be moving to the big city of Starkville, MS to work for Miss. State.

After the going away party we had the Caliente Christmas party downtown at The Roux House. You know you're a regular when you get invited to the employee Christmas Party!!! It started at 9:00 pm. We weren't going to stay long but since Jessica (the owner) invited us we wanted to make an appearance.
Jackie, Allie, Anna & Me with Adalee (Jessica's baby). She's so tiny & so cute!!
We had a fun & the food was great. We left at 10:30 & I was pretty much exhausted by 1:00 pm Monday!

Toodles!

It's Almost the Weekend!!!

It's a really good thing the office closes at 2:00 on Friday. I've managed to get the majority (or so I thought) of my shopping done online. I thought I was making great progress. Last night I wrapped some stuff & went over my list. Well, there are very few people that I'm completely finished with. Lovely. A few things haven't been delivered yet. There are several people that I have no clue what to buy. Dean is usually good at coming up with things but not this year. Not really sure what I'm going to do. I guess the first thing is roam aimlessly around  a few stores & hope something jumps out at me.

This week has been a week of absolutely zero workouts & a lot of eating. I feel like I deserve it & I haven't gone completely crazy. I plan to get started with my running & workouts next week.

Monday night I had a work dinner at Bonefish Grill. Our Firm was a sponsor at a 5K for a local high school in November & we had the most participants from any of the other sponsors so we won an excursion at Bone Fish. It was soooo good! I've only been there once before. We tried to go another time but there was a long wait at 5:30 when we could see a zillion empty tables. Annoying. Anyway, we had a reservation & the excursion was a food & drink pairing. We had bang bang shrimp, pumpkin ravioli - which OMG was soooooo good, another dip, an antipasta type platter but with shrimp. It was paired with white wine, we had a salad & a winter white cosmo - also delish!! For the main course there was red fish which was amazing & spicy. I loved it! There was also mahi mahi. They were served with mashed potatoes & spaghetti squash  & paired with red wine. Then came dessert! Plain Cream Brulee & Chocolate Cream Brulee. The Managing Partner did the excursion & he told us to try the plain first because after we had the chocolate we wouldn't go back. He was so wrong & I'm a chocolate lover! The absolute best thing about the dessert was that it was paired with this
I don't remember what the actual name was but Frazier the Bartender came up with the recipe & they're running specials on it throughout the holiday season. It's made with Rum Chata, white creme de cacao, white chocolate Ghirardelli liquor & cinnamon & garnished with a candy cane. I have to go to Sam's today & Rum Chata will be purchased!!

Anytime anyone has a birthday in the office they get their choice of cake. Birthday's are very exciting here! Everyone looks forward to cake. This week it was raspberry cheesecake. Y'all, I think it was the best cheesecake I've ever eaten ever ever ever!!!

This also happened this week.
Don't get too excited, I only signed up for the Half. You've seen the shirt - "I'm Only Half Crazy". Scott & Lydia are running this race & they did it last year & talked about how fun it was & there's a really big party at the end. My friend Allison is signed up for the 5K. It should be fun. Let's hope for better weather than last week. Or at least dry weather. The medals for this race are super cute too!

We have a busy weekend. Tomorrow I'll be spending the day with Logan. We're going to make a gingerbread house & bake & have hot cocoa & whatever else little man wants to do. Sunday I have a brunch date with Allison,  a going away party Sat. night & we were invited to Caliente's "office" Christmas Party. That doesn't start until 9:00. I'm hoping we can go for a little while. I guess it depends on whether we get a nap Sunday! You know you're an appreciated regular when they invite you to their party!

Have a great weekend!

Toodles!

13.1

IS DONE!!!
Saturday morning I picked up my race packet.

At that point it was real! I was getting excited. The chance of rain at the beginning of the race was down to about 10%.  Of course as time went on the forecast changed & not for the better. My excitement was replaced with annoyance! I rested most of the day & we went to Mass & to eat Italian so I could get some good carbs & protein!! I slept pretty good which I was very happy about.

Before we left the house I took a pic because my friend Cindy told me she'd be at the beginning of the race to see me before she had to go out of town & I wanted to make sure she saw me.

The forecast when I woke up Sunday. The race started at 7:05. I was happy to see that the wind wasn't bad.

Me & sis-in-law Lydia waiting to start. It was cold waiting. It was like 37 degrees at this point.

The start/finish line.

Lydia & I stayed together for the first 5 miles. That was great because we talked! Who would've ever thought I could run much less talk & run! It wasn't raining when we started. Some of my friends were at a point at the beginning of the race with a cow bell & signs! It wasn't just Cindy & I was really surprised!! I thought that would be it but around mile 3.5 there they were again with Dean!

Then again a few miles later. Cliff with the cow bell, Dean, Kitzia, Suzy, Sheri & Steph's taking the picture! Cindy had to leave by this point. Then later, there they were again with my friend Allison. I was so excited to see them all. Especially considering the awful weather.

There ended up being a mist/drizzle the majority of the run. Around mile 6 it got heavy but didn't last long. My feet were still dry & I wasn't cold at all. I ditched the jacket a little after the first mile & was able to hand it off when we saw the crew at mile 3.5.

My friends couldn't believe that I was smiling. Who doesn't smile when people are cheering for you??

At mile 8 my friend Suzy, who is a runner, jumped in for the last 5!

That's Suzy's arm & leg you see. She was ready to go! That's Cliff's bell on the right of the pic!

It was great having Suzy with me because we talked & it went by fast. The worst part of the run was an overpass at mile 10. It was HARD! Like really hard!! I did it though! It didn't look like Suzy had any problem with it! At mile 11.5 the rain really started. It was pouring. My feet were completely soaked in about 2.7 seconds. Thank goodness I wore a baseball hat because the bill kept a lot of water off my face. I think it probably rained hard for about a mile. My goals for this race was under 2:30 & I didn't want to walk. I really wanted to do it in 2:20. During my training I was always on track for that.  There is nothing wrong with walking & throughout my training I told myself if I felt like I needed to walk I would. I had one training run that was just awful & I walked a lot but for me the starting & stopping is worse than just pushing through. It's hard for me to start back up.  As we were getting close I looked at my watch & I was already at the 2:20 mark & that bummed me out a little. Then I heard the cow bell & I was so excited! It was so awesome to be able to hear it before I could see my peeps because I knew I'd see them soon! I told Suzy " My bell, my bell"! Then I could see the finish line! I saw the time & I sprinted to the finish with Suzy cheering me on!

Official time 2:20:28!!! I was sooo excited! I still couldn't figure out why my watch was wrong & then I remembered that I started it before I crossed the starting line because I didn't want to forget in all the excitement. I was 38 out of 66 in my age group & 236 out of 443 overall. I won't be winning any awards but I'm thrilled to death! It was awesome seeing Dean & my peeps when I ran through the finish. They were directly in front of me so I couldn't miss them!

Lydia finished at 2:28:40

She's smiling in this one!

 

Sheri, Allison, Lydia, me, Kitzia, Cliff, Steph, Suzy & Dean in front.

You know you're in Louisiana when the very first drink you see after crossing the finish line is cold beer!!! I'm not a beer drinker but I was thirsty & it was pretty good!

I love the medal!

Who am I kidding? I'd love any medal they gave me! I was surprised at how heavy it is! The ribbon part is a cute chevron print.

My little ticket with my time! We didn't hang around long since I was soaked & really cold by that point. By the time we got home I had blue lips & I'm not even kidding. I made a cup of coffee & got in the tub.

I had a snack!

Wedding Cake & Turtle cake balls!!

I did nothing but hang out until it was time for dinner. Our friend that lives in Indiana now was in town so we had a girls dinner.

Then we had dessert!

Coffee Call beignets! SOOOO GOOD!!!

Now it's Monday & I'm a tad sore!!!

Toodles!