WOW!!! Well, it has been a world wind the last few days! The Holiday season is so busy as is, but add final papers and wedding showers to that and you have a recipe for a busy weekend! Without further ado, let me catch you up on my crazy life!!!

After my last post, I ventured out in the snow to meet up with two old friends Jeremy and Julie. I haven’t seen these two in almost 10 years! We used to spent our summers in Maine together as kids  and lost touch after our parents bought property elsewhere.  We recently reconnected through facebook. It was great to see them and catch up after 10 years! As much as things have changed, they have stayed the same. Jeremy and Julie are still as cool and put together as I remember!We met a Emmets and spend about 2 hours just chatting! I sipped on one Sam Winter during the two hours.

The three of us decided to split two appetizers. We ordered the Buffalo Chicken Nachos and the Curry Fries.

I had a few fries, fried food hurts my belly so it needs to be really, really good for me to eat it. These were just ok… But the Buffalo Chicken Nachos were divine!!! As we all know, I am kind of partial to anything Buffalo!!!

After parting ways with Jeremy and Julie and deciding to meet up again soon (another 10 years is too long to wait), I headed to  my friend Derek’s House Warming Party! Derek and his girlfriend Crystal bought the most adorable condo right around the corner from our apartment. It was great to see all my friends and see their new home! I also met their new dog too! She is adorable, but was a little afraid of all the people! Congrats to Derek and Crystal on the new home and new pup! So happy for you guys!!! While, at Derek’s I sipped on a pumpkin beer! Delicious!

I guess I wasn’t really in a drinking mood. While at the party, I used my new iPhone (who my friend Ibelis named “Lady”…great name!) to sign Adam and I up for our HALF MARATHON!!!! Yay! It is not until May, but I let me tell you I am super exited about it!!! I never thought I would run a half marathon!!! Woop!

Sunday morning I woke up expecting to be super sore from the Boxing I did Saturday Morning with May. But, I really wasn’t. I had a little soreness in my upper back with is probably from throwing punches and and a little soreness in my calves, but that’s it. I got showered, dressed and and made a quick breakfast before heading to my co-worker Wendy’s bridal shower.

Breakfast was a mini whole wheat bagel with scrambled egg-whites, American cheese and veggie sausage with organic ketchup for dipping!

I also had some coffee with it. Adam brought home some Seattle’s Best Christmas Blend last week and we love it! It is very flavorful!!

Of course we drank it out of Christmas mugs because we are giant geeks!

Wendy’s shower was at the Danversport Yacht Club, which was beautiful!!! It had a Holiday theme and everything was just perfect, I really loved the centerpieces. They had pine, poinsettias and holly berries in them.

Our co-worker Teri won the one at our table by finding the “diamond ring” under her chair!

The favors came in this adorable little boxes that looked like Christmas presents.

What? You want to see what’s inside? Ok, ok!

Pretty, right? Can’t wait to hang it on me tree (which should be going up tonight!!!)

The food was really great too. It started off with a salad.

I also had a piece of a wheat roll.

The meal was either stuffed chicken or seafood casserole. I choose the stuffed chicken.

I peeled off the skin and ate with chicken with no skin, no gravy. I ate about 3/4 of the chicken all of the broccoli and two potatoes.

Dessert was apple crisp!

I enjoyed my dessert with a coffee with some half and half.

The cake was so pretty too!

Of course I had to try a piece, it was super yummy, but I only took one bite. I was way too full got any more.

While Wendy and Charlie were opening gifts, the Maid of Honor randomly pulled names from a hat and those people got little gifts! I was so excited when she called my name! I loved my little gift too!

After the shower, I headed home and relaxed for about an hour before going to my parent’s for dinner and to decorate their tree!

My mom made spaghetti with her homemade “meat” sauce. Instead of ground beef, she used veggie crumbles

I had a big ol’ plate of it! Spaghetti is my absolute favorite! I had a small brownie and a few sips of coffee for dessert.

Then it was decorating time!!!

Here is mom and I sorting through ornaments. Yup, I am totally wearing PJ’s!

Action shot of dad with the garland!

HAHAHAHA! I am not sure why mom and Pa look so annoyed with my picture taking!

Here is one of my dad adding the newest ornament. It is a Longhorns one I bought him during my trip to TX. Adam and my friend Kara (who lives in TX) have a football bet going, so he is trying to grab the ornament away from dad in this picture because he is afraid it will ginx him.  I guess if Kara wins the bet she will not have to pay for a drink the entire time she is here visiting for our wedding. If Adam wins the bet, she had to do the kickworm at our wedding in her bridesmaid dress!

For those of you who don’t know what the kick-worm is, here you go!

Adam is actually does an amazing worm! After a beer or two at any event where there is a dance floor, the worm makes an appearance! It is genetic, in my opinion, his cousin Nicole is a natural as well!

Final Product:

After decorating the tree, the started working on my last paper of the semester, but only got about 7 pages done before going to bed. I had taken yesterday off to get some stuff done fore school, the blog and around then house.  Gotta love those personal days Even though I wasn’t going to work, I was up at 6m to get things done. Here is my to-do list for the day:

I got everything done except blog, and grocery store!!! Pretty good, right?

Breakfast was eaten while finishing my paper. I had two Van’s waffle PB&J sandwich with a veggie sausage.

YUMMMMM! Since I had a little extra free time, I decided to head our for a run! My pre-run snack was a Kashi Bar.

It was in the low 30′s so I had to make sure I was covered!

Yes, people this is what a runner in Boston looks like from December- March! The roads were icy and I slipped a few times and actually fell once, but I was determined to finish.

I did 6.52 miles in 59:58. This was a hard run, and I have a feeling I will be facing a lot of those over the next couple of months. Cold, thin air is very hard to breathe in and makes running a lot more difficult. Since I already have pretty damaged lungs from smoking (you can read more about that in this post), running in the cold is that much harder. But, I am convinced that if I work hard and run through the winter months, when the weather gets warmer (i.e. in time for my half marathon) I will be that much of a better runner, no?

If  you where it gets really cold in the winter, do you still workout in the cold?

When I returned from my run, I downed 2 bottles  of half coconut water half regular water.

For some reason, the whole time I was running I was CRAVING coconut water! Like it was all I could think of! I love this stuff! When I first tried coconut water I thought it was gross! Now, I love it! I think it is definitely an acquired taste!

While I was running, Adam ordered himself a sandwich and got me a Greek Salad since we have no food right now. I ate the salad with my own balsamic vinaigrette dressing and a half a piece of garlic bread.

After my late lunch, I headed to class! I am seriously nervous about these finals I have coming up! I can’t wait until this semester is over so I can have a month of freedom. I am most excited about being able to get a book and read for pleasure. So sick of articles and textbooks! After class, I headed to my part-time job to get some work done for the week.

Dinner was eaten around 8pm. Since it was freezing, all I wanted some grilled cheese and soup. Luckily, although we are our of basically EVERYTHING in our apt, we had the ingredients to make exactly what I was craving!

Adam cooked us up some grilled cheese using American cheese and spelt whole wheat bread.

Super melty!!! The tomato soup was this Creamy Tomato Soup from Pacific. This is honestly the best Tomato Soup I have ever had!!! No Lie!! I was super creamy and was not salty at all! I really dislike salty soups and feel like anything tomato based usually is salty unless you make it yourself. If you are a tomato soup fan, you have got to try this!

Breakfast this morning was whatever I could scrape together from the small amount of groceries we have in our apt right now (I promise, I will be going to the store tonight after class).

Annie’s chocolate and vanilla cereal with organic fat free milk and a tiny apple. I really love this cereal, it makes me feel like a little kid

Today’s outfit:

Sorry it is so blurry! Yikes! Everything is GAP, except the clogs, those are brown tooled Dansko!!!

Well, I gotta get back to work! See you for a lunch post in a few hours!

Tags: Beer, Bread, Cake, Cheese, Coffee, Eating Out, eggs, fruit, Ice Cream, Pasta, Running, Salad, Soup, Veggies