Ski Trip and Christmas

Wow what a busy week last week...now that things have slowed down and I was able to get pics from Beth from the ski trip I am able to sit down and blog:)

SKI TRIP

So we ended up going to PerfectNorth which produces there own snow but it wasn't bad. Kelly Beth and I hit the bunny hill so that me and Kelly could get our ski legs back on....I believe I was the most inexperienced one there....but it didn't take long for us to hit the Blue trails (by the way the bunny hills were the only "green" trail they had so we had not choice but to hit the blue trails)

From left to right: Jenni (me!!), Kelly and Beth

I'm in the White and Blue jacket:)

And here I made it down to the bottom of the hill with out killing myself

The weather was not the best because it started to rain a little bit and after about 5 hours the slopes were getting a littel icy. So around 2:30 we decided to head out. While we were on the slopes I got a call from Mitch but my phone when dead before I could get to it....so when we got back to the car I pluged in my car charger and he left a message to let us know that the north side of town was covered in ice and to be careful coming back.

And he wasn't joking. I took me over 3 hours to drive home. It only too 1.5 hours to drive to PerfectNorth. It was ugly. In fact, before we got on the interstate we noticed that traffic was backed up.....there was a jack knifed semi on the road.

In the end had a great time and even though the drive home was long we all made it back in one piece. I am so ready for my next ski trip!!!!

CHRISTMAS

Now onto a very very busy Christmas. Lets start out with the timeline

Tuesday (Christmas Eve)

Travel to Dad and Eva at around 5:00. They live about 45 minutes west from my house. We stayed until around 11:30pm. Said our goodbyes and headed to Mitch's house on the North side.

Wednesday (Christmas)

Mitch lives about 30-45 minutes from my dad's. We make it to his house, exchanged gifts (which I will get to the gifts in a minute) and finally went to bed around 1:30am. Only to get up around 6:30 am (I think) so that we can drive to his brothers house and be there by 8:00am (his brother lives about 30 minutes away). Had Christmas with Mitch's family and around noon we headed back to Mitch's house.

We ended up making a cheesecake (my favorite!!! White Chocolate Raspberry), which took about 2 hours to make! Then we gathered our things to head back to my house (1 hour South) to pick up the rest of the gifts and drive to my mom's. We were there around 6:00pm. I can't remember what time we actually left but it seemed late.

Talk about running around all over town during Christmas.

Curious about what I got for Christmas? Well here is a small list...to type out everying would be rediculous so I'm only going to hit the high lights:)

Diamond Earings - Can you guess who gave me those? It was my boyfriend....he loves me!!!

Wine Frig - from Dad and Eva. The frig hold 18 bottles of wine and has two temp controls....just to give you an idea.

Electric Blanket and a $50 gift certificate to Dick Sporting Goods from Mitch's mom and dad. And yes the electric blanket is a big item for me because I have been wanting one for several years....I get so cold at night it helps me stay warm:) The gift certificate is for me to purchase running gear....I can't wait to spend it, but I'm hoping for a sale on underarmour!

A Coach Cluch Purse, Phones for my house and a Special Light that helps with my seasonal depression - These all came from my mom and Bob.

It was a very good Christmas. I enjoyed my time with my family and friends. As much as I enjoyed it I am happy it is over!

Christmas Party

We had our white elephant exchange Christmas party. It was a pretty sad party...mainly because we had it this past weekend and because everyone was busy with other holiday parties the turn out was a little slim.

Here was the list of people who came

Me (of course because I hosted it)

Mitch - BF

Beth

Kelly

Ada

Kari and Brook (but due to Kari having to travel she was not able to make it until late in the evening)

Normally we have 10 or more....and here is how the exchange went.

Only four people brought gifts to exchange and after the exchange Kelly and Beth went home with their gift, with Beth planning on returning hers for something else she wanted. Mitch and I swapped gifts. It was sincerely the most pathetic thing you have ever seen.

We ended up playing Scene it...which is the best game especially if you have someone on your team who is good at answering all the questions. I think most of us where horrible at it except for Mitch and Ada. Between the two of them no question or problem when unanswered.

We had a load of food....which everyone left with about as much as they came with...minus the wine:)

As everyone left and we were cleaning up I realized in the end it was a really good Christmas party. So what if we didn't have a huge group of people show up and everyone almost ended up with the gift that they brought. The group that was there were close friends and we had a lot of laughs during the "party" and that is all that mattered. We all had fun and we all have some good memories to walk away with.

(from the left: Beth, Kelly, Ada, Jenni, Mitch is behind the camera)

Tomorrow Beth, Kelly and I are going to go skiing!!!!! I will have to let you know how that goes. Right now we are planning on leaving tonight (driving 3 hours) and spend the night at a hotel then ski all day and drive back home tomorrow night.

Slippin and a slidin!

This weather is driving me nuts!!! So on Tuesday, before I left work it started to freeze rain...a normal drive of 20 minutes turned into a one hour drive, with a max speed of 20 mph. What made things worse is that I was almost home...just one stoplight away from being home and my car slide out of control...I almost hit another car. Scared the crap out of me!

So I drove even slower the rest of the way.

Then on Wednesday the roads were crap again. Dawn texted me at about 5:30 to let me know that the road were bad and we weren't going to run on them, we would run inside. I decide not to chance it and I just ran on my treadmill (which I realize I don't like the treadmill) After I ran I decide not to go into work...and because I didn't bring home my computer I no choice but to take some vacation time (what little I had left).

So here I was with nothing planed and nothing to do...then the brilliant idea of cleaning out my garage so I could pull my car into it popped into my head. So I got on my snowsuit (yes, I have an old snowsuit that I bought at a garage sale for $1, just for the purpose of working outside when it was cold) and headed out side to the garage (I have a detached garage).

My dogs flew out the door and wanted to play...I on the other hand flew out the door and hit my step that was covered in a sheet of ice. My legs went up and my body fell to the ground. I caught myself just enough not to slam my head into the edge of my concrete porch. I just sat there in a dazy.... alittle worried about moving because I wasn't sure how bad I might have hurt myself.

Then comes my dog to check me out and give me the biggest puppy kiss ever. Almost like she knew what I was feeling.....God I love my dogs! The I slowly got up and I seemed to be alright...I shock it off and continued to clean my garage.

Only to come in and realize my ankle was hurting. I called my BF for some sympathy, which he gave me...although I'm sure he was laughing somewhere inside, because I would have been. He told me to ice my ankle...which I did and it felt better.

So then, stupid me still had to do personal training that night. I went (I regret that I went) and pushed my way through it.

Now today! I'm in so much pain right now. My body hurts in place I didn't know existed. My right wrist hurts pretty bad to....I haven't taking any Advil yet...only because I ran out!!! So now I have to run to the store and get me some before I run to the gym.

Yes, I said I was running to the gym...why?! Because I'm being stupid, because I eat to many damned googies and I'm working to damned hard to let it go down the drain. When you run three days a week, do Personal Training 1 day a week and do some light cardio on other day aweek and your body weight stays the same...something is wrong. And that something is SWEETS!!!! I can't stay away from them...I'm addicted! So to lose weight I must either stop / slow down on the sweets or increase my cardio......I choose option 2. So now I sit here in pain from yesterday and am about ready to hurt myself even more.....oh, and did I forget to tell you that I'm running tomorrow morning as well.

OK, enough about me being stupid and time for me to change into my workout cloths.

Jingle Bell Run

So I actually ran my first race today.....The JINGLE BELL RUN! My time was about a 12 minute mile...which I have been clocking about 12.5 minute mile. What an improvement!!!

Here is Dawn and I at the begining of the race....and before I go any further I want to send out big kudos to Beth who froze her butt off just so I can have a few picts of my very first race! HUGE THANKS.

That is about the time it was when we passed the finish line....my "photograph" Beth got a pic of the clock right after we passed the finish line....plus we were at the back of the line in the beginning of the race so the clock for us is about 30 sec off.

This is us about ready to cross the finish line....notice Dawn looks a whole lot happier than I do. And why is this you might ask....well because Dawn can actually run about a 9 minute mile so a 12 minute mile is nothing for her. There fore she has a huge grin and I look like I'm in pain....LOL!!!

Here is me and Dawn walking back to the car.....yes I'm still in pain.

Here I am in my Jingle Bell shirt! yep they gave us all a shirt and I'm wearing it with pride today! and yes I am a dork!!

Cookie Exchange

OK, so I am participating in a cookie exchange hosted by http://anothersuburbanmom.blogspot.com/. I have several favorite recipes and it was hard to narrow it down to just one. But as I dug through my thousands of goodie recipes there was one that really stuck out in my head.

It is the most fabulous coconut bon bon recipe on this earth. I love using dark chocoalate but milk chocolate also works.

I was never a huge fan of cooking shows...maybe becuase I would sit and watch these wonderful chefs prepare these awesome meals and I couldn't smell or taste any of it...it would irritate me, I guess I'm a hands on girl!

Anyway one afternoon I was switching through hundreds of channels and landed on the foodnetwork and there was Wolfgang Puck, making something with chocolate. I had to watch!!! Not sure why, but it caught my attention. When he was finished he had made these wonderful coconut bon bons. They looked so good, I googled the recipe later that night and decided to try my hand at them.

I gave them to a couple of coworkers to see how they were and they LOVED them! They each begged me for the recipe.

Now it has become a tradition that I make these "coconut bon bon" as part of xmas cookie gifts.


WARNING: Very addictive!!!!!

So have fun making them and enjoy!

Florida Chocolate-Dipped Coconut Patties
By: Wolfgang Puck

Ingredients
1 1/4 cups confectioners' sugar
2 ounces (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1 egg white
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups (5 ounces) unsweetened coconut, packed, plus additional for rolling patties
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 ounces semisweet or milk chocolate , cut into small pieces*
*If using milk chocolate, add 1 teaspoon of vegetable oil while melting.

Directions
Make the coconut filling: In a medium heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water, whisk together the confectioners' sugar, butter, egg white, and salt until very liquid and warm to the touch, about 10 minutes.


Remove from the heat and, with a spoon, stir in the coconut and vanilla until well combined. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 to 2 hours, up to overnight.


When ready to coat the coconut, in a small heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water melt the chocolate. When almost melted, turn off the heat and let the chocolate continue to melt completely, stirring occasionally. Keep the bowl over the warm water.


Form the balls: Line a small tray with parchment paper. Using a scant ounce of the coconut mixture, roll into a small ball and place on the parchment-lined tray. Repeat with the remaining mixture, forming 18 balls.

Oh Christmas tree Oh Christmas tree

My tree is finally up and shining bright! Beth came over today and helped me put up my tree. I really didn't need the help because its a small cheap, almost Charlie Brown looking tree. BUT, it's a Christmas tree and it's up!!!

Here is a picture with the lights on

And here is a picture with the ligths off. (by the way these were taking with my point and shoot...I might try to get better pict later with my good camera)

Don't you agree it looks like a Charlie Brown Christmas tree? It only 4 or 5 feet tall. Short little thing. It was a $16 special at Big Lots 3 years ago. I do have a huge tree that is 7ft tall. It takes so long to put the darn thing together that I had to down size, which makes it nicer for me. I still get the Christmas spirit going...just not so much of it.

I was excited to put up the tree this year because I had several new ornaments to put on it. Every time I travel I purchase something to hang from my Christmas tree. Because I've traveled a lot this year I had so many new ones to put on the tree. That was the fun part....looking at all of them and remembering where they came from and the trip.

After the tree was up...I baked some cookies. Snickerdoodles, Chocolate Chip cookies and Oatmeal cookies. I still have some more to bake but it's a start and I'm tired to I'm done and enjoying some wine.

Hope everyone else had a great weekend!

New Widget

Look I have a new widget (Thanks DeAnna!!)....it looks so much better than just making the lists of books I've read. Take a look at my new bookshelf. Love it!!!

I've been looking for a widget that would allow me to post my books on a bookshelf but I was never able to find one. And of course when I went looking for a blog that might have one I was unsuccessful. Then today DeAnna called me (she just got a MAC....I'm so jealous!) because she was playing with her computer and told me about Shelfari.com. Best little website, It's like a book lovers community.

Anyway, I've played a little with it and got it to up and running on my sidebar...LOVE IT!!!

Talking about running, I ran my 3.1 mile today and it actually felt good, outside of the 14 degree weather. Lungs did hurt a little...I think I found my thresh hold for cold weather and 14 degrees is it. But the Jingle Bell run is next Saturday and I'm getting excited about it.

I just went to a sporting good store and picked up an under armour cold gear shirt. It was fabulous! and it was expensive. $50! I stood there holding the shirt for over an hour trying to rationalize spending $50 on just one. I finally gave in and drove home with my new under armour cold gear shirt.

Tryed it out for the first time today and it is well worth the $50. It kept the sweat off my body and held in the heat...of course in weather like this I had a jacket on as well. But the shirt is great! No regret! I figure I will purchase one running attire at a time.

So after this 5K run there is another run in Feb that is called the polar bear run. It is 5 miles so I will continue training for it. And I plan on signing up for the mini marathon training....and no I don't plan on running the mini this year, at least I don't think I am. As I get closer and work through the training I will figure out if I want to run it or not.

Ok, so why am I being crazy trying to run my legs off. Well medical reasons was the biggest driver in starting to run. I suffer from seasonal depression and when Jan and Feb comes along I struggle with crazy depressed thoughts and have a really hard time getting out of bed, along with other things. I went to a counselor and she wanted to put me on Prozac.

Nope not for me! I only suffer from seasonal depression so that means about 3 months out of the year Prozac will help but because of how that medication works I would have to take it all year round. My counselor was surprise when I asked for alternative options.

So here are my options
1) Move to a state that is sunny all year round (hummmm, not happening!)
2) Tanning bed (Ok, have you seen how fair complected I am.....um, cancer!!! not liking that one)
3) Light Therapy (Ok, this is a good option...I just sit infront of a special light 20 minutes a day and that should work)
4) Increase your exercise (hummmm, that would take effort!)

So after I fired my counselor and 2 months later, in October, I slid into a depressed state...it was bad. For a week I didn't want to get out of bed and life seemed hopeless. Then the sun came back out and things started to get better. And that was the last straw for me. I'm not doing it again this year. I'm not going to get depressed and have crazy thoughts running through my head. I have to do something and I need to do it now!

So on a whim I contact Dawn and that is how it all began. I can really tell a difference already. Usually by this time of year I'm much slower at getting out of bed. But right now getting out of bed is not so bad and I only hit the alarm 2-3 time....compared to 10-15.

So why am I running....because it's making me feel good and happy! And because of that I will continue to run.

Anyway....xmas season is here and I am booked up again through the end of the month. Life has gotten so busy and it feels so good!

Holiday Recap

3.1 MILE!!!!! Yep, I did it…I ran (a slow run) 3.1 miles this morning. It was the best run ever. So now the story

It was pretty outside because it was snowing and people have already started to put up their Xmas light on their houses. So I pull up and meet Dawn at our normal place and we start to run.

I was determined to push through any pain and get in 2 miles. As we are running she starts to tell me that we are actually going to complete 3.1 miles today. I was all for it because we only have 2 week until my first 5k. I figured if I could get 2 miles straight and then we could switch to walk run.

We went up on cul-de-sac and then another. My legs were starting to burn but I kept telling myself “I can do this”. Then we came up to the fence which was normally were we would stop and walk. But Dawn told me that we were going to go to the end of the street (which was my 2 miles) and from there we would keep running as far as my leg would let me go.

We got to the fence and kept going to the end of the street. By this time I was starting to feel really good. The burn in my legs was fading a way, we had a nice pace going and my breathing was good. I was feeling good. The first time I wasn’t dieing and wanting to stop…so I pushed forward.

The last small hill we hit almost did me in…I was straining a little bit and my heart was pounding and my legs started to burn…but I sucked it up and kept going…and before I knew it we were done.

Once we stopped I could really feel my legs turn to jello. It took all I had to make it back to the building and stretch. Now the goal is to keep the same trail for the next 2 weeks and working on keeping a good pace.

OK, I have to say Dawn is starting to talk me into doing the mini this year. I think I will do the training…it’s been fun trying to complete three miles…now I’m wondering if I can complete 13. But one step at a time.

Enough of my great run this morning….now for a Thanksgiving recap!

It was insanely busy this Thanksgiving…I had to cancel stuff on Sunday just to relax.

So it all started with Wednesday. My mom calls me up during the day and wanted to know if I wanted to help her move some things later that night. Sure, why not. So I go to her house and help her move some of her cloths over to the new house. Then when I get there she asks if I want to seal grout, paint or line the cabinets…..ummmm, what? Really, I thought I was here to help you move. I would paint but I don’t have cloths. Well that didn’t stop anything because I borrowed my stepdads pants and my moms shirt.

So I spent the rest of the time on Wednesday painting. Then they took me out to eat…which was nice.

Thursday, My BF came over and we started to prepare two side dishes for Thanksgiving dinner which was held at my moms old house. He got stuck in traffic which caused us to be 45 minutes late to dinner….luckly they didn’t start eating until we got there.

We had the typical turkey dinner. Then we all drove over to mom and bobs new house, checked it out and drove back to the old house for desert. From there we played cards (Hand and Foot) which seemed to last for ever! It was getting to be around 7:00 and we had to end the game. We said our goodbye’s and drove over to my house…where we divided up food and I packed my bags, trying to get the right things for pheasant hunting.

We got to his house around 9:00. He had a few things to get done and then we hit the sack. Only to wake up at the butt crack of dawn (not really but it sounded good) We did wake up around 6:00 with a 2 hour drive ahead of us.

I’ve never been pheasant hunting so I was curious about how thing would go. I liked it…it got me outside doing something different. This year the only thing I shot was my camera. I grabbed it to try to get some good shots of the dogs on point….ummm, didn’t happen this time but I did get a couple of other interesting shots…I will have to post later. My BF got 2 pheasants…which was the limit for the day.

This next year I’m going to purchase a gun (BF will help me find the right one) and learn how to skeet shoot. Then maybe next year I can participate in hunting pheasants. So by BF treated me to a late lunch and then we headed back to his house. I gathered my stuff, which I was exhausted, and headed home.

By the time I got home it was around 5:30….to prevent myself from falling a sleep to early I started to clean my kitchen, trying to prepare for my dads arrival for Saturday.

Saturday morning I finished cleaning and doing laundry and then I met my brother, dad and stepmom for lunch…from there they came back to my house to see my recently remodeled bathroom. They stayed for several hours until about 6:00pm. Everyone finally left so I hit the internet to check my email and see if there were any other deals in cyberspace then chatted with the BF for a while ended up gong to bed around 10:00pm

I woke up on Sunday and knew I needed time to relax and be alone. So I cancelled plans to go to a friends house who was having a purse party and declined and invitation to join another friend at the gym. Instead I stayed on my couch all day relaxing, being lazy and finishing my book. It was so nice to not have to do anything for one day.

Overall a very good holiday and a lot of great memories. Hope everyone had a happy holiday as well.