Food Coma

So my night of conflicting plans on Tuesday went as well as could be expected. My dinner with work team was a lot of fun, strengthened connections, and included tons of great food and drink. Unfortunately it lasted much longer than I'd expected. I knew a late night was in store when we hadn't even ordered entrees by 8:00. I finally left the restaurant around 10:30, so of course hubby and baby brother were long since done with dinner. I called my brother and found out hubby had gone to bed and my bro and his coworker were at the bar on our block, so I went out to meet them.

That of course meant a very late night for me (considering I usually go to bed shamefully early b/c I get up so early). So no boot camp yesterday morning!

I spent the whole day feeling fairly bloated, full and hung-over. Going to yoga last night was definitely a good plan, and I went back this morning for my final class of the month of yoga. I'll have to do a full post later.

Anyway, thought I'd share a couple pics of first, my veggie plate (au gratin potatoes, grilled jumbo asparagus, mac and cheese, and mushrooms), and then of my way too big dessert (cheesecake, planning to eat the rest of it this afternoon!).

Yum. This is why the period of time between Thanksgiving and New Year's pretty much destroys my plans to eat healthily... Oh, but it's so much fun! And the extra hours of exercise are 100% worth it, since even exercise seems to have a holiday feel -- one of the post-yoga evening events I'm looking forward to the most is an annual run with some running buddies to check out the pretty lights on the houses!

Conflicting Plans

Tis the season to want to do more than there is time to do I suppose.

But this year is a little weird for me.  Specifically, there are 3 nights with multiple events and I wish I could clone myself and do it all.

Tonight my baby brother is going to be in town.  I want so much to go out to dinner with him and my hubby and just get some quality time together.  I saw him in October at my other brother's wedding (and of course lots of time in July at his wedding), and I'll see him next month at Christmas, but a night with just the three of us would be awesome.

But tonight is one of the very few work dinners I need to attend all year.  I was hoping, hoping, hoping it would be set for any night other than the night my brother is in town, but of course that's not how it worked.  I know the work dinner will be tasty food, fun company, and a good time, but it won't hold a candle to some time with my brother.

My usual rule for conflicting plans is to do whatever was on my calendar first, but this work dinner was planned late in the day on the day that my brother bought his plane ticket (after clearing the date with me that morning), and it's an exception to the rule.  Brother dinner was planned first, but trumped by work sadly...

So my solution tonight is work dinner eaten quickly (but I'm staying for dessert for sure, this restaurant has my absolute favorite restaurant cheesecake in the world), and then I'll go meet hubby and bro for a drink.  He's staying with us, so maybe I'll just stay up late catching up, and depending on his work and mine, maybe we can do a workout, breakfast and/or lunch together on Wednesday.

But oddly enough, I have two more nights like this in the next week or so. 

Wednesday, Dec. 7 is my work Christmas party, which we're attending (spouses are invited) and I'm looking forward to (I've heard some crazy fun stories!).  But that night is also my law school alumni happy hour -- I really like that group of people and I make a big effort to go to all their happy hours that I can since we're a smallish group.  AND my running buddies are having a post-marathon happy hour celebration that night.  Because of the time of the work party, it's not possible to do more than 1 event, so the work holiday party is where I'll be, but again, I wish those happy hours were say Monday and Tuesday of that week instead.

And then Friday, Dec. 9, we are going out for an awesome dinner with one of my law school friends and his new-ish wife (I think they're 9 mos married now).  And by awesome dinner, I mean AWESOME as in we are trying to use up the balance on his work expense account for the year.  That means we'll be attempting to blow $2,000 on dinner for the 4 of us at one of the best restaurants in town.  That's some good wine and food!  I am happy that's on our calendar, but it would be nice if the other things for that night could have fallen on other nights.  One of our friends is having a holiday costume party -- not normally up our alley, but the "costumes" are to dress as Steve Jobs or Bill Gates.  Too funny!  If only his party were Saturday night instead of Friday...  And of course that same night is also a dance performance (followed by dinner) done by my husband's best friend's youngest son (his godson's younger brother).  It would be so much fun to attend that, if only it were on Thursday...

So lots of fun plans, unfortunately I only get to do 3 fun events instead of all 8 -- just because all 8 are scheduled over the same 3 days.  If only people would consult my personal calendar before planning their lives and fun events!  Hahaha!  Sigh...

We're also skipping hubby's work party this year, which is on Sunday afternoon (odd), because it's the day of the big local marathon and we're going to have an open house/brunch for all my running friends.  That will be awesome -- lots of baking to do!  

FMM: Holiday Shopping

Going back to work today for the start of a very busy week -- major evaluation of case files, and the one colleague who shares my case load is out while her mother is very ill.  Yikes!  But the days off were nice, though I did do some emailing and stuff to help take a bit of the load off today.

I figured it was a good idea to choose a ready-made topic since it's Monday!

If you’ve taken part in FMM then you know the rules. If you’re new, please take a moment to answer this week’s question on your own blog then add your link in the comments section here at: http://www.alltheweigh.com/2011/11/friend-makin-mondays-dating/www.alltheweigh.com so we can all see your FMM questions and answers. Please invite your blog readers to add their links here too so everyone has to opportunity to be seen. The idea is to connect with other awesome bloggers so take a moment to post your own FMM post and comment on a couple of other posts. Now it’s time for this week’s topic!

Friend Makin’ Mondays: Holiday Shopping

1. Do you like to shop? Not really.  My clothing is fairly old b/c I really hate buying new stuff.  I'll even have stuff altered when needed to avoid having to shop again.  It just takes so long to buy clothes and I hate it.  And I've delegated grocery shopping to my husband, so I don't have to shop much at all, except around the holidays. 
2. Have you started shopping for Christmas gifts yet? Yes, I enjoy the holidays A LOT more when I've started shopping well before Thanksgiving. If I have time today, I'll do some cyber Monday shopping! 
3. Did you shop on Black Friday?  If so, what did you buy?  Nope.  I went to yoga in the morning and we spent most of the day doing some major cleaning around the house.  Like pulling everything out of our walk-in pantry to reorganize and scrub the floor, etc.  Then Saturday we did our holiday decorating, and Sunday we went to see friends.  We had dinner out on Fri and Sat, and lunch out on Sunday, but no shopping all weekend.  
4. List a few of your favorite stores.  Container Store!  I have too much stuff and I always like putting it in smaller boxes for some reason.  Also like Crate & Barrel, Nordstroms and Nieman's I suppose.  I like Coach and Sephora too.  And of course my fave local running store.  But I'm really not a big shopper. 
5. What is the last thing you purchased for yourself (food and drinks excluded?)  I went ahead and paid for another month of heated yoga on Saturday!  I can't even remember before that.  Probably gas for my car?  I bought a weighted vest for working out about a week ago.  And I did shop for myself in Sept or Oct and I got a red skirt (which I popped a button off of the first day I wore it, and is now in line to either get the button sewn on by me or taken somewhere else to get it sewn on, and this is unlikely to happen anytime soon) and a green short-sleeved top.  I will purchase more holiday cards soon. 
6. Do you prefer to shop in-store or online?  Online for gifts, in-store for clothing for myself.  It's too hard to find clothes that look good on me and fit well online. Plus I like to feel the fabrics...
7. If you could purchase one thing that you don’t need at all for yourself today, what would it be?  Well, my purchase of choice is almost always airline tickets -- next trip will be Mardi Gras, then for the marathon at the end of March, then China in the fall.  That's probably why I don't like to shop much -- I'd rather save the money for travel.  But in terms of buying something for immediate consumption, today I'd buy some awesome dress for work and some yoga shorts for tonight (I've been wearing running shorts).  
8. Does your significant other shop with you?  Do they love it/hate it? Since I don't really shop much, no he doesn't really go with me I don't think, though he has before and he hasn't complained.  I think if I were a frequent shopper, he might not enjoy it, but since it's rare, he's a good sport when I ask. 
9. Do you shop at thrift stores?  I did in grad school, but I think I feel too guilty to do it now.  If 15% of Americans are relying on food stamps to feed themselves and their families, I feel like I need to be donating to thrift stores and not shopping there.  I'm in a very fortunate place in my life and of course I don't want to waste money, but I've thought of thrift stores as being designed to help those in need, and I can't say I'm in need. 
10. When you’re holiday shopping, do you make lists?  Kind of.  I'll write down ideas as they come to me (usually well before the holidays), and I'll write down what I've already purchased, but basically I just keep lists in my head or have the lists people give me. 

If you want to participate, answer the questions above and post a link to your answers on alltheweigh.com. 

Consubstantial Changes!

Wow, new mass! 

We don't go to Catholic mass together very often.  First, I'm Episcopalian (hubby is Catholic).  Second, hubby works most Sundays.  Third, my running group does long runs on Sunday mornings.  Fourth, hubby is more like a recovering Catholic -- not very into it. 

That all means I go to Episcopalian services occasionally and Catholic services rarely.  Hubby goes with me to occasional Episcopalian services (like Christmas Eve with my family). 

Well, in the U.S. 

When we're in Italy, we go to Catholic services pretty much every day if we can't find a way out of it!  Haha.  I think we even went twice in one day when we were there this past spring. 

But this weekend was special.  First, I don't mind going to Catholic services even though I'm Episcopalian, I'd just never do it alone.  Second, hubby was off today.  Third, we only had a 9 mile run on the schedule this morning, and then I went straight to 90 minutes of yoga and I was home before 10 and mass wasn't until 12.  And fourth, hubby said yesterday that he was willing to go to mass in the morning as long as we went to the English (Catholic) service at the cathedral. 

It was quite amusing therefore to be at my first English language Catholic service in quite some time and to hear most people be almost as "close but not quite" as I am.  Lots of the words are the same in an Episcopal church, but with the new mass today, they changed just enough that I was still off, but so was everyone else. 

Consubstantial.

And also with your Spirit.

I am not worthy for you to come under my roof. 

Hahaha.  They were all lost with me and hubby was floored -- he still remembers when they did it in Latin (he was young at the change, but you know, that stuff sticks sometimes). 

Not sure when we'll go back -- we're having a party next weekend after the marathon at our house (or if he's working, I'm having the party alone for my running buddies).  And then after that, he'll probably be back at work on Sunday mornings, but at least we were there for the first one!