5 Miles After Falling

Welp, it happened. I fell during a run. Ow!

On the 29th, I was starting my run with Chilly, and he was on the wrong side of me, so I was trying to maneuver him to the opposite side of me while I was trying to run alongside the turn of a curb. This was literally within the first 0.2 miles. I must have tripped over my own feet, because before I knew it, Chilly was on the opposite side of me but I was on the sidewalk!

A cold and dreary day for a fall :(

I had so many things in my hand (new water bottle in one hand, leash in the other) that I landed on my knees and then threw my hands out in front of me to stop the skid. See the scratches on my new water bottle in the first photo? ...Damn.

This must be his "I'm sorry" face.

I finished 2 miles with Chilly, dropped him off at home, and then completed 3 more miles by myself. My ankle was kind of bothering me and the wind was making the temperature feel about 10 degrees colder than it was, so it really just wasn't a pleasant run at all. 

37 degrees!! :( :(

At least I was wearing my new gear?

COLD.

Wave Rider 17s

10oz water bottle

I'm glad I ran, but am upset that my ankle still kind of hurts and that it was so cold. Oh well. Not all runs can be fantastic!

Ever fallen during a run?

Running Again, and 9 Year Anniversary

The day after Christmas, on JW and I's 9 year anniversary, I decided to go out for a run in my new running shoes. It was absolutely glorious and I would have gone on for so many more miles if I had the time - but I had to go home to get ready for our anniversary date.

The first two miles were with my dog, and the last two were just by myself.

I love that I can still run fast and even with a dog, my first mile was 9'20"- I still remember when I first started running and I thought it was a triumph if I got close to a 10 minute mile. Now 9 minute miles are starting to become my norm! It's a great feeling.

My shoes and new water bottle are awesome - the Wave Rider 17s make my feet feel awesome, and the water bottle fits nicely in my hand and is a great way to sip on water without carrying around a heavy belt around my waist. Pictures to come!

Later that night, JW and I went on a date at Al Biernat's.

This dress has gotten a lot of use this holiday season!

We were literally the only people in the restaurant...

Granted, not many people eat dinner at 5:30pm...

We told the waiter it was our anniversary and he surprised us with this free dessert!

It was quite delicious :)

All done with dinner!

After that, we went to the mall and saw American Hustle. It was okay - I don't think either of us were in an artsy film kind of mood, so it felt like it dragged.

That night, we met some of our friends from Seattle whose families live in Texas (like us!) in Southlake and hung out until 2am. We went to Whataburger and it was glorious. We just had to get in a Whataburger visit while we were in Texas!! I was pretty tired from the days events so I didn't take any pictures, but I'm sure you can imagine it.

Clearly you can see that South Beach has gone out the window, but as it should - being on a diet between Christmas and New Years just seems wrong. We'll be back on track after New Years..... maybe. :D

Christmas Day

Christmas morning started bright and early at the Peters' house - we were up at 7:45am ready to tackle those presents. At JW's house, the tradition is to open the stockings first, then pass out every present, and then take turns opening them and showing what they got. It was a different tradition, but I'm all up for diversity!

They even had a hat for me!

We had a few cinnamon rolls while we opened presents. I got some pajama pants, a scarf (pictured above), a phone charger for my car, some nail polish, and a few flashlights. The biggest presents were from his parents - I got a spa package from Red Door, and they bought us two nights at the Gaylord for after our wedding before we go on the honeymoon. Such a thoughtful gift that we will truly enjoy!

Around 10, my sister picked us up and drove us to our parents house so we could open presents with my parents. Our tradition is for me to pass out one round of presents at a time, we each open at the same time, and then I grab another set of presents for everybody. Then we open stockings!

our tree, and my dad and my stockings

Socks for mittens

a silly picture!

I got everything on my Christmas list, including new running shoes!! I was so stoked! I also got a nice lounging robe from Anthropologie (yesss!), comfy pants, and a board game.

We ate breakfast (waffles, sausage, bacon!), changed clothes, and then headed back over to the Peters' house for Christmas lunch.

JW and Rachel

We bonked heads right before this picture was taken.. haha!

After eating some of the most amazing food (christmas really is just filled with the best food ever), my dad picked us up to start the journey to Granbury, about an hour and a half away.. for another meal. If anyone is keeping track, that's two breakfasts and two lunches so far.

Cousins

Aunts and Uncles on the couch during presents

Jacob was our Santa

We left Granbury around 7 and got home around 8:30. We dropped by the Peters' for about an hour before we ended the night at my house. It was a good day, just long! I was so happy to have survived the Christmas marathon! :D

You ready for New Year's? I'm not! :P

Christmas Eve Marathon

Catching up with Christmas Eve stuff...

On the morning of the 24th, I went to Tuba Christmas, a tradition in Dallas where everyone gathers in Thanksgiving Square to listen to a bunch of tubas playing Christmas carols. It's fun - people sing along and anyone with a tuba can join in the band. Ages range all over for the players as well as the listeners. It's a great way to start Christmas!

A Tuba Christmas

We were really cold!

The future in-laws

We had a quick lunch downtown and looked in the Nieman Marcus windows at the Christmas display, but pretty soon it was time to get ready for the beginning of our Christmas marathon. Our plan was to drive to Fort Worth, stay for about an hour and a half, and then drive back to Dallas for the Christmas Eve service at the church where we'll be married.

In Fort Worth in matching-ish outfits :) Unplanned, of course!

The rest of my cousins decided to wear ugly sweaters..

These two won the Ugly Sweater competition in my book!

Me and two of my cousins, who will be my bridesmaids!

The cousins - this is the best picture I could get of all of us looking sort of at the camera!

Silly picture!

We felt like we were only there for 20 minutes or so, and then we had to leave. The drive to Dallas was a little stressful because we left late, but we got to the church just in time. The service was beautiful but I felt like it would be disrespectful if I took any pictures so I didn't take any. 

After we left, we went to 7-11 to pick up hot chocolates, and then went around in JW's dad's minivan to look at Christmas lights. It was a great way to spend Christmas Eve!

We went back to his house and had margaritas and fajitas. A true Texan Christmas!

JW, me, his sister, and his best man

We dubbed it a Christmas drink - a red glass, green liquid, and snow on the rim!

Yoga headstands at night - I've gotten really good at these!

Their tree all ready for Christmas morning

The stocking that they made for me :)

I love that they had a stocking ready for me so quickly after we got engaged! My sister's husband doesn't even have a stocking at our house - haha! I told my mom we needed to make one for him and JW really quick.

I changed clothes and lounged around watching A Christmas Story (I still haven't seen it all the way through),  opened the sibling gift (a scarf and some pajama pants! Thanks Rachel!) and then we went to bed around 12:30. I was anxious to start Christmas Day festivities - it was gonna be a big day!

Next up: Christmas!

What Christmas traditions do you have? Do you celebrate Christmas Eve?

Christmas Eve Eve Baking (Pinterest Fails)

Anybody else have any Christmas traditions they can't let go of? One of mine is baking while watching The Muppet Christmas Carol. It's become a staple in our house and starting last year, my sister and I have been baking Pinterest recipes and seeing how badly they fail. It's pretty fun! This was last year:

We tried to make brownies inside the cookie cutters.

Looking good so far! ...sort of.

Yikes. They came apart terribly. It's supposed to be a bird!

We laughed so hard we cried!

This year, we looked up another Pinterest recipe - some shortbread logs.

Whitney's puppy Boomer helped us bake!

Our first casualty - cookie down the oven door crack!

:(

She was very sad about it.

The rest of them looked pretty tasty, though!

Then we dipped them in melted chocolate and Christmas Sprinkles.

But half of them broke in half when we applied any kind of force while dipping.

We decided to call them Christmas Acorns!

I can't find the recipe we used, but oh well. They were actually pretty good, but we used a cup of butter so they were pretty greasy.

Merry Christmas from Texas!