What a day it’s been! I’ve gotten so much accomplished, and it isn’t even 3pm yet. Although my To Do list does have a few more items on it…but those can wait till tomorrow.
I definitely did this, bright and early this morning. I hit the neighborhood high school track again for Week 1, Day 2 of C25K. This time I brought my mom and my sister with me. They’d been inspired by what I did yesterday, and figured they’d give it a whirl. Both of them tried jogging for a bit, but decided they preferred walking, which is just fine. The only downside to today’s jaunt was that we got there at 7:30am, and it was FREEZING. I found it so much harder to jog when it’s really cold out – I was much more out of breath than I was yesterday. But I still completed all the run/walk intervals, which makes me really proud – proud enough to smile.
Most of the day today was dedicated to a “photo shoot” for my Christmas card. I knew what I wanted it to look like, but I needed to ply my sister with a P.F. Chang’s gift card in order for her to put up with my diva behavior. We even had a “costume change” halfway through. Since I won’t be able to send most of you a card, here’s the result:
On the back I was able to write a bit about what this year has meant to me, and I also included a cute photo of Sofi & me:
A bit of backstory to this photo – I had to stand on a chair so that I’d be tall enough for the holly tree berries to show up in the photo. This meant that my sis also had to get up on a step ladder to take the photo. See why she totally earned that gift card?!
Since I was in the photo-taking mood (really, when am I NOT in the photo-taking mood?!), I decided it was time for a Santa hat before/during photo. The left one is from 2 years ago and the one on the right is today.
Seeing the changes in all of these photos puts a huge smile on my face. It’s one thing to see the numbers on the scale, and it’s an entirely different thing to see photo proof. BTW, the lipstick I have on in all of these photos I took today is the Snow White from NYX that I bought a few weeks ago – I love it!
Yesterday I got all of my Christmas shopping done, except for a couple of stocking stuffer-type items that I have to pick up. And I’m very proud to say I didn’t fight the crowds and risk life and limb to do it. (Did you read this story about the person who died at a Black Friday sale? Simply disgusting and ridiculous. I’m all for capitalism, but people are acting like animals). Anyway, without needing to change out of my pjs, I got presents for everyone on my list. I found some excellent items that I think they’ll really love. And if you know me, you know I also bought myself a few things in the process.
I’ve been spending the past two days inside, taking down the Thanksgiving decorations and getting all the Christmas ones organized. Plus the aforementioned online shopping and Christmas card creation. And while I have been a busy little bee, I’ve had the Hallmark Channel on in the background. They’re playing all of their Christmas made-for-TV movies right now, and I am loving every cheesy scene. So far the Mrs. Miracle ones are my favorites, but they’ve all been really cute. They’re the type of movies that make you believe not only in the spirit of Christmas, but in happy endings.
Speaking of movies, tonight my parents, sister, and I are heading to dinner at Outback, followed by going to see The Book Thief. I haven’t read the book, although I have it, but I didn’t want to miss the movie, because I think it looks really good.
The rest of the weekend should be just as fun as the week has been – I’m meeting up with a friend for coffee tomorrow morning, decorating the rest of the house for Christmas throughout the day, and of course catching my 49ers beating the Rams.
I hope you’ve had just as many smiles today as I have.
Bella on the Beach 