Merry Christmas!

I haven’t been with my family for Christmas since I was 18…that’s 21 years.  Oh yea, in case you didn’t know, I’m pushing 40.  Haha.  I don’t mind that part though.  I’m looking forward to 40.  Why?  I’m a runner, so that means I’ll be going into a new age group and I’ll be the young and, theoretically, faster one in the group!  Anyway, Christmas has more or less lost its meaning for me over the past 21 years.  I tend to try and work overtime so that the feelings of being alone on this family oriented holiday don’t get to me.  However, THIS YEAR, Christmas eve and Christmas day fell on Saturday and Sunday respectively…my days off at this point.  Did I volunteer to work overtime?  Nope.  I’ve decided in the past few months that I enjoy having my days off be just that…days off.  So, regardless of holidays or whatever, I don’t work overtime on my days off anymore.  I’m much less stressed as a result.  So, seeing as how I’m not working overtime to distract myself from the fact that I’m 2500 miles away from some of the most precious people in my life, I won’t be alone. 

Yesterday, on Christmas eve, I ran with a free running group in the morning.  In the evening I was alone and it was a little sad for me, but I got through it and now it’s Christmas day.  Today’s plan included up early to run.  I like to dress festively and wear one of my Santa hats, but this year I opted to wear some reindeer antlers instead.  INKnBURN (the company I was an ambassador for earlier this year) put out a new ugly Christmas sweater long sleeve tech shirt.  I had planned on wearing it today, but because I live in Texas, it was 70° when I set out for my run, so I had to push the sleeves up in order to be comfortable during my run and not overheated.  I got waved and honked at a few times, so that makes me happy that I made at least 3 people smile enough that they had to let me know!

After my run, Heather (one of my very best friends) came over.  We headed to the Hyatt Regency for their Christmas buffet!  But, when we got there, we discovered that the internet had lied to us (wait, everything you read on the internet isn’t true?  Shocker!) and it wasn’t a buffet at all.  Well, actually, they still had their breakfast buffet open.  But they had a Christmas plate.  It was $44 if you got all 3 items: soup, entrée and dessert.  Which I did.  Heather opted not to get the soup because it was clam chowder and she doesn’t like clam chowder.  It was pretty good…best clam chowder I’ve ever had.  The dinner was delicious, if a little small portioned, but that’s okay.  I do need to start cutting back on how much I’m eating anyway, but for the price we paid, I just wish the portions had been slightly bigger, you know?  The dessert was good.  Kinda wish I’d gone with the seasonal cookie plate for dessert instead.   

best clam chowder i've ever had!

doesn't look like much but it was very tasty!

should have skipped this for a couple reasons, but it was good

We got back to my apartment and she gave me a box with 3 super cute t-shirts in it for my Christmas present.  I didn’t realize that she was going to give me more gifts on top of what she gave me for my birthday.  I would have waited to give her her present had I known.  I felt kinda awkward because I didn’t have another gift to give her.  But I love the shirts, ESPECIALLY the “coffee & kitties” one.  LOVE LOVE LOVE that one!

my favorite...this will get worn a LOT!

2nd favorite...unicorns are my spirit animal!

truth.

Then I grabbed my crafty gift that I’m making for one of my other best friends, Amanda, and got to work on that while Heather opened up her scrapbooking bag and started going through it.  A little side note here, she had no idea what was in it as she hadn’t opened it up in years.  Turned out she didn’t actually have anything to scrap with, but she did go through it and discover what was in it.  After I finished my crafty gift, I started on the 4 running scrapbook pages I need to do.  I felt bad because I was still crafting and she was just sitting there watching me. 

I was hoping Walmart was going to open this evening, but they’re closed until 6am tomorrow.  So maybe I’ll go on my way to the gym and see if there’s anything in the after Christmas sale I want to buy.

I was going to go to the gym today, but as I reminded yesterday, this is a holiday weekend, so the gym is closed and really, there’s not much I can do lower body wise at home, so I’ll just skip that this week and start it up next week.  I mean, I’ll probably do some lower body machines tomorrow along with the combat fitness exercises.  Most likely, actually.  

I recorded another vlog today about the Fun Run Boxes I've gotten recently, so head on over to my Facebook page and give it a watch and give my page a "like" while you're there!  Also, don't forget to follow me on Instagram for all sorts of pictures of my shenanigans!  

I hope everyone had a great Christmas surrounded by loved ones and that you got everything you hoped for in your stockings and under your trees.