Day 77 - Work

Today I went to work.  Haven't said that in a while!  The Clover Park School District is kind enough to allow me to earn a few bucks here and there when I can over school breaks.  After work, Joy and I went out for what we now loving call BOOM- SHAKALAKA TACO TUESDAY.  To burn off the delicious Mexican feast, I went for a 4 mile run on the treadmill, played Wii Fit with my little sis, did some hard core ab exercises and about 15 min of relaxing yoga.

Day 76 - Joy

Shopping, movie, board games, lunch out at BJ's... This was a great day! My little Sis, Joy, successfully drove us to the mall (she just turned 16 so this was a big deal). We did a little shopping before seeing the Fighter, Mark Wahlberg's new movie. I. Love. Him.

There was a whole lot of shirtless Marky Mark goodness in addition to the movie being overall awesome. I fully recommend it. Other than walking the mall and helping the Sis clean her room, there was no exercise today. Not acceptable. I've changed into my jammies (pajamas), but I am about to lie down and do 50 sit ups, 20 (girl) push ups and 25 squats. On your mark... Get set... Go!

Day 75 - Will Power

My New Year's resolution this year will be to regain my will power.  Although I swore today I'd eat healthier than the last two days. I failed.  The Hilen's had a delicious Christmas treats scattered all over the kitchen and I suffered from some sort of neurosis which compelled me to try them all.  I didn't really even want to eat half of the things that I put in my mouth, but I was possessed!  Against my will, my hand kept picking up chocolate covered delectables and shoving them past my lips!

A few years back, I had the will power of... Yeah, I can't think of an appropriate analogy.  Let's just say I could refuse anything without a second thought.  Now, not so much.  I did at least make it to the gym.  Charlie and I went with Annie to the YMCA.  I did about a half an hour of upper body weights and then 35 minutes on the rotating stair machine.

I also exercised my shopping muscles with Charlie and Le Target.  We got a $50 gift card and spent it and our poker winnings from Christmas Eve on new towels.  SOOOO pumped to use them when I get home!

Charlie has to return to work tomorrow morning, so I dropped him at the airport and headed over to my Dad's.  I'm staying on the west side to work for a few days and to see friends before I head back to Spokanistan.  It will be a lonely night without the hubs, but I've got Tucker with me so I'll get by.  Good night!

Day 74 - Merry Christmas

Christmas morning started early with stockings and pictures with the Muchows.   Charlie and I had to hit the road first thing to get to the Hilen's for brunch.  We made great time flying up I5 and had a fantastic breakfast.  Hilen family tradition includes Christmas lotto scratch tickets.  Charlie and I each won $8, but Jeffery was the big winner with a $20 ticket.

We then opened presents and were even further spoiled.  We got a REALLY nice camera, so expect the quality of the blog pics to improve.  Charlie's cousin's family came over for dinner.  There were 5 children under the age of 7 roaming around.  They were EXHAUSTING!  As they tore through their presents, Charlie leaned over to me and whispered "we're not ready."  I couldn't agree more.

Although I ate a ridiculous amount of food (Becky's homemade snickers, chips and dip, chocolate and caramel turtle cookies, a huge chicken dinner, etc) and didn't exercise at all, I enjoyed a fantastic day with family and hope you did to!

Day 73 - santa claus is coming to town

The day started rain soaked and wind torn, but I got a 5 mile run in.  I ran the same course as Day 4.  Although  I wasn't as sore or tired this time around, I definitely was more miserable.  The temperature in Portland is a good 10-15 degrees warmer than Spokane, but the wind and rain was horrendous.  I ran at near sprint pace for the last few minutes just to hurry up to get out of the cold.

After showering and getting ready for the day, Charlie and I were off to the first party of our three part Christmas.  The Wilson family gets together at my Uncle Dave's house for lunch and poker.  I am proud to say that Charlie and I walked away $35 ahead this year winning back to back rounds of poker.  As Charlie proclaimed as he banged on the table after a winning hand, "2010 was his year!"

After the Wilson family festivities, we headed over the my Aunt and Uncle's house for the Muchow Christmas Eve dinner.  We enjoyed a HUGE Italian feast, sang some Christmas carols (complete with maracas, tambourines and bells) and opened a few presents.  Charlie and I were completely spoiled and are excited to make use of our new gifts.  We head up to Gig Harbor in the morning to celebrate with the Hilens.  Merry Christmas!

Day 72 - TBS

After several hours in the car driving from Spokane to Portland, I am suffering from MAJOR TBS (tired butt syndrome). I doubt TBS is a real thing, but it has existed in my family for as long as I can remember. Must be genetic.

I planned to run at the gym today, but ran into a slight problem. My pants kept falling down low on my hips and I had to keep yanking them back up. I'm going to choose to believe it is due to having lost some weight. It's more likely, however, that I just stretched out the elastic past the breaking point. Bummer.

I got tired of having to run with one hand holding up the waist of my pants, so I did 45 min on the step machine. Before hitting the road, I finished decorating a second set of cake balls. We made it over the river and through the woods to Grandmother's house. I am more than ready for bed. Merry Christmas eve eve!

Day 71 - Carin!

Today was a great day!  I got to visit with one of my good friends from high school, college and southern California.  She and her fiance are currently living in Japan so at most we only get to talk via skype every couple of weeks.  Anyway, they are home for the holidays visiting family so I drove down to the Tri-Cities to hang out for a little while.

The greatness of the day didn't start there, however.  It started with Pilates (with weights).  I hadn't been to the class for a good 3+ weeks and was afraid that returning would be nothing but pain and torture as I struggled through the class.  BUT, I actually kept up just fine!  I've been doing more yoga lately and that has apparently continued to build core strength.  I was fully prepared to need to be carried out on a stretcher after class, but I was able to bounce away on my own sans assistance from emergency responders.

After pilates, I took the hubs shopping with me.  I had a $50 gift card to the Nordstrom Rack that was begging to be spent.  I found a cute purple sweater dress, some gray tights and a pair of running pants that Charlie is going to give to me for Christmas (I hate surprises).  After the shopping adventure, I used another gift card and treated myself to a mani/pedi.  Add having lunch/dinner with some great friends and this was one heck of a day!