Why I Run & A Warm Glow

This is why I run, do Insanity workouts, and go to the gym:

This doesn't really do justice to the cookies we made last night.  This is just a fraction.  The table you can kind of see in the top left corner...yea...that too was covered in cookies being decorated.  We had a great time last night!  After next week, I will be banned from sweets for a couple months.  Until our snowboard trip I've decided.  I can't handle all the sugar anymore!!  But, Christmas to me isn't quite complete without decorating some sugar cookies :)

The Warm Glow:

So...

I'm tired of my white, white winter legs.  Most of the year, I carry a decent tan, but when it gets cold the jeans come out and bye bye tan.  I want to look into getting some type of self tanner that adds a nice glow of color to my skin.  Especially since it will just be warming up when the wedding gets here.  I'm just nervous about the orange look I've heard about and the streaks.  Any advice on a good brand to buy or how to avoid the orange skin and streaks??  Any advice would be appreciated!!

Oh, yea, and...

100 days until the wedding!!!  

Tomorrow we will be in DOUBLE DIGITS! What?! 

Happy Thursday Bloggy Friends!  We're almost to FRIDAY!!

Wedding Wednesday

So...we finally started looking for John's wedding band!  

Yay!!  He found a few he really likes, so we have them ordered and they are coming in for him to take a look at them, in his size, and in person.  Hopefully we'll have one picked out soon, but I'm so excited!  It's a big deal to me...the picking out of his ring.  I can't wait to see which one gets picked!


When we were ring shopping, I got to thinking...the guys kind of get the lousy end of the deal (minus getting to spend their life with fabulous creatures such as ourselves, ladies!  Ha!) not really lousy per se, but their rings don't even come close what ours do, plus, we get two...


I know it's not about that, but I've been thinking about maybe getting an extra special wedding present.  You know, the kind that a guy really wants for a long, long time, but hasn't managed to getting it for himself quite yet...I have a really good one in mind!


I guess, I'm wondering:


Have any of you ladies thought this way before, or am I alone in this?  


Did you exchange wedding gifts with your husband on your wedding day?

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

So, I'm going to go ahead and brag a little on my guy here :)  I've been talking about wanting to go to Disney to see the Osborne Christmas light display for years now and John made it happen!!  He has family in town that just so happened to be out at Hollywood Studios last night and his parents, a neighbor that just happens to work for Disney...yay!  So...we joined them!  It was amazing!!  This is what over ONE MILLION LIGHTS looks like...Whoa!

 It was literally freezing outside last night, so I had to break out the snowboard jacket and gloves!

Video of the lights :)

After we enjoyed some hot chocolate and the lights, we went and rode some rides.  John's cousins have three boys under the age of 13 and they are hilarious!  We had a great time with them!  I did get schooled by a 9 year old on the Toy Story ride...geez...

Miscellany Monday

{one}

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

We have had many dinners over the past few weeks, as well as a few Christmas parties as well.  This weekend was full of them!  Friday, we had John's work party at Bella Collina...beautiful.  It's amazing!  The inside matched the outside beautifully.  It felt like you were in Tuscany...or at least what I feel like Tuscany would be like!

Saturday night, we had another party.  Here are a couple pictures:

Our tree!

and

Thanks to Ashley for the rest of the pics!

Group shot!

The lovely ladies

And these, are our fellas :)

I can't tell you how happy this picture makes me!  It was after the gift exchange and the boys had new toys to play with! Ha!  Yes, they do have sling shots and Nerf guns!

{two}

Relaxing is so good...

This weekend was surprisingly relaxing, despite how busy we actually were.  I actually got to lay in bed after I woke up and watch a movie...Saturday AND Sunday!!  Lily enjoyed the relaxing weekend as well.  She even got to sleep in bed with me so she was happy.  

See...

{three}

Christmas cookies galore!

This week, I'm getting together with some friends and we are baking and decorating Christmas cookies!  Yay!  I'm so excited!  It's one of my favorite Christmas-y things to do!

{four}

Working off those Christmas calories ain't easy!  

Especially if you knew what, exactly, I was eating.  Ha!  Let's just say I feel like an Oompa Loompa...

...just not so orange. 

You know that gross feelings when you've been eating entirely too much sugar and other bad things...boo.  Thankfully, I've been keeping up with my workouts.  I've completed 2 weeks of my Insanity workouts...only 7 weeks more to go!  Ha!

I've also decided to run another 1/2 marathon in the spring.  I've got my sights set on one that I'm super excited about, but it's also on a very important day...ahem!  Robin's (future SIL) birthday!  So, I'm not sure if that's going to be the race, or another, but I'm starting to train again tomorrow...well, more like maintain the training I just finished...Woo!

{five}

Christmas shopping is almost done!

Almost!  Usually we do a Christmas Eve shopping expedition and breakfast with my dad...it's tradition!  We get up at 5am, hit the mall around 6, shop, shop, shop and are at breakfast by 9am when the crazies come out!  It's been something my brother and I have done with my dad since we were elementary school age.  Why stop the tradition now?!   How's your shopping going?

{six}

Baby, It's Cold Outside!

That's right, it's cold again in Florida.  We had a lovely weekend of weather in the 70's and then...we're back to freeze warnings!  After a warm start, the temp dropped over 20 degrees in minutes as the front blew through.  It was crazy!  If I only had a fire place...*sigh* wishlist for the next house :)

{seven}

Wedding Wednesday will return this week!  

We did something special yesterday for the wedding and I need opinions for something important!  More on that Wednesday! :)

Hope you all have a wonderful Monday, bloggy friends!  Keep warm, it looks like most of the country is covered with icy temperatures!!!

Five Question Friday

1. Do you open presents on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day?

Christmas Day.  Although, last year, John and I got each other Garmin watches for Christmas, and a few other little goodies, he cheated and got me these beautiful earrings and had me open them on Christmas Eve.  That's really the only present I've opened Christmas Eve.

2. What is your favorite Christmas cookie (or candy)?

I love sugar cookies, just because they're so cheery and fun to decorate.  My favorite thing to eat though, is double decker fudge.  You can find another post about it here, as well as the recipe!

3. What's the worst Christmas gift you've ever received?

Umm...I've gotten a couple of really bad gift sets of the soaps and other smelly stuff from some distant family members.  Their smell not only brings on an instant headache, but it's not me...at all.  It's not that I don't like good smelling soaps or lotions, I'm just very picky and get headaches from stuff like that pretty easily, so unless you know the exact ones, you're better off buying me a football or a case of bottled water :)  

4. Christmas song that you love?

I can't pick just one, so here are a few for you to enjoy!

5. How many trees do you put up?
Just one.  I promise to post pictures of it soon!  We (and when I say "we", I mean "I", since John is not a fan of decorating the tree) went with a more blue and silver theme this year, but I still added in our special ornaments from vacations or that were gifts in the past :)

Goodies from the Blog Swap!

A special thanks to Sandy and Ilene for hosting this swap!  It was a lot of fun and I'll definitely participate in another swap if presented the opportunity!

As I've mentioned, Gena @ Small Burst was my swap partner.  You should check her out, her blog is fun to read and she was some beautiful things on there!  I was so excited when my package arrived!  I quickly ran upstairs to open it....

It was so pretty!  I wish I had a knack for presenting presents like that!

After opening up, I found...

Finger-less gloves!  Perfect for my iPhone holding hands, plus super cute!

and...

Things for baking!  I can't wait to find a new recipe to try!  With a cover like that, doesn't it make you want to dive right in?  Oh, and did you see the measuring cups?!  How cute are they?!

Thanks so much, Gena!  I loved the goodies :)  It's so fun to become more personal with other bloggy-friends out there!!

BREAKING NEWS!

Florida fans, all around the country are a little sad this afternoon following the resignation of their wonderful head coach Urban Meyer.

Let's take a walk down memory lane...

Thank you...

....for 2 National Championships!

...3 trips to the SEC Championship game, with 2 wins...

...for showing the world how a coach should treat his players...

...and for being an example of Sportsmanship and a class act.

Whether you love the Gators, or hate them, you cannot take away the class and talent this man possesses.  Thanks for 6 great years Urban.  You will be missed :(