Back at it.

I hope you all had a great holiday season and wish you a healthy, happy New Year.

Phew. After a week and a half off from work, it’s back to the grind today. And I’m feeling it 🙂

Our Christmas was wonderful. We spent lots of time with family and each other – that’s pretty much all I ask for Christmas.

In between Christmas and New Year’s Eve I did – well, not much. Which I am OK with. I rested and recharged those batteries to prepare for the first part of this year. We also spent some time with friends we hadn’t seen in awhile, which is always a blast.

On New Year’s Eve, we were out shopping when it started to snow kind of hard (again, UGH), which stole away all our enthusiasm for going out to dinner. We ended up hiding away at home, and enjoying homemade tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches  I was not sad about this because I love tomato soup and we used our Tillamook cheese. So we definitely came out ahead 🙂 On New Year’s Day, we went to my aunt’s house for our traditional pork dinner and then relaxed at home for the evening, mentally preparing for getting back into the work groove (or at least the latter part was true for me; M didn’t have the last week and a half off…).

Despite my slight sadness that the holidays are over, I will say that I had a great few weeks (starting with  our first family party on Dec. 15!) so there is a lot of joy to focus on. What’s more, there is something lovely about getting back into a routine. Isn’t it funny how breaking routine and getting back into routine are equally refreshing? 

I forced myself to get up earlier than normal to hit the gym – I guess you could say I tried to shock my body back into routine! All in all, I am ready to take on 2013, and hope you are, too!

Countdown to Christmas

This is absolutely my favorite Christmas song this year. Disclaimer: I’ve never actually seen Glee, but I think they do a good job with this song.

Merry Christmas, if that’s your thing!

Happy first day of Winter!

Well, as expected, we’re getting hit pretttttty good right now with some snow. Luckily, we don’t have anywhere we have to be for the rest of the day or tomorrow. Basically, we’re hiding 🙂

It’s an appropriate start to the Winter though, right?!

Speaking of the first day of Winter, I have to say I am glad it’s here. Why? Because it’s also the shortest day of the year. That’s right, today is the longest it will be dark. Which means we’ve made it into the depths, and the only way to go is up.

I am all about the sun. I crave it, I yearn for it, I bask in it when it is here.

And, I miss it.

From here on out though, the days get longer and longer and longer and looooooooonger.

I know we have a ways to go, trust me. But I feel heartened that I’ve made it to the brink without losing my mind. 🙂

Related: Does anyone know why Christmas lights on houses are a thing? Is it because Christmas comes during the darkest part of the year, and the lights help offset that? I reasoned that as a possibility in my head, but I have zero proof.

Anyway, I am glad it’s the shortest day of the year. And if you’re somewhere getting hit hard, too, be safe and warm and dry 🙂

Preparing for snow.

By all accounts, Cleveland is about to get hit with the first snowstorm of the season. Yay! ?

We will have snow coming down, it will still be windy and thanks to the wet roads and (now) cold temperatures, there will be some slick spots.  Thanks to the wind, wind chills will be in the 20s and teens!  The heavier snow will pick up late morning and the EVENING commute will be considerably worse.  3″-5″ could accumulate..

Friday night the lake effect continues and we could see some good accumulation in the snowbelts.  This is why there is a WINTERSTORM WATCH for Cuyahoga, Lake, Geauga and Ashtabula counties from Thursday night THROUGH Saturday evening.

Side Note: What does it mean when meteorologists admit that their forecast is “complicated”?

SO anyway. Yeah, here it comes, I guess. I think secretly we’ve all been hoping for a mild winter on par with last year, since we haven’t gotten any snow to really speak of yet this year. But I feel we may be in for a wake up call tomorrow. Well, Cleveland winter: bring it on (I guess).

So to prepare for the snow, I went on a 6 mile run this morning, before the rain started. Gotta get in all the running I can before the sidewalks get covered in snow and ice. It was pretty cold though, not going to lie. And the wind. Oh the wind.

I’m also planning to make a big ol’ pot of Quinoa Chicken Soup tonight. I basically used this recipe from Iowa Girl Eats, except with only regular potatoes and no sweet potatoes because no matter what I do, I can’t get myself to like sweet potatoes, which makes me sad, but it’s just reality I guess. (It’s the sweetness, I think. I am not interested in sweet-ish main dishes.) I think I used rosemary instead of thyme, too, since that what we’ve got.

Poor M is sick, so this soup also serves as a Get Well dish.

I better admit, too, that there is part of me that hopes it snows enough, and that it sticks, so the snow is here for………Christmas!

If you’re in an area getting snow tomorrow, are you doing anything to “prepare”?

A Birthday & Christmas-Part One

This weekend, we continued to celebrate M’s birthday and also had our first Christmas celebration of the year. Yay!

On Friday, M and I went to dinner at Lolita, and it was just as delicious as we remembered from his birthday dinner last year. We started with the eggplant dip as an appetizer, and this was easily my favorite part of the meal. Sooo good. For the main course, I ordered the Roasted Chicken with a side of polenta, and M got the Duck Confil with a side of rapini.  Yum-o.

On Saturday, I woke up nice and early to head to the West Side Market before the crowds. I love waking up when it seems like no one else is awake. I purchased some dried fruit as a $10 gift for our Christmas Part One, and some other goods for us at home.

After several other activities, M and I headed to the East Side in mid-afternoon for a bit more Christmas shopping, including our second $10 from The Gourmet Soap Market in Willoughby (such a great shop!). We also stopped at M’s brother’s house to attempt to take Christmas pictures of our nieces. This did not go as well as planned. The girls were just not in the  mood. (Still cute though). M managed to get one good picture though, which is really all you need, right?

Then it was time for Christmas Part One. This was with M’s dad’s family – really just two of his dad’s siblings, as the parents live in Florida, and the rest of the family is scattered as well. It was a very fun evening, and definitely put me in a festive mood. We each had success in the $10 gift game – I got a water bottle and M got a box cutter (or something like that), so that was great, too! Definitely made me excited for the rest of our Christmas activities, which already start one week from today!

Yesterday, we went to M’s Grandma’s and celebrated M’s birthday there. The last day of his birthday week! 🙂 We had delicious food and it was pretty relaxing, even though I got picked to play hide and seek (a game I do not enjoy) with the nieces. But I don’t mind playing with them in general, so it was fine 🙂

So, fun and celebratory weekend! Time to settle into the usual routines, for this week anyway, before a nice break from work and more Christmas celebrations. Phew!

Gift Giving. (Or Not.)

I do love this time of year!

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday, actually. It kicks off this cozy and cheerful time of year! It’s also about getting together with family without worrying about gifts.

But I do love Christmas, too! And although I like Christmas for the getting together with family and friends, and for the holiday spirit in general, it is a holiday that includes giving – and receiving, if you’ve been nice 🙂 – gifts.

It can be hard, when you’re on a budget to manage all the gifts you need and want to give.

Actually, we don’t have that many gifts to buy, and most of the gifts we do have to buy come with a dollar limit (for a Secret Santa or other game). And, this year, for our nieces, we have decided to spend money on an experience, not a thing. So, I don’t feel bad about spending money for that one!

For M and I though, we struggle every year with setting a limit on how much to spend on each other. Last year I think it was just $25 with the requirement that it fit in a stocking. That was pretty tough! This year, well, we decided not to get each other anything!

You see, M was going to get me a pair of work pants that actually fit, but then when we were at the store, we found the jacket that goes with the pants, and a few other things. We kind of decided then that since we bought my suit together, and M has been buying work shirts that actually fit him, we didn’t need to spend money on presents for each other.

And, I am pretty OK with that.

BUT. I did get him a pretty great birthday present that should be arriving any moment now, that I’m pretty tickled about. And we’re going out to dinner for his birthday (it was yesterday). I think overall we tend to go bigger for our birthdays than Christmas. Which is fine with me. I can’t wait for M to hope his present tonight!

What do you do for gift giving around this time of year?