getting in the Christmas spirit

Christmas truly is my favorite time of year. I had pretty much all of my Christmas shopping done this year before Thanksgiving....I'm not joking! When I was younger, I started listening to Christmas music in September! Last year, I really got into baking new sweets/candies for Christmas parties I attended so I'm going to keep this tradition going again this year.

On the menu for an Ugly Christmas Sweater Party I'm going to on Saturday night.........

Cake Balls (recipe found here)

Rather than doing red velvet on the inside and milk chocolate on the outside, I'm planning on a dark chocolate inside with a white chocolate outside. I can't wait to try these puppies!

The other new item I'm baking for the first time....

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Brownies (recipe found here and here)

No, you're not hallucinating. That is a chocolate ganache icing on the top to make these brownies a little more melt in your mouth, wonderful deliciousness! Caution: This WILL make your love handles a little more lovable! Um, Honey, I REALLY need that elliptical......

Bakerella just might be my new favorite baking blog! I was introduced by her by this lovely lady's blog--Pioneer Woman! Seriously, if you have some spare time (like, really...a LOT of spare time) check out Pioneer Woman's blog. She is absolutely hilarious! Okay, so she's been around awhile and maybe everyone already knows her, but I just discovered her. And, she has a ton of amazing "Cowboy/Cowgirl" recipes on her blog that are a little more my speed. She lives in OK and is the wife of a 4th generation rancher. So, she's a city girl turned country girl. Although I can't relate to country life, Coach would absolutely love live in the country someday, so maybe her blog will help me be more open minded about the possibility of that....someday.....like WAY down the road.....uh, let's not get ahead of ourselves here:)

half marathon training....failed

So, this week marked the start of my training IF I decide to do the Topeka to Auburn half marathon. I'm still on the fence about it--since I'd be doing it completely solo, running through the country roads of Kansas with God knows what kind of weather in mid-January--but was planning on starting to train for it and then would decide whether or not I'd run it once I got a little ways into my training. The temperature is below zero today with the windchill with ice and snow covering all the trails and sidewalks in town. And, since I cancelled my gym membership and don't have a home gym, running is impossible right now. I refuse to run outside if the temps are below zero with the windchill...I'm not that crazy.

So, basically, I just need a kick in the butt to get me on my training program and the weather to cooperate...that's not too much to ask, right?

On a less depressing note, I talked to my friend Cookie last night and she's thinking about running a half marathon--come to find out she was inspired to do this from my blog, so even more exciting for me:) And, since another friend of ours, Twit, is going to run the St. Louis half marathon--and Cookie lives in St. Louis--Cookie and I decided that we should all do that race. So, I sent Cookie a couple of training schedules to get her even more motivated! It's going to be so much fun!

chiefs football game

Coach and I scored some free tickets (very good tickets, might I add) to Sunday's Chiefs vs. Broncos game. We got a late start heading to the stadium and discussed selling our tickets since it was kind of cold outside. Yes, this is greedy, but we seriously had our money spent by the time we pulled into the stadium, on many glorious Christmas presents for one another. Too bad we didn't pull into the stadium until 11:50. Yes, I know. We didn't have any time to sell our tickets, so we ended up going to the game.

But, to entertain ourselves during the 25 minutes of stop and go traffic outside the stadium, Coach and I did some role playing of what I'd say to someone who was interested in buying our tickets.

Me: Two tickets....anyone need some tickets?

Coach: Sure, I'll give you twenty bucks each for them.

Me: Twenty bucks? You mean to tell me that you're trying to STICK ME (Coach informed me I meant to say "STIFF ME") by offering me twenty bucks per ticket to the Chiefs/Broncos game, one of the Chiefs biggest rivals, the game at which they're retiring Derrick Thomas's jersey, for two tickets with a face value of $90 each?!?!?! I'd rather rip both of these tickets to shreds and throw them out the car window rather than sell them to you for that price!

We role played many other scenarios and had a ton of laughs....I was crying by the end of it! The Chiefs lost, of course, and we ended up leaving in the 3rd quarter, but still had a good time. Coach informed me that Chiefs fans are known to be some of the white trash-iest of any NFL fans. This, I didn't realize. But, after he told me that, I started to look around at some of the other ticket holders and by golly, he appeared to be right.

Our favorite quote of the day by a Chiefs spectator. Said by a man holding a beer, "I haven't been this drunk since last week!"

So, we were among Missouri's finest Whiskey Tango! Hopefully we didn't blend in!

from the beach to the freezing cold

On Thanksgiving, Coach and I left for Mexico. We had a wonderful time away, although we wish it would have lasted longer. Here's the view we looked at for 5 days.




We returned to Missouri just in time for temperatures in the twenties and blustery winds. I took my workout clothes to Mexico with full intention of working out in the fitness center, but needless to say they never made it out of my suitcase. In fact, even more depressing is I haven't even run a millimeter since my half marathon.

Tomorrow, Coach and I are going to get our Christmas tree which I'm so excited about. I've already wrapped about half of my Christmas gifts and only have about two more gifts to buy before I'm done. This is my absolute favorite time of year: listening to Christmas carols, trimming the tree and wrapping presents. So, I've got a very festive weekend ahead of me.

The next couple of weeks are filled with parties, one is a Snuggie couples shower (yes, we are being forced to wear Snuggies out to the bars) another is an ugly Christmas sweater party, and the last is a girls Christmas party with some fellow Jr. Leaguers. So, many fun things to look forward to.

I hope everyone has a great weekend. Oh, and one last thing. Coach and I were thinking about hanging lights this year outside and I like the white lights, but Coach wants to hang blue lights. I seriously thought that blue lights were for Hanukkah...anyone want to weigh in on this?