December Happenings

I started December off with all of the best intentions, but we're at the end of the month and I haven't done much that's worthy of writing about. Diabetes? In check. Mostly. Running? Meh. So, here's what I've been up to:

1. Runcember Fail-
At the beginning of the month, on an early Monday morning, I went for a run. I was SO proud of myself. Dressed and headed out to run despite the forecast saying "heavy rains" at 6 AM before my early morning lab meeting. I think it was Day 3 or 4 of Runcember. Well, midway through my 2 mile run, I got a pain in my foot that left me limping most of the way home. Since it wasn't a sharp pain, I wasn't too concerned, but then my foot swelled, and I got a big bruise. I went into the doctor and ran up my medical bills being overly paranoid. Diagnosis? Nothing. Something random. X-rays didn't show a stress fracture (and yes, I know that x-rays are infamous for not showing stress fractures), bruise and swelling went away, and my foot now feels fine. Yay! So much for the run streak though.....

2. Weather Wimp-
I was doing pretty good at getting out of bed and going for runs for the past few weeks until I woke up and it sounded like someone was spraying a garden hose on my window. Um, yeah, no thanks. I wimped out.

3. Holiday Parties!
Well, I've only been to two- my work party and my running group party. The running group holiday party was a BLAST. The dress code was the wear all your running bling from the year. You could hear me coming from distance - I guess I earned some pretty clangy medals this year. I partnered up with a violinist from the group, and we played some Christmas carols and classical music for the group. It was fun! I haven't played in quite a while, but we got invited to come back and play at Forza by the owner.

4. Holidays = Cookies!
My stove was finally replaced, and I feel complete again. I'm maybe a bit over-dramatic, but it was pretty terrible being a baker without an oven during the holiday season. So, naturally, now that I have my oven back, I've been baking (and eating) cookies. Butterscotch cookies (technically called oatmeal scotchies) are my favorite. I also have a soft spot for Russian Tea Cakes, but I'm not ambitious enough to try making those.

5. Holiday Cards
I put my holiday cards sent out in the mail about 5 days before Christmas. Some of the people on my list were lucky enough to get these cute stamps on the envelope.

6. Kind Things
In preparation for driving home for the holidays, I had to take care of a few car-related tasks. I didn't expect the clerk at O'Reilly's to help me replace a headlight or the wiper blades, and yet he did. I very much appreciated his help (and secretly didn't actually know how to do either of these things although I would have taught myself had he not offered to help).

7. Books
I've been going through books like crazy, and impatiently waiting for books on my holding list at the library to show up for me. I am a bookworm. I read books fast, and I generally remember most of the story. As much as I want a book to last, I also want to know the conclusion. I haven't been able to slow myself down and savor the story. In anticipation of my upcoming road trip, I also checked out 6 audio books from SPL, just in case one of them turned out to be boring. Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy turned out to be good but difficult to hear above the road noise. I've read the books before, but Douglas Adams wrote a radio show that was produced by BBC. David Cross' "I Drink for a Reason" turned out to be plain weird. Hilarious as Tobias on Arrested Development, but not so funny and kind of effed up in real life.

8. Driving
1720 Miles or so in the past week. I took the BF home to Montana with me for the holidays where we ate a lot of good food, saw my best friend, and stayed inside as we were afraid of the cold. Christmas Day high was 1 degree. Yes, 1.

Currently, I'm finishing up my "Year in Review" post for tomorrow and deciding what to do with this next year.

How far is too far to drive for the holidays?
Best audiobook you've heard?
Do you feel like a different person when you go "home"? I always feel like I need to own more camouflage and Carhartt stuff when I"m home - influenced by the people around there.