Hello! It’s the last of 2008 so let’s make it great! Ha, that rhymes and is super cheesy (an added bonus).

After my run I came back home to make some eggs and cereal. I was actually craving both eggs and cereal so I told the BF I would make him eggs (so I could steal some) and I would have cereal. I made a huge bowl of a bunch of cereals with naner and had toast with pumpkin butter.

I love cereal, but it doesn’t ever satisfy my stomach as much as oatmeal. I don’t know what to do. I usually only eat oats in the winter since it is way too hot (especially after a run!) to eat hot oatmeal in the summer in CA or in FL! I should start making muesli and see if that holds me more than cereal.

Also, I have somewhat of a history with cereal. When I used to have more issues with dieting I would binge on bowls of cereal. I have always struggled with just cutting it completely out and trying to find a balance to let myself enjoy it.

The BF’s sister lost a lot of weight since the last time I saw her six months ago. Part of it was that she had a baby 1 year ago and was still losing baby weight of course, but she also credits it with the fact that her baby can’t have dairy so she has had to cut it out of her diet. Hmmm. It makes me consider giving up dairy since she looks so good, but I know it’s just another quick fix bandaide when I would rather make healthy long term changes.

On the other hand – I am reading the China Study and am totally sucked in. Have any of you read it? I am totally behind what the author is saying and I do think what you eat is so important to your health. Every time I read a chapter I walk away saying, “I am going to be full on vegetarian by the time I finish this book.” It has so many great points backed up with solid facts and studies. Me giving up animal products would be the easy part, the BF on the other hand, well, I don’t know how I’m going to keep his heart healthy…

I think I am back in business! I felt a lot better today After my 7 mile run this morning with about a 3/4mile walk to cool down I made oatmeal with oats, nf milk, naner, brown sugar and PB. It was super creamy and delicious.The BF and I went to the Salvador Dali museumin Saint Petersburg. I had seen some of Dali’s work in the past, but didn’t really come to appreciate it until today. I really like his paintings and sketches on mythology.It is about a 1.5 hour or so drive to Saint Petersburg from the BF’s home so we ate lunch on the way – turkey sammie and I also stole a couple of bites of the leftover pizza he had for lunch. On the drive home we had some cherries.Dinner – I love the BF’s mom’s coleslaw and potato salad – I know both of these things are not healthy, but they taste so good. Actually, even writing that I realize that eating something just because it tastes good seems gluttonous and I should scale back on my portions while I am here.

I also had some spaghetti (just plain noodles and sauce for me since everyone else had meat sauce), salad and a piece of bread. I don’t know why, but this was such a satisfying meal. I loved it, but I love carbs and I love veggies (especially when they are covered in a fattening dressing) so it makes sense.Dessert was a toffee cookie and a handful of Chex mix.

While watching National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (it’s a classic people) the BF and I made egg nog smoothies consisting of egg nog and ice, a simple yet perfect combo

Tomorrow is another wonderful day in the Sunshine State. I’m not sure what we have planned for the New Year’s countdown, but I’m planning on making  Hurricanes – isn’t that perfect for Florida?

Florida morning – Today was perfectly overcast and cool – great running weather! It was even lightly misting when I first left for my run – I love that!

I ended up running 7 miles. I felt so good I could have done more, but I am still coming off being sick, so I didn’t want to push it. I hope there will be another overcast morning this week so I can get more good runs in while I am here!

I obviously have not been sticking to a running plan while I’ve been out here. Since I was sick and stuff that really threw off my plans. I am going to try and make a game plan tonight and see what I can do for the rest of the week. I only have 1 month left until the full mary and I have not had 1 successful run over 17 miles! That really scares me. Worst case scenario – I am going to end up walking the end of the marathon. I don’t want to do that since there is a time limit on finishing the course. Also, I don’t want to prolong it too much. This is not supposed to be a march to my death, it’s supposed to be fun, right?

I am going to shoot for a 20 miler the weekend I get back and see how that goes. I am scared that I won’t be able to run it all, but I have to try. I feel like I need more time to train and I wish I would have signed up for a marathon at least a month later that I did. Well, I have already spend like $100.00 for this one and after all this talk about it I have to do it. I am just scared about what is actually going to happen on race day. I don’t think I will be ready…

I took off Saturday and Sunday from running. I actually was feeling kinda sick when I got into FL on Friday night/Saturday morning. I felt worse on Sunday and decided another rest day would probably be best.

Finally on Monday morning I woke up feeling better and did about 6 miles It feels so good to run after you’ve taken some time off. It’s always harder for me to run in Florida than in California though. I am not used to the heat and humidity. I know it gets pretty hot in CA in the summer but, recently it’s been cold! Actually, since it’s winter for FL it’s bearable, but don’t even get me started with running here in the summer!!!

I left the day after Christmas to visit the BF and his family in Florida. I flew out of the Orange County airport with a layover in Houston before ending up in Tampa. Okay, this is a long story I am going to try and make short-

The flight out of Orange County was about 20 minutes delayed and then we had to stay in some flight holding pattern above the Houston airport for another 20 minutes while they switched the direction planes were landing, then the gate we were going to taxi to had another plane there and we had to wait for it to leave. The flight ended up being an hour late and my layover was 1 hour! A lot of people of that first flight had layovers too so we were all rushing to get off.

Once I got off the plane I checked with one of their “red jacket” employees to see where my connecting gate was – he said, “C-24, but I don’t think you’re going to make it. I have the hotel informa…” I took off running before he could even finish his sentence. I was NOT staying in Houston overnight!The plane I was coming off of was in the E terminal. I had 1 minute to get to C-24!  I ran with my HUGE purse and my backpack full of reading materials and my laptop to get to terminal C. I was in flip-flops and almost fell a few times. I considered taking them off and running barefoot, but I didn’t even have time to stop and kick them off. I ran.

7:06pm – I skidded to a stop at C-24 and the ticket agent was sitting there watching TV. I asked if I had missed it and he said yes. But, the plane was still there – I could see it in the window! He said they wouldn’t let me on. The plane was scheduled to leave at 7:05pm – I was 1 minute late! WTF. I almost started to cry because I was so pissed. I had just sprinted across the Houston airport for nothing. The ticket agent was very impressed with how quickly I got there. He said, “Didn’t you just get off the flight in terminal E? You got here quick.” I said, “Not quick enough. I’m a runner.” He said, “Faster than I would have.” I said, “I obviously have to train harder.”

Before I could burst into tears he told me there was another flight in 2 hours and they put me on first class since they knew I wasn’t going to make it. Those airlines should ask you when you book a flight what your mile time is, so if your plane if running late they can figure out if you will make your connection based on you running to the next gate. I would have made it if they would have held it 1 minute.

Oh well, I got wasted on first class. I didn’t know you get free alcohol since I had never been on first class before. When the guy sitting next to me ordered a drink I realized it and he and I had some drinks and laughs. It was a good flight. I love vodka. Merry Christmas.

I am MIA since Christmas Eve! It’s the 29th – that is 5 days of no blogging! I am sorry. Seriously, I feel really bad

I hope everyone had a great Christmas! Here is a quick highlights recap of my indulgent Christmas eats. I am only showing the ”holiday” stuff in an effort to not waste your time…

Holly Nog vs. Egg Nog – The Holly Nog is on the left, it’s darker and is thinner in consistency like soymilk. Basically, it is soymilk with nutmeg and some other spices.

Egg nog (on the right) is OG, you know what I mean. It’s thick and creamy, delicious and fattening. There were a lot of these over the last few days  – cookies and brownies are everywhere!!! Get out of here – save yourself!!! My willpower is no match for holiday treats. Obviously, there were a lot more cookies and brownies than shown here…Christmas Eve dinner was a red tamale with Spanish rice and beans. I had been craving a tamale since my mom brought them home at about 11am. I made myself have something else for lunch so I wouldn’t eat too many tamales over the course of the next few days.I made that fancy bundt cake recipe that I got from my trip to Rotta Winery in Paso Robles. It was good, but again, I am more of a chocolate dessert girl all the way.Lunch Christmas morning was a green chili and cheese tamale with beans and potatoes. My aunt made the potatoes full of oil and the beans full of cheese, so needless to say it was pretty high on the calorie and grease o’meter.

I had another green chili and cheese tamale for dinner. Those suckers sit in your stomach like a brick.

Overall I overdid it a lot, but I am slowly trying to get back to normalcy. It’s hard when there are still so many sugary and fattening foods sitting around from the holiday. I wish I could just throw them all out, but it’s not my place to. I guess I have to get it together and choose 1 treat a day wisely!

My family gets together on Christmas Eve to just hang out and drink. We open presents on Christmas morning.

Tonights festivities include tamales and alcohol My mom doesn’t make tamales from scratch. It is a ton of work! My dad’s side of the fam makes them and I’ve made them in the past. So, we always order them from a local panaderia. They are amazing! This is really the only time of the year that we have them. We eat them for breakfast, lunch or dinner. We don’t discriminate. My mom sometimes puts an over easy egg on top of them – that’s the best.

What do you guys eat on Christmas Eve? Any traditions?

The Plan for today:

- Work (boo)

- Store for ingredients for stuff I’m making

- Wrap presents

- Walk dogs

- something else I’m forgetting I’m sure

- Church

- Go to my cousins and drink

Merry Christmad everyone! I wish  the best holiday for you and your family.

Thanks for stopping by on this holiday eve

Merry Christmas Eve!

I am working from home today and have so much to do! I am stressed.

I started the day with 7.5 miles. I am taking tomorrow as a rest day so I can enjoy opening presents with the fam. My little bro just turned 8 and we have to see what Santa brought him. I love it

I need to walk the dogs before it starts raining here…check ya later!

My last day of work in the office – I get to work from home tomorrow

I started the day with oats, of course. Oats are so good on a cold morning, but I don’t really like them in the summer Lunch was egg salad on ww with carrots…and the best combo of greek yogurt, pumpkin butter and Kashi Go Lean Crunch ever! I put the cereal in in the morning when I packed my lunch and it was perfectly soggy and crunchy in different parts.Fruit for an afternoon snack to try and follow my new snack rule:My friend Terence apparently thinks I am a 13 year old boy and got me a daily calendar about poop. This says a lot about the type of impression I leave on people huh. Thanks Terence! I think it’s funny I had to scarf down dinner in 10 minutes because I had to get my nails done before my place closed. I heated up some left over soup and a veggie burger. I love this soup My nails came out great! I love my little local nail place

I made an egg nog smoothie when I got home.

It’s very complicated, here’s the recipe if you want to try it:

Eggnog Smoothie

- egg nog

- ice

- nutmeg

Put eggnog and ice in blender. Mix until ice is crushed and it is fluffy. Pour into a cup and top with nutmeg.

It is amazing since eggnog is already pretty thick and with the ice it’s like eggnog ice cream.My mom was baking too! She made choc chip oatmeal cookies and PB. I had 3 oatmeal and 1/2 a pb. I can’t wait until the sweets are gone! I have no willpower!

Christmas countdown – Only 2 days to go! Are you ready? I have a lot of wrapping to do! I used to love wrapping presents, my mom and grandma used to pay me to wrap their gifts. Now I think of it as a chore.

Run – 7.5 miles. I was cold again, but I had a good run

I have some errands to run after work, but I will be back later