It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!!

For those of you who know me... you know that Christmas means a lot to me... I still remember that very first Christmas in my own apartment- decorating my very own tree, for the very first time! It was great! I shed Christmas past- and started with Christmas present and future... and anticipated many years of fun themed Christmas trees!

I had a silver and red with Pointsetta theme that first few years- then I had a purple and gold theme for many years- and most recently I have a sparkley (better known as "spandangely" in my house) pink and white theme...

BUT since I have moved to MN I have not had the opportunity to do my own Christmas tree and decorating... and I have missed the spandangely ornaments and even more... I have missed my Santas!! They have been safely packed away at BFF-D's home. I was usually traveling back to NY?MA to see the family or out of town for work- and it just didn;t seem like it was going to be worth the effort to get a tree- get my stuff shipped here and put up my own Christmas... until now!

I am still traveling for work... which is why my tree is ALREADY UP!! (just waiting for my ornaments and SANTAS!! to arrive!) BUT I will not be traveling to NY/MA for Christmas... so I will be able to be home and enjoy the warmth and glow of the Christmas season... at the side of my own tree!!

YAY!!! Jack helped me put it up and then he contributed to my Santa Collection with a very cool "Santa Fairy!" A combination of two of my favoite things!! I also got a Santa in Hungary when I was there to commemorate my trip... and last year at my favorite store in the Mall of America- they had a few very cool funky Santas! So this year my NEW Santas will get to join with the old!

AND I CANNOT WAIT!!! :) Of course I will post pictures once it is all decorated!!

It's been two long years....

...since I decorated for Christmas!!! I am sooo in the mood already! Maybe because I am finally going to be home for Christmas and can decorate and enjoy the holidays!!

Today I dragged Jack with me to find a tree.... it's been so long since I bought a Christmas tree- there was some significant sticker shock!!! UGH!! BUT Target was having a sale- so the one I got was $50 off! a 7 footer- with some "tree like" accents... but none of those pine cones or anything (that kind of tree is sooo my sister- but not for me and my spandangley trees!) Jack promised me he is an expert "Tree light putter-on-er"- so even though the tree already has about 600 lights... we got 400 more that he promises to help me put on the tree... when he comes over to help me put the whole thing up! TOMORROW! (After we run- HA! Wait until he finds out that is when I want him to do it! LOL)

I picked out my wrapping paper and a VERY SPANDANGLEY Tree topper too! VERY Excited! Did I mention how excited I am!? LOL BFF-D is going to be sending me all my Christmas stuff from NY that has been stored in her basement since I moved... And if I am very good- maybe all the sparkley pretties will arrive before I leave for two weeks!

I am rearranging furniture tonight and tomorrow so there is room for the tree... :) And even if the ornaments etc do not show up in time for me to decorate before I leave for Thanksgiving... at least the tree will be up and waiting for me when I get home! :) WHOOO HOOO!!

AND... I could not resist... and I picked up this Uber Cool.. white frosty tree!! Got a mini set of pinkish/purple battery operated mini-lights... the frou frou garland... and put this tree up in my bedroom!! Gotta love a romantic pink/white tree to light up the bedroom. (Thanks for the push I needed to get this little baby tree Stacey!)

I promise once I get everything arranged and decorated- I will be posting pictures... OOOOH I cannot wait to see my Santa's again!!!

A new Friend...

This is my new friend Jack.. we have been hanging out almost two months now. It's nice to have someone to pal around with. We walk 5 miles every Sunday... we have only missed one Sunday in 6 weeks! :)

The pics below are from our walk today! It was soo beautiful out.. mid-60's! We wanted to take a bumch of pics.. but I hadn;t charged my batteries in a while :( So this is all we got before they died!

Those pants by the way are SMALL! LOL They are size 12!! Can you even believe it!!??

Gorgeous Saturday

OOH yes.. today was a beautiful Saturday... 63 and Sunny at the beginning of November- how lovely! Went to the gym, did water aerobics and zone intervals... jogged 3.9 miles... :) Mani/pedi and the movies...

But today was also a day of thinking... Our water aerobics instructor Joanna really got me thinking... She talked about dreams... and accomplishing the best life you can for you... what do you want from your life and how will you get it.

I have started to put together my 2.5 year plan. Why 2.5 years? I will be 40 then... and figure that is a good age to be when you make life chaging decisions and plans. I am not yet ready to share those "goals" with the workd- but I have started to share with my close friends and family and they are all in agreement with me that this seems to be the right path. :)

It seems like I have made so many changes in the past two years- you would think I would be content to just let it go now.. and just be... but that is so not my style.. not in the least. LOL

Joanna is someone I think I am going to like getting to know and making friends with... she has a passion for what she does... and it is so obvious... I think she might be one of those people I was "meant to meet." We shall see...  In the meantime...

Off to look around and see how I can acocmplish those plans... :)

just stuff...

So today at work... I found out I am "a badd ass" LMAO! One of my employees- the most senior manager- who has worked for our company almost as long as I am alive (30 years with the company) [who to be honest- kind of intimidates me sometimes because he knows so much and has done my job before]... anyway.. Him... He told someone I was "all over him to get "this thing" done and was asking one of the Union leaders to cut him a break so he didn't get in trouble from me." This didn't bother me... LOL it made me feel all tough! LOL HA!

I am on the road this week- in PA... and yesterday Christine asked me to go to NY next week too... UGH! But I have my tickets- and off I go... this is REALLY putting a cramp on my exercise plan... even if I get at least my 30 minutes everyother day in.. it is NOTHING compared to my 9 times a week plan I am trying to maintain... just not possible on the road... life is so not normal on the road.. even if all I do is work and go back to the hotel.. it is hard to explain why...probably has a LOT to do with not sleeping in my own bed.

So ... exhausted by 3 days on the road... and one more to go.. only working out once this week... I sign off and hit the hay!

The Nefer....

My nephew is just the coolest kiddo.... He is 12 going on 21! LOL BUT he is still the little guy I took to the mall from the time he was old enough to be packed into the stroller- hung out and jumped around and danced... and ate pizza... This little kid- is no longer a little kid... he is a young man!

Can you believe these pictures? What a handsome young man! Jessica had better get herself some body guards for this one... the girls will be over-running the house before long!

Been slacking...

So I have been blog slacking... so much going on.. yet so little to report! LOL

I was out of town for those two weeks (so I DO have a lot of pics to share- but I haven;t edited them yet! I will this weekend and post them!) and now I am going back out of town next week.

I have started a new workout routine/class- BOOTCAMP!! Holy kicked my buttness!! I am sore already! It didn;t even wait until tomorrow! LOL

I saw my mom for a quick shopping and dinner trip to the Mall of America- she was in town for work- it was nice to see her and catch up!

Work? Still extremely stressful... My chiro told me today "YOU are a shiny new high end fancy car- in a wind tunnel- all the negativity goes flying PAST you!" I WISH! Today would have been a good day for some of that stuff to pass me by not stop on the way through!

It was sooo great to get home- I had such a nice time hanging with BFF-D! I miss her already! I got to both see Micaiah play soccer AND do a session of pics of him! It was fun.. he is sooo grown up! You won't believe it when I show you the pics!!

OK... well I am off to bed.. my sore body and my headache need me to take care of them... :)

Weekend with my Brother and his family!

I LOVE the fact that my work allows me to get "back east" occasionally long enough to take a weekend and go see Rob, Ami and the girls!! I miss them so much when I am not there- and we have so much fun when I am there!!

This past weekend was Olivia's 6th birthday weekend!! WOW! I cannot believe she is 6 already! I told her I would take her shopping for an outfit. She was very excited! LOL She was all over the place in the mall.. but we eventually figured out two outfits that she wanted- and we had a ton of fun together looking for just the right thing! :)

Lillianna is finally getting to know me more- and remembers me from trip to trip. She is so young and I did not have the chance to spend as much time with her as I have with her cousins- so it has taken us longer- but I think she "gets" it now and loves her Auntie Lala too! LOL After church on Sunday I went to pick her up from Nursery and she got right up and came over to go with me- wasn't all shy and afraid to go to me without her mom... and in Red Robin when I put her coat on, she stood next to me and put her hand in mine to leave together. (awwww) She is too stinking cute... and can just play and play for hours by herself.., she has a great imagination!

Sunday we went to Red Robin after church for her birthday lunch. They sang happy birthday to her and gave her ice cream- it was so overwhelming... :) She loved it! LOL Then Sunday night I made Mac and Cheese and Garlic chicken for a family dinner- we played games and sang Happy Birthday and had cake! It was a fun time all around.

Bro and I got a chance to hang out a few times- we worked out together both Saturday and Sunday... and on Sunday after Red Robin Ami and I got some time together to shop for SHOES!! LOL

A truly fun weekend all around.

Why Yes, I REALLY do love Minneapolis...

Yes- even on a day in EARLY October- when it snows and it is only 27 degrees out at 9am when I go to the gym! UGH! I cannot believe there is SNOW on the ground and it is this cold. I am sure looking forward to one more nice warm-up before the winter truly descends on us. (It will probably happen while I am out of town in NY... :( )

Simple Pleasures

I so needed this today! I walked to my six month check-up from the surgery- the hospital/clinic is only about 1.3 miles from my house. After the appointment- I decided to walk a little more... even though it is pretty darn chilly out there! (might have flurries tomorrow night!) It was chilly but sunny and really gorgeous out.

I love walking around the city- it has really helped me figure out where things are and how to get around. I fall in love with Minneapolis every time I take a nice long walk! Then today- I stumbled on the Farmer's Market! It was so beautiful to look at all those veggies and fruits- and then there were these gorgeous bouquets of flowers for only 5$! I would have picked up flowers but I am going to be gone for two weeks so I didn't want to let them go to waste.

I did however get some lovely bounty!!

Now I just need some recipes for the Spaghetti squash! Please pass your favorite ones on! I got that little squash in the front too.. cannot remember the name of it- but the lady said it is very sweet. That you cut it in half- scoop out the seeds and bake it. I even found that teeny tiny little butternut squash there... OOH YUMMY! I need to get my sisters recipe for that! Cannot grill it like she does- but I can still use those same spices... :)

That tomato? SOO ripe and yummy!! Had that and the portobello mushrooms on a sandwich for lunch!! It was sooo good! Not sure what I am going to make with the Leeks- but I just had to have them too!

Portobello mushrooms, avocado, goat cheese and fresh tomato sanwich on those new tiny buns- whole grain.

See- this is why I took the day off... It is so nice to relax- get a nice walk in- yummy fresh veggies... This afternoon I am going to head over to the Mall of America- get my face threaded and go to a movie! :) Then probably head to the gym for my intervals... unless I skip today since I already did 3.8 miles and burned 680 calories this AM... maybe I will do my intervals tomorrow... :)