Thanksgiving festivities...

First off, a sneak peek of what promises to be my favorite room of my new home! (well new to me...it's technically 95 years old). I don't close until January 17th, but assuming the underwriting and appraisal go well (the inspection went incredible as the entire house was gutted and redone within the last few years), I will be moving for the third time in about 18 months. Thankfully, I plan to stay put here for quite awhile. It's hard to say what part of the house is my favorite - the original hardwood floors or the sun room with three gigantic windows overlooking my beautiful backyard (complete with ten raised garden beds and some dang cute landscaping). I've already been Pinteresting the crap out of home decor ideas and am so excited to come up with color schemes. I am toying with the idea of turning part of the sun room into a small work space, but I guess we will see. 

Moving on...Thanksgiving was spent in Wyoming this year with my Mom's side of the family. While the aunties, Mama, and Nana took care of the big ticket items, all the rest of us were asked to contribute a little appetizer. I for one, would be fine if every meal consisted of purely appetizers. I have no idea why, but I love me some miniature sized food. I got the recipe for Blackberry/Brie Wontons over at Peanut Butter Fingers, and added a drizzle of honey on top. When I ran out of brie, I substituted some cream cheese instead. Not entirely healthy, but in the spirit of Thanksgiving I made an exception. They were a hit with the fam, definitely something I will be making again.

This picture serves no purpose other than it's pretty. My hometown is that patch of trees to the left. Growing up at the base of mountains was pretty much awesome.

The cousins, spouses, and bambinos at our Thanksgiving shindig. I blurred the faces of the wee ones because my blog isn't private and my one cousin who is an internet social media nay-sayer. I promise...no one is in the witness protection program. That I am aware of. 

It's starting with a tickle...

Short and sweet for this early Tuesday morning...

I woke up this morning, realized I felt a little funky, promptly wandered into my kitchen...and gathered provisions. 

Must.not.get.sick.

Ignore tickle. Ignore gag inducing cough (aren't those the worst?).

I not only really don't want to be sick for Thanksgiving. I literally can't. When you have a Mama going through chemo with a compromised immune system, sleeping in your car at your childhood home is a better alternative than risking getting anyone else sick. 

Pushing the Emergenc-C with some juice this morning. 

I have multiple friends trying to get me on the probiotic bandwagon. Thoughts from any of you? 

Life Lately...

This weekend marked the "Brawl of the Wild" out West here in Montana. AKA "Cat/Griz". My crew celebrated accordingly with a Kegs and Eggs celebration (apparently we're back in college again). When cracking eggs for our delicious breakfast burritos, Courtney found this farm fresh egg. Gross. Sometimes being organic and natural will surprise you.

While everyone else tapped the keg and sorted everything out for the buffet of way too much football food, I sat on the couch, watched pre-game coverage of the Oregon/Stanford game and chowed down on these...vodka soaked gummy bears. Oh so dangerous.

I woke up this morning and automatically needed coffee. Lily had me up before 5:30 so I've been up a loooooong time already. I do enjoy early mornings though. It's quite nice to sip your java in complete quiet and darkness.

Lil and I both needed a little exercise this afternoon, so I leashed her up and off we went. You can tell by my shoe selection it was more of a stroll than anything else. But it was lovely. Temperatures were supposed to get about 55 today but I would be shocked if they climbed above 40.

In other news, I kinda sorta bought a house! An adorable 95 year old, completely gutted and refinished gem with an insanely beautiful backyard and a back sun room that I can just not get enough of. Assuming the next steps go accordingly (the inspection went awesome, now just have to make sure the appraisal matches up), I will close on January 17th. I have a feeling my misadventures in home ownership will take on a life of their own so stay tuned...

Down time... When there's time

I need to preface this by saying : I try to do too much. Between two jobs, gym time, and numerous trips back to Wyoming in an increasingly regular basis, my free time has been pretty limited the last few months. The good news is that with my group of friends, that's just fine. I am one of the few peeps in "my crew" without a doctorate degree (lawyers, physical therapists, etc...you get the picture) so we all understand long work schedules and limited time to hang out at Central Perk sipping lattes all day long... Oh wait... (bonus points if you got the Friends reference)

However, when we do find time to get together it is a guaranteed good time. We are all a little ridiculous and have no problems making fools of ourselves for the sake of a good themed shin dig. As evidenced by the following photos : Canadian thanksgiving ... All denim required to gain entry...

With my "birthday buddy" Brent... I am about two hours older and met Brent when I was dating his brother back in college. We've kept in touch and he was back in town for a visit from Minneapolis where he lives now. Such a fun kid.

I literally have no words for this...

A few of us also attended a grey fundraiser a few weeks ago called "Alrs for Trails", you pay a flat entry rate, are given a small commemorative glass and get to wander between local breweries' booths and sample different beers. They also have a wine set-up, which may or may not have been where all of us ladie hung out the majority of the evening. The proceeds go to the local bike trail systems and so I felt good about supporting a "move your body" cause while sipping some wine. The whole evening just screamed "Emily". And please ignore the photo bomb in the pic below, we had no idea who that man was...he seemed nice enough I guess...

Pink Link 5K

Well kids...it's been a MONTH a whole MONTH since I've posted. I know, inconsistency is what you will come to expect from me. Oh well, I was doing so well...

Life has been busy lately. I am in the midst of changing jobs (I know, yet again...I wasn't even looking...again, but it was one of those opportunities I just couldn't say no to), creating ridiculous memories with some friends (all-Denim Canadian Thanksgiving? I think so), helping at home on the weekends (Mama hits her halfway point to chemo this week! Yay!), and trying to shove some exercise and decent nutrition in there as well. I promise to be better.

This past weekend my mom and I participated in the "Pink Link" Breast Cancer Awareness 5K with the principal of her elementary school (who is also fighting at the moment), a some of her coworkers. I will admit, I was a little apprehensive about how the tone would be (I don't dig the sad, sombre stuff), but I was pleasantly surprised at how much fun we had. I walked the course with the rest of the group (this year it was more important to walk with my mama, maybe next year I will run the 10K), and we enjoyed a gorgeous Wyoming fall day. Gorgeous, Wyoming, and fall doesn't last long before snow hits so it was awesome to enjoy it while we could!

Pink Link 5K with my tiny little mama. I swear, Amazonian Lady (ie. me) must be adopted.

After the race, I enjoyed a great lunch at the Rib and Chop House with my parents to celebrate Mom's birthday a few days prior. The Rib and Chop House is primarily a Wyoming/Montana thing, but I did find out they've opened a few branches in Pennsylvania as well. Random. Their food is always impeccable, but they have one of the BEST Bloody Mary's I have ever had. 

Post Race Rehydration...or something.

I expect this week to be a flurry of activity as I get ready for Friday night's Halloween celebrations, the possibility of Saturday's "Color Me Rad 5K" (still haven't committed yet), and wrapping things up at the job I am leaving.

Hope you all had a great weekend!

Protein!!!

I feel like my diet has been sufficiently lacking protein lately. I ate a very largely based plant diet (with some exceptions here and there) and can really feel when I haven't been keeping track of my eating habits closely. I get really groggy, sleepy, adjust worn out in general. Eggs are such a quick and easy way for me to get what I need in the morning. One of my absolute favorite ways is to whip up a quick veggie frittata. My friends have heard this from me before but they really are so good! The one I am whipping up this morning I just threw some green pepper and chunked mozzarella into. Here's a look at the unfinished product:

Remind me to write another post on my love of Rachel Ray kitchen products and my convection oven at another date.

Yesterday was a busy day! I left the house at 5:30 in the morning and found myself driving back from the gym at 8 pm. I think that would explain why I slept like a dead person last night. I had a fantastic workout at the gym, sticking to the treadmill and doing a little interval workout of running and bumping the incline up and speeds down when I was getting winded....eh, tired. I am going to go with tired. My yoga shape has not increased my running shape as of late. I will get back, I just hate the disconnect between my mind and my lungs when that happens. Speaking of crazy days, I looked. Ext to me yesterday and saw this in my passenger side :

I am so thankful I work two jobs because I love them, and not because I I am trying to feed my nine illegitimate children, but man can it seem a little insane some times.

And lastly, it hasn't been all eggs and running this week. Monday night I went to my favorite downtown hangout with a friend to discuss some work/life balance and watch a little football (don't get me started with whatever THAT was), and ended up constructing this....the world's tallest peanut graveyard. See...everything in moderation. 

Spring Tote

(Photo courtesy of Athleta.com)

I have the issue of trying to fit all of my gym/hot yoga/job #2/just in case things/etc. in one small messenger bag. This was getting to be a HUGE inconvenience and to be quite honest, I have too much crap for small. I needed something bigger and roomier and overall better looking. Because let's face it, I don't care if it is just a gym bag, I don't do like hauling around ugly stuff. So, in my quest to find the perfect bag I went over to Athleta and fell in love with the Spring Tote. I choose the option of gray and purple and am so happy with it. It is stuffed to the brim with neon workout clothes and my funky running shoes, with my yoga mat strapped to it as we speak. I realize this is short and random, but had to share. Best purchase in a long long time!