December | 2012 | Balanced in Boston

You win Monday. You win. I really had good intentions of having a good day. I sang along to Christmas tunes during my morning commute in the rain, had my workout planned out and packed a healthy lunch.
Then Monday kicked my ass. A lot of last minute urgent stuff came up at work, I didn’t get to the gym I didn’t even eat my grilled chicken and quinoa but instead mindlessly snacked on yogurt and chocolate during the day. I guess I needed the sugar ~~high~~ overdose to get me through the day?
Somehow I did make it though. I sang along to more Christmas music on the rainy commute home, ran a few miles outside with Mango and heated up the chili I made yesterday to enjoy during Monday night football tonight.

So today sucked in a lot of ways, but it’s not all bad. Days like this make it easy to want to just complain, be miserable and keep the bad mood going further into the week, but you see that is exactly what Monday wants. Don’t give in to that!

http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=2AB9zPfXqQQ&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3D2AB9zPfXqQQ

ABC Family’s 24 Days of Christmas has invaded our home and our lives. Once you start with the cheesy holiday movies it’s impossible to stop. I feel like I’ve been in the house watching movies and baking holiday cookies for eternity and there is still a few more weeks to go! We did however manage to break away from the holiday movie watching and decorating a bit this weekend:

Friday night Ross and I drove up to Gloucester after work to attend a fundraising event for a friend who is currently battling a rare form of cancer. It was really amazing to see the whole community come together for such a great cause. I have not lived on Cape Ann for about 10 years now, but this weekend I felt very proud to call it “home”.

The weather Saturday just made me want to crawl under a blanket and stay there until July. Snow in December? Bring it on. Cold wet rain? Blah! We had breakfast out with my sister, bro-in-law and niece.

After a Bloody Mary (pictured above) Ross was able to convince me to venture out in the cold wet woods to cut branches from pine trees to make garland. While pine trees seem to be everywhere when you aren’t looking for them, they are pretty scarce when you are. We had to hike all the way to the North Pole, it took awhile but we collected enough pine just before the frost bite set is.

Pine tree branches + green wire = really pretty looking (and smelling!) garland.

Back in Boston this morning we had an incredible treat… An authentic Costa Rican breakfast with some other gringos who have lived/taught there. I have been pretty homesick for CR lately and it’s amazing how much some gallo pinto, mucho cafe and shared memories can help.