A Very iPhone Christmas

back to work on this post-Christmas Tuesday...

(note: I managed to WAY oversleep, by a good hour, to 7:12. between my scrambling and my husband being kind enough to drop me off at work, I made it in by 8. and then not a SOUL was to be found in the office besides me until at least 8:30. oh well. I gots things to do, you know?)

I hope everyone's holiday weekend was fabulous. Continuing my trend of never using my DSLR anymore, here's how ours went:

Packed up the pups and some gifts into the sleigh to head up to the in-laws' on Saturday morning.



We went to a seriously packed Christmas Eve mass. And PhillyGuy and I MIGHT have sat in a corner on folding chairs and played Words with Friends. MAYBE. After that, it was back to the inlaws' house for Christmas Eve dinner and gift exchanges.



PhillyGuy's awesome aunt and uncle got us this adorable wine and cheese picnic basket. I told him we were going to take it to the dog park.

Same awesome aunt and uncle also got his parents the most ginormous box ever. Cosmo DID NOT trust it. I think he thought there was a great dane in there.



After we did the extended family gift exchange, PhillyGuy and his sister drove his grandparents home (they live a few streets over) and spent a few extra minutes setting up their new TV in their bedroom. It was late at this point - they didn't make it back until almost midnight - and Cosmo, overwhelmed from the excitement, passed the f out in my lap.



(Those are my preferred Christmas pajama pants. I picked them up during my 2L year of law school and they've served me well for the last...ugh, SIX years. They replaced a pair of flannel pants with Christmas trees on them that I had for all of college. I am nothing if not a creature of habit.)

We were up late doing the immediate-family gift exchange - we didn't go to bed until about 1:30am, which is pretty much the latest I've been up in years. Everyone woke up super-slowly on Christmas morning and lazed around. Like Sophie with her braided bully stick.



PhillyGuy's parents were far too generous with us, as always, and we headed home yesterday afternoon with a new crockpot, TWO pieces of Le Creuset cookware, and a new flatscreen for our bedroom (!!!!!!!!).

He set up the new TV while I was at the gym last night, and we spent the rest of the evening in bed playing Words with Friends on our phones watching CSI: Miami on demand with the dogs curled up between us. It was the perfect way to end a weekend.

Fitness-and-health-related recap:

- I managed to avoid going off the rails completely over this holiday. I didn't work out Friday, Saturday or Sunday, which was not ideal - I had planned to do a quick workout at least once over the weekend. I figured 50 burpees for time would be fast, inconspicuous (well, if I did it in the basement, anyway) and require zero equipment...but then, well, I just didn't do it. Oh well.

- I didn't have enough jerky stores to bring some with me. I should have, but in a pinch, I got through with a couple bags of the gas station stuff (which is SO not as good as my favorite buffalo jerky) and a bag of salted cashews. That served as my breakfast and lunch on Saturday (everyone else ate pizza when we got in), and my lunch on Monday on our way home.

- When questioned by PhillyGuy's mom as to whether I was "still watching my carbs," I just told her I wasn't eating gluten anymore. Which is true, though not the whole story. I don't like being scrutinized about my diet, and I don't like to debate stuff like that with other people lest they think I'm scrutinizing them. So, no pizza or pasta or breaded tilapia or broccoli casserole with cream-of-something-soup and a couple sleeves of crushed saltines on top. LOTS of prime rib and roast pork and salad and antipasto. I did eat more cheese than I usually would, but PhillyGuy's uncle always has the hookup with this incredible sharp provolone and I am NOT going to avoid that.

- I DID, however, indulge in some christmas cookies. My usual favorites are the peanut butter ones with the hershey's kiss in the middle - I had two or three of those over the weekend, and frankly would have had more but this batch was a little bit dry. The real crack for me was these hairy ball looking cookies that his mom makes. They're basically like a Larabar, but with rice krispies mixed into the date and nut "dough," and rolled in shredded coconut. She said something about frying them in butter too, but I'm not sure if that was a joke. Regardless...I ate like eight of those. Over three days, I understand that 10 or 12 small-ish cookies is really not that much, in the grand scheme of things, but holy CRAP was I (really, AM I) feeling it.

- Monday afternoon we made it back to Philly in time for me to make the 5:30 class at CFCC. I knew this wasn't going to be my finest performance, but I was feeling so sluggish and blech that I really needed to do SOMETHING.

Back squats, peak of 2: 85-100-120-130-140-150-160. In retrospect, I would have started heavier, made bigger jumps and done fewer sets. 160 was stiiiiiiiiicky through the middle. This doesn't bode super well for my goal of 185 at the total, but we'll see. Metcon was half Mary (15 minute AMRAP of 5 handstand pushups, 10 pistols (5 each leg), 15 pull ups). 5 rounds + 6 SLS, subbing regular pushups, single leg squats to a box (some assisted, some not - "assisting" by grabbing a pole doesn't really "assist" me, so I just kind of suck at these no matter what), light band. My pull ups have improved SO MUCH. I can rep at least 10 with a light band now - this is leaps and bounds better than where I was at the beginning of October.

and now back to work....

It's Christmastime Bitches

I LOVE decorating for Christmas.

And every year, I insist on doing it the weekend after Thanksgiving. It puts me in a good mood. Most years, I also insist that we watch "Love Actually" while we're decorating, but this year I was feeling the Muppets.



Our tree is nothing special - a prelit special from Target a few years ago - but it's easy.



This year, I added lights in the kitchen, on my new(ish) shelves.



I'm pretty sure at least half of our ornaments are dog-themed.



Even though the dogs are really not impressed by the tribute.





...at all.



(She spent half the evening wigging out about the tree, the lights, the boxes of ornaments, etc., and then, when she had exhausted herself, laid on the floor looking depressed.)

Later in the week, I crockpotted a London broil from my cow share. Since London broil is a fairly lean cut of beef, I figured it would do well with a low-and-slow cooking time, but I was having a tough time trying to come up with just what to braise it in. After my initial google search turned up a disturbing number of "recipes" including ingredients like canned cream-of-something soup and packets of ranch dressing mix (or italian dressing mix or brown gravy mix), I just decided to wing it. I chose not to brown the meat first, covered it with salt, pepper and granulated garlic, and put it on top of a layer of sliced onions in the crockpot. I added a couple cups of beef broth, topped it with mushrooms, and called it good.



Hours later, it looked promising. My house smelled amazing and the meat fell apart to the touch. I paired it with some kale sauteed with a slice of bacon and eagerly dug in.

Meh. The flavors were delicious, but because the meat is so lean, it was kind of dry and stringy despite all the broth and juices. I think it either needs to be browned first OR to be cooked in something a little fattier. Or just not crockpotted at all. Le sigh.

Like I said last week, work has been insane. I went two solid weeks without my usual evening crossfit sessions, and it's been taking its toll on my sanity. Even though my foot is STILL not 100%, I'm getting back into it this week, slowly but surely:

- Tuesday: strict muscle up skill work. Practicing false grip hang; did about a billion false grip ring pull ups, starting with a light band and working up to two mini bands. Tried one mini band and just hung there like a fish, so there's that. Metcon: AMRAP, 3 rounds of 1 minute ring rows, 1 minute push ups, 1 minute double-unders. It's freaking hard to do double unders after two minutes of ring rows and push ups. 120 reps total (tried for the last 15 seconds to get JUST ONE MORE double under and couldn't).

- Thursday: hero WOD. "Nutts."



Things I cannot do with my bum foot: box jumps and weighted running (non-weighted running, too, for that matter). While I probably COULD have done the required wall balls and double-unders, my wise and logical coach advised me not to tempt fate with more jumping. As scaled for my foot: 10 push ups, 15 deadlifts at 165lbs, 25 russian kettlebell swings at 1.5 pood (24kg/52lbs), 50 pull ups (light+mini bands), 100 goblet squats with a 1pood (16kg/35lbs) kettlebell, row 1k. Fuck rowing. By the official 25 minute cap, I had rowed something like 450 meters, maybe less. To complete, 27:32. Worst part mentally was the goblet squats. Getting to 80 reps of something only to realize you still have 20 more? GAAAAAAH.

Tonight we're front squatting and I can't wait. This strength cycle has been really fun (lots of pulling and lots of fun squatting variations - front squats, overhead squats) and I'm so unhappy that I've had to miss so much of it. On the other hand, DTE tells me on I'm on track to bill over 2200 hours this year, so, you know, there's that.

(I read recently that trying to make partner at a law firm is like winning a pie eating contest where the prize is more pie.)

Happy Friday!

CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS

So PhillyGuy and I successfully hosted our first (albeit miniature) Thanksgiving. Thanks to some faithful bloggers and my personal favorite food nerd, Alton Brown, the menu was fantastic. I brined my eleven-pound turkey and cooked it perfectly. I made pumpkin scones for everyone for breakfast. I even got to use our wedding china for the first time.

(Incidentally, I always thought we got five sets from various people. Turns out I should have opened the boxes. Truth: we got four place settings and one set of four soup bowls.)

Anyway...the sad thing? I did not get to document ANY of my culinary prowess. Because I left my f&%^$ng memory card AND card reader at work. Fat lot of good a camera with no memory does.

BUT.

I remembered to bring it home today, because I was super-freakin-pumped to show you what PhillyGuy and I spent Saturday night doing: DECKING THE HALLS.

I love, love, LOVE decorating for Christmas. I forced him to watch Love Actually, I drank Trader Joe's Candy Cane green tea, and I Christmas-ified the house.

(Editor's note: I uploaded and posted this picture before I realized PhillyGuy's creepy foot snuck in there, and I'm far too lazy to take another one...so, sorry about that. Have some colored lights to make up for it.)

Best part? Tonight, after I came back from the gym - and MAN, did I ever work up a sweat - two miles in under 18 minutes for the first time in for-flipping-ever, followed by P90X chest & back - I got to hang out on the couch, lights off, reading on my new Nook Color by Christmas-tree-light.

It's okay - I don't mind being a nerd.