One Fewer Meal and Friendsgiving 2015

Hello! A surprise visit in the middle of the week for me, since my new schedule keeps me pretty busy in the evenings. Tonight, though, the dishes are done and Terry's working a bit, so I'm taking a break to catch up on what's happening around here.

This weekend was really lovely, although the spike in temperatures in the middle of November made this Nor Cal girl pretty unhappy. Still, we got a lot done around the house and enjoyed a bit of time together. But then I realized I need to back off a little on the crazy weekend cleaning and meal prep. Yes, it's good to do some planning for the week ahead so we're not scrambling or eating out all the time, but I feel like the last few weekends have centered almost entirely on working around the house, and of course I'm feeling worn down and definitely not feeling like I've gotten enough time with Marshall. So we agreed to make more of an effort to enjoy some outings and to really be present with Marshall and each other on weekends. If it means I prep one fewer meal, so be it!

On Sunday, we hosted our annual Friendsgiving feast! We usually get together with our friends (and now the kids!) to celebrate Thanksgiving, and somehow this year we managed to find a date before the holidays even start. I opted not to make a turkey this year (blasphemy!) and instead chose a new family favorite--boeuf bourguignon--along with peas, green beans, and some hummus and veggies. Our friends brought a delicious cream cheese dip with crackers, a gorgeous salad, a butternut squash/farro dish, and cheesecakes. We feasted, the kids played, and I even felt like the adults got to chat a little, so I'd say it was a success. We're already looking for excuses to host more gatherings in our new place.

(lots of these photos were taken by Heidi!)

And now our short work week is already almost done! We head out Thursday morning to visit my family up north, and we'll enjoy the real holiday there. 

Oh, I wanted to share one other thing: At the beginning of this month, I created a workout calendar focusing on cardio and core work. As expected, our month has been a huge adjustment, and especially with the time change we haven't been able to get out for runs as often as we'd like. So to finish up the month, while we'll still get out for jogs when we can, but we're also going to add in 100 reps of a different exercise each day. Yesterday it was push ups, and today we did jumping lunges. Basically we just do as many reps as we want to build up to 100 (so maybe 4 sets of 25, or 10 sets of 10, whatever works). 

Okay, off to bed to gear up for tomorrow!