This week has FLOWN by. Has it for anyone else? This is the first time in 10 years that I have had a winter "break;" my new employer has an awesome holiday policy and I've had a vacation from Christmas to New Year. A few days ago I wrote that during my break I have been eating a ton of yummy food, but it hasn't been the healthiest. Ugh.
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Photo Card View the entire collection of cards. How was everyone's holiday? Sadie wishes everyone a Merry Christmas! My holiday card didn't turn out as great as I had hoped- Matt and I procrastinated taking a holiday photo so we just stuck a blurry picture of Sadie on our card. Bleh! It's the thought that counts, right?
I have been eating a TON of good food over the past few days, which has not been so great for my waistline. Like many other people, the holidays are always a huge struggle for me when it comes to staying on track with healthy eating. Exhibit A: refrigerated Pillsbury peppermint cookie dough. The good thing about buying this store-bought refrigerated dough is that you can just keep the dough on hand, and only bake however many cookies you want during one sitting. So, I typically make only 2 cookies for each person. Whew! It has been a busy week. I wish I could share some sort of meal plan with you guys, but I have been on the go for the past week, and I haven't been able to cook at home. Trying to eat healthy while traveling is always such a struggle for most people, me included, so I thought this would be a good time to share some travel food ideas.
I was traveling for work from Monday through Friday this week- that's a lot of meals out. One of the things I love about my job is that sometimes it involves really good business dinners. At NICE restaurants. The problem? Trying to eat healthy. The dinners involve wine, appetizers, huge entrees, and dessert. So, so delicious- not so good for fitting into your pants. Don't get me wrong- I love attending these dinners and I'm really grateful that I have a job that allows me to eat at some amazing places. My strategy this week was to try to be reasonable at the dinners, but still enjoy myself. So- say yes to wine, no to dessert, and only have a few bites of fried appetizers. And when I'm grabbing a quick meal by myself, making healthy choices. So here are a few "on the go" foods I enjoyed this week: Whole Foods Hot Bar: Always delicious, love. Their Asian tofu salad is the best. I love Sunday afternoons. A lot of the weekend chores are already done, the workweek is still a day away, and it is not only appropriate- but even encouraged- to have an adult beverage in the middle of the day.
One of my all-time favorite days of the year is tree decorating day. Matt & I have turned it into a really fun day for ourselves, and we both look forward to it every year.
Tree decorating day is a little different every year since we have changed things up a bit over time. In the past, we used artificial trees, and we would each set up and decorate our own because we couldn't agree on the decorations- I like white lights, and Matt likes colored lights. Here is a shot of my sister & I from a few Christmases ago with my white tree: This morning when I was grocery shopping at Trader Joe's, the cashier said that they were gearing up for a really busy day. I immediately asked why today was busier than other Saturdays, and he responded that it's a big shopping weekend for groceries because people are starting to have holiday gatherings. Really!?!?
I am completely thrown off because Thanksgiving was so late this year, and because it was 75 degrees here in Charlotte yesterday. I am NOT complaining, believe me I love the warm weather. But since it's my first winter in the south, it feels so strange!! In a good way of course. My trend of not really preparing elaborate meals has continued, but I still want to share my dinners from this week. I know that preparing simple meals is a struggle for every busy person out there. Has everyone recovered from Thanksgiving weekend? It is back to a busy workweek for me, but I wanted to take a few minutes to share my Thanksgiving dinner.
I started my holiday weekend by flying from Charlotte to Pennsylvania on Wednesday night. Here in Charlotte, it was pouring down rain last Tuesday. There were tales from the airport about people waiting in such terrible traffic that they were literally abandoning their vehicles and running to the terminal to catch their flights. The panic from Tuesday got the best of me, so I ended up leaving for the airport super early on Wednesday. What happened next? You guessed it, I had no problems and ended up having 2 1/2 hours to kill before my flight. The only logical solution was to enjoy a big glass of wine. Terrible photo, delicious wine. |