five things friday: warming trend edition

I'm not at all a fan of winter, but I really can't do any complaining about it this year. In fact, I've been doing some gratitude on the subject lately, since basically the weather around here has skipped more than a month of it - which means I've hardly dealt with any winter, and we're already in mid-January! Other good things: I've dealt with snow only once (missed the second Cincinnati bout of it while I was away for work last weekend), we had almost a week straight of 50 degrees and sunny in January, I keep thinking I'm having my last outdoor run for a while - but then it keeps being great outdoor running weather.

But still. I am cold kind of all the time. Mild winter weather is great (while it lasted - seems to be over at the moment, for a few days anyway), but it doesn't make a difference for the interior temperature of my house! This week I have 5 excellent ways that things are heating up around here though:

1. Warm weather vacation: We're headed to an all-inclusive resort in the Dominican Republic and I cannot wait to be muy caliente (I'm sure that's incorrect usage, but my Spanish is quite rudimentary...). And spend a whole week with Peter. And read a bunch of books.

2. An updated sweater collection: A combination of clearance sales and coupons got me 4 tops for $13 the other day, including two sweaters to keep me cozy until beach time.

3. Chili: One one of the actual cold days around here recently, I made a huge pot of chili, which gives us good hot meals for days. I used to make only 3-ingredient no alarm chili, but I've expanded my horizons (and length of ingredient list!) to a recipe with a lot more spice and zing, another good way to warm up...

4. New appliances: Speaking of cooking, we've got a few new appliances to get the job done. Our old microwave was in nearly impossible to use condition (a result of its cheap off-brandness), so Peter's parents gifted us with a new one for Christmas. We decided to replace our stove at the same time to match, and as of this week they've both been delivered and installed. Fancy! And I used them both, for cooking my chili and reheating it for dinner the next, um, 3 nights.

5. Australian Open: Watching the Australian Open is always a great method for vicarious warmth, with all the players sweating it out in 90 degree weather... But tennis is also my favorite thing to watch at the gym, so I've been staying warmer for longer by working out a lot this week - and there's nothing like watching tennis players still giving it all 4 hours into a match to get me motivated to keep moving on my treadmill.

five things friday: resolve edition

The first week of the new year is all about fresh starts and resolutions... And coincidentally I've been reading The Happiness Project for one of my book clubs this week - full review to come, but it's a great book to be reading at the start of a fresh year, prompting me to think about happiness and the things that really matter. As the author says: "The days are long, but the years are short" (and we've started another already!).

So for the first Friday of 2012, five resolve-related items:

 1. In a month with many Christmas parties, along with a week of family get togethers, I ate many very delicious things - and then came home and resolved to fill myself with many fruits and vegetables. I feel like grocery store cashiers probably notice a big uptick in produce going by their scanners in the first week of January.

2. On Wednesday I went to Target, where it seemed they were cleaning out for the new year - I think at least three quarters of the shoe section was on clearance... These ones, all cute and all under $10 (!), rode around in my cart for a while before I exercised some serious willpower and put (almost) all of them back.

3. I decided if I'm going to be a real runner, I should make sure I'm being a safe runner, so I ordered this ID bracelet to wear while I'm out, starting today. Next up I should probably work on my water intake and stretching...

4. This week I decided to adopt a daily habit inspired in combination by my mom and Gretchen Rubin (author of The Happiness Project), one of whose ideas includes: act like you have energy, and you'll feel like you have energy. So at 5pm when I'm feeling tired, hungry, and cold, I've started blasting a version of my mom's dance off playlist and dancing around the house while I do a chore like emptying the dishwasher or sorting through the mail - and by the end I'm feeling a little more peppy, warmer, and distracted from the fact that it'll be a while before Peter's home for dinner.

5. And as for a different kind of "resolution": I've got the dvr all lined up for the start of Downton Abbey season 2 on PBS this weekend. I've been waiting months to find out how these story lines will turn out (and may be re-watching season 1 on Netflix in excitement/preparation...).

five things friday: thankful edition

Happy (belated) Thanksgiving! Peter had to work all day, but since some of his family came to Cincinnati, we still got to have a nice meal with family - and I had an excuse to use some of those serving pieces that I never take out. I think it was also the first use of the roasting pan and rack I've had for about 5 years. Exciting.

 turkey in roaster (it was pre-cooked, so all I had to do was heat...)

 Thanksgiving table setting

Thanksgiving morning 10k race

I have countless things to be thankful for, but here are 5 on this post-Thanksgiving Friday:


1. Peter, and this time in our lives. It's easy to complain about the schedule (and sometimes no fun for Peter to have to work it), but I still am thankful for this time together, pre-kids and post-medical school (i.e. no more tuition). We've really been enjoying special things together when we get the chance, like breakfast out on Saturdays off and traveling on weeks off.

2. Family. It was so great to have Peter's parents and sister/brother-in-law here for the holiday, but I was still sad to miss seeing my family for the first Thanksgiving in memory... I love being in the bosom of my family (as we say) and am thankful I will be soon for Christmas.

3. Good health. I take it for granted all the time, but it really is a blessing to be able to be out and about and active, walking with Ginger, hiking in the Grand Canyon, running a fun 10k race on Thanksgiving morning.

4. Ginger, of course. Sweetest and cutest dog I know.

5. My heated mattress pad. I just really love that thing... can't beat getting into a toasty bed on a cold night.

five things friday: preparation edition

Back to Friday again! The week flew by, though I feel like I was more busy with anticipating or preparing for things than actually doing the things. But it's some fun stuff to come... so here's what I've been working on lately:

1. Last week I read The Dovekeepers for bookclub. I didn't anticipate liking it that much since it's about 4 women in Israel in 70CE - life is not so pretty for them. But the characters were pretty compelling and the historical aspects quite interesting. Looking forward to discussing it tonight!

                                                                                Source: allposters.com via Jennifer on Pinterest

2. Once he gets home tomorrow morning from being on call, Peter will be on vacation! So this week I finalized all the details for our visit to Clayre & Joe in Phoenix and a little side trip to the Grand Canyon.

                                                                  Source: marthastewart.com via Rebecca Frost on Pinterest

3. I'm really sad I won't be going to my family's big Thanksgiving gathering this year, but I will get to host Peter's parents and sister/brother-in-law here on Thanksgiving - which will allow Peter to enjoy a Thanksgiving meal too, when he gets home from work that evening. This week I have been pinning lots of inspiration for table decorations and side dishes (more of them here)...

4. After a little post-half-marathon time off, I've been picking up the running again, getting ready for two races, a more casual 5k event, and then a 10k on Thanksgiving morning that I just signed up for.

                                                                                Source: loft.com via Anne on Pinterest

5. I am bracing myself for another working-from-home winter. It gets darn cold in this house, so the above cozy vest (and coincidentally the striped shirt...) is my late fall/winter wardrobe solution. Super cozy and can add a warm extra layer to pretty much any outfit - the cost-per-wear stats on this one are going to be excellent. I've also been researching safety developments in space heaters. I think it's time to stick one on my desk and point it at me until April.

five things friday

To celebrate the end of the week, a list of 5 things I'm enjoying right now:

1. There was a big used book sale at our library branch this week, which I was excited to check out. Also, in my world, anyone who gets poked with a needle gets a special treat afterward, so I stopped and picked out 4 books on my way home from getting a flu shot.

2. I can't resist Trader Joe's flowers. $2.99 for this bunch of cheer on the kitchen counter? Sold.

3. In case of leftovers, I made sure to buy Halloween candy that Peter likes. As it turns out, there were a lot of leftovers. And it also turns out that while I thought I didn't really like Butterfingers, I actually rather do. Uh oh.

4. Our NPR station got me to call and pledge immediately when they offered up a thank-you gift of a flash drive from This American Life with unaired content - various interviews with interesting people by Ira Glass. And I got extra excited about it when it arrived this week. How cool!?

5. Ginger got a fluff and fold this week, so now she's super soft and shiny and smells really nice, a win-win since it makes her infinitely more pettable. While she was busy with her grooming I was left free for one of my favorite pastimes - wandering Target - where I found this new rope toy in the $1 bin. At the rate she destroys these things, I'm quite pleased with this bargain.

on our week off

Peter was on vacation last week - his weeks off are always exciting because he gets a break from the daily pre-5am wake up call and from working looong days, and I get to have him around a lot - I like being able to do things together, like (what I assume) normal people do on a regular basis. Except we're like normal people on hyperdrive because we try to cram into one week all the stuff we've been wanting to do together for the last few months...

We:

• went to our first baseball game of the year

• ran a 5k race 

• did a whole bunch of yard work together

fully availing ourselves of the free spring brush pick up service - this part was all Peter

• had dessert with one of the other interns & his wife

• went out for breakfast with one of the other residents & his wife

• drove to Michigan and spent some time at my parents' cottage (reading for fun, relaxing, lots of playing with Ginger at the beach and taking walks, eating waffles for breakfast - good stuff like that)

Peter: "do you want the stick?" Ginger: "YES"

• had dinner with both of our families

• helped my parents use some extra tickets they had for Friday night: Peter went with my dad and brother to the Red Wings playoff game (they won!), and I went with my mom to the symphony

• shopped at the outlet mall

• ate at Chipotle

• did more yard work together 

Oh, and Peter also got in a round of golf with my dad, and despite his 11-month hiatus (doctors are stereotypically golfers, but doctors in training have no time for such things...) got his best score ever. Plus, since there's really no escaping work entirely, Peter also did a bunch of medical-y reading, and I worked a couple hours every day.

Impressive how much stuff you can fit in a week when one of you is not spending it all at the hospital (ahem)... it was a lovely week together.

lately/currently

Lately:

• I made a few Easter craft projects: felt Easter baskets, hydrangea wreath and hydrangea eggs.

• I've been practicing running outside because I finally signed up for my first 5k race - the Flying Pig in downtown Cincinnati. It happens to be on a weekend during Peter's next vacation, so now we're both in training!

•  My dad has been into making gelato. The latest selection: chocolate + white chocolate.

Currently:

• I'm spending the week in Holland (one of many work-from-home perks: the home office is portable!). I'm loving hanging out with the family, and Ginger is loving having so many people to play tug of war with. And of course a dog companion and extra petting.

• Peter is doing a rotation with thoracic surgery. I gather that he enjoys putting in chest tubes and sometimes having time free to get some reading (medical stuff, of course) done in the afternoons.

• I'm headed to Grand Rapids for lunch with four generations of my matriarchal line: great grandma (and her sister), grandma, mom, me and some other fun stuff. More later!