Marvelous and Not so Marvelous, MIMM #3

          Happy first Monday of 2014 (or maybe not so happy if you are in the midwest like me and it's going to be -53 degrees F with wind chill)!! Either way, it's marvelous in my monday and there were still some marvelous happenings this weekend to keep me looking on the bright side. So I'll be linking up again with Katie for MIMM.


   First Marvelous is getting a surprise package in the mail Thursday night. My boyfriend got me the Fitbit Flex as a late Christmas present.

I was so excited to set it up and try it out this weekend. I have heard it is good to walk 10,000 steps a day. I never realized how hard this can be. Sunday I actually reached my greatest number of steps in a day so far at nearly 9,000, thanks to some exercising at home which brings me to my next marvelous thing.

Marvelous is getting a zumba workout at home with the Wii. My sister asked for it for Christmas but I think I have gotten more use out of it with all these snowy days so far.

Ever since New Years we've been getting non stop snow it seems.
Marvelous was getting my shopping at Target and the grocery store done on Saturday morning before the snow started.

Though I did brave the snow a bit later on Saturday as me and my sister headed to Kohl's for a bit of a shopping spree (Kohl's cash plus gift cards from Christmas) and Marvelous was spending under $10 and the receipt saying we saved over $154!!

 Saturday night, Marvelous was successfully cooking spaghetti squash and making turkey meatballs to go with it for dinner. (I will work on my food photography)

and lastly, marvelous was just enjoying the weekend at home with my sister and this adorable kitty.

Skittles covered with my scarf as a blanket

While my sister gets an extra day of winter break today since the schools are all closed in Chicago and suburbs, I will be making my way to work somehow, though there is a possibility of a late start, but here is a look at the snow from Sunday morning!!

my street

     Hope everyone has a great week and stay warm!!

SNOW!! and Commitment day photos

    This morning I braved the drive through the snow to work. Believe me, it was not fun at all. I constantly took deep breaths as I drove because I was so nervous. At least the tollway was slightly better than the main roads until I started to drive up to the tollway and everything was becoming more and more white...yes white out conditions. All you could see was the flashing of a couple lights from the tollway sign notifying you it was coming up. Luckily the white out was a short distance of my drive and I made it safely to work.
    I made it to work 15 minutes late and about a half hour later we found out that we were having a late start at noon, but we were already there. Luckily this meant we could leave early as long as our work was done. It was still snowing when we left around 1pm but by this time the plows had caught up on the tollway road, so I was able to drive at 55mph until my exit which was so exciting. I then headed to the gym before driving slowly home on the snow covered roads.
   

my street an hour after I got home

     Yesterday after it was snowing all day, I took a picture of a flower we have in our backyard to show how deep the snow is. This afternoon, I took another picture of that same flower and you can see it is continuing to get buried. 

3pm 1/1/2014

4pm 1/2/2014

      While I hate to drive in the snow, I love the beauty of snow on the trees and the winter wonderland look. Yesterday I mentioned some other photos I wanted to share from Commitment Day. Many thanks to the Commitment Day photographers. Here are the photos!!

me and my dad

bridge in the snow

Happy New Year 2014!!

     First post for the year 2014!! One of my plans for this year is to develop this blog more, so look out for many more posts this year!!

   Last night I stayed up for the new year with my friend, sister and her friends. We watched a bunch of movies and then had some apple cider at midnight.

I went to bed right after midnight because I had to get up at 6am this morning to get ready to go for my Commitment Day 5K. It's sponsored by my gym, Lifetime Fitness and I think it's a great way to start off the new year. I also dragged my dad along. There was a few inches of snow on the ground this morning, but few cars on the road so we got there in 45 minutes, checked in and then walked back to the car until 10 minutes before the race was going to start because it was absolutely FREEZING. There definitely were less people than last year due to the weather, but there were quite a few people that braved the snow.

thumbs up ready for the race to start

everybody ready to go

running/walking

     For those who don't know me, I am not a runner what so ever, but I enjoy 5Ks, to support the charities/organizations, to get fresh air, and run/walk with other people. One day I do hope I can run a full 5K, but for now, I mostly walk them, jog if I can. I walk at a pretty fast rate and today was no different. I think the cold weather encourages you to go faster too. I mostly walked the 5K this morning and finished in 44 minutes, which I believe is a great time for mostly walking and the snowy paths.
     After the race, we grabbed some water and a few snacks and took our picture, which will later be on Facebook. I can't wait to see how it turned out! Then we walked back to the car, warmed up and made our way home on the snowy roads.

post race with my new shirt

    In the afternoon, I went to a yoga class, which was a great stretch and workout after the snowy 5K in the morning. I then came home and enjoyed a steak dinner with my family (sorry no pictures as I was too hungry).    

   Meanwhile, it continues to snow and they haven't plowed our street that much due to it being last priority.  I'm happy I didn't have to get to work today as the drive would have been awful, but I worry about the morning. Happy New Year Everyone and stay safe (especially in this snow if you have any).

can hardly tell the street from the sidewalk

It's the little things in life, MIMM #2

   Sometimes I think about all the things I want in life that I don't have and it can make me feel down because I don't have those things, but other days I remember to look at what I do have and enjoy the little things. I have been getting better at staying positive. I believe staying positive really makes a difference. So this weekend, even if things didn't go the way I had planned in my head, I did take some time to enjoy the little things in life. Anyway, time for my second MIMM to help keep up my positive thinking.
    Marvelous is.... going to the movie theater for the first time since July. I went to see Saving Mr. Banks and I have to say it was quite an interesting and good movie. It's based on how Walt Disney got the rights to Mary Poppins. I enjoy Mary Poppins, maybe because my mom enjoys musicals, but since I enjoy that movie, I was interested in Mr. Banks.

    Marvelous is...receiving a Christmas card in the mail when you weren't expecting one.

    To follow that, Marvelous is....writing a letter to that person to thank them for the Christmas card. I know no one really writes letters anymore, but I enjoy it when there is an opportunity to.

    Marvelous is...buying peppermint tea and drinking it, even if it has warmed up to 40 degrees outside this weekend, but the temperatures will only drop to 0 today...

   Marvelous is...finally going ice skating at Millennium Park this season. I went with my sister and her friend. Although it was a bit rainy/snowy and cold, we had fun and went shopping on Michigan Ave afterwards.

Lastly, Marvelous is working only a day and a half then getting a day and a half off for New Years.
I hope everyone enjoys New Years and as always thank you Katie for hosting.

Merry Christmas!!

Just popping in to say

source

Merry Christmas Everyone!! Hope everyone has a fabulous day!!

Merry Christmas Eve!!

Merry Christmas Eve!! Still can't believe Christmas day is tomorrow!!

Last night I was able to stay up late and bake!! It was so much fun (and I may have been on a sugar high). I finally got my gingerbread cookies baked and they came out delicious. My sister frosted my sugar cookies I made the night before and helped out with my gingerbread.

gingerbread cookies frosted

me and my bf :)

frosting gingerbread takes concentration

beautifully sprinkled sugar cookies and gingerbread

   For breakfast, my dad decided to make corn muffins (though I had already eaten so it was my second breakfast).

We don't really do anything for Christmas Eve. We were going to go ice skating downtown today, but waking up and discovering it's 0 degrees outside, I think we are going to stay in for most of the day and hopefully go ice skating on Saturday when it's a warmer 30 degrees. Instead we'll clean up the house a bit for our guests tomorrow and make some peppermint bark and other food. At least it will be a white Christmas as we woke up to some more snow this morning.

Hope everyone has a fabulous day!! Stay warm!!

Fun and Relaxing weekending, MIMM #1

Well I've been reading this posts for a while and I thought why not join in on the fun, because this weekend was pretty great and I thought I'd share. This is my first attempt at a link up, so I hope it works. Thank you Katie for hosting.


Marvelous is... my Friday night as I enjoyed some dinner out before heading to my regular Friday night yoga class at 5:30 and then participating in a special winter solstice event 108 sun salutations right after. 2.5 hours of yoga is a pretty great workout.

Marvelous is free yoga on Saturday morning... a new yoga studio One2one just opened on December 11th. I heard about this place through a friend and it is such a one on one teaching style, so I feel like I get a better workout from it compared to the crowded classes of 40 or more people at my gym. Though, being a new studio, not many people know about it yet so classes will eventually get more crowded, but for now I will enjoy the small classes.

Marvelous is finding time for 8 hours of yoga in one week!! That's quite a bit, especially since I usually only do 2 hours at most, but I definitely enjoyed it!

Marvelous is seeing my friend dance Saturday night... I took the train to downtown Chicago to head to the Winter Dance Bash that my friend was performing in with Alliance Dance Company. There were also some other dance groups performing as well. One of my favorites is the amazing talented tap dancers of M.A.D.D. Rhythms. I am truly amazed at how well they improvise to the music. I took tap dance from age 8 to 18 and then continued during the second semester of college until graduation. I really miss tap dance classes. Maybe I can take them again someday.

Marvelous is my massage....Sunday morning, I ate breakfast and then got ready to head downtown once again. This time for a massage which I actually won in a raffle about a month ago from Alliance Dance Company's fundraiser.

Marvelous is enjoying a chocolate chip scone before my massage....I arrived in downtown a little early and found a little sweet shop and cafe that was on my way, called Bittersweet, so I stopped there and had a chocolate chip scone and read for a bit before walking down the street to my massage.

chocolate chip scone

massage sitting area

   Marvelous is coming home to this furball, my cat Tom..

    

Marvelous is making cookies....Sunday night I made a sugar cookie recipe from here. Then I worked on making a gingerbread cookie dough. The sugar cookies still need to be frosted but they look good. The gingerbread dough is still sitting in the fridge and I plan to make them after work today. 

cutting out sugar cookies

gingerbread dough

sugar cookies

    Finally, Marvelous is having Tuesday and Wednesday off for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day!! 

Happy Holidays everyone!!