it's christmas time.

happy holidays!

The past week has been a whirlwind of Christmas festivities and such. Let's review, shall we?

Monday through Thursday consisted of a steady work, food, gym, relax schedule. Trying to keep myself busy in hopes of not falling into winter's laziness.

Friday was our holiday party at work. We do a whole middle of the day, hardly work kind of party. Lunch was at Marbella in Woodmere/Beachwood. I did not like. Service was awful - my order was wrong, the waitress ignored my boss 37 times and hit a coworker in the head with a plate. Ya know, regular stuff. But regardless, it was nice to relax and enjoy the company of my fellow workers.

I volunteered for United Way on Saturday. A few semi-family members and I wrapped gifts at the Great Lakes Mall. We managed to raise $163 and some change in just 5 hours. Go us! It was quite the interesting adventure. Lots of people watching resulted in our very own 12 days of Christmas:

12 Bieber haircuts
11 emo kids
10 fuzzy hats
9 drunken moonwalks
8 lazy husbands
7 douchy sweaters
6 abandoned children
5 missing limbs
4 men in shorts
3 of Kristin's daughters
2 lacy bra's
♪...and a box full of random underwear ♪

I think every good deed done should be rewarded in a little Michael Jackson The Experience. For those of you unaware of this awesome Wii game, go out and buy/rent it for the holidays. Super fun time. A great workout too! I was working up a sweat while playing and here it is 2 days later and I am still sore. You would never get me out of the house if I had this game.

Of course the weekend before Christmas was full of shopping. Everyone and their brother (hate that phrase btw) was out. Which is good I guess. Didn't see any riots though. Suppose that is good, too.

I have another busy week ahead of me. Lots of cookies to bake. A post to come about all the delights!

Have a beautiful week of family and fun. Remember, Christmas is the time to rejoice in the glories of Christ's birth and celebrate all the blessings of the Holy Spirit.

merry christmas!

unmiserable.

I love, love, loooove Minus the Bear. Tied for first as my favorite band (Death Cab for Cutie being the other) , I always make myself available for a little dance party party when they are in town.

After a crummy day (lack of sleep, not feeling right), I treated myself to MTB at the HOB last night. As usual, they rocked my socks off. Each and every time I see them live they sound better and better. Perfection.

happy ears!

Before the concert I made sure to spend some quality time at the gym. A hour-long elliptical session does a body good.

Quick stop at Heinen's then headed home to made a mighty fine dinner (if I do say so myself).

Spaghetti squash and semi-homemade sauce made with:

• jar of roasted garlic sauce
• can of chopped tomatoes
• shredded carrots
• diced green pepper
• black beans

Holy new obsession. I'm okay with eating this all the time.

in other news...

Thanks to Unmiserable Cleveland, I will be seeing Billy Elliot at Playhouse Square tonight! I won tickets in her UC Turkey Trot contest.

I love being unmiserable in Cleveland!
happy weekend!

i love winter.

It really bothers me when people complain about Cleveland and its weather. You are fortunate to live in a place where you get all four seasons. It's a beautiful and exciting adventure. Your world is always changing, bringing you new and wonderful things.

Stop being so negative, embrace winter!

i ♥ winter because...

When snow falls the world turns quiet. There is a silence that winter has, you can't beat it.

Hot drinks. Hot chocolate, coffee, tea. Hanging out in a coffee shop with your hot beverage rules when it's cold outside.

Sleeping with lots and lots of blankets! I love me some warm blankies.

Cookies. Specifically Christmas Cookies! I make my grandmothers cookies only at Christmastime. love, love, love.

Attempting to ski. I'm not the greatest skier, but I manage. Learn if you don't know how, well worth it.

The whiteness of winter. It's almost as if you are living in a black and white world like Pleasantville.

Fireplaces. Enough said.

Reading books. Quoted from my bestest, "I love literature and it's a very literary season."

Spending lots of time in the kitchen whipping up warm meals. To be fair, cooking is my favorite part of any season.

Wrapping myself up in scarves. I love having my neck covered, makes me feel safe (I totally get that from my grandma).

The all around beauty of snow. At night when the street lights make the falling snow sparkle - it's hard to imagine anything more beautiful.

All the best holidays are during winter. Christmas with your family, New Years with your friends, Valentine's Day with your love, St. Patrick's Day (usually) with your...green beer?

Birthday celebrations. New Years Day is kind of the best birthday ever : )

The rare snow day. They are bound to happen sometime.

Spending those snow days sledding. You will never be too old to sled.

Rosy cheeks and noses. I love the way they look and feel.

I urge you to look to the bright side this winter season. There are so many wonderful things to do and see. Keep active and hopefully SAD won't get you down. Here are few things you can keep yourself busy with:

Snowshoeing, cross-country skiing, sledding at the Lake Metroparks.

Indians Snow Days at Progressive Field.

Visit A Christmas Story House in Tremont.

Learn to ski or snowboard at Alpine Valley or Boston Mills Brandywine.

See a play at Playhouse Square, watch a movie at Cedar Lee, eat some food at GLBC.

Grab winter by its snow balls and enjoy!

happy hanukkah.

Disclaimer - Please be aware that I generally tend to cook on the lighter side, but sometimes things need to be FRIED.

Happy Hanukkah! Happy Winter! Happy Christmastime!

When I stumbled across this recipe for pumpkin potato latkes, I knew I had to take part in Hanukkah this year. Pumpkin, fried potato...sold.

They were ah-may-zing.

It was only natural that I experimented with more latkes the next night, right? This time, sweet potato!

I added an extra egg to compensate for the lack of moisture (pumpkin) in the other recipe.

Hot sauce and applesauce for dipping (preferably combined) is delish.

in other news...

I finally have a new nephew! He was only a week late, but after thinking he was going to be early I felt like we were waiting for him forever!

Garrett Davis Marshall

December 4, 2010

: )



turkey trot 2010.

This was my first Cleveland 5 mile Turkey Trot, and by far the funnest race I have been in. About 5,000 people got out there on Thanksgiving morning so the energy was high. It was cold (but not too cold), rainy, and the wind was brutal.

The week leading up to the race I felt like I could barely run. I wasn't injured, nothing was different but my legs felt like crap. On Wednesday night I was in tears, my legs were so achy and knew I wouldn't be able to run. Having to stop during a race to walk is a complete failure to me. I didn't want that. I worked on stretching and applying heat  for a few days before the race.

I woke up on Thanksgiving feeling pretty good (a little nervous). Ate a bagel with pumpkin cream cheese, drank some water, heated my legs, took an ibuprofen, and was ready.

After waiting in the bathroom line for days, it was time to GO!

The ecto cooler hoodie is brilliant for easy spotting!

I am extremely happy to report that I finished with ease. Once I got going with the masses of people around me I felt perfect. With a couple of challenging hills (plus wind), I ended with a 11:03/m pace.

294 Courtney Marshall Wickliffe OH 2951 26 2807 55:16.20 56:41.60 11:03/M


Ended up 294th out of 382 in the Women's 25 - 29 age group, and 2807th over all. Not too shabby.
 
Definitely need to make this run a Thanksgiving tradition!

thanksgiving cookies.

OOh Thanksgiving week is my favorite. Short work week, and a long weekend! Although I generally don't love Thanksgiving (pretty boring day, food is okay), I am still excited.

This past weekend I picked up my race packet for the Turkey Trot on Thursday morning.

After 5 miles I definitely won't feel bad about stuffing my face : )

while we are stuffing faces...

I found a recipe for the worlds easiest cookies. Make these immediately. All you need is:

Seriously, two ingredients. Mix, bake (350 for 10 - 12 minutes), eat.

I spread some store bought cream cheese frosting on top and died. Your holiday party needs these.

happy thanksgiving!

lastest obsessions.

Can you believe it is December in less than two weeks?! Time is flying and I don't like it one bit!

I do love the time between Thanksgiving and New Years. Snow, sweaters, Christmas themed things, family, baking, slippers, birthday fun. All wonderful things (except the getting older part, eek!)

Speaking of birthdays...I should have a new nephew within the next week! I am very excited for Baby von Marshall.

...and I have decided on my birthday celebrations for this year (well, technically next). For those of you the don't know, my b-day is on New Years Day so I always end up having a celebration New Years Eve. I mean c'mon, you would too.

best.birthday.ever. (thanks mom!! ...and dad?)

With a tradition of doing something fabulous, this years theme will be...

50s/60s/Mad Men Cocktail party! New Years Eve must always be fancy.
(invitations and details will be sent shortly)

Since Mad Men is definitely one of my new obsessions, convincing myself to have a party like Betty Draper was an easy task.

other obsessions...

Food: Pumpkin Cream Cheese from Trader Joe's. Oh my, what a delicious concoction. It's probably a seasonal thing, get a tub before it's gone!

Music: Come Home by Chappo (wish I knew how to embed videos, err sorry!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxntoOFYBIU

TV: I have to fill the void since Mad Men is on hiatus, enter 90210. I can't get over how bad the hair styles were in 1994.

Beauty: Thanks to another blogger, A Lady in Love, I discovered my new favorite product. Garnier Skin Renew Anti-Puff Eye Roller. Not that I have puffy eyes to begin with, it just brightens my whole eye area. Bigger, brighter eyes you say? Okay!

Thing: This couch from World Market. I really must have it. No joke.

Place: Bally Total Fitness. No one bothers me there, not even the staff. I may run in peace and warmth. (ps...this picture is meant to be used in the future for something funny, please excuse the awfulness)

Welp, there you have it - a little peak of what kind of trouble I'm getting into lately.

Oh! I also signed up for the Cleveland Turkey Trot 5 miler on Thanksgiving. Very excited. I could win a pie!

If you want to run/walk/saunter through downtown Cleveland sign up here, and let me know! Early registration ends today!