Getting it done for Christmas!

Just a quick update here.  Between the laptop mishap and the fact that I typically unplug when on "vacation", my updates pretty much everywhere have been sparce.  I pretty much did my dailymile updates, but even those were a bit late.

YES, we fixed the laptop, and not through Dell directly as we initially thought.  I spent several hours working on the ordeal, including being on the phone with Costco, Dell, and driving around locating a local and WAY cheaper place that did it while I waited.  Our laptop is very new, so fixing it was the best option.  We took it to a local place called Computer Bytes, and they did it while I waited!  No shipping it off!  It was so much cheaper than sending it to Dell, who wanted $150 alone for shipping!  I got it fixed for $175. I don't know if I could have gotten it cheaper or not, I was just so elated when I got this price that I said sure, and didn't even try to negotiate.  Dell did try to negotiate with me when I cancelled my repair order, but they couldn't knock $200 off or fix it today.

Here is what we cooked for Christmas Eve dinner, and I did get in an awesome 11 miler before eating this.  We busted out the china and everything!  We also had chocolate mousse for dessert:

Also, I kept to my workout goals so far this week.  My stomach has paid severly, and I have felt ill quite a bit as a result of my poor eating combined with crazy/nutty workout schedule.  We ended up driving 3 different days this week, and moved our long drive day from Sunday, a rest day, to Monday, so that got things off to a strange workout start.  We got in to MI on Monday mid afternoon.  I ended up on the treadmill Monday night at 9:30pm to knock out a 3 miler.  Tuesday night, at 8:30pm, I was starting a 6 miler.  My legs felt fine, but boy did my stomach feel like crud after eat sizable dinners late on both of those evenings.  Wed ended up being a rest day, because my only option for working out was in the morning, and I really wanted more than 12 hours rest between workouts.  We saw Mission Impossible that evening after our big dinner with Ryan's family, so there was no night treadmill run.  On Thursday, I got up at 5am (after getting home from the movie at midnight) to meet up with Cristina.  SWEET! She had to work, which meant she was teaching right by the old condo, just 20 minutes from Ryan's parents, and she was able to get me into her facility.  I haven't done spin class in a long time, but boy, it felt great to workout on a mostly empty stomach.  We chatted for a bit about races before I had to head out so that we could drive to OH.  We had our big dinner with my family Thursday night, and this morning, I got up and knocked off my final 3 miles of my midweek mileage outside in the rain.  My parents do not have a working treadmill.  I could have gone to Urban Active, but it was nice to be outside and bang it out in under 26 minutes.  I got to try out my new running tights I got from Ryan.  They are awesome, and from REI.  I am washing them right now so that I can wear them for tomorrow's 8 miler. 

The good news is that my running is on track.  My eating has been out of control.  At least all my new clothes still fit!  I will need to be revamping my eating in another couple days.  Tomorrow night will include chocolate fondue, so I can't start a diet before that!  I also got to try some Vosges dark chocolate and bacon, which was surprisingly tasty! 

Our Christmas went really well.  We didn't take back anything as a result of the laptop mess, but we did push out getting new phones (which we planned to do, and then opened the laptop to send off a quick email first, noticed it was broken, and then everything went awry).  Maybe in another month or two.  My big surprise gift was a sewing machine, which means I can't wait to make all sorts of crafty decorations from pinterest.  I got my hoodie, and a new Arc'teryx shell, as well as some True Religion jeans.  I knew about those, as I picked them out months ago when at the outlet mall buying towels for the house.  We also got some fun family photos taken with my side of the family.

We used a self timer with our Canon Rebel on a tripod with a hood.  I was supposed to be reading about how to do it on the drive, but passed out the whole way since I went to spin class.  As a result, this is one from the first bunch.  Our self timer takes 10 shots at a time, in series.  We didn't realize we had it set up to go, so only some of us where there.  My sister and I got the timing down, and started posing for the shots.  This was the funniest.  Ryan did not love how my underwear are pulled up higher than my pants, but I think that adds to the humor in it.

I wish everyone a safe and happy New Year!