It's beginning to look a lot like...

How did it get to be November 24th already?  Geez louise, this year has flown by.  Despite the fact last week feels like last December to me, I am feeling ready and excited for the holidays.

I am what you might call a Christmas freak.  I love the feeling of the holiday season. I love the music, the lights, the traditions. I love the gift giving, the cookie making, and the tree decorating.  Which, is exactly what I did today at my apartment!  Yup, my Christmas tree is now up :)

I just couldn't wait until after Thanksgiving, like I usually do.  I wanted my tree now!!  I love how cozy it makes my apartment feel.  Right now I'm curled up on the couch with the tree lights glowing, apartment smelling fantastic, and am just so warm and cozy inside.  I am just as excited for Thanksgiving as I am for Christmas, but I love how my the tree makes everything seem cozier.

This weekend for me was filled with lots of activity and fun times.  Friday morning was a chilly run in the rain with my friends, followed by coffee.  We've started a tradition of going for coffee after our Friday morning runs and I have to say that it is such a treat and something I find myself looking forward to all week long.  

Running with my friends in the morning has really been such a motivator for me lately.  I guess I haven't really written about it too much, but since July I have been meeting with a few friends at 5:40 a.m. on Monday, Wednesday and Fridays.  It is such a fun way to start the day and I love getting my run out of the way early.  I feel so accomplished before I even go in to work.  Running with friends makes it go by faster, pushes me harder, and holds me accountable.  I'm so thankful to have them!!

My weekend was full of lots of relaxing time with friends... watching a movie, catching up, running errands, doing crafts, eating out, and also getting in the Christmas spirit.  

In addition to getting my tree today, yesterday, I joined one of my running buddies, her husband, and two kids to go on the Polar Express train to "the North Pole."  It was such a cute family event I have heard about for years and because I am a big kid myself, jumped on the chance to join Jess and her family.  

We went to the local train station, where they were fully decorated for the holidays and boarded the "Polar Express."  The train itself was so festive and once we boarded and the train started moving, they served hot chocolate and cookies, read the book aloud, played the music from the movies, and drove through the "North Pole" which we watched from the windows and was full of lights and holiday magic.  The kids had a special treat as Santa was able to board the train and say hello to everyone!! :)

Santa!! I know him!

The North Pole

I love the look of excitement!

It was such a fun night and there was even some beautiful snow yesterday evening to make the night even more magical.

*sigh* I love the holidays.

I am pretty proud of some of the eating choices I made this weekend.  For example, on Saturday night we went out to a Mexican restaurant for dinner where they give you free chips and salsa -- which I avoided completely!   I also didn't have any alcohol this weekend.  

I've been doing the Advocare 10-day cleanse, that I did previously in June and really tried hard to stick to the rules.  I cheated a bit on Friday with some popcorn, Saturday with some hot chocolate and a cookie on the Polar Express, and today when I ate lunch at a friend's for a party she was having.  However, I am proud of many decisions I made so I am trying to focus on that and finish off the rest of the cleanse as best I can.

To help with the next few days, I made a delicious meal tonight.  I fed myself and my friend Kevin who helped with setting up my tree for the 2nd year in a row.  We had chicken stuffed with spinach, mushrooms, onion, garlic, and tomato, along with baked sweet potatoes and asparagus.

I will be eating this for the rest of the week, so go right ahead and be jealous now.   As for exercising this weekend?  It was non-existent as I am trying to rest up before my training starts.  It will be one of the last weekends in months that don't include a frigid run.  Ugh, okay, go back to not being jealous anymore.  Wahhhh!

Hope you had a fun weekend as well and happy holidays :)