It's 2014!

Happy 2014 guys -- I hope that the first two days of the new year have been good to you.  We're getting bombarded with snow here on the East Coast, which is beautiful and hectic at the same time.  I'm a little nervous how the storm will affect my running plans over the next few days, I have 10 miles scheduled for this weekend, but we'll figure it out, right?

First, let's talk about New Year's Eve.  I think I found the most perfect way to ring in the New Year, which is low key, with best friends, and lots of reflective chats & plans for the New Year.  Followed by a day with family!

I headed back to Boston on Tuesday (seriously, I wonder how much of my life I have spent on the Mass Pike...) and went to my friends Meag & Jon's place to hang out, have dinner, and watch fireworks from the warmth & comfort of their couch!

When they left to go to a fancy schmancy party, I headed down the road to my girl KO's apartment for a cozy night just the two of us.  We had the comfiest of hangouts, warm brownies, wine, champagne, music, and lots to talk about!

It was nice to spend the new year just with people that I care about and not spending a lot of money getting really drunk at a bar with people I don't know.  Also, fun fact, if you Google "reflective New Year's Eve questions" you get lots of great topics to get you through the night and get you thinking!

In the morning, we woke up and bundled up for a 5 mile run that took us along the Charles, over to Cambridge, then back past the Liberty Hotel, Faneuil Hall, through Boston Commons, and down Tremont to the South End, where I had left my car.  There were lots of beautiful ice sculptures in the Commons and we stopped to have our photo taken quick with one of the sculptures that was celebrating the New Year!

It was fun shouting "Happy New Year!" and "Good Morning!" to people we passed, as we ran through Boston.  The city was still pretty quiet after what I'm sure was a slow morning for many.  I felt like I was the early bird getting the worm and getting a jump start to my 2014 in a healthy way.

From Boston I headed to my Dad's to finish up Christmas celebrations for the year.  It's always fun to hang with the little boys and they are at such a fun Christmas-loving age!

Also, my dad has turned out to be quite a good cook.  So, on the topic of food, I'll let you guys in on something I've been thinking a lot about and a decision I made for 2014.  I've made a commitment that for the month of January I will be eating gluten free.  It's a decision I made after doing a lot of research and it is just a little bit of an experiment.  I'm hoping that going gluten free will help ease some health problems I've been having lately as I've read that it can help with some people.  I freaking love gluten and am not going to be doing this if I don't see benefits, but I've made the promise to try for one month and see what happens.

Because of that, my dad made some quiches with gluten free crusts that were delicious.  I pulled them off the table after I was finished because I wanted to hide them and take the leftovers home for me.  Which, I will be eating this week :)

And now, I've got to go figure out how I am going to run 3 miles tomorrow with the snow we're having!  Happy Thursday everyone.