The Great Blogger Cookie Swap

After reading Courtney's news that she was joining the Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap, I knew I wanted in immediately, if only to cross my fingers that I am the lucky recipient of one of her decadent desserts!

But truly, it is better to give than receive and that statement is no more true than in the tradition of baking holiday cookies for friends and family to enjoy. I love eating cookies {believe me.} but I love even more knowing that a baked good I've made brings a smile to someone else.

Come Christmas time, I always think I am going to bake 30 batches of different cookies but in reality I bake about 5-6 different types of cookies each year. I used to try to attempt to make gingerbread houses entirely from scratch but my brother would somehow always eat one of the pieces of the house before I could assemble it...Robert I did not make "side of a house shaped cookies"....

This year, though, I am upping my game! 

I will be sharing a mescla of some sugar-free cookies (developed for an old boyfriend's grandpa with diabetes), vegan cookies, gluten free cookies, and cookies so unhealthy you won't know whether to laugh or cry.

Join in on the fun here, let's swap cookies!

Too soon...or never soon enough?

I firmly believe in the law...it's a federal law, not just a state thing...that you must not listen to Christmas music before Thanksgiving. Celebrating the greatest holiday in the history of holidays from October onwards is a both a sham and a shame.

Preparing oneself for said holiday, however, is not a crime in any size of community. This day of glory brings with it parties, gift giving occasions, decorating opportunities and fashion opportunities galore. And I am not going to allow them to catch me by surprise this year...as I have every single other year since birth.

Here is a break down of my aggressive takedown of Christmas {that sounds terrible}

1. I am baking a batch of cookies each weekend leading up to Christmas and freezing them so that they can be brought out at a moment's notice. Cookie swap? Nailed. Party I feel obligated to bring something to? Got it. Spontaneous gift? Done, and hand made. Made with my very hands!

week one's batch! partying in my freezer right now. recipe here

2. Create outline for Christmas gifts, listing who I need to purchase a gift for, what my gift-giving budget is, and a few ideas that fit within that budget. Hopefully some forethought will prevent me from panicking and spending too much money on a mediocre gift on December 24th. Not that that has ever happened before!

a couple of benjamins for a model ship? weider gifts have happened.

3. Put into writing a few healthy holiday rules. Although I know that a little holiday indulging isn't going to kill me, preventing myself from having a total free-fall into pie-land prepares me to greet food-oriented get togethers and seasonal desserts happily because I know which treats are worth splurging on and which are not. In my opinion, pumpkin pie is practically mandatory whereas pre-dinner cheese and cracker hour is not, I will stuff stuffing in my face but mashed potatoes can be left out of the party, and anything that is either prepackaged or that I have easy access to year-round can be skipped.

let's just say I wouldn't throw this away

4. Reviewing my closet and mentally prepping a few holiday event outfits, again so I'm not left in a panic purchasing something expensive, mediocre, and entirely unnecessary.

I mean with an outfit like this...who needs shopping?

5. On that note, and tying #4 into #2, budgeting how much expendable income I can use on myself during this season. The conclusion....not any a lot. So larger purchases - a new down coat, shopping carts full of new home decor, planning another out-of-town trip, all those new jeans I so desperately need...those will have to wait.

Hope these little ideas inspire you to greet the holidays - whichever you celebrate - prepared rather than scrambling!

How do you get ready for this bonanza season?

Long run and a Christmas preview!

So as we all know, runners are a strange folk. Timely example: we are currently trying to sell our home and  today held a two hour open house. When I heard we were having an open house and I should probably be out of the house for the duration, my first thought was: oh, wonderful! Now I can get in the long run I have been meaning to do! Since coming home, I have not gone on a run longer than 8 - 10 miles and had been itching for a good excuse to get out and stay out. I was also tiring of running laps of my regular neighborhood loop but nervous to cross some of the larger suburban St. Louis streets that are less than pedestrian friendly. In fact, I would say that they are pedestrian-mean.

But knowing that I needed to get out of the house for about a two and a half hour time period, I put on my big girl shorts (which look like my little girl shorts - Nike running shorts, all of them) and ventured over to some sidewalk-less car-full streets to run laps around Tilles Park. While not as well landscaped as good ol' Central Park, what it lacks in iconic statuettes, variety of vegetation, and amusing tourist spotting, it makes up for in its number of neon playgrounds and mysterious workout equipment. This park is also the setting of Winter Wonderland, a holiday themed lights display that I say I will go to every holiday season and never do. This year, though! I will totally make it.

In that vein, in my first lap of the park, I saw this little fellow waiting anxiously for Thanksgiving when he will be displayed in all his full glory:

nobody puts Santa in the corner.

Santa Claus is coming to town! And I cannot wait.

My legs felt wonderful but about an hour into the run my stomach started eating itself. You know those people who don't get hungry after working out? I am not one of those people. I told my stomach to hold its dang horses, finished my run (waiting to return home until 15 minutes after the open house officially ended - I hear sweaty, smelly current residents turn off potential buyers...weird, I know), got home and just shoved a massive smoothie in the face. IN THE FACE.

Yup, just like that.

What's your favorite post-run snack?
What's your favorite scene from The Hangover? Surprise! Mine's the one right above. Close second: Tiger song. I LOVE TIGERS.
When do you start listening to Christmas music? We have a strict rule in our household - no Christmas tunes before Thanksgiving. Sometimes it is so very hard to wait.