Top 10 of 2010

For our Christmas card this year we came up with a list of our top 10 moments for the year. And honestly it was hard, really hard. Because 4 of the 12 months were spent working or studying for 80 hours a week. So here's our final list of the highlights of the year. Stay tuned tomorrow for my goals for 2011.

1. Snowpocalypse - we got almost two feet of snow and a week off school and work.
2. My job - I started a new position at the same company in February and it has been a crazy whirlwind (in a good way) since.
3. Richie graduating from law school. Enough said.
4. Running three half-marathons in Phoenix, Salt Lake, and NC
5. Our road trip to Cedar Point this summer.
6. Family - we saw family a lot this year and not just for the holidays. I love my friends but nobody will ever touch the relationship we have with our family.
7. Our cruise in September where we tubed, snorkeled, and fed stingrays.
8. Richie passing the VA state bar in November.
9. Volleyball - I didn't really how much I missed it until I started playing again. Pickup, a great women's team, and an awesome coed team (league champions!) have made this year so much fun.
10. Celebrating our 4th anniversary and looking forward to an even better 5th year together.

4 years

Four years ago I married richie in the Washington dc temple and my life changed forever.

Like our song (calling you by blue October) says, I still can't believe he actually picked me. And that I get to spend the rest of eternity with such an amazing man.

Christmas 2010

I did it. I've officially become an apple person. I'm blogging from my new iPhone while richie is sitting at my feet playing words with friends on our new iPad. Add that to hanging out with my family, a cute pair of Uggs and I got everything I asked Santa for (and didnt) this Christmas. Merry Christmas everyone!

Most Exciting Christmas List Ever

With ten days left until Christmas I'm 100% sure that this list is probably already too late, but I'm just now getting around to thinking about what I want. So here is my 2010 Christmas wish list and you'll notice none of these things are too exciting. I apparently just bought myself everything I wanted this year.

1. USB heated gloves (my office is FREEZING)
2. Massage (this is always a good present idea)
3. Knee-high boot socks
4. Cute bracelets, rings, or earrings
5. Aveda brown and/or black eyeliner
6. iPhone
7. Gym bag (needs to be big enough to hold a volleyball)
8. Cupcake/Cake Carrier
9. Good tweezers
10. Cute scarf

And that's is folks, my all so exciting Christmas list this year. Really I just want to be with family. And I know I'll get that present so anything else is just bonus.

Week in Review: Photo Edition

I only need one word to describe last week - amazing! I'll leave the rest of the story to the photos below. If nothing else at least check out the picture of Richie's homemade Richard Simmons costume for my work 80s party. And now to the photos...

Tuesday Night Cookie Swap - Delicious Girl's Night

Wednesday Night Coed Volleyball Championship - Epic Victory

Thursday Night Work 80s Christmas Party - Best Costume

Saturday/Monday Office Cookie Day - Failed BFL Challenge

Maybe next week you'll get some actual explanations to go with the pictures. But I feel like words would just take away from how awesome last week really was. This week brings pretty high expectations!

I Like a Good Challenge

I'm on day five of my yoga challenge and doing great so far. I'm still liking the feeling of strength and flexibility that yoga gives me. Friday night I did a 45 minute class from yogadownload.com, yesterday I slacked and only did a quick couple of poses, and then tonight I finished it out with 20 minutes of poses on Wii Fit.

But on to the bigger news - tomorrow I'm starting a 12-week Body for Life challenge with my friend Afton. With Hawaii in six weeks I needed something to kick my butt back in gear (on top of the half marathon training) and Afton's done it before and was up for doing it with me again. So tomorrow starts day 1. And the best part is that the program actually sounded pretty doable to me.

Exercise:
Three days of intense strength training (Afton's coming over on M/W/F to do this with me)
Three days of a 20 minute intense cardio session

Eating:
5-6 six small meals a day, every 2-3 hours
10 cups of water
Each meal includes one portion of lean protein + one portion of carbohydrate
Two meals a day at least include a serving of veggies
One meal should include 1 TB of good/natural fat
One "free" day a week - but when I say free, I'm not going to binge

I'm going to add in my own exercise on top of this exercise plan because there's no way I can run a 10 mile run in 20 minutes no matter how fast I run and that half-marathon is going to be real long if I don't run more than two miles in the next six weeks. I'm also going to continue playing volleyball at least twice a week AND finish out my yoga challenge. And since no blog should go to waste, I'm going to track my progress on my workout blog.

I Can Wear Animal Print...Maybe I Can Do Yoga Too

I'm going to start this post by saying I really know nothing about yoga other than it makes me feel strong and stretched out after a good run. And that the few times I've done it, I feel much more relaxed and not as sore the next day. So when I read about Sassy Molassy's 25 day yoga challenge, I figured why not. This doesn't mean that I'm going to stop running (dad - that was for you) or my other activity this month but rather add in yoga to help me stretch and strengthen my sore muscles.

The challenge is basically to do some sort of yoga (doesn't matter how long or what pose) every day for 25 days (up until Christmas). I've only ever been to one real yoga class, but we have a couple of DVDs and I've recently learned there are all sorts of free classes online you can watch on your computer so it's something easy to fit into my schedule if I don't want to leave the apt.

So far so good. I did 20 minutes of yoga with our Wii Fit yesterday and did a 45 minute class on yogatoday.com tonight after a 3 mile run. Let's see if I can keep it up for another 23 days.

Who Knew I Could Wear Animal Print?

Christmas shopping has begun. Too bad the only person I've bought presents for so far is me. I've never been much of a dress person but after watching 10 episodes of What Not to Wear and going to an Ann Taylor fashion event this week, I decided to try a couple out. And lucky for me, these beauties were over half off and fit me like a glove. Add some black tights, heels, and sparkly jewelery and I'm ready for the six holiday parties coming up in the next three weeks.

Oh and funny story - I went and looked for these dresses on the internet and found these images. On these tall long-legged models, the dresses hit high above the knee. On me, they hit right at (or maybe a little above) the knee. Sometimes I forget how short I really am.