Tag Archives: holidays

Friend Makin’ Monday:: Christmas Edition

Posted on by Renée
4

As you know Every Monday My Girl Kenlie posts a FMM – this is meant to interact with other bloggers, link up and get to know each other a bit better.

If you’ve previously taken part you know the rules. If you don’t know how it works, please take a moment to answer this week’s question on your own blog and then add your link the comments section here or at Kenlie’s Blog so we can all see your FMM questions and answers. Please invite your blog readers to add their links as well so everyone has the opportunity to be seen. The idea is to connect with other awesome bloggers so take a moment to post your own FMM blog post and comment on a couple of other posts. Now it’s time for this week’s topic!

I realise I haven’t done this for a while but this one I really wanted to participate in:

Christmas Questions

1. How will you celebrate the holidays this year? Generally just with my little family since I’m away from “home” (well, this is my home, but I don’t have any other family here than Dutch hubs and two kids) – we try to bake cookies on Christmas eve but because I have to work we are doing this on the 23rd instead. I am not certain if we’ll do any dinner or not. We will most likely go to a Christmas Market in Germany on the 22nd. Christmas is always a little bit odd for me since being here I always feel a little bit out of sorts. The kids go home on Christmas day and then it’s just the hubs and I on the 26th (we are free on Christmas and “2nd” Christmas day)

2. What’s the weather currently like where you live? Cold and we already had quite some snow. “They” are predicting a white Christmas this year (like they always do)

3. Do you decorate your home for the holidays? If so, share a picture please! Yep, we have our Ikea tree and ornaments from my own collection and some new ones that the kids made and picked out themselves. We let them decorate the tree. They love it! We have a pretty small flat but we do the best with what we have.

(sorry for the blurriness)

Christmas Kitty!

4. What is your favorite Christmas movie? The Year without a Santa Claus and Christmas Vacation

5. What is your favorite Christmas song? Anything by Boney M :)

6. Do you have an advent calendar? My mom usually sends the kids an advent calendar but generally no, we don’t have one.

7. Do you prefer color lights or white lights? Coloured lights but only one colour. We have blue ones.

8. What is your favorite food to eat over the holidays? Well, here’s the thing. My favourite stuff for the holidays is nothing I can get here. It would be biscochitos and homemade posole with cornbread. Once I tried to make posole for the Dutchies… it did NOT go over very well at all.

9. Do you display a live tree, or do you prefer fake trees? We live in a flat with 4 cats so it’s got to be fake. One day, when we have a house, we’ll have a live tree. We currently have a little tree growing on our balcony as well.

10. What would you need to make your holiday perfect this year? Well, I’m actually feeling a bit sad about the holidays this year (in fact I feel this way almost every year) – I wish I could be home to be with family for just a short period and have someone around me really “get” what I’m missing. I miss the smell of juniper and pinon burning in people’s fireplaces, I miss the snow capped mountains, I miss the luminarias.

Now it’s your turn to answer this week’s questions! Don’t forget to come back and link up in the comments! Happy Monday!!!!!

A Bust

Posted on by Renée
1

This week has been one.

I went running on Monday and on Wednesday night I went to bed early… those two things were probably the most positive I did for myself. When the holidays are over I’m truly going to enjoy my nice little controlled planned life again! Or rather I should say my ROUTINE. Is it so OCD to want a routine?

Anyway, before the madness of cookies, wine and pasta dinner begin, I’m going to get dressed and go for a run. It’s well overdue.

Week in Review:: Stop the World I want to get off Edition

Posted on by Renée
6

Another week in review and to be quite honest with you it was almost the same as the last.

Busy, hectic, too much to do, too tired, too packed full of stuff.

In fact if I think about it now I have no idea what even happened two days ago let alone a whole week.

I do know there was no running (but the bag is packed to run at lunch tomorrow).

There was no gym.

There was somewhat of an attempt to do my body weight exercises.

There was less planning and too much random eating.

Friday I worked at one of our stores so I was not really in a position to have my regular food and snacks and Friday night was our company Holiday Party… there were *some* alcoholic beverages comsumed (and quite a bit of dancing, yay!) Saturday I was a wreck though (I’m not good with drinking much anymore… could be a good thing right?) so I didn’t eat or drink well and on top of that I had plans to go out with my friend M, meaning more food and drink was involved.

You know I don’t think the holidays should be a time when you say “screw it” and eat everything that isn’t nailed down, but it is a special time of year and very often you end up presented with food and drink that you normally wouldn’t have during “normal” times of the year. While I think my brain still wants to hang on to that a little bit (enter the panicking about food/weight Pinky), part of me feels really free. You know, I feel quite good. Healthy. I was looking at my body a bit the other day (which to be honest I don’t do much and maybe I should because it’s not exactly BAD…) and I thought “damn. for a 43 year old you really aren’t looking bad at all”. I bought this cute dress for the holiday party and it fit perfectly and I just thought “yeah! being this size/weight isn’t really bad!”

So yeah. Not the best example in the world, but I’m an honest example. It’s the holidays. Enjoy being with the people you love and if there is food or drink involved just use your head. You know, enjoy. Be present. Make memories. It’s nice and something to treasure. Nobody wants to sit around and pick at all the things they did “wrong” (ie what they ate and drank… people, life is too short!), pick at the things you did right!

I was in situations quite often this past week where I was late going home and hungry so I tried a few things I hadn’t had before:

Have you Had these?

I think these were 140 cals for two biscuits

Fruit Bites - Tasty, 90 cals but downside made from concentrate

I was in a BTL Chat about a week+ ago and we were talking about tips and tricks… one of my favourite tips is… if you are eating pasta with meat/tomato sauce, have less pasta and bulk it up with broccoli.

100g Kamut Pasta with 150g steamed broccoli

mmmm mmmmm leftover homemade (lean) meat and tomato sauce courtesy of the Hubs

Also I have a twitter friend who has a cook book shop in town and she actually blogs here (in Dutch); she has some great recipes that she shares but this past week she made what sounds to be like a very simple but amazingly delicious mandarin cake… she saved me a piece so on Thursday I went by…What a treat!!

mandarin cake courtesy of Riejanne S.

I love to support local businesses and I wish you all lived close to me so you could visit her shop!

One of my favourite things this week? Homemade cappuccino. Yes I’m back to making them again at home.

foamy milk and creamy espresso

A Perfect Beverage

Plans this week:
Monday – dinner with friends (and looks like I’ll finally be meeting Penny!!! YAY!) packing my bag to run at lunch time.
Tuesday – recover from Monday, make sure I make my lists for food we need over the holiday
Wednesday – I may again run at lunchtime; driving the car because I need to bring some stuff home from work, don’t want to be stuck in Traffic
Thursday – meeting up with my friend P after work. Last minute shopping?
Friday – am supposed to work in another store of ours. don’t know if I’ll make it.
Saturday – last minute (food) shopping, making cookies for the Hubs Santa Claus.
Sunday – CHRISTMAS! Whoo!

Calgon, take me away!

How was your week? How do you feel about all of the busyness and food and drink this time of year?