Playing Catch Up

My goodness, the holidays flew by and here were are in mid-January!

Here's what I've been up to since Thanksgiving:

• Had Thanksgiving at our apt, I made all the fixing's (potatoes, stuffing, pies, etc...) while Mom & Dad brought the bird. It was delicious, of course, and afterward we completed our annual puzzle.

• Finished all my gift buying for my fiance's family on the east coast, wrapped, packaged and mailed the box of gifts with a shipping charge of $67! Good grief!

• Held a Holiday Party/Game Night at our place, biggest gathering yet! Roasted a whole chicken (so tasty, my kitty John insisted the whole night he needed to have some) and enjoyed an evening surrounded by friends. This was the biggest turn out for any of our gatherings, 10 or 12 people all together!

• Received an early Christmas/B-day gift from my parents: a new laptop! Its a Toshiba, and I'm in love!

• Last minute shopping on Christmas Eve for my parents. It was fun being downtown in all the hustle and bustle. Made me REALLY appreciate that I no longer work retail downtown.

• Christmas was spend with my parents, had to wait for Mark to get off of work, then hop a bus to Lynnwood to have them pick us up at the Transit Center. Enjoyed gift opening before a wonderful Prime Rib Dinner.

• Day after Christmas the four of us drove to Winthrop, WA. The drive was about 4 hours, over the pass and through the hibernating apple orchards of Central Washington. I loved waking up every morning to snow on the ground!
• *My birthday was spend wandering snow covered trails just outside Winthrop, then a walk through town and an AMAZING dinner at a local restaurant. I had my first Bison steak and am convinced its the best thing ever made!

I am now just finishing up my 2nd week back at the office and adjusting to the 'working life' again. Honestly, I'm really looking forward to the 3 day weekend (MLK Day weekend) ahead of me. I'm not sure if its the weather, or being chained to a desk and a computer that's really got me ready for bigger and better things.

I've also been making some lifestyle changes. The realization that my wedding is only 9 months away has given me the extra push to start losing weight. I've joined Weight Watcher, they have a great online/iPhone friendly program now that matches my way of doing things much better then their old system of writing things down and going to meetings. I've also asked my mom to help me acquire a new piece of equipment called the Bodybugg. Its a device that you wear around your upper arm and it counts the calories you've burned in a day. It is supposed to arrive today and I'm more than excited to start using it!