RUNNING FIRSTS + FESTIVE LIGHTS

This weekend was absolutely marvelous! I’m amping up my long runs with the help of the man, and we’re also making sure to squeeze as much festivity out of this month as we can muster! I love December. Christmas, the cozy cold, and I turn 30 soon!

BEAUTIFYING MY PLACE

This week I got the extra string of lights Cindy Lou needed to look complete. Swoon! On Friday night, Nick and I went to a holiday party at one of his coworkers’ house, up in the mountains. It was fun meeting a lot of his friends and colleagues, as well as the host’s dog and four cats. I was in heaven. 🙂 I also have two more holiday parties this week!

I also got this fun modern Clear Molded Evie Chair from World Market, to finally accompany the desk in my “creative nook!” Check it out:

My guitar, antique Underwood No. 5 typewriter, painting easel, and IKEA bookshelf all help this space come to creative life! The upper left corner is in need of some love… perhaps a hanging plant? Who knows. I might have to move the gold bison skull somewhere else and reconfigure things. I’m loving it so far, though.

A LONG TRAIL RUN

Saturday morning, the man and I got up early for my biggest challenge yet: 14 miles of mountain trails at Staunton State Park. I’ve run “trail” before (as in not asphalt), but nothing like this!

It was 17 degrees when we first made our way to the trail. We ran my longest distance with my greatest elevation gain: 2,612 feet… reaching a maximum elevation of 9,286.

Here’s a photo of me after finishing, tired but proud. The first 3 miles were quite difficult, getting used to the elevation, the uneven trail, and the climb. I might’ve broken down into tears at one point, feeling defeated. But after some reassurance and guidance from Nick, I was back on my feet, knowing that I could quit at any moment I wanted. Somehow… I didn’t. I can’t believe I’ve hit 14! I’m starting to think about 26.2…

There are no more photos from the second half of Saturday. I will tell you this: there was a lot of watching stand up comedy on Netflix, a Cosmo’s pizza, and cookies and ice cream involved. 🙂

FOOD FOR THE WEEK

Sunday morning, after I did some reading, the man and I went for a long neighborhood walk in the beautiful weather. Then we did some grocery shopping to prep the week’s food.

The man was craving fruit, so I chopped up a winter fruit salad: kiwis, apples, clementines, and strawberries (opted for these instead of pomegranate seeds).

We also organized ingredients to bake a Christmassy bread later this week, for our holiday party on Friday. 🙂

After preparing the components of our Thug Kitchen Tofu Pad Thai dinner, we headed out to a holiday date night.

BLOSSOMS OF LIGHT

On our walk that morning, Nick and I wondered what Christmassy things we could do in Denver. After researching many options, we decided on the Blossoms of Light tour in the Denver Botanic Gardens. Tickets for nonmembers are only $13, and it takes about an hour to walk all the way through and enjoy the scenes.

Take a look, although pictures don’t do it justice:

The weather was perfect, and the lights were magical!

TOFU PAD THAI

After our holiday excursion, we returned home to quickly assemble our tofu pad thai. (Nick’s reading An Edible History of Humanity, and I thought it was a fun addition to the picture.)

Ingredients include: soba noodles, broccoli, bean sprouts, garlic, dry-fried tofu, carrots, red cabbage, peanuts, and a dressing made of soy sauce, lime juice, brown sugar, rice vinegar, and water. Full of nutrients and still extremely comforting! We ate it warm, but it can also be enjoyed cold (like I had for lunch today). Yum!

How was your weekend?