During the holidays Barry and I traveled to visit his family and mine. I love getting to see everyone and spending time with family is one of my favorite things about the holidays. I kind of went on blog hiatus, aside from a few planned posts, during our travels. We did a number of fun things during that time, so I thought I’d do a recap.

While visiting Barry’s family, we ventured down into Tennessee to eat dinner at The Farmer’s Daughter. Barry’s parents have raved about this restaurant, so I was really excited to go! The food was served family-style, meaning everything was placed on the tables on platters and in bowls, and it was delicious! We started out with warm, fresh bread and cornbread. Then the main course arrived: fried chicken, steak and gravy, and country ham along with at least ten sides. I tried a few new foods that I hadn’t had before, including carrot souffle and cornbread salad. I was stuffed when we were done! The Farmer’s Daughter is also where Larry the Quilt Lamb came from.

I failed to take my own picture,

While visiting my family we went to a couple of family get-togethers. This is the only time of year that I see most of my extended family, so it was great catching up and spending time together.

Me, with my cousin and little sister posing as Nana’s angels at my uncle’s house

One night we headed out to the movies to see American Hustle. I usually only end up going to the movie theaters twice a year, but in 2013 I went three times! I really enjoyed this movie. I thought it was funny, but at the same time it kept me guessing all the way up until the end. Jennifer Lawrence was wonderful and hilarious in her role, as were the other four main characters. It was definitely not a family friendly movie, though, so don’t take your kids to see it.

We watched a few other movies at home in the evenings, including Red I highly recommend this movie. Bruce Willis is great (as usual) and John Malkovich is hilarious. We liked it so much that we rented Red 2 the next day. It was alright, but not as good as the first one.

We were able to get out to the W&OD Trail for a run late one afternoon! I was surprised that I felt so good during this run. We had attended a brunch at my uncle’s house that morning and I was still full from biscuits and an egg/spinach breakfast casserole. I think a big part of feeling good was just being back on an old trail where I ran lots of miles and have lots of memories. This is a picture my dad took for Deb when her son Joseph ran the entire W&OD Trail (45 Miles!!) last July. It’s at the same spot where we started our run during the holidays, only it wasn’t this bright or green!

On the drive home from visiting my family, I finished reading Allegiant. I would have played “Ask Barry Insane Conversation Starter Questions” while he drove, but someone stole it from me…. not that I’m still bitter or anything. You’ve probably heard/read a lot of things about the third book of the Divergent Trilogy at this point. Don’t worry- no spoilers here. I did not enjoy the third book as much as I enjoyed the first two, but that seems to be the norm with trilogies. The same was true for me when I read The Hunger Games. Unfortunately, I wasn’t very happy with how Allegiant ended, but that’s just my personal opinion. It’s definitely a series I’ll read again. There’s just so much detail, and I bet I’ll pick up on a lot more reading the series through a second time.

So those are all of the exciting things I did over the holidays- I ate good food, spent time with loved ones, finished a book, and watched movies! I guess this post could have really been about three sentences long. But that wouldn’t be any fun, would it?

What movies have you watched recently? Seen anything good in the theaters?

What did you do over the holidays?

Happy New Years! I hope everyone had a great New Years Eve and are looking forward to the new year!

I had a low key New Years Eve. I spent the majority of the day running errands to the bank and a few other stores. In the afternoon I settled in to watch the Hokies take on UCLA in the Sun Bowl. It was not a pretty game for us Hokie fans and that’s all I really want to say about that. Barry and I both managed to stay up until midnight to watch the ball drop and ring in the new year with a toast in the only champagne glasses we have- the ones from our wedding.

Today was a holiday for work, so I spent my last day off getting a bunch of stuff done around the house. Most of it was the typical dishes, laundry, and putting stuff away that you have to do after traveling. I also spent awhile “moving” into my new daily calendar. When it comes to my calendar, I’m very Type-A because it’s how I function. Everything goes in there- birthday and anniversary reminders, holidays from work, races Barry and I are going to run, and reminders for the dog’s monthly flea and tick treatment.

Then I did something that made me feel very cliche. Bearing in mind it’s New Years day, I did a brand new workout. It was one of my new Jillian Michaels workouts that I purchased while we were visiting my dad and sister last week.

I really enjoyed this new workout and I like having more at-home options for cross training since I don’t belong to a gym. Doing any kind of workout on New Years day and in the days following the new year makes me feel a little cliche. Even though I workout regularly and it’s nothing new for me, I feel like you kind of get lumped into the “New Years crowd.” I even feel that way at home, where no one would even know I worked out if it wasn’t for this blog.

Hank kept an eye on me while I worked out, while Scout was out cold

I love seeing more activity out on the trails in the days and weeks following the start of a new year, and I wholly support those folks embarking on a resolution to be more active. I hope their new routine becomes a habit and they stick with it. I saw the same increase in activity in the first two months of a new year at the gym when I was in college. As history has shown, a lot of those resolutions fizzle out within the first few weeks. In the meantime, I continue to feel stereotypical working out regularly at the beginning of a new year.

What did you do to celebrate New Years? 

Do you feel like a cliche continuing a regular workout routine in the new year?