Saturday, December 26, 2009

Post Christmas Detox

Don't forget to enter my Barney Butter giveaway, it ends tomorrow night and I will post the winner on Monday :)

This morning, at an absurdly early hour, I was at spinning class finishing up my last miles of 200 Miles by 2010 Challenge! When I established this goal at the beginning of November I thought it would keep me on track, but not require any serious dedication. However, after a 2 week break from spinning due to swine flu, it became much more of a challenge. In the end, it encouraged me to go to spinning class 2-3 times a week for the month of December, and forced me to push myself at each class to get the mileage up.

There were a lot of times I considered giving up on this goal, but that's why I love the blog- you guys hold me accountable :)

The great news of the day though is that Eric and I are officially on vacation. We have relocated our lives temporarily to my parents house at the Cape. It's hard to explain exactly why Eric and I love being down here so much. There is not a ton to do in the winter, but I think that's why we like it. It's really just the ultimate in relaxation. We love social events as much as the next couple, but we have been overloaded lately so it's nice to just come down here and be able to relax for several days in a row. With Eric's full time job + football coaching schedule this year so far, he needs it even more than usual.

Usually Cape Cod gets less snow than the Boston area, but last weekend the huge blizzard dumped more snow here than up North...

Tonight we hit up the Olive Garden. I know, not too fancy, but I absolutely love this place and there is not one near my house at home...

We ordered our favorite drinks. Eric loves the Italian Margarita...

I love the Cavit Pino Grigio...

Like my new Sacred Heart sweatshirt that my brother got me for Christmas? You may be seeing that a lot in pictures this week, I love the softness of new sweatshirts and the color of this one cannot be beat.

I love Olive Garden's minestrone soup, though it's probably loaded with way too much sodium...

I try to keep things slightly healthier by ordering my breadsticks plain with no salt and oil/butter. They are still amazing dipped into the soup...

For my meal I ordered Capellini Pomodoro which is actually one of the healthiest things on the menu (I know this because Olive Garden so nicely posts all their nutrition information online...say what you want about chain restaurants, I love that!). It's a lot of calories if you eat all of it, but I barely put a dent in this meal...

Yum.

I can just feel any stress and tiredness escaping out of my body right now. I literally left my kindergarten plan book on my desk at work this vacation and all my plans involve relaxation, fun and a tiny bit of wedding planning. February vacation is always spent frantically writing report cards, so I am taking this one off.

Peek at this Week's Blog Posts:

1. Best Food & Exercise Discoveries of 2009
2. Progress Update on December Goals
3. Goals for January, and all of 2010

I hope everyone is enjoying some relaxation time this weekend.

PS. I thought it might be fun to do some Question and Answers this week since I have a little bit of extra time, so if you have any burning questions for me- ask in the comments :)


12 comments:

  1. i love olive garden too, esp. their minestrone! the closest one here is about 75 miles away! boo!

    yup, love the new sweater!

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  2. OOoh I'm so with you on the fabulousness of new sweatshirts...I always hold out on washing the new ones. :-)

    Hope you had an extra breadstick for me...those things are like crack!

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  3. Hi Kelly! That's awesome that you were able to stick with your goal even with the swine flu. I'm glad you are feeling better. Looking forward to your upcoming posts!

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  4. Great job on sticking to your challenge even through illness! Don't you just love getaways where you have nothing to do but relax?! Enjoy!

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  5. way to go with everything! I didn't even think to order the breadsticks plain there but what a great idea!

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  6. Glad you are enjoying your vacation in Cape Cod! You are so lucky that your parent's have a house there, I have only seen pictures in movies and magazines, but I would LOVE to visit Cape Cod sometime. And, Olive Garden is great, so I don't blame you guys for going :) The food looks fantastic. But the sodium, yeah, that's what stinks about restaurants, why must they use so much?! Oh well, like Nick and I say, it's vacation!! We will do and eat what we want! haha.

    Have a great time!

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  7. Sounds like an awesome relaxing break. I think the symbol of leaving the old planner at work has alot of power; I brought my binder and calendar home from work because I have to be somewhere not-at-the-office 1st thing when I go back Tuesday, and I try not even look in its direction! Enjoy the vacay,
    Liz

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  8. oopsy, i meant "i try not TO even look in its direction."
    Liz

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  9. I'm SO glad you are getting in some much-needed R&R. That pasta looks fantastic :)

    I'm looking forward to the upcoming posts!!

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  10. What a beautiful place to unwind and forget about kindergarten planning for a while. :)

    Congrats on meeting your spin goal!! I'm impressed with your dedication.

    I always order the Capellini Pomodoro at Olive Garden- it's my favorite! YUM!

    Enjoy your day!

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  11. Olive Garden is THE BEST! I could literally make a meal out of the bread sticks alone. I am such a carb fiend!!

    So proud of you for meeting you goal.. I know you said that it's partially because blogworld holds you accountable -- but YOU are the one that mustered up the strength and determination. You should be INCREDIBLY proud of yourself, girl! Seriously! GREAT JOB!!!!!!!

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  12. You have such pretty curly hair!

    My mom and her family have cabins in this little sleeper town on the Mississippi River in Iowa and we love going there to relax too. Sometimes you have to get far away to relax!

    I am new to your blog so I don't have any good questions yet!

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