Upgrade

I'm not a Black Friday shopper.  Inconsiderate people drive me bonkers and I never really need anything, so it's best for everyone if I just stay in bed.  Sleeping is one thing I do love more than shopping.

This year though... this year I went BIG for Black Friday and replaced my driveway decoration with a 2013 Ford Escape.  And no I didn't go out at 1am to buy it or stand in line, win-win.

Upgrade!

It was a sad goodbye to my beloved Cavalier.  It was my first car, and it has been so good to me for over 6 years.  I won't miss the manual door locks or having to physically wind down my windows for certain.  Despite the huge upgrade, my heart is a little sad without my "little engine that could".  We were also so darn close to hitting 6-figures together!

99366... we were so close!

My new commute had me concerned though.  I am driving 35+ miles each way, much of it off the major roads... and it is Pennsylvania after all.  We get snow, and I felt like 4WD and a reliable car were just a must at this point considering my long and early morning driving habits on back roads.

Oh, and I'm finally a grad school graduate... I deserved a new car!  Actually, the hubs had to cosign because I didn't have enough credit, despite having excellent credit.  To which our lovely salesman told the bank "But she's a DOCTOR!"  That didn't work, but showing the dealership my diploma did get me a nice little rebate for being a recent grad!

I'm a loser

Today was a rest day after hitting the gym hard the last few days.  I haven't been this sore in a long time, and it really hurts feels pretty amazing.  With the tackling of a new challenge, I had a new fire under my feet to get serious in the gym again.  My abs hurt when I laugh, my coffee mug feels like a 10 pound weight, and my quads burn on the stairs... time for a rest day.

As for the new challenge... I joined a group of friends and friends-of-friends-of-friends for a "Biggest Loser" style challenge.  There is a small fee to join and money prizes for largest percentages of weight loss in 16 weeks.  The hubs joined as well after he took it home with a win on the last challenge.

Not surprisingly, I didn't get a ringing endorsement with those that I've mentioned the challenge to.  I realize that I really can't drop a huge percentage of my body weight, and I've conceded I won't be racing for the win.  I don't consider myself overweight, and I'm not in it to win it!

I'm in it for the motivation to get healthier and commit to a gym routine.  I am way too awesome at talking myself out of stopping at the gym after work.  Weekly weigh-ins will keep me accountable.  I also like the idea of tackling a healthier lifestyle with the hubs.  It makes things so much easier when neither of us is asking for nightly pizza or ice cream!  

I did let myself have one last indulgent ice cream bar before weighing in last week... and a huge root beer and an entire order of crab rangoon.  If you've haven't had one of these Costco ice cream bars, you really aren't enjoying life to the fullest.  For the dozens of times I've eaten at Costco, I don't know how it took this long to discover this little slice of heaven.  Hand-dipped in chocolate and almonds- sign me up!

Half eaten before I paused long enough to take a picture.

Half the bar is half as big as my steering wheel!  And for $1.50 you too can have half your daily calorie intake (870 by the way).  Despite calories, it was so hard for me to walk out of there yesterday without an ice cream bar to eat on my way home.  I ate applesauce instead... disappointingly so.

Question of the day: What's your favorite way throw your healthy-eating caution to the wind?

That ice cream bar ranks right  up top right now!

A return with staying power

Life has been busy and exciting full of family, friends, and as many weddings as we could possibly handle in recent weeks! I even found a little time to squeeze in working... running my first half marathon... and embarking on some other exciting new adventures.  All of which I will share more about later I'm sure.

For now, I'm just enjoying that my place of work is closed tomorrow, and I can ignore my usual 9:00 bedtime.  You get pretty lame as a nighttime party animal when you wake up at 5am.  

I don't think I'll ever stop loving the perk of getting to follow a school schedule either.  My next three work weeks are only 3 days each... before I start the countdown to Christmas "vacation".  Thankfully Unfortunately(?) we've also already had our first 2-hour delay of the year.  I felt like a little kid all over again, watching the school names scrolling across the tv screen and hoping to see mine pop up.  Modern technology kind of ruins that moment though when I get the text message alert first.  I would never complain about 2 hours to sleep in though, regardless of how I hear about it!

Though the pretty leaves have long blown away, we are having some unseasonably warm weather continuing into tomorrow that might be just perfect for a mid-day run.  One more reason to love a weekday off.

Yes, running in a cemetery.  It was an oddly comforting place for a run, and the foliage made it outright gorgeous!  The iphone pics don't even do the colors justice.

Where is the oddest place you've laced up your running shoes?