If I were a super hero I'd fight.....

Migraines.

That is my official diagnosis after seeing the neurologist on Friday. What a weird character she was. So nice and helpful - but might be the most socially awkward person I've met. She walked into the room where I was sitting with Sam. Her first question? "How do you know each other?". What? You mean, my husband? It just got weirder and more awkward from there. Thankfully Sam held his tongue. Although, I'm sure any of his regular jokes would have crashed and burned anyway -she was  not the joking kind.

I got meds, taking them every night, and I already feel better! Still slight headaches, but nothing like I was getting. On the way home from the appointment Sam was going on and on about "I can't believe the Dr. didn't laugh at my joke...." Man, she was the weirdest!

So, the plan now that I know what's wrong with me and I'm on the mend????

Training

I've got my first race planned: rock n roll 1/2 marathon in DC. Training starts Dec 26th, which means I need to get ready. Yep. Train to be ready to train. It's a crazy world I live in here. The best part? Sam is going to run it with me - his first 1/2 mary! LOVING that!

Any great races in the Virginia area I NEED to have my training schedule for 2012?

Ugly Christmas Sweater

Not being able to workout much lately has been killer. What do I fill my time with? Ugly Christmas Sweater parties of course!

Winner of 1st place prize

classy snacks

2nd place...pretty great outfit

We are also keeping busy with kid stuff. Now that the boys are getting older they are SUPER into santa and all things Christmas. We did pancakes with Santa.

Goodbye Tukey Day, Hello Christmas!!!!

The boys did their 2nd race. The Gingerbread Mile (they did the tot trot). So much fun! Sammy came in first again and is talking about his first triathlon. smile ear to ear!

getting ready for the race

gingerbread village

so much yummy frosting....

getting ready for their group to be called

"mom. quick! take my picture" - no clue what this was

The only normal picture they took!

Our first Italian Thanksgiving

We love to cook, we love to entertain, and we LOVE Thanksgiving. Every year we try out a new theme - normally around the turkey. Different brine, different stuffing ingredients - it's great. This year we decided to do Italian. It. Was. Wonderful.

Appetizer: cheese and meats

 
First Course: Sam made homemade 4 cheese raviolis with a vodka cream sauce. On the side was a baked piece of prosciutto with honey mustard.

Palette cleanser:

 Third Course: Antipasta with homemade mozzarella

Palette Cleanser:

Fourth Course: Linguine with mushroom sauce, seafood sauce, meatballs, sausage, and marinara

Dessert: pumpkin mouse with gingersnap crust, home made tirramisu, and chocolate dipped strawberries

It was amazing. Everyone came over at 12 and we ate until 4. Way better than everyone eating in 20 minutes and then just feeling fat. It was great!

I'm off the sauce......

Lyme's disease can go to Hell. It can. I was diagnosed July 19th and have had very few healthy days since then. I know that many people have it worse. I was diagnosed in the early stages (1-4 weeks). I did 5 weeks of antibiotics and feel better now than I did.

Why the attitude about it now? 4 months later? Because I have now realized that it will take about a year for my body to recover which means no alcohol. I don't drink alot, but when I do "tie one on" it takes me days to recover. Apparently Lyme's LOVES sugar and alcohol might as well be all sugar. I'm glad to know why I feel like death, again......but just one more aspect of my life that the tiniest tick ever screwed up.

Positive spin? I need to loose weight desperately. Best way to do that is cut out sugar and alcohol. Easier said than done.......except when you feel like death afterward.

So, you will not see my drinking, eating sugar cubes, or at the bottom of any ice luges any time soon. I will need to come up with better excuses as to why I pass out early and from time to time flash the girls (one of those things may never really happen).

Here's to a skinnier, healthier, faster, happy life!!!!!!!!

7 Year Anniversary....making a whole weekend of it!

This was a really fun weekend! Instead of packing all things anniversary into one crazy and exhausting day Sam and I decided to do something Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Kinda crazy, but so fun!

I'm happy to say we look better now than we did 7 years ago. Looking back at wedding photos is fun because we can laugh about the squishy way we looked. Don't get me wrong, we still squish - but way less!

Friday night we took the boys to Peking Gourmet Inn. My fav! We had duck and beef. The boys tried the duck and LOVED it. Those are the memories "remember when we ate duck!" that I hope they will remember and talk about later.

Saturday I took Sam to the Metropolitan Cooking expo and we saw Guy Fieri's cooking show. It was really cool to see a live cooking show. Sam has sent in his application for Chopped, so I thought this would get his creative juices flowing. He cooked Bacon Mac N Cheese. Oh man, it smelled SO good!

America's Got Talent was filming too!

Funny spice guy

There he is!

Sam is a pretty good listener. He really pays attention when I'm into something with fashion, running, tris.....you name it and he remembers what I've said. It's pretty great. So, for our anniversary what did he get me? He went to a consignment store and scored a Kate Spade and Coach clutch! Exactly what I've been talking about! What a guy :)

Polka dots? How cute is that?!

Sunday we went out to a French dinner. Not super fancy, but we got dressed up and had a great time. What did we wear?

Fav dress from thirtysomethingfashion

What did we eat?

French Onion Soup

Escargo. Yep. we ate snails. They were SO good!

Melted Cheese thing.

Sam ordered Beef Wellington and I got Scallops. Not sure why I didn't remember to take pics of that. Maybe too much wine at that point. :)

7 years has gone pretty fast. Team Hardman is happy and going strong!

365 days can do alot

Last year on Halloween I was running the Marine Corp Marathon. My first. I ran it with Alyson, well - I ran it because of Alyson. She said after a 1/2 Marathon in Sept "Let's just keep training and do the marathon." I almost puked on her shoes. I wanted to do it, but was terrified. So, I said yes and we kept our training going. We raised money for Neuroblastoma research, which at the time her brother Nick was battling.

Me and Alyson. Puffy eyes from crying - pretty happy to be done. wearing our Nova Chicks run for Nick shirts

With Meg - our biggest cheerleader

at mile 26.19 sooooo close to the end

Sam is my biggest supporter and best hugger.

Since then alot has happened. The year since the marathon focused more on triathlon than just running. Sam and I joined a Tri Team (Team Fexy) and bought 1 million dollars worth of gear. :) I am now working at a different Middle School. The boys have done their first "race", which Sammy won. Sam applied to be on Chopped (Food Network). My brother got married. I got and survived Lyme's Disease this summer. And I've already had the flu this season - after I got the shot, of course.

Alot of change in a year. Anyone else have changes over the last year?