Good things about running when it is very cold.

-Your eyelashes look kind of pretty when there is frost on them- snow queen!
- you get get strengthen feet and leg muscles that you would never use in any other situation.
-you get to wear many layers of clothes that you never use.
-you feel warm for the rest of the day.
- you feel so much faster when winter is over
- you can wear shorts when its thirty degrees because it feels like a heat wave.
- you barely sweat and don't feel as compelled to shower.
- warm drinks are all the more appreciated afterwards.
- you have rosy cheeks
-your shoes stay clean b/c there is no dirt
- you can re wear clothes for several days
- you get smart wool for christmas
-it brings people together
-you feel accomplished
- you get to have very porcelain colored skin that all other runners envy when you put on your track uniform

MIDWEST LOVE

Big POPPA

I like it when you call me big POPPA.
Throw yo hands in the air,
if you's a true playa,
cuz I see sum ladies 2night that should be havin' my baby....

Babbbbaaay

Christmas

We got a tree yesterday three days before christmas.  Since we waited this long there were only the short trees with pine needle branches left.  Fortunately we prefer to have a charlie brown looking tree.  It stops about 4 feet before reaching the ceiling.  I hope that this year I can really focus on the true joy of Christmas which is the birth of Christ.  I am really guilty of getting all caught up in the consumption of material and food around this time of year when the celebration is so much more meaningful than this! I feel really thankful to be able to come home to a family who shows such great love and I hope I can practice the love of Christ towards others this season- I know I have really been shown it!

Jesus is born!

CLEANSE

So yesterday a person told me about the "ten day cleanse." I had never heard of the thing, but I guess you are supposed to eat all natural foods for ten days.  This means no sugar or caffeine or carbs and such.  I guess if you make it ten days your body had shed out all of the toxins and waste.  Since it is impossible for me to do the ten day cleanse and continue running I decided I am going to try a modified cleanse where I am still going to eat foods that I need to have energy from.  It is my understanding that the purpose of the cleanse is not to lose any weight because you can eat as large of quantities of food as you would like, it is more from physical and mental renewal!

Day one of the cleanse:

Extreme headache lasting from nine am to one pm because I had not been without coffee in the morning anytime in the past two years.
A great feeling of nausea and like I was going to throw up at one point.
Lots of fiber= lots of, well, you know, cleansing.


Anyhow day one has been a little rough, but I hear by day 5 the cleansing begins to take effect! I wish for the toxins from my innards to be gone!

A good old fashioned pity party

Sometimes it is just necessary.  After a week of finals and choas.  Biting four fingernails until they bleed.  Getting the worst grade I have ever gotten since being in college in a class I spent as much time studying for as all my other classes combined.  Sleeping not enough.  It was bound to happen.  So yesterday I woke up and my mom hugged me and I cried a good cry, but then it was time to go to mass so I had to stop.  I thought it was over.  do do do do do do.

.... go to church, go running, start to learn how to do weights that russell the lifting coach assigned.  My little sisters came down to be pleasant and I told them to go away because I was being a b**** and did not want to be and they did not do anything wrong but I was just so unpleasant.  O SHOOT. here it is.  halfway through the trying to learn fabulous new medicine ball exercises the tears began to form, the rests became longer, the sitting on the ground increased......bam.  A full throttle cry session right on the yoga mat in all my running clothes.  Thank God for parents and towels that absorb snot and GOD.

It's funny how you try so so so hard to avoid this happening.  I mean all week I would study and when not studying I would make crafts or wrap prezzies or bake or shovel or run errands.  I was rushing around not thinking and turning my music up so loud to avoid falling when I know I am going to fall sometime anyhow. Am I trying to fool myself into thinking I'm perfect ooooorrr...? Well anyhow.  The pity party lasted the greater portion of the entire day and ended with the consumption of large amounts of my aunts turtle cheesecake, a food coma sleep session lasting over ten hours, and VERY puffy eyes this morning.

And of course, most importantly, the reminder that.... I can do all things through Christ (Phil. 4.13) and also I can do NOTHING without him on my own.

December baby

Winter has arrived fiercely.  Monday we were running in shorts and now all of the sudden I have to wear many layers and my body works much harder to maintain a normal temperature than to run quickly.  I do not so much enjoy the cold in any way.  However there are many goodness things that cold brings.  For example, in the winter it is the most wonderful thing just to cuddle in bed or drink tea or have soup or feel warmth for minimal periods of time.  Fires seem really special and Christmas lights make me feel joyful

I wish my house looked like this:

However, it does not and never will.  I think this light display is also extremely wasteful and harmful to the environment but still it would be nice to have just for a moment.

I also miss the sunshine.  Sometimes when I see it peaking out I try to stand in it for as long as possible and then it usually disappears again within seconds- however will I obtain vitamin d if I am not receiving it from the greatest supplier?!?! come on mr. sun

On a great note- I watched Bridget Jones's diary yesterday in the middle of the day instead of doing any sort of productive work and it was glorious.  I loved every moment of the movie and hope to get the second one soon. Thank you public library.

Hopeful idears for this month- make gingerbread houses, see the nutracker, watch nonstop xmas movies and listen to music, drink lots of hot cranberry draaaaank and tea, stay warm, NOT DIE OF FROSTBITE, share love with lots and lots of amigas and amigos!!! yeeeaaay!