Christmas Pictures

Well it's almost time to gear up for the new year. Thought I would share a few Christmas pictures today! Some are instagrams, some are not.  Some are good and some are just goofy.  

-the single gal- 

Sending Love to My Single Gals During the Holidays

I've been thinking a lot about where I was last year around Thanksgiving/Christmas.  And by "where I was" I really mean where I was emotionally.  Because we all know my broken-hearted self had been spending all my nights on my sofa with Emily making her eat Domino's with me and watching a lot of Downton Abbey on DVR for months.  Or I may have been watching "The Holiday" and "You've Got Mail" on repeat (I mean, do those ever get old? I think not.).  Let's not forget the Great Sinus Infection (and ear infection) over Christmas of 2012.  I wasn't suicidal or anything but good Lord I was tired of the whole damn Universe from Thanksgiving onward.  

What I'm saying is...all my single gal pals {and guys, too I suppose} -- I know how freaking hard it is to be single during the holidays.  It's not that I don't have my wonderful and loving family every year.  I love that and it's awesome.  But at the end of they day they all kind of have their own people, The Housewife is building new traditions with her own family and spending time with her in-laws, etc.  We do a lot of stuff in my family prior to Christmas Day so by that time the last few years I just felt downright glum and sorry for myself by Christmas Day.   And then you get to countdown to the New Year.  You know -- that year that's supposed to be "your year" and "all about you".  But then there is that nagging fear it won't be all that different?  

I have all those fears, too.  This year has been completely different from the past few years so far and I know that I am very lucky to be where I am.  I am very happy this year.  Actually,  I feel like I really earned a damn holiday season of happies.  So I'm taking it all in.  

But all my loves out there -- call if you need a friend, a glass bottle of wine, or anything at all.  I wish you all the Merriest of Christmases.  And I know 2014 will be your year. 

Love you. Mean it. 

~the single gal~

{hello, december}

//via//

December I am actually looking forward to you this year! Don't be as brutally cold as the end of November, though. 

Someone bring me a Christmas tree, hot chocolate, Christmas parties, slow days at work, gift wrapping, family time, twinkle lights, warm fires and good books. 

What do you love about December? 

~the single gal~

Oh, Hai There. You Can Thank My Ear Infection for My Absence.

It has become apparent that the good Lord read my blog post about not being in the holiday spirit and wanted to show me how I really have a pretty great life.  I'm sorry that I have been so MIA this week but after a run on Tuesday I immediately came down with a terrible ear infection {i was all drama about it. still am}.  Apparently I had so much sinus pressure and all of my passages so stopped up that everything began to drain into my ear {or something like that}.   I finally couldn't sit at my desk any longer on Thursday and dragged myself into urgent care begging for relief.

I really thought they would write me a prescription for a zpack and send me on my way but I guess my ear was so bad I had to have some sort of strong antibiotic.  One with less than desirable side effects.  And they gave me lots of other stuff to take, too.  In the land of generic meds you know that when you spend $50 at CVS there was really something wrong with you.  It's also not very pleasant to spend 3x that amount just to see the doctor right before Christmas.  {yep, perspective has arrived}

After all my ear pain I was feeling like a champ as soon as I started my meds and had really high hopes. But a full day of work and special pre-Christmas dinner date with Em left me without a voice and my ear is still so stopped up that I really can't hear very well at all on my left side.  

I had so many plans for this long 4 day weekend.  Lots of running, reading, fun with family and friends.  I will still have some of these things but I am not sure I see a run in my immediate future.  But, I am going to be extremely grateful that my health is pretty excellent in general and hope to head into the new year feeling awesome and ready for new mental and physical challenges.   

Sorry I couldn't even jazz this post up with photos.  Sick people can't be bothered.  

Love you. Really do Mean it.  Sorry I am boring right now. 

~the single gal~

De-Grinching Weekend + Holiday Home Decor

Well, a lot has come to pass in the living room since my post about being a bit Grinchy and not wanting to even decorate this year.  Since Em is here for a while now as my roomie she was pretty adamant that we get in the mood and decorate this house.  So Friday afternoon Em crawled through Michael's gathering craft supplies while I was at work and I came home this past weekend to drink wine, make anything and everything that involved glitter, and get some sort of a tree up.  All while eating leftover garlic rolls {thanks Jimmy James}.  

It was pretty darn fabulous.  We finally finished all of our project earlier this morning.  I am really pleased with how it turned out -- all thanks to Em's vision!  

I remembered I had a little Charlie Brown-eque tree in the garage that we toted out rather than dealing with the gigantic one.  Also, we painted two canvases with chalkboard paint.  This was a great idea of Em's as we can now erase them and use them for future parties/holiday decor.  So I guess we just have to plan all those 2013 parties now. 

Little Tree and "Santa, It's a long story..." chalkboard.

This is probably my favorite -- the bookshelf re-vamp.  Em looked at a lot of stuff on Pinterest and we were both really drawn to one pin where someone drew the outline of a stag on a canvas and covered it in glitter.  I think hers turned out beautifully and I love our tall and skinny chalkboard canvas where she drew a simple Christmas tree.  We just rearranged these items with some stuff already downstairs. 

Glitter stag + canvas with chalkboard paint for our skinny Christmas tree. 

This photo was a little off center and it's a bit grainy due to the Instagram filter but I don't have a fancy camera like The Housewife.  We put tons of glitter on letters we cut out from foam board to hang between our stockings and put up a spare strand of colored lights with some mercury glass candle holders. 

The "Merry" Mantle

I even managed to wrap those presents you see under the tree and I'm almost done Christmas shopping.  Even better -- I'm grateful for friends that do all they can to make my life better and cheer me up -- especially this time of year.  

Love you. Mean it. 

~the single gal~

Wednesday Ramblings and Fun with Some ECards

I had really great intentions of doing my vacation re-cap dureing the week but I wanted to spend some more time on it so it will be sometime this weekend. I have to confess that coming back to work and trying to get back to the grind has drained me a bit {read: I started watching The Bridges of Madison County when I got home from the gym tonight and ran out of time}.  It's always good to get back to the normal routine after vacation but it seems extra hectic with the holidays upon us.   

A few things for this week so far: 

- There was a certain amount of disbelief when I came back to work with an email from TDH that he sent to me on Saturday night...that he hoped I was enjoying NYC and some other crap about the game.  I've been glaring at it in my inbox all week.  It's doubtful I will respond.  It doesn't even come close to an acceptable apology.  Not even close. 

- I am determined to make my master Christmas list and complete all shopping except for small stocking stuffer items by Sunday.  

And seriously I'm not trying to be a Grinch this year but I haven't put any decorations out and I don't think I will.  Ok -- I take that back.  I unpacked my holiday wine glasses.  Those are out and currently in heavy rotation.  I just feel like the holidays are super hard for single people {maybe that's just me}.  It's not that my family isn't close by and that I don't get to see them -- I do and we have Christmas practically all of December -- but it's not the same.   

- In honor of my love for hot chocolate I have signed up for the Atlanta Hot Chocolate 15k {9 mi} for January 13th.  This leaves me a little less than 6 weeks out with not much running since the half  marathon in October so it may not be a stellar performance but I think I can easily handle the distance.  

What are y'all up to this week? What are you tired of? Anyone done with their shopping? Training for any races? 

Love you. Mean it. 

~the single gal~

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all of our readers/people who find our blog by accident! I must have been a good Single Gal this year because Santa and his helpers were so kind to me! As always, the best part is having so many friends and family to see and visit with this holiday season and all year round.  While I am tired of eating and drinking until I am stuffed every weekend, I am lucky to always have food on my table and if not, then food on someone else's table and a standing invitation to stop in for a bite. 

Today it's been completely rainy and gross but hopefully it will let up for a nice Christmas walk for Hogan since it's our very first Christmas together.  We had a wonderful breakfast with Kay Woww today and we were happy to hear that The Situation's surgery went well and they were releasing him from the hospital today.  We missed him last night at our Christmas Eve celebration.  Let's all send some extra thoughts and prayers to him over the next few weeks. 

And, in case you needed an extra delight today, I received a special gift in this morning's email with this photo-shopped angel attached.    

Love you. Mean it. 

~the Single Gal~ 

The Grinch

A post from the Single Gal! It must seem like a Christmas miracle to y'all.  No, I didn't die from running the marathon.  But, I did almost die the week after I came back when I caught a terrible, awful stomach bug.  I won't go into the gory details but it involved a lot of vomiting. And, I doubt I can ever eat another can of Campbell's Select Harvest Italian Wedding soup ever, ever, ever again. 

I just wanted to say "Hi!" and check in with all my favorites.  The Housewife summed up the Marathon (I think "marathon" should be a proper noun, don't you?) pretty well.  It was hard--like really, really, really hard. It was cold. We felt sick to our stomachs. The last 7-8 miles were complete misery.  I would swear never to do another one again, except I didn't meet my goal for a 4:30 time and the fact that I know I can do better is seriously nagging at me.  But, for now I think The Housewife and I will stick to nothing longer than 13.1 for 2012. 

Seriously though, Christmas is here! How did that happen?!  And The Housewife is right--it came too fast! It has been really hectic to get my shopping done post marathon and try to decorate and cook and wrap and get through these next couple weeks at work while so many are out on vacay. Here are some things Hogan and I have been up to--like hanging stockings by the chimney/large-TV-mounted-above-my-mantle with care: 

*Note, Single Gal is technologically challenged. So, I do realize I have some light strands out on my tree. But when Single Gals run Marathons, somethings gotta give. 

In other news, I am trying hard not to be a straight up Grinch this week. Not because I am single during the holiday season, but because Sunday night the bank called me and some Jerkface in Canada swiped just over $235 out of my account on a bogus charge.  First, the Jerkface was really lucky I even had that much in my checking account.  I was also lucky that charge didn't overdraft my account. They will put the money back, but not for 10 business days--which is obviously after Christmas. This also means I have to get a new debit card, which also won't be here for 5-7 business days (again, after Christmas). I am supposed to get a "temporary" debit card at the bank. You know, because I haven't had to work through lunch all this week just to keep my head above water.  

Also, when I attended a holiday party on Friday night I guess Hogan Monster (see above photo) was unhappy because he wasn't invited. So, he ate my eyeglasses. Like, totally crunched the lens out of the frame and made one of my ear pieces bend in an unnatural way.  I am very tempted to put coal in his stocking. Not. Even. Kidding.

Love you. Mean it. 

~the single gal~