ashleyd /

A Two Family Christmas

Many friends and readers have asked how Bo and I manage two families during the holidays.

It is not always easy even though we are both from Savannah.

This year, however, we both feel we’ve done pretty well so far. We did our best to discuss our thoughts with both families ahead of time so no one was confused or hurt. This year we did Christmas Eve with Bo’s family and then spent Christmas Day with my family.

Christmas Eve

After enjoying the Christmas Eve service at Isle of Hope Methodist church, we stopped by a neighborhood cocktail party for drinks and socializing with some of the Diamond’s close family friends.

Afterwards, we returned home for a late evening of dinner, lots of wine, and presents!

008 009 010 011013016 017 018 019 Dinner was a group activity as Bo and his dad grilled the meat and Meg finished off the mushroom risotto while Bo’s mom was the master mind behind it all! Everything was delicious and a wonderful way to spend the holiday together.

Christmas Day

After a cup of coffee with the Diamonds, we headed over to my parents’ home 20 miles away. We’re lucky that it’s only a 20 minute trip which allows us to go to and fro between the houses easily. We enjoyed Christmas breakfast before diving into the presents! Mom and I prepared easy stick buns, scrambled eggs, bacon, and fruit for Christmas brunch! (Pictures to come later as they are on my other camera.)

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001 001 007 As you can tell from my face, I wasn’t sure how long the gift giving process would take. We’ve always done gifts one at a time so each person can appreciate it but this year it took almost two hours!

After the present fun and completing our virtual holiday 10k, Bo and I returned home to help with Christmas dinner. This year, the weather didn’t work in our favor, and therefore we weren’t able to fry a turkey. Instead, the boys smoked a turkey in the infamous Green Egg and enjoyed a random array of sides. Each person was able to make one request this year and it resulted in a random but delicious array of flavors and dishes.

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072077 081 These poor boys were in and out of the rain and wind for over two hours smoking the turkey. Meanwhile, inside the rest of us enjoyed a few glasses of delicious wine and a cheese plate.

088 093 094 097 095My favorite part of the meal was enjoying two cookies which only come along once per year, peanut butter blossoms and and Mrs. Battin’s cookies.  I’ll share the Mrs. Battin’s cookie recipe in my next post!

103 104 109 Happy Holidays  from our home to your home! I hope everyone had a cookie filled holiday!

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Lots for a Monday

I have lots of things to share with you all today including last night’s Cajun holiday party, today’s food, and finally a great program that Jack Rabbit Sports is hosting in January!

Last night, we went to our first party north of Central Park! Theodora, Bo, and I easily made our way up to Washington Heights via the A train, which runs express from Columbus Circle to 125th street!

015 Don’t worry, Theodora wasn’t drunk in this picture, I promise. In fact, we’d already run a breezy 3.25 miles together along the East River, showered, and were ready for an adventure.

Our friend Camille, last night’s hostess, epitomizes a Southern lady. She welcomed us into her home with a warm “hey y’all”, had a delicious spread set out for her guests, a signature drink ready to serve, and lots of friendly faces with whom to celebrate! In fact, people can’t help but flock to her smiling face!

Her apartment is adorable and each room is painted in a different color, but it’s no surprise that her entry way is a bold LSU purple. In true New Orleans fashion, she served all the drinks in Styrofoam “go cups” last night as they don’t “sweat” like solo cups when holding Milk Punch, her signature drink! How adorable are these cups, straight from the bayou?

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image The main course, gumbo and rice, were brewing on the stove when we arrived but smelled amazing!

018 020 The trick to delicious gumbo is a good roux as Camille taught us last night, requiring hours of patience and stirring.

022 It was a wonderful Washington Heights evening, complete with new and old friends and delicious food!

Today, after too little sleep, Bo and I made our way to the gym for a much needed rise and shine workout. On days when I’m dragging, nothing wakes me up like a workout. Due to some heel pain on my left foot, I clipped into the bike for a 40 minute workout, complete with a computerized plan that synched to my music! I really liked it and did 12.6 miles during the 40 minutes while also conquering some hills and sprints.

I focused on including healthy fats in each meal again today and making sure that I had healthy snacks around me at all times.

Breakfast: Oatmeal, banana, chia seeds, and 1 tsp peanut butter.

IMG_5199 (640x478) Lunch: Large chopped spinach salad from Pax with beets, red onions, grilled chicken, walnuts, mushrooms, tomato, balsamic, and a splash of olive oil. I also enjoyed a small vegetable soup on the side.

002 003 Afternoon snack: Strawberry 0% Chobani with Fiber One flakes sprinkled on top and a Clementine on the side.

004 Dinner: An easy dinner thanks to Pret takeout! We split two soups (Goulash and Butternut Squash) and each enjoyed one of their Cobb salads. I only ate half the avocado and half the walnuts but really loved the flavors in this salad.

006007 Last but not least, I want to let you all know about a great program Jack Rabbit Sports is hosting in January called Resolve 2012. I signed up earlier today and it appears that it’s free and that more information such as the schedule of events will be emailed soon. Based on my research, it appears that  Mizzfit, who is well known around the blogging and health world, is partnering with Jack Rabbit to bring locals this great program and series of events. Everyone who participates, receives a free Jack Rabbit technical tee and has the chance to win a personal shopping experience for a Winter running outfit!

image Let me know if you join, so we can hopefully setup some blogger and reader meetups around the Jack Rabbit events!

Have a wonderful rest of your evening!

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Fight Fat with Fat

 

Maybe it’s just me, but even though I’m busting it during every workout, some of the lean and mean in me is feeling a little soft these days. My clothes still fit and the scale still reads the same number so I’m not that concerned. But today during my personal training session with Lauren I asked her for her number one tip she shares with clients who are interested in improving not only their physique but also their nutrition.

Her number one tip was, “fight fat with fat.”

I had to take a double take as this didn’t make sense until I realized that she wasn’t talking about the delicious butter laden Christmas cookies or fudge. Instead, she meant that in order to fat long term and “lean out” one must satiate their hunger with healthy fats, monounsaturated fat and polyunsaturated fat.

There are many benefits of healthy fats:

  • Good fats help lower cholesterol.
  • Good fats help protect internal organs.
  • Good fats help transport and retain nutrients.
  • Good fats are a source of energy.

I took her advice and did my best to amp up today’s meals with healthy fats. I realized that my breakfast often excludes fat as does my afternoon snack, hence the reason that I’m normally craving another meal just an hour or so later.

Today’s updated meals:

This morning’s bowl of cereal featured 2% milk because the office was out of skim. A little bit of fat helped this bowl of Fiber One stick to my bones.

001 This morning’s snack was an unpictured Clementine along with a pack of delicious lightly salted almonds. I ordered a box of these from Amazon for a steal and am loving them as a office desk staple.

002 My normal spinach and beet salad was updated with walnuts in place of the normal blue cheese. Walnuts provide a healthier form of fat than cheese and also left me more satiated. I added Craisins as well which added a sweet punch, per Lauren’s suggestion.

003 Tonight’s sushi deliver dinner was upgraded with avocado. I tend to steer away from avocado due to it’s high fat content but it is very satiating. I enjoyed a brown rice tuna avocado roll along with a salmon brown rice roll. Paired with a side of Felicity it was the perfect easy Thursday night dinner!

005 Question: Do you have a fear of fat or have you learned to embrace healthy fats? What is your favorite “healthy fat?”

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