A Really Good Day

Overall my weekend was pretty great...but Saturday was just one of those days that felt extra good. I finally wasn't sick, I didn't have any big to-dos, and I felt like I could just do whatever I wanted.

I started by sleeping in. But then I got up and made myself a lovely breakfast of eggs with feta and tomato, a bagel thin with strawberry jam, and coffee...which I hadn't had in over a week!

I enjoyed it with a crossword puzzle (that I was able to complete!) while listening to This American Life on NPR. Seriously, best show ever. I have a huge man crush on Ira Glass.

Then, instead of plopping down in front of the TV, I sat near a sunny window and caught up on some things on the computer. I finally posted about running and my physical therapy appointment, I registered for 2 races, I emailed some photos, and I researched recipes.

I received this adorable "Ugly Sweater" Christmas ornament from my friend Annie (thanks, Annie!) and just had to get a picture of it hanging on the tree. Katie had already un-decorated it, but it was still up!

She even made a tiny hanger for it! How cute is that?!

And then I finally got around to framing some photos for our bedroom. I bought these frames on clearance months ago, but since they required 5 x 7 photos I took my sweet time getting some resized.

The one on the left is from our friends' wedding this summer.

And the one on the right is from our Senior year of high school. Did you know Katie and I have known each other since we were 11?! True story.

For lunch I had tasty leftovers from date night dinner out the night before. My appetizer was more filling than I realized, so I brought home almost all of my Pad Thai. I don't think it's very authentic (we weren't at a Thai restaurant), but it was spicy and full of tofu, peanuts, and veggies: broccoli, red peppers, zucchini, red cabbage, and carrots.

My mouth was on fire after that!

After lunch I decided to make some "Lara Balls" (ie homemade LARABARS in ball form.) I used this recipe/method and went with the Cashew Cookie Dough variety, which called for only 2 ingredients: dates and cashews.

I doubled the recipe and ended up adding a few more dates to get the right consistency. In the end I used about 20 dates and 1 cup of cashews.

It took awhile for my food processor to turn the dates into a paste, but we got there.

I wanted to make bite-sized balls instead of bars, and I found that squeezing the mixture really firmly in your hands was necessary to keep the from falling apart. I got 13 balls out of the mixture...which kind of drove me crazy, but I resisted going back and resizing them all to make it 12. A baker's dozen, right?

I was pleased when I figured out that each one was about 80 calories. A few of these would make a nice snack. They should be refrigerated since there are no preservatives...but they probably won't be hanging around for long!

After that I went to the auto parts store to get a new screw for my license plate. The car wash rips it out every time! Anyway, the guy there was really nice and even came out into the cold to look to make sure I was getting the right one. I appreciate (and am surprised) when people are so helpful.

That evening, I met my sisters and nephews at Family Fun Center for some Space Ball! Is that a universal thing? It's a big trampoline with 2 holes/hoops in the middle that you bounce up to and throw a ball between. Really we just bounced around on a trampoline like a bunch of crazy people for 30 minutes while trying not to pee our pants. It was fun (and blurry)!

I think we wore them out pretty well.

And then my nephew and I played a few intense games of air hockey. I am literally sore from it.

We dropped the boys off at home for bed and then we had a girls night at my parents' house! My sisters are the best, and it was so much fun to just sit around and talk with them. And drink wine until 4 in the morning. I didn't take any pictures, but here are some of us from this year.

What a great day! And to top it all off, it snowed! I love snow. I'm definitely in the minority around these parts, but I don't care. It's so pretty! I wish I could stay home from work to go sledding...