happy holidays

A couple weeks ago, Andrew asked me how I ranked the holidays, which got me thinking. How DO I rank my favorite holidays?

Well, here goes:

1. Christmas – obviously, number one. I love everything about it, from Jesus’ birthday (we always do a cake!), to new pajamas and snow and presents and family and cookies and stockings and time off of work…I could go on forever. My family growing up didn’t have many traditions, but we did have special things at Christmas.

2. Birthday – What other day of the year gets to be all about me? Just kidding… But since my mom’s birthday is the day after (and her mom’s is the day after!), I have happy memories of Memorial Day joint parties at either Bamma’s house or ours. Lots of family, lots of love, lots of good weather. Oh, and did I mention my love language is gifts? So, really, ANY day I get something makes me feel special.

3. Valentine’s Day/Anniversary – a close third to Christmas and my birthday is Valentine’s Day, and just three days later is our “dating” anniversary, so we typically do something big for one or the other. February is a good month for me.

4. Thanksgiving – I almost ranked Thanksgiving higher, and maybe I should have, since it’s food-related and all, but the top three are pretty big. I love Thanksgiving because of family, and all that once-a-year food goodness. Bring on the pumpkin pie! And let’s not forget it’s the start of “holiday season,” which gets me all sorts of jolly 🙂

5. Anniversary – Our real anniversary is Dec. 17, which is hard because it tends to get lost in the chaos of Christmas. Our first anniversary we flew to Chicago one week before Christmas…it was terrible. We’ve done all sorts of different things, from almost-nothing to trips to fancy dinners, and I have to admit, I’m not really happy with any of them. I’d like to pick something–anything–and make it a ‘tradition’ (there I go with my traditions again). Like, ‘every year we go to [insert restaurant here],’ or [every year we give each other [insert certain type of gift here].’ Guess we’ll keep working on that. We do have seven months.

6. St. Patrick’s Day – I’ll admit, this one’s out of left field. It’s green. It’s all about beer. It’s huge here in Buffalo–who knew?–but neither of us are, indeed, big drinkers… All I know is that I have a pair of bright green running shorts and a special “I’m not Irish but kiss me anyway” t-shirt that I wear proudly every year.

…hmmm, what am I missing…?

7. July 4th – …is always fun! Bbqs and fireworks and good weather and food and family and friends. And checkered tablecloths. And decorations.

8. Memorial Day – this one is obvious: my birthday, as well as bbqs and family and friends being off of work. At least they were growing up…in the military you get like EVERY holiday off, so I’m not used to Andrew working on days like Martin Luther King Jr. Day or President’s Day. I was so spoiled. But then again, it’s the military; I kinda think they should get the most time off of anyway.

9. New Year’s Eve – this one is a hard one. We aren’t big party-ers, so we aren’t really into clubs or going out. We don’t drink that much, or dance or really even stay up that late regularly, but we don’t want to be boring and you definitely need the right crowd for an occasion like this… So, it’s always a bit of a conundrum. Perhaps our favorite one was the year we went to Columbus with Heather and Silas and went to fancy-schmancy dinner all dressed up. Last year was an adventure…

10. And bringing up the rear is Halloween… Growing up we celebrated Halloween for awhile, then we didn’t celebrate Halloween for awhile, (during which time we went to the ‘Harvest Festival’ at church), and then when we got older we passed out candy and Christian tracts (our parents made us) at the door. Andrew and I have done everything from nothing (this past year…I think we went to Panera or something) to dressing up at a Halloween party the night we got engaged! I love dressing up, so this holiday only ranks highly if we have an awesome party to go to. Take notes, friends–someone plan a party!

And that’s all, folks. It was kinda nice strolling down memory lane as I recounted various holidays from my childhood…

food = reward

I’ve been learning a lot doing the Made to Crave Bible Study with Emily.

I’ve definitely had eating issues my whole life. No, I was never bulimic or anorexic or over-exercised or anything; I just started out as kind of a “chubby” kid and learned to find comfort in food. Despite losing the extra pounds as I progressed into puberty and became more active, I always saw that ‘big kid’ in the mirror. Even now, as a phenomenally healthy and active (if I do say so myself) woman pushing 30 (gasp!), I still struggle–so much–with food. After my weight loss last summer, I’ve finally found a peace, if you can call it that, with my body that I’ve never felt before. As a kid, I always thought to myself, “If I was thinner, I’d be happier.” Well, we all know that life doesn’t magically become perfect or anything, and it’s ridiculous to think that something like losing a few pounds can change everything. But, as I tell Andrew, now that I AM thinner, I’m happier, but it isn’t because I weigh less; it’s because I FINALLY met a life-long goal of losing those extra pounds and becoming confident in my body.

Anyway, this isn’t about weight-loss or body issues (but don’t we all have a ton!); this post is about how this Bible study is changing my life, one chapter at a time.

One thing I’ve realized is that I view food as a reward. All the time. For everything. I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with going out for ice cream after your team wins the tournament, or celebrating with a nice dinner, but people, I went out for an ice cream sundae to celebrate my weight-loss! Is that not insane? (It WAS good, I can tell you that!)

Anyway, I tend to think of food first when I want to celebrate, or do something fun, or meet up with people, or anything, really. And it goes past just a ‘reward’ sometimes; it becomes something I ‘deserve.’ And it’s not just me. Just the other day, I was at Wegmans to grocery shop–my ‘reward’ after my stats test–and I stopped in the cafe for a coffee. As I deliberated between a regular cup of joe (to which I could add just a bit of cream and sugar and get by with minimal calorie damage), and that “candy bar latte” I’d been eyeing on my past few shopping trips, the lady behind the counter was patient enough to wait for me. I ordered the regular coffee and mused that ‘it wouldn’t be such a calorie bomb, like the latte I was salivating over,’ when the cashier offered to put fewer pumps of flavor in it for me. Realizing what I truly wanted was a “fun” coffee drink, I decided to go ahead with that.

Side note: I actually do that ALL. THE. TIME. So much so, in fact, that Andrew’s sisters think it’s this huge joke and tease me that I always want ” half the pumps” when we go to Starbucks. I just, for some reason, didn’t feel like it that day.

Anyway, back to the story. While the barista was making my drink, I mentioned off-hand that I had just come from school, where I aced a test. She quickly responded, “See? You DESERVE this drink!”

Just hearing those words come out of her mouth gave me a bad taste in mine. Food–especially decadent food–has become such a comfort to us that we feel like we ‘deserve’ it after some arduous task. Or triumph. Or defeat.

Her comment definitely stopped me dead in my tracks and immediately made me think of what I was learning in the study. I need to think of food LESS and God MORE. That’s really all it boils down to, people.

I’ve been learning so much about myself, and in different areas of my life, through this study…more revelations to come.

MUST. CRAVE. GOD.

Easter weekend

Happy Belated Easter! I had all sorts of fun things to blog about this weekend, but kinda took the weekend ‘off’ and this is my first chance to sit down (Not really, I still have TONS of schoolwork to do, but this is somewhat time-sensitive, too. If I wait too long, it will be old news!) and type it all out.

There was LOTS going on this weekend for us, with Andrew’s grandmother visiting and Abigail home from school…

I ran in the Bunny Hop 5K…and scored SECOND PLACE in my age group! Holy smokes! Seriously…despite some of my recent PRs here and here, when I saw the 1,011-runner crowd lining up, all hopes of placing went right out the window. In fact, I was having a bad morning due to a sudden neck spasm and stress (what else is new?), so I really had to pep-talk my way through the entire (almost all uphill, if that’s possible) race.

The neat thing was that the course went right by Andrew’s parents’ driveway! I waved as I passed the first time… (I’m in pink and purple.)

Andrew’s family (and the dogs!) came out to cheer me on…

Here I am on the way back, just a 100 yards or so from the finish. LOVE my purple running pants!

Andrew was convinced I’d placed in my age group (based on the small number of ladies who finished ahead of me), so we waited around for what seemed like forever at the finish for them to post results.

At least the oranges were good and even the store-bought oatmeal raisin cookies were decent. Andrew ate my hot dog, but I caved and got another one and ate about half when the results still weren’t posted…

Sure enough, I DID place–I got SECOND! Prizes for the Bunny Hop are chocolate bunnies, which, despite their appropriateness, are (in my mind) a bit counterproductive. Carolyn had the brilliant idea to throw mine in the freezer and use it to bake with later. It’s currently crushed into small pieces and chilling with my other chocolate.

We spent the day relaxing at Andrew’s parents’ house and running errands on Main Street. We wanted to show grandma the new cupcake place, and while there, I picked up this little guy:

Perhaps the most memorable event was our dinner Saturday night, and, as usual, I got no photos. We ended up at a local hibachi grill/Japanese Steakhouse/sushi bar due to our large party (8) and lack of pre-panning (it was 6:30 and we were trying to find a restaurant without an hour wait). Can I just say the Layers aren’t big on change, ethnic food OR fish??

Let’s just say that if Carolyn’s face had frozen they way she was turning up her nose at the menu, she’s be one unhappy camper. In all honesty, Andrew and I were pretty nervous–we’d taken everyone here thinking it was akin to a Benihana, but it turned out to be about 95% sushi and sans-hibachi tables. Our table ended up with five chicken teriyakis, one beef teriyaki, one soba noodle and one edamame order with an Alaska roll. Can you tell which one was mine??

The night wasn’t a total loss; we ended up in a room of our own and had a few good laughs, and everyone got to experience a few things out of their comfort zone 🙂

Happy Easter morning! I got up early to cook breakfast 🙂

I made the Clinton Street Baking Co.’s buttermilk waffles (thanks for the book, Susy!), maple-roasted bacon and fruit. I even made the maple butter from the cookbook and it. was. divine. Even Andrew loved it.

As always, we did Easter baskets. Andrew’s is full of junk food and candy. I threw in a Bananagrams game, thinking it would be a good 2-person game for the house.

Andrew (as usual), went way overboard with my basket this year:

He collected all sorts of my favorite gourmet/health foods, like sweet potato chips, Luna bars, flavored seltzer, Starburst Jellybeans, Ritter chocolate with Marzipan (Heather introduced me to it before we moved last year)…

…brie and special topping…

…I’ve been DYING to try this chocolate bar since I saw it in a Food Network magazine like two years ago!

Dave sent me home with some Cadbury creme eggs last weekend, and I broke into it Easter morning! (I was good; I only ate half, though.)

Andrew particularly liked his tangerine-flavored Jelly Belly carrot. I had to force him to eat one before church… Seriously, who has to be forced to eat ONE jelly bean EVER? I wasn’t going to eat a bunch of candy all alone!

After church (we accompanied the Layers), we rushed home to finish our contributions to the meal and walk the dog before heading back to their house.

Butter ‘lambs; are a big deal around here. I saw them at the grocery store a week or so ago and wondered where they’d been all the other Easters of my life. Not where I lived, apparently.

I made caramelized pear, sage and orange biscuit bites, a recipe I found in a cookbook of Susy’s last time I was at her house. They were pretty darn good, but I don’t know if I’d make them again.

I also made Pioneer Woman’s Tres Leches cake for dessert. I. CAN’T. STOP. EATING. IT. Seriously. I had two pieces yesterday and two pieces (so far) today. Not good.

We spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out before Abigail had to head back to school. I studied for my Micro test (I have THREE tests and a quiz this week…say a prayer for me, people!).

The rest of the family played ‘bean farmer,’ which I believe is really called Bonanza.

Andrew taught grandma.

Carolyn opted out and instead searched for dishes on the iPad.

After a light dinner of sandwiches and leftovers–not that anyone was terribly hungry–Andrew and I headed home to rescue the puppy and prep for the week ahead…if only I’d had another day off!

I’ll be up for air sometime on Thursday!