Back and ready to kick ass!!

I can't believe it's December, mostly because it means that my vacation has come and gone and now I'm trapped in Michigan until July. However, I have so many fond memories to keep me company that I'm sure the next eight months will just fly by...

My plans didn't work out exactly the way I was expecting but there isn't much that I would change about my most recent trip home with one major exception, I needed to spend more time with my friends to detox from my family. Don't get me wrong, I love everybody in my family to bits and pieces but by the end of the second week I could have used some friend time a day sooner and probably a few of Kevin's magic margaritas! Can I just say how much fun I had my last night home? Honestly, we didn't do anything too spectacular, well with the exception of a bit of hip waggling, but it was a perfect night nonetheless. It was the same the night I spent hanging out with Jenny in Ankeny. I sometimes forget out here, where I truly prefer to be a bit of  a hermit, how much fun it can be to just hang out with the people you love. God I miss that.  I don't think it's ever been more difficult for me to get in my car and drive away from home than it was this time. That includes leaving after my mom's funeral...I think that means something. I really need to move home. I even told my boss today. I don't think he believed me. I hope to shock him one of these days ;-)

Just a brief recap:

Opened in Iowa with Cody and his family. He's finally cleared to drive with his knee and Tasha got a job...PARTY!

Turkey Trot with Rishy (AND BEN!!, color me surprised) which just increased my love for my friends and proved to me that being a lazy lump does not pay off. Fixing the situation pronto!

Thanksgiving with Rishy and her family. Not planned but awesome just the same.

Back to Iowa to see the Stefanovic clan and spend some quality time with my family.

Two thanksgiving dinners, one trip to the salon to chop my locks, one girls day out with Karla and Kim, lunch with my favorite per-kindergartener EVER (school lunches have not changed much), my first solo dinner with my little brother Brad (need to do this more often), a fabulous day with my Jenny who I NEVER get to see, a day spent with Cody, date night with two of my favorite little men (Wreck-It Ralph is really cute btw) and one fabulous evening playing with some of my favorite people in the world (even though Kevin kept cutting off the circulation in my fingers, we watched too many bad SyFy movies, Ben downloaded the bouncing boobs ap and Kevin, Ben and I invested way too much time trying to find tasteful sideboob which I'm still not convinced really exists despite what the boys claim).

Whew... and that's just the Reader's Digest version. I could gush on and on but I won't. I'd also post pictures but it's so hard with my new phone so if you want to cyber spy, just check out Facebook.

I got back to Michigan late, late Sunday night and took Monday off of work. It's been really hard to get back into a sleep schedule, my brain is still on vacation, and I'm so tired in the morning. I think my families plague finally hit me so I don't think it's helping me in the feeling rested category. If I'm asleep before midnight tonight (the last two nights have been very late) I plan to get up and run tomorrow morning. I'm also happy to say that I decided to purchase a package at the studio where I've been doing my spin class. Twenty classes for $130 seems really reasonable to me. I think I'm going to be spinning on Monday and Friday nights this winter. I'm really hoping to work on my cardio over this winter, it needs all of the help it can get. Assuming the Mayans are wrong, I have some very specific fitness goals in the next year that I will be meeting, including running the 10K (without feeling like I'm dying) at the Dexter-Ann Arbor run and my half marathon with Rishy in the fall. I won't accomplish any of that sitting on my ass. Also, if I don't look amazing at Andy's wedding when I'm back in July, I just might cry!