Getting Festive & Feeling Accepted

Happy December, everyone!

(And most importantly, HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!! The day this post goes live is my mom's birthday. So, you know. The most important day of the year. I hope you have the greatest day ever, Mom! ❤️)

Can you freaking believe that it's December? It honestly feels like we were JUST ringing in 2018 and here we are, nearly 12 months later, ready to say goodbye. WOW. This time of year is super fun, though, and even though the season can cause me to stress (check out my Holiday Self Care post from earlier this week!), it's also a time of year where lots of really great memories can be made. And I just love to be festive! My work desktop is all updated and ready for the season:

Free download of this adorable gingerbread wallpaper over on Sarah Hearts!

Last week ended on a super positive note at work. Not because anything specifically happened (it was actually quite a weird week when it came to the things our staff was dealing with day to day), but because I'm at that point in my new position where I finally feel like I'm clicking with the staff and starting to become friends with my colleagues. The awkwardness has really started to melt away and I feel much more comfortable around my staff and feel like I can be myself around them without feeling judged. It always takes a while for that to happen, and I really felt like we were finally getting to that point, especially at the end of last week. I'm so happy about that! 😊 There was this moment on Friday where 3 of my coworkers and I all gathered around a computer and watched the premier of the "Thank U, Next" music video and I just felt *accepted* at that point. It's a great feeling!

(btw, HOW GOOD IS THE "THANK U, NEXT" VIDEO?!)

{source 1} | {source 2}

The weekend was a bit of a whirlwind. Saturday was filled with snuggling the pups and decorating for Christmas (or attempting to, at least). I wanted to get the whole place decorated, but I really only managed to get the tree set up and decorated before I got too tired and wanted to go to bed. 😂 I did end up live streaming my Christmas tree decorating, so if you'd like to see the whole process from start to finish you can watch that here, but for folks who just want to see the finished product, here's a photo!

Our beautiful tree for 2018!

Lupita was being such a snuggle bug on Saturday! So cute. I also took the girls on a ride when I went to pick up coffee and Lupita *always* needs to sit in the front and you *always* need to be petting her as you drive. She cries if you don't, and will pull your arm toward her until you do! 😂 Poppy is a bit more relaxed in the car than Lupita is! 😜 But I love taking them with me to one of our local coffee joints because they always give the dogs a treat every time we come through the drive through. A treat for me and a treat for them! 😊

Meanwhile, in Florida... The southern Ficketts are hard at work getting their house ready for our Christmas visit later this month. My mom posted this awesome photo of my dad setting up a Christmas tree IN THEIR FREAKING POOL. #what I don't think my parents will ever not do the coolest things ever, even it means being a little ~risky~ to get there. 😂 My dad also shared a shot at night time with the tree all lit up. So awesome! Not gonna lie - even though we *just* had a break for Thanksgiving, I CANNOT WAIT for the Christmas/New Year's break. I need another vacation already! 😂 Only 16 more days! (But who's counting?) (Me. I'm counting.)

Sunday was the Happy Holidays Half MerryThon and I woke up to a beautiful day full of pounding rain and whipping wind. 😫 It really took every possible shred of motivation for me to get my but out of bed. The last thing I wanted to do was wake up, drive two hours, and run 13.1 miles in the freezing rain. But I did it. Why do I do this to myself? 😂 This was a race that I had run back in 2013 and the course was, to my memory, the exact same.

Due to the weather, most people opted to wear *smart* rain running gear, but I still rocked an ugly sweater and Christmas leggings (over copious amounts of other layers to stay warm) because IT'S A HOLIDAY RACE, Y'ALL. Needed to be festive. As you'd imagine, there weren't many people spectating on the course which is never super fun, but the folks that did come out and cheer were so great and I got a lot of compliments on my festive outfit. My clothes were quite absorbant, though, and after about 5 miles of running in the pouring rain, it felt like I was running with weights all over my body. At least it was a better workout? I guess? 😂

I only had two complaints about this race, though I'm that the weather played a huge factor in both of these things:

1. The water stops were really inconsistent. The was one at mile .75 (???), then again at about mile 2.5, then we didn't get another one until mile 6. It was an out-and back course, so we saw the same stops at mile 7.5ish, 10.75ish, and 12.25. It was WEIRD and left me feeling really dehydrated. I don't usually wear my Camelback for races that are going to be colder, so I didn't think that it would be a problem and I don't remember it being a problem the last time I ran this race. If I remember correctly, I think there was an additional water stop between 2.5 and 6 the last time I was at this event, and I'm assuming that due to the weather they were short on volunteers and had to cut out one of the stops. I really felt the impact of the lack of hyration throughout the race, unfortunately, though I understand if they were short staffed!

2. There was ZERO hype at the finish line when I crossed. Like... none. No music, no cheering, the volunteers looked miserable.... >_> It was awkward. Again, I'm sure the weather played a factor in this but... that was a major buzzkill. I'm sure that there were folks that this was their first half marathon and I feel SO BAD for them if that was the welcome they got across the finish line after all the hard work of training. Like... come on. It was actually silent when I crossed the finish. So awkward!

Anywho, it was a good way to get my #SundayRunday long run in. Tackled a nice, hilly course, ran with completely soaked and heavy clothes on my body, AND got a medal out of it. It's always good to put some runs with bad conditions in as you never know what you're going to get come race day, so hopefully that half made me that much better of a runner for my next full in February!

After drying off and picking up some lunch, I headed to Brett's parents' house for his niece Sophia's 6th birthday bash! It was just a small group of us but it was so fun having dinner, watching the Patriot's game, seeing Sophia open her gifts, and having cake & ice cream! We even got to wear fun princess themed party tiaras, as you do when you're at a 6 year old's birthday party. 😂

For those of you that might be familiar with Strengths Finder, you might know how excited I was to have the opportunity to find out at 34 of my Strengths in order yesterday! Ever since I learned about Strengths I've been convinced that my #34 Strength is Woo.

Welp.

Guess what my #34 Strength is.

NO ONE IS SURPRISED.

I litereally LOLed when I saw this. I was not far off at all. 😂 I also found out that I don't have an Influencing Strength until #15 (not influential at all I guess) and HALF of my top 10 are Strategic Thinking Strengths. I need to get out of my own head, apparently. Anyway, so cool to finally see how all 34 of my Strengths line up! I have a Strength Coaching session with our department head next week so I'm excited to see how that meeting goes. 

Other than that it's a real regular week for us this week. Like I said, we're counting down the days until we get on the plane to Florida so that's all I can really be bothered to think about at the moment! 😂 One of my grad school pals Brittany is hosting a holiday party this upcoming weekend at her place so we'll be heading to that on Sunday, but other than that we don't have any weekend plans. We'll probably spend it getting caught up on chores, getting groceries, going to the gym.... you know. Fun adulting things. Hopefully we can squeeze in a Christmas movie as well! And of course, tons of reading. 😉

I'm currently reading American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis and I'm enjoying it thus far. Nothing screams Christmas like a good slasher novel, right? 😂 I'm also hoping to get started on Rich and Pretty by Rumaan Alam for my Lowest vs. Highest rated books project, and I just got a holiday romance from Book of the Month called One Day in December by Josie Silver that is really calling my name right now. I'm only 11 books away from reading 150 books in 2018, which is 50 more than my GR goal for the year, but it would be SO COOL TO HIT THAT NUMBER (I read 148 in 2017 🙃). So, like I said, tons of reading shall be done!🎉🎉🎉

What are you getting up to this weekend? Reading anything you're excited about?

Let me know in the comments!

LINKS I LOVED THIS WEEK

This Gingerbread House Looks Just Like Hogwarts from Buzzfeed

Ariana Grande - Thank U, Next Music Video from YouTube

Girls during Christmas season be like... from Trey Kennedy