You guys… IT’S DECEMBER!!!!
Aka: officially Christmas season; aka: the best time of the year. After waiting an agonizingly long time and being tempted by all the gorgeous Christmas trees that I’ve been seeing pop up around the blog world, today is the day where I can finally bust out the Christmas decor! #happydance
And this year is extra special because J is here to help me lug the tree out of storage decorate! 😀 I hope you guys are having an amazing weekend, and if you find yourself with some extra time during the day, give these great links a read-through!
See you tomorrow with a new recipe!
In my head…
. fitness .
How to Workout While Holiday Shopping via Olive to Run.
Anyone who says shopping isn’t an amazing form of cardio is a crazy person…
5 Things Every Yogi Needs to Know via Huffington Post.
There’s so much more to yoga than simple stretches…
12 Fitness Apps That Actually Work via Wellness Today.
The right app can be a great aid in your fitness routine.
. health .
An Open Letter To My Eating Disorder via Thought Catalog.
“It is time to end this book, finally, and begin another. It is time to say goodbye.” It’s not me — it’s you.
Fighting the Good Fight via Sprouts n Squats.
The importance of removing the “good” and “bad” labels from food on the way to intuitive eating.
But the Serving Size Told Me So… via The Big Man’s World.
2 Tbsp. A 1/4 cup. How many times have you ignored hunger just to adhere to those “suggestions?”
Can Food Affect Your Mood via CNN.com.
Chocolate, coffee, and bananas — my 3 biggest addictions made the happy list.
Lifestyle as Medicine via Huffington Post.
We need to stop looking to drugs and start looking at lifestyle to treat health conditions.
. happiness .
The Grand Delusion of Certainty via Huffington Post.
“The only thing that is predictable is unpredictability. Life, in its very nature, is a glorious mishmash of hope, joy, surprises and disappointment from moment of our birth to the inevitability of our death. Resisting this reality leads to constant struggle.”
5 Ways to Be In Your Life via Cotter Crunch.
Anyone else guilty of their mind being everywhere except where their body is at any given moment? Yeaaaaah.
25 Things You Have To Try in Your 20’s At Least Once via Thought Catalog.
I have a good chunk of these done, and one more year to finish the rest. Bring it.
Love and Learning To Love via Better With Sprinkles.
Life is about learning to love all the beautiful parts of us that we think aren’t perfect.
9 Things Happy, Successful People Choose to Ignore via Marc and Angel Hack Life.
ignore stereotypes, negativity, and naysayers, and go against the grain to make a difference by doing things their own way
. funnies .
27 Animals Who Understand Exactly How You Feel Post-Thanksgiving via Buzzfeed.
😆 Yep… we all know what it’s like.
. blogging .
5 Options for Finding Your Voice via BloggingPro.
Posing with a consistent voice is just as important as posting on a consistent schedule.
What’s Stopping You From Being A Great Blogger via BloggingPro.
Hint: Copying someone else’s style and not having your own unique blogging voice.
Why The Holidays Are Great For Your Blog via The SITS Girls.
The holiday slow-down is a great time to take care of those nagging blog tasks you’ve been putting off.
For my belly…
Lighter Buffalo Chicken Mac and Cheese via Iowa Girl Eats.
I’m ashamed to admit that I’ve never tried pairing the two. This needs to change…
Avocado Hot Chocolate via Hello Veggy.
I’ve added avocado to pudding before, but never hot chocolate. A definite must-make!
7 Healthy Takes on Popular Holiday Beverages via Huffington Post.
Caramel macchiatos, peppermint mochas, and skinny eggnog. Yum, yum.
Butternut Squash Banana Protein Smoothie via Eat Great, BE Great.
A smoothie you need to eat with a spoon — my absolute favourite kind.
Cold Weather Recipe Roundup via Chelsea’s Healthy Kitchen.
An amazing collection of comfort foods — want.them.ALL.
Simmering Holiday Spices via How Sweet It Is.
Make your house smell amazing during the holidays with this homemade foodie potpourri.
. – . – . – .
Did you score any sweet Black Friday deals?
Three things you did yesterday; three things you’re going to do today. Go:
– Yesterday: went for a walk in the river valley, went snowboarding, went to the mall.
– Today: going to church, seeing Frozen, decorating for Christmas (!!!!!!!).
I decorated like it was my job this weekend and I loved it 🙂 We bought a house in May so this is the first time I have ever done OUTSIDE and inside decorations!
Thanks for the link <3.
No Black Friday deals for me. I don’t like shopping with crowds on a regular day… and I just can’t handle the Black Friday madness! I did get a little it of Christmas shopping done on Wednesday, and there were still even good deals around then. I’ll pay a little more to keep my sanity. 🙂
I got out my Christmas decorations yesterday, too! Although I don’t have much and only a baby tree to put up right now, but I still love it!
SO many great links! Can’t wait for the new recipe!
Come over and give me the motivation to dig out all my Christmas decor! Because right now, I’m thinking of just shredding a paper towel and hanging it on my ivy plant! Haha!
Thank you especially for sharing that one about yoga – as a yoga teacher I completely agree with it and the article was really well-written! 🙂
I did lots of Black Friday shopping this year. There were a lot of stores having a 50% off everything deal so we had to go! I’ve heard Frozen is really cute too. Did you like it?
It was definitely cute, but not really what I was expecting. I thought it was going to be something more along the lines of Ice Age or Shrek, but it was geared towards a much younger audience.
Yesterday: work, went to a pro basketball game, went to bed early (!)
Today (I did do): slept in (I’m so exhausted from last week!), put up my Christmas decorations, went out for drinks with some friends
Now I’m about to go to bed early again!
Unfortunately, I didn’t really do much Black Friday shopping, but I loved the excitement and thrill of all of it. It was still fun to browse around!
Aww, thanks for including me! 😀
Three things I did yesterday were go grocery shopping, browse around downtown Burlington, and go out for dinner with friends. Three things I did today were food prep, a spin workout at the gym, and writing blog posts.
So excited to read all of these! Thanks for giving me an excuse to keep procrastinating…. 😉
Have fun busting out the Christmas décor 🙂 I will be doing the same too!! Hehe
Thanks so much for including my link on Intuitive Eating, so very nice of you.
Yesterday I cleaned, watched way too many episodes of Hart of Dixies and created a new cookie recipe.
Today I have done legs day at the gym, had a chai and am about to go read in the park on my lunch break.
Great links, as always.
I’m a huge believer in food having an impact on your mood and also food being medicine for our bodies, versus medication. It was actually through food that the Hubby overcame some debilitating health issues, when medicine failed. It’s also why we eat the way we do today: cleanly, whole foods, high nutritional foods, a good balance of carbs, fats (healthy and non), protein, lots of water, a dose of exercise. It’s literally where my “healthy eating” and ultimately my blog stems from; I actually think I need to get back to those roots a bit more in my posts.
I cannot believe it is already December! This year has seriously flown by. Christmas is definitely one of my favorite times of the year, so I hope it slows down a bit!
I am especially excited to check out the happiness posts! Speaking of, Happy December 🙂 I love that you are so excited for the holidays! Enjoy the rest of your weekend!
I loooove the yoga article! I’ve been getting into yoga a lot more recently and it’s given me so many more benefits beyond simply exercising. And I also loved Arman’s serving size post… honestly, who eats 10 chips? Multiply that by 5 and count me in lol.
AVOCADO hot chocolate? I had to do a double take. Seriously? I’m still yet to do the avocado + chocolate combination full stop. Can’t wait to see the Spoons home get a Christmas makeover 😉
I loved Jan and Sam’s posts this week- both really hit home! Off to check out those blogging tips too- you always find the gems!
3 things today- a recipe test, some work and a catch up with a friend for coffee..iced. 34 degrees today apparently arg!
PS thanks for the link love- Try to follow those principles with your advent calendar, unlike yours truly. If looking at it, you’d think it was December 10th already…oops.
34 degrees!? Send some heat my way! We’re actually supposed to be getting a snowstorm here and it might be going down to -20. Gah! And the Advent calendar problem is simple — just buy more than one and then you technically won’t be cheating 😉
Have fun decorating!! Madelyn has a school field trip to see Frozen in a couple of weeks. It looks so cute. Definitely going to check out that avocado hot chocolate…. sounds very intriguing!
I hope you’re having a marvelous time beautiful! I’m sure there will be a blog post afterwards 🙂
Loved that post from the Big Man’s World! SO good! Always love a little link loving xx
I hope you’re having a fab time with J! Can’t wait to hear all about it 🙂 And IGE’s mac ‘n’ cheese – heck yes. It’s on my meal plan for this week!
I ordered a bunch of stuff from the Gap during the 50% off Black Friday sales. Will I keep it all? Probably not but I get all click happy once I start ordering stuff on sale lol. I am hopeful that some of the workout clothes will be good though! I couldn’t beat the price…3 things I am doing today – went for a walk with my son, baking oatmeal raisin cookies in pie form (because I got lazy and it is easier to dump into pie shape rather than drop cookies on a pan and monitor how they are cooking) and going to my cousin’s house for a Hanukkah party later this afternoon.
I like the fitness apps a lot but really I think exercise is what you make of it. If you stay in tune with yourself and stick with your plan that I guess any app “works”. I think they are all good ideas but I think to say a workout works or doesn’t is interesting because really you just have to stick to it if that makes sense!
I can definitely agree with that — I think people just like gadgets. I’ve heard that the Zombie Apocalypse running app is pretty fun though.
i love coming here to get all kinds of nourishment… body, mind, and soul. ANd wow, i must try that avocado hot chocolate
As per usual, great links! Loved Sam’s on loving her body. Three things: I was at my nephew’s Tae Kwon Do birthday party yesterday. A bunch of crazy 4 year olds running around, hilarious. I’m currently eating turkey. Then I’m off to work! Somehow have to find time to blog in between gahhh
Woo! I am so ready for decorations too! I started them yesterday and will finish them today. It’s too overwhelming for me to get it all done in one day. I have a lot of stuff.
That Avocado Hot Chocolate recipe sounds really great! Thanks for sharing it with us! Also, I’m so excited that December is here too. I want to go see Frozen (hopefully I can talk my husband into going to see it with me!!) Enjoy!
Happy first day of December and – as it’s important over here – happy first Advent! Time to light the first candle on the wreath [that sadly is as of yet non-existent at my parents’ house]. I’ll admit I’m slightly jealous of the fact you’ll have a little tree of your own. But we’ll break out the decorations next week, too, so at least that part will be covered. Eeeeee, I’m excited. All of these little pieces have so many childhood memories attached to them.
Frozen! How was it [okay, I figure that’s rhetorical :)]? I SO badly want to watch it but don’t have anybody to drag along and going alone is … boring.
Happy Advent, lady! Hope you enjoyed diving into that delicious Lindt calendar I saw! Frozen was really cute, but definitely NOT what I was expecting. I thought it would be a little more like Shrek or Ice Age, but it was geared toward a younger crowd.
Whee! Thanks for sharing the Hot Chocolate recipe! I was thankfully able to resist buying anything, but I should have thought about buying xmas presents… oh well!
Today I am going to yoga, hopefully being productive on some blog posts, and having my brothers for dinner!
Happy first day of December love!! I can only imagine how Christmas-ified your apartment is going to look today 😉 I’m not home until tomorrow, but I can assure you that some Christmas decorating will be happening this week. As for deals, I managed to pick up some Christmas presents at some decent prices, but I also got one of the big three-wick Red Velvet Cupcake candles from B&BW for $10…my apartment is going to smell so good 😉
And thanks for the link love and giving me some morning reading!
Yesterday, I went grocery shopping, got froyo and took a walk around the park downtown to look at the Christmas lights.
Today, I’m going to a TRX class, doing laundry, and cuddling with the pug (although that happens daily…)
No Black Friday for me this year- in fact I didn’t even leave the house at ALL! Instead, me my sisters and my niece had ourselves a lovely little Christmas movie marathon. It was a blast. Later for all that commercialism insanity.
3 things I did yesterday: laundry (blegh), blogging (yay), Netflix marathon (yay). It was a super relaxed day, I think I’m still trying to recover from all the cooking I did for Thanksgiving before going back to work on Monday.
3 things I’m doing today: blogging, probably cooking something else, and hopefully some writing.
Have fun Christmas decorating and spending time with J, have a great day Amanda!
<3
Oh I’m with you on the shopping, girl! We have a thing called Boxing Day up here in Canada, which is basically the same thing but just after Christmas. The malls are PACKED and I usually refuse to leave the house.