Friday, December 13, 2013

Christmas Commercialism at its Best/Worst?



Last year I shared some of my favorite Christmas commercials of the season and the big winner was the Old Navy spots featuring one of my favorite families - The Griswolds. They were clever and fun and I truly enjoyed them!

I have to say that this year I haven't seen any commercials that really hit the spot. There are a couple sort of cute ones...like this Chevy ad about the Jolly...Ogre.


And then there's the poor Honda guy who has really been tested this year on how helpful he really is.


My husband has taken to walking around the house saying "We may have to twist this one". hahaha And I have to say I love how the penguin kicks the fish back in. Makes me giggle every time.

Finally there's this one that I have to say is one of the worst of the year, but oh goodness how it makes me giggle-snort like a school kid at the same time. It's truly horrible if you really stop to think about it too much.


I would definitely hate to be the guy with the little ding-a-ling at the end. I'm just sayin'...haha

So there you have it - some of the best or worst; your call!

What are your favorite holiday commercials this year?


Thursday, December 12, 2013

Running on Fudge?

So I feel like I should be sheepishly crawling in with my tail between my legs because I absolutely cannot believe that the last time I even looked at my blog was before Thanksgiving and here we are less than two weeks to Christmas. Yikes. That's just embarrassing. (Side note - embarrassing is a word that I can NEVER spell right so thank you spell check for ensuring that I do get it right after I utilize the lovely right click to select the proper spelling...don't know what I'd do without it - and I'm usually a pretty good speller, just not with that word).

The good news for Thanksgiving? I didn't overeat a single time and I actually lost three pounds over the holiday! Awesome right???

The bad news for Thanksgiving? I was sick with the stomach flu and it was a real doozy. I think it took me about 5 days of feeling like total crud to even feel halfway normal again and food was absolutely disgusting to me for about a week. But no worries, I've apparently recovered! haha

I had committed to participating in the Runner's World Holiday Streak by running at least one mile a day from Thanksgiving to New Years. I got my run in on Thanksgiving morning to kick it off - it was a really hard couple of miles. I wasn't feeling well, had been sick purging the night before, and midway through my little granddaughter, Angelique, came in and insisted on being picked up, so while I was holding her the safety strap got pulled so any information about time and distance was lost. I tried to resume running at that point but was pretty much done (mentally!) and said forget it. So it was something in the 2 mile range. And that was both the beginning and the end of my RW Holiday Run Streak. It was spectacular, let me tell ya! I didn't run again that weekend...but I did get out and do some shopping!

The good thing with the stomach flu I had was that I was able to manage and wasn't completely bed-ridden...and it didn't stop me from hitting the stores on Thursday night and Friday morning. We ended up timing everything just right too because we didn't have to wait in a single line to gain entrance into a store...the only lines we waited in were to check out! We even scored free donuts at Bed, Bath & Beyond along with a fairly empty store so we could browse for a really long time without any problems. AND we had both of the babies with us (Joshua, 3 and Angelique 2) and they behaved relatively well. I got a good portion of my holiday shopping done including a few things for myself (tights, gloves and a t-shirt); and the bonus is that I didn't puke on anybody in the process! YAY!! Another successful Grey Thursday/Black Friday shopping experience. Will that one be my last? Never say never.

Following the weekend and a return to feeling somewhat better I definitely resumed my half marathon training. I'm actually down to only one month until that race! How did that happen??? Training is going great and I completed 9 miles this past weekend; 5 outside with my Mom and then the last 4 on the treadmill.

The bad part is that once I started feeling better, my appetite resumed and the holiday treats have been coming in...I would love to say that I've been behaving especially seeing how I swear all the time that TODAY I am going to do better with my eating...but instead I've decided to fuel my runs with fudge considering I ate all of what was given to me ---- by MYSELF. It never even made it home because I managed to eat it all within two days. Oy Vey!

I have the Holiday 5k this coming Saturday and my plan for it is to simply have a good time. I'm not going to put a time goal on it as it isn't a goal race or anything - I'm just going to run it for fun and enjoy all the festivities around it. I have to say that as far as race communication goes, this has been one of the BEST races ever. I have been getting regular email communications over the past several weeks that are just chock full 'o good info. So if their communication is any indication of the organization on race day, then I am in for a real treat! I'll tell you how it goes next week...