Thanksgiving still going strong!

I have Thanksgiving-related pictures so I hope you're not tired of turkeys and pies!

Here's the outfit I wore to the Turkey Trot:It rained the whole time so my prized turkey hat got a little soggy. I did my best to dry it out before Thanksgiving dinner. :) Thanksgiving was lovely, hosted by my gracious sister.

A few years back, she also graciously provided me with the family German Chocolate Pecan Pie recipe. We had a pie bake-off today at work and I won FIRST PLACE with this recipe! Woohoo to the $100 prize!I also made a coconut cream pie which got rave reviews from the crowd that got to eat it after the judges were done with it.

Happy Thanksgiving!

When Cathy posted all her wonderful turkeys over at her blog, Hazelruthe's, I knew I had to show you mine too!

This is the majority of them on the buffet. In the middle, you can see the newest additions, which came from my swap partner for the Mini Thanksgiving Swap.
This big one is a pre-printed fabric panel I sewed up a few years ago.And this is a little sneak peak at my turkey hat! It's done, but I won't show you a picture of it on my head until after I wear it to the Turkey Trot later this morning!

Wednesday business

Start Weight: 215
Current Weight: 178
% lost overall: 17.2%

The 5K put me over the top for my Bronze Award! Hooray!

My gym is having a contest to NOT gain weight over the holidays. I am doing my own personal version because I don't want to pay $25 for a t-shirt.

My plan is:

Always park at the back of the lot and ALWAYS take the stairs at work. (I've been a little lax and I've been taking the elevator about 1/3 of the time.)

Food diary until January 1.

Watch portions at holiday meals. I will be visualizing a 1/4 cup measure when taking servings. Main targets: Thanksgiving, WI Christmas, IL Christmas, Company Party, Cookie Exchange party, and Secret Santa breakfast at work. Oh yeah, and that pie baking contest we're having at work on Monday!

Do not drink any calories-so no punch, cider, etc. with meals. I will make an exception for cocoa because it can't be winter without cocoa! But when I drink it, it will be my evening treat.

Keep up with my running and add at least two other activity each week. A gym class, a DVD, or a round of Hit the Deck are the most likely options.

I ran the whole thing!

Saturday was my first all running 5K! I finished it! It was such a lovely day, sunny skies, high 40s, perfect for a run. The first mile went by so fast, the second mile was a little harder because I kept waiting and waiting for the 2-mile timer and there wasn't anyone there!! I need mile markers to keep me going and I had no idea how far I was on the course, so I just kept going. There were a lot of hills! My neighbor and I (he's my running buddy) had practiced the course from the map they had online but there had been so much rain the past week hat they were forced to change the course. And it seemed to have FAR more uphills than the original! But that's ok, at times I had to do a little chi-running shuffle up the hills so I didn't feel like I was going zero miles per hour.

My time was 33:42! My goal was under 40 so I made far better time than I thought! I finished 206th out of 283 runners. Which sounds underwhelming but the key word is FINISHED! Yay!

Mike was very proud of me, he came to support me and I am very grateful for that. And as a finished-your-first-5k/early Christmas present he got me an iPod Touch! And an arm strap so I can start using it on my runs! Thanks, honey!

WLW

I'm not going to post my stats for today because I have a different number to post. I am 94% of the way to my Bronze Level Presidential Champion Award!! I have a feeling I will reach it by the end of November! Hooray!!

Thankful

I know it's a bit cliched in November to feel so overwhelmingly thankful but I can't help it! I was entering this giveaway for a lovely apron and it got me typing about something I have been going over in my mind during my runs lately. I often start to think about how thankful I am for my health, my sturdy legs and my senses so that I can get out and run and enjoy the wonderful day! I am thankful that I have the leisure time to spend on a physical activity of my choosing and not forced to work a back-breaking job that I don't enjoy. This leads me to think of how thankful I am to a job at all to go to after my shower and that my husband also has a job and that our house is snug and cozy with a fridge to keep the milk cold and an oven to warm the biscuits.

During crafting I am often thankful that my most pressing issue is what project to work on or what color to next add to a quilt. When I work with Sully, I am thankful that I have discretionary income to spend on dog training and shows. And when I bake up a batch of pumpkin chocolate chip bars, I am thankful that I don't have to make due with the items the food bank has that week.

I am indeed a fortunate, and very thankful, woman!

What is it they say? A bad day at the dog show beats a good day at work? Well, I'd agree with that! But this weekend at the Lakeshore Pembroke Specialty was not exactly our grandest outing. I don't want to whine and blame the judge.....but in rally, it was the judge! I'll just leave it at that. In obedience, I take all the blame. I can't even believe the mistake I made in our otherwise qualifying score of 182. A double command on the drop on recall. If only I had waited a few more seconds! Here is Sully, pleased as punch with his two second place ribbons and tug toys for Rally Advanced B and Excellent B. But I was disappointed with our performance. And know we will do MUCH better at the show in November because the course is sure to be MUCH more well thought out than the ones we had this weekend. Yuck.

On to crafts! Where things are moving right along on schedule! The pink quilt needs to be done by December 3 and I am working very hard to get it done. Here it is all laid out sandwich-style, being pinned for quilting.And this month is reserved for Thanksgiving crafts including a plastic canvas turkey and that stupid turkey hat that I have to say is the WORST written pattern I've ever purchased and I would encourage everyone to STAY AWAY from it! The person who wrote it and sold it to me is not very helpful either so I don't have very nice things to say about the Turkey hat right now.
Start Weight: 215
Current Weight: 176
% lost overall: 18.14%

Runs recently have been 2.75 to 3.5 miles long. That 5K is coming up in less than three weeks so I'm trying to prepare. I'm not sure I've mentioned this before but my long term goal is to run in the St. Jude Children's Hospital relay from here to Peoria, IL. My goal is to raise at least $300 before the run and run at least 3 legs of the relay. The relay is in July so look forward to fund raising efforts later next year when I will be doing a major pattern and craft supply push at my Etsy store and selling things on ebay to raise the money!