6 Adorable Holiday Inspirations, Vacay Staycay!

How did a week go by?! OMG never again! Catching up in a nutshell below, but first 6 adorable pictures that are making me happy as we enter the holidays, all courtesy of Pinterest of course:

Yes, I want to repeat this with Austin  - so dang cute. And I want her little mustard-colored coat.

Adorbs gift - 'blowing' christmas wishes your way - little gumballs

Fruit christmas tree!

OMG reindeer cookies!

SB santas - yes, yes, yes!

Cutest family ever

Wednesday: 7 - 9 a.m. meeting; Training, 'Octane' strength training class (i.e. lunges until you die) during lunch, more training - I did like the class though - on Steven Covey's Speed of Trust.


Thursday: Steven Covey's Speed of Trust all day!

Friday: a.m. 20-minute run, work over lunch and until 6, home to shower/pack and head to Athens for what was supposed to be a fun, rivalry between Auburn and UGA! We met up with Austin's parents and friends and had dinner at La Dolce Vita - butternut squash raviloi. Um, yes. Then we had a couple of drinks with them at a bar near the condo before calling it a night.

Saturday: Got up early, had breakfast, got ready and headed over to E's (brother-in-law) fraternity to tailgate before the game! Had a couple of beers, headed to the stadium where one of my father-in-law's friends had given us free tix to the Auburn section (so nice!). While the game was just HORRIBLE, we met some really nice people in our section and had a great time. After the game we met up with  Tyler (other brother-in-law) and his friend, had a couple of beers, then met up with the family at Etienne for dinner. Austin had fox tail - randomly good. I kept to the filet! Then we went out for a few more (non-celebratory) drinks with E before heading home.

Sunday: was just getting back to normal - driving home, getting the pups, doing laundry, watching TV, etc. VERY nice and I did NO work - WOO!!

Monday: back to the gym! Did 25 minutes on the arc trainer with Valerie, then work, work, worked until way. too. late. :( But I came home to my awesome family who had made THREE meals - a breakfast, a lunch and a dinner, for the coming days to help me keep up. SO sweet!

Tuesday: another a.m. workout (my saving grace) - did a 20-minute run at 6.3 (2 miles!) and 5 minutes on the arc trainer. Then work, work, work until home to Law&Order SVU on Netflix.

And to today - yes, another a.m. workout! Same as yesterday - 20-minute run and 5 minutes on the arc trainer!

So good news:

• Still getting in workouts; weight hasn't gone up
• Austin has seriously been the best and stepped up to do a lot more cooking and more with the puppers!
• I'm still able to have fun/travel on the weekends!

And bad news:

• I feel like my work/life balance is not balanced.
• I miss cooking. And blogging. And two-a-days. And reading (for fun, rather than training books - I'm getting that in!).

So, I know things will calm down, but in the meantime i'm THRILLED to report that I am taking time off beginning tomorrow at 5 p.m. Yes, I am off work Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday - 10 days. And I need it. And i'm going to try very hard to not work and just enjoy my family, and cooking, and blogging, and working out and reading!!

Q: Are you taking any time off?

Q: On a scale of 1 to 5, 5 being 'balanced,' how is your work-life balance? How important is this to you?