Tofurkey Day Happenings

Happy Belated Thanksgiving!  I don't know about you, but I've spent the past few days catching up with old friends, napping, reading, and working my way into a stuffing-and-green-bean induced coma...in short, it's been BLISS.  As much as I love Christmas and the festivities that surround it (not to mention the two glorious weeks off of school...), Thanksgiving break is always the most wonderful, much-needed relief from school stress.  By mid-November, in my classroom at least, the kids are showing their true colors, and I'm finding it harder and harder to keep a smile on my face.  Report cards are due, we're gearing up for round 2 of MAP testing, and the weather's starting to turn which always means less recess (read: squirrly kiddos).  Enter Thanksgiving, aka 5 days of student-free, food-full happiness.

I kicked off my Thanksgiving break Tuesday evening when I decided to abandon all previous plans of staying late at school and prepping for the following week...instead, I made a stop at the library, picked up a teen book I'd been dying to get my hands on, and settled myself in front of the fire at Caribou with some tea and yummies.   I didn't move for about 2 hours.  Perfection.

If you are wondering, the book is Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver.  It. was. amazing.

Wednesday I spent the afternoon wandering IKEA with a friend.  Oh IKEA...How I love pretending I live in the amazing rooms, especially those featuring 2-story closets, libraries, and (wait for it) wine racks...I bought a new desk (thank goodness because my shabby old desk is older than I am and NOT in the stylish, antique-y way!), and spent the afternoon putting it together with the help of my tool-savvy friend.  Voila!

(Just so you know, we couldn't manage to get my old desk apart so it's currently sitting out on my balcony until my dad can come rescue it...)

Wednesday evening my book club and I saw BREAKING DAWN!!!!  So exciting.  You better believe we were sporting our Give Blood tshirts! Those were WELL EARNED!  Where to even begin with this movie...it was...AWFUL!!!!  And yet, so wonderful.  I really felt this movie was more awkwardly horrible than #3, but I loved it anyways.

On Thanksgiving morning, I met one of my bestest friends who was back in town from grad school to run a 5-mile Turkey Trot.  When I say we ran this race together, I mean we drove there together, lined up at the start together, then wished each other "Good Luck!" before he took off at a pace almost twice as fast as mine.  So goes the life of a Slow Runner. :)  This was a really nice race about 5 minutes from my parents house.  We ran 3 laps around the campus at a community college, which meant that the lead runners were lapping me before I was even halfway around!  I don't find that irritating or depressing, though--it is kind of awesome to watch such super fast runners!  Obv my IT band started giving me grief at mile 4, making the end of the run a little *uncomfortable*...I have been slacking big time on my foam rolling lately, which I know is why I can't seen to shake this tightness.  I am committing to foam rolling twice a day for the time being, in hopes of loosening this bad boy up.

 After the Turkey Trot, you better believe I ate my weight in stuffing, green beans, sweet potatoes, and, yes, tofu.  No, I did not have Tofurkey, but my wonderful Dad marinated some tofu for a side dish.  YUM!  The only thing missing from Thanksgiving was one of my older brothers, who lives in Florida.  :(

Many of my close friends have moved out of state in the past few years, but holidays usually bring everyone home!  Love it!  I had brunch with a college friend Friday morning and hosted several close high school friends at my apartment Friday night.  Because my friends and I are SUPER cool, we usually end up playing Catch Phrase or some other silly game that is a throw back to our lame high school past.  Friday, however, we were disappointed to find that the timer "beeping" wasn't working!  After I insisted that a stopwatch wouldn't work as a replacement because "the beeps need to get faster in catch phrase!" my computer geek (read: GENIUS) friend decided to write a quick program on my computer to play beeping sound that would progressively increase in speed...you know, just a normal Friday night...

After a busy and exhausting few days, I spend basically the entire day Saturday curled up under a blanket, reading and napping on and off.  Perfection.  I peeled myself off for a 3 mile run at some point, then promptly returned to the blanket for more reading.  LOOOVE quiet days.

Nothing like new Brooks to get you out and moving!

In other news, my brother and sister-in-law texted me from the Space Coast Marathon in Cocoa, Florida this morning.  They were spectating as sis-in-law's friend ran the 1/2 marathon, and they sent me a picture of her medal:

OMG!  BEST MEDAL EVER!  (To fully understand my excitement, you should know that my family has a major geek obsession with the space program and NASA.  This obsession has gone on my whole life, and only got worse when Older Brother got a job at NASA in 2004...)  I better convince my brother to stay in Florida again next year for Thanksgiving so I can come down and run this race...

What made your Thanksgiving wonderful?
What is the coolest race medal you have ever seen/gotten?