oldies but goodies

When I go home to stay with my parents I get the best of both worlds, I get to see my family and see my good friends. Over both my Thanksgiving and Christmas visits to the Bay Area I got together with my old high-school friends. It is pretty rare for people to stay close with their high-school friends but most of our close-nit group is still that and I love that about us! Here we are going out the night before Thanksgiving!

The Girls- Me, Kate, and Libby

Christmas Eve Eve we continued the festivities...

Nick, Ashley, Kate, Libby, Mike aka 'Franchi'

Kate and Brian



Us Girls

I love having friends that I have known fo so long and that know me!

bread pudding

This is the amazing recipe for the dessert, Bread Pudding with Whiskey Sauce, we had on Christmas night. It is one of my mom's amazing desserts and anytime you need something sweet to share that is not difficult to make you will not be disappointed with this one! This was just too good to not share but I promise to share some of my newly discovered healthy recipes real soon!

Pictured minus the sauce

Pudding

¾ C Raisins
2 TBS Dark Rum
1 lb. French bread, cut into 1” cubes
3 C Whole Milk
1 C Half & Half
3 Eggs, Beaten to blend
2 C Sugar
2 TBS Unsalted Butter, melted
2 TBS Vanilla
½ tsp Cinnamon

Sauce

½ C (1 Stick) Unsalted butter
½ C Firmly packed brown sugar
1 egg
3 TBS Whiskey

1. Place raisins in small bowl. Pour rum over. Let soak 20 minutes.

2. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Generously butter 13 x 9 x 2 inch baking pan.

3. Place bread in large bowl. Pour milk and half & half over the bread. Let soak for 5 minutes.

4. Whisk egg with sugar, butter, vanilla, & cinnamon in a medium bowl. Pour over bread. Add rum soaked raisins and toss to coat.

5. Transfer bread mixture to prepared pan. Bake until top is deep golden brown (may puff above rim of pan) about 1 hour.

6. Spoon warm bread pudding onto plates. Spoon sauce over the bread pudding. Top with dollops of whipped cream and serve.

ENJOY!

six

Week 6 Recap: This week was another hard week of getting my training in one because of my work schedule and two cause I didn't want to overdue it or be too sore before I had to run my first race. Excuses aside I will be needing to make up for it for sure in week 7! On a positive note I have been eating very well, trying out some new recipes, and finished my first race!

Monday, January 3th: 2.6 miles run/walk, work night shift.

Tuesday, January 4th: Despite waking up planning to workout, after picking up a few things from the grocery store for my meals I planned out for the coming week I was no longer looking forward to running. Despite this I was able to convince myself to complete 20 minutes of the P90X Cardio Video, just enough to get my heart rate up and get me sweating! I'm happy I did it and ok with the fact that I'm taking this week a little easier cause I want to be able to run most if not all of the 5 K race I'm doing on Sunday!

Wednesday, January 5th: Today is 5 months until I will run a 1/2 marathon, this is both exciting and scary to me! I keep telling myself one day at a time which is why having this daily/weekly log is really helpful for me.

Thursday, January 6th: Another rest day...gosh working this night shift and trying to exercise is hard stuff!

Friday, January 7th: 35 minutes of P90X Yoga X

Saturday, January 8th: Rest for the run tomorrow!

Sunday, January 9th: Today I ran my first race the San Diego Resolution 5K (3.2 miles) Run! I had a loose goal to run the whole thing and not do my normal walk/run thing. When I crossed the finish line without having walked I felt very excited and proud of myself for accomplishing my goal! I ran at a steady pace of just under 13 minutes per mile (each totaled within a few seconds of one another); my end chip time was 40:44 (I was happy to finish in less than 45 minutes)! Since my training began this is the longest distance I have run without walking. My purpose in this run was to see what it was like to participate in an organized run with lots of people around so my first experience was not on the day of the half-marathon. I found it really empowering to see people of every age and size running and made me feel if that 5 year old can run then so can I! I am even more excited for the half-marathon now than before!

Excitements for Week Six:
- Total Miles: 5.9 miles
- First 5K race completed!

Goals for next week:
- Exercise 5 days (2-3 of them running)
- Continue with my healthy eating and try out some new recipes

a fiebiger christmas

This year Christmas (as most are for our family) was laid back, relaxing, and enjoyable. Christmas morning was just us 5; we opened gifts, had my mom's Eggs Benedict (my favorite), had naps, watched the crazy rain storm outside and Molly and I even went hot tubing in the rain!

Our beautiful Christmas tree that we cut down, seen in an earlier post.

Molly and I

Molly and Dad, we were waiting for Corie to wake up!

 Christmas evening was spend with our good family friends the Goheens. My dear friend Libby, her husband, parents and cousin Sarah came to have Christmas dinner and a fun gift exchange at our house! We all picked numbers and picked a gift from the pile or stole an opened gift we like from someone else, it was all fun and I think everyone went home with something they liked! We had a fun time playing with the gift that I bought, and Sarah picked...Table Topics, 'Not Your Mother's Dinner Party'. We went around the dinner table picking out and answering questions from the pile until we were stuffed from the most amazingly delicious dinner and dessert my mom made and tipsy from bottles of wine! It was a wonderful Christmas!

Corie, Molly, Libby and Sarah during the gift exchange

Marc, Mom, and Kent

Marc's 1st gift, he was happy when his wife stole it from him.

Cheers!





Sarah, Libby, and Mary cuddling!

family get-togethers

Over the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays I was lucky enough to get to see my extended family on my mom's side. Unfortunately living far away from one another we do not get to see one another often and the holidays makes for a good "excuse" to get together. The first group of pictures is from the Friday after Thanksgiving getting together with my Aunt Kate and cousins Libby & Emily who live on the east coast. It is always fun to see them and catch up over a yummy lunch; it was also a great way to start off the Christmas season by picking out ornaments at Macy's.

Cousin Libby, Dad, Uncle Kevin, Aunt Cappy, Cousin Mike

Mama Sue, Sister Corie, Mom, Aunt Kate, Me, Cousin Emily

Cousin Love!

The Grand kids (missing 4) with Mama Sue

Our Christmas Eve tradition has always been to go to my Mama Sue's house for dinner. The past 3 years since she has been in assisted living we have gotten together on Christmas Eve at Scott's (a yummy seafood restaurant) in Walnut Creek, we even get seated at the same table. Not having my grandparents house to go to anymore definitely makes things different but overall it is good to just get the family together and celebrate Christmas over a delicious meal! Here are some pictures from this years festivities.

Mom, Uncle Kevin, Sister Molly, Cousin Mike, Dad

Mike, Dad, Cousin Tim, Tim's son Sean, Sister Corie

Sean, Corie, Tim's wife Michelle, Tim's  daughter Haley, Aunt Cappy

Haley, Cappy, Me, Mom, Kevin, Molly

Family

Sister Love

five was not a total dive

Monday, December 27th: Using the map my run application on my phone I compiled this data from today's run which started at 6:30 am in the cold and dark...4.41 miles total, 59 minutes, avg pace 13:19 min./mile (fastest pace for mile 3 was 12:22 min), avg speed 4.5 miles/hr. Today I ran with my Dad again reversing our route from the 23rd. With the reverse route containing more uphill portions, lengthening our distance almost half a mile, increasing our time spent running rather than walking, and my IPod losing battery in the first mile (despite checking it the night before) I would have to say that today was a much harder run for me, BUT I finished it!

Tuesday, December 28th: Easy 1.5 mile walk with my parents dogs.

Wednesday, December 29th: Walk/Run with my marathon running friend Libby. I was quite intimidated to run with her but she assured me she would go at my pace. I had a tough time running as my right leg was really tight but when I couldn't run anymore I would walk and all in all we completed 5.5 miles of walk/running. My overall pace and speed was much slower today and the unexpected pains, rain, wind, and large elevation change all factor in. I know that with 5 months and one week to go I will be able to complete the half-marathon! Today I fly back to San Diego to work all of the New Years holiday weekend : ( I will be sad to be leaving home where I feel like I have so much support but I know I can succeed on my own as well.

Thursday, December 30th: Total day of sleep and some healthy grocery shopping... then back to work for the night shift tonight... oh how I miss you Christmas vacation!

Friday, December 31st:  Easy 20 minute workout on elliptical and weights. Work night shift.

Happy New Years!!!
Saturday, January 1st, 2011: Work night shift, no workout before as I could barely drag myself out of bed to get to work in time. :(

Sunday, January 2nd: Slept through my planned workout...working  3 shifts in a row was not good for my training.

Excitements for Week 5:
- Total miles: 11.4 miles
- I purchased some healthy food and finished cleaning out my pantry and refrigerator of all the foods I don't want to expose myself to.

Goals for Week 6:
- Control the diet portion of my training will full focus!
- Get back onto my training program and prepare for my upcoming 5K race this coming Sunday!

happy new year!

I have always wondered the history behind New Year's Resolutions, here is what I found from a website:

The history of New Year's resolutions spans more than two millennia. Historians report that the mythical Roman King Janus, from whom we get the name of our first calendar month, was a two faced symbol, not because he was a hypocrite, but because he had the ability to look back on the past and look forward to the future. He also became known as the guardian of entrances and doors.
Romans began the celebration of the New Year by seeking forgiveness from their enemies and giving one another gifts. This is where a vague line between Christmas and New Year's traditions becomes blurred. Christians changed New Year's Day to Dec. 25 in the Middle Ages, so gift-giving became a Christian tradition.

New Year Traditions:

Gift-giving is only one of the ancient traditions that marked the beginning of the New Year. Traditions ranged from:
eating black-eyed peas in America
eating lasagna in Sicily
eating 12 grapes at midnight in Spain
giving the front door a fresh coat of red paint in China.

The start of the New Year moved around a bit as various people changed the calendar to mark different events: the winter solstice, phases of the moon, the beginning of spring or a time of planting and sowing. In any case, the New Year is a time of new beginnings for people around the world.
About 4,000 years ago in ancient Babylon, the Babylonian New Year was celebrated on the night of the first new moon after the vernal equinox, which was the first day of spring. Babylonians also made New Year's resolutions, though the most popular Babylonian resolution usually had something to do with returning borrowed farm equipment.

History of New Year's Resolutions:

Making a resolution on New Year's Day is a time-honored tradition. Earlier celebrants of the holiday went through elaborate rituals to chase away the ghosts of the past. While the Chinese used cymbals and fireworks, others used rites such as exorcisms and purifications. Ceremonies, involving bonfires, processions or parades, often had masks that symbolized the dead.
The logic behind these traditions is that the demons of the past were eventually exorcised by denouncing past sins, bad habits and frailties. A clean slate would provide a release from the bonds of ill health or oppression.
While making New Year's resolutions is consistent with the history of closing the door on the past year and looking ahead to peace and prosperity, many people make New Year's resolutions that are promptly broken, abandoned or forgotten.
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In years past I have been reluctant to make New Year's resolutions because of the fact that days or weeks later they are quickly forgotten or put to the way side. This year my resolution is to be easy on myself throughout the ups and downs of my training and weight loss goals as well as be proud of myself in my successes! I welcome 2011 with open arms and I look forward to what I will accomplish, experience and strive for this year! Hope you all had a happy new years and a wonderful start to 2011!