a few holiday photos

Happy new year, friends! After a full week off, it's back to work for me tomorrow. I have New Year's Day off, so it will be nice to kind of ease back into the work thing.

I will miss you, extra sleep.

a recipe

Here is the chicken chili recipe I found that's been getting rave reviews from the Rockies to the Great Bear Ski Hill:

Chicken Chili

1 lb. chicken
Olive oil
2 cups chopped/roasted Anaheim peppers - canned or fresh
2 cups chopped tomatillos - canned or fresh (if you can't find tomatillos, you can sometimes find tomatillo salsa or can use a jar of any sort of green chili salsa)
4-5 cups water or chicken broth
1 large white onion, chopped
2-3 cloves of garlic, chopped
Salt and pepper to taste
Optional: jalepenos

Cube chicken and cook in olive oil
Sautee garlic & onions together
In a large pan, add chicken, tomatillos, Anaheim peppers, chicken broth, garlic & onions
Let boil for 5 minutes, then simmer for an hour

Clark: Hey, Kids, I heard on the news that an airline pilot spotted Santa's sleigh on it's way in from New York City.

Eddie: [after a pause] You serious, Clark?

Merry, merry Christmas, all! It's really cold here in South Dakota, so we're sipping coffee, cozy in our PJ's, relaxing and trying to warm up.

Last night, we had a chili cook-off and made sugar cookies.

'Tis the season to be merry.

From my favorite holiday movie, Christmas Vacation:

Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas, kiss my ass. Kiss his ass. Kiss your ass. Happy Hanukkah.

Can they please leave these white lights on the trees on my street up all year long? They're sparkly and nice.

My sweet Koda is a most obliging model. I think I've taken at least 60 pictures of him over the past 24-hours.

Since taking photography 101 in college, I've loved experimenting with photography. It's fun taking my camera along with me on regular old days to see if anything in my day captures my attention. These random-day photos are often some of my favorites.

My point-and-click Kodak has been good to me these past 4 years, but I've been dying to upgrade to a digital SLR. It will be a learning process, but so far it's been fun trying to capture more detail, such as Koda's sweet eyelashes in the big photo above.

Going for a walk shortly with Koda and Brandon. It's snowing outside, but this makes me feel warm so I think I'll be okay.

How does one go about this whole financial aid thing? I think I'm going to use $3000 in '08, and was awarded around 4 times this much. In the old days, I'd sign on the dotted line and be happy with my newfound riches. It's no fun now that I know better! And online searches for the best prices for textbooks? Newfangled online-only classes? I am so behind-the-times.

I worked out tonight for the first time in a few weeks. Since the half-marathon, I've only run 3 times, up until tonight. At first, it felt good not having that obligation, so I took two weeks off. Next, I realized that a combination of running and wearing high heels messed up my right foot, so I got an x-ray and MRI done to make sure my bone isn't fractured. After clearance from the doctor last Monday, it's taken almost a week, but I finally found the motivation to get back to the gym. "Motivation" happens to be the pants I bought for upcoming holiday parties this year.

I started training for the half-marathon with Becki rather early. In July, as a matter of fact. Even though you can train for only 12 weeks, we trained for 18. Part of the reason I signed up for the thing in the first place is that I was hoping I'd drop 20 pounds (or at the very least 10) and be able to wear the same size jeans I wore in 8th grade. Kidding. But seriously, I thought I'd really lose weight. I know that I enjoy food and don't eat as healthy as I should sometimes, but I was drinking water, eating more fruits and vegetables than ever, and running 4 to 5 days per week, anywhere from 40 minutes to 2 hours, depending on the day.

I may have dropped around 3 pounds, total. I was happy with my overall accomplishment, but was disappointed. So many hours invested, so much sacrificed... for a couple of pounds I probably could have lost giving up sugar for two weeks.

Since the half-marathon, I've gone shopping a few times for a much-needed wardrobe update. The first pair of pants I bought in a smaller size, I chalked up to flattery sizing. I just bought my second pair in that size at a different store, and I'm beginning to think that even though my body didn't change in drastic ways I'd hoped, I did make some sort of progress. All this to say I was inspired to head to the gym tonight, and it felt really great.