Family Togetherness

I am currently sitting on my couch, suffering from a sugar high and carb overload (although i didn’t really have that much sugar), thinking how sadly weak I am as a human being. I look to my left and see my sister plop down next to me. She raises her head and says, “Sometimes, I can’t handle our family.” Agreed.

My day started off fantastically. It’s starting to get chilly here in sunny Florida, and I decided to take advantage of it by drinking my usual morning coffee in my robe. Then, I went for a run- definitely the hardest run of the program so far (duh). Tomorrow completes week 4. YAY! I will then be running 30 solid minutes. After my wonderful cold-weather run, I had a super delish breakfast.

2 eggs over medium in a corn tortilla. A cup of grapes on the side. Apparently, you taste Mexico when you eat these...

I got more of an exercise in by cleaning the house and walking to a garage sale (which ended up being pplllttt *insert fart sound*). After that was lunch time.

Veggie sandwich (carrots, cucumber, humus, tomato, salt and pepper, banana peppers, lettuce) and cauliflower with butter and parm on the side. I knew I needed fuel for what was to come…

Today was a family get together day, which I can always count on being chock full of food, food, sugar, stress, and more food, intermingled with short spurts of fun. My family is, well, large, and Hispanic, which makes for loud and crazy times. Because several of my cousin’s birthdays occur between the months of October to December, we always celebrate them all together on one giant birthday party. This year, my mom came up with the bright idea of having a giant scavenger hunt. This little adventure took place in The Villages, “America’s Friendliest Hometown”, a.k.a. the largest retirement community in the country. It’s an entertaining place, let me tell you.

For the hunt, I was paired with my grandfather and half of my cousins.

Luckily, we were not in the super-competitive group. They’re cray-zay.

It was really fun, but towards the end of the journey, I started getting a liiiittle cranky. The mood was heightened when we returned home to the “judges” (my mom and step-dad), and 9 kids plus adults disputing the decision in without using their inside voices. To combat my mental distress, I took some Stress Shield. Magical.

To my delight, the intensity of the situation quickly waned we moved on to dinner. Lovely. Choices galore. These are just a few...

The challenge: don’t eat everything. It was hard, but I managed. I had munched earlier on fruit and chips, so I was not ravenous at dinner. That was the plan.

Dinner ended up being chili with a tbs. of sour cream and a sprinkle of shredded cheese with a few blue corn chips on the side. No pic of my chili bowl due to my hunger…

And then the desert. More choices. I went with the Santa whatever ice cream and a gluten-free brownie by Betty Crocker. Satisfaction at its finest.

Overall, the day was pretty great. Although there was quite a bit of madness involved, the fun times and good food greatly outweighed it. I enjoyed it a lot, but now I’m pooped.