WCW [#1]

It is no secret that I have just about the most bad-ass family out there.  This week in particular, I’m crushing so hard on my cousin Christine Marks (otherwise known as MarksyPants). I’m a whopping 22 days older and a couple feet taller than Chris but girlfriend has always been my idol. Here is one reason why. SHE IS THE WORLD’S MOST AMAZING ARTIST and way too humble about it.  Lucky for everyone she recently opened up her own Etsy shop and now I have to be unselfish and share her with the world.

I mean just look at the Christmas present she made me this year!

And then she totally saved my butt this past week too!

My sister is notoriously hard to shop for, she is one of those super non-greedy people whose all “but I don’t need anything” you can tell who got the gimme genes in this family for sure. But I totally had an ace in the hole this year: in March she was going on and on about this Limited Edition St. Patrick’s Day Jameson bottle not just because she loves whiskey because the label was so beautiful! I was totally ready to start scouring the internet to find a bottle for her birthday, but the girl has a whiskey bottle collection to rival Jameson himself, and having it sit on a shelf somewhere just didn’t seem special enough. Enter MarksyPants. I sent Chris a picture of the label to see if there anything she could do with it, and this is what happened…

Seriously the pictures don’t do it justice; this thing is a flipping masterpiece even the original artist thinks so!

Christine has always had a knack for design and making things beautiful and I am constantly blown away totally jealous of her work ethic and attention to detail.  I am just so so happy and proud as hell that she is getting the recognition she deserves.  So basically you need to have MarskyPants make you ALL THE THINGS and then follow her on Instagram to get sneak peeks at her custom work because it’s just the cutest ever.

Why I can't have nice things

Alternate title: Pity Party table of 1 
Alternate alternate title: When your Mom asks you if you would consider wearing a head lamp

Seriously you would think going in to work for TWO FREAKING DAYS would not be so hard, like suck it up Sally...

Since I am only going to the city twice this week I figured it would be easier to take the train in from my parent's house instead of lugging all my shit back and forth to Hoboken, totally solid idea, until I remembered how much I hate commuting from my parents house. 
which hit home at around 10pm last night - or like 3/4 of the through Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 if you tell time by ABC Family Marathons which I absolutely do.  

via GIPHY

There was one bright spot to my Sunday Bumday mopeyness, while I was loathe to wake up at the ACOD that's Ass Crack of Dawn for all you nice adults who don't swear to get my run in, I would get to do sporting my beautiful new Garmin Forerunner 225 my parents put Santa Clause TO SHAME this year, just, I can't

Sure enough 5am rolls around, it is pitch-freaking black out and I am just looking for any reason to stay in bed. Whatevs. I suit up and gently put on my new 225 convinced I am going to somehow break it ? Me and the new watch are cruising along the dark. as. night. streets of my hometown and I make the idiotic decision to run through the park. Where there are literally no lights. And no sidewalk. I'm already pretty grumpy and trying to talk myself out of a bad mood when foot meets pothole and my ankle goes down hard. Hey at least we know the pause button on the Forerunner 225 works? 

Luckily I had just hit my turn around point and only had to head back home. The way back was not exactly painful, but somewhat uncomfortable, and mentally stressful as I started rewinding back to how hard it was dealing with my last injury and what how badly I would lose my shit if I had to stop running again. I would like to think that I will take all of the lessons I learned from this year's injury and use them to make calm, rational decisions regarding my ankle and future injuries, but very little about me is calm or rational - so we'll see how that goes. As for now I am slathered in Pain Relief Foot Cream, stuffed into Compression socks, sending my ankle healing thoughts and checking out my less than stellar stats from this morning's run. 

Now I can see when I fell in 3 different very pretty ways! 

2016 New Years Resolution = NO. MORE. INJURIES 

Now more about my awesome Christmas present:
I have only ever run with Garmin Forerunners and I have loved them all, to the point where I'm sad to say good bye to my old ones even when my new watch is prettier and all technical and crap.

My first watch was the Garmin Forerunner 10 in pink of course and I got Pops his own not pink when he started running. The 110 was great when I was a newbie runner, but I did run into issues getting a GPS signal. Some days it would take a while to sync, and if I tried to run in NYC fugghetaboutit, I never got anything. About two years ago I upgraded to the Forerunner 220 and it was my everything, I named it Bob, we were besties. It's been with me ever since, without one single problem well there were many problems but they all fall in the category of user error. 

I had my eye on the Forerunner 225 since it was announced in May, but never worked up the nerve to get it mostly because I was seriously that attached to my 220. I really try to keep myself away from the crazy bell and whistle running gadgets because all the hype drives me bonkers. Honestly as long as I can get my times, mileage, and plug in some interval training, I'm a happy camper. But, in an effort to be more aware of my health, and other such normal adult things, I was jonesing for a heart rate monitor and knew there was NCIH i would wear a heart rate strap hello, chafing, no thank you. Multiple doctors this year asked me if I monitored my heart rate, especially during my runs, and I started to think there may be some value to what they were saying. So the Forerunner 225 made it's way to the top of my Christmas List this year, and as previously mentioned my parents are completely insane, because it was waiting for me underneath our tree this year!

MOVE bitch

I am the opposite of technically savvy but I really do want to pay more attention to what I put my body through during training so stay tuned for more adventures as I try and figure out how to use my new toy! 

Now I know half of you are at home and the other half are at work doing nothing so let's #runchat!
What should we name the Forerunner 225?

What is your must have running accessory?

Is Monday being a bitch to you too? 

Friday Faves

For someone who is extremely anal about when/where Holidays can be celebrated I feel like the majority of the things that I’m loving this week are Holiday related. Perhaps I am getting lax in my old age.

My Favorite Things, from Oprah’s Favorite Things

Believe it or not, I was not really aware of Oprah’s Favorite Things Episode until I got to college. A suitemate had it on her room when I walked by her room and needless to say I never made it to my class that day. Pretty much the entire suite ended up piled onto the two twin beds, hysterically crying, because Oprah

via GIPHY

Ever since I’ve been addicted to Oprah’s Annual Christmas list because, the chick has pretty awesome taste, and it always reminds me of happy college days. While I sure as hell can't afford the majority of the things on Ms. Winfrey's Wish List, there were a few things that stood out and might just make their way on to mine! 

• Typhoon Vision Stainless Steel Digital Food Kitchen Scale
• Arlington Milne Women's Large Wallet
• Modern Sprout Kitchen Herb Kit
• Peace Love World Women's I Love Sundays Comfy Cozy Sweatshirt
• Butter London The Ultimate Lacquer Wardrobe
• Carousel Cakes Elvis Cake but please don't get it for me cause I will stick my face in it 

The IKEA Commercial that gives you ALL THE FEELS!
A rando posted this on Facebook, and I was legitimately bawling my eyes out at work, no shame.

[Deep thought of the day: Holy reminder that I tend to try and fill a lot of “holes” with “stuff.” I really do have everything that I need and all the extra is just gravy. Yum.]

JT at the CMA's yaaaaassss

I do not like Country

I used to hate JT

but damn

The 25th Anniversary of Home Alone

I have a very strict “No Christmas before Thanksgiving Rule.” But even I will concede for a special occasion. Home Alone is one of the most treasured movies in our Christmas collection and a family favorite around the Holidays. No way in hell I was missing out on seeing in theaters for the first time (it came out when I was 4).


Hope everyone out there in blogland is enjoying Friday and their own favorites!

- Stay caffeinated my friends
and keep the change ya filthy animal

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Talk amongst yourselves:

Oprah’s Favorite Things - yay or nay?

Two thumbs up from this girl!

Fan of Country music (try going to college in North Carolina before you answer that particular question)

Um, no. 

What’s your policy on the start of the Christmas season? Chose your answer wisely because I may hunt you down…

The Christmas Season officially begins at 12pmET Thanksgiving Day when Santa Claus makes his first appearance at The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. 

Favorite Home Alone line? Character? 

Character: Uncle Frank, obviously.
Line: You supposedly can't pick a favorite child, I imagine this is a similar situation.