‘Tis the Season

It’s 5:00 am on Sunday the 22nd and I’m so excited I can’t sleep. I’m like a kid on Christmas morning…..and I don’t hate it. We are having our family Christmas today and I love knowing the house will be full and we have all sorts of fun things planned for today.

I decided since I was wide awake that this was the perfect opportunity to start the coffee pot, turn on the tree lights, enjoy a fire and curl up on the couch and come in here to say hi and get caught up just a tad.

December has really flown by, as has 2019. I said at the beginning of the year that 2019 was going to be a great year and it did not disappoint. What a full and happy year it has been.

I’ll get in a recap next week (hopefully) and the blog construction should be done after the first of the year. Hopefully it will have more tabs, I’ll be happier with the overall look, I’ll have more information and it will be super easy to navigate.

In the meantime, here is what December looked like.

The first weekend in December I went on a girls trip to Branson, Missouri. This was the 3rd Annual trip (only my second time) and it was a weekend full of shopping, laughs, face mask (sooo many face mask) wine and games. On the drive home, we started planning the 4th Annual trip.

If you’re ever in Branson, go visit The Top of the Rock. This area is on a bluff overlooking the Ozark Mountains and Table Rock Lake. There is a Golf Course, Top of the Rock Lost Canyon Cave and a Nature Trail, a Natural History Museum, three restaurants, a Golf Pro Shop, a Chapel and a Civil War-era cabin.

They have golf carts to rent and the golf cart path leads on a beautiful tour of the trails and into the caves. It was gorgeous! Also along the path, in one of the caves, was a drive up bar! Imagine the Flinstones, but better. Ha! The scenery really was gorgeous and we had a beautiful sunny day.

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The next day was filled with shopping, lunch and more laughs.

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Ashli loves a face mask, so we had spa night both nights back at the condo and a gift exchange that included lots of socks. No one needed to worry about cold feet! Such a great trip with these girls.

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These are my childhood friends. If you’ve followed here for a while, then you might recall a few beach trips with these girls. Ashley, second from the left, recently moved back to KC after living in Raleigh, NC for several years. We are so happy she is back and we’ve been scheduling a once a month get together. Celebrating over 40 years of friendship in this picture.

Work has been crazy busy but I love it. WW hosted Open Houses in December and it was so fun chatting it up with the members. I’ve also started teaching what WW calls an App Academy twice a month. It’s a great opportunity for members to come into a Studio and learn about all that our WW App has to offer. We dedicate one hour to simply chatting about the app. Each week during the Workshops (I currently have 7 and its the perfect schedule) I swear I meet another new member or have the opportunity to have a conversation with an existing member where we really connect and just when I think I can’t possibly feel more passionate about my job, I do.

Me having fun with one of my members during the Open House week.

Me having fun with me during Open House week.

So many great things happening with the WW Ambassadors right now. We have several fun things coming up and WW really does treat their Ambassadors well. We all received a gift a couple of weeks ago and I can not tell you how incredibly soft this blanket is. I’m savoring the candle until after the holidays, but it smells amazing.

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My niece Carla is back in KC for a few months and we’ve had fun getting caught up. She’s my camping/outdoor/artsy/craftsy soul mate.

My mom had a little Christmas get together with some girlfriends at her place last weekend, and afterwards Carla and I took a Christmas Light tour through the city. This little cup-de-sac is Candy Cane Lane. It was established in 1959 and I’ve have gone every year I believe for my entire life. I love that Carla was just as excited as I was to go. It’s even prettier with fresh snow!

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On Tuesday I squeezed in some time to visit my favorite park. I grew up playing here and I feel extremely nostalgic when I stop by. Even better with snow!

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Mike and I have been talking about making our deck a screened in area with a TV and maybe a fireplace for like……4 years. Maybe 5. Well, our now 20 year old deck was really in bad shape (like, made me nervous to have more than two people out there!) and needed to be replaced so we had some decisions to make.

Two weeks ago the old deck came down (The contractor told me that once they detached it from the house, it actually fell down! Yikes!) and construction on the new deck began. I’m so excited. We decided to go with the fireplace too. I can hardly wait to have a nice outside area to enjoy. I envision movie night out there with a fire going, or curled watch our KC Chiefs with the fire going and snuggled up under blankets. It will be nice to have another room for when we have a houseful.

Things are coming along nicely!

I’m so grateful for my coworkers. I’ve really met a great group of people who share a passion for their job as well. One of my favorite new people in my life is Renita. I work with her on Fridays. We have two morning workshops and in between the two we have had some pretty great discussions. I’m all about a deep chat about life and relationships and Renita appreciates that kind of a conversation as well. Friday in between workshops, (also some days well after our second workshop is over), has become therapy for both of us and I’m so thankful for her. She is 72, but I refer to her as my big sister.

My bis sister loves to quilt and she surprised me with a gift on Friday. I can hardly wait to hang this in Effie and go on my next camping trip. I booked my first 2020 trip last weekend. I’ll be camping with a group of women the first weekend in May and I can’t wait to show off my new decor. Isn’t it adorable?

I also wanted to talk food and activity but its now after 7:30 and the family will be here at noon and Mike is picking up Tess and Manuel (and Tucker) at the airport at 9:00. I’ve got things I gotta get done!

Yesterday started of with an early Yoga class and I made time to do some meal prep. I know I will again struggle with the sweets in the house today but I feel stronger and more prepared to deal with that than I did at Thanksgiving. Having some prepped healthy choices will make tomorrow easier to jump right back in to taking care of me.

I hope that all of you are enjoying the holiday season whether you are running all over shopping and visiting or enjoying some quite time at home.

Thank you to my new followers for joining me here and thank you to my long time followers for sticking around!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all of you!

“love the life you live, live the life you love”