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Cuz I Don’t Do Anything Halfway

This weekend has been a whirlwind.

Where shall we start?

Wednesday night seems about as good a place as any.

Wednesday night I worked right up till my husband came home. I’ve way over-committed myself this month, and I’m just trying to get through it without letting anyone down.

Since I had been working non-stop since 5:30AM, I hadn’t given a thought to dinner, so I sent my husband for Chinese takeout. It seemed like a good idea at the time.

Unfortunately, I was too tired and distracted to realize I’d ordered a dish with breaded chicken. Yeah. Gluten.

I was halfway through my meal when I realized, and by then I had consumed quite a bit. I’m not so sensitive as to be immediately ill, but by about 1AM, my body was protesting. I was in and out of a restless sleep all night, and when I woke I wasn’t sure I was even going to try to run the Turkey Trot I’d signed up for.

After a cup of coffee, I decided I might as well go and just run for the fun of it. I got dressed, gathered my gear, and headed out under the cover of darkness. Once I arrived, I was feeling more like myself. I found the line to get my chip and my t-shirt and happily joined my friends, Whitney and Jeannette. I still didn’t have any great expectations for the race. I figured I’d do well to finish it.

But once that gun went off and I started trotting along with the crowd, my adrenaline started pumping and I knew I was in it for blood. I had a record to beat.

You may recall that I’ve been struggling with morale lately. My first 5K time (last Thanksgiving Day) was 29:03 — a time that I was incredibly proud of. That day goal was to get in under 30 minutes, and I far exceeded those expectations.

But my second 5K was a huge disappointment. Just a couple months ago I ran another 5K, hoping to improve on that original time, and it bombed. There were several factors at play, not the least of which it was a night race (and I NEVER run at night!!) But it left me feeling rather jaded about running — or racing, anyway.

I’ve really been enjoying my runs lately. I find the cold weather invigorating, and just last weekend I came close to that original race time when running in my ‘hood so I had high hopes for the Turkey Trot this weekend. Or I did until I inadvertently glutened myself the night before.

I credit my new Garmin for pushing me to keep a fairly steady pace. It wasn’t long before I realized that I was making very good time and feeling good and there was a chance I could do very well despite my rough night. Knowing how well I was doing spurred me on to keep going even when I felt like I could hardly take another step. It was also a great track — nice and flat and wide enough to maneuver around the slower people in the crowd.

Long story short, I far exceeded my hopes and expectations with a chip time of 28:32.

TWENTY-EIGHT, THIRTY-TWO, Y’ALL!!!!!

In a nutshell?

It. Was. AWESOME.

I’m still flying high.

We spent the rest of Thanksgiving Day with family. It was tons of fun — 20 people and 6 dogs in my SIL’s house.

Yes, you read that right. SIX dogs.

It was fun, the food was delicious, and best of all… no cleanup! WOO!

Friday morning I woke up bright and early for my Target Inner Circle scavenger hunt. I am so grateful for my good friends Kelly, Julie and Shannon, who came along for the ride. We all went in saying we didn’t need anything, and we all came out with carts LOADED. Take a look!

Turns out, Black Friday shopping was no where NEAR the nightmare I had feared it would be. Thanks go Target opening at 9PM on Thanksgiving night, it was virtually empty when we arrived at 6:30AM on Friday morning. By the time we left at 10:30, it was only as busy as it is on a typical weekday.

The deals were truly excellent, everyone was friendly, and there were no lines to checkout. Having friends along definitely made it enjoyable. I wouldn’t have lasted nearly as long without them.

As for the competition (whichever Target Inner Circle member posts the most deals on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest gets a $500 Target gift card) I won’t know till Monday, but I certainly gave it my all. I took over 150 photos of deals and posted them across all four social media platforms. I was hoping not to alienate half my followers, but I actually received quite a lot of encouraging comments along the way.

We topped off our shopping spree with breakfast at a local diner and then headed home to relieve our dedicated husands from kid duty.

Friday afternoon I kicked the family out of the house and wrapped the presents I’d bought at Target. No, I’m not ambitious. I just didn’t have a good place to hide them and figured I might as well get ’em wrapped!

Then last night I took advantage of the warm weather and started decorating our outside for Christmas. With my husband’s help, we strung about 20 boxes of lights on the bushes out front.

It’s beginning to look. a lot. like. CHRISTMAS!

I am ready, y’all. I’ve been waiting eagerly for the Christmas season ever since Halloween this year. I don’t know why. I’m just really excited for the holidays. It’s not like me. I’m usually late to get in the spirit of things. The Black Friday shopping spree definitely helped. I think I’m a convert. I really do! It was fun and definitely got me in the mood for the holidays.

Today I get to be lazy and then we have tickets for my husband’s 25th high school reunion. Of course I’m all WHAT DO I WEAR because it’s being held at a fairly casual restaurant and I have no idea what to expect.

I have NEVER been to a high school or college reunion dinner. Not mine, not his, nottaone. I have never had any desire to go to any, really, but in a moment of delirium I agreed to go to this so here we are!

I have plenty of clothes… I just don’t know which ones to wear!

Help me out, peeps. What does one wear to a 25th high school reunion dinner??? Do I go ahead and wear a nice dress just because it’s a reunion, or do I dress for the venue and go casual? HALP!

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16 Responses

  1. So happy for you. Glad you had an awesome, record setting run!

    I’m a little jealous of your Target shopping trip. I didn’t get the chance to go out yesterday and I wish I had.

    I would say to dress for the venue, but I’m not an expert on these sort of things.
    ~FringeGirl

  2. First of all, CONGRATULATIONS on your running time! I’m so glad you could redeem yourself after that last disappointing experience. As far as what to wear to the reunion, probably go dressy-casual in something that you feel *fabulous* in. You want to be appropriate for the venue, but you want to feel really good about how you look. (I know it sounds shallow, but if you don’t feel great about the way you look at a high school reunion, it can be distracting and take away from the awesome time you could be having, lol.) You will probably want to wear something dressy enough that when you see a former classmate arrive all decked out in glamour, that you will still feel good about your outfit — but will also feel comfortable in the casual atmosphere. I know you’ll look great, whatever you choose and, if you are anything like your blog, you will have a really fun time and so will the people you interact with.

  3. Congrats on your run, that’s great! The Target trip sounds fun too. I only had time to hit Kohls yesterday morning (at 7) but I got some wonderful deals and I’m also feeling unusually spirited for this early in the season! As for the reunion, you can’t go wrong with black, or some type of black base to your outfit. I just had mine recently, as did my husband, and I can definitely say that black is the color of choice for ladies at high school reunions. Have a great time!!

  4. Jo-Lynne, thank you so much for posting all of that stuff on black Friday! Seriously. Also, thank you for going back to the LEGOS to check for me! I’m torn on what you should wear. Could you do a cute casual dress? You always look great!

      1. I have a few in mind from the CITY collection but I was hoping that maybe, just maybe one would go on sale. Turns out that must be the collection every little boy wants this Christmas.

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