What do you believe?

I had a fabulous run this morning.  The sun is shining brightly in western Massachusetts without a single cloud in the sky.  Yes, it may just barely be 30 degrees, but I love the sunshine!  *Knock on wood* the winter hasn’t been nearly as bad this winter as it was last winter.

Last winter I STRUGGLED a lot with the cold weather.  I  was always cold and it made me really down and depressed.  I also was in a really tough living situation that didn’t help in any way.  I am happy to report that I am doing SO MUCH better this winter than last winter.  That doesn’t mean that I am not ready to move to a warm climate in a year and a half, though.

I have been thinking about moving to Arizona, Austin, The Carolinas, or Orlando, FL.  Any input or anywhere else you think that would be awesome to move to?  My last/4th year of graduate school for my program is an externship year, so I can go anywhere I want and work for a year.  This is definitely my opportunity to embrace a change and move away for a year.  It will be hard to leave my family and dogs, but I know it will be for the best.  Okay, I still have a year and a half before this happens, but it is still fun to think about!  Any ideas?

Okay, back to the run thing.  I ran with my Garmin on my run today and did a familiar route that I have been running for awhile.  Before I used my Garmin, I always used gmap-pedometer.com.  I always thought that this familiar run I did was 5 miles, but today my Garmin only said it was 4.75 miles.  Realistically, that isn’t a big change, but I want to know WHAT TO BELIEVE.  I always thought gmap-pedometer was accurate, but now i’m not so sure.  WHAT DO YOU BELIEVE?!

Birthday Dinner and Cake!

So this post is DEFINITELY belated, but it is never too late to share a delicious birthday dinner and cake!

I turned 24 on January 15.  I can’t believe I am 24, but that is a different post for a different time. 🙂  I used to think i’d be married by 24, and I don’t even have a boyfriend!  Ugh!  Okay, i’ll stop. 🙂

So after much contemplation about where to eat my birthday dinner, and hours spent searching through Phantom Gourmet online, yes hours, I love that website, I finally found a restaurant that I felt my family and I would be happy eating at.  I really wanted to go out for Mediterranean food, but my dad isn’t a fan, and since he is paying, I needed to go somewhere he would like, too!

We decided to dine at a new restaurant in Wellesley called Bobby’s.  I Love dining in Wellesley.  It has the cutest little downtown area, and the whole town has so much New England charm.  I used to go to soccer camp there every year when I was younger, so the town always brings back awesome memories as well. 🙂

My brother got there before us and got a table.  By the time we got there, there was already a plate of a variety of hummus’ and pita bread waiting!

We also were presented with fresh, warm rolls and butter.  They were tasty!

I did check out the menu beforehand online, but I was still unsure of what I was going to order once I go there!  I really wanted a fresh vegetable, but the butternut squash risotto sounded too tempting to pass up.  My mom and I decided that she would order the salmon that came with broccoli and I could have some of hers to make up for it!  Sounded perfect to me.

The risotto did not dissappoint.  The portion was HUGE, but I still managed to eat mostly the entire thing.  When I was first presented with it, it looked really heavy and cheesy, but it was actually quite light and refreshing.

My mom’s salmon:

My mom’s salmon was also fantastic.

My only complaint about the restaurant were the prices.  They were rather high, but everything else was phenomenal.  I would go back (if Daddy’s payin!).

Afterwards, our intentions were to stop by Truly Yogurt and pick up an ice cream cake to bring home.  Sadly, they didn’t have any cakes already made, so we settled on just ordering individual dishes.  I ordered a huge Moose Tracks Frozen Yogurt.  It was just the way I remembered.  So delicious and chocolatey!

The next day, my mom felt bad and told me that my dad would go pick me up a frozen yogurt cake.  I told her he didn’t have to, but she insisited!  He went to a different ice cream shop in Wellesley called White Mountain Creamery, where they had some pre made cakes.  I decided I wanted the Mint Patty Frozen Yogurt Cake. Oh my gosh, this was so yummy.  I had two slices the night we got it, two slices the next day, and one slice before I had to go back to school!

I won’t lie.  Although the cake was really yummy, I was kind of disappointed.  On the website, it said there would be a layer of cookie crumbles and fudge in the middle.  As you can see, that layer was non-existent.  Oh well, it was still yummy!

What age did you always think you would get married at?  Did you?

My Schedule

My schedule this semester is different than any other semester i’ve ever had!  I am not sure if it is a good thing or a bad thing, but it will definitely keep my busy!

On Monday’s I only have one night class, so these will be my “school work days.”

On Tuesday’s,  I have class in the morning, then come home for a lunch break, then go back for another class, then come home again, and then have another night class.  I’ve never had so many breaks throughout the day!  I walk nearly 4 miles on these days because my campus is so huge!

On Wednesday’s, I drive up early in the morning to Vermont to work at my off campus placement from 8:30 to 5ish?

Thursday’s are the same as Tuesday, except for I don’t have the night class!  I also walk nearly 4 miles on Thursday’s.

Friday’s, I go back to Vermont for my placement again.

I am struggling with when I am going to fit in my work outs!  Monday’s it won’t be a problem.  Tuesday’s will definitely be a “rest” day.  I think I will be exhausted after my placement on Wednesdays and Fridays, and my gym is 10 minutes in the opposite direction of Vermont, so there is no way i’ll work out in the morning.  I just hope I can find a healthy balance!

I also know that once the semester gets going I will have more school work and even LESS time to work out.  In the past, I have always had enough free time to fit in work outs, but now that life is getting busier, I just have to cope with the fact that  I will be going from working out 5 to 6 days a week to 3 to 4 days.  I also just bought some Jillian Michael’s work out videos that I might try out.  I’ve never been a work out video kind of girl, but I must say it is so convenient during the winter!

Now, I need a suggestion.  I typically like to eat breakfast no earlier than 8.  This means I will be eating breakfast in the car on my drive to Vermont.  I eat oatmeal almost every morning.

Do any of you have any ideas for a good breakfast to eat in the car for about 300-400 calories?  I am obsessed with kashi go lean, by the way! 🙂

It’s been awhile — Arizona Recap!

Wow.  I can’t believe how long it has been since I last posted.  For some reason, I have been putting this off, but I am now finally ready to sit down and write my Arizona recap post.  In case you missed it, I was in Arizona from January 10th to the 14th.  I had SO much fun, and am already planning my trip back for Spring Break.  I was shocked at how nice everyone was there!  Like I mentioned before, I knew the food there was going to be fantastic, but I sadly didn’t take as many foodie pictures as I would have liked.

My first meal out there was for lunch at a cute little place called Crackers.  I didn’t have a tough time deciding what to order since I love sandwiches and soup so much.  I went with homemade chicken tortilla soup and half a ham, swiss cheese and lettuce sandwich on homemade rye bread.  It was SO good.  I can’t stop thinking about that little restaurant.  Why don’t we have places like that in New England?

The weather was perfect the whole time.  Each morning, I woke up to sunny skies and temperatures in the 70’s.  It really makes me wonder how people live anywhere else.  I suppose that their HOT summers make up for their amazing winters.

Since I was in a new location, I didn’t want to go out and run by myself.  The first morning I was there, my friend Brooke and I went out for a lovely 2.5 mile walk.  I wore shorts and a t-shirt!  Amazing!  The walk was beautiful and we walked along a canal.  The next morning, I decided I would do some interval running.  I ran up and down the street for 30 minutes.  In one direction, I ran at a fast-ish pace and in the other direction, I ran at a jog.  I really enjoyed this type of running and don’t know why I don’t do it more often.  I loved having my Garmin with me, too!

The next day, I went on a date that my friend set me up with (ha!) and we went on a hike in Mesa, Arizona.  It was an awesome hike!  It wasn’t too hard and not too easy either.  It was 1.5 miles to the top of the mountain.  The terrain was unlike anything I was used to because it was in the DESERT.  Instead of holding on to a tree branch to make a huge step, I had either a cactus to hold on to (ha) or nothing at all.  The weather was absolutely gorgeous, though!  Check out my awesome pictures.

One night we went to this awesome restaurant that everyone was telling me I HAD to go to.  I twas called Oregano’s.  Check out their HUGE menu!

This place sure did not dissapoint.  We were first given some delicious cheesy bread to start.

The menu was mostly made up of pasta dishes and pizza.  I was told the pizza crust was very thin and knew that would be right up my alley (surprised?)  I ordered a cheese pizza on whole wheat crust with broccoli and eggplant.  This pizza was HUGE, a lot bigger than I expected, and I still managed to eat nearly half of it!!  So yummy!

Here I am with Brooke’s sister, Aubrey.  This girl was a sweetheart.

And to finish the meal, we ordered the notorious Pazookie.  This was a WARM delicious and gooey chocolate chip cookie covered in ice cream.  Seriously right up my alley.

And how could I forget, we went out to frozen yogurt every day, and sometimes even 2 times a day!!! I didn’t take a picture of each dish, but you can get the point with these!  I don’t put fruit on my froyo, and instead opt for candy!

This place was a self serve place.  The dish was HUGE, so although it may look empty, there is surprisingly a lot in there!

I really wish I took more foodie pictures, because I had some great eats!  We also went to a Mexican restaurant where I ordered an AMAZING, Huge burrito and I nearly finished.  I wish I remembered to have taken a picture!  Ooops.

I miss everything about Arizona and cannot wait to go back!  THANK YOU for everything, Brooke!  You were the best host, ever!

Now I am back at school.  My first day of classes was yesterday.  It is good to get back into a scheduled routine, but I am already counting down the days until summer break!  I just keep telling myself only 1.5 years left of classes and then I am finished with school FOREVER!!!  Oh, and then you will be able to call me doctor too!  haha! 🙂

Yummy dinners

My past 3 dinners have been extremely delicious.  I am much more of a breakfast and lunch kind of girl rather than a dinner girl, but I am starting to become more creative with dinner.  I also love being home with all the food resources we have!

On Tuesday, my mom and I went shopping at the Wrenthem Outlets and on the way home, we decided to try a new place called the Spruce Pond Creamery, where they make all organic flatbread pizzas and have homemade ice cream/frozen yogurt.  Neither of us had been there before for pizza, since it is a little further away from home, but that didn’t stop us from trying it out!  We all know how much I love pizza!  I decided to go with the “make your own” flatbread pizza option.  I was creative and ordered a “small” pizza with BBQ sauce, ricotta cheese, shrimp and broccoli.  My mom thought I was weird for ordering that, but it was delicious!

Last night, my mom defrosted some homemade turkey burgers for me, and I threw them on the grill along with 2 “regular” burgers for my brothers.  I had a turkey burger on an arnold thin with laughing cow cheese and ketchup.  It was delicious!   On the side, I had sweet potato fries and broccoli.  It was a perfect meal!

I also snacked on Trader Joe’s raspberry and brie wrapped in Fillo that we had in the freezer for awhile.  Holy YUM!

Tonight I decided to get creative and make pizzas (surprised???)  Haha!  I used 3 halves of arnold thins, topped it with organic tomato pizza sauce, mozzarella cheese and mini turkey meatballs.  The turkey meatballs are leftover from a soup recipe my mom and I made that I will post soon!  On the side, I had leftover broccoli.  I always add salt to my broccoli to add a little flavor.  Does anyone else do that? I rarely add salt to anything, but I am starting to more and more.  Possibly a bad habit?

That pizza was so good, I had to make another half.  Nothing fills me up these days!  I sweat, I am NEVER full.  Does this happen to anyone else?

EXCITING NEWS:

I have been running around all day trying to pack and get ready because I am going to ARIZONA on Sunday!!  I am so excited to get out of this freezing New England weather, and head down to a beautiful climate to visit some wonderful friends.  I have been told that I will be eating nonstop there and to prepare to gain weight.  You know what that means, I will have LOTS of pictures for the blog.  I am so excited.  I have been to Arizona 3 times before and am familiar with their awesome restaurants.  My friend also knows I have an obsession with froyo!  Can’t wait, and I am so excited that I have my blog now so you can all read about my adventures.  Stay tuned! 🙂

Chilly Temps

First of all, thank you all SO, SO much for your feedback and support in my last post.  Each and every one of your comments really meant the world to me.  I am so thankful for all of you readers! 🙂

Thankfully, after that day of rest, I woke up the next morning with my knee feeling worlds better.  For the past 3 days, I have gone out for slow and steady runs in the frigid temps.  I took some embarrassing pictures to show you just how cold it is outside!

Here I am Tuesday.  I am wearing many different layers.  I’m wearing an underarmour type shirt for my first layer, a blue fleecy jacket for my second layet and a pink windbreaker for my third layer.  Missing from this picture are my ear warmers and gloves that I threw on just as I was walking out the door.  Even with all this on, I froze!  It was 22 degrees outside.  I am not sure what possessed me to run outside instead of going to the gym, but once I was outside there was no turning back!

Introduction:  THE NECK WARMER.  Oh my gosh!  It helped SO much.   I was much warmer on Wednesday thanks to the neck warmer.  No, I don’t look attractive, but I stayed warm(er).   On Wednesday I only wore the pink underarmour shirt and the blue jacket.  The neck warmer seriously helped though!  It was also a little bit warmer than Tuesday with temperatures around 30 degrees.

Oh, and here are my stats from Wednesday’s run.  Have I mentioned how much I love my Garmin?   I seriously don’t know how I ever ran without one!!

Okay, so here I am on Thursday.  I look petrified because I was not really excited for this run.  My mom made me bundle up more than I was, which is why I am wearing this hideous black vest.  She made me do it!  I must admit though, I stayed warm!  My mom and I had a good laugh out the door because I thought I looked funny, then I looked at her!  She looked like an eskimo and said she could barely move, nevermind run.    I tried to snap a pic, but that didn’t go over so well. 😉

For all of you runners that are running in the Disney Marathon this coming weekend:  I HIGHLY recommend purchasing a neck warmer.  It will keep you and your lungs nice and toasty, and it is easy to toss if you get too warm!  Trust me on this one! 🙂

I am still not sure how much running I will continue to do.  I am going to work REALLY hard to focus on listening to my body.  Thankfully my knees feel better *knock on wood* but that doesn’t mean I to am going to continue to run 6 days a week.  I will probably cut down to 4 or 5 for now and try incorporate more yoga and other strength training exercises into my schedule.

For a little update, I have some AWESOME recipes I can’t wait to share with you all!  My mom and I have been hard at work in the kitchen. 🙂  She joked and asked me what I am going to do when I go back to school and don’t have this awesome kitchen and appliances to cook with.  No idea!

The oven just buzzed because my sweet potato fries are finished.  Gotta run!

A touchy subject

I want to preface this post with the fact that this is hard for me to write about because it is rather personal and I know that a lot of my family members read this.

With that being said, this post has to do with running.  If you have read my about me section of my blog, you are probably familiar with the fact that I started running seriously when I started my weight loss journey.  I partnered weight loss with running.   I felt that in order to lose weight, I had to run, and if I didn’t run then I wouldn’t lose weight.  I know this is a rather silly thought process, but it made perfect sense to me at the time.  If you read my about me section, you are probably also familiar with the fact that I am a creature of habit.  Once I get into the habit of something, I stick to it.

Running to me has been something that I just do.  Typically 6 days a week, I go out and run or work out in some form or fashion.  While I do enjoy it, I also think that it is just such a part of a routine for me.  I plan my life around when I can run.  When my body hurts, I still run.  I honestly can’t tell you why I do this to myself when my body hurts, but I just do it.  At the same time,  I am very cautious of injury and if I was seriously injured, I would stop running. *Knock on wood.*   Again, I really do enjoy running so don’t get the wrong impression.  Running to me has been a huge constant in my life and something that I can always count on.

Why do I bring this up, you may ask.  Well, today I didn’t run.  Why?  Because I didn’t feel like it, and my body hurts.  This is very unlike me because I just had a rest day on Saturday.  Typically I try to have only one day a week of rest if I can help it.  Today, there really was no reason not to run other than the fact that I just didn’t want to do it.  I went into my old work today and was talking to my old co-worker who is also a runner.  She said to me “why run if you are in pain?  Sometimes your body just needs a rest.” While i’ve always heard this, I always thought that I was an exception to this rest rule.  Today, I changed my mind.  I didn’t want to run, and I listened.  This is a HUGE step for me.  I don’t want to say i’m addicted to running, but I kind of am.  I really want to start to train for a half marathon, but I know if I do this I will need to learn how to listen to my body.  This means when i’m hungry, I eat (‘m VERY good with this one, HAHA), and when I don’t feel like running because my body is in pain, I won’t.

Honestly I just need to realize that not running will not make me gain weight, it doesn’t deem me lazy or unhealthy and it in fact can actually be GOOD FOR ME. I am at a  point now where I know I don’t need to lose weight and really gaining a couple pounds wouldn’t hurt me.  I need to realize that a day, or 2, or 3 days off a week won’t kill me.  My knees have been hurting me for a couple weeks now, and I think it is due to the fact that I transitioned from running outside to running on a treadmill.  I am hoping that by taking a couple days off from running will help my body rest and recover properly and the way it needs to.

Like I mentioned before, running has always been such a comfort for me.  I don’t know why I am having such a hard time with taking today off from running, but I am, and that isn’t normal.  All through my life I was always overweight and thought that if I ran, I would lose weight.  I think this also has to do with the fact that I had pressure from my dad since I was young to “get out there and run.”  Maybe I am damaged for life!  I hope not.  I really just want to develop a healthy relationship with running.  I want to run when I want to, and not to maintain my weight.  I realize that running is a part of a healthy lifestyle, but I also don’t want it to CONSUME my life.  I have been cutting back on distance, but I think maybe I should focus now on running less days a week.  W hen I start school next semester, I am going to have the least free time i’ve ever had.  It is going to be a challenge for me to figure out a running schedule, but at the same time I want to just not worry about it and let life happen.

What are your thoughts on this?

What is your relationship with running or working out?

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year, bloggies!

I apologize for my absence these past few days!  I took a little break from spending so much time on the internet, and it felt great!  I have been busy, busy too!  My family came up from New York this past week, and I went out with friends in Boston yesterday and today for New Years!  I’ve been loving every minute of winter break, but am so excited to finally blog again!  I sadly don’t have too many pictures, but I did take lots of pictures from our feast with my cousins, aunts and uncles.

My mom was worn out from cooking for Christmas, so we decided to get mostly all of our food catered for our mini family reunion!  Everything was delicious.  My Aunt Kathy and family brought awesome appetizers, we provided the Italian catered meal, and my Aunt Mary made world class desserts.

Appetizers:

Brie with raspberry jam and sliced almonds

7 layer dip

Veggies

cheese and crackers (forgot to photograph the cheese)

Chopped up bread with a spinach dip

Main Meal:

Homemade chicken sausage and peppers

Meatballs that don’t look very appetizing but are extremely tasty!

Buffalo Chicken

Chicken Parm (my family forgot to tell me that dinner was being served beforehand so I could photograph)

Eggplant Parm:

Salad:

And what’s a meal without bread?

And now the best part, DESSERT:

Oreo Cheese”cake” truffle.  These were a HUGE hit and went very quickly!  I will be making these again!

English Jam Thumprint Cookies:

Delicious homemade 3 layer bars (yes I just made that up).  The bottom layer is made of peanut butter, rice crispy treats and wheaties?? (correct my if i’m wrong Aunt Mary), the middle layer is vanilla pudding and the top layer is chocolate chips!  TDF! (To die for)

The most amazing chocolate cake ever.  My aunt is a FABULOUS cake maker and puts a ton of time and effort into making delicious cakes.  She knows my mom and I LOVE chocolate cake, so she made an indescribable chocolate ganache cake.   The ganache is made of dark lindt chocolate.  Oh my gosh!!  Sooo good!

Cutting a slice:

The perfect slice:

I forget what these cookies were called, but they are good!  They weren’t made by my Aunt Mary but were purchased from Roche Brothers.  Yum!

And Great company!:

Cousins Keara and Jordan

Jordan and her boyfriend, Rich:

Cousins enjoying their cake!

Meghan wondering how she should pose for my blog!:

Mommy and I:

Mommy and the FABULOUS pastry chef herself, Aunt Mary:

Everyone gathered:

Most of the cousins and I (I apologize for the glare from the sun):

Me, Keara, Jordan and Mary:

We all played a family game of Bunko.  It was so much fun!  I actually came in first place, too!  What can I say, i’m lucky!

And what is a game without presents?

Whew, all those pictures just took me forever to load!  I really need to download windows live writer because I hear it makes life  a lot easier.  Last night I had a fabulous night out in Boston with friends.  I love going into Boston for New Years Eve!  We rented a hotel room and went out to a bar and did a lot of dancing!  It was a great time.

I am usually not huge into New Years Resolutions, and this year is no different.  My main goal is always to make the next year better than the last!  I always hope for health and happiness for all of my friends, family and all of you!   Here is to 2010 being a great one!

Do you make New Years Resolutions?  If so, what is yours?

Technical Difficulties

Hi Everyone!

Sorry for my lack of posting yesterday.  I have been having some technical difficulties.  My brother got me more RAM for my computer, and I also upgraded to Windows 7.  My brother took my computer apart in the process and we had a hard time getting it back together.  I think this caused about 15 panic attacks on Christmas….never trusting him with my computer again!  HA!

Let’s backtrack to Christmas dinner, because it certainly was yummy.  Since it was just the five of us, we didn’t go all out on Christmas dinner.  On the menu was a very premium beef tenderloin, twice baked potatoes, roasted broccoli, salad, and bread and olive oil.  **I apologize for the smudge on my lens in all the pictures you are about to see**

We nibbled on cheese and crackers throughout the day.  This is a 5 pound wheel of cheddar cheese made in Vermont.  I loove good cheese!

The Salad.  I am not a huge salad girl (I know, GASP!) but this did look yummy!

Twice baked potatoes are delicious and fun to make.  Here are our ingredients (turkey bacon, sour cream and grated cheddar cheese):

Potatoes:

Scoop out the insides and put them in a bowl:

Mix all the insides with cheese, sour cream, butter, and bacon:

Lightly spoon the mixture back into the scooped out potatoes:

This is what they should look like before you put them in the oven:

After the oven (nice and golden brown):

Yum!! I loove twice baked potatoes!

Next up, bread and olive oil.  This olive oil is also straight from Italy:

Mix the olive oil with parmesean cheese and red pepper flakes:

Bread:

I am not a huge beef tenderloin or meat girl, but on Christmas I always have a small piece.  The quality meat my parents buy never disappoints:

It was a little too rare for my liking, but I had a small piece anyways.  Here is my plate.  I went back for seconds on the potatoes, broccoli and breadi:

What is a Christmas meal without dessert?  Our neighbor buys us these pastries as a gift every year from an excellent bakery.  They are delicious.

Yum!  Everything turned out really nice and I was stuffed by the end of the night.

I have to show you all this.   My brother got this helicopter for Christmas that you can fly around the house (yes, he is 22).  It really is funny and fun  to watch, but yesterday he got it stuck in my hair.  I was not a happy camper and a huge chunk of my hair got pulled out in the process.  Thankfully I have plenty of hair!

I also got new running shoes yesterday.  I am so excited, I needed them desperately.  I go to a specialty running store to purchase my running shoes.  I have been using Aasics for years, and couldn’t imagine using anything else.  Here are my new beauties that I can’t wait to try out:

Aren’t they pretty?!  Haha.  I love getting new sneaks!  My mom and I are off to the mall today.  I am taking a break from exercise for the day (my body kind of hurts), but make sure to check out my fitness page for my updated workouts from this past week!

Happy Sunday!

Merry Christmas to all!

Merry Christmas everyone!  I absolutely LOVE this holiday, for so many reasons.  This year in my house will be spent a little bit differently than in years past because this year it is just our immediate family here.  In years past, usually my uncles and grandparents come up from my mom’s side of the family, but this year they aren’t coming up until tomorrow.  I won’t lie, it has been quite nice to just have us here today.

I went on a nice 4 mile run this morning after breakfast but before presents.  It was so nice to run outside again!  It is a beautiful day!

My mom goes all out on decorations each year for Christmas.  She loves decorations and gets really into it.  Please enjoy these pictures:

Christmas Tree:

Christmas Tree with presents:

Simon on Christmas Morning!

Dan loves Simon:

Fireplace:

Windows

Nativity Set:

Fireplace and stockings again:

Tom loves Simon too:

Nativity Set again:

Front Foyer:

Staircase:

My moms collection (part of it):

I got a cute purse:

Mom and Tom and Simon:

Simon loves hiding:

I got a Garmin Forerunner!!!!!  Don’t mind my hair

FRENCH TOAST!!:

Wow, I hope you enjoy all of those pictures.  I am going to download Windows 7 on my laptop soon, so I may not be back for awhile.  We are also preparing a delicious meal for Christmas dinner.  I can’t wait!  I hope you are all enjoying your Christmas and time with family!

*I also need to note that at home I have 2 dogs.  They are both Australian Shepherds, but one is 9 years old and one is 4 years old.  Simon is the one I take pictures of most, he is the 4 year old.  Sydney is my other aussie girl.  We love her just as much as Simon, if not more, but Simon is such a love bug and is stinkin adorable so we take LOTS of pictures of him!  Just in case you were wondering. 🙂

Have a great day!  Did you get everything you asked for?  What was your favorite gift?