Snow on Christmas!

I'm back in blogging land after a little while off. Please pardon the randomness of this post.

Christmas was excellent, and yes, we had snow in Texas on Christmas Day! I'm sure it wasn't the first time, but I definitely can't remember a specific time it happened. And COLD. Like 19 degrees cold. I literally sat on the couch all day and watched the traditional Christmas movies: A Christmas Story, Miracle on 34th Street, Die Hard... We'd already watched Holiday Inn and White Christmas. I played with my new tablet (!) and completely vegged out. Perfect Christmas day.

Our backyard, photo courtesy of Bug. Poor plants. Poor basketball.

I did make a chicken soup that day. I've got a favorite chicken tortilla soup recipe, but I've never converted it to Paleo -- it had corn and beans in it, not to mention the tortillas, sour cream and cheese that tops it. We'd gone to a party where one of the guests brought a soup that was very close to Paleo - it only had a little corn in it. I'd already decided to try it and of course then I found a Paleo "tortilla" soup online. Anyway, simply cooked chicken, rotel, chicken stock, and then topped with avocado and plantain chips. Very yum. I'll experiment with other spices and types of tomatoes when I make it again.

Speaking of food, I've now got positive proof that I can't eat crap and not pay the price. At Mom's for Christmas, I had a small bit of cornbread dressing, an apple dumpling (those things are crack), and a sugar cookie. I. Thought. I. Would. Die. before the day was over. Stomach cramps telling me I was an idiot. I'm pretty certain it was the gluten more than the sugar, but combined was not a good plan. So of course on Christmas I have to eat a Ghirardelli peppermint chocolate, so I haven't felt my best for several days. I'm still trying to decide if it was worth it. Maybe - it WAS Mom's dressing... But it definitely makes me wonder what's going to happen on the cruise! A week of exposure to food like that, when I will not want to feel bad -- at least I know what to stay away from!

We sail in 36 days! SO excited and ready for a vacation. We got our stateroom assignment (good location) and RDub got his passport. Now if my passport renewal will just get here, we'll be all set! I've made zero progress on the ten pounds I want to lose before we leave, so that starts now. I'm debating a "whole 20" during January. I can't decide if it's a good idea to eat really clean/pure Paleo and then sail (and risk adverse reactions to food I can't control) or just do what I've been doing and get a few more pounds off by exercise and cutting portions. That's a decision for another post - nothing is happening before the 1st anyway. I didn't gain over the holiday, so at least I'm not more in the negative than before!

And so we come to the end of a year. I'm working on a goals recap for myself to post here - hopefully before the actual end of the year. I'm also working on a more defined blogging structure - recipes, workouts, random stuff (I have that one covered) -- so that I'll get back in the habit of writing more than once a week. More to come.

If you blog, do you have a structure? Or does that just defeat the purpose?



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