family time.

I spend a lot of time with my family. There are a lot of us and spending time with them makes me happier than most things. Today I'm heading with my aunt to pick my cousin Danielle up from college.
Our Christmas tree hunting tradition is one of my favorite traditions. We go to a massive tree farm and search for the perfect blue spruce tree and then cut them ourselves. Then we tailgate. Different foods, Christmas cookies, and of course hot cocoa and spiked eggnog. This year was no exception. The weather this year was incredibly warm though. While this was fantastic for the tailgating and hanging out part, I definitely prefer the years when it has snowed. Nothing screams Christmas tree hunting more than a snowy chilly day.

my pregnant baby sister and my Aunt Cindy, her God Mother

matchy-matchy in our festive hoodies

Santa and the Mrs. rode in on a tractor. Totally awesome

This is my favorite 3 year old ever. He was sleepy and wanted to snuggle.

Preggo and her pup, Addie. 

Our tree. You can't tell here but it was SO crooked on the bottom from growing on a hill!

Another family tree. We started this tradition with them over 22 years ago!

Momma and Dan. I love this picture!

Twiglette's first tree! It is SO blue, gorgeous.

Gordon and Dan...Two of a kind. Love them!

First time seeing everyone since the big announcement means she had to
show of the belly!

Some festive eggnog! (I love my aunt's hair here - she's the blonde one)

Silly children. I love it.

Nothing beats a big cup of cocoa.

Britt and John snuggle time!

Us Merrymans look pretty darn good in red!

Of course we have to take a family picture with Santa!!

most wonderful time of the year

I'm heading to help my Aunt finish her Christmas shopping and wrapping today so I have Christmas all over my brain. As of last night I'm officially done with my own shopping and I have a very tiny bit of wrapping (the stuff that I bought/ordered last night) left to do.
I really might have a small Christmas obsession. I don't really mean that in a negative way though. I think pinterest is just feeding this addiction though. I swear there are a million different holiday ideas on there an I love about 90% of them.

Source: caphillstyle.com via Julie on Pinterest

This is called a sugar plum cocktail. I love the name! How festive!! Plus, I own that tablecloth!

Source: deliacreates.blogspot.com via Julie on Pinterest

Holiday shaped pizza. I am SO doing this!!!

Source: bookshelfporn.com via Julie on Pinterest

This book tree makes me think of my older sister. She would love it.

Source: hautelook.com via Julie on Pinterest

Simple and super fun tree skirt! My tree skirt is gorgeous, but covered in presents already.

Source: lilybeanpaperie.typepad.com via Karen J on Pinterest

I love everything about this.

Source: etsy.com via Kirsten on Pinterest

And I'll leave you today with my favorite saying for the season.

an old favorite

Last night I was stuck in my living room glued to the tv after I went downstairs to let the dog out and found White Christmas on tv. I love the movie. It's definitely a holiday classic in my family. 





This little blog is not my first, although so far I'm much better with it! The absolute most popular post on my previous blog was one about salted caramels. I made amazing chewy salted caramels last year. They are super decadent and delicious. I decided to share them with you guys today because they are too good to miss! I'll be making them today, a giant batch to share with all of my friends!
(these pictures are from my old blog - I'll update later today with some new shots!)

Sea Salted Chewy Caramels:

5 tablespoons butter
1 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/4 cup light corn syrup
1/4 cup water

Line a 9x9 baking pan with foil and spray foil with vegetable oil spray.

In a small sauce pan melt the butter, once melted add in the heavy cream, vanilla, and salt. Bring to a slow boil stirring frequently. Remove from heat

In a 4 quart sauce pan with high sides mix together sugar, corn syrup and water. Boil without stirring (a gentle swirl of the pan occasionally is helpful to avoid hot spots) until a light golden color, approximately 310 degrees. On my gas stove this takes about 10 minutes.

Add in the heavy cream mixture. BE CAREFUL! It will boil up violently!!! Return to heat and stir frequently until mixture reaches 248 degrees, it took about 8 minutes on my stove. Pour into the lined baking pan and let cool.

do you remember...

So it was a beautiful fall day back in October when my mom, my sisters and I went pumpkin picking...It was torture to not tell ya'll then...

But when I took this picture she is making that face because I was making a joke about how her belly would be out that far shortly! Jess found out she is pregnant and I can finally tell all of you because yesterday was the first day of her second trimester! I will have a little niece or nephew arriving sometime around June 24, 2012!

holiday party

Welcome to the weekend! We're one week closer to Christmas friends! How is your shopping going? I'm almost done, I need to finish up a couple things for Mike and to figure out what to get Dan, my brother-in-law. I started wrapping and everything that I've purchased is wrapped AND under the tree. I feel so accomplished!
This weekend I have a jam packed schedule of running and cookie baking! I have my longest distance run (to date) this weekend, shooting for 9 miles. I actually plan on running to the local mall and having mom pick me up there. I like running TO a destination instead of in a loop. We'll see how it goes. I'm getting really excited about the race. Knowing that my cousin finished one last weekend is really making me more confident that I can do it too.
Yesterday my stupid check engine light came on. Stupid. I have to go this morning to have the code red to figure out what is wrong with it. I have never had a check engine light come on before so I have NO clue what to expect. I'm hoping for something stupid like I didn't put my gas cap on tight enough, and not something major like the engine is going to fall out of the car. I'm so not a car person. This post is feeling a little ADD to me today...Sorry about that.
Onto some gorgeousness! As always on Fridays I'm linking up with Alison from Long Distance Loving for Friday Fancies! I love this link up and if you haven't checked it out, you really should. I get such great style inspiration from it and this time of year it is full of holiday gift ideas! The theme this week was to pick an outfit for a holiday party. I'm totally feeling purple for Christmas this year. Well, I suppose I was feeling it last year too, but I really like purple. Especially rich, eggplant-y purple. And especially paired with something nude/sparkly.

holiday party by rundreamcook featuring a one shoulder cocktail dress

What are your weekend plans? Do you get to go to a holiday party? I soooo wish I did....

lucky ducky!!

After I won the SUAR giveaway I entered and then won another one!!! This time it was from Amy at Pumpkin to Princess. She gave away a GU sampler pack. I was just as excited about this as I was about the shirt.
After hearing all of the fueling options out there I was more than a little over whelmed. I started tasting a few things and using them for my longer runs/workouts, but I still hadn't found anything I loved. I tried nuun tablets and I really liked their tri-berry flavor, but not the lemon-lime one so much. I felt like they helped me during workouts, but since they are low calorie, they weren't a good fueling solution. I was thrilled to get this big pack of GU products to try! These are the goodies I got:

I am so excited to try each and every one of these things out. I'll post about how much I love them as I try 'em!!

cookie time

I'm not sure of where the tradition of Christmas cookies came from, but they are one of my favorite things this time of year. I love to bake (I think that's a given) and I love to give delicious food to my family and friends. I like to try new recipes every year while still doing a couple of old classics. It wouldn't be Christmas without chocolate chip cookies, oatmeal raisin cookies, or gingerbread. But there is always room to try out some new recipes that just may become classics. I have a couple of recipes that I'll share with you in the coming weeks that are my absolute favorites.
I pinned a couple new recipes this week so that's the theme I'm sticking to for this week's link up with Michelle of The Vintage Apple.

Source: tumblr.com via Kelly on Pinterest

Sugar cookies in gorgeous bright colors with simple designs. I love these.

Source: bhg.com via Lisa on Pinterest

Eggnog Spritz cookies. Everyone loves these, and I love the light muted colors. Normally we do them in bright greens and red, but I'm kind of digging the light blue and greens.

Source: flickr.com via Tarevale on Pinterest

Christmas pudding cookies? Gorgeous. I love the soft texture they seem to have and the adorable fondant designs.

Source: realsimple.com via Carly on Pinterest

I love shortbread cookies. I love them more when they're dipped in chocolate. Then dipped in candy canes? Life is good.

Source: google.com via Teresa on Pinterest

Gingerbread. Yum.

grateful

So way back in October Beth of SUAR held a giveaway with Family Fan Club and I was super lucky and I won! The giveaway was for a shut up and run shirt, one of the family fan club designs, or a custom shirt. Immediately entered in every way possible. Earlier that week I was showing Mike the Family Fan Club website and telling him how I needed a custom shirt for the Princess Half. I wanted a shirt that said "no day but today." I'm kind of a huge RENT fan and I try to live with that thought always in the back of my mind. Then I found out that I won and I think I did a happy dance right in my kitchen! I was home alone and I was shaking my booty and hopping and dancing around. I was super stoked!
After talking to Beth and Paul of Family Fan Club a bit I made up a design for the shirt. It says no day but today on the front and then it has my blog url on the back. When it came in the mail, I was blown away. It came out even better than I could have imagined.

I love it! I'm wearing a real bra and pajama pants, but I still LOVE the
shirt.

So in love with this shirt.

I really just posted a picture of my tush on my blog.

The shirt is awesome. It's thin and the printing is fantastic. I completely love it! I cannot wait to wear it. I'll be giving it a test ride at the gym today!

I seriously recommend working with Paul and the crew at Family Fan Club. They were incredibly helpful and wonderful!!

back on track!

Geez last week was just a blur. I don't really feel like I did all that much, but I also feel like I didn't have a free minute! I hate when that happens. But it's a brand new week and I'm determined to be more organized with it.

Source: google.com via Vanessa on Pinterest

First and foremost, I want to congratulate my cousin Precious on finishing her first half marathon, Rock and Roll Las Vegas, last night. Kick ass Prec!!! Such an inspiration! She started with c25k about a month before me and we both (but separately) decided that within a year of starting we wanted to complete a half marathon. She's a rock star!!! 


With that said, onto the weekend recap! Thursday night I saw Breaking Dawn with my bff Kristyn and Mike. I haven't read the books and I'm barely even a Twilight fan, but agreed to go because both of them really wanted to see it. Honestly, I was disappointed. I didn't feel like there was nearly enough substance in it to justify the split between the two movies. Then Mike and I went and hung out at the diner. I haven't done that since I was in high school. It was kind of fun to go late in the evening (I think we got there at like 10:30-11ish) and get dessert and tea and just chat. I really love that kind of time with him.
Saturday I spent the WHOLE day at the mall/shopping with my Aunt Tink. Phew that was exhausting! She got a lot of her Christmas shopping done and we had a fun day together. I got a few things, mostly stocking stuffers, but really I'm mostly done with my shopping already. On one hand it is pretty awesome because I don't have any stress, but on the other hand it is almost boring. I love being out there and shopping and people watching. It just makes me happy!
Onto the week my friends! Hope you have a great one!!

think red

This week has totally flown by! I feel like I'm still catching up on sleep from black Friday and here we are a whole week later. I have lots of stuff to share with you, but that post will have to come later. For right now, like yesterday I'm keeping it simple and linking up with Alison of Long Distance Loving for Friday's Fancies. This week's theme is all about being inspi(red) to move towards a cure for AIDS. I'm stepping out tonight in red (although my real life red is not nearly as fabulous as my look below!), let's work toward a cure people!!

think red by rundreamcook featuring high heel booties

take a moment

I know I promised a Christmas tree hunting recap today, but then I realized today is December 1 which makes it world AIDS day and I felt that deserved some special attention. While I don't personally know anyone with the disease, I do know a few people who have been touched by it. I've done quite a bit of work volunteering with different charities that benefit AIDS research. It is a cause that has always been near and dear to my heart.
I'm wearing red today to support the cause.

Source: blog.joinred.com via Krissy on Pinterest

Lets get to work on the AIDS Free generation.