Thanksgiving Weekend 2013!

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Well, hello winter! Nice to see you so soon! I know that technically the first day of winter isn’t until December 21st, but I think that it hit us here in Cincinnati a little early this year. We got a little bit of snow on Thanksgiving morning.

Happy White Thanksgiving! 🙂

Phew! The four-day Thanksgiving weekend flew by! But I guess that happens when you have tons of fun, yummy food, and awesome people around you. It was absolutely fabulous! I got so much things done and had a blast with my family!

On Thursday, we drove up to Indiana to celebrate Thanksgiving Day with my aunt’s family. 🙂 My uncle started cooking the turkey early that morning so it was done by afternoon. We started early with our Thanksgiving meal that day.

Here are some of our mandatory holiday photos:

We were so stuffed that we decided to go to one of the nearby trails where my aunt and uncle go for their runs. We took a nice walk to help ease us through the food coma. 🙂

It was a nice Thanksgiving walk after a hearty and heavy meal.

When we got back to the house, I had more room for dessert! 🙂

MMMmmm… yum pumpkin pie! 🙂

I’m a sucker for anything pumpkin so this is what we attacked the next day for breakfast! 🙂 It’s yummy and fluffy. I am a fan!

For lunch, my aunt made a casserole from the leftover turkey, mashed potato, stuffing and gravy. It was yummy that my camera wasn’t able to make it until it was almost gone.

After all the cooking and eating, who would want to go shopping? We decided to skip Black Friday madness that day and went to Indianapolis Fountain Square to go duckpin bowling. 🙂

It’s so cool that the facility has been a continuously operating bowling alley since 1920s (Woah!)!

It was my first time ever playing duckpin bowling and I found out that I suck! LOL! But it was fun and we had a great time! I never had that much fun losing in my life! Haha. For me, duckpin bowling is MUCH harder than regular bowling, but I think the novelty of it adds to the experience. I will definitely do it again. 🙂

After losing at the duckpin bowling, we headed downtown to watch the Circle of Lights. It’s a tradition for the entire city of Indianapolis where they light up and turn their giant monument into a huge Christmas tree. There were live shows and entertainment before the actual lighting of the monument. It was a pretty cool experience. It put me in the Christmas season mood. 🙂

Saturday was pretty much a relaxed day and still with more eating! 🙂 My aunt and I attended yoga class in the morning to counter-balance the over eating…

… and, so we can have this for dinner! We had yummy grilled lobster, grilled steak and twice-baked potato fries! 🙂 YUM!

We left Indiana around 1pm on Sunday and headed back to Ohio.

We made it home easily, unpacked, and got to putting up our tree since there were only 24 days left before Christmas!

I love ornaments! I especially love ornaments that represent a special trip or season of life.

Here are some ornaments we’ve accumulated from our trips and happenings of our lives. 🙂

Our first Christmas together as husband and wife. 🙂

Hubby and I love snowboarding! 🙂

For our love of coffee. 🙂

Fresh seafood! YUM!

Happiest place on earth! 🙂

Memorable city. Chicago Half Marathon, where my husband and I PR’d.

The weather was stunning and the weekend was filled with fun. I’m blessed with such wonderful husband and great family and I’m thankful for every single one of them.

And, oh my gosh, it’s DECEMBER! I’m so thrilled that it is December. It is one of my favorite months and I can’t wait to continue decorating our house more! We are just THAT much closer to Christmas now! 🙂

How was your Thanksgiving weekend?

XoXo,

Ja

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My Holiday Recap (Part 3)

HELLO EVERYONE!

Today, I am going to try to get caught up on everything that I was supposed to get to last month! It’s been crazy and very busy for us the past month. I think January is always a hard month for blogging. The rush of holidays and getting back to reality once again felt overwhelming. Whew!

But I can do it …I can do it …I can do it!

I’ll continue my holiday update. After all, Filipinos earned the distinction of celebrating the world’s longest Christmas season. The spirit continues until New Year’s, all the way to Three Kings (celebrated every first Sunday of the year) to Chinese New Year, which is still fast approaching. So this post is never too late. Anyway I still see houses in our neighborhood with their Christmas lights on and decorations still up. Who says holiday is over yet? Holiday spirit is still in the air. LOL! *wink *wink :))

continuation of My Holiday Recap (Part 2)…

Dec 24 (Monday): We arrived Indiana past noon. My aunt’s family was so excited to see my parents, my brother & sister.

As soon as we arrived, we started preparing our food for Christmas Eve. A Philippine tradition that every Filipino family looks forward to is the Noche Buena. It is the grand family dinner after the midnight mass.

As we prepared dinner, my cousins started making their gingerbread house with my sister and brother.

Before we attended midnight mass, we went sightseeing to check out neighborhood Christmas lights and decorations.
One of the houses we saw, their lights were synchronized with music. It’s so cool.

Christmas Eve. After Midnight mass, we headed home right away for Noche Buena. We saved our appetite the whole day for this feast.

This festive meal was followed by exchange of gifts. For Filipinos, we don’t wait for Christmas morning to open our gifts. We do it on Christmas Eve! 🙂

Everyone was happy with their presents, especially me! My mom knew about my running addiction so I got more running clothes from her from the Philippines!

I got my parents workout clothes for Christmas so they’ll get motivated to exercise. I am encouraging them start living healthy by being active. They’re not getting any younger and I want them to take care of themselves. I’m glad they got the point. I love you Mom and Dad! 🙂

It is also a Filipino tradition to receive an aguinaldo from grandparents during Christmas. It is a money gift placed inside an envelope or chinese red envelope given by grandparents and parents to the younger generation. Even though our grandma celebrated Christmas in the Philippines this year, she never failed to send our aguinaldo. Thank you Grandma!

After opening gifts, we got hungry again, ate some more, did a little chitchatting and took lots of pictures before everyone called it a day.

Dec 25 (Tuesday): Christmas morning. In the Philippines, Christmas day is the time for visiting relatives and receive their aguinaldo and gifts from godfathers and godmothers. But for us this year in the US, we just stayed home, relaxed and did a lot of catching up with family.

We drove back to Ohio later that day.

Dec 26 (Wednesday): It was supposed to be shopping day for us for this day but a blizzard warning was issued in our area and driving was not advisable. Good thing we have a good place to sled close to where we live. It was a perfect day to go sledding!

Since we don’t have snow in the Philippines, my family took advantage of the snow brought in from the blizzard. We managed to have fun despite the bad weather forecast.

Later that day, we accumulated a few inches of snow and my brother volunteered to shovel our drive way. He said he wanted to try. Well, I said, “Go ahead! Be my guest!” 🙂

It seemed he enjoyed it! 🙂 I was teasing him and told him we’d love for him to stay forever so someone could do the shoveling for us. LOL! 🙂

Dec 27 (Thursday): Shopping Day! I drove my family to the Cincinnati Outlet Mall. We did a lot of crazy shopping and took advantage of the “After Christmas Sale”.

Dec 28 (Friday): My husband’s parents from Houston, Texas and relatives from Toronto, Canada arrived in Ohio. Our home was packed. We were 18 total in our mini home. Imagine that! 🙂

It was crazy snowing up to this day. While some were dreading the weather …

…my dad, who’s from Philippines and my husband’s dad, from Texas, loved it. Haha! 🙂

They were young “ones” …once again. LOL!

Dec 29 (Saturday): SNOWBOARDING …AGAIN!

As we were preparing to head out, my sister was enjoying herself scraping off the snow from my aunts car. It was something different again for her. 🙂

My brother and sister’s goal was to be good at snowboarding before they leave. They really learned it fast as if they’ve done it before. It’s like they’re born to be snowboarders. I’m really proud of them.

Second time in the slopes and my brother dared to hit the black diamond with us! That’s how awesome he became at snowboarding.

Now that my brother and sister are hooked, they look forward to spending Christmas again here in the US with us. 🙂

After all the teasing, my dad and my husband’s dad gave in. They finally tried hitting the slopes too.

My dad tried snowboarding.

My husband’s dad tried skiing.

Remember, you’re never too old to try something new. 🙂

We had to let them join in the free lessons group. My husband and I thought we wouldn’t be successful with them. So we decided to leave them under close supervision of a more professional instructor. LOL!

We checked up on them at the lesson area from time to time. We were glad to see that they were having a great time. At least they can now say to everyone that they’ve tried to ski and snowboard!

It was a fun day again for all of us in the slopes.

What better way to end a tiring day than to eat some good Japanese food! After spending the whole day in the slopes, we headed to this Japanese place that me and my husband usually go for some good sushi & hibachi.

Hibachi is always very entertaining. The chef put on a great show that entertained us very much.

It was actually a very nice way to cap off our day. 🙂

Stay tuned for my New Years celebration recap! 🙂 Have a great weekend everyone!

My Holiday Recap (Part 2)

….continuation of My Holiday Recap (Part 1)

Dec 23 (Sunday): Rest day & relax day. Since my family hit the slopes right away the very next day after they arrived, they haven’t really had enough rest.  So we decided to take it easy on this day and reserve our energy for the upcoming days.

My husband and I just showed our family how our typical Sunday is like. After hearing mass in the morning, we usually go to our favorite Vietnamese hole-in-the-wall restaurant for lunch.  I’m glad my family enjoyed it. It is good comfort food.

We went home after and did a lot of catching up, bonding time and dancing (LOL!). Yes, dancing! 🙂

I was telling my husband before how much I want to have that game in Xbox Kinect – Just Dance. It’s a perfect workout for me when I just feel like staying at home. I told him too that it’s going to be fun especially when my family gets here. That kinda gave my husband an idea what to give me for Christmas.  So, one day, we both went to Best Buy and bought my gift. I got his gift too – LifeProof case. It’s a waterproof case for his Iphone since he uses his phone to take videos when we go snowboarding.

I am a happy dancing bug! LOL! 🙂

We kinda made it easy for us this time on what present to give for each other. My husband had been bugging me for days before what I want for Christmas and same thing for me with him. And we would just say “nothing”. We are one of those couples that don’t really expect too much when it comes to gifts for each other. It’s not like back in college days that I have to save my allowance just to give my boyfriend expensive gifts on special occasions. We’ve been together for too long already to impress each other with gifts. I mean, we share same bank accounts and we manage each other’s money. It’s not like we can hide our expenses from each other. I think it’s different now that we’re married. I’d appreciate something other than material things like a surprise breakfast in bed or just a simple romantic dinner at home. It’s the simple things, really, that makes it more special.

…but …the Xbox gift …that was pretty cool! It’s what I want and I love it! 🙂 Thanks honey!

Dec 24 (Monday):  We all woke up so fresh and well – rested. One thing I associate with Christmas is the feeling of joy. We started playing Christmas music in the background. It’s the Christmas music that gets everyone in the happy mood of the season.

We drove up to Indiana to celebrate Christmas Eve with my aunt’s family over there. So, as we were preparing our stuff, suddenly, I saw from our window a Fedex truck just parked right infront of our garage. The guy went down and carried with him this bright pink package. I knew right away it’s a package from Pv.Body!!! Yay! I ran to open our door and happily greeted the Fedex guy a Merry Christmas as I extend my hand to take the package from him! I was so excited! Nice one Pv.Body. Perfect timing to be receiving my package that day.

The color makes you really excited to open it. Of course, I didn’t wait ’til Christmas. I can’t torture myself like that with suspense. I was in a happy mood, remember! 🙂

For top, they sent me this uber cute razor back blank tank from Collosseum. It’s the same brand as the one I got from my last package. Check it here.

For bottoms, they sent me this fitted pants from Cozy Orange (never heard of this brand before).

I love both pieces. I wore the leggings the whole day and I must say, it is definitely something I could use for my outdoor running. I think it will be great for yoga and just for lounging around too. I love the fit and feels super soft. I also like the secret inside pocket for credit cards or keys.

It has a wide waist band again which I love! Say no to muffin top!

I also love that little pink color that’s peeking out. Isn’t that cute?! 🙂

I love the top’s print details. It’s so soft and stretchy. I can’t say much about it because the moment my mom noticed what I was doing, she fell in love with my top. I already felt she wanted to have it. Good thing we were in the spirit of Christmas so I had to give it to her. LOL! It is perfect for the hot and humid weather in the Philippines. She was so happy to take it. I just asked her to take a picture of herself when she wears it to workout in the Philippines. I will post it on my blog.

*Hint *hint to Pv.Body. Your products are going global. Maybe you guys should start expanding your service internationally – to Asia maybe, like Philippines. 🙂

Thanks Pv.Body. Overall I am satisfied …again! 🙂

As a Pv.Body Ambassador, I can give my readers, followers, friends, family, all of you guys a 20% off when you sign up through my link: 

(http://pvbody.com/try/athleteinme). 

They actually have a fun new promotion for this month!  They’re offering each one who signs up this month access to our 30 Day Challenge to kick start their resolutions!  It’s also available to all current members! The Pv.body 30 day challenge provides you with your own personal dietitian and trainer to help you meet your fitness and health goals.  Everyday, you will be given a new challenge that they can share with friends!  Challenges include workouts, recipes, meal plans, group activities and more.

Document your progress through Tweets, Insta’s or Pins with the hashtag #pv30daychallenge.

Here are the steps:

1. Sign up here through my link and receive 20% off: http://pvbody.com/try/athleteinme

2. Take the pv.body 30 Day Challenge here to kick start your New Year resolutions and receive tons of fun prizes: http://pvbody.com/challenge

(IMPORTANT: Please note that you have to sign up through my link above first before taking the challenge link to receive the 20% off).

That’s it for now, I have more things to say. Stay tuned for more of my Holiday Recaps! 🙂

My Holiday Recap (Part 1)

Hellllooooo out there!!!

My apologies if my blogging is a bit spastic the past weeks. It was a busy (and fun) holiday for my husband and me.  I’ve barely had time to check my email and Facebook. This is the first chance I’ve had to sit down and relax and man, it feels amazing!

First things first, I hope that your Christmas and New Years were filled with happiness and blessings.

I feel very blessed this year to have had such a great Christmas and New Year spent with family, friends and so.much.food (c/o of my husband’s dad, Thank you Papa for cooking!). It went by way too fast, as always, but was memorable and really, really fun!

So, what happened to me? 🙂

After a little blogging hiatus here’s a quick run down of how my family and I spent the holidays! I have to divide it in parts or this post would be too long.

I knew that it was going to be hectic once my family gets here so I had to post a schedule of our itineraries on our fridge so that everyone could just refer to this and be prepared of our everyday planned activities.

Dec 21 (Friday): Arrival of my family (my dad, mom, sister and brother) from the Philippines!!! 🙂

At the Detroit Airport, we received a call from my mom that they missed their connecting flight to Ohio (what?!). It was hectic at the airport and it took a while for them to transfer and check-in their luggage for their connecting flight. They were able to fix their flight but due to high volume of passengers (holiday rush!), they had to fly to Ohio at separate times. It’s all good as long as they all arrive safe and sound.

First to arrive were my dad and my brother, then few hours later, my mom and sister. 🙂

FAMILY!

Reunited with my siblings!

at the airport parking lot

It really feels so good to be reunited with loved ones. I knew from that day on that it’s going to be a happy Christmas for us! 🙂

Dec 22 (Saturday): We hit the slopes the next day at Perfect North Slopes. Yup, already! No day should be wasted, right?!. 🙂

We don’t get snow in the Philippines and one of the many things my siblings were looking forward to for their Christmas vacation here in the US was to learn how to snowboard!

My husband and I became snowboarding instructors for a day. My husband and I divided the task by teaching them separately. I was in charged of my sister while him with my brother. That way we can focus on each of them. Once they learned the basics, we can all go together and teach them more other stuff as we go through the day.

I have to say, my sister and brother learned it pretty fast.  Compared to me when I was learning it, I was struggling. LOL! I am so proud of them for being quick learners.  I am very proud too of myself and my husband for doing a good job teaching them. 🙂

You guys have to see how much they have improved the second time we went snowboarding. I will have to share that on my next post.

It was a fun day for all of us! It was great first two days with my family!

More to come! I promise! Stay tuned!