Celebrated Thanksgiving + 5 birthdays this weekend.
Had breakfast on very early on Friday with Michelle and then drove to meet Angie, my cousin Jody's daughter, so that we could drive together to IKEA. I found some great things that I love, got ideas for an office/dressing room which I'll put together in January or so, and Angie found many things she loves as well. We had a great lunch at Olive Garden because it had been years since I'd eaten there and the idea of soup & salad & breadsticks sounded yummy. As we drove home, we received numerous phone calls about the freezing rain and snow that was making driving difficult everywhere. The 90 minute drive (normally) took 3 hours on Friday but I arrived home in time to meet a large group of friends from church to see Stranger Than Fiction (the new will ferrell movie). Was thought-provoking and I liked it a lot...but it's not a silly will ferrell movie. He's more of the straight man to Dustin Hoffman's craziness. LOVED Maggy Gyllenhaal in this movie... independent, articulate, creative (her character anyway).
Saturday was a gym appointment with a trainer (first of three with him) and it was perfect. He understood what my body tends to do (gain and lose muscle and fat quickly) and set me up on a program and gave me the reasons for aiming for a certain heart rate..and how long to do cardio. A coach at that gym once got me to work out at a high heart rate and it was just plain hard work. So on my own I didn't do it that much. But Mark explained to me how a certain heart rate range when I'm doing cardio will speed up getting fit. And he explained I should aim for 45 minutes of cardio - that after 20 minutes of sugar-burning, between 21 and 45 minutes, it's fat loss, and after 45 minutes it's muscle loss...so now I have a number to aim for (45 minutes of getting my heart rate up) and I know why. Hard to dispute it when there are valid reasons behind it.
I then show up at church to run powerpoint and they didn't need me..so I returned home and watched Match Point. Have you seen it? Is there any redeeming quality about the main character???
Then I went to a dinner/game night to celebrate linda & sue's birthdays. Very fun evening.
Sunday was the youth service and Hannah and Kirsten (both in 7th grade) watched me run the "space bar" during the service - so they could learn it. Hannah volunteered to run it during some songs and during the sermon, so we switched off. She did so great..excellent timing and she didn't get flustered, so during Bryan's message, I leaned over and asked if she'd be comfortable finishing the service (the rest of the sermon slides and one song) and she said yes..so I was able to leave early to spend more time with family 90 minutes away for the Thanksgiving meal. I haven't heard yet but hope she did okay! I bet she did great.
Thanksgiving was great. My aunt leaned over at one point and said "thanks for spending time with your real family." We joke about the family. I never got to see them much - because I lived away from the state or overseas while growing up and then after college... but this year since I moved back, I've been able to spend hours and hours with them..or days at a time...and realized how much I have in common with them - as in appearance, and quirky little habits, etc. Of course, all my family is my family, but I look like that side of the family more.
That was one of two thanksgivings. The other will be at my mom's house on Thanksgiving Day.
How was your weekend???
