Time Passes! Shannon

Merry Christmas (a little late, I know) and Happy New Years!

As I've mentioned in the past, not only am I a Turtle on the trails, but I'm also a Turtle on my bike, and it would appear that I'm also a Turtle on this blog!  I think I've finally figured out why I don't finish a lot of stuff.  My Chinese Zodiac sign is the Horse and apparently Horse people often don't finish what they start for fear of missing out on the next big challenge (I've also learned that that is a disease called FOMO, Fear Of Missing Out).  I see this a lot in my life.  I am a quilter and I have A LOT of unfinished quilts as I can't wait to get to the next one.  I have a lot of started projects within the house that have yet to be completed, why, because I get bored.  I've also discovered that Horse people love to be out in the air and open spaces, and if we can't be outside we begin to feel run down and out of our element.  This explains so much.

So what does this have to do with being a Turtle with the blog.  Well, I'd rather be out doing something fun or in my sewing room creating, than sitting here at the computer writing this blog.  However, having said that, I do enjoy writing this blog, but because I have so much to say, I procrastinate starting it.  Therefore, it takes a while for me to compile in my head what I want to say.  LOL then I sit down and write something completely different than what I had intended.  Oh yes, I am a Pisces too.  I'm either going upstream or downstream and sometimes I'm caught in a whirlpool!

Anyways, lets get on to some fun stuff.  The Folsom Trail Runners had their 2nd Annual X-Mas Lights Run on Christmas Eve Eve (12/23).  Of course, I'm still dealing with my heel pain, so I opted to ride and offered to sweep.  Luckily I have some awesome friends and Ralph and Linda opted to ride as well.  So we decorated our bikes in battery powered X-Mas lights and headed to the run.

Not the clearest pic - Linda, Me and Ralph

Ralph and I

I'm wearing my "I'm here for the Beer" Bondiband - No I didn't get any beer :(

My handlebars

What fun.  We ended up having approximately 70 runners, 7 dogs, and 4 bikers on this run.  We started in Folsom at Karen's bakery and headed toward Dovewood Court in Orangevale.  Dovewood Court is famous for every house being abuntantly docorated and each house having a different theme.  There was Whoville (my fav), Margaritaville, Bethalahem, Snoopy and the Gang, Spongebob & Patrick, Disneyland, etc.etc.  So as I mentioned above, we had a very large group, well, we aren't the only ones attending this little shingding.  There are cars and limos all trying to get to Dovewood, 100s and 100s of people walking.  It's almost overwheliming.  But extremely beautiful.

I love the Grinch!

We finished up our run/ride with cookies, cuties, hot cocoa, and hot tea.  It was an awesome night!!

You can see all the FTR X-Mas Lights Run pics HERE

Christmas was wonderful.  On Friday (X-Mas Eve Day) Mark and I spent the afternoon with our oldest granddaughter (13), Krystal and my stepdaughter (Mark's daughter), Stephanie.  We took them to lunch and to the mall.  Krystal wanted Vans for Christmas so we took her to the Vans store and got her some turquois vans and a t-shirt.  She was happy.  I had also gotten her a CD she really wanted and she was stoked about that as well.

Krystal with her new CD

Stephanie with her new gloves

Justice enjoying her stocking goodies

Christmas morning was spent with the rest of the family.  My 2 daughters, Destiny & Skyla and their respective boyfriends, Kirk and Mark.  My youngest granddaughter (9), Justice. My mom and dad, Marie and Bill.  Justice, of course, made out like a bandit, scoring big time in the present department.  As for the adults, we decided a long time ago, that we would draw names to help in the finance department.  Once you turn 18, you now draw a name for gift giving instead of having to buy for everyone.  So we each got our respective gift, then we played a white elephant game.  We all bring an extra gift, hopefully unisex, then we draw numbers and go in order, with stealing another's gift high on your priority list.  It is so much fun.  Mom and I always have a few extra gifts for those kids who can't afford to bring a gift and we had 2 extra gifts left over, so we played X-Mas bingo.  Loads of fun.  Christmas was very good!  I love my new slippers!

New Years was uneventful for us, as usual.  We are fuddy duddies when it comes to that as we can't seem to stay up that late, so we were both asleep by 9p.  I did wake up at midnight to the neighbor kids having fun outside.  Luckily, my neighbors are awesome and had the kids back inside within  10 minutes and all was quiet again.

I'm now praying for 2011 to be the year I want it to be.  I'm hoping I can find the patience I need to get this heel healed up and stay on track with my weight loss.  I still have 30 pounds to go and right now I'm struggling with motivation.  Right now my Pisces is swimming downstream and I need it to move upstream.  This heel injury has me in funk, but I'm doing my best to stay positive and keep my motivation up.  It helps to have friends and family who keep me moving forward to help me cross that finish line.

Happy new years!  Here's to a healthy 2011.

Stay healthy.