Christmas Eve Eve

Hello there my lovelies!

I've had a buzzzzy but great day and hope you can say the same.

I was lucky enough to steal Mom off to myself today and we trekked to downtown Gville for some yummy yogi time at The Sanctuary. We attended the Yin and Vinyasa with Melissa who is the owner of the studio and both Mum and I really enjoyed it. I have primarily practiced Iyengar style yoga with a little Bikram mixed in for detox purposes so both Yin and Vinyasa styles were new to me today, but I loved the mix of the deep opening, slow poses of the yin style mixed up with quick sequences following the breath that composes vinyasa. So great...I'm really pumped to get the most of my 2 week "new student" unlimited pass! I'm feeling really positive about this studio, even though it's about as far away from my house as possible, as I've really been missing practicing with Denise at what was my "home" studio in St. Pete.

So after some deep hip opening and then a silly sequence of hops from chair to down dog and some more really, really, REALLY deep hip opening Mom and I said our Namastes and stumbled over to the mall for mani's and pedi's.....I was totally in need of a fresh pedicure since my currently consisted of me cutting my own nails and slapping repeated coats of red polish on top, but I decided to splurge on a manicure too since my nails were all the same length (some what)....a rare feat! I really should get manicures more often, since I love how my nails look now...but I'm just such a hands on person, litterally, that I just trash my hands and nails usually.

Anyways, all that yoga, pampering and some very light shopping worked up a ridiculous hunger and well, walking through the food court is the only option for exiting that wing of the mall, so we lesser mortals scrummed to the the tantalizing items at the Roman Delight counter.

Stuffed spinach pizza for me


A mushroom slice for Mom and then of course we shared.
Oh so cheesey and soooo good.

Now with yoga, nails, lunch and all Christmas shopping officially complete (I stretched it out with odds, ends and cards this year) we had to contemplate our dinner fates: tomorrow is Christmas Eve so that is Ham Sammys and Champagne (I'll explain that tradion on Christmas) and Christmas Dinner is Roast Pork Loin (yes, more oinking....hooray for mashed potatoes and green beans!) so of course that leaves....Chinese Take OUT!

While that probably sounds disgusting to some and while I would have rather it been Thai takeout, I'll take the ethinc adventures my parents are willing to go on and run with it.

My yums:


Huge pint of Hot and Sour Soup, so good, chock full of tofu, egg, mushroom and bamboo shoots!


Part of a pint of Veggie Lo Mein.

All together now...shocking I know!

And enjoyed with another Bud Light Golden Wheat- what can I say, Chinese take out just calls for a light beer! And this stuff may be growing on me? Dunno yet.

Now I need to haul my MSG laden body, complete with screaming hip joints off to bed.

Agenda for Christmas Eve:

1. Christmas Eve Brunch at my Great Aunt's River House
2. Come back to the blog to share my Christmas Bread Story and Recipe (see you here!)
3. Also be sure to check out my 5 ingredient recipe for a quick and easy (and kinda healthy!) side dish for the holidays
4. Annual Christmas Eve Party at family friend's house (easy on the jello shots....)
5. Midnight Mass (see why I have to go easy on the jello shots? I only want to see 1 priest on the altar! haha)

Love to all,
~a are you sure tomorrow is Christmas Eve?, Jess