Some of the crew celebrating Steph's b-day
The next weekend was Thanksgiving, and I was lucky to be able to work remotely that Wednesday, so I could make it back to MN on an early flight. With my low seniority, I need all the help I can get to make some flights when it's a busy travel time! Back home, the entire family was there, including grandma and grandpa Doc. I had a great run with Danny one afternoon, and was excited to be able to keep up! That doesn't always happen these days. I also got to catch up and go out with dear friends Marisa, Claire, and more:) Yay! Thursday was of course a lot of cooking, and had a great dinner with all the Docherty's and Clancy's...14 people around the table! Friday we avoided the shopping rush, but visited a few stores along Grand Ave and enjoyed some beautiful weather! That evening we had a fun family and friends happy hour at the Happy Gnome, and got to catch up with a lot of people, as we were especially lucky to have Claire back from Australia! Saturday was nice and relaxing before I took a really early flight back to Atlanta on Sunday, just to not risk getting stuck.
Catching up with old friends out at Billy's
Three generations of Docherty's :)
Gathering at the Happy Gnome!
The following Friday I headed south instead, and met my friend Erica in Florida. We took a short drive to Tampa to meet her friend, and had a great dinner at this taco place called Lime, followed by the best frozen yogurt I have ever eaten! All flavors were gluten-free, even the Cookies'n'Cream and Cake Batter! O.M.G. yum haha. The next morning we were up early to leave for the Tough Mudder race in Everglades Park...needless to say we were a little nervous about it, after reading about some of the course details! But it turned out to be AWESOME. I loved it. We had such a great team that went through the whole course together and had tons of fun while getting super muddy! It was 11.5 miles with over 25 obstacles that included fully submerging in a basin of ice water; crawling/walking/running through muddy pits, creeks, pipes and tunnels; carrying logs through a lake; climbing over walls and hay bales; monkey bars, a plank walk, and rope climb over water pits; running through fire and electro-shock therapy; jumping off a high dive, and much much more (you can check out a preview of the course map here: http://toughmudder.com/events/florida/). We finished after about 3 hours of fun in the sun and got to celebrate after. Heading back from the race, I was lucky to be driving right through Orlando where my Dad was staying for his Sales Conference! It worked out to stay there, and that way I wouldn't distract Erica from preparing for all her finals the next week:), and I got to enjoy a great dinner with tapas, spanish dancers, and good company. I also experienced the "Watering Hole", a special conference room for post-dinner gathering and drinks, and met a ton of wonderful people my Dad has worked with for many years! The next morning I joined in an early Nike 5k fun run and had a delicious outdoor breakfast as the sun rose. Afterwards I was able to check out some of the new products and give a few opinions before I caught a flight back to Atlanta. SUCH a great weekend:)
Tough Mudder finishers! Official headband and all
One of the obstacles - that's me on the far right!
The next week I fit in some yoga and another great run with Nisha. Friday night we picked up some pizza to go and watched a movie at my place - and let me tell you - that was the FIRST movie I have actually watched in my apartment since moving to Atlanta. Aka...that's how busy I have been these past 6 months. Crazy. The rest of the weekend was full of getting together with friends for coffee, lunch, and church, some exercise, a massage (!), running errands, cleaning, cooking, and all things domestic haha.
Holiday season soon was in high gear, with shopping to do, an awesome potluck gathering at Cathy's with slow cooker barbequed beef tacos, Leann's delicious hard cider, super soft gluten-free snickerdoodle cookies thanks to Matt, and more yummy goodness:) We had another potluck that week, this time at work, which gave me a nice break to meet some new faces in town from NY and Europe.
I could hardly wait for Friday to get here, so good thing the week went by fast! Friday was exciting because my sister Laura was coming to visit me in Atlanta!! Yay:) She got in that evening, and after debating going to an outdoor Gavin DeGraw concert or just chilling and going out for dinner, rain on the drive home quickly provided our answer. So we had a nice, relaxing dinner at Buckhead Pizza Co, sharing some salad and gluten-free pizza (really good by the way!). Saturday I survived my first long run since surgery in April, all thanks to Laura, and went 10.5 miles on some incredibly hilly trails along the Chattahoochee river. Success despite some sore calves haha. After some delicious breakfast of homemade french toast and turkey bacon, I got to show Laura around the city a little, and did some browsing in the Virginia-Highlands neighborhood. We decided to stay there for dinner and try out La Tavola, a small Italian restaurant. Let's just say we were members of the clean plate club that night;) SO good...definitely a must-go if you haven't been there (http://www.latavolatrattoria.com/). And they have a great heated patio in the back! That night was Dan's Christmas party, where I was so glad that Laura got to meet a bunch of my friends:) We also did a little tree decorating, and contributed some delicious puppy chow and homemade guac to the table spread...I think no leftovers was a sign we did a good job haha. We slept in a bit after that night, and then took her on one of my favorite running routes around the Brookhaven golf course. We fit in a little Christmas shopping, mass, dinner, and then embarked for the Atlanta Botanical Gardens holiday lights display that night...it was FABULOUS. So pretty to look at, with live Christmas carolers singing, hot drinks, flowers, and more. We ended her trip on a high note, with a more "adventurous" dinner at Ecco (quite delish), and then....the AMY GRANT CHRISTMAS CONCERT at the Fox!!! It was wonderful. Definitely brought back some good childhood memories of playing that CD on repeat most days leading up to Christmas, and especially while doing all our tree decorating:) And the night couldn't be complete without a post-show stop at Cafe Intermezzo for dessert of course. So tasty (they even have an apple crumble cheesecake that's gluten free!) and such a great environment. I sadly had to send her off back to MSP the next morning, but had the most wonderful weekend:)
It's an Amy Grant kind of Christmas!
Atlanta Botanical Gardens
Holiday lights display = B.E.A.U.T.I.F.U.L
Out at the Fox Theater for the concert!
The next week flew by, with more holiday festivities, and Friday I was off again, this time to meet the fam in Iowa City for Christmas. I successfully made it, thanks to a heads up from my friend Reed about an open flight to MSP, that allowed me to get to Iowa fairly easily...otherwise I might have been out of luck! It's always great to be back with the family, and another bonus is that I am never at a loss for running partners (except when they go too fast haha). I got a nice run in with Mom and Dad, bringing me back to the days of Hawkeye track and cross country and running all over town. I tagged along with my Mom and aunt Julie to pick up some last minute stocking stuffers for all the cousins, before heading to mass with the fam. We thought a 3:15 arrival for a 4pm mass would be well sufficient, only to grab the last two remaining rows in the entire church. The place was full by 3:45 and even started early! Wow. That evening featured the long-standing tradition of everyone gathering at my Grandma's house for soups, ham, football, cards, presents, and just hanging out. There were some exciting grab bags this year too! Gotta love the "steals" haha. Christmas day morning was spent with the family and then we all headed out for a long run...I did my second 10 miler! Though barely survived (and yet, Laura still went on for another 4 more miles! Amazing). I was definitely worn out! I have a looooong ways to go still. From there we visited more family and then just relaxed as we packed and watched a little football later that evening. The next morning I opted NOT for the 7am flight out of Moline (an hour away) and instead settled on a little sleep and the 11:30. Which I didn't make of course. But then made the next flight and even got first class! With a little wine and comfy seat, I was able to kick back and relax. Not too bad;) And again, I am reminded of how blessed I am. So thankful.
Merry Christmas everyone!
