Top 13 in 2013!

I feel really lucky to say that it was so difficult to decide my top moments of the year. There were so many great memories to choose from!!

I did my best to narrow it down, and here's what I came up with:

1. Trip to Portland, ME. For Christmas Tom gave me the perfect weekend getaway to Portland. My favorite experience from the trip was definitely dinner at Street & Company -- we shared this massive seafood feast!

2. Brunch party! 100 fresh oyster, bloody marys, and eggs to order.

3. Boston Calling -- such an awesome first festival for Boston. Hoping that next year's lineup will be even better!

4. There are a million amazing moments from our trip to Europe, but this evening in Paris was one of my absolute favorites. After a great meal, we walked out onto the small deserted alley just in time to see the Eiffel Tower sparkle. It was so romantic! Unfortunately it was followed by another of my most unforgettable experiences of the year...the walking dead.

5. I couldn't pick just one moment from my 25th birthday. I am one seriously lucky lady -- Iron & Wine, The Postal Service, American Craft Beer Fest, partying with friends, and a 14-course meal at Clio.

6. Crab legs, beer, and sightseeing in St. Louis. In June we went to visit some of Tom's friends and had an awesome long weekend. At this point it was the furthest west I had traveled!

7. The Garden -- not any specific moment, but the whole experience of the garden this year just made me sooo happy. I can't even take these before and after pictures!

8. Tom and I did a decent amount of kayaking this year, but my favorite time was when a bunch of friends joined us!

9. The Great Urban Race. I'm already sad that we won't be able to make next year's race (wedding)...I'm looking into other cities and other races to make up for it!

10. Dinner at Stir -- such an unforgettable experience! Hopefully 2014 will include a Stir dinner or two!

11. Long Island wedding weekend, particularly the most relaxing, beautiful morning spent out on dock with the ducks!

12. Lobsters and oysters in Wellfleet at the oyster festival. I don't think I ever blogged about this, but it was such a fun weekend with friends and Tom's family. Definitely a must do for years to come.

13. Biking over the Golden Gate in San Francisco -- so freakin' cool! My week in SF was awesome, but this was probably the most memorable part of the trip.

Like I said, it was REALLY hard to narrow the year down to just 13 moments, so here are some "Honorable Mentions":

Pumpkin Party:

Martha's Vineyard weekend:

Cape Cod weekend:

Visits from friends:

Borough Market in London:

Frites in Brussels:

Completing 30 day shred!

5 successful work events in Boston, Philly and San Francisco!

Newburyport (oysters on the beach):

Strawberry picking:

Outdoor movie at the Hatch Shell:

Boston Bites Back:

Tom's birthday and Bondir:

And the absolute weirdest moment of 2013 goes to...

Taxi crashing into our apartment building at 3 AM. No contest there.

I feel so incredibly lucky! How can 2014 possibly compete??

Checking In

It makes me a little sad that I haven't been updating as much. Life has been really busy and since this a hobby it's taken a back seat to actual living. I think that's okay though. I know once the new year starts I will have a lot more time to update. This fall/winter has just been crazy and I'm excited for some down time in work and life!

So last time I left off I was at home for Thanksgiving. I completed that crazy long workout and was paying close attention to my eating. Unfortunately things went downhill with the eating -- between Thanksgiving at my house, going out with friends, Thanksgiving with Tom's family and a mysterious magnet pulling me towards Long Island bagel stores, I was hopeless. I am happy however that I got up early on Thanksgiving and ran my own Turkey Trot! I tried to get friends together to go to a race about 30 minutes away but no one was up for it. I ended up running about 3.3 miles around my neighborhood and felt slightly better going into the Thanksgiving feast. Here are some photos from home:

Everything bagel with lox cream cheese...finally! Craved this baby for month.

Midnight matzoh ball soup from a diner!

Huge veggie platter -- luckily I stuck to this for my Thanksgiving snacks

The antipasto masterpiece

And a beautiful turkey!

Dessert for days

Some cuties cuddled up on the couch

Stuffed mushrooms - carnivore style

And veggie stuffed mushrooms!

When we got back to Boston on Sunday Tom and I ran the Cambridge 5K Yulefest in Harvard Square. The race was kind of a mess but I finished it in over 3 minutes faster than the last 5K I ran over the summer. That's pretty exciting considering I haven't been running much!

The week I got back was crazy. I had my biggest work event of the year on Friday and spent the days working hard and late. I did manage to go to total body strength on Monday night, but otherwise I was too tired and busy to make it to the gym. With some diligence, my eating was awesome all week! I will talk more later this week about some lightbulb moments I had with stress and eating, but I just have to say I am proud of myself! Some eats from the past two weeks:

Steaks before

Steaks after, with sweet potatoes, green beans and mushrooms

I can't remember how to rotate this picture (LOL) but this is my homemade taco bowl -- ground beef, salsa and homemade guac!

So far this week I went to total body strength on Monday and spent some time on the treadmill last night. I have been eating really well and even signed up for a DietBet that started yesterday! Here's what the DietBet consists of:

"The rules are simple: lose 10% of your weight in 6 months. There's no extra credit for finishing first or for losing the most weight. Everyone who wins splits the pot equally. To help you stay on track, we've got plenty of interim goals and prizes along the way. You can do this!"

Basically, everyone who wants to pays a designated amount to join this DietBet challenge. There are monthly challenges and the overall goal is to lose 10% of your weight over 6 months. At the end of each challenge, the pot of $$ will be split between all those who meet their goal. Don't meet your goal and lose your money. I have a big goal to get into fighting shape before next summer, so this DietBet should help keep me accountable and on track. I'm excited! I'm already down 11 pounds since San Francisco in October and am looking forward to adding to that number!

Woo hoo!