Sunday Salon:

Greetings from a cold, snowy Indiana! We flew up here from Florida on Tuesday to a nice couple of inches of snow on the ground, which prompted some great sledding and building/dismembering of snowmen. Soon after that, however, the sleet moved in, and we didn't see fluffy flakes again until Friday evening.

As a result, there wasn't much progress made towards my 200 mile fitness challenge goal. I did walk five miles one day in the sleet, but can't say I want to make a habit of that! One neighbor guy even stopped and asked if I needed help, thinking a flat tire would be the only possible reason for a body to be out walking in that mess! Guess I'm going to have to live on my elliptical machine once I get home! The exciting news is that Trish is going to have another 100 Mile Fitness Challenge running from January 1st through March 31st, which will keep the momentum going. In addition, I am excited to announce that I will be taking part in the "Game On Diet" starting on January 4, based on the book, with some blogging friends. I will be on team Ho Ho (beware the Ho's!). The premise here is that you get daily points for eating healthy food, exercising, getting a certain number of hours of sleep, drinking 3L of water, establishing a new healthy habit, and kicking some bad ones. The team with the most points at the end of the month wins. I'm not sure if my teammates and adversaries know how competitive I am, but I'm not going to leave any points on the table guys! And maybe I might lose a pound or two along the way!

Speaking of pounds, well, maybe we shouldn't. My mom has been cooking like a maniac, and we've been eating it all, whether we are hungry or not. We've also been taking in some movies. We got our fill of A Christmas Story, Home Alone and Christmas Vacation with the 24 hour marathons on TV. We saw The Blind Side at the theater. My sister got my husband and I a three-disc DVD set of remastered movies directed by Andzej Wajda (a renowned Polish director) that have been providing late-night viewing fun. The kids got Star Trek and Harry Potter in the their stockings, so we've watched those also. Lots of sittin', lots of eatin'...a giant sloth am I.

Santa was very good to me this year. As you know, I got a Netbook from my husband and a Bookmarks subscription from my parents, both early gifts. I also got a gift card to Williams Sonoma, a gift card to Borders, and a gift card to Chicos. Cookware, books and clothes...what else could a girl want????

With all of the family, food, snow, movie and wine distractions, my reading hasn't been quite up to par. I did finish Connie May Fowler's new book "How Clarissa Burden Learned to Fly", which has left me speechless. How I am going to articulate my thoughts in a review (which won't be posted until April, when the book releases) is beyond me, but I've got a few months to work on it. I am continuing to listen to "The Liar's Club" by Mary Karr on audio. And I started "Fingersmith" by Sarah Waters on my Kindle. Oh what a delight she is! I am becoming a bit of a fangirl, to the point that I know I will have to read everything she has written eventually.

I hope all of you had a blessed Christmas with your family. Here's to one more week of gluttony and abandon before reality bites us in the butt!