1. In December I took it easy and only ran 24.3 miles, but for the entire year of 2012 I ran the most ever… 554.1 miles! I was really excited to make it to 550! I completed 2 5K’s, 1 10K and 2 half marathons! I PR’ed on the second 5K and the second half marathon… the 10K I ran while I was sick and did not PR. 🙁 (but, I’m ok with it!)
2. I read two books in December, and a total of 26 books in 2012. I beat my goal by 2 books.
Here are my reviews of the December books:
Life of Pi – Amazing read, and I got to see the movie the weekend after I read it which was even better. To sum it up (shortly) – a boy survives on a life boat with a tiger.
The Book Thief – I will repeat my Goodreads review here – My favorite book I read in 2012. This book is dark, it is narrated by death himself… yes, that was creepy. However, the main character, Liesel develops profound relationships with her foster parents, a young boy with a crush on her that later she develops a crush on, the weird yet important relationship with the Mayor’s wife and of course Max, the Jewish man her foster parents hide in their basement. Any normal person would have broken down in Liesel’s life, but she finds comfort in learning to read with the first book she stole after her brother’s death, and she continues to find comfort in other books she steals… later, she gives others comfort in reading to them. Does this book have a happy ending? No. This book actually gave me a really bad nightmare one night after I read it… after the bombings. I am surprised I liked this book so much, given all of the gloom in it… but, I think what I liked best of all was Liesel and her strong and charming personality that never wavered in the book. She was true and determined to act out her beliefs and devoted to her family and friends. You will definitely walk away feeling differently after you have read this book.
3. What did we do in December?
– Elfie returned and we tried out the Lego Advent calendars for the first time
– I baked every weekend in December: Nutella-Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies, Red Velvet Crickle Cookies, Creamy Christmas Mints, Gingerbread/Sugar Cookies for Santa and Chocolate Chip -Pudding- Cookies
– Santa Dash (5K) with PR
– Kids worked on Melted Snowman Ornament
– 2012 MoBot Electric Train show
– School Christmas play (first time Auttie was in it, too!), Cubscout Christmas party, Class parties
– Christmas!
– First Snow
4. What’s up for January? Hoping to have a time to gather my thoughts for another post on my new resolutions! I did OK with my 2012 resolutions… BUT, some still do need a little more work or I just want to focus my time and attention elsewhere. I did finish the Once a Day Bible, my running and reading goals, and my never ending 100 item to do list is at 30 items right now. I’m OK with it. I do want to say I am pretty happy where I am in life right now, and 2012 was full of dreams that came true for me. Hope 2013 is even better, or the same! 🙂
