Goodbye, world

Is anyone else as excited as me that the new blogger app finally has the "save as draft" option again, or am I just a nerd by myself?

A student gave me a Ruby Tuesdays gift card for Christmas and outwardly I tried to appear gracious. Inside, I was hysterical with excitement. This is without a doubt the best gift I've ever received from a student. If you don't understand why I feel this way, go there immediately and eat some of their croutons. If you're feeling sassy, demand some fresh out of the oven (yes, they bake them there).

Ruby Tuesdays is also full of memories for me. It was the first place we went on our honeymoon, and we actually waited outside for them to open. The reason for this is a long story, but the highlights are that we had to Home Alone it to our plane (this was before I was a runner, so it was especially challenging), and then when we arrived in Florida our luggage was lost.

Such a romantic start

We took a cruise, and I felt like including another honeymoon picture to prove it.

I also went to Ruby Tuesdays the night my newphew Harrison was born, so it truly has a special place in my heart. I won't lie, my first thought when I got the gift card was "SALAD BAR", but those memories are important too.

Speaking of Christmas gifts, Charm City Run (my second job) gave me a great one.

Sorry - this is how I look after a day of chasing 8 year olds.

I have been dying for a sweet Northface jacket but they are expensive, I already have plenty of sweatshirts/jackets, it's the season for giving, not buying yourself crap you don't need, etc. But now I have one and it's all I dreamed of and more. It's soft on the inside, fitted, comfortable, and this was the first day in my teaching career that I didn't have blue fingertips for at least an hour after lunch (aka it's warm). That paragraph really reads like I have some sort of sponsorship from Northface, but unfortunately that's not the case, I just get really, really excited about gifts. 

I did get myself a little gift today - some new reading material. I finally committed to taking a break from reading the Games of Thrones series, even though it was really difficult to pull myself away. 

I like to consider myself a hipster in terms of reading, because I still hit up this bad boy.

Granted, an elementary school teacher loving the library is a bit of a cliche, but I stand by my hipster status. 

I got some recommendations from my good friend Kristin, and also picked up Divergent, which I've been meaning to read for ages.

Its the same genre as The Hunger Games, and it looks almost exactly the same! In fact, when I got the library, I thought to myself "Hey, look, someone else named Lindsey requested Hunger Games" because I'm smart and good at deciphering situations.

Reading this book is kind of a big deal, because Eric read it and recommended it to me. That has never happened. He does not read, other than Harry Potter (which I've never read, I know, sue me, whatever). I finally got him into The Hunger Games by playing it on audiobook on our way to visit my parents. When we arrived, we were right at the final scene at the Cornucopia (I'm usually psycho about spoilers but if you haven't read or seen Hunger Games by now you are dead to me so I don't care). He brought our bags in, then sat on the couch with headphones, refusing to interact until the book ended. We all approved of this choice, because no sane person would do otherwise.

The point is, he actually read Divergent, so this is the second book we will be discussing in our history as a couple. I'm skeptical, since people have compared it to The Hunger Games, and that's a lot to live up to, but I'll give it a chance.

Yesterday, I ran an uneventful 7 miles in the morning. I had a shift scheduled at Charm City that night, and I needed to get a gift card before I clocked in. I can't disclose the store I went to, but I can say it was a location with no parking, it's a pain in the ass to get to, and it was rush hour. So I ran there instead. Best choice ever. I got five extra miles in, and instead of my errand leaving me frazzled and irritated, it left me relaxed and rejuvenated. Which was good, because work was a bit busy, as retail stores tend to be the week before Christmas.

Tonight I ran 7 windy miles in an hour, at my "fast" pace of 8:38. Eric completely lost his voice on Monday and finally has it back, so it's quite nice to have someone to talk to in the evenings again. We are watching a documentary on The Rock, and it's definitely not the worst way to spend our last night on earth.

He's on my list, right next to Dolvett.

I'm really down to the wire on deciding whether or not to eat all my advent calendar chocolates. 

What are you doing on your last night on earth?

PS - Check out my friend Dan's post about the beer bread I baked him! He calls me a recovering vegetarian and I find that hilarious.