Girl time + tattoos + friend Christmas!

I saw this on Instagram yesterday and it made me laugh. SO true. This is what I am trying NOT to do…

I had a lunch date with two girlfriends yesterday and we had a blast. We had sushi, which I hadn’t had in forever. It was delicious and I had so much fun catching up with Sam and Katie!

Lots of girl time! I don’t want their break from school to end (they’re both teachers)…I guess I’m also taking a break, so I don’t want anyone’s break to end!

After lunch, I finally got the pineapple tattoo I’ve been wanting! I’d been wanting this for about a year and a half. I love how it turned out!

Celebratory beer afterwards with the girls! This is a brown ale by 4 Hands, I think. It’s delicious.

Then it was home to make this goodness before going to Scottie and Brandi’s for our friend Christmas celebration. This recipe turned out super yummy. I used turkey sausage and it wasn’t hot, so I chopped up a jalapeño and added that to the mixture. I think it was the perfect amount of spice!

Sometimes you need to wear your “I will flip this table” shirt (from Sam <3) and leather pants. These pants are some of the most comfortable ones I own. I love them. Plus, they’re super warm. Win-win.

While the mushrooms baked, I threw together a caprese salad with avocado. This is one of my favorites. I even splurged and had some dairy last night. During the holidays, I’m a little more lenient, but after this week, I’m going back to being more strict. It just makes me feel better! But right now, I’m enjoying splurging a little, even if it means I have some acid reflux.

Here are the mushrooms!

Did I mention that Jake fixed the light that I had broken in our living room? He’s the best.

Everyone made AMAZING appetizers to share. Scottie and Brandi had this delicious beet hummus and bacon wrapped dates (which I forgot to get a picture of). Both were SO good.

Lori and Jesse brought this dish that is one of my favorites – it has pecans, sweet potatoes, brussels, and craisins. I can’t remember what sauce she uses, but it is seriously delicious. I’ll get the recipe from her and share it!

Lori also made these Paleo cookies and holy cow – they were both SO good. The ones on the left literally taste just like a Samoa cookie. I think I ate like 7…

Here’s our whole spread! I love having healthy friends who are also the best cooks. All of the food was SO good. I was glad I wore stretchy pants. ; )

Here’s my first plate! I totally went back for seconds…and maybe thirds.

We did a gift exchange with one funny gift and one serious gift. Brandi gave the toilet coffee mug and pictures of herself as a funny gift – Jake is holding one of the pictures. Jake gave this box of random shots, which we of course opened and everyone got to pick one. The girls all picked the same one and it was actually really good! I got a raised toilet seat from Scottie (which might actually come in handy on hard leg days)! It was a blast. Most of our gifts were alcohol related…or bathroom related…seems right!

This wasn’t part of the exchange, but Brandi got these coffee mugs for me and Jake. How cute are they?? Can’t wait to drink out of them!

I have two interviews today for my dissertation, then a doctor’s appointment for my headaches. I’m also going to talk to her about my hamstring, so maybe she will have some ideas for that. I’m REALLY hoping she can help me with these headaches – I haven’t been on my computers (other than to blog) and I’m still having them. I should get my glasses today or the beginning of next week, so fingers crossed that helps. Tonight, I am getting together with my cross country team from high school. I can’t wait to see everyone! My coach owns a restaurant called St. Michael’s, so we are all going there for dinner. It’ll be a blast! I’m not sure what else we have going on this weekend, hopefully nothing too crazy! We haven’t decided what we want to do for NYE yet, either, which is really unlike us. We had talked about going skiing, but I think we are going to stay in town and be lazy/relax. I’d love to just stay in our jammies (it’s supposed to be crazy cold) and play games or something. We will see!

Happy weekend, friends!