These are a few of my favorite things....

Yes, you should sing the title. Especially since it is a Christmas song (which I have always considered a bit of a stretch.)

Since my degree is in marketing, I thought I would put it to good use by promoting a few of my personal faves right here on my bloggle.

• Snapfish photobooks. Thanks to a friend who watches Oprah for putting me on to these. Oprah did a segment a few weeks ago where she gave all her viewers (and in my case, their friends) a free photobook from Snapfish. I took advantage of the deal, and was VERY impressed. So much so that I have ordered two more. One was actually from Sam's Club, but I wasn't as pleased with their website useablility. These are real, substantial, hard-bound books that you can put pictures and words into. I just finished one yesterday that is going to be the Christmas gift to Eli's teacher from his class. It has about 70 pictures of the kids along with short writings by them of things they love about their teacher. And they are reasonably priced. Go to www.snapfish.com to make your own!

• Hulu. This is truly a beautiful thing. I'm not a huge tv watcher, but I do enjoy a few shows. One being 24. Another being Heroes. These, and many more movies and shows are on this fabulous site, free of charge and almost free of commercials. A 40 minute show has about 1 minute of commercials (versus the 15-20 minutes when you watch it on TV.) Burn Notice, the Simpsons, SNL, The Office, and many old classics like Leave it to Beaver, and The A Team are also on there!

• My WIGWAM socks. I like my feet to be warm and toasty. And I like alot of cushion in my socks. And my feet tend to get sore when I go bare-footed around the house. And they get sore from exercise. If you share these preferences and tendencies, do I have the sock for you! The Wigwam Gyro Dry-release sock. It is cushiony, warm, and wicks away moisture so your feet don't sweat. Ahhh, the simple pleasures of life. (My pairs are the grey version of the picture I found.)

• The Carpenters Christmas Album. Karen Carpenter has one of the few voices in this world that I never tire of. Her singing is so rich and never sounds strained. Even some of the so-called great divas often sound like they are really working to hit high notes or hold out a long ending, but Karen never does. (yes, I'd like to think if I could know her today we'd be on a first-name basis). I have to confess I like her not-Christmas music, too.

• ModPodge. This is one of those crafty things I have known about for a while, but never personally used until recently. It is a great adhesive, and also a way to "decopage," which is where you put several layers of a clear sealant over something to make a kind of plastic shell. I love the stuff. It was what I used to make that funky lamp I took pics of a few weeks ago. The boys and I made their cousin, Madylin, a collage of hundreds of M's on a wooden board for her birthday. It was a simple, inexpensive gift, and it turned out looking pretty dang cool.
  

Well, I'll stop here. I know when I'm laying in bed in a few minutes, about 12 more favorite things will pop into my head, but I will save those for later.

Here is my workout log for the week:
Monday: I ran from Melyssa's house. She has one hilly subdivision. I went a total of 5.5 miles. The first half was in the hills, and the last half I found a long flat stretch and ran back and forth on it to avoid steepness. I ran for 47 minutes.
Tuesday: I biked 40 minutes.
Wednesday: I ran 1:03 at a comfortable pace. I also did pushups, dips, abs, and squats.
Thursday: I biked 50 minutes and did weights.
Friday: I did speedwork on the treadmill: 12 minute warm-up jog then 28 minutes of 2, 1.5, and 1 minute speed intervals with 1 minute and 30 second rests between. I ran the speed intervals at 9.5-10 mph.
Saturday: I ran 1:12. I wore my GPS, but I still dont keep a signal in the woods, so I'm not sure exactly how far I ran. I kept under an 8 min pace when I was on flat road, but on the hillls and on the trails I slowed some.