My parents hosted a huge Christmas dinner at their house with almost 30 people. Al and I got there early (around 2) so that we could help with some of the last-minute touches. 

The Christmas/Hanukkah tree looked lovely. 

The snow started soon after we arrived, and it didn't stop until early the next morning. It was so perfect for Christmas. 

People started to arrive around 4, and the kitchen became extremely chaotic as it filled up with everyone unpacking their food and setting up appetizer plates. I was running around the first hour looking for the right plates and bowls and making sure that people had drinks, etc. Once everybody was settled in, I could enjoy some appetizers. The cheese plate was fantastic. 

My grandma brought a cold spinach and artichoke dip.

My mom asked me to make the warm dip again, so I made it for the third time in one week. There were also nachos, peanuts, eggrolls, and chicken potstickers. 

There were tons of things for dinner that I forgot to photograph, which included chicken, brisket, pasta with veggies, jello, 2 different types of kugel, spinach and cheese casserole, and more. 

There were also so many desserts. 

There were even more desserts than those pictured below. There were pumpkin and cherry pies and a box of pastries as well. We had so many leftovers to take home. 

We also opened presents before dinner. We got a lot of stuff, but I think one of my favorites was our Costco membership from my parents! I can't wait to start shopping there. I also got a slow cooker from Al that we're going to break in tomorrow. 

The dogs, of course, had a blast. They got so much attention, and I'm sure that people slipped them some food under the table. My cousin Rachel and Sam spent a lot of time together. 

We also got a sibling photo! Emily and Ben are on the left (they just got married in September and recently came back from their honeymoon in Costa Rica!), Sheena and Jon are in the middle, and you know the rest. 

Driving home was a pain in certain parts, but we made it back in one piece (with all of our leftovers!). I was also proud of Al for driving in the snow for his first time and doing such a great job. 

I hope that everybody had a wonderful Christmas!

Happy holidays, folks! This frigid weather in Chicago is making me want to fly away somewhere warm, but I can't say that I was sad about all of the gorgeous snow yesterday. I'll show you some pictures in my Xmas Day post. 

I spent a few days at my parents' house in the 'burbs. It was so relaxing and quiet, and I didn't want to leave. My parents just insulated and added windows to their screen room so that it can be used 365 days a year. We used to only be able to sit in it during the warm summer weather. 

It's amazing to be able to curl up on one of the couches in there and look at the beautiful snow. 

As always, it was great to be home with the pups. 

It was great to be able to catch up on sleep (no city noises!), go Christmas shopping with my mom, help with cooking and baking, and to spend time with my parents. We had a Christmas party at a family friends' home on Saturday, so my brother and Al came in from the city and stayed overnight. I went back to the city with them on Sunday. 

On Tuesday, we opened our Christmas package from Al's parents since it was Christmas Day in Australia. I was pretty excited about my colorful bracelets, but the best part was definitely the box of Cadbury Favourites! 

I talked about Cadbury chocolates here and here on my blog (and probably in other posts) when I lived in Australia. There are so many unique chocolate bars there (like Picnic Bars and Cherry Ripes), and the Cadbury Favourites box gives you a colorful assortment of mini-sized bars. We ripped the box open and started going to town on the chocolates. 

We also like this bad-ass Australia clock. I set it up underneath our TV, but I had to remove the battery already since it ticks so loudly! It's a great display piece, though. I love it 

I'm sad to say that we polished off the chocolates in about 24 hours. In true blogging style, though, I took pictures of my favorite "favourites" so that I could show them to you. Cadbury Crunchie bars (below) are chocolate-covered honeycomb bars. I didn't like them at first, but I changed my preference for them over time. They're very popular in Oz. 

Cherry Ripes are my personal fave. They're a mixture of cherry, coconut, and dark chocolate. 

Turkish Delight is always a pleasure to eat. It's a sugar-covered soft jelly candy that's coated in chocolate. 

Caramello is just chocolate-covered caramel. It's great, but I do prefer it in the block form. 

Picnic bars are my other fave (maybe a tiny bit less than Cherry Ripes). I dedicated a post to them when I lived in Oz (here it is again). I brought a bag of them home one time, and my family and friends loved them.  

We also got two Cadbury Marshmallow Santas and ate them both. 

I hope everybody had a wonderful Christmas!

One of my favorite parts of being on a break from school is having the time to do things that I love doing. I'm finally getting to a point in my life where I realize that there's no value in sleeping until 10 am on my free days. By the time I'm done checking my e-mail, reading through my Facebook news feed, going through my USA Today news app, reading some blogs, and playing a few rounds of Candy Crush while still in bed, I'm famished and wanting to eat a late breakfast. This delays my workout, so I sit around and watch TV until I don't feel full anymore. Unfortunately, I'm hooked on a TV show on Netflix by this time and don't feel like doing anything except for watching more episodes. So I sit around and watch until I feel hungry again. And the cycle continues. By 4 pm, I'm in state of self-loathing for wasting an entire day, but I still can't get up from the couch and stop watching TV. Then Al comes home and wants dinner, and we watch more TV. Days like this of being a couch potato are fine once in a while if I'm sick or burned out, but doing them too often are just plain depressing. 

I was worried that I would do this on my break, but I've been waking up before the sun every morning and getting my workout out of the way so that I could start getting things done. Yesterday, I needed to bake cookies for a cookie exchange that one of my school friends was hosting. I also decided to make a warm spinach and artichoke dip to serve with chips. 

I saw a recipe on one of my favorite blogs (Peanut Butter Fingers) for chocolate crinkle cake mix cookies that I was dying to try. All you need is devil's food cake mix, canola oil, eggs, and powdered sugar. 

It was very easy to make. 

Unfortunately, I left the cookies in the oven for too long. They still looked raw to me after 12 minutes (the instructed baking time), and I let them bake for a few more minutes. I should have known better. I just finished a food science class that had labs and written exams on baking, so I should have realized that the cookies would harden as they cooled. They should have been moist and cake-like, but my finished product was dense and slightly bitter tasting. 

I tried heating one in the microwave for 10 seconds, and it tasted a lot better since it was sightly melted. At least I'll know for the next time to follow oven directions.

I didn't have time to buy more ingredients and bake new cookies, so I just hoped that mine were passable and put them in clear gift baggies with dark chocolate M&Ms and tied them closed with white ribbons. 

I also put together a quick spinach and artichoke dip using this recipe. I made the following changes: low-fat mayo, low-fat cream cheese (1/3 less fat), and non-fat Greek yogurt instead of sour cream. I served it at the party with tortilla chips, and it was a huge hit. It definitely made up for my hard cake cookies. 

I think that cookie exchanges are such a wonderful idea. Erica, the host, provided us with baggies so that we could go around the table and take whichever ones we wanted. It was fun to sample everybody's cookies and take them home with us. 

You come with one batch of cookies, and you leave with a variety of them!

The grapes and raspberries were the nutrition-friendly stars of the table. They didn't last very long. 

Everything was incredibly good. 

We also got to play with some adorable kids. I was never a "kid person", but I love being around them more and more as my friends are having babies. 

Soon after I got home with my bags full of cookies, my brother asked me if I could take Libby outside for a walk since he was tied up at work for a few more hours. We currently live a block and a half away from each other, so it's usually not a problem for me to take her outside. His girlfriend helps with Lib mostly, but I'll step in if she's busy. I don't usually mind going over there to see one of the most adorable dogs in the world. 

Anyway, Libby didn't greet me at the door when I walked inside his apartment. She'll usually be waiting at the door for me, or she'll come running over to me within a couple of seconds. I called her, and she didn't come. I walked to the back of his place and found her spread out on my brother's bed with her ears back, eyes closed, tail wagging, and the corners of her mouth curled up like she was trying to smile. Maybe she was acting guilty for being on his bed? Anyway, it was so ridiculously adorable. She actually does a doggie smile sometimes where she goes as far as scrunching up her snout and showing her teeth. Aren't dog smiles the cutest? 

I took her outside where she pranced around in the snow and then started eating it after she did her business. It was freezing outside, but I still took her to the dog park for about 10 minutes. There were a few dogs there, although she ate snow more than she played with other dogs. 

I'm in the suburbs at my parents' house until Sunday. I'm spending quality time with the pups there. Expect some more dog photos soon!

Let the adventures continue! If you're just tuning in, I'm recapping an epic road trip that Al and I did over the summer. I had a draft of a post saved from July or August, and then school happened. Whoops. Recapping this may be the most fun I've had in months (besides the trip that Al and I took to the Shedd Aquarium on Sunday), so I'm just going with the flow and seeing where these posts will take me. 

Wyoming con't
We left Yellowstone National Park and drove east to a town called Cody. We originally hoped to see Montana too, but we realized that we'd probably need to add another day to our trip to do it. I have a feeling that we'll get there sooner than later. 

Our drive to Cody provided us with continuous views of jagged mountains, rushing rivers, log cabins to rent, and some awesome cloud formations. We passed Buffalo Bill State Park just six miles away from our stopping point, and we paused to take pictures. The rain had just stopped, and the sun was starting to peek behind the clouds.  

Then, we drove to Cody. 

We didn't know much about Cody other than the fact that it was in a convenient location to stop for the night and that the town has the same name as my parents' awesome dog Cody. If you've read my blog in the past, then you have seen lots of photos of him. For that reason alone, I was excited to go there.  

It turns out that Cody, Wyoming is named after Buffalo Bill (his full name was William Frederick Cody), who founded the town. Since it's located at the gateway of Yellowstone, many tourists stay there or pass through on their way to or from the park. If you stand in the middle of the town, you might imagine a wild west shoot-out that you see in old western movies. You could imagine cowboys on their horses passing through, in their boots with spurs. In fact, they do a re-enactment of a shoot-out every summer! We also learned quickly that Cody loves the rodeo. We passed the stadium, called Stampede Park,  just as we entered the town. It was packed with people.  

We checked into our hotel and walked into the main part of town to explore and eat dinner. 

We ate dinner at Adriano's Italian Restaurant, which had Italian food with a western flare. There were cowboy decorations all over the walls. We sat in a little nook by the window, and I got a glass of wine for $3. I'm lucky to find a glass of wine in Chicago that costs as low as $6, so I was pretty pumped (I have yet to develop a sophisticated wine palate). When we were done eating, we wandered into a souvenir shop  and bought a few T-shirts, a hoodie, and a mug. We then walked back to our hotel and crawled into bed. We were exhausted. By the way, the bear that you see in the picture above was outside of our hotel, and it scared the crap out of some dog walking past it (our hotel was dog-friendly, so there were lots of them around the property). The dog kept barking at it. Cody obviously likes bears, too. 

With our alarm off at 6 the next morning, we once again hit the road early and drove straight east. We weren't sure what to expect on our way to South Dakota, but we did get some surprises. Like our drive into the foothills of the Rockies, we came across some more tiny towns. 

Then, the green grassy mountains turned into this: 

We were suddenly driving through a rocky canyon that reminded me of somewhere in Arizona. We were entering Bighorn National Forest. It was another unplanned, unexpected treat. 

Shell Falls reminded of me of McKenzie Falls in the Grampians in Victoria, Australia. It was definitely worth it to drive through this forest and to get these pictures. 

Wyoming is a gorgeous state. 

Although I knew that the land would inevitably flatten out, I got a sinking feeling in my stomach as we approached the eastern border of the state. When I could no longer see the mountains in the rear- view or side mirrors, I had to angle my body and press my left cheek against the window so that I could catch the last glimpses of the majestic Rocky Mountains behind us. Rockies, we will be back.  

That's all for Wyoming! South Dakota is coming up next. 

Wyoming
As we made our way into northwest Wyoming, I thought of two things. First, I never wanted to leave this place. The world around me looked too beautiful to be real. It was like we were in an enchanted wonderland that you read about in fantasy novels. The peaks of the mountains. The piercing blue sky. The rushing river below us. I didn't even want to blink, because even closing my eyes for a second dampened this sensory experience for me.

That brings me to the second thought: I was happy that I wasn't driving. Al was kind enough to drive for the entirety of the road trip. My eyes were still very dry from my LASIK surgery, and I worried that the air blowing in my face from the air conditioner  would make me blink constantly. I ended up being fine in the car, but Al seemed content with driving even when I offered to do it. I was a great passenger though; I navigated (using both our GPS and "old-school" maps when all signals failed), fed Al chips, took about 800 photos from start to finish, and changed the radio station when it sounded fuzzy. Not surprisingly, this trip made us really like country music. There was lots of that on the radio. But back to the whole not driving thing, I was glad that I could focus all of my attention on staring at things and taking the occasional photo that could never give justice to seeing everything with my own two LASIK-enhanced eyes. 

We did Wyoming in two days. It was the highlight of my trip, and it pained me to leave the state. On the first day, we wove along the Snake River and stopped in Jackson for lunch. The town was clean, smelled of fresh mountain air, and I wanted to move there. Or maybe I just wanted to stay there for a night so that we could walk around and experience the nightlife of this adorable little touristy town that heavily appealed to me. The downtown was full of buildings that had a sophisticated, classy Old Western look that I always associate with Colorado. 

We had little sneak peeks of the Rockies on our way into Jackson, but we were far away. We mostly saw lots of big, grassy mountains. After lunch at Quizno's, we drove through the main street in town en route to Grand Teton National Park. We were glamoured by the quaint appeal of the town and were probably obsessing over it so much that we both gasped out loud when we turned a corner and saw this:

The Rocky Mountains. They are pretty damn big, so we were surprised that they came out of nowhere. Very slick, Mountains. Very slick. 

We drove a bit longer until we made it to the gate of Grand Teton National Park. We decided to go to the park last-minute, and I was trying to use every bit of my dwindling cell phone signal that I had to tell my parents that we were going there. They've been there so many times and absolutely love it, and I wanted them to be proud of me for making the decision to go (they were proud). 

This photo that I took at the gate is hands-down one of my favorite photos from our trip. I don't have much to say about it, other than the fact that it makes me feel proud to be an American. It just has that effect on me. I see the flag, the motorcycles, the mountains, the blue sky, and I hear Bob Seger playing in my head. It just happens. 

We paid our admission fee (I can't remember how much it cost, but it was for both Grand Teton National Park and Yellowstone and I think was valid for a few days) and made it through with my amazing navigation skills. 

I made sure that we stopped at Jenny Lake, because it was a place that I had always wanted to see since the day that my parents brought me back a postcard with a picture of the lake on it. Of course, I liked the name of it. I still had no clue how magnificent this lake was until I saw it. It was much bigger than I imagined, and it was very quiet and peaceful despite all of the tourists taking pictures around it. It was just....stunning. 

After Jenny Lake, we got back into the car and drove north into Yellowstone National Park. Conveniently, one park flows right into the other. We still went through a checkpoint and got a new map, but that was about it. 

Al made sure that I knew how creepy I was for taking a picture of a family I didn't know. I just wanted to get the sign. 

We didn't see much of Yellowstone. I actually never realized the enormity of the park. It spreads out over three states (Wyoming, Idaho, Montana), although 96% of it is in Wyoming. We cut along the Yellowstone Lake and exited on the east end of the park. Even though we saw a small portion of the park, it still took us a while to get through it. The roads seemed more narrow and heavily wooded than Grand Teton National Park. 

We spotted a moose and a buffalo. They're clearly used to human presence, because they didn't seem fazed by us. 

Buffalo head/buffalo butt:

After what seemed like a long time of driving through forest, we saw open mountain views again. Then, we reached the Yellowstone gate. 

I was sad to leave. 

I was planning to do all of Wyoming in one sitting, but I underestimated the details of my trip that I wanted to share. I'll pick up next time where I left off!

I just found this draft that I never finished from over the summer! This is way old!

I flew to Napa at the end of June (on my birthday, actually), and Alastair and I drove his car to Chicago a few days later for his big move across the country. He was working for the same company he worked for in Australia in Napa (remember how we lived separately for a long time?), and he moved to Chicago for good in July to live with me. 

The road trip took about 4 days, and it was one of the coolest things we've ever done. We made sure to take our time and see the country. Instead of just trekking east on I-80, we wove north after we reached Salt Lake City and then went east again. It was seriously an amazing trip, and I'm so glad that I took A MILLION  photos from the car. Here's a state-by-state recap. 

California
We spent a few days wining and dining in Napa before packing up the car and leaving. It was great to relax and take the time to explore the town while Al was at work, and I got to meet some of his work friends before he said goodbye to them.  

We left Napa on the first day of our road trip and headed east to Lake Tahoe. 

Nevada
Soon after we crossed the border in Lake Tahoe, we witnessed a drastic change in vegetation. The world around us changed from pine trees and mountains, that are undoubtedly snow-peaked in the winter, to the desert. Trees became more scarce, and the lands of green grass and lakes turned into parched redness.
We immediately went through Carson City,  and then we drove straight across the state in a day. There wasn't much to see, but we were amused by the abundance of casinos and lack of sales tax. 

Idaho
On Day 2, we made our way north from Salt Lake City to the Idaho border. We could have stayed on I-80 and taken that all the way to Chicago, but we also wanted to see Yellowstone National Park and thought that we might as well visit Mt. Rushmore. We weren't sure what would ever bring us to South Dakota again. Plus, I had never been to Idaho, Wyoming, South Dakota, or Minnesota (or Utah) before. Al was more than happy to tick those states off with me. I've already driven through Nebraska and Iowa before on the way back from Colorado, so it was wonderful to tread on new territory. 

Unlike Nevada, the land going north was green. The highway passed through some suburbs as we left Salt Lake City, and then we were in Farm Country. Much of our drive was like that through northern Utah and Idaho. We turned east at Idaho Falls and snaked our way towards the Rocky Mountains. We went through tiny towns in the foothills, and although we were delayed by construction on the country roads (the workers stopped us for up to 20 minutes to let oncoming traffic pass through since the roads were single lanes in some places) and there was a complete lack of cell service, it was well worth it to see these places. We could tell that some of these teeny towns were dirt poor, but we could not believe the natural beauty that we saw around us. Soon, we found the Snake River. Wide-eyed and ears popping, we drove along it into the steadily increasing elevation until we reached Wyoming. 

More recaps to come!

Hi friends! I know, I've been away for a very, very long time. This has been my longest hiatus yet. I have to admit that I lose motivation when I'm wrapped up in school, and it sucks! I now have a month-long break, and all I want to do blog. I  miss blogging for fun. The Little Jogger changed my life. It made me realize how much I missed writing, and it made me feel confident enough to apply for nutrition graduate programs. There is no looking back! I may take long breaks, but I don't think that I will ever stop writing!

Believe it or not, most of my nutrition friends and I only have one year to go until we can sit for our R.D. exam. Once we pass, we can WORK! Remember when I had a full-time job and made enough money to pay rent and buy cute clothes? Holy SHOOT, do I miss that! I'll have to write a post (for those of you who care) about the R.D. process and what you have to do to get your degree and registration. It's a lot of work! 

Here's me and my nutrition friends on Thursday at brunch after our last final of the semester:

We were a happy bunch of girls who were glad to be done writing our papers and studying for exams (at least for a month). 

Speaking of writing, I had the most outstanding opportunity last semester that I will likely continue to do for the rest of the academic year. I've been in charge of social media for a blog and a Facebook and Twitter page that promotes a book written by two dietitians called Too Busy To Diet. It's geared towards busy professionals who want to live a healthy lifestyle and need shortcuts for meal planning, healthy recipes, etc. The chapters are short, and you could probably get through the book in a day. 

This book has info on fad diets, detox diets, exercise, cholesterol, fiber, meal planning, eating on the run, traveling, eating out, sugar, super foods, and that's just a taste of what it offers. It includes full meal plans in the appendix (30 breakfasts, 28 lunches, and 35 dinners). There's also more than 10 pages dedicated to snacks. 

This book is heavily researched and has been reviewed by other dietitians, doctors, and personal trainers. Monica and Jackie also have years and years of dietetic practice under their belt. I believe in this book, otherwise I would not mention it here!

If you want a copy (in paper or for your Kindle), you can get it on Amazon.com here. If you want to see what I've been up to with the social media, "like" the Facebook page, follow us on Twitter, or read the blog. It says that all of the blog posts are by Jacqueline, but that ones I wrote say in the first line that they were written by me (Jennifer Martin). I update the Facebook and Twitter page 5 days a week. I give you FREE nutrition advice! Who wouldn't want that?!? 

So I have been cheating on The Little Jogger, but I swear it's for a good cause. 

I'm so excited to have extra free time for TLJ!