December goal

Given that I am not currently training for anything, but I still want to maintain a good running condition, my goal this December was to run 30 miles. I ended up with 40, which is pretty nice. Most of them were treadmill miles, which besides what some running snobs may say, still count.

The final product

I finally got the chairs I ordered, which I like a lot, and hung new frames to complete the new look of my dining room. And besides the hurt finger, I also made 3 new pillows for the little bench in the entry way because the old ones were already looking quite tired.

Bad finger

On Monday night I had a little accident with a vegetable peeler, and sliced a piece of my left pinky finger. Since the urgent care was closed by then I had to go to the emergency room, which of course turned into a 4 hour affair. At least my sister came and waited with me, and the girls made me some "get well" cards. Now, let's the healing process begin.

Downtown visit

On Monday morning we went downtown to the ice skating rink at Fountain Square. Since Bella had never been at my work before, she asked if we could stop by as well - so we did. We went to my new floor, my old floor, and were surprised to find my friend Cheryl there because the office is usually pretty empty over the holiday break.

We ice skated for less than 1 hour, because the girls got tired and started to complain that their feet were hurting. So surprisingly enough, I was the last one on the ice. After that we had lunch at Tellers in Hyde Park, and finished just in time for my dentist appointment and a bit of shopping to finish the dining room.

Loved this!

The pessimists should definitely not stand in the way of the optimists.

Holiday Junction at Museum Center

Saturday turned out to be a rainy day. So even though I had wanted to go ice skating with the family, we had to change our plans. Instead we went to Holiday Junction at the Museum Center, which is a train display. But before you got to the trains you had to walk by one of the regular exhibits, which is all about Cincinnati throughout time. I had been to that side of the museum center, but it had been a while. And even though I thought I had been through the entire exhibit, it turns out I had not. So we all enjoyed checking it out.

The Holiday train display had a "Lionel Trains" section, which Lionel particularly enjoyed. And Bella got to ride in a little train, but Sofia was too tall for it anymore.  We then headed to the Children's Museum, where the girls ran around for a little while before the museum closed at 6.

After the museum we had dinner at Palominos. I had made a reservation there thinking we would go ice skating, since the restaurant is right next to Fountain Square. And besides, since we always end up going to the same places, I thought it would be good to go somewhere else for a change. I also thought the girls would enjoy the view, since from the restaurant you could see the giant Christmas tree.

I had started the day in a bad mood, but hanging out with Lionel and the girls really lifted my spirits.

Christmas coloring by the girls