Navigating holiday parties

Well the holiday season is in full effect. I feel like every weekend we have some holiday party to attend. Plus, I need to finish my Christmas shopping. I tell myself every year I’m going to shop throughout the year so I don’t have to run around last minute but we all know how that goes. I think I bought maybe three things this year and then December came and I’m in full on panic mode! I wouldn’t be if I had unlimited funds and didn’t have to plan my shopping around my paychecks ::sigh::

So let’s talk about holiday parties for a minute. The holidays in general make it hard to stick to a healthy life style. I mean…..Egg Nog….can you even?  Luckily for me, I guess, a lot of the glutinous items that are found as part of the holiday spread do not react well with my body so I have no choice but to stay away. But for the average person what’s the secret? Or do you just let it all go to hell in a hand basket from October to January? Then deal with the repercussions come January 1^st when you’re pleading to the resolution gods to help you lose the 5, 10, maybe 15lbs you gained. Hmmm.                                                                    

              

            

When I could eat bread and all that fun stuff I was still very conscious about what I ate during the holidays. It was always my goal to not gain holiday weight. Then and even today I make it a point to find out what the menu is and decide in advance what I’m going to eat. If I get there and something is served I hadn’t planned for, if I can eat it, I take very little but I don’t deprive myself. When it comes to desserts I limit myself to one or just don't have any at all. And I drink a lot of water. Water keeps me feeling full. This is also a good way not to consume to much alcohol because I don’t know about you but when I feel full the last thing I want to do is drink more. Another trick I have adopted over the past couple years is having a snack or small meal beforehand. Not only so I don’t over eat but because there usually aren’t a lot of options for me. If it's a pot luck situation I make dishes that I can eat and share. Who cares if other people don't like it, they'll take a little to be nice and I'll have at least one or two items I can eat. Plus, it’s annoying to me and I know it would probably annoy the host if I had to ask what was in everything.

Ok time for a side rant…….if you have a food allergy/intolerance or follow a special diet do not get mad at the host for not having items you can eat or not remembering your issue. Bring your own food! Boom!

Ok enough holiday healthy talk I wanna talk about my face! ::sigh:: my poor face. My thirties have not been kind. Since I turned 30 I started having these dark spots appear on my chubby little cheeks. HELLO! My face is big enough. I do not need to draw any more attention to it. So I’ve been wearing more and more makeup to cover it up. Ummmm I’m not a big makeup person. In fact when my husband first met me I never wore make up. It wasn’t until I got an office job that I started wearing it and now I really just wear it to cover my spots. Me putting on makeup is always awkward and I really don’t know how to put it on. I kinda just slap some ‘ish on my face, throw some color on my eyes, try to apply eyeliner and off I go.  The problem is my makeup no longer covers my spots. They peak through and kinda look like giant birth marks. I thought for the longest time that I had hyperpigmentation from growing up in Florida. I love the sun so I thought the sun was just cursing me and my fair skin. Nope! Come to find out I have Melasma! What!? Apparently its hereditary. I mean the sun exacerbates it but still. WTF! So……the dermatologist prescribed me some crazy bleach for my spots. She said it won’t get rid of it but will help lighten it. UGH! I just wanna not wear makeup anymore but I will settle for not having to cake my face in concealer. Oh, and wait there’s more. Acne! Yes, I get zits on my plump little cheeks too! Right under the cheek bone, and on my chin, and forehead. I mean………I can’t with my face right now. So, I also have some cream I have to put on my face for that. Holy Moly Batman I am not aging gracefully.

                                

So, a fun fact about me is that I love a good fun fact. Little tid bits of knowledge you can just shower people with……. or annoy them…depends on who you talk to. For example, I told my oldest sister, fun fact, a single grape is 5 calories. She didn’t appreciate me telling her that as she was eating grapes. I admit my timing was bad but really when else was I supposed to share that knowledge bomb!?

I thought I would start sharing some of my favorite fun facts with you! Doesn’t that sound fun? Huh? You betcha!

Ok so for your first fun fact my FAVORITE fact that I feel like I need to tell everyone is that mustard is a natural fat burner! What!? I know…. mind blown! It must be true too because my beautiful niece is so long and lean and she used to eat mustard on everything when she was little! And I'm sure it's also due to her genetics. Darn that family and their great metabolisms!

Well, I guess I’ve spewed enough information at you this post. Hey, I did good, no list! Could you see that I really wanted to list things? I mean this whole post really could have been a giant list. It’s sad really. My whole life runs on lists. I wake up with a list in my mind of what I need to do in the morning, I have lists at home, I make lists at work. #allthelists.

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