I'll start by wishing you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!! This will be my final update of 2008.

I'm officially in 'holiday mode', today is my final day of work...yahoo! This year, my 'sleepy hollow like city' is actually experiencing weather that one would expect during the holiday season anywhere, but here.....we have SNOW!...and lots of it. In fact, it has been snowing here off and on for the last five days and falling constantly for the last 3 days!!! My car is easy to drive in the snow, but we have so much of it that I've been forced to park my car and upgrade to something more suitable for now.

Even with the crappy gas mileage, I think I'd like to get a truck. This could be my inner 'red-neck' speaking, but I do enjoy being able to navigate around in a vehicle that size...I can drive on or over things and not even feel it!!

And speaking of the holidays, I'm not sure what a Christmas season would be like without parties and endless party tray preparation!


I may be skilled in other areas, but the kitchen is where I do my best work :)

Ya know, even with all the parties I've attended, I'm still not filled with the so called 'Christmas spirit'. My sis, bro and I have 'opted out' of any and all family celebrations on both sides of the family. Instead, we have chosen to celebrate amongst friends (aka the riff-raff) who don't have family in the area or simply don't have any family at all. Considering this is the first Christmas without my parents together, it's been a huge adjustment and not an easy one. Fortunately, the holidays will come and go in a 'blink'....

So far, all is well with my training. Recently, I did need to take a few days off due to a pinch in my trap/neck. I was training while I was plagued by a serious head cold and somehow, I managed to hurt myself. It has healed up quickly and the residual stiffness I feel is easily fixed by a healthy dose of anti-inflams and a good warm-up at the gym before I train. You may think I'm nuts for training even though I still have some stiffness, but I assure you, the only thing that would make me crazy would be an extended period out of the gym. With all of my work/family stress I NEED an outlet and the gym is where I relieve it. Aside from stress relief, I can't afford to take extended time off from the gym with the upcoming contest season quickly approaching....I have zero time to screw around. Hell, I'll be on stage at the New York Pro in a little less than 5 months!!

As for my nose piercing...I'm still lovin'it...it has almost completely healed. The only time I KNOW it's there is when I hook it on something like a towel...that's when I get a huge reminder that it hasn't completely healed yet.

alright....that's enough outta me...happy holidays!!!