Personal Training
Shopping Survival Tips and Hanukkah Dinner!
Hey friends! Long time no talk! How was everyones weekend? Mine was great, very nice, busy yet laid back (if that can make sense) I got some holiday shopping done which I was not looking forward to. Let me rephrase that–I was looking forward to getting some gifts for family and friends whom I love and care about, but I was not looking forward to stepping foot into the dreaded mall around this time of year. I try to stay far away from any sort of shopping plaza or mall around the holidays, however it seems to be inevtiable. PIcture the scene:
Driving around looking for a parking spot in a crowded lot with no open spots. Everyone is driving around giving each other the evil eye seeing who can snag a spot first. OH! I found a man with bags walking towards his car…this spot is SO mine!! I get excited, put on my blinker, turn the music up because I feel like dancing, and BOOM he crosses lanes and walks across you to his car. Fail. You lose the spot. This happened about 4 times in the course of 15 minutes of driving in circles. Its as if these people know that they are going to pull the sneak attack and cross lanes when they see people following them to their cars! Grrrr, that frustrates me!
Anyways, I got my spot after a little while and made my way to the mall. I got my things in a few hours and got out of there! I also put together this list of
Holiday Mall Survival Tips A La OneFitFoodie
- Make sure you have water to keep you hydrated. Not only are the malls jacked up with heat, and water will be a key player in your shopping, but it will also keep you focused, hydrated and cool. Drink up!
- Make sure you have some sort of snack with you. To this mall trip I brought a plum, some almonds, greek yogurt and cooked sweet potato to munch on throughout the trip. I didn’t know if I was going to have any of it or all of it, but I like to have things just in case! Being hungry while shopping can impair your judgement and make you buy something like this:
- Okay, I kid about that, but just make sure you have some nutrients in that purse of yours!!
- Stay focused! I make a list before I go to the mall so I know which stores I want to go into and what presents I want to look for for specific people. If I walk into Bloomingdales with no agenda, lets just say thats not the best idea
- Make a seperate shopping day for you. This is similar to the tip above but when I shop for family and friends, I make sure to make it all about them. I set aside another time and place to get things for myself!
- Wear comfy clothes and leave the jacket in the car! I have made this mistake before of wearing my big winter jacket on, and I always end up getting so hot, I have to lug it around, or I forget about it when its off and leave it in the store. Just do yourself a favor, make sure you are wearing comfortable clothes (shoes!!) and no jacket.
- Look for the sales before you go. Check out the local newspapers for those coupons or go on line to see what stores are having sales, most of the time the popular stores are having big deals with gift packages and such. Check it out before hand!
- Know where the bathrooms are. Enough said
- Put things on hold if you are not 100% sure about them. Keep walking around and see if you can get better deals or find something better. No loss for you!
- HAVE FUN!!!!
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Last night my family and I had a great Hanukkah dinner complete with all of the fixins! WHen I was little Hanukkah worked like this: My brother and I would get 6-7 smaller gifts (think pajamas, candles, keychains, gift certificates etc) and then 1 bigger gift. One year I got a tennis racket, one year my brother and I got a HUGE white board (the size they have in classrooms) for our basement that was the best thing ever! One year I got a Michael Kors bag. You get the point. As we got older we just sort of enjoyed the gift of money or “gelt” as we call it during Hanukkah. This year I did get a big gift though! I had a choice. Before the gifts, the food! I apologize, my camera was out of batteries so these are iphone pictures
Gelt!
Sweet potato and regular potato latkes
Green beans with sauteed onions
Arugala salad with tomatoes, eddamame and cucumbers
Roasted chicken
The goods
Food!!! I enjoyed everything. It was so fabulous. I give all the credit to my mom for cooking this amazing dinner. I topped the sweet potato latkes with applesauce and it was BEYOND delicious!
So the gift I got was a choice between my parents paying for Camp Savage which is in January OR a pair of Cole Haan boots that I really wanted. My mom got me the boots, and we all concluded that they weren’t as cute in person as they were on-line, so I am going with Camp Savage and I am going to keep my eye out for another pair of boots! I am super excited!!
ANd for breakfast I had some oatmeal + egg whites + berries
Snacks at work of raw veggies (greek yogurt, almond butter as well)
Oh and have I mentioned that french press coffee is the most amazing thing on earth?
I hope you all have a fabulous Monday!!!
Question of the day: How do you get through holiday shopping. Do you have any tips or traditions?
