Does anyone else feel like the holiday season is flying by? Christmas is in just 9 days! 
How the heck did that happen!?!
Last year, I felt like I had plenty of time to enjoy the holidays. Check out how many fun and festive things I did! I really loved my post where I reminisced about Christmas tree ornaments, so I decided to do it again this year.
Here are some of my favorites:
Our First Christmas, 2008
My mom gave Mal and me this ornament for our first Christmas as a married couple.
Glitter snowflake, 2006
Mal and I didn’t have any ornaments for our first Christmas tree together, so we bought a 4-pack of glittery snowflakes to start our collection.
Wally the Green Monster, 2007
I gave this ornament to Mal a couple of years ago. He’s a huge Red Sox fan. It’s just cute.
And we have just a few pug ornaments.
Well, actually, we have 24.
Even before Murphy came into my life, I had a pug “problem.” I suppose, you could say I was a tad obsessed with them (Example 1, Example 2, Example 3).
Anyway, my mom gave me a SET of 24 pug ornaments for Christmas last year, so now our tree is well-decorated with my favorite curly tail creatures. 
Breakfast
Well, breakfast was actually a pre-gym snack this morning. I’ve decided to change my morning schedule, so my meals might be a little wacky every now and then until April 1 (when the first draft of my book is due).
Yesterday, I spoke with a writing coach (thanks, Dawn!), who suggested blocking off 1.5 hours every morning to just write, which means that I will flip-flop my normal routine. My new plan is to wake up at 5:00 AM to write for 1.5 hours and then hit the gym for a workout. Breakfast and blogging will fit in there somewhere! Hopefully, this plan will work better for me and I’ll squeeze in some much-needed writing time.
Around 6:30, I made myself a piece of toast with Barney Butter to help fuel my workout.
And, from 5:00 – 6:30 this morning, I drank 1.5 glasses of iced coffee. Early-morning writers NEED coffee!
Feel Great Weight
New post on Health.com: 5 Holiday Gifts for Fitness Fanatics
12 Days of Giveaways
Here’s your random winner for the Lavender Spa Giveaway:
#148 Mag
on Dec 15th, 2009 at 1:23 pm [edit]
would love to try the french lavender body lotion. love lavender!
Congrats!!! Please email me with your full name and mailing address.
—
Off to the gym! See ya later!
P.S. There’s a GOOD giveaway this morning! Probably the best of the 12 Days! 
{ 43 comments… read them below or add one }
Those pug ornaments are super cute!
Just love the ornaments and the coffee is a must for writing. Thanks and have a happy holiday season.
I’m so glad that all of your pug dreams came true this year!
I love your pug ornaments!
BEAUTIFUL ornaments and words.
Love your ornaments!! So festive
I’m interested to see how the new writing schedule works for you!
Love the pug ornaments
I always get my best writing done early in the morning
Actually, everything is best early in the morning!!
I like your ornament post. I remember it from last year too!
Cute ornaments
We’ve collected ornaments since we got together and I have many from my years before Hunni since I’ve always collected them. I love the gym bag I bought the year I lost most of the weight
The ornaments looks really pretty !
I feel most productive when I start working in the early morning. Good luck with your new schedule!
I *finally* found those stainless steel straws that you always use with your coffee. I bought a pack of four off of Amazon and they are super cool! Eco-friendly as well.
I can’t believe it either . . . Christmas came faster than ever this year
Love the ornaments.
I know, I can’t believe Christmas is NEXT WEEK!!!
I love the pug ornaments
haha I love your collection of pug ornaments! Adorable.
Reserving 1.5 hours in the morning to write is such a fantastic idea. I find that I definitely write best in the morning, too. Maybe I just feel more open and creative? Since I have a full-time job (until I transition into freelancing midway through the new year), fitting writing into my morning routine is sometimes a challenge. That’s why I wake up at 4:30. People (including my boyfriend) think I’m crazy, but waking up at such an early hour ensures that I have time to work out, have breakfast, and arrive at work early so I can do some of my own writing before I become steeped in my assignments. I think you will adjust to your new schedule very quickly! And once you see the progress you’ve made with your book, you’ll be so satisfied.
Good luck!
We have a puggat puppy, so those ornaments are right up my alley, so adorable! Any idea where your mom found these gems?
Oh yes, and coffee also helps the writing process a ton!
I love ornaments.. those holiday pugs are super cute!
@Jenna: They’re from the Danbury Mint.
I love the pug ornaments! We have a TON of Boston terrier ornaments as well – it’s a bit of an addiction
9 days?! I need to get off the computer and go shopping, pronto!
My friend is writing her dissertation and her writing coach told her to write a certain number of pages each day, bad or good. That way she had more to work with and felt like she was moving along.
This whole year has flown by for me… Where did it go?! Your ornaments are so cute. We have a dachshund so we have “just a few” doxie ornaments
Good luck with the early morning writing plan – I think that sounds like a good idea. It’s hard to fit everything in!
ahahahah.. “actually we have 24″
hope your new plan works!
jenna
I totally feel like it’s going so fast! I haven’t even done any holiday baking yet!
i love your pug ornaments! i love when decorations have sentimental value!
I am going to have to check Shaw’s for barney butter… It always looks so good on your blog! I love all of your adorable pug ornaments!!!
I must admit…I’ve never had Barney Butter, but it sure does LOOK great on everyone’s food! Great pictures of the ornaments!
That sounds like great advice from the writing coach. If you’re looking for more inspiration, I would recommend Anne Lamott’s book on writing, “Bird by Bird.” She has great advice on how to overcome writer’s block and really express yourself through your writing. My favorite piece of advice is her suggestion to just write something, anything, no matter how crappy it is – get it down on paper and worry about fixing it up later. Good luck!
WOW getting up at 5am to write take commitment! I admire that! have a great day! PS I love your ornaments!
Your ornaments are so cute! My husband and I went to rival colleges so our favorite ornaments are our college logo ornaments. We always try to hang them next to eachother and it always gets laughs when people see them displayed right out front!!
i love all the pug ornaments. i also had a TON of garfield ornaments. i think once people know you like something, they just keep on giving them to you!
Words cannot properly convey my love for your pug ornament collection.
I always do my best work in the morning
i love all your pug ornaments! we have a number of jack russell ones for our dog too.
I love the pug ornaments! I may have to look for those! too cute! I also had a pug obsession for about 5 years before I finally got my little puggy 7 years ago. He’s just perfect.
Surely you’ve seen this video of the pug that says “I love you.” Cracks me up every time!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEtvcsqGipo
The pug ornaments are just too adorable!
Best wishes with your new schedule & your writing!
Lynn
i love all of your pug ornaments…i have a black pug…so i have been collecting pug ornaments too!
Just reading about all your book writers is making me stressed! Good luck!!
LOVE all the cute pug ornaments:)
that snowflake is pretty.