Yay, Friday! Today wraps up two weeks of nonstop presenting at work and the start of my life slowly becoming a little less hectic. My weekend is going to consist of some type of Christmas activity with Tim tonight, Saturday morning workout (gym friends, any ideas?), home friends Christmas party, and last-minute shopping/wrapping on Sunday. What are you guys up to? Any suggestions for a fun holiday date night? I would love to hear your ideas.

In the meantime, here are my faves from this week. Enjoy!

Food

• Who has a bajillion holiday parties to attend over the next week? Here are some healthy eating strategies to survive any holiday party, along with 15 healthier holiday desserts.
• Cranberry pear crumble? Yes please.
• Peanut “better” balls? Must make.
• Are you someone who doesn’t really care for vegetables? Read on for tips to get excited about veggies.
• How to chop herbs <— good to know.
• How to store cheese <— we’ve been doing it all wrong in our apartment.
• Some of these comparisons are a little scary! Here’s some info on holiday portion control so you can see what one portion of your favorite treats actually looks like.
• You guys know I love recipe round-ups. Here are 22 healthy holiday party crock pot recipes!
• You can never have enough sangria recipes. Doesn’t this one sound delish!?

Fitness

• Why do you train? Read this post, and then think about it.
• How much exercise is enough? How much is too much? Everyone’s different, but there’s a lot of good tidbits in this post.
• Do you run through the winter? Here are some recommendations for gloves to keep you warm while running outside this winter.
• HIIT: What it is, and why it really does work.
• Some kettlebell moves from Jen! Yay!
• Julie compiled a nice list of workout music resources for fitness instructors. Fellow teachers, check it out!
• Looking for some new ways to change up your workouts? This post has some solid tips for getting the results you want.

Some other stuff

• 40 ways to relax in five minutes or less. I think we could all use a little help around this time of year!
• For those women who choose not to have kids, this article has a nice perspective and is worth the read.
• Empathy versus sympathy. If you don’t understand the difference, watch this video that I found on Kelly’s blog this week, and learn from it.
• Viral Christmas card if you haven’t seen it by now. Pretty awesome.
• For my local readers, check out the top 25 “douchiest” bars in Boston. How many do you agree with? How many have you been to?

You guys didn’t have too much to send my way this week, but here are a couple of things:

Slesh sent me this ALARMING article about bananas.

And Ashley sent me this picture, for obvious reasons.

Have a great weekend, you guys!