One Man's Trash is Another's Treasure

On Saturday night we were hosting an Unwanted Gift Exchange.  The basic premise was for each person to bring one gift they had received over the holidays but did not want.  The gifts didn't have to be cheesy or crappy (although those are more fun), just not your style.  Our friends had been slow to rsvp, on Monday we only had 2 guests attending, by Wednesday we were up to 23.  I was prepared for a long day, after an already long week.

I didn't wake up easily but I made it downstairs with enough time to put together a breakfast sandwich = 299 calories.  I went over to the restaurant and got my day started with a cup of hot chocolate in hopes the sugar would wake me up = 120 calories.

I was busy early on in my shift, made about $75 and was home by 1pm.  I had a few handfuls of chex mix while I made a grocery list & cleaned up the house = 120 calories.

I spent the rest of the afternoon cooking & cleaning, getting the house ready for the evening's events.  Here's a run down of the food we had at the party. 

 crab dip with crackers

 Vic & Tammy brought 100 McDonald's Chicken McNuggets, huge hit!

 I made a few loaves of banana bread

 Sarah brought clementine cupcakes

 we had a mixed fruit bowl

 and a veggie tray

 it wouldn't be a party at our house without buffalo chicken dip

 Joe picked up these sausages, franks & meatballs from BJs

 I also picked up 3 plain pizzas from work.

I tried a little bit of most of the food.  I totaled my calories at 1478 and that's without any alcohol.  Luckily, I did a lot of walking at work and around the house all night so I managed to still burn calories.  I think everyone had a good time.  We handed out the presents "Yankee Swap" style.  Each person took a number and then picked a gift in that order, you could choose a gift from the table or steal something from someone before you.  I wish I had more pictures of everyone with their gifts but I was running the event & really just didn't think about it until now.  Here's a variety of pictures I did manage to capture.

 Mark, Kate & Anna

 Luke finally getting at Beans with help from Nicole

 Shana & Edra

 Tammy & Vic who's Chia Pets were a poplar gift

 Rob, Nicole & Angela

 Sarah & me

 Stephanie & baby Mario

 Jack with his awesome new hat

 After most of our friends with kids headed home we decided to break out the wii.  They started with some home run derby but after everyone else got bored watching "baseball" we decided to break out Smarty Pants.  It's a really fun trivia game that's usually a crowd pleaser.  You'll notice who won the first game, me!

 I thought it was adorable that Rob & Angela played with their arms around each other, hands in pockets.

 Not the best picture of Joe ever taken but it was the best of the 5+ I took.

Team black & teal...I'm not sure how much their matching outfits helped their score though.

I headed up to bed around midnight while there were still about 10 people downstairs.  I'm not sure what time Joe came up but I knew I'd be a waste in the morning if I didn't get to sleep soon.

How did I do on my January goals?

1. drink 64oz of water every day: check, every day total

2. track all my food & burn at least 500 calories a day for at least 25 days: 2618 burned -2017 eaten = 601 total burned, 16 days total

3. 1000 fitness minutes, not allowed to count walking at the restaurant: 0 minutes today, 557 total for month

4. run 20 miles: 0 today, 21.6 total

5. 15 spend free days - I spent money on food for the party, 6 days total