Mrs. Skinny Fat: A Puppy for Christmas

Happy Holidays!
Love, Miles

Is Christmas already behind us? It doesn't seem quite possible! My Christmas was filled with quality family time including great conversations, loads of laughs, intense workouts, thoughtful giving, and yummy food with a dash of treats! It was truly a blessed holiday and I'm humbled more than ever for my seemingly endless love for life...for living! I sincerely hope that all of you had an equally blessed holiday.

Well, while it doesn't relate to my common theme of eating clean and working out, I wanted to share this fun Christmas giving blog post with you all. Last week, you will note that I was off the grid when it came to my blogging efforts. My household was rather chaotic - with good reason! My brother, who lives in South Carolina, called upon my husband and I in an effort to find a puppy for his wife, Jenny. As an owner of a Golden Doodle, I have come to absolutely love the breed and persuaded my bro to do his research. Soon after, he was sold. In group fashion (my brother, my husband, and I), stumbled upon the perfect puppy! Mr. & I traveled to meet and pick up the newest member of our family on the 16th...and ultimately signed up to live a puppy-filled life - in addition to our two other dogs and kitty - for seven days. It was tricky to balance all the happenings - both being more than busy on the work front, but fun in its own fashion. During this time, my brother checked in everyday on his pup and we plotted with my mom on the best way to make the special deliver happen for my sister-in-law. We even got her parents involved in the scheming! Mind you, she has been dreaming of having a puppy for quite sometime, but truly thought it was "out of the question" at this point in their lives. We had no doubts that the surprise element would be there, but wanted to get creative...just in case!

We decided to leverage my youngest brother, Trenton, who resides in NY and was unable to be with us physically over the holiday, as the reason for a pre-Christmas gathering to share virtually, rather, a Secret Santa opening of gifts between the siblings and spouses. My mom wrapped a big box and labeled it #1 and had other "Secret Santa" boxes on display. Upon arrival to my parents house, we did a drawing (in which, secretly all were labeled 1) and whoever drew the #1 got to go first and open the biggest present. Jenny, my brother's wife, naturally drew the #1 and was extremely excited to open the big present - completely clueless to what was waiting for underneath the wrapping.

I will let the video tell the rest of the story. Surrounded by my family, Jenny's parents, and friends - Jenny opened one present she will surely remember forever. Please forgive my horrible recording effort. I was all wound up in anticipation!

Meet Cooper!
It didn't take Jenny long to think of the perfect
name for her new pup!
She just had to recover from the "shock" first!

Cooper the day we picked him up snuggling on my lap.

Cooper and my kitty Pinot hit it off immediately.
Truly, best friends! They crawled in the crate together and
I couldn't resist shutting the door and snapping a pic. Too cute!