Marvelous Monday

This Monday is a marvelous one, as per usual.  Let's go!

1) I am very, very proud of my friend Nat and her husband M (that's his name on her blog, so I will do the same here).  They both ran the Tucson Marathon yesterday.  M set an automatic PR 'cause it was his first marathon (yay!) and Nat improved her time from her first marathon last December by six minutes.  Major kudos, toasts and cheers to these two, who also managed to get married in the early stages of their marathon training!

2) While they were running 26.2 miles, in between rooting for them in my home, I was pondering cookies.  I had stashed many dozen gingerbread and sugar cookies in the freezer until I was ready to devote time to icing and decorating.  That time sort of came last night - and by that, I mean that the icing process was a Marvelous Mess that included a break to scramble to the local grocery store to get more almond extract, because mine had either run out or dried up.  It also included a failed experiment subbing vanilla extract for almond.  And frosting on my face that I found much later.  Hmph.

But when it's all said and done, is it possible for icing made from powdered sugar, almond extract and milk to be anything less than marvelous, even if it's too thick or too thin or all over my kitchen counter and sink?  Here are my cookies.

3) It's literally 35 degrees warmer than it was when I woke up on Saturday morning.  I'm running with my brother tonight and I gave a dismissive "not this time!!!" scowl toward my facemask this morning.  

4) This holiday season I had ruled out ordering cards with photos, until this weekend, when I grew to have a true hankering for photo cards.  Groan for this indecision.  I asked my mom for recommendations, and she suggested Vista Print, for which she also had a coupon.  It turns out they offer a lot of options and were running a great sale, so I found some I really like that didn't break the bank.  I am happy for how this worked out, in a relative pinch.

5) Finally, Josh and I drove up to visit my grandma yesterday for lunch.  As soon as we turned into the driveway, we saw this sitting near her birdfeeder.

We went inside and learned that my uncle was up on the farm doing some work.

"Hey, what's up with that log outside?" I asked him.

"It's the biggest Yule Log you'll ever see!" he said triumphantly. 

And, of course, he's right.  I do love that Yule Log.

What's marvelous about your Monday?