Black Friday!

Happy Black Friday!!

We ended up fighting the crowds to do a little shopping this afternoon, but I came home empty-handed.   We did a LOT of walking, though, so at least we got some exercise and sunshine!!!

I did get some ideas for the list I’m going to send to Santa this year… 

To recap, Thanksgiving went pretty well for us yesterday. I started the day off with a 5-mile run with my friend, Heidi. We figured we needed to burn some extra calories for the day, so it was a longer run than normal, but really fun! I love waking up early and getting my exercise over with for the day.

When I got home, I went straight to work baking cookies, and prepping our Thanksgiving feast. It felt a little werid, because this was the first year that my husband and I were on our own for the big meal. Since we already had all of our homemade favorites last Sunday for Dawsonsgiving, I felt like it was a little pointless doing ALL of that cooking again for just two people– so this time I did a LOT of cheating! (shhh! don’t tell)

Trader Joe’s made our mashed potatoes:

Whole foods made our stuffing:

And we were SO excited to see that Whole Foods was carrying our FAVORITE vegetarian brown gravy again:

I never liked ANY gravy until I discovered this one. This is hands-down my favorite!!

And of course, we had our usual Tofurkey:

Here’s what my plate looked like:

I was really happy with our meal– I ate enough that I was satisfied, but not painfully full! In years past, I’ve had a tendency to eat until I’m uncomfortably full… so this was big progress for me! Wahoo!!

After our meal, we went to another movie! This time, it was Old Dogs.

It was enjoyable enough… I think anyone who liked Wild Hogs last year, would definitely like this movie. There were definitely parts that made me laugh, but if you’re looking to see a movie this weekend, I’d probably recommend The Blind Side or Fantastic Mr. Fox first! I’m going to try and see one more movie this weekend, before I leave for my business trip on Sunday!! I’m thinking maybe The Road will be next…

After our movie, we came back home and had dessert with our in-laws. I made mulled apple cider using some mulling spices from Williams-Sonoma, and we served pumpkin pie:

(also courtesy of the cooks at Whole Foods) Our in-laws brought over the exact same pie! Ha ha! We were in the same mind-set this year.   We normally eat our big Thanksgiving feast with our in-laws (my husband’s brother and his wife), but this year they JUST moved and were not up to it yesterday. So we all had a pretty lazy Thanksgiving… which was actually just fine! We had a great time with them for dessert, and it was nice enjoying our meal and dessert so far apart each other. It gave our digestive systems a much-needed rest.

I had a very skinny slice of pie, because I knew I had a dessert buffet in my future! My husband and I were invited to an evening dessert buffet, where each guest was asked to bring a dessert. I brought my favorite Peanut Butter Temptation cookies. I really had no intention of eating from the dessert buffet, but when we arrived, I realized that wasn’t possible! The hosts hovered around us to make sure we tried everybody’s dessert!

I took the smallest possible servings of each. For the most part, I didn’t like much of what I tasted. I guess I’m a pretty picky dessert eater. I did enjoy some lemon-marshmellow pie (my husband’s boss made it, so I might have to ask her for the recipe!), a shortbread-chocolate bar, and a few bites of a peanut butter ball. I tried a bite of everything else, but I didn’t feel too guilty not finishing my plate. I would have been sick if I did! I think everyone was so boozed-up by that point, no one noticed anyway.

Overall, it was a very successful Thanksgiving. I got to enjoy friends, family and food, and that’s all that matters, right?