Thanksgiving Week + Weekend Recap

Holy Wednesday! I can't believe it's already the middle of the week. I thought for sure this week would creep by after the holiday weekend. But sure enough, here we are in the middle of the week. Thank goodness!! I love it when the weekends are slow and the weeks go by quickly.  Who am I kidding--we all love that, right?!

Working for the weekend!
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I have a ton to catch you up on.  Let's start with Thanksgiving week, shall we? ------- On Wednesday might we headed to our favorite bar down the street to catch up with friends, including some from out of town. 

Before heading out.

It was an unusually warm Turkey day this year, so I had to opt for an outfit that wouldn't completely make me melt while I spent time in the kitchen. I definitely had fun putting this outfit together!

Thanksgiving Day #OOTD

It's a simple Old Navy dress {with a fun skirt} paired with a Banana Republic button up and skinny leather belt. I don't know what brand the black boot is...I might have to look into that for y'all ;)
Thursday was a special day for me. I made my very first Thanksgiving turkey all by myself! And it turned out really well! Wahoo!

I used Trisha Yearwood's family recipe {found here}.
It's super easy and it creates a very juicy turkey (no crispy outside though).

I also made my first, but not last, sweet potato casserole. Check out the recipe {here}. I'm not a fan of sweet potatoes, but I plan to make this again soon!

It has maple syrup and half&half in the sweet potato
mixture and is topped with brown sugar and pecans. Noms!

I also made this bomb.com cheese ball. It had bacon it in and was a big hit!

Pumpkin and Pecan pie.

My sweetie!

Naturally we ended the day with some college basketball!

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We did not spend Friday shopping black Friday sales. No way, no how. We've been out for a few in our years together, but we're not big on the crowds. We are just not cut out for that drama. We heart Cyber Monday though!

Our craving for turkey and ham leftovers lasted about 24 hours. We made our way across town to meet up with my Dad for a short visit, and while we were out we stopped at Noodles & Co. to fill our bellies with non-thanksgiving food.

I tried the truffle mac. It wasn't anywhere near as good as the penne rosa.

While we were close we had to stop at Trader Joe's
 to pick up our favorite snacks and beer.

Trader Joe's has all of their holiday snacks out now--I suggest you stop by and try a few. These peppermint pretzel slims are perfectly light and not too peppermint-y.

We spent Saturday afternoon at one of Nashville's beautiful parks with our wedding photographer shooting our engagement pictures. It was a lot of fun {even with my brace and crutches}. I couldn't ask for a better time or photographer!

What did you do Thanksgiving weekend? Did you travel at all? It was our very first of not having to travel at all!

------- P.s. I'm linking up with Sami for the weekend update blog hop!

Thanksgiving Weekend!

Holy Cow! Yesterday was such a looong day...getting back into the swing of things after a holiday weekend is hard stuff! This past weekend was full of some really great food, interesting memories and lots of laughs. How was yours?

It was great only having to work half of the day on Wednesday. We had a yummy lunch at work and then I was outta there! I celebrated Thanksgiving & spent the weekend with Ryan's family.

Lunch/dessert at work!

Dinner at Ryan's grandma's house. Gobble gobble!

Other than the turkey, our weekend was filled with lots of amazing recipes! We tried out a few from Southern Living, including red velvet cupcakes with brown butter cream cheese icing/white chocolate amaretto icing. Can you say Mmmmm? They were amazing! We made a pumpkin sweet roll and got to use the left over brown butter icing on it. Another winner! If you can get your hands on the current Christmas edition of Southern Living, GET IT!

Helping with the amazing cupcakes!

The major sweet roll before it cooked, waiting for the dough to rise :)

The extra dough...regular cinnamon roll style!

We also got together with our friends for a Friendsgiving. More food, more laughs and more wine! Obviously an equation for a good time ; )

Ryan & Mike

Maria and

The ladies of the family also spent some time crafting while the boys were away at an auto show. It was so fun doing this with the girls...plus I have TWO pretty new wreaths!

 

 

The final product...it took forever, but it's worth it!
I also have an adorable burlap wreath that Ryan's sister in law made me!

Although it was REALLY warm this past weekend (considering the fact that it was the week of Thanksgiving) we still had a fire on Sunday night. It was dreary and cold that day, so it was so nice! I can't get enough of it around this time of year.

Our drink of choice over the weekend.
Can you tell I come from KY? ;)

Lastly, on Sunday night, we decorated the Christmas tree at Ryan's parent's house. We aren't putting a tree or decorations up this year due to our move, so we're living vicariously through them!

Christmas Card?

 It was fun seeing everyone, but I sure am happy to be back home!

Thanksgiving Printables

I'm a huge crafter at heart and while I can find my way around a computer and edit all day long, I don't create printables--I usually purchase or find cute freebies. Well, with Thanksgiving coming up, I fould myself searching for cute printables to use for the holiday! Of course I want to share my favorites : ) There are a few to use as decorations, one that is a game and even some cupcakes wrappers/toppers!

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Be sure to follow Laura Beth if you share too :)

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Be sure to follow Laura Beth if you share too :)

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Thankful guessing game!

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Banner

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Cupcake wrappers!

Aren't these great?? I want to print off all of them the first or second to have around our place. Hope you enjoy!