I have to say though... I really missed blogging, reading blogs and having access to a computer. My mom doesn't have a computer or wi-fi which meant only checking things on my phone which meant no blogging for almost a week. So, I missed everyone a lot and am going to try to fill you in on my crazy week all in one re-cap post rather than a bunch of smaller ones, so I hope you have a nice warm beverage and are ready to get the details.
Thanksgiving
I missed Fashion Friday and Saturday Sessions this week and I intend to do a mini version of each of them, but first I am going to tell you all about my time at home with my lovely mother. We had 50 people at my Mom's house for Thanksgiving, which meant that we cooked, baked, cleaned, decorated and organized our little tushes off. It was so much fun! It was a lot a lot of work, but well worth it. My parents recently got divorced and it has been really hard for my mom and my family because of how messy it was. It was nice to have a holiday that was drama free and "normal" after having several years of bad holidays. My mom cried during Grace before we ate dinner and was so thankful that so many people from the family came to celebrate Thanksgiving and to support her. I had to fight back tears. It was great to see my family and spend so much time together. I forgot to take pictures, because we were so busy, but I did get one shot of two people that I love so much.
This is my wonderful GG and our family dog Gabi.
They are basically best friends as my mom drops Gabi off at GG's for "daycare" every morning while she is at work.
Every year before we eat we play a family game of football outside. This year the crowd was smaller because it was 14 degrees outside with negative 10 degree windchill. Brrrr. My family played a heated Girls Vs. Boys game of Trivial Pursuit after dinner. The boys won for the fifth year in a row. Shoot! It was a really close game though and we almost pulled out a win.
My mom and I also took the time to go through her extensive Christmas collection and get the house decorated. My mom collects Santas and she has hundreds of them. I am sad that I didn't take pictures, but I will and then I will show you how fabulous they are. She also has a lot of Santa Bears that our dog Gabi really enjoyed :)
Gabi and the Santa Bear collection.
The Feast
Another Thanksgiving tradition that I take part in every year is called the Feast. It is a friendsgiving that we have had for 8 years. My high school friends and I get together at my friend Hilary's house the Saturday after Thanksgiving every year to make a meal together and have some fun. It is something that I look forward to every year and would be lost without it. It is pretty rare for people to get together with high school friends for the same event every year, but we all try to make it a priority.
This year was our smallest attendance to date with only 10 people attending (we are usually close to 20) but it was still a lot of fun. We have a strict no significant others can come unless you are engaged or married. Some people don't like it, but rules are rules and they are not to be broken. Ron was not allowed to come since we are not engaged or married, but that is okay with me because we see each other all the time and we don't want to break the rules.
My group of girl friends from high school minus Brooke.
Jen, Hilary, me, Stacie and Kelsey.
Our Feast of food. All of the usual Thanksgiving goodness.
10 Feasters ready for some food and fun.
Expressing our thanks for one another, our families and having health and happiness.
Fashion Friday: A Black Friday Fashion Finds Feature
Alright, so I may have gone black friday shopping this year for the second year in a row and loved it. We didn't go at 3 am, but we did go when we woke up and we did get a lot of good deals. My wonderful boyfriend accompanied me even though we wasn't exactly thrilled with the thought. So, what did I get you might ask. Well I got some toys for my nephews and niece, some things for Ron, my Mom, my siblings, my GG and well maybe a couple of things for me :)
I was going to organize it all to show you, but for the sake of time I am just showing you the massive pile that I now get to wrap!
Hello purple my favorite color. Hello beautiful zipper detail. Hello flats that are cute and comfortable. I am in love. Kenneth Cole Slip My Mind CK in Passion.
Another view of my new flats and also a peek at my new We Love Colors tights in Maroon. If you know me you know that I love tights. I love this pop of color (maybe not with the purple shoes) and these tights come in like 29 colors and are very affordable. I will say that I am an apple shape meaning that I am bigger in my middle and I have relatively smaller legs and thighs. I would probably have ordered these a size or two smaller because they kind of gather at points on my legs because there is too much fabric. If you are bigger in the legs you should probably just follow the guidelines listed on their website.
Next Up... Hello lover. My obsession when it comes to shoes it wedges. I love these slate grey wedges. They are super comfortable and inexpensive. They look great with skinny jeans or with We Love Colors tights. They are from Target and are the brand Merona and called Myka.
Hello holiday hotness. You need to get these wedges from Target.
Saturday Sessions
I am once again a day late with this post, my apologies. This is going to be a very quick, abbreviated version of the SS.
1. Make it a holiDAY and not a holi-week or longer.
SUCCESS!! I made it a holiday and not anything more than that. I made a plan and stuck to it and it paid off. I didn't over-indulge and I only ate items that I get once a year. I had one glass of wine which was my first drink in almost 8 weeks and it was wonderful. I am going to really buckle down for the rest of the year to get some optimal results by New Year's.
2. Start keeping track of my mood more often.
I did okay with this, but definitely room for improvement. I need to keep better track of this whether it is mentally or physically on a piece of paper. I stopped myself from buying a candy bar when I was really hungry at the grocery store and realized that I was just really hungry and didn't really want a candy bar.
SUCCESS!! I made it a holiday and not anything more than that. I made a plan and stuck to it and it paid off. I didn't over-indulge and I only ate items that I get once a year. I had one glass of wine which was my first drink in almost 8 weeks and it was wonderful. I am going to really buckle down for the rest of the year to get some optimal results by New Year's.
2. Start keeping track of my mood more often.
I did okay with this, but definitely room for improvement. I need to keep better track of this whether it is mentally or physically on a piece of paper. I stopped myself from buying a candy bar when I was really hungry at the grocery store and realized that I was just really hungry and didn't really want a candy bar.
New Goals
1. Attend an hour long fitness class 6 days this week.
I have mentally said to myself that I was going to do this for the past few weeks, but I have fell short, so I am saying it out loud to all of you in hopes that I keep up with my promise. I have all of the schedules printed out I just need to make going a HIGH priority.
2. Get all of my holiday decorations out and Christmas presents wrapped.
Not every goal needs to be weight loss/fitness related. This is something that is important to me this week and I know that my month is jam packed, so getting all of this done sooner than later will be best.
