Thanksgiving 2016

thanksgiving-2016

Hi, friends! Happy Tuesday! This post was actually supposed to go live yesterday but unfortunately, my draft mode didn’t work. I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday weekend and were able to enjoy some time with friends and family.  After enjoying five days of relaxation, Monday was  a VERY busy work day. I can’t remember the last time I took five days off of work, blogging and most social media without an actual vacation. This Thanksgiving staycation was exactly what I needed. Now, I get to kick off my favorite month of the year, December, energized and ready to accomplish everything on my personal and professional to-do list between now and the Christmas holidays.

In fact, I disconnected so much that when I went to my iPhone just now, to download images for this post, I realized I took a grand total of six pictures over the past five days.

Wednesday I spent the day relaxing in the city, casually running errands and enjoying a few things I rarely have time to savor and enjoy. I took a mid-day Strength class at Uplift, enjoyed a leisurely lunch at ByChefChloe, got a hair cut and watched a movie.

Thursday I started Thanksgiving with the fun and festive Prospect Park Track Club Turkey Trot 5-miler. This year my sole goal was to enjoy the race and gorgeous weather with my good friend Mary. We chatted the entire five miles, keeping a 9 minute jog/1 minute walk pace since neither of us have run very much lately. If you stay in New York City next year for Thanksgiving, I highly recommend this race. It’s very reasonably priced AND runners get great swag including a winter hat and medal.

pptc-turkey-trot

The rest of Thursday was spent in the kitchen with Bo as we prepared a Thanksgiving feast for six. We kept things simpler this year since we were hosting a smaller group and two of our guests were coming directly from a Thanksgiving lunch. Our menu included: perfect roasted turkey, stuffing, homemade cranberry sauce, green beans, sweet potato casserole, corn bread and pumpkin cheesecake.

thanksgiving-2017

After cleaning up from Thursday night’s festivities, Bo and I spent the rest of Friday and Saturday together enjoying the sights, tastes and sounds of Manhattan and Brooklyn together. We went for a run together, took a special, 60-minute Turkey Burn Flywheel class with our favorite instructor, Josh Arden, tried a few new restaurants and went to see Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. We ended Saturday with a combined birthday and anniversary dinner at Battersby, a wonderful restaurant that has been a neighborhood highlight since it opened in 2011.

We started transitioning from vacation mode to work mode on Sunday, spending much of the day running errands, doing laundry, cleaning the house and finally decorating our home for Christmas with Russell and Meg. The four of us spent Sunday evening decorating, catching up and laughing our way through Die Hard. Somehow, Meg nor I had ever seen the movie and after questioning how it was listed as a holiday classic Bo insisted we watch it.

die-hard

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Holiday Gift Guide – JCrew 40% Off Sale

I had no intentions of publishing my first Holiday Gift Guide today. In fact, I planned to kick off the holiday season tomorrow night, with my first gift guide going live at midnight on Black Friday.

However, it’s not every day that you get an email from your favorite retailer announcing their FIRST EVER 40% off sale! 

JCrew 40% off

After sharing the news with a few friends, this sale inspired me to do a little shopping for myself and create a favorite things gift guide for you guys. There are so many great things on their site right now at all price points. The collection below includes items as inexpensive as $16 to investment pieces that are around $300. Keep in mind that the below prices do not include the 40% discount that is applied when you use the code HOLIDAY in-store or online. While this sale lasts through November 27th, I would recommend shopping early as a few of my wish list items are already sold out in my size. I ordered the tassel earrings, cashmere sweater and silk blouse for myself this morning before shopping for friends and family.

I guess I’ll just have to stop in the Flatiron store after my workout this afternoon! Shop the sale now online or get more inspiration from their online gift guide.

Your turn – Are you shopping the 40% off JCrew sale? What did you buy for yourself or others? 

Disclaimer: This post is not sponsored and instead is a list of the things of my favorite things this week. As normal, it includes lots of beauty and fashion items which means there are a few affiliate links via ShopStyle. It takes time and money to maintain a blog so I thank you for the support and few cents that come from clicking through the links!

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Weekend Highlights – November 21st, 2016

vermont-snow

What a wonderful weekend we had up in Vermont! As I mentioned on Friday, we made a last minute decision to head up to Manchester Center, Vermont on Friday night to spend a relaxing weekend with my aunt. It’s hard to believe that we were able to enjoy a weekend away without taking a vacation day. Friday and today were long days, driving up to Vermont from 5-9pm on Friday and returning this morning from 5-9 AM. Luckily, the 48 hours in between were filled with rest and relaxation.

Here are a few highlights from our weekend in Vermont.

Snow – The temperatures dropped forty degrees Saturday night as a strong front moved through the region. Much to our delight, we woke up Sunday morning to a winter wonderland. There were more than six inches of wet, heavy, dense snow covering my the yard and surrounding towns. We spent an hour outside playing fetch with my aunt’s Samoyed, making snow angels and enjoying the beautiful scenery.

Ponce Bistro – After a morning of relaxing and shopping, we enjoyed lunch on the front porch of Ponce Bistro. A local favorite, this small bistro serves an eclectic menu for breakfast, lunch and dinner including customer favorites such as the spanish meatloaf sandwich, pumpkin soup, lavender goat cheese salad and an array of refreshing homemade iced teas. Bo ordered the meatloaf sandwich while my aunt and I each shared the pumpkin soup and north country turkey sandwich. I wish we’d saved room for their sweets as the bakery items I saw when I went inside to pay looked delicious – especially their chocolate chip cookies.

Solo Farm & Table – This cozy, farm to table restaurant is tucked on a quiet road in South Londonderry, about 20 minutes from Manchester Center. Within seconds of trying our first bite, we could tell that the numerous James beard nominations their chef has received as well the recognition in Bon Appetit, Food & Wine and the New York Times was beyond justified.  Since my aunt, Bo and I all love to share meals, we ordered two appetizers, a pasta, two entrees, and two desserts to share. This method allowed us to sample far more of the menu than normal, which made for a very tasty and fun evening. Unexpectedly, it was the fresh made bread and smoked butter as well as the homemade potato bisque which stole the show.  After cleaning the bowl with a piece of bread, I requested the recipe from the waitress, in hopes of recreating this rich, yet simple bisque at home.

It’s A Wonderful Life – As soon as the snow started, we found ourselves in the Christmas mood. Our typical rules of saving Christmas movies and music until after Thanksgiving were replaced with an afternoon of Christmas music followed by watching It’s A Wonderful Life that evening. When my aunt discovered that Bo nor I had seen this 1946 classic, she insisted that we watch it over dinner. I can see why this wonderful, touching and emotional film became one of the most acclaimed fils ever made and has received so much recognition over the years from AFI.

With that I’m off to enjoy the evening with Bo as we celebrate our seven year wedding anniversary. It’s hard to believe that seven years have passed since we danced the night away with our closest friends and family members in Savannah, Georgia.

dancing-with-bo

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