I hope that all of my U.S. readers had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We had a really great day here in Charlotte with Tanner’s family and my nieces in town visiting from Georgia.

THANKSGIVING 2017 RECAP

My alarm went off at the early hour of 5:45 a.m. because I was scheduled to teach a Thanksgiving morning yoga class at 6:45. I had this grand plan of teaching and then running the Charlotte Turkey Trot 8K at 9 a.m. and then coming home to finish my Thanksgiving cooking (including roasting the turkey) before making it to Thanksgiving by 12:30 p.m. I realized I was delusional and setting myself up for a rather stressful day. I quickly decided to bail on the Turkey Trot despite the fact that I paid $43 to register and had already picked up my number. I think I honestly paid that money to learn a lesson in chilling out and being more realistic.

Instead I came home after class and hung out with my nieces. They had hot chocolate and I had breakfast. (Tanner had already fed them before he left to go teach our second class of the day.)

I had two scrambled eggs, grapes and a morning glory muffin from Sunflour that was a gift from a friend.

And then I got to work on the turkey! I brined it overnight and then got it all ready to roast. I used Alton Brown’s Good Eats Roast Turkey method, which never steers me wrong.

While the turkey was roasting, I got some help with cake decorating and also finished up my gravy.

I also snuck in my own turkey trot once Tanner got home from the studio and I have to say that my solo 4.6 mile run was 1,000x better for my headspace today than the hustle and bustle of parking, getting lined up and running with 10,000 other people. I made a good decision to forgo the turkey trot.

I had a probe thermometer in the turkey with an alarm set to go off when the temperature reached 161 so I left Tanner with instructions to a) listen out for the alarm, b) take the turkey out if it went off and c) put Zoey out IMMEDIATELY if the turkey was on the counter. Haha.

Then it was time to bring on Thanksgiving!

We got dressed and went over to Tanner’s brother’s house. His sister was also there with her family as was his mom, dad and his sister-in-law’s sister (did you get all of that?) and her family so we had a houseful!

The turkey!!!!

The gravy. This recipe is the BEST and the key is to stir in some pieces of turkey from the wings that you roast.

I did the carving myself. I won’t say it’s a work of art but done is done and the turkey was flavorful and moist.

My plate x2 on the mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, stuffing and sweet potatoes.

For dessert, I contributed a pumpkin spice cake with cinnamon and spice cream cheese frosting. It was a hit and I was so happy to see that only a few pieces remained when it was time to pack up and go…happy that everyone ate it and enjoyed it and happy there was a little for me to save and eat later 😉

I had a slice of cake and a small spoonful of a crockpot apple cobbler/crumb.

And I hardly saw these two turkeys the whole time we were there because they were having so much fun playing with the other kiddos. I love having them here.

I’m now sitting on the couch at 10 p.m. contemplating if I’m going to have a little snack before I go to bed. That’s the trouble with eating a big meal at 2-3 p.m., I always end up wanting a little something later in the evening. And who am I kidding, this is totally going to happen since I get to play the whole #eatingfortwo card this year! 🙂

Tell me about your Thanksgiving!

Best thing you ate?

Did you workout? 

How did you celebrate?

Did anyone have to work today? 

If you eat your big meal between noon and 3 p.m., do you eat again later that night? 

BLACK FRIDAY DEALS

I can confidently say that I will NOT be braving the stores tomorrow but a little online shopping may be in order. Here are a few of my favorite sales.

Amazon: Amazon Echo Plus for $119.99 (save $30 – we love our Echo!)

Ann Taylor: 50% off everything with code THANKFUL

Banana Republic: 50% off everything

J. Crew: 40% off everything with code THANKU

Kate Spade: 30% off everything with code GIVEJOY

Lucky Brand: 50-60% off sale

Madewell: 25% off everything with code DONTSTRESS

Nike: take an extra 25% off sale

Shopbop: up to 50% off + free worldwide shipping

Target: amazing deals on Roomba, the iRobot vacuum that I can’t live without being mom of 3 dogs!

Target: Beats urBeats Earbuds for $49.99 (save $50)

Wal-Mart: $300 $Walmart Gift Card with purchase of Apple’s iPhone X, iPhone 8 or iPhone 8 Plus (awesome)

William-Sonoma: tons of great sales and I love giving gifts from this store!