I’m a Pilgrim! (Cause I’m Definitely Not a Puritan…)

Happy Black Friday!! I’m sure the last thing you want to see after yesterday is more pics of food, but, well, it was my first Thanksgiving! You knew it was coming!! Hopefully this doesn’t make you ill, or make you want to run for the leftovers.

So, after I finished prepping the turkey yesterday, I felt really good and I went for a three mile run! It was so, so quiet outside; I think all the neighbors went away for the holidays, because the streets were totally deserted. It made for kind of a nice, peaceful run! (With Christmas tunes, natch.) After the run, I did the whole shower-hair-makeup thing and then headed over to my uncle’s house to work on the last few preparations! I am glad I did most of the cooking at home first; cooking in someone else’s kitchen isn’t ideal. My uncle’s oven cooks very differently than mine does, and it only has one rack, so that made for some last-minute rearrangements and put things a bit behind. But no matter…a good cook can handle anything!

I managed to get appetizers out in a timely manner…

OK, first, the bacon-wrapped dates were a massive foodgasm! No one in my family had ever had them before (including me), but they were just such a hit. We will definitely be having these again and again.

And then there was the brie…

Earlier in the day my mom tried to tell me she didn’t like brie. She said she had had it once before and hated it. I tried to explain to her that she was wrong. After having this brie, she agreed that yes, in fact, brie is amazing!

Once I got the oven issues worked out, dinner was served!

FOOD! Glorious food….

The damn turkey breasts…

My plate…

A little of everything…the wins, for me, were the green beans, stuffing, and cranberry sauce. The gravy was pretty good, the mashed potatoes were just OK, the sweet potato casserole was amazing per usual (SO MUCH BUTTER IN THAT ONE). And, well, the fact is, I still just don’t love turkey. Sigh.

I also had two glasses of wine — one while finishing cooking, and one with dinner! Luckily my family was behaving so I didn’t need to work my way through a bot.

After dinner there was the layered pumpkin ice cream cake…

Served with an “outrageous” brownie…

A HUGE WIN!!! This cake is so good; the dessert as a whole was satisfying, but not super rich. I’m making the official declaration that I hate pumpkin pie (except from Founding Farmers), and I will never serve it. This, though, I may be making for years to come.

It was definitely a success…I am thankful for my familyyyyyy!!

This was also a successful Thanksgiving because I definitely ate mindfully. I indulged, but I didn’t overindulge. I didn’t continue to eat the things I didn’t love, and even though I went back for seconds, I didn’t really eat them because I knew I wasn’t hungry. I let my food settle before dessert so I could actually appreciate it, and I had a pretty small dessert. I felt a little more full than I’d like after dinner, but I’m almost positive it’s because I had quite a bit of dairy. (But fine! Like, I’ll take the stomachache if it’s from brie and ice cream cake and I can spend the rest of the night on the couch!) In terms of the overall meal, though…yeah, it was a less strict than a normal meal, but definitely not a balls-to-the-walls-there-must-be-crack-in-these-mashed-potatoes kind of night!

Like, WHAT?! Did I just successfully have a holiday “in moderation”?!??!

Well…I ate in moderation, but I didn’t shop in moderation! Although I’ve been a Cyber Monday kinda girl for the past four years or so, when I saw the ads yesterday, and I saw a bunch of stuff I wanted…and then I saw that the one gift I had really wanted to get for my mom but couldn’t afford was on sale so I could afford it…I knew it was time to pop the Black Friday cherry! But then, after the feast, I was so, so tired. I decided that I’d pay the extra cash if I wanted to buy her that gift, because I needed sleep.

But then, oddly enough, I woke up at 3:30 AM. (OK actually I woke up at 12:15 AM to my mom calling me to say she got me she got me my $13 Crock-Pot and $3 mini Crock-Pot from Wal-Mart.) When that happens…and you can’t fall back asleep…it’s obviously the universe sending you a message. And that message is, “Get that $3 panini press girl!” (That was not the gift for my mother; that was for me.)

So around 4:30 I threw on some layers and headed to Targ! It would have been smarter to go to Wal-Mart because they are open 24 hours and therefore have no line, and they’ll price match anything, but if I’m going to be up at 5 AM to shop, I’m sure as hell doing it in my favorite store! I rolled up at 4:50; it was cold as balls and the line was long. Luckily, it moved quickly, and the cops (seriously) kept everything under control. By the time I got in around 5:10, the first people were already rolling out. It’s so funny to see people walking out just carrying these huge TVs…it looked like people were looting. How fun!

OK, so, admittedly, at first when I got into the store, I totally got that “Imma cut a bitch” mentality. But things inside were well-organized, well-stocked, and since I wasn’t trying to get a $40 GPS, I wasn’t a threat to most people. It took me a little while to find what I was looking for and I started to worry I was going to become “that woman” on Black Friday! Luckily, I found it. I headed to the toy section, but that was a total clusterfuck, and I decided that’s where I’d pay the extra cash to avoid a mental breakdown. I did manage to throw some bows and get a $10 game for my 3-year-old cousin, because it was just a good deal and totally within budget!

Then I got distracted (…cause it’s Target) and just started shopping for all the stuff I never knew I always wanted. Best purchase? A two-season set of Giada’s show for $15!! So, so excited about that! I also grabbed a couple $4 DVDs (cheaper than a rental, and yes, I want to own “Baby Mama”) and my $3 sandwich press. I wanted to keep shopping (CAUSE IT’S TARGET) and spend $100 so I could get my $10 gift card, but I knew it was time to call it a day!

By 5:45, I was out the door! I could have headed out to Bed, Bath, and Beyond where I could have gotten 20 percent off my entire purchase, but I mean, there comes a point when you just say, Hey, I’m not going to go into debt for that new paring knife.

I will absolutely be doing the rest of my shopping online. Amazon’s deals/customer service/free shipping pretty much make my life, so one big order at Amazon.com and one at OldNavy.com and I will be done and done!

I still can’t fall back asleep, and I’m a little nauseous from the dairy last night and the lack of sleep, but it’s fine. I am spending today 100 percent relaxing: watching TV (umm…Giada!), wearing basketball pants, reading Twilight (don’t judge me), and looking up random stuff on the Internet. There will probably be Panera involved; there will not be running involved. After making it so everyone could relax yesterday, today is my day off, and I am so, so happy about it!

Tagged as: Black Friday, holidays, mindful eating, party food, shopping, Thanksgiving