Thanksgiving Week

I'm very excited about this week for lots of reasons but one is because my parents will be in Charlotte!  We have lots of fun things on the agenda including:

 - Thanksgiving dinner with Kevin's family at their club on Thursday (it's AMAZING not to have to cook on Thanksgiving or clean up dishes)

 - Learning how to make Mom's famous fudge recipe from the master herself.  I hope to start this tradition of giving it to our neighborhood friends this year as she has done for many years and her Mom did too.  

 - Dad will be having fun fixing a few things around our house and doing some computer stuff for Kevin at his offices.  Dad is so excited about driving down here so he can bring his tools ha!

 - Black Friday shopping with Mom.  Another tradition and we love it.  

 - Playing with Mills...a lot. He is obsessed with his Nannie and Poppa and I'm pretty certain the feeling is mutual.  

Thanksgiving is a fun time for us.  It brings back memories of Kevin's and my parents meeting in 2009 though we didn't spend actual Thanksgiving together - see here.   In 2010, we went to Coco Osteria and Howl at the Moon with both sets of parents and did our own thing for Thanksgiving - see here.  In 2011 we were engaged so we had our first Thanksgiving with both sets of parents - see here.  2012 we were invited back to Kevin's parents club - see here.  2013 we continued the tradition for the third year - see here.  

So this year I'll have our fourth annual Thanksgiving with both sets of parents to share next week.  Very thankful. 

Weekend Recap

Weekend was good and busy!  On Friday we had Thanksgiving at our office.  I brought Pioneer Woman's mashed potatoes. Totally calorie free ha!

That afternoon when I got home, Mills and I played and played.  We went to Hawthornes pizza for dinner with Kevin's parents.  

Saturday I had plans with my friend Kimmy.  We grabbed a bagel at Owens.  She and I had to plan it a month ahead of time just to be able to get together.  Kevin worked alllll day.  That night we went up to Brad and Shauna's home for a few drinks then went to Midwood Smokehouse.  We love hanging out with them. They are the sweetest couple. The older I get the more I'm interested in only hanging with people we both really like and WANT to hang with.  Anyone feel the same? The guys cackled all night long...just as old friends do. Probably good we sat on their enclosed patio. 

Sunday I went to the grocery store early for a big run before all the thanksgiving crazies got there. We had a lazy day until a birthday party at 5 for our niece Kendall. 

We went to Bad Daddys then had cupcakes and ice cream at Kevin's parents house.  We gave her an easel for her artistic creations and also elf on the shelf.  I think her mama was most excited about the elf and the good behavior to come. 

We loved celebrating the birthday girl turning 3!

Here's to a short week!

Five on Friday

ONE:  Feels good to be back in the swing of things at the end of this week.  I literally have not had enough hours in the day since the week before Halloween.  I haven't gotten to exercise like I like to, blogging has taken a back seat, my nails haven't been painted in ages, let's not even think about the last time I cooked at home was and I've been completely exhausted.  I'm always busy but not like the last few weeks.  Looking forward to next week and a lil break!

TWO:  I turn two buildings over to their tenants today for work - one in Virginia and one in West Virginia.  Very exciting!  

THREE:  The other night I needed some cheer in my life so I spent about 30 minutes taking Thanksgiving decorations upstairs and bringing a few Christmas things down.  I normally never decorate before Thanksgiving but everyone is doing it this year.  I still have my Fall wreath up and mums out front.  I'm not putting candles in the window yet ha!  I do enjoy having this lil Christmas tree in our room...although the lights are creating a weird effect on the wall.  

FOUR:  Mills and I spent some time together last night.  First I took him on a lil trot then he helped me make Pioneer Woman's Mashed Potatoes for our work Thanksgiving which is today.  

FIVE:  I don't know what it is but I've been invited to SO many Christmas parties this year.  Some girl things and some couple things.  I know it's not realistic to go to all of them but I wish we could.  It's funny because last year we didn't get invited to many at all...maybe people were still cutting back after the recession, who knows?  Anyway, tis the season!  

Cousin Tour

After a few days in Salt Lake last week I took a Delta (cheated on my beloved US Air) flight up to Boise, Idaho to see my cousin.  We have a very small family so it's only my brother and I and our two cousins, Kit and Laura.  And all four of us live in different places across the country.

Welcome to Boise, the land of snow.  Kit said it set all kinds of records and it never snows like this.  Let me tell you, Boise needs to work on their lack of snow plows on their interstates...it was insane the next morning getting back to the airport.

Kit and Ryan just built a new home and it's so pretty.  Here are their two kiddos playing dress up - Maeve and Finn.  They're adorable.

Kit and I.

The next morning I flew back to Charlotte.  Well I tried and ended up missing a connection in Phoenix but it got figured out and I made the next flight.

And in the Charlotte airport I landed at the same time as Kit's sister, my other cousin Laura.  Laura had been in San Fran for a conference and was going back to Richmond.  What are the chances?  We got to spend 40 minutes together catching up.  

Wish we lived closer to my side of the family but thankful Kevin's are close by us.  

Hosting Bunco

Last night I hosted bunco at our house...you know because I've had nothing else to do.  Ahhhhhh. I got the house ready thanks to my best friend, Rosa Maria.  

The way our neigbkorhood girls do it is always byob and if you have time to make an app, then do it.  If you don't, then don't bring anything.  Never any hard feelings!  And as you can see there is always so much food!

You'll see a Nothing Bundt Cake in the above picture. My friend Chris brought that and they all sung happy birthday to me and I blew out a candle. How thoughtful right?  Meant a lot to me!  

We played left right center.  It's so much easier for the host (not having to set up multiple tables with snacks on each) and you get to be with everyone the whole time instead of split up at tables.  We play four rounds with three dollar bills each.  So depending on the number of girls the winner gets around $45-$60 per round.  And four ladies leave as winners.  It is so fun!

We played on our porch - it was the only place we had to have a table long enough for 20 girls. 

Thankfully our porch can be heated ha!

And we love doing silly pictures with all the one dollar bills!

I think it was a successful night. Lots of wine bottles later..!  And only driving through the neighborhood of course!

Birthday Trip to The Greenbrier

Quick recap of the weekend - Friday night - pizza at Hawthornes...it's what Fridays are made for.  Saturday night - Kevin's fam took me out to Cantina 1511 for my birthday.  So fun!  The way they do it is whoever's birthday it is, gets to pick the restaurant.  It's a cool tradition we do for all of our birthdays every year!

Okay I'm back to my way too many pictures ways because I wanted to document this special trip.  Saturday morning Kevin informed me we were going somewhere early Sunday until late Monday.  At first, I freaked out because I had been gone all last week and I really needed Sunday to get my home life put back together and Monday to get my work life put back together.  BUT I got over myself and decided it was a good decision to go with the flow.  :)

We woke up super early and took this lil bubba to camp.  He was very excited despite his look here.  He was basically in our laps when we turned on the road for camp.

At this point, I still didn't know where we were going.  He just told me it was cold so pack accordingly and I could not bring any jeans...I had to be dressy and super dressy for dinner.  Okay.  Well once we passed Primland in VA, I knew that was out.  When we entered WV, I definitely thought Greenbrier.  Kevin knows that I live in Hiltons/Hampton Inns during the week so not to sound snobby butttttt, I ain't staying at the local WV Hampton for fun!  And I'm pretty sure I can wear jeans in Hamptons haha.  

So then he went into this silly story about how we were going skiing at Snowshoe though looking back, he didn't even know the name of Snowshoe, I'm the one that mentioned it.  

We go into Lewisburg, WV for some lunch.  Also by the way, I'm shocked at this point that Kevin has made it close to where we are going.  This is the boy that went to Raleigh from Charlotte and ended up in Virginia.  I love him to death but directions are not his strong suit.  

We walked into some shops then went to brunch at the General Lewis Inn.  

The egg BLT was amazing!

Then we kept driving towards the "ski resort."  Come on, I was not stupid.  I knew we were going to Greenbrier but I really didn't know haha.  I said to him, "let's at least see if we can get past the guard gate to go walk around before we continue on."  So we get to the guard and he asks if we're checking in and Kevin says, "yes!"  AHHHH.  

ALLLL decorated for Christmas.  It was stunning!

We threw our stuff in our gorgeous room and walked everywhere.  They gave us each $20 to gamble with - I won $28 and Kevin didn't get so lucky.  I told him you have to bet big to win big which is what I did.  ;)

Afternoon tea was at 4pm.

Then we went bowling!

Clearly we are not championship bowlers.

Then we had dinner at Prime 44 West.   Such a special treat.

I randomly got this fun peach bellini drink.  It was good and something different.  Usually I'm a red wine gal this time of year but I wanted something sweet!

Caesar salad made tableside with anchovies.  Yes please.

Filet and lobster mac and cheese.  We both got the same entree.

Bananas Foster for dessert, like we needed it at that point.

Brunch the next day was a huge buffet.

I'm still thinking about those strawberries - they had to have been shipped in - they tasted so fresh!

Such a special trip and a very necessary for both of us!  

Oh and he surprised me with the big bottle of my favorite perfume as well - Creed, Spring Flower.  If you've never smelled it - you must.  

Thank you to Kevin, our friends and family for a perfect birthday!