post-thanksgiving

And...I'm back from Thanksgiving break.  I meant to write a post sometime last week to wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving, but decided to take a break from the internet as much as I could (going on IG and FB on my phone does not count!). 

This past week was filled with lots of family time.  It's nice being able to spend time with both sets of families.  This Saturday was also my Baby Shower so there was a lot of crafting going on in our house!  Will be posting some pictures soon. 

I leave you with this picture that I took on Thanksgiving.  We were on our way to my brother-in-law's for lunch and Paul decided to practice his car seat skills with a bottle of wine.  I'd like to report that the wine got to the feast safely!

We are so thankful for this baby that we'll soon get to meet.  And I'm grateful for a wonderful husband whom I get to share this amazing experience with.

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend with the ones you love!

recipe | roast turkey

Before I leave you for the week, I thought I'd sneak in one last post.  I wanted to get this out in case anyone needed a turkey recipe for their Christmas gatherings with family and friends.  My coworker shared this recipe with me and it's actually from the Food Network Kitchens.  This was a good one to try for someone who has never cooked turkey before! 

PS.  Sorry, these were the only two decent pictures I have of the turkey.  Next time, I'll work on presentation!


Roast Turkey

1 (8 - 10 lb) turkey, completely thawed, neck and gizzards removed
salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 onion, quartered
1 head garlic, halved
celery, roughly chopped
2 carrots, roughly chopped
sprigs of fresh herbs such as thyme, parsley, rosemary and/or sage (there are usually prepackaged ones at the grocery store)
2 bay leaves
8 tbsp unsalted butter, melted

Adjust one rack to the lowest position, and remove the remaining racks.  Preheat oven at 325ºF.  Dry the turkey with paper towels, inside and out.  Salt and pepper the inside and stuff with the onion, garlic, celery, carrots, herbs and bay leaves.  I actually chopped too much celery and carrots, but try and fit as much of each as you can.  The recipe did not say to tie the legs together, but we did to keep the vegetables in (Paul's idea).  Salt and pepper the outside of the turkey and place on a roasting rack in a roasting pan.  Brush half of the melted butter and season again with salt and pepper.  Tent bird with foil.

Roast the turkey for 2 hours.  Remove the foil and baste the turkey with the rest of the melted butter and any drippings from the roasting pan (don't be surprised if you don't have any drippings, we hardly did).  Increase the oven temperature to 425ºF and continue roasting until the thermometer reads 165ºF in the thigh of the bird.  This will take about another hour.  Remove turkey from the oven and set aside for 15 minutes before carving.  Carve and serve with your favorite side dishes.

recipe | cranberry orange relish

I was never big on cranberry sauce with my turkey.  But this recipe just about changed my mind.  It is great with turkey, and really good by itself, almost like dessert, really.  Paul actually ate it for breakfast.  This is really easy to whip up and you can make this the day before your feast. 

NOTE:  My coworker also gave me this recipe.  Not sure of the original source.

Cranberry Orange Relish

2/3 cup orange juice

3 tbsp orange marmalade (this is a guesstimate - I put heaping spoons full of this)

2/3 cup sugar

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/4 tsp ground cloves

1 (12oz) bag of fresh cranberries

1/2 cup chopped pecans

1/2 cup golden raisins (optional)

orange zest (optional)

In a sauce pan, heat all the ingredients, but the cranberries, until the sugar is completely dissolved.  Add the cranberries and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and stir until cranberries have popped, about 3 to 4 minutes.  Remove from the heat and stir in pecans.  Chill before serving.

recipe | crock-pot dressing

This recipe is hard to mess up, and guarantees a very delicious and moist dressing every time.  Cooking it in the crock-pot leaves your oven free for more important things, like the turkey!  One recipe serves about 16 people.  I'm not kidding, this makes a lot!  I hope you'll give this a try this holiday season.

NOTE: I got this recipe from my coworker, who got it from an old coworker.  Leslie Harding - whoever you are - thank you!

Crock-Pot Dressing

2 packets of cornbread mix

8 slices of day-old bread (I didn't have day-old bread, so I used what I already had - whole wheat)

4 eggs

1 medium onion, chopped

1 1/2 cup celery, chopped

2 cans of cream of chicken soup

1/2 cup milk

2 cups chicken broth

1 1/2 tsp poultry seasoning 

1/2 tsp sage

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp black pepper

2 tbsp butter

Bake the cornbread (following the directions on the packets) in a 9x13 pan.  I baked this the night before to free up the oven for "game day."  Crumble cornbread and day-old bread in a large bowl.  Add the rest of the ingredients and mix until combined.  Grease sides of the crock-pot.  Put dressing mixture in the crock-pot and dot the top with butter.  Cover and cook on high for 2 hours, or on low for 3 to 4 hours.  Serve with turkey, ham, or meat of your choice.

we got our feast on

It was a lot of fun decorating our house for our Thanksgiving feast.  With our new furniture, I had more room to play with. 

Lately, I've been obsessed with sunburst mirrors/anything.  I found this piece at Ross with no plans of where to put it, until now.  The pumpkins were from Halloween and I brought two of them in from our bench outside.  You can tell it's the two on the left because they're starting to look a little warped.  The branch below the mirror was from our walk in the woods back in Houston a few weeks ago.  I added some pine cones that I saved from last year's Christmas decorations to give the console some warmth. 

Since I was off on Wednesday, I went to Home Goods and Ross to get some last minute accessories.  The room needed some light, and the first thing I suggested was this floor lamp.  It provides warm lighting and a side table, just what we were looking for.  Then I found this lamp at Home Goods for $39.99.  Cheaper than a floor lamp, and I love its simplicity.  Plus, we already had a side table which we bought for our family room, but couldn't quite fit both of them in the space.  I found three glass pumpkins at Ross at a discount, and set one on top of colorful books.  Ross the Owl is now beaming between two framed pics.  The pillows are from Home Goods.  I love the texture on the white pillows, and Paul likes them too!  The striped ones are Ralph Lauren and they actually have a square-ish pattern on the other side.

Our table setting for the evening.

Sorry for the picture overload.  I did end up buying Miss Paisley, the table runner.  The candlesticks were on sale at Z Gallerie earlier this year, and I bought them knowing hoping that I will have a dining table someday.  Our plates and place mats were wedding presents, all from Target.  The green vase was a Goodwill find for about a dollar or two.  I added a bag of black beans as a filler.  I wish I could take credit for the wreath, but this was purchased at Home Goods about two years ago, and I remembered I had it.  A quick centerpiece makeover! 

Good news, our chairs will be here this Saturday!

And now, the loves of my life.



My beautiful Mom and my sister in front of the food. 

My brother Topet (or Kristoffer) and his girlfriend Jennifer. 

You know these two. 

This was taken when I was trying to set up the timer on the camera.  Bailey must have done something - again. 

Ahh, better.  Besides me looking like I just woke up, notice anything here?  I'll give you a hint - wine bottle.  Hah!  And speaking of wine bottle, something else is wrong with this picture - wine glasses are empty! Tsk Tsk.

She's always getting yelled at, humph!

I can't believe it's already December 1st tomorrow.  Our house is already looking like Christmas! 

thanksgiving weekend

I'm so sad that my five day weekend has come to an end.  I can really get used to this routine!  Here's a quick recap of my "vacation."



We hosted our very first Thanksgiving this year, and I was a little nervous about how my turkey was going to turn out.  I've eaten plenty of turkey in my lifetime, but never actually cooked one myself.  Luckily, my coworker gave me some of her recipes and they were a success!  I'll be sharing the recipes with you these next few weeks, and maybe you guys can try them for your Christmas feasts.



Friday, we decided to skip out on the early Black Friday rush and put up our Christmas Tree.  I think we're going to make this a tradition.  Unless you're buying electronics, I don't think it's worth going super early.  My sister and I went right before midnight about two years ago, and I was exhausted, and a few hundred bucks poorer = not worth it.  Why waste precious hours of sleep for this?  Seriously, there are some savages out there.  We did make our way to Target and Best Buy later that evening and came out with two XBox 360 games (Dance Central 2 and Kinect Sports 2, to be exact) for the price of one.  And we're no gamers either!



On Small Business Saturday, we made our way to downtown McKinney to support our local shops.  I've been meaning to stop by bloom since it opened last September.  It's owned by fashion blogger Kendi from Kendi Everyday.  I love her style and it was so nice to have finally met her.  She's even more gorgeous in person!  I only bought a necklace, but I'll be sure to come back (without Paul) and give myself plenty of time to look around.  She had a lot of super cute stuff though.  And when I get the courage and the right staple pieces in my wardrobe, I'd love to try her 30 for 30 Remix.  I'll let you know when I get there!

The Square also had lots of antique stores and they had some very unique pieces.  I actually had self control that day, and only bought two candles.  Pretty proud of myself!  Although one store was giving out fresh baked chocolate chip cookies and I couldn't resist.  You just can't pass up free cookies, especially when they're fresh! Paul immediately said, "no thanks," but I confidently replied,"oh YES, please!" like I'm 5. He can't take me anywhere!


Winter is finally here and it was a boots and scarves kind of weekend.  Yesterday was extra windy, but groceries had to be done.  I put on this "dove" scarf for a quick fashion fix. 

How did you spend your Thanksgiving weekend?

give thanks

As we wait for the turkey to cook, I wanted to take a minute to reflect on what I'm grateful for.  We often get carried away with material things during the holidays.  We get disappointed when things don't go our way, or complain about the things we don't have.  We forget what's truly important in life.  I'm thankful for this house we call home, the clothes on my back, good health, great friends and Bailey Bear.  But most of all, I thank God for my family and a loving (and very patient) husband.  Without them, life would be meaningless.

So sometime today, and especially before you hit up all the Black Friday sales, take a moment and give thanks. 

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!  I hope it's spent with those you love!


Now let's hope this turkey actually turns out well!  I'm crossing my fingers!