I hope those of you who celebrate it had a nice Thanksgiving yesterday! We had a fun, social day with family and friends here in Sewickley, Pennsylvania.
We kicked the day off with a 5k turkey trot right in town!
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Matt and I were joined by our friend Tom (who is actually the reason that we first met – he went to college with me and is one of Matt’s best friends from home), and Matt’s brother Drew and his wife Morgana.
We grabbed our bibs the day before so we were able to show up basically 10 minutes before the race started – easy!
I decided my goal for the 5k was to push myself effort-wise. I’m nowhere near PR speed shape right now, but I wanted to challenge myself, so basing it on effort vs. pace was a great way to do that!
Matt and I ran together for the first 2 miles and then I told him to feel free to pick it up a bit because he was feeling strong. I was proud of myself for holding relatively steady effort-wise, and finished feeling like I really gave it my best for me right now effort!
Hadn’t seen that pace in a long time. 🙂
5k success!
Our refuel once we got home was a delicious sausage and egg casserole with some cranberry and nut bread, fruit, and salad. Hit the spot!
We spent the rest of the day getting ready for Thanksgiving dinner, with a quick interlude for a simple lunch:
Everyone came over for the festivities around 4; Matt’s parents hosted us and a bunch of friends for Thanksgiving, so we had a large crew with lots of delicious food to go around.
Matt’s dad created this awesome menu showcasing all the food!
To start, we had a delicious spread of appetizers, and dueling sangrias – a white sangria, and my red Easy Fall Sangria! Both were hits but I liked mine better, of course. 😉
More appetizers:
How cute is this turkey bread bowl?
Dinner began with a butternut squash and pear bisque – delicious.
And then we had a buffet feast!
I loaded up with:
- Fried turkey (Matt used our infrared turkey fryer – delicious as always)
- Green beans and cherry tomatoes
- Mashed potatoes (a garlicky artichoke mash was mixed in and was delicious – just throw a can or two of artichokes into a blender with some garlic cloves and a little milk, blend, then add that into the mashed potatoes for great flavor!)
- My Savory Sweet Potato Casserole
- Honey Glazed Carrots
Everything was delicious! I skipped the stuffing because I’ve never been a stuffing fan… weird, I know. 🙂 I was also kiiiind of full already from going too hard on the appetizers – whoops!
Dessert! Pies, of course. I had what’s pictured plus a little of the pumpkin chiffon.
Such a lovely day with family and good friends. I went to bed full and feeling very grateful!
Photo credit to Matt’s brother Drew – he has a headshot/lifestyle photography business in NYC if any of you are interested!
Have a lovely day!
p.s. Need some recipe ideas for using up Thanksgiving leftovers? Try my Leftover Mashed Potato Pancakes (great for breakfast with fried eggs), or my Leftover Turkey and Wheat Berry Salad with Cranberry Sauce Vinaigrette.
For those looking to do some shopping today, I will leave you with a few Black Friday deals of interest from around the web (FYI – affiliate links):
- If you’ve been wanting to start a blog/website, Bluehost is having a great sale today on web hosting, and I have a whole page on my blog dedicated to showing you how to get going: How to Start a Blog on Wordpress.
- The Instant Pot I have is on major sale today! It’s the best for fast and easy dinners. Buy it, then try my Instant Pot recipes. 🙂
- The Brooks ugly sweater holiday running shoes are back! I have last year’s variation and they are super fun. Brooks is also offering a free holiday running beanie for orders over $130.
- Wayfair is having a big black Friday blowout with lots of deals – we’ve bought a ton of house stuff from them over the years!
- Macy’s is also having a big blowout sale, including 25-40% off their active brands, like North Face – I’m eyeing this cute North Face jacket for Riese because she just grew out of her parka from last year!
