Happy Thanksgiving (weekend)!

As usual, sorry for the delay!  I got caught up in vacation mode this past week.  I'm sad to see my lazy Turkey days come to an end, but it does means we are that much closer to Christmas!  And now that Thanksgiving has passed, it is time to switch into Santa mode.  But first a few words about our vegan Thanksgiving.

The day started off on the cooler side.  We joined the crowds at Daffin Park to run the 3rd annual United Way Turkey Trot (I'm proud to say I have made it thus far to all three!).  This was the first race of the season that I've run in a sweatshirt, and I didn't regret it for one minute.  I never did warm up, but I guess the benefit is that I didn't break a sweat either.  You can see a photo of me with Jo Hannah, my running partner (who has been MIA this year since she left me to attend college in North Georgia) on the Savannahnow website. 

Then the rest of the day we spent cooking and cutting up at home.  It was everything you could want in a Thanksgiving celebration....70+ degree weather, sunshine, an open fire in the backyard, plenty of wine in the house and lots of friendly neighbors and close friends to keep you occupied.  Oh, and NO TOFURKEY!  That stuff really is awful if you've never tried it.  In fact, we didn't even have a turkey at all, faux or otherwise.  Jason grilled instead a duck...and some sausage, and I think maybe even some chicken.  Whatever it all was, there is still a ton of it in the refrigerator. 

He also grilled a couple pounds of potatoes (sweet and russet) and some glazed carrots and onions.  Inside the house, I made up a vegan version of the traditional green bean casserole.  It resembled the recipe you see on the back of the Green Giant cans of green beans, but the similarities end there.  I didn't even use canned green beans.  But I did find some gluten-free, vegan fried onion pieces and some "creamy" squash soup when I was in Atlanta last weekend visiting Kaitlyn.  I love Trader Joe's, by the way. It doesn't hold a candle to Wegmans, but it is my favorite specialty grocery store.



Thanksgiving Feast! 



Experimenting with the Self-timer..

And now it's time for the holidays!!  I did not attempt to get close to the Black Friday shoppers.  I made one quick stop at JoAnn's Fabrics around noon, making sure it was well past the time for those 3am shoppers to have collapsed.  Even still, there were too many people for my liking.  I don't know how people do it.  I would rather pay the extra money just to avoid all that chaos...and pepper spray.  Did you see where 20 people were injured by a woman using pepper spray to get a heads up on all the other early risers?  And at a Walmart, no less...this woman was serious about her purchase of cheap crap.  Yikes! 

I spent all day wrapping gifts today.  I'm almost done with all of my mailers.  It looks like I will miss yet another Christmas in New York, so everything will have to be sent through the mail... again.  You should see my craft room, though.  It looks like Santa's workshop!  And while I may not be able to spend the holidays with my family, I've got my own family here in Savannah to take care of...which is why I spent a good hour today making stockings for the dogs (don't judge! :p).

It looks like it's going to be a busy season and this week is going to kick everything off.  Savannah's most popular race, the Bridge Run is this Saturday morning, and the Reindeer Run is the 18th.  I'm taking a break from running the weekend in between to attend a cooking class downtown.  I'm going to learn to make pork tenderloin and homemade Twinkies...what?  You didn't expect to find a vegan cooking class in the South, did you??  I'm looking forward to it regardless. 

Happy Holiday Kick-Off Everyone!!!