Turkey Time with Family

Last Wednesday, we loaded up the goof troop and headed for Tennessee to spend Thanksgiving with Matt's family.  Despite snow, rain and narrowly killing my husband, we made it safely! 

After unloading the car and feeding the hungry pups, this girl poured herself a LARGE glass of red wine!  It was divine. 

Bless my sister in law and brother in law's hearts for putting up with 13 family members and 2 extra dogs!  Everyone converged on their house Wednesday night and Jennifer managed to get everyone settled, fed and hydrated.  Not only did she make food for Wednesday's supper, but also breakfast on Thanksgiving morning, the turkey and several fixins for dinner and breakfast Friday before everyone headed back out!  Super woman. 

Thursday morning was pretty low key.  Lots of catching up over coffee and breakfast casseroles.  Midday we started getting motivated to get our turkey dinner prepared!  The boys handled frying the turkey, while most of the gals made appetizers, sides and desserts. 

 

 

 

Matt's family also likes to indulge in craft beer, good wine and mixed drinks!  I fell head over heels for this recipe for an Apple Cider Moscow Mule...

Several of us headed out to battle the calories and snapped some great photos of the beautiful TN scenery!

After our walk, I put the hurt on some online shopping and knocked out several people on my Christmas shopping list.  Kohl's strikes again!  I also took advantage of Courtney's 50% off sale at Cowgirl Crush... Excited to see everything come in the mail this week!

Most of Matt's family took off back to their respective states (IL, NC, FL) after breakfast Friday morning, but we decided to hang out for another day!  And after being relatively contained by four walls, the four of us were ready to escape to town.  The four of us had lunch out, did some shopping and then headed back to the house to check in on the pups. 

Speaking of the pups... My girl Haddie was a rock star!!  She was a little timid (obviously), but warmed up to everyone pretty quickly!  She also found a buddy in Matt's cousin's daughter, Eve.  I was a touch apprehensive with the baby crawling all over, but Haddie handled it like a champ!  Everyone was smitten.

After an impromptu session for Christmas card pictures, we all headed into NashVegas!  The last time the four of us were downtown it was rainy and freaking cold, so the mild temps were so awesome!  We had supper at Demos' Restaurant and then went for drinks/live music on the patio at Rippy's.  Let me tell you "Rocky Top" sounds so much better when you're actually in Tennessee!

Sadly, our trip had to come to an end and it was time to go home Saturday.  On the way home we stopped for lunch at an old college fave, 17th Street, which is famous for pork barbeque!  We rolled into the lane at home around 5pm and EVERYONE, human and canine, was excited to be out of the car.  The rest of the night we seriously lounged on the couch and did nothing!

To round out the weekend, Matt and Bella got up and went duck hunting Sunday morning at the God awful hour of 4am.  Like the smart kids we are, Haddie and I slept in!  I was going to take Haddie for a run, but the 25 mph winds kept me in my pjs watching Christmas movies and decorating our big Christmas tree.  I'm pretty proud of the way it turned out this year!  Be on the look out for pics!

Linking up with Biana.

Escape To So ILL

Last week, I hot footed it down to southern Illinois to spend some time with my friend Susan.  I had some time off of work that I had to use and decided heading even just a few hours South might be good for my soul!

I got into town late Thursday night, but after spending 3.5 hours in the car I was totally cool with just vegging out on the couch.  Susan, her hubby TJ and I spent the rest of the evening chatting. catching up and figuring out our plans for the weekend.

Friday morning, Susan and I headed to town to do some shopping at a local boutique, Eccentrics.  Susan's photography business partners and outfits the models in cute clothes from Eccentrics throughout the year.  The boutique owner, Lauren, is a local gal who in the last few years has opened this great clothing store.  Susan had nothing but wonderful things to say about Lauren, the store and the clothes!!  Naturally, I was really excited to go and check it out!  When we walked in I was so distracted by all colors, patterns and prints that I bee-lined it to the racks to see what I could find that I couldn't live without!  A few minutes later, Lauren came around the corner to greet us and my mouth literally fell open in surprise... Back in college, Lauren and I worked together at Applebee's!  What a small freakin' world, huh?!?  Thinking back, it all makes sense though.  All those years ago, and now too, Lauren was always so stinking trendy and her owning a boutique really shouldn't come as a surprise!

Source

After purchasing some new Spring and Summer staples, Susan and I headed to one of our favorite restaurants, Harbaugh's Cafe, for a late lunch.  Harbaugh's has been open since 2000 and serves some of the best breakfast and lunch in Carbondale.  The restaurant itself was furnished piece by piece as owner Laura Harbaugh, hit up garage sales to outfit her new place.  The walls are covered with art and knick knacks that only add to the atmosphere!  If by chance you're ever in Carbondale, Harbaugh's is located just across from campus and is most recognizable by the polka dotted awnings and the line of hungry patrons lined up out the door and down the street.  Trust me, waiting in line is worth it!

Once our bellies were full, we decided it was high time to hit up some of the local wineries that southern Illinois is becoming famous for!  Blue Sky Vineyard was our first stop, naturally.  In my opinion, Blue Sky never disappoints.  The wine is good, the scenery is gorgeous and you can literally lose track of time while you're there!  I speak from experience.  Susan and I enjoyed a carafe of our favorite red wine while we soaked up the sun on the patio. 

After Blue Sky we navigated the winding roads of the Shawnee Hills Wine Trail and ended up at Alto Vineyards.  Alto recently built a brand new building that offers a large tasting room and second story patio that overlooks a small pond and the vineyard. 

Our favorite wine at Alto is their Dawg House Red which features SIUC's mascot, the saluki!!  We drank a bottle and took some home too!

After closing down leaving Alto, we headed back to Susan's.  Our original plan was to make supper, but when we realized the chicken was still frozen solid we had to resort to Plan B.  Plan B was 17th Street Bar & Grill.  17th Street is another local favorite that is always top notch! 

On Saturday, Susan and I spent running errands at places like Home Depot, Hobby Lobby and Party City.  We grabbed lunch out at the Longbranch Cafe and Bakery and then rented some movies.  Because we are mature adults we ended up with Saving Mr. Banks and Frozen!  After just getting back from Disneyland, I loved 'revisiting' it in Saving Mr. Banks.  I also really enjoyed the sisterhood aspect of Frozen and how Princess Anna was relate-able and modern compared to other princesses.  We ate and drank at home Saturday night and crashed somewhere around midnight.  Disney movies will wear a girl out!

Sunday morning I helped Susan get squared away for a photo shoot she had later in the day and then I hopped in the Jetta and drove home. It doesn't look like we did more than eat and drink the weekend away, but I swear we did!  And to be honest, isn't that paired with good company what great weekends are made from?!?