Hello from Charlotte!
Well, this is a little overdue, I know...I've been home just over two weeks, which in itself just sounds crazy! I'm very, VERY happy to be home & am LOVING the time with my family. I've been watching television shows & movies a bit more lately which makes me miss traveling a little, since I'll see places I've been or places on my "to visit" list!
Since being home I've unloaded all my things from my car to the spare bedroom at my sister and brother in law's house (which I am ever so grateful to them for letting me stay!). I've also had to reacclimate myself with the new location of the house, since it's on the opposite side of town & I've got myself all turned around (thank goodness for GPS on my iPhone). Also since being home I've been filling out LOTS of applications for marketing jobs which is probably one of the most tedious tasks in the world. BUT, I'm praying it will pay off and I'll land a great job (and if you're an employer, you should hire me...you won't regret it!) haha!
The most exciting news since returning back to the Carolinas, besides how much I'm loving the warm, sunny, weather...is that I got an early Christmas present!!! I've been waiting a long time for this gift & my former co-workers/travel partners can vouch for me when I say that I talked about it nearly every day, I finally got my KitchenAid stand mixer in the raspberry ice color! It arrived via my sister's mother in law (since the store I ordered it from made a mistake & switched my billing & shipping address, which sent it to MICHIGAN!) and it arrived just in time for Thanksgiving dinner! I made the dinner with the help of my sous chefs, my sister and her mother in law! My menu included, Martha Stewart's "perfect roast turkey" and let me tell you, it was delicious & worth the couple extra steps of brining and soaking cheesecloth with a butter/wine mixture throughout the roasting time. I also made sides, Bobby Flay's sourdough, wild mushroom & bacon dressing, Sunny Anderson's roasted brussel sprouts, Food Network magazine's mashed potatoes with herbs and cheese, gravy and popovers! Dessert I made included, a pumpkin cheesecake with a ginger snap crust, french apple pie with a crumb top and a classic pecan pie with vanilla ice cream and/or whipped cream (the ice cream and whipped cream were the only store bought items). In all honesty, two days in the kitchen were exhausting (I baked the desserts the day before as well as brined the turkey)! However, I very much enjoyed EVERY second of it! I will just plan a little better next year & accept more help from my sous chefs when they offer! :) Overall, everyone was very pleased with the meal, the desserts and the leftovers! I ended up making turkey tetrazzini with the turkey leftovers, which was really good too!
I also have made homemade brownies and peanut butter chocolate chip cookies with my new mixer & I'm gathering many more desserts and dishes to whip up in the beautiful kitchen accessory (that still needs a name by the way)!
Now that I've told you all about my food, you might be wondering about all my gripes about not being able to regularly attend the gym while on the road...and what I'm doing about that! Well, to be honest...not as much as I should, BUT I have gone a couple times! :) I signed up for a 5K race that is December 3rd, and as I type this I realize that's next weekend (holy crap!) I've been to the gym a few times and have gone on a couple runs outside as well as played tennis with my brother in law once! Now that I have a break in the holidays, I am making a commitment to start to go to the gym regularly as well as start planning my meals!!!
Well, that's pretty much all I have for now but I'm going to try & update something interesting at least once a week...we'll see how well I do with that! ;)
I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend and have a blessed little break before Christmas! Until next time...muah!
