family time – Page 27 – Life as Lauren

Well, it’s a three day work week, our office is busy and a majority of us were here by 7 AM, so I’d say it’s crunch time. And by that, I mean I’m leaving you with a short and sweet post about this weekend. Which was a blissfully relaxed and not-so-busy one. Believe me, these types of weekends are much appreciated before Christmas festivities kick into high gear.

I think I mentioned Friday 🙂

Saturday started with homemade Peppermint Mochas. I am so into making simple syrups lately so when I saw this recipe that involved using real mint, I was sold. I also declared this the best Peppermint Mocha I’d ever had. Spontaneous pampering by way of a manicure at Base Coat followed.

We were maybe gonna go out to dinner Saturday night but ended up staying in, so we grilled up some steak, made these sweet potatoes (that I LOVED) and roasted some shredded Brussels. Feasting like royalty in our sweats, ya know? The Cowboys played that night so I wrapped presents instead. My wrapping paper came like that?!?!

Sunday morning sustenance at Stowaway Coffee + Kitchen. It just opened last week and I definitely think there’s room for improvement but hey, there was hot coffee and really good tomato chutney so I won’t complain too much 🙂 Afterwards, I finished up some last minute Christmas shopping. The mall the weekend before Christmas? Never again! We ended Sunday with a family get together. Tis the season!

What did you do this weekend?

Are you finished with your holiday shopping?

Do you enjoy wrapping presents? (My back does NOT)

Let the fact that I actually fell asleep on the drive into work (I wasn’t driving!) and that I somehow left my phone at home be a testament to how good my Thanksgiving weekend was. If you know me in real life or have been reading this blog for any length of time, you know just how much I LOVE LOVE LOVE Thanksgiving. I look forward to it all year long. I won’t bore you with all the minute details of the past four and a half days of cooking, eating, drinking, laughing, lounging and quality time spending, I’ll just tell you that it was perfectly blissful and I adored every single second.

Tuesday night baking, Wednesday night’s double trip to the grocery (oy!), Thanksgiving Eve ramen dinner, waking up to snow on Thursday and blowing off our long standing Turkey Trot tradition in favor of coffee and the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade (best decision!), a goblet of wine and 30 lbs. of turkey at Thanksgiving Meal #1, STUFFING and family movie-watching at Thanksgiving Meal #2, Joey’s team winning the alumni basketball tournament on Friday, homemade whipped cream, FOUR (yes, FOUR) James Bond movies, breakfast at Bacon, Christmas decorations, a night at the Mayan with my little sister (♥), pancakes, shopping and so so many leftovers (my mom loaded us up and I could not have been more excited about it!). My heart is so full 🙂