Ahhhhhh........

That great feeling you get when you wake up after a great meal and 12 hours of sleep!

Yesterday started out with Bloody Marys, which is a family tradition that I CAN'T go without on Thanksgiving! Since I am so far from my family, I thought the least I could do was uphold the tradition!! Then my friend Lucy and I made a martini stop (vodka, dirty, shaken-not stirred) then headed over to her sisters house for Thanksgiving dinner.

YUM, YUM, YUM!!! What a great meal we had - an Italian salad, rolls, rigatoni (yay for pasta and homemade sauce that took 2 days to cook!), turkey, stuffing, gravy, potatoes, sweet potato casserole (SOOOO yummy!), green bean casserole, and of course, wine. It was an excellent meal, and I even left room for dessert!!

Let's see...the choices were just awesome: pumpkin pie, pecan pie, pecan creamy cheese pie, blueberry creamy cheese pie, brownies, and of course "crack cake". I opted for the 2 creamy cheese pies which where really light and AWESOME. Lucy made those in the morning while we drank the Bloody Marys. Then, I had a small piece of the "crack cake". WOW!! I don't know what her sister does to that cake - but if you know me, I don't really even like cake, so that's a HUGE deal!! It is making me want to experiment more in the kitchen with my baking skills!!

I brought home some of the sweet potatoes and a slice of the "crack cake" which I proceeded to eat this morning for breakfast.....mmmmmm.

Yesterday was one of the days I have been looking forward to since I started this whole "new eating lifestyle" I am trying. I wanted to be able to eat some great meals on Thanksgiving and Christmas and not feel guilty about it. Well, it worked. Yes, I was full last night - but not uncomfortable. Which, I have to say, is a first. The fact that I have my portion control under control and also that I eat smaller meals more often - certainly helped when filling up my plate yesterday.

Mission accomplished!! Now I can get back to the 4 meals a day without hesitation so I can look forward to some other fun holiday eating this year - guilt free!! :)

While everyone else is either shopping or working today, I am going to do some things around the house. First thing is moving my computer back into my office. The other day I blew a circuit and lost power in my office - so I had to move everything into my dining room. It was a pain - but at least its all fixed now.

The other thing I am going to do is sort through all my beads and make some jewelry. I haven't made jewelry in so long, but now that the weather is starting to turn - I will definitely be getting back in the habit. I am going to make some things to sell on ebay for the holiday season! My prices will certainly be reasonable - because with today's economy, people are strapped for cash and I totally know how it is!!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!!