the weekend rundown - time, turkey & thanks

Have I mentioned how much I looovveeee a long weekend?

What's that you say? Only in like every other post?

Ok good. Just wanted to make sure we're clear on this.

It was nice and long and oh so relaxing. A long weekend makes you feel like you've been given the gift of time. Time to both be productive and relax, a fulfilling combination.

It got started with a short work day on Wednesday, followed by a little date night out to Town Bistro.

Thursday morning we mozied on over to my parents' late morning to enjoy bloody mary's and mimosas then proceeded to stuff our faces full of delicous food with my fam.

We also took the opportunity to lay my Aunt Mosie to rest, as we hadn't had the chance to do something with the whole family together since her passing last year. It was a beautiful afternoon and I know she's glad to be with my Poppy and Uncle Lo, as we buried her ashes next to theirs.

After fulfilling the family tradition of watching the Brad Pitt Thanksgiving episode of Friends later that afternoon

(yes, we really do that annually),

we headed back to our side of the river, stopping by Cross Tides to say hi and check out Ella's new antics, then went home to CHRISTMAS!

We cocktailed and Christmas'd into the evening - until I playfully threw a silver Christmas ball at Ant thinking it was plastic- when it bounced off him, hit the floor and shattered we knew it was time to call it a night...

**Christmas decoration pics coming soon!**

I'll condense the next two days: the daylight hours were spent doing house things, a little cooking, a little decorating, a little crafting, some good gym time, reading, etc.
Ant fished.

Friday night, Jess, Kelly and Ash came over with a pizza, then we went to Seven to see a band.

Great night and good times with the girls!

Kel, me, Jess, Ash

Saturday evening was a little calmer, as we watched the devastation that was the UVA vs. Tech game (ouch), but at least my Dukes pulled out a great win!

Blue cheese and cripsy fried onion burgers helped ease some of Ant's pain after the loss.

Sunday brought us some 73 degree weather,
therefore a boat ride was in order.

Boat ride and beers at Merroir, then home to steamed shrimp on the porch, a little cocktail'ing on the couches in the yard
(umm what? you don't have couches in your yard?)

 We finally got ride of said couches when they were picked up by a friend that evening, I can now take pictures of the new couches and Christmas decorations!

The weekend was awesome,

our house looks awesome (and Christmasy!!),

and life is just awesome.

Hope yours is too : )


oh yea, this is my adorable husband making me HOMEMADE DONUTS Sunday morning (and despite what it looks like, NOT drinking that beer at 9:30 am, honest). They were amazing and I'll share his tutorial in another post.

Thankful

So thankful for these people.



It was a wonderful Thanksgiving,

one of Mom's lovely table settings

with family and friends,







me, Ant, Jess, Jack, Ale & David



Dad, Aunt Harriet, Donna, Mom & Uncle Vernon


great food,

my pumpkin cheesecake

 

 and lots of time spent with my sweet husband. 

So so much for which to be thankful.

extras:



 

    

Turkey Day Prep

Thanksgiving shopping done.

not pictured: vodka

hey, I'm just doing what I was told....

the weekend rundown - company, couches & cousins

Another great one full of good eating, precious babies and fun times!

Heather - I promise this is the only one I'll share until your cards go out!! They're just SO cute!

We had some fellow Virginia fans over Saturday night for the
UVA @ FSU game and WHAT A WIN!

Holly and Chris brought over some great apps and
their sweet little Tucker

Our friends Jack and Meredith stopped by for a bit too!

I made our traditional chili with ground turkey, and a white bean chicken chili (super easy and awesome recipe courtesy of Jamie and Bernie Murphy- now on what's cooking page)

Both were  hits!



ghetto phone pic.. had to be posted though- Tucker was my mini-me!



The Braly Family: Chris, Holly and Tucker

Way to end the night with a WIN!

Sunday we got a wild hair and drove to Newport News bright and early to buy NEW COUCHES!

That's right, plural, as in we now have TWO brand new couches!

Oh how we've hated our couch for 2 long years-
this is like Christmas came early!

Sidenote: We unpacked the boxes last night and we **ahem Anthony** "realized" they sent us home with 4 left arm slipcovers.

Only to check again today and realize they are
in fact, the correct covers.
Sorry for bashing on you for the past 16 hours World Market. Anyways, they look fabulous! I'll post pic later.

After couch pick up, I went to Mathews to do a little Christmas card photo shoot for my cousin Jamie and his wife Heather and my most precious little twin baby girl cousins!

Guess I shouldn't share those until Heather sends out her cards, huh?

But I will say there are some ADORABLE ones of those babies,

I could seriously eat them up they're so stinking cute.

On the way home from the photo shoot, it was late afternoon and 70 degrees out, so I met Ant at Merroir for some delicious steamed shrimp and a beer on the porch.

(maybe said beer can account for why we were being idiots and thinking we got the wrong slipcovers?!?)

Happy short work week!!!

Oyster Stout Launch Party

RRO teamed up with Flying Dog Brewery and Woodberry Kitchen to

create the Pearl Necklace Oyster Stout (by Flying Dog).

The launch party for this draft release only beer took place this past

Monday night at Woodberry Kitchen in Baltimore.

Since I've had some night and weekend work events the past few days,

I took some time off work to join in the celebration!



Woodberry Kitchen is an incredibly cool restaurant, very young and rustic, everything very fresh and natural. The chef and owner, both of whom Ant had met before, were so friendly and treated us to a delicious array of dishes personally sent out by the chef. The flatbreads were amazing- my favorite had butternut squash, kale, roasted garlic and cheddar- YUM!

 

The event was fantastic, all outdoors and it just happened to be 70 degrees in mid-November!!

It was a sold out event (yea, on a MONDAY night) where there were fire pits, shucked Rappahannock River Oysters, stew, a GREAT band, and of course, the brand new Oyster Stout was flowing.

**disclaimer: I know these pictures are crap. I'm still sharing because it was such a cool event I hate not to, but know that I'm not proud of these**

The stout, by the way, is awesome-really smooth. 

You can read write ups about the beer here and here.



national oyster shucking champion and friend of RRO - George Hastings...love this guy



yes, even the bathrooms are cool, with farm house style cloth towels and an outdoors style faucet



Woodberry's awesome collection of fresh, local canned goods they use

Carter and Rachel drove up from Arlington to meet us there!

It was such a fun night!



Yes, we got home at 2 am and still got up at 6:30 to go to work the next morning.
That was not fun.
Even more un-fun was the fact that it was also a Trick Dog night.
Tuesday was a looooonnnngg day.

Small price to pay for a good time : )

the weekend rundown - Phil, Pearl Jam & Pirates

Annnndd we're back to weekend posts on a Wednesday,
just one of those weeks.

So thinking back a few days to the weekend- it consisted of a little work, a few fun outings and LOTS of time with Ant, just the two of us, talking and laughing and eating and drinking.
The perfect weekend combo. 

Friday night we were in Mathews with family and friends at a
little send off party for Philip.


Lifelong buds: Jack, Phil & Jonathan

 

the Morgan family

He left Saturday for a 9 month deployment.

We're so proud of you Little Phil and can't wait for you

to come back home!



Phillip





Jack aka Ted Mosby

*There used to be a picture of Jess here but she complained until I removed it*


dad



mom

Ant & Donna

On Saturday I had a work event the first half of the day and Anthony scored serious husband of the year points, as he so sweetly got up early with me (like we were at my office at 7 am on a Saturday morning), helped me pick up tables and chairs and set them up at the fair site, then scored me points with one of my bosses when he ran out to pick up coffee for her HA!, then came back later to help me break everything down.

AND while I was working the health fair, he cleaned every square inch - inside and out- of my car!

What a lucky girl am I?!

Saturday evening was spent relaxing, drinking double chocolate stouts, chatting and watching PJ20- his anniversary gift hah- which then lead to Pearl Jam concert dvd's and frozen pizza.

The name of the game Sunday was FOOD. All I did was eat.

Ant cooked me a great breakfast Sunday morning, I baked some adorable mini apple pies, I went to my parents' for family lunch, then came home to hang out with Ant while we watched the new Pirates of the Carribean movie and cooked dinner.

Oh yea.. and we may or may not have pulled
Christmas decorations out of the attic : )

Watch out Paul Marchetti, your Christmas competition has arrived...

Stay tuned for details about our awesome Monday night adventure!