Thanksgiving Recap - Biscuits, Balls and Black Friday

Friends! How was your Thanksgiving? We had an awesome time at home with my folks and extended fam.
Some highlights:

• My secret-family-recipe/bain-of-my-holiday-existence-rolls turned out FABULOUSLY (after years of disappointment)! Busted out the new kitchenmaid mixer, with help from sous-chef Matt and all 7 BATCHES turned out miraculously well. 
• Seeing long-lost cousins, their adorable children, and a surprise NEW girlfriend (brave soul to date into this family, I tell you.)
• Stuffing Balls - sound gross, taste AMAZING!
• Lots of car naps. So glad Matt's a safe driver :)
• Spending a lot of good quality time with a bunch of people I've missed seeing lately, from the 'rents, to good friends, family and event some iphone face time with the in-laws to be! I'm a lucky, lucky girl to have all these people in my life!

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Big question of the day, though: Did you shop? 

Mom and I sneaked out of the house Thursday night to see the hullabaloo at Target. I say sneaked out, because we'd spent the day earlier complaining about how gross it is that stores open on Thanksgiving. Yeah, major hypocrites. The deals were pretty good, but you know what? We felt GUILTY. Yeah, not so fun after all. Sorry all Target  red rangers, we won't do it again :(. Other than a little trip through Macy's on Friday, we stayed out of the fray after that. Cyber Monday was also a disappointment today - some Gap treats and that's it. (Though if you're into Kate Spade, you should check out her site. I was tempted.) So the retail guggernaut that is Thanksgiving was mostly unaided by my pocketbook. Oh well, I'm sure I'll catch up in the weeks to come.

Hope you're well, all! More posts this week, I promise.

On a Boat...

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I spent the weekend - you guessed it - on a boat. 

Poseidon, look at me.

Yeah, the weekend was somewhere between the classy images above and The Lonely Island boys -- maybe with a bit of this thrown in:

via Pinterest

Yes, there were shenanigans involved. But mostly just a really great weekend full of gorgeous Michigan weather, good friends and some delicious homemade cocktails (thanks, Katie!) 

Now that I'm a bonafide sailor, I think I need me some of these goodies for the next boat ride:

Polka Dot Bikini, JCrew

I love a bikini with coverage on top and bottom. This one looks tummy- and bust-friendly.

Rainbow Sandals

 I can't quite get on the boat shoe trend, but I am crushing on these Rainbow flip flops. The prepsters wore these in college while I was rocking Old Navy flips. I'm ready to upgrade. These have arch support and actual leather so your feet won't kill you for dancing all day on deck.

Target shorts

I actually already have these highlighter green (they're brighter in person) shorts and I am in love. The fit is really great - the leg is longer and the waistband is not too low - and they're a cool alternative to jorts. I'm going back for another color - either white or red...

Jose Maran Sunscreen

Hallelujah! Miracle of miracles - I escaped the weekend without even a  hint of a sunburn. Most of my compatriots were not so lucky, but I was really aggressive about reapplying. It helped that I had nice sunscreen to use - this Josie Maran is really nice for the face - not too oily. I also picked up some of the natural sunscreen at Target for the body and I really liked it. Definitely felt like less of a walking oil slick than normal. 

So there you go. Everything you need to be... on a boat.
Thanks to all our friends (and boat owners) for making this a fabulous break1

How was your weekend, folks?