the long Thanksgiving weekend that was

Wednesday night I cooked a turkey with the giblet bag still in it. No harm no fowl. Get it?

After that, I went to Sandy's to see MFD and Frank play and catch up with friends. 

Then I ate a turkey sandwich at 2 a.m. to kick Thanksgiving off the right way.

The turkey sandwich is superior to the actual turkey in my mind.

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Thanksgiving dawned warm and bright. 

We took our coffee to go and headed over to the fields to let the dogs run like loons.

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We enjoyed an antipasto spread at my inlaws' along with the musical stylings of our nephews.

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Thanksgiving dinner at my aunt and uncle's in Gilbertsville. 

The big bird, Carol's awesome cheese art, and Cindy's Thanksgiving cocktail:

Pre and during dinner scenes:

The set table, my beloved can cranberry sauce, and my first plate artfully arranged so the food doesn't touch.  This is extremely important.

My grammatical OCD took over, and I had to correct an error on a packaged cocktail napkin. 

No apostrophe after the you. Really cocktail people?

I also caught Grandmom mid-turkey pick. Classic.

We had a lot of fun and a lot of wine. It was a full and lovely day.

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On Friday morning on our way upstate, Debbie and I stopped at DD.

I sampled the red velvet donut. Meh.

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Friday was full of gluttony and sloth. I enjoyed every bit of it.

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Saturday flurries.

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Jingle This Sleigh Ride for Small Business Saturday.

We pile in a car and jackass around a number of towns, frolicking and full of tomfoolery. 

It's always a good time.

Scenes:

Sleigh ride sustenance: broccoli bacon bites and mint hot chocolate cut with some coffee. 

Nimble Hill Winery's cabernet franc is my new jam.

I cannot resist presidential items in antiquey stores. MFD and I love that shit.

I wanted that Buddah so badly, but couldn't part with the $150 to get it. 

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While I love the Sleigh Ride, my favorite part of Thanksgiving Saturday is this: 

drinking wine, in my pajamas, at 3:30 in the afternoon. 

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We enjoyed lots of wine, an array of dips and snacks, and Catch Phrase. 

Jack even put his name on his plate to conserve materials.

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Big breakfast a la Jack before heading home on Sunday

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When I got home, I meant to do some hausfrauing, 

but Geege snuggled into my neck and pulled me to the nap side.

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Family dinner at Mom & Rich's since we didn't see them on Thanksgiving. 

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The weekend in shoes:

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the weekend that was

I'm so happy I got to see so many of my people this weekend. Happy and grateful.

My body is not grateful for all the naughty foods I've eaten. Veggies are going to be comin' in hot this week, you guys. 

Last week of November? Let's do this. 

I'm linking up with Sami's Shenanigans, Five30three, and Join the Gossip for Weekend Update.

the west coast weekend that was

We left San Francisco in a rental car. The helpful GPS took us out of town via Powell Street.
There is a stop sign at the very top of this hill, and we rolled back a few times.
I nearly shit twice and died.

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Golden Gate Bridge vista point

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Muir Woods - flipping amazing. It felt so quiet and old there.

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We tried Carl's Junior on the drive from San Francisco to Truckee

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Staying in Snow Dance Palace with my best friends 

The house

The view

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Thursday night barbecue for the to-be-weds. Lots of wine, excellent food, lots of laughs. 

We also caught up with our junior high MG teacher. 

It's always awesome to do that with your teachers as an adult.

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Red solo cup shenanigans

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More wine.

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Morning coffee

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MFD left these for me

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Inappropriate behavior at the Donner Party Memorial.
By the way, the height of the memorial is how high the snow was. Can you imagine?
It amazes me that people picked up, packed up, and headed west. On foot. Oh, pioneers.

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Tacos Jaliscos.
Holy shit. So good. I had fish tacos and a carne asada quesadilla.
Thank you Shauni for the recommendation!

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Whiling the afternoon away with a book in the sun

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Cabs and road sodas to Lake Tahoe.

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Happy hour cruise on the Tahoe Gal. Holy shit, Lake Tahoe is so gorgeous it actually looks fake.

Almost wed!

Us with the lovely bride-to-be

Lovely blue water, lovely rose wine

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Drinks at Bar of America in Old town Truckee

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Olympic opening ceremonies. I couldn't stay awake to see the U.S.

I  blame the wine.

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Wedfest: an epic nine hour celebration of Christy & Al Reed tying the knot.

Against the beautiful backdrop of Donner Lake, we toasted a happy couple, drank a ton of booze, lounged in the sun, ate excellent food (including a taco bar and a PBJ bar), danced to three jam bands, played horse shoes and went paddle boarding (MFD, not me) and got into happy shenanigans.

Congrats Christy & Al and thank you for an awesome day and weekend. 

The Reeds

Steve did a back flip off this bridge, and MFD did a side slip. Fools. 

This is not Mick Jagger, but it looks like him.

My girls

PBJ bar
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Driving back to San Francisco took forever. Traffic sucked and I was cranky and hungover.
We did stop at Dad's Kitchen in Sacramento, which we found via the TV Food Maps app.
A Triple D joint. We both got Dad's burgers and split the fried garbanzo beans and onion rings.
It was ok. It sat like a huge boulder in my stomach all day.
How does Guy Fieri eat all of this heavy shit?
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Passing out at the airport Hyatt for less than five hours of sleep.
I'm totally kicking myself for not booking the red eye yesterday.
And I'm giving Air Tran the high kick for not allowing standby if it's not on the same DATE of travel.

Sorry for the quick sign off, but we're boarding. So if there are any typos, please forgive me. See you on the east coast.

xoxo

SMD