Hi friends! Happy Black Friday 🙂 I hope that my fellow American friends enjoyed a happy Thanksgiving. It was absolutely different this year, but still a wonderful one. I try to maintain a grateful heart as much as possible, and this year I’m feeling extra thankful for our family and our health. I’m so thankful for all of you and genuinely appreciate all of my virtual BFFs out there! Thank you so much for hanging out with me over here on the blog and I hope you know that I’m thankful for YOU. <3

Thanksgiving 2020 recap

I woke up, made the kiddos’ breakfast, and hopped on the spin bike for Robin’s Thanksgiving ride. I took the Turkey Burn ride last year and loved it, so I figured it would energize me for the day. it was so much fun to see so many friends on the leaderboard!!

I did NOT expect to cry for half of the ride. #1 she announced a rider’s pregnancy who was taking the class live with her mom (cue all the happy tears) and she also talked about how grief and gratitude can coexist. It’s ok to be filled with tremendous grief at everything that’s been lost this year, but also tremendous gratitude. That hit me pretty hard. <3 This year has been a wild ride, and fellow moms know the exhaustion of constantly searching for silver linings for the sake of the kiddos. With all of the terribleness of this past year, there have also been some beautiful parts. Basically when I got off the bike, I couldn’t tell what was sweat and what was tears, but it was everything I needed.

Usually for Thanksgiving, we head to dinner, golfing, and poker at my Uncle’s house with easily 40-50 people. This year, most of us stuck with our smaller family units instead of getting the whole crew together. At our house, it was just my mom, nana, stepdad, Trevor, and us. We missed seeing the rest of the fam, but it was a perfect low-key celebration.

My contributions to the feast:

– Ina’s oven-roasted turkey breast. I’m never making a whole turkey ever again. It was INSANE; so flavorful and moist. I also used her trick and put it in the serving pan atop gravy and warmed it in the oven. The gravy keeps the turkey warm and prevents it from drying out.

– Green bean casserole (used the GF crispy onions from Whole Foods and they were life)

– Gluten-free stuffing (winged it based on my usual recipe)

– Cornbread (GF Trader Joe’s boxed mix)

– A sweet potato pie (<— my first time having it)

– My nana’s chocolate mousse pie (similar to this recipe)

– Mulled wine (<— necessary for Thanksgiving and Christmas)

– Ordered from Whole Foods: cranberry sauce, butternut squash with cranberries, and gravy

– Madre and Nani brought over two Costco pies, a whole turkey, a giant carafe of gravy, two types of stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, and roasted veggies

There were only 8 of us but we had enough food for 40 people lol.

We ate outside on the patio and watched Trevor’s little husky puppy Nova run around. Caro was amused and also very confused by her. It was pretty hilarious.

All the pie: 

It’s been 3 years since the Pilot’s been home for Thanksgiving! <3 We were so happy to have this guy around.

(check out the epic photo bomb)

A funny story about Liv:

She asked if she could have a piece of her Halloween candy while I was cooking, and I was just like ok sure whatever. She was eating a Milky Way and came over to me and handed me what seemed like a hard, white rock. She said, “Mom, I thought there was a rock in my candy, but I think it’s a tooth.”

I thought she was messing with me because she does this sometimes, and I turned it over in my hands and noticed the distinct shape and ridges of a real tooth. A molar.

You guys. I freaked out. I was calm on the outside, but hyperventilating on the inside. SOMEONE’S TOOTH WAS IN MY CHILD’S CHOCOLATE?! Who’s tooth is it? How does this even happen??

I told Tom to come over and inspect the tooth with me and while we’re trying to figure it out, Liv told us her mouth was bleeding. Turns out it was HER tooth. I can’t even describe my internal panic until we realized that a stranger’s molar wasn’t imbedded in her Halloween candy. So the turkey Tooth Fairy made an appearance last night.

This morning, I’m getting everything ready to set out to Fit Team later today, going for a hike with the fam, decorating for X-mas (YASSSS), and crushing our Black Friday shopping list.

Black Friday Sales! Some of my fave finds from around the web:

– Equilibria is 20% off sitewide PLUS if you use my code (FITNESSISTA) you get an extra 15% off! If you’ve been wanting to try CBD, now is the perfect time. You can read more about my experience here, but it’s helped a ton with my sleep and anxiety, especially over the past year. Orders over $150 also receive a full daily treatment oil as a gift ($68). Such a steal – check it out here! I highly recommend the mint daily drops, the bath bombs, the roller duo, and any of the gift sets as a gift for others or for yourself.

– Beautycounter last day to get 15% off sitewide (small amount of exclusions!). Definitely check out the All Bright C Serum, the Overnight Peel, this palette, the Supreme Cream, and the lipgloss trio.

– Fit Team Month 1 plans go out later today! If you want in on the fun, you can use the code LETSGO for $10 off your subscription. Use the code BLACKFRIDAY for 50% off any of my Fit Guide plans, including Post Baby Bod.

Old Navy 50% off everything!  The girls love their activewear, like these leggings and these sweaters.

Our Place Always Pan is on super sale. (I ordered it in lavender and can’t wait for it to arrive)

Sweet deal on the Instant Pot!

I use this vacuum every single day and it’s the real deal.

Black Friday sale on the best sheets ever. We have the Hotel Collection and it was one of my fave purchases of the entire year.

gap is 50% off. Ordering leggings, sweaters, and pajamas for the crew.

Scoping out this 12 ft. Christmas tree…

Madewell up to 50% off. This jumpsuit is adorable.

Up to 60% off certain Etsy sellers!

Nordstrom up to 50% off more than a thousand items. Some of my faves: these amazing faux leather leggings, cozy pajamas for $30, this leopard throw blanket, Zella moto leggings for $26, short Ugg boots, and my favorite bra in the entire world.

Are you shopping this weekend? Anything you have your eye on?

Favorite part of your Thanksgiving this year? Any weird/funny kid stories lately?

Hope you have a lovely day and I’ll see ya soon!

xo

Gina