This past weekend was a much needed weekend filled with a few of my favorite things. Family, food, and wine. I couldn’t honestly have asked for a better 4 days off. I didn’t run a single mile last week, and I am totally cool with that. My priorities have shifted greatly, and with this shift I have learned so much about myself, and the realness of the relationships I hold dear to my heart.
So. Thanksgiving went down a little like this. Wednesday night we spent the evening decorating the house and getting everything ready for Thanksgiving day. We even were welcomed over at our good friend’s house next door for a few cocktails. #Winning.
I woke up super early, and prepped the turkey. Yup. That’s bacon you see…it makes everything better, right?!? I swear this was the best turkey I’ve made yet, and I’ve been roasting turkeys for years.
DELISH. My sister loved the turkey so much it just made me smile. THAT is why I love cooking so much: Seeing the joy my food brings to others is priceless. Plus I loved having my sister’s family over for the day to help eat all the yummy food! That’s the best part! I truly love Thanksgiving and the meaning of the day. ❤
Black Friday was a quiet day filled with housework and movie watching. This was our actual anniversary, but we were celebrating Saturday. My hubby surprised me with an overnight stay at The Herrington Hotel, with dinner at our favorite restaurant located inside the hotel, Atwaters. We started the day by taking the kids and my niece who is also 16 years old to a local craft fair (I totally forgot to take any pics) which was a total blast. My neighbors were kind enough to keep a close eye on the house/kids, so we headed off to our mini getaway, just 15 minutes from our house.
We started out by having lunch at The Preservation Wine company, in Geneva. We’d never been there but had heard great reviews. Everything we heard was spot on, and our wine, food, and service was on point. We will definitely go back.
We headed out to the shops of 3rd street for some Christmas shopping and just good quality time with each other. I can’t remember the last time we were just “us” for more than an hour or so, and I could feel us recharging with every minute. My hubby spoiled me with some beautiful clothes from one of my favorite local shops (I LOVE shopping local. It’s always been important to me to support local businesses), of which I forgot to take pics of, LOL. I’ll save that for another post.
It was time to head to our hotel, so after checking in we were pleasantly surprised by a beautiful bottle of champagne. I gave my hubby the gift I had made for him, and he got a little choked up. I had a pocket watched engraved with “See you in my dreams,” which is what we said to each other in ever communication we had while he was deployed to Afghanistan. He’s going to set it to “home time” while he is away. #sobs
We got ready for dinner, and headed down to the lobby for a pre-dinner drink. We sorta clean up nicely I like to think…;-)
And then there was dinner…Words can’t even describe it, so here it is in pics…
As you can venture to guess, we were stuffed afterwards, but WOW, what an amazing meal. We each had a starter, soup/salad, and entrée and both shared dishes. AH. MA. ZING. We had reservations about going back, as our favorite Chef no longer works at this restaurant but I can honestly say we were pleasantly surprised that the staff and food hadn’t missed a beat.
It was an amazing weekend, one I won’t forget and I am truly thankful and blessed to be married to the love of my life. Despite struggle, tough times and bumps in the road we always end up back in each others arms, literally. People say, “Oh, you are so lucky.” But really, we just work our tails off to keep our marriage strong. Are we perfect? Heck no…but we do our best to focus on US even when times are tough. At the end of the day, we know we have each other.
How was your Thanksgiving? Do you cook, or go to family/friend’s homes?
Have a great week, y’all!
❤ Michelle
Movin' it with Michelle 
Wow, your Thanksgiving dinner and that dinner at Atwaters looks amazing! I must go there sometime!
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It’s an amazing experience! I highly recommend it! Thanks!’
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Sounds like a wonderful weekend! I love eating. Which is why I run!
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Hahaha! Thankfully my scale only went up 1 lb over the holiday weekend! I started back running today. 🙂
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You are so right, bacon does make everything better. Such a beautiful bird. You guys do clean up nice and it was so refreshing to read that your marriage is good but you work hard at it. People only see two happy people, they don’t see the work that goes into it.:) So happy you had a great thanksgiving.
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Thank you so very much!!!! I hope you have a wonderful day! ❤
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Yeey, Michelle! Family, food, and wine is all we need sometimes. Yes, I know, we want that to be often… I am glad for you 🙂
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Thank you so much!!! 🙂
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Wow, it sounds like the perfect weekend! That’s so nice that you guys were able to get away together for some time for just the two of you. It seems like the weekend was a good mix of family time, time with friends, and couple time, which is a balance that can be hard to find.
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It really was the perfect weekend. Thanks!!! I am so glad to see you are feeling better and that you had a great weekend, too! 🙂
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I am so happy that you and the hubs got some time away. And your gift to him made me tear up.
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Thank you so much. 💗
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I don’t eat the bacon, but I’ll assume the bacon turkey was good anyway.
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Ah, it was delish!!!! But I suppose for someone who doesn’t like bacon, this could be unappetizing.
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My heart swells every time you talk about your hubby – I just love the two of you!!
My invite to your bacon-wrapped-turkey dinner must have got lost in the mail, right??? lol
So funny – it just hit me that you, as an American, associate Thanksgiving with putting up your xmas decorations!! With our Thanksgiving being at the beginning of October – we’re thinking about getting our pumpkins and decorations for Halloween!! lol
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awh thanks!! And darn it, it MUST be lost in the mail. HEHE!!! If you ever do a Chicago-area race in the next couple years you MUST let me know. 🙂
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Ooooh, I will – I have not yet knocked Illinois off my list and my cousin and his family live in Chicago so that’s where I’ll be doing it!!
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The Fox Valley Marathon is my favorite. Check it out. 😘
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Will do!!!
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I thought something was wrong with my eyes for a minute. Then I realized it was snowfall on the screen! LOL. Happy Anniversary! The watch story made me all misty-eyed. That was an awesome idea. That turkey looks fantastic. I’ve never heard of or thought about using bacon. I wish you would link with us some time on the Weekly Wrap! You can never have enough blogger friends!
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awh thanks!!! I always forget to link before I hit publish!!! Ack! I definitely will link up soon, and I agree you can never have enough blogger friends.
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I totally agree! Bacon on a bird is yummy!! And the braised pork looked delish!!
You two looked great for your night out! I haven’t managed that with my hubby 😦 -my twins are just two years old.
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Ah give it time. My kids are 16/9 lol!
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I know… 🙂
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Sounds like a fabulous week! Happy belated anniversary. Glad you were able to spend it together.
Your turkey looks DIVINE! seriously, out of control. If pictures don’t do it justice, I can’t imagine how amazing it tasted! Ooowee! Xo
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Thanks so very much!!!! And the turkey was DELISH!!!! Thank you!!
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Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful! Happy Anniversary Michelle…so glad you got some quality time with your hubby! Yes, you both ‘clean up’ very well!! XOXO ~ Linda
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Thank you, Linda!! I truly appreciate it!!! ❤
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I was following all of your pictures and posts, and it just made me so happy that you were so surrounded by your family and loved ones (and amazing food). I was just so happy for you!
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Thanks so much, Suz. Xoxo
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Ohhh, you have me in tears! Love the pocket watch idea and the saying. So sweet. So so so glad you two got away even briefly. Recharging is so important especially with him leaving (which I know you know already)….but yay hubby for planning that!!
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Thanks, Sue. If you could’ve seen his face when he read the inscription. #allthetears
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What a fantastic Thanksgiving and anniversary! 🙂 What a great weekend, overall! I hope you have more joyous events like that in your near future!
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Thanks Kim!!! Things are going to get pretty hectic around my house after the holidays (even now, as he leaves for training next week) but we are doing our best to make the most of every moment!! ❤
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