Scenes from Thanksgiving…

Better late than never, right? 

 

I think I’ll just say we have a lot to be thankful for this year. 

Happy (belated) Thanksgiving from the Confessions family!

Dancing for a Cause

I know we’re all getting ready for THANKSgiving… but tonight I want to tell you about DANCEgiving.  If you’re a longtime reader of Confessions of a Former Couch Potato, then you know I’m a Zumba instructor and I love dancing!  There are so many rewards to being an instructor, including seeing participants grow stronger, lose weight, make friends, and find confidence!  However, I am lucky to work for a company that frequently tries to give back to the community. 

This past Saturday, we held a DANCEgiving party.

The purpose of DANCEgiving is two-fold:

get a great 90-minute workout…

and collect non-perishable food items for a local food bank.

The event was so much fun.  There were 6 instructors there, so we got to take turns teaching and teach some songs together.  Participants were able to attend for free with a donation of canned goods.

It is always great to be able to do something that you love, while also helping the community! 

Is everyone ready for Thanksgiving?  What is everyone making?  Ryan, Sadie, and I attend TWO Thanksgiving celebrations (One for each family), so we have certain things we are assigned to bring to both.  For Thanksgiving Number 1, I will be making lemon merangue pie and redskin mashed potatoes.  I’ve never make a lemon merangue pie, so I am trusting a dessert expert: Paula Deen.  She is one of my go-tos when I need a dessert recipe.  For Thanksgiving Number 2, I will be making pumpkin pies, collards (soooo excited to make collards—I have been craving them!), and rolls.  I think I am going to make my Easy Mini Cinnamon Roll-Ups.

We always think of food first when we think of Thanksgiving, but I am so looking forward to having a few days off of work to spend time with family! 

Now, I want to hear what you all are doing.  Where are you going?  What are you cooking?

A Pretty Nice Little Saturday…

We started Saturday with a special family trip to one of our favorite Greenville breakfast spots… Stax’s Restaurant!  If you live near Greenville and haven’t been… you need to try it!

Of course, we started with coffee…

I decided on a ham, egg, and cheese sandwich with home fries.

   

Then we all decided that since the weather was absolutely beautiful, we would head out to Furman University.  Furman has a beautiful campus.  Lots of people go out to enjoy their path around the lake. 

Sadie couldn’t wait to get there and feed the ducks!

Then she and Poppy tried to climb up the clock tower, but it was roped off.  They couldn’t get to the “landing.”

 

We had some fun performing at this cool amphitheater.  Here are Leenie and Poppy waving to the crowd!

The weather was beautiful, and there were some amazing plants and flowers.  Aren’t these berries cool?  I think these photos turned out amazing.  I kind of want to have them framed!

   

It was fun to enjoy the cool fall weather and the gorgeous sunny day.

 

And we even were able to climb some trees and practice our tightrope-walking skills!

What an amazing day. 

Then later that night, we got ready for the Clemson vs. USC game.  For those of you who aren’t in South Carolina, this is a HUGE football game.  These two schools have been rivals for many years.  There is always a lot of trash talk leading up to this game. 

Meredith, David, Adrienne, Paul, Ryan, and I headed downtown to Wild Wing to watch the game. 

And even though we had been eating all weekend, we snacked on some “bar food” while we watched…

 

mozzarella sticks…

and wings of course!

And… the Gamecocks won… which made everyone happy…well…except for David.  He went to Clemson, so he wasn’t so happy…

Now, we’re finally home… and it’s nice to be home, but we’re missing everyone.  However, something exciting happened!  Santa left a special present under our tree while we were gone!  Can anyone guess what he left us?????

Two Thanksgivings...

When Ryan and I got married, of course, we were blessed with all the wonderful gifts of being married... including having TWO Thanksgivings.

Thanksgiving number one...

 My homemade mashed potatoes...

 Ryan's mom's fried okra (delicious!!!  You'll be seeing this recipe soon.)

 Thanksgiving number two!

 My mom's homemade name tags...

 floral arrangements

 pretty ribbon for napkin rings...

 and some gratuitous food shots...

Boy do I need to get back to Zumba!