sometimes a break from technology is nice.

happy friday friends!  flashback friday is on hiatus as i do not have my laptop with all my archived photos with me.  sorry charlies, i might do it tomorrow :)

so, yesterday i did not open my laptop or look at a computer monitor once and guess what? it was glorious.  i just enjoyed time with my family, marshall & the dogs.. played games, worked out, ate SO much food and didn’t think about internet land.  but i DID think about all of you~who i am incredibly thankful for :)

SO i have a lot to post since i have not posted since tuesday—wow, i think that is the longest i have ever gone without a post!  but i went out with my ladies wednesday and that was of the utmost importance.

starting where i left off~wednesday!

i wanted to celebrate national parfait day and i even emailed the parfait queen herself about it.. but alas, i didn’t have the essential items at work to make a parfait, so i celebrated waffle wednesday instead!

two kashi golean blueberry waffles topped with oikos+chocolate PB2 & sprinkled with cinnamon~

lunch was enjoyed by my favorite experimentarian!  we went to whole foods and snagged some salad bar action~

i love emily and i love the chile coated tofu. the end.

i had a stellar lower body workout wednesday night.. i am not going to go into the deets because i have SO much to post, but know that i worked my calves SO hard that i literally am hobbling around today and cannot straighten my legs properly.  it is that part right below the back of my knee that has killer DOMS.  hurts so good!

wendesday dinner was not the healthiest but it was the quickest and cheapest!  did you guys know that chipotle offers kid’s meals?!  i did not.  but now i do.  for a mere $3,50 plus tax i got a chicken & cheese kid’s quesadilla which came with a small side of black beans, a small side of rice, a small bag of tortilla chips and a drink.  i opted to for go the drink and most of the rice. but i did clean up the quesadilla, beans and chips.

 

i spent the rest of the evening hanging out with friends at the REAL salt lake championship party.. i mean, salt lake city cannot say much for their sports teams but our soccer team did win the cup on sunday.. that’s pretty fun.

 

ok! moving on..

thursday! HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

i woke up and made myself an americano and left for my parents’ house.  before any thanksgiving feasting went on, my mom and i completed a total body workout almost identical to the one i did last saturday.. with a little help from penelope jane!

as soon as i get done with this post i am going to start working on my moves section, we photographed every single move we did!  stay tuned :)

after our killer workout we cleaned ourselves up and worked on finishing up the feast my mom had started to prepare in the kitchen.

instead of making whole wheat rolls from scratch i took the easy way out and snagged these warm-and-serve all natural rolls from whole foods:

 

i also made some candied sweet potatoes as per my dad’s request.. although i would have been fine with cheetahs ;) here they are pre-baked..

i whipped up a quick batch of deviled eggs again..

my mom made some yummy white rolls which were served with her homemade raspberry jam (best jam ever!!)

also on the menu: corn, mashed potatoes, cauliflower & broccoli and mixed fresh fruit (pineapple, raspberries, grapes & pears)~

and my baked candied sweet potatoes~

my faaaavorite part.. stuffing!

two traditional items for a benson family thanksgiving: sweet pickles & black olives~

 

and we can’t forget the apple cranberry sauce~

and last, but certainly not least, turkey!  my mom did a spectacular job of roasting her second turkey of the week. 

 

my mom collects unique salt and pepper shakers and two cute sets were on the table for our feast~

it was a fantastic spread~not as extravagant as our sunday family feast~but still just as delicious!!

my plate~and my cute turkey napkin!

the only thing i went back for was more stuffing! i cannot get enough of that stuff.  and to think, marshall hates it! he’s crazy.

i officially stuffed myself again.  we spent some time lounging on the couches while enjoying the crackling wood burning stove and some game show network :)

after a couple hours i did managed to have some obligatory pumpkin pie with fresh whipped cream~

and after this i was officially done for.  and so was everyone else.. especially randy the dog :)

we played our favorite game~boggle~ and GUESS WHAT? hell froze over and my mom beat me at boggle!!  good job mom, you are amazing!

we spent another hour or so on the couches, cuddling with the dogs and digesting all that FOOD.

marshall and i eventually managed to peel ourselves off the couch and pack up some leftovers (thanks mom!!) and go to his house for some more laying around.  i was going to blog but i decided to leave my laptop in my houndstooth bag and just enjoy the evening hanging out with those i love.  i hope you all had the chance to do the same.

i am going to minus the bear tonight.. which happens to be my favorite band EVER.. so i am really excited! i am actually taking today off from exercise because i wasn’t kidding when i said i can’t walk right.  the DOMS in my calves is ridiculous!  but i will be back at it tomorrow with some HIIT and on sunday i will be doing an upper body workout and finally go snowboarding!  i haven’t gone yet this weekend because 1- there is no new snow which makes it really not worth it and 2- fighting the crowds for sub par snow conditions is a waste of my time.  the crowds are also the reason i do not participate in black friday shopping!

anyway, enough rambling from me! hope you are all enjoying your friday and check back later for some total body workout tips and a possible delayed flashback friday saturday post!

Qs~

1. did you exercise yesterday or take the day off from working out?  i felt really good after my workout yesterday and i am really glad i took the time to complete it.  in years past, i would not be caught dead working out on thanksgiving.. i am so glad my habits are different now days!

2. did you participate in black friday shopping? any gnarly stories about crazy shopper encounters?? i hope nobody got trampled to death this year..

xo. janetha b.