Back from Thanksgiving Break

Welcome back everyone! I hope you all had safe travels and were able to enjoy all the leftovers. Especially stuffing because thats my favorite...  I had two Thanksgiving dinners, one wth my family and one with John's family. I got to help my mom with cooking, which was so fun because I have really grown to love cooking over the past year and a half. On Thanksgiving day, John and I traveled to Massachusetts to be with his family, which was nice because I hadn't seen much of his family since his graduation party in June.

My dinner plate from Thanksgiving with my family...can you tell I don't like my food to touch?

I thought for this extended weekend wrap up, I would go over what I crossed off (and didn't cross off) on my Thanksgiving Break To-Do list.

1. Figure out what I am getting everyone on my Christmas list. I crossed this off so that I could feel accomplished, but I would say that I am actually 90% done!  I just have one more person to buy for and I have been scouring gift guides on blogs and on Pinterest for inspiration. I have been loving all of the Black Friday / Cyber Monday sales, especially from here! 

2. Read at least one book for leisure on this break. I read Dark Places by Gillian Flynn...which I liked for the most part. Since I have read Gone Girl and had a feel for Gillian Flynn's style of writing, I knew to expect the twists and turns so I felt like I wasn't very surprised throughout the book. I watched the movie yesterday, and did not like it at all...if I hadn't read the book then the movie would have made no sense! 

3. Study the equivalent of at least 20 minutes everyday. I came up a little short and thats all I am going to say about that...

4. Help my mom with making a gallery wall. We bought a few more frames, but still need to pick out the pictures! 

5. Play this trick on my cats.  Not that it actually worked...they were so disinterested!

6. Go for a couple good, long walks with my dog. I always want to take a picture of her when we are on a walk because I love how she seems like she's smiling...but considering she chases after all the squirrels (and leaves) on our path, I don't dare take my phone out of my pocket because I need two hands on the leash!

7. Find a dress for graduation. Only crossed off half because I decided to go with a top I already own, but just need to find the right skirt! I also found out that I need a business casual outfit for a school event coming up so I tortured myself by trying on khakis yesterday, only to realized that I don't think I am meant to wear them...

8. Clean up and organize my room. I cleaned up and planned out how I am going to put my room together when I completely move back in!

9. Try at least one new restaurant or bar. I was super excited to check this one off! There are four "Room" restaurants in Portland, each with a different cuisine (comfort food, Italian, seafood and grill)...I had been to 3 out of the 4 so John and I went to the Italian restaurant, the Corner Room, since that was my last one to try. We went to the seafood restaurant (Boone's Oyster Room) for happy hour that night, which I love because its right on the water! If you are ever in Portland, these restaurants are a must!

Right outside the restaurant! 

10. Try to work on a content calendar for December. Didn't get as far as I wanted with December, but actually worked on 2016 a lot. So bad for the short term, but good for the long term I guess!

Some other bits I did this break...

~ Ate way too much dessert.

~ Dropped hints to John that I would love this and/or this for Christmas...

~Visiting with friends.

~ Enjoyed a lot of Starbucks! I even splurged on drinks that I wouldn't normally get (I just couldn't resist an eggnog latte)

~Talked and talked and talked about all things related to graduating (19 days now!)

I hope you all have a great week ahead of you! What did you do this Thanksgiving?

Linking up here today! 

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