THANKSGIVING WEEKEND

What a crazy and fun past five days this has been!  The house is SO quiet, I can hear the dogs snoring!  Everyone is at work or school so I downloaded all 157 photos from Thanksgiving and our weekend away and I'm having such a good time looking at them as I sip my coffee and ignore the remains of breakfast around me!  So...on with the show.  This is my thanksgiving tablescape, and these are the flowers that The Husband bought.

They made a perfect centerpiece in the wicker basket I showed you last week.  I just stuffed some craft paper down in it to support the vase.  I added some mercury glass candles and some pine cones and we were ready for the feast!

After all my fuss about keeping traditions, Emily and I ended up brining the turkey on Wednesday.  A friend had all the leftover ingredients to use so that helped.  And I really think it was a success.  Emily also made three side dishes and we had a great time cooking in the kitchen together.  New traditions, new memories!  It really was a wonderful dinner.

Family came for dessert, we girls gathered together where all the appetizers and nibbles were while the guys hung out in the family room watching football (as usual).  It really was a fun day and I was exhausted by the time everyone left!

The next day we were up early to head to Cedarburg, Wisconsin for our anniversary weekend!  It was about a two hour drive and very scenic once we hit the rolling hills of Wisconsin.  Our B&B was really more like an inn...well, it was an inn.  This is the lobby and to the right is a large dining room where we had breakfast. 

This was our room on the third floor with a wonderful view of the main street.  It was just perfect in size and The Husband thought it was the best place we had ever stayed.

A bottle of Champagne was chilling along with a box of chocolates.  We were in our room so rarely, we ended up bringing it home with us!

We were out sightseeing and shopping as soon as we dropped our bags. 

The town was so charming, I was snapping pictures like mad!

I loved this little alley next to a shop that specialized in all things for gardening lovers.  I wanted to go back for some things that I fell in love with but somehow with the sensory overload, we forgot.

This rustic birdhouse was on my list.  Boo hoo!

This little guy dressed like Santa sold every kind of popcorn imaginable!

Back at the inn, they served wine and cheese and we got to know some of the other guests.  One very nice lady took a picture of me and The Husband!

The next day we went on a tour of a winery.  While we waited I took some pics.

This shop sold all the accessories but not the dishes...pretty tablescape!

Aren't they darling?

During the wine tour we learned about how the grapes are grown and things like fermentation.  And there was a little wine tasting.  I was surprised at how many different kinds I actually liked because I usually stick with white.  Upstairs you could buy all their different wines but we ended up getting some gourmet cheeses and mustard.  After the tour we went to dinner at a really nice place called The Farmstead.  I didn't bring my camera but it was just awesome, A real barn at one time with all the original wood and floors.

We are so looking forward to going back again, perhaps in the summer (hear that, Cindy?).  Friday was windy and freezing, about 25 degrees, but Saturday was sunny and you just had to walk on the right side of the street.  The shops has complimentary hot chocolate and cider to keep us warm.  It really was a magical weekend.

So, it's back to Monday and cleaning up, putting the fall things away and getting ready for that Christmas tree to come and take up all the available space in my living room!  I think I'll just enjoy it for how it is right now and get started on my Christmas list.  Abby has sent me emails with wish lists from all her favorite stores.  I think she adds more every day.  We picked up a few gifts over the weekend, too.  So at least I've started!  I hope I didn't overload you with pictures!  How did you recover over the weekend?  I wanted to watch some Christmas movies last night but I couldn't hold my eyes open!  I hope all of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving and I want to hear all about it! :)

I'm joining Marty at A Stroll Thru Life for Tabletop Tuesday!