Gather Here with Grateful Hearts

Thanksgiving 2012 in the Ferri household started off one weekend early with Friendsgiving.  We made the bird and the stuffing (we combined recipes #20 and #21...best stuffing I've ever had), and our friends each brought a favorite side. Seriously, every single thing we had was delicious. I mean think about it...we got a sampling of everyone's favorite family recipe. The best of the best from about 9 different families. You really just can't go wrong!

This photo looks oddly similar to one taken last year...

We threw in a little signature cocktail to the festivities this year - Ginger Apple Bourbons.   We went through an entire bottle of bourbon with these. Do yourself a favor and try it - tastes like fall! If you've never used ginger beer, you should be able to find it at your local ABC store. It's non-alcoholic, but carbonated.  The best way I know how to describe it is it tastes like really gingery ginger ale - we use Gosling's and it's about $7 for a 6-pack.  One can will make 4 of these drinks. And...it comes in Diet ladies! I couldn't tell the difference between a Diet and regular version in a mixed drink.

On Tuesday afternoon, after I left my last. law school. class. ever. Ahem, let me repeat, ever....we headed up to South Carolina to spend Thanksgiving with Eric's family.  We got in super late on Tuesday night, but it was great because we had an extra day to spend with everyone on Wednesday.  Wednesday morning, Eric and I popped over to visit our friends Kyle and Kirby, and then headed back to get some work done.  I spent my afternoon watching lectures on the 6th amendment.  Here is where I remind myself again that this is the LAST year that I will have to study for exams over Thanksgiving weekend. LAST.

Eric and I were up early with his brother, Kevin, to run a Thanksgiving Day 8k on Thursday morning. The race was really well organized - it started at 9, and we were home by 10:30, so it didn't take too much time away from cooking and family. This was our first year running a Thanksgiving Day Race, but I think it just might become a Ferri tradition!  Coming from Florida, race morning was colder than we are used to! But I must say, I will take running the cold over running the heat and humidity every single day of the week. Eric ran this one in 40:40, and my time was 46:15. Five-ish miles was a good length for a Turkey Day race I think -  enough for a good workout in the morning, but not enough to make it too "serious" of a race on a holiday.  I'll have you all know that I added Christmas carols to my running playlist for this race because...why not have some fun with it? I sprinted to the finish line to the tune of "Run, Run Rudolph." It was a big boost...highly recommend it :) 

Those of you who follow our shenanigans on Facebook and Instagram saw that Eric's mom had quite the activity lineup for us...love it.

What she left off was "feeding Pierre."  This little basset ate all. weekend. long. And he loved every minute of it.  Of course, he was a polite house guest and waited to puke until he got home on my couch. His favorite treat was the hambone from Wednesday night's dinner.  Hooked his longest leash on a tree outside and gave him roam of the place - he was in heaven.  He must have reburied that thing at least 10 times throughout the weekend when he was done with it.

While Pierre snacked on a hambone, the rest of us carved pumpkins and drank coffee fireside.  When Eric and I first started dating, I managed to finagle his entire family into a pumpkin carving contest when I was there for a weekend visit.  It's now become a favorite family activity, and since we weren't in SC for Halloween, we just moved the carving back a few weeks to Thanksgiving!

Since Eric's dad is always the judge, I may or may not have tried to sway his vote a little with my message on the back of our pumpkin....carved in the shape of Pierre's pawprint.
 

 After the carving fun, we all cleaned up and took some family photos before Thanksgiving dinner.  We haven't had one with everyone together in a really, really long time. So I put my tripod to good use again!

Eric and I even managed to get a photo of the two of us...

which is great because when you're always the one with the camera, normally your photos together end up looking like this:

The "up the nostril" shot is not really the best look for me.

 Before Thanksgiving Dinner, we all drew someone else's name and said why we were thankful for that person.  I felt my eyes well up with tears as soon as I drew Eric's, and I knew that my little statement was going to take everyone right down an emotional downhill.  The road that we have been down to this holiday has been a long and difficult one, albeit one that I'm very thankful for.  The emotions of this being our last holiday season dealing with law school and Eric's MBA were running high, and I am just so very thankful for a husband who dares to dream as big as I do in life, and then works so-very-hard right alongside me to make our dreams come to life. This all sounds so very sappy, but oh, it's so true.  So I (tearfully) got through mine, and then...turns out Eric pulled my name too. Here came the tears, all around the table, round two! In my defense, I'm always very emotionally unstable during exam time (I wish I was joking).  But...it was special in it's own way, and sometimes it's good to do some reflecting with your guard down.

Dinner was put on the table, and Eric's mom really outdid herself - every bite was delicious.  She even put a little mat with bowls for Pierre in the formal dining room so that he could enjoy some turkey along with everyone else - this is why he pretty much attached himself to her side for the whole weekend. But hey- that's what grandmas are for.

After dinner, reading, naps, and second cups of coffee were had. Eric's mom and I headed out late on Thanksgiving night to hit up a couple of Black Friday deals not expecting to be gone long. But the holiday spirit and the cold weather must have given us an extra jolt of energy because we didn't make it back home until 3:30 am...no photos, but loved every minute of it.  If I told you that that was the extent of our shopping and that we didn't head back out the next morning, I would be telling you a lie.  Eric and I spent the remainder of the afternoon and night on Friday hanging out, drinking, and telling stories with his parents.  It was a pretty great ending to the holiday weekend.

We arrived back in Florida yesterday afternoon and will be spending the rest of the weekend unpacking and trying to get all of the Christmas decor up. If it were up to me, I'd probably just rest (due to the cold I'm currently nursing) and wait until next weekend.  But...I need to study all this week to get ready for exams, not be tempted to get up and tinker with Christmas decorations.  So I feel like it needs to get done today. Sigh. I really hate that law school manages to take fun things and make them into things "to do" on my list. Trying not to make Christmas decorating stressful today because really, what's the point? Can someone just repeat again to me that this is the LAST YEAR that law school exams will ever hang over the holidays? Thank you very much.

I'm off to turn on some Christmas carols, eat a bowl of Eric's homemade chili,  and try to get myself back into the holiday spirit.  I hope you all had a lovely Thanksgiving with your loved ones - can't wait to hear all of your stories this week...you know, on my study breaks :)

Outrunning Sandy

By the time we checked into our hotel after our spontaneous brewery tour, Richmond officials were beginning to get nervous with Sandy approaching. It wasn't looking so hot, and we weren't quite sure if I was going to make it out on Monday or not. Regardless, the weather was gorgeous and crisp on Saturday morning, and we headed onto James Madison University's campus to run. Six miles later, and one too many hills (all I'm sayin is Florida is FLAT), we called it a morning when it started to drizzle. We had the best diner breakfast of our lives at The Little Grill. No really, I think it was the best breakfast of our lives. There's just something about diner coffee and the bustle of a small, family owned restaurant. Love it. 

After we finished eating, we headed into Shenandoah National Park to drive the Skyline Drive and do some exploring. It was chilly, but sunny, and the views were spectacular. Eric and I stopped about halfway through the drive to hike one of the trails that went down by a couple of waterfalls. 

I'm not in as precarious of a position as I actually appear in the photo, don't worry!

Sidenote: Eric and I were surprised (appalled, really) at the number of people huffing and puffing back up the trail like it was the hardest thing they had ever done in their lives. Come on, America, lay off the chips and get movin. As you can see by our attire, this was no strenuous hike.

Anywho, at the bottom of the waterfall there was a wide, long path that I'm pretty sure just kept going on forever. And I would have walked it forever had Eric not reminded me how important it was to get out of the woods before dark. But really.  I could have just kept walking through those leaves...

We finished driving the Skyline, and then headed back to Devil's Backbone for dinner since it was on our way back to our hotel.  We almost never visit the same place twice on a trip, but we convinced ourselves it was okay because we basically only drank there on Friday, and the menu enticed us back. And because we both get grouchy when we get hungry. We may or may not have taken a slice of Walnut Pie back to our hotel with us to have with coffee after dinner.  While we watched Season 3 of Downton Abbey on the web. We were going to wait until January to see it in the US, really we were.  But then we couldn't. And ohmyword, it's so good. We're pretty wild and crazy vacationers, as I'm sure you've noticed by now.

Sunday was a bit cold and dreary with Sandy approaching, but really, I enjoyed it.  Sometimes those days are just cozy, ya know?  And cold weather is a treat when you live in Florida. We started out at Belle Isle on the James River. It's essentially this huge island in the middle of the river that you reach via a suspension bridge, and there are huge, beautiful rocks that you can walk out on over the river.  I can imagine that they would also be lovely for sunbathing in the summer as well.   

We spent the rest of the day meandering about stores and malls, lunching on warm soup by fireplaces and extra afternoon coffees.  We ended up at Buz and Ned's BBQ for dinner. Delicious. This place was featured recently on Throwdown with Bobby Flay, for all you Food Network lovers.  Eric does such a good job scouting out all the local eats when he travels for work. I always defer to his judgment on these things...always. 

When we went to bed on Sunday night, we still weren't too sure if my flight was going to get out the next morning.  The rain and wind were increasing, but it was so strange- instead of a hurricane approaching, it felt like a winter storm was coming on.  Luckily, Sandy didn't hit Richmond nearly as hard as expected, and I was able to get home on schedule with no problems. Eric was able to make it home on Thursday as planned with no problems either. This weekend in Virginia together was a million more times enjoyable and relaxing than the last one.  It's really fun for me to travel to where Eric is working sometimes to see what a normal run around town is for him during the week. Plus, it gives him a week off from flying every once in a while. In fact, I liked being there with him so much, I think Monsieur Pierre and I may taking an extended road trip there to be with Eric during the week while I'm studying for the bar. We shall see.  

I got home just in time to welcome trick or treaters on Wednesday night with Pierre.  It was his first Halloween in his "forever home," so we celebrated accordingly. 

We ended up having TONS of kids and dogs come by, and it was so fun! In fact, I ran out of candy this year! It's Murphy's Law...last year, I had a whole basket leftover (don't need that in the house, thankyouverymuch), so I bought less this year. Well wouldn't ya know...the kids came out of the woodwork.  I actually had JUST enough, and the very last kid took the very last of my candy. Saved me from being "that" neighbor. 

And in the interest of full disclosure, I did hit up the post-Halloween sales on Thursday, and Pierre now has costumes for the next three years.  I could tell you I'm just kidding, but that would be a lie. I know that I'm not alone...somebody. please. reassure me. 

Happy November! I've only got two weeks of classes left EVER in law school, and it's sure to be a good month!

Beers of Virginia

Every year, Eric and I take what we call our "leaves" weekend trip to enjoy the foliage, celebrate fall, and enjoy the season before the holidays come around. Last year we went back to Asheville, but this year, we decided to take advantage of the fact that Eric was working in Richmond, VA and planned our long weekend accordingly. 


Monsieur Pierre decided to cause a wee bit of trouble before I left, however. On Wednesday night as I was packing, Pierre managed to find a ziploc baggie of treats that I had for him previously in my purse. When I went over to take them, he locked his jaws, and....gulp. Swallowed. Baggie and all.  I called the emergency vet, and they weren't overly concerned about a blockage because of his size, and told me to just feed him lots of bread, etc. in hopes that it would pass. But being the nervous mama (who was about to leave her baby overnight for the first time), I took him into the vet to be checked out on Thursday morning anyway. $150 worth of x-rays later, we were cleared for an obstruction, and the vet said she felt comfortable with me leaving him at Camp Bow Wow for the weekend, and to just tell them to keep an eye on him. After a tearful conversation with my mother and conferring with a family friend vet from SC, I dropped Pierre off and realized I should have never been nervous...he paid me no attention whatsoever and was fighting to get back with his friends. I'm happy to report that he did just fine over the weekend (we kept up with him via webcam and called a few times to check on him), and he waited for me to get home to puke up the ziploc baggie on Tuesday morning before work. Lovely.

"In my defense, I am a dog."

With less than 2 hours to spare before takeoff, I headed to the airport and had a smooth flight to Richmond.  Thursday night, we had dinner with Eric's boss and one of his colleagues at a place called Pasture. Holy delicious.  It's a new place, so no menu up yet, but the food was outstanding, and the cocktails here even better.  I tried two different whiskey cocktails, one that just TASTED like fall, and the other with smoked ginger. They were both incredible. 

On Friday, Eric and I woke up, had breakfast, and did some work.  Well, he did some work, and I worked on ordering our Christmas cards and address labels.  Then, what was going to be lunch out and some sightseeing, turned into an afternoon of brewery hopping. We drove uptoward Charlottesville and Harrisonburg, because our plans for Saturday included hiking/driving in the Shenandoah Valley.  We started at Blue Mountain Brewery, and then realized that two others we wanted to try were nearby.  We both ordered flights at Blue Mountain, with the most amazing view, and got their brie, caramalized onion, apple sausage, and apple pizza. It was amazing, and we had leftovers. Perfect, considering our entire afternoon now consisted of drinking beer.  Blue Mountain had the best outdoor area by far and fantastic beer.

Next up, we headed to Wild Wolf Brewing Company a few miles down the road. Eric ordered another flight, and I ordered a Ginger Lager, which was delicious. No food here...although they were smoking meat out back which smelled incredible.  We may have left smelling a little smokey, but there's something about the smell of a fire that is very fall-like to me, so I didn't mind. 

I loved these square tasting glasses!

From there, we drove just a few more rural miles down the road until we hit Devil's Backbone Brewing Company.  This was by far the "nicest" brewery that we visited, but I think if we had to pick, Eric and I preferred the atmosphere at Blue Mountain.  You just really can't beat their view of the mountains. Devil's Backbone had a DELICIOUS pumpkin ale that wasn't too sweet, and we sampled a cup of their pumpkin soup and potato/leek soup. Both were amazing.  This place was also super dog-friendly - a winner in our book.  When we walked up, we had to step over the owner's dog rolling on his back in the sunshine and mums at the entrance. Living the dream.

 From there, we headed further into Harrisonburg where we were staying for the night. We were so full from our afternoon of heavy beers and comfort food that we skipped dinner altogether, opting instead for our leftover pizza from Blue Mountain (it was that good). 

Stay tuned for more leaves weekending :) I promise we did more than eat and drink...

Sneak Peak

Happy Friday, lovelies!  I spent the majority of the past couple of weeks at conferences and in meetings, and I'm telling you...it's tiring it its own way! Eric and I were happy to have some down time last weekend to catch up on sleep and enjoy the outdoors. We have had some gorgeous weather in the sunshine state as of late. Granted, not nearly as cool as I would prefer for this time of year, but lower humidity, cooler mornings, and sunny days all the same.  We've been taking advantage of it with lots of trips to the dog park and lunches outdoors with Pierre. 

 We indulged in fall with this pumpkin stew, Hocus Pocus on ABC family, and cold, spicy pumpkin beers. 

All after taking advantage of the nice weather and gorgeous dusk sunlight to take some Christmas card photos.  Eric and I are both pretty obsessed with the results, not gonna lie. With well over 150 shots, we spent the better part of Sunday night trying to decide which to use.  I can't show you the winning shot until after my cards go out - gotta keep the suspense, you know - but here is a little sneak peak of Pierre. 

Pierre had to go to the vet that morning, and then we spent the afternoon out to lunch and at the dog park, so he was WORN OUT by the time we took these photos in the afternoon. And that...was the main reason I was rushing Eric out the door to get these photos in. I knew we had a much better chance of getting him to sit still for photos if we went while he was tired! And in fact, we had a little of this problem instead...

Pierre was a little too still and reserved, and thought it was prime time for laying down and napping. I had to keep rousing him up to take the photos! ha!  In case any of you are wondering, we use this tripod, and this remote for our Nikon D5000, and we love them both.  The tripod fits a variety of DSLRs, and I highly recommend it. Sturdy and easy to break down, for a great price. They made shooting our own photos really easy this year, and for those of you with children, I bet the remote would be really, really helpful. 

Anywho, this weekend is chock full of fall fun for Eric and I. I can't wait to tell you all about it next week...and about the drama that Pierre created beforehand. Which was basically my fault. Let's just say that we contributed generously to our vet's overhead costs this month. But until then, I hope all of you have a fantastic weekend...full of pumpkins, changing leaves, tail wags, and cool weather!

Thanksgiving with the Ferris

Because traveling 8 hours home for Thanksgiving is always so hectic and stressful for us (hello, week before my exams) we decided to have my family down for Thanksgiving this year. In hindsight, I can't tell you if traveling or hosting a house full of guests was more stressful, but we sure did have fun in the kitchen :)

We sent these invites out to all the attendees two weeks before...

Pardon the black block that keeps creepers from finding where we live...

Luckily, my Nana and Papa arrived a day early and my Nana was up late into the night with me prepping food for the next day. Eric and my Papa handled the turkey. (See, because I have this weird thing about holding raw meat that has bones in it...almost hit the floor holding a small cornish hen at the sink last year. True story. They remind me of like...small children or something. I don't know. Moving on.) Eric, my Nana, and Papa were such a huge help - couldn't have pulled it off without them the day before.

My Papa handling the dirty work.

Perhaps the funniest picture of the weekend.

We made a 20 pound apple-bourbon roasted turkey (this recipe)and then Eric grilled a 6 pound breast (this recipe).  It was our first time hosting Thanksgiving so I really wanted to do a traditional roasted turkey, but I think in the future, we might just do a few breasts because everyone always wants the white meat anyway.

While the boys dealt with the birds, my Nana and I got started on everything else. I decided to try Southern Living's Apple Blackberry Pie with a White Cheddar Crust this year. People - holy. pie. It was SO good...but by far the most time we have ever spent on one recipe. Made the pie dough from scratch and the filling from scratch. Seven hours later, we had a beauty. I can tell you, it was worth it. Perfect mix of savory and sweet. This will be a Ferri Thanksgiving Tradition for sure.

I can't even tell you how excited I was that the dough rolled out perfectly...

This might be my favorite photo of the day...love my sweet Nana in the background at the sink. Such a huge help.

We were fortunate enough to have the G's with us for Thanksgiving this year! Which is totally appropriate because as far as I'm concerned, they are family. Don't you love friends like that? G outdid herself with the muffins (pecan pie ones didn't last very long) and her delicious cranberry chutney (didn't get a photo of it...fail. But you should harass her for the family recipe...)

In addition to my immediate family, we also had Eric's grandparents join us this year. We are so thankful that they only live an hour and a half away and we get to visit with them pretty often. You really just can't beat time with grandparents can you?


As everyone started to arrive, we put out a slew of appetizers to hold everyone over to the 2:00 dinner time. 

Baked Brie with jam and honey.

Cranberry Salsa

Eric's Gram (rear) and my Nana (front) keeping me company in the kitchen

Finally, the turkeys were ready to come out and the resting/carving/serving process began.

The first ever Ferri turkey!

I love how intent we all are...all on a different task. Notice how I have an apron on, but am watching G do all the work :)

The two basting masters...

Also on our menu for the day were mashed potatoes and gravy, stuffing, crock pot mac n' cheese, sweet potato souffle, confetti corn, green bean casserole, and garlic rosemary biscuits.


We finally got everyone corralled and settled down for dinner. Our dining area was packed with 11 people, but these photos just go to show that it can be done in a small home! The most important thing is being together at the holidays, and as far as I'm concerned, the more the merrier.

Friday was full of Black Friday shopping (although most of mine was done already, so it was a smaller haul than normal), leftovers, and the Christmas Tree Lighting at the Shops at Wiregrass (an outdoor shopping mall near my house). We took my little chihuahua Polka Dot and my mom's dog, Candy, along with us.

Afterward, we headed back to our house, put on Home Alone, and Eric and I put up our Christmas tree. Ordinarily, I would have waited with a house full of people, but since we won't be with my family for Christmas this year, I wanted to have the tree up to open presents with them on Saturday morning.

Polka Dot keeping an eye on the tree trimming from her comfy perch on the back of the loveseat.

Eric preparing to put the star on...our tree literally touches the ceiling so it can be tricky!

Eric made breakfast on Saturday morning, and we all exchanged gifts  together.  My mom headed back home around lunchtime, but my Nana and Papa were with us until their flight left on Sunday morning. Eric had to do a few things for school so I just sat and chatted with them on Saturday afternoon over bloody marys (my Nana will want you all to know that hers was non-alcoholic).

We did some mall shopping for a bit, made dinner, and then watched the Carolina/Clemson game before heading to bed. Their flight left super early, so Eric and I had breakfast and coffee at a little beach diner and then walked barefoot on the beach for, literally, hours.  The weather was perfect and it was a really nice way for us to chat and have some alone time to wrap up the weekend.


We have so much to be thankful for :)