It’s Thanksgiving Eve! Do you have all of your ingredient shopping done for the food-fest tomorrow? I’m going to attempt to sub out ingredients in our favorite Sausage Gravy & Biscuits for tomorrow’s breakfast to make it free of meat and dairy. It will be SOYsage Gravy & Biscuits. If it turns out well, I’ll be sure to post the recipe here for you all to try. I also plan to make a broccoli salad with some subbed items – I’m hoping that by STEAMING the broccoli I don’t end up with houseful of broccoli stink again!
Before I get into yesterday’s eats, I want to send a VERY BIG HUG OF THANKS to dear Cindy over at A Sparkle A Day. She lives in California where it is nice and toasty and she took pity on me freezing my hiney off with all this cold and snow we’ve had already this year. As a result she has put a lot of hours and generosity into making me something with which to keep warm and it arrived in the mail yesterday like an early Christmas gift.
Wahoo, it was even WRAPPED! Totally feels like Christmas!!
She knows me well, sending a homemade card with COFFEE on the front! Look how pretty it is!
It is SO incredibly soft and warm! It was meant to keep me warm while jogging, but I think it’s much to pretty too use that way. I wore it out with my dressy coat last night to run some errands and the cashier at Hobby Lobby commented that she loved my scarf and how pretty the colors were! So of course I had to tell her the story of who made it for me and why and that I’d just received it that very evening!
Cindy, thank you so much for your kindness and thoughtfulness… It is amazing how receiving a HANDMADE gift can make one feel so special!
Now I see why my mom loved that crazy thing I made her in kindergarten: a paper plate with dry macaroni glued all over it and spray painted GOLD! 
If you are thinking of holiday shopping this time of year, I highly suggest you MAKE something instead. It truly does make the recipient feel so good!
***
Yesterday was another one of those whirlwind days. I started the day off with a cup of coffee and half a banana bread Larabar before my client training appointment.
Then I ate the other half while I was writing yesterday’s blog post.
Lunch was an unpictured HUGE salad at Sweet Tomatoes full of spinach, beets, zucchini, cucumber, sunflower seeds, olive oil, red cabbage, and probably a few more ingredients that I’m forgetting. If you haven’t been to a Sweet Tomatoes salad bar, give it a try. Talk about getting your VEGGIE FIX ON!
Afternoon was full of more running around. I had to splurge on a little Silk Soy NOG. MSP loves eggnog this time of year, and I wanted to join in on the fun in my own way!
Dinner was leftover pad-thai-style rice noodles from Noodles & Co., half of which seemed to be mung bean sprouts (and 2 whopping pieces of shrimp!)
This morning I got up and did 30 minutes of a total body weight training circuit. It’s one I developed for training clients, so it’s not listed here publicly (SOME things have to be kept sacred for my paying peeps, you know!) Followed by 45 minutes of DOG WOGGING! Have you noticed how lacking my life has been of wogs? My poor pups must feel so neglected. And of course Riley collided with another dog at full run while they were being playful and came up limping. (She has hip dysplasia and arthritis, yet thinks she’s still a spring puppy!) She seems ok at the moment – but of course in the back of my mind I’m thinking she’s never allowed out of the house again if she keeps hurting herself! If it’s not poking her eye out on a hike, then it’s dislocating a hip! Crazy dogs!
And now I am taking in a PROBIOTIC overload because I am off to a hospital soon to visit a post-surgery family member and want to give my immune system all the boosts I can in case I pass someone in the hall that has swine flu (or some other nasty bug that I don’t want taking a free ride home with me!) Two probiotic pills and a probiotic-rich BUBBLY!!! mmmm Gingerberry! I can feel the forcefield all around me already! 
Enjoy your Thanksgiving EVE and I’ll be back tomorrow with a Thanksgiving Day post for those of you who will be reading!
Also, send good Turkey Trot vibes out to everyone you know who will be racing in various charitable Thanksgiving Day races tomorrow! Reader CARRIE will be participating in a 10K (and has a bet with her man that she can beat him, go Carrie!!) And my good friend and client Lynn will be racing tomorrow in a local HILLY 5K! I know you ladies will show ‘em all how it’s done!
– Shari B. =)
