Five for Friday

Hello and welcome to my Five for Friday! I am Linking up with Bright on a Budget, Della Devoted, BYBMG and Andrea!

1. I hope you all had a nice Thanksgiving! My dad wasn't able to be home so it was just my mom, brother, sister, and I.

Everything we cooked turned out really good! I decided to try making jellied cranberries (like what you buy in a can. I used this recipe. I omitted the bay leaf and used cranberry juice cocktail instead of grape juice.) It was super easy to make and much better than anything you get in a can!

I've used a brine on our turkey the last couple of years and it always makes the turkey so good! (I use this recipe and I follow the recipe exactly except I use half the brown sugar.)

I made this mulled wine which my mom and brother really like. I don't like wine but this is actually pretty good. I wasn't sure what kind of wine to use the first time I made it, so after a lot of research I've found that Côtes du Rhône is the best kind to use. It was described as having a 'non-offensive flavor' so it works for us haha.

My mom also decided to try making a lattice pie crust! It turned out really nice! We used this tutorial and this recipe.

2. My sister had to work on Black Friday, so after Thanksgiving dinner we went to Target to walk around. We didn't really find anything, just a game and some candy. On Friday though, my mom, brother, and I went shopping. We went to the mall which was pretty busy, but not as bad as I thought it was going to be based on how full the parking lot was. My brother bought a few things and then we stopped by DSW so my brother could get some running shoes. I also got some slippers since my old ones were in pretty bad shape.

We then decided to go to the outlet mall which ended up being a terrible idea considering it took us an hour to go 1 mile. I wish I was kidding. The turn lane to get into the outlet mall was so backed up because all of these freaking idiots kept purposely getting into the wrong lane and then trying to shove themselves into the turn lane at the last minute. Literally people were crossing 3 lanes of traffic and sitting in multiple lanes blocking traffic so they could try to shove themselves into the turn lane. And since we were in the correct lane to begin with, it meant we were in the lane against the median so we were trapped and couldn't get out. Anyways. I get really frustrated when people don't obey the rules or follow the clearly stated signs. So yeah it took us an hour just to go barely a mile. Once we got into the outlet mall it took us a while to find parking, but we finally did and we walked around the outlet mall for a bit. My brother got a few things but I didn't find anything. I did get some stuff online though. I'm going to share that in a couple of weeks! Did you do any Black Friday shopping?

3. We saw Frozen 2 opening night and Mr Rogers movie the week of Thanksgiving and we really enjoyed both of them. Frozen 2 was cute but we all thought the plot was a little complex for a kids movie. I don't think most kids would understand it. But then again, kids don't go to the movies for an interesting and exciting plot! And also I thought the songs weren't as singable like in the first movie. In the first movie the songs were a lot easier for kids to sing along with but the second movie the songs were just a bit complex and not as catchy. There was just too much going on in them.

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood was a great movie. It wasn't quite what I was expecting, but still a good movie. I think like most people I assumed it was going to be more about Mr. Rogers himself, but it's actually based on a reporter who did an investigative piece on him. Anyways, it was a good movie and we enjoyed it.

4. On the Saturday after Thanksgiving we took my brother out to Virginia Beach since he hadn't been there yet. Surprisingly it wasn't windy so we walked along the waterfront for a while which was nice.

After going to the beach we drove over to Fort Monroe and walked along the water there for a while. We also walked over to the fort which we hadn't done yet. Unfortunately you can't walk through the fort itself, only by it.

5. In case you missed it, on Wednesday I shared my November Photo A Day pictures!