Scarlett Pannebaker

I posted a picture on IG and FB of the amazing black bean quinoa salad we had at our Fourth of July dinner, and a lot of people asked for the recipe. So I will list it out for you here. This is a recipe my mother-in-law discovered at a party she attended and we have been loving it ever since. Sometimes quinoa isn't the most tasty base out there but in this salad it's divine!

When Target invited me to be a part of their #MyKindOfHoliday program, I obviously jumped at the chance. I mean, it's Target---the store that has it's own column in our budget. Truman and Cecelia know and love 'The Red Store' already since its one of our top places to frequent in the winter (ahem, year round). So yeah, this post is brought to you by Target but it's not that much of a stretch to blog about a store we hold in such high regards already.

Now. Black Friday shopping is not something we traditionally do in our house. I mean, the past two Thanksgivings included a trip to Missouri to visit family and all of the years before that included working the day after Thanksgiving. Boo to healthcare jobs for that. This year? Not traveling to Missouri, Nate is off all day with the kids, and I don't have to work until noon and should be finished around 2ish. This.Is.Big. So many possibilities for Black Friday now: we could sleep in, then shop, then decorate the house for Christmas and THEN I could go to work after that while the kids nap. We shall see if the day is as productive as I'm hoping, but either way it's going to be a fun/unusual day spent mostly at home with my family.

When I mentioned this Target program to Nate, his first response was that they do have a fantastic doorbuster deal. One that might be worth a trip out into the craziness that is Black Friday. Now that I look closely at the deal it seems like this might be going on right now, before Friday? Hope it lasts a bit longer.

You might remember Nate going back and forth over buying an iPad for his birthday earlier this year. Well, he eventually bought the iPad Air 16GB a few weeks back when Target was running a special on them. Usually the Airs are $499 but they went on sale for $479 that particular day, honoring another store's deal. Since it seems like Apple products (conveniently) never go on sale, Nate figured that $20 was his reason enough to buy. Add that to our 5% off using the Red Card and we saved a little bit of money.

Well, the doorbuster deal is even better. The 16GB is going to be back down to $479 instead of the usual $499, PLUS they are giving you a $100 gift card if you buy the Air. Add that to a 5% discount using the Red Card? We are looking at spending $356 instead of $499. Pretty awesome, right?

And the iPad mini that is 16GB is also going to be on sale. It's usually $299 but they will give you a $75 gift card, and if you have the Red Card that means you will spend $213 instead of $299. Nate is seriously delusional enough to say that we 'need' a mini because of this deal. Even though I think the iPad Air is plenty for our family as long as Nate shares his toy with us (i.e. the kids). But maybe we will check it out on Friday just in case, assuming they don't sell out in seconds.

Do any of you shop in the wee hours of Black Friday morning? Worth it and fun, or one giant retail headache?