Tag Archives: entertaining

Happy Valentine’s Day

Hi there and Happy Valentine’s Day! I hope you get to spend time with the ones you love. I will be throwing a little party for my family of three and making mac and cheese as per Grace’s request! She just loves Valentine’s day…since hearts are her favorite. I just got done painting her tiny little nails red with pink sparkles and we laid out her beloved pink dress to wear to school tomorrow. She fell happily into bed with a huge smile on her face. Precious. Don’t you love how excited kids get about simple things?

Of course, it doesn’t take much to make me a bit giddy either. These roses named – “Red Paris“, did the trick and were my inspiration at my book club last week. I hosted and thought it would be lovely to celebrate Valentine’s with the ladies a tad early. It was such fun treating them to champagne and strawberries! I thought I would share the pictures I took that night…

Have a beautiful day filled with LOVE!

xo,

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Filed under holiday, Home, Love, photography, Thoughts

Book club night & farmhouse style

Last night, I hosted my book club – a fabulous group of some the most interesting and intelligent woman I have ever met! (Lucky me!) When I attend a book club night, I am guaranteed a wonderful night of fascinating conversation, good doses of laughter, delicious food and wine and a lovely ambiance. Each lady is a talented host and cook. So, when it comes time for me to host, I want to give them that same decadent experience. I put a lot of pressure on myself to get it right and last night, I am proud (and relieved) to say was a hit!

The concept for my table design began the night before. I knew I wanted to use my latest treasure as the centerpiece – a beautifully rustic French wine bottle carrier.

(this beauty will be on sale in my shop very soon!)

The wine carrier makes me think – Farmhouse style – so that’s what I went with…

It made the perfect caddy to display the utensils…

A variety of textures – burlap, linen, lace, silver, glass, ceramics – creates that farmhouse feel. Rustic but elegant. Can you tell I had fun?

I knew we would be dining outside so I kept it in the same theme. I am so grateful to my beautiful purple hydrangea bush! She supplied all the florals!

Hydrangeas are so fabulous because they are like a hundred flowers on one stem! Popped these freshly cut blooms into crystal cut glasses and my simple table arrangements were done!

Had to put out my newly acquired antique French pitcher too! This one was sent to me from a woman in Normandy! So pretty with a vintage lace apron tucked inside…

The trailing wisteria over head completed the purple, white and green color palette…

I did spend a lot of time on decorating but I didn’t forget the FOOD! I whipped up a huge batch of Martha Stewart‘s Macaroni and Cheese! So very naughty, with a whole stick of butter and an obsene amount of cheese! However, I was so caught up in my decor that I didn’t take a picture of it…oops…so here’s one via Smitten Kitchen

I must say…it was delectable and everyone went back for seconds! Yah! A fresh garden salad and chocolate cake for dessert completed the simple but comforting meal.

All in all it was another fantastic night with my book club gals! Love you girls!

xo,

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Filed under decorate, Etsy, flowers, Food, garden, Home, interior design, Stories, vintage

Face painting…

Okay, I had to share all these beautiful painted faces from Grace’s b’day party…they are too cute!

Such lovely princesses were in attendance! Of course, the birthday princess decided she didn’t want her face painted! Perhaps, she felt it would have detracted from her tiara…who knows? I thought it best not to argue with her. She seemed to just love watching her friends have fun.

Her pre-school set up the most gorgeous tea room for her. Unfortunately, I forgot my bounce flash so the photos turned out terrible. So sad. Instead of looking at my blurry photos (I have SO much to learn!) let’s take a peek at this gorgeous princess tea party…wow…

Do you have some birthday parties to throw this Spring and Summer? If so, head over to Kara’s Party Idea blog for more of these stunning images!

xo,

Party idea images via here.

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Filed under celebrate, decorate, family, photography

Customize your holidays

Okay, so I love these printable custom designs by Anders Ruff. This ingenious concept is the brain child of two incredibly talented women: Maureen Anders and Adria Ruff! I love it when creative women team up! So cool!

So…make your holiday buffet, table and gifts something ultra special by customizing all your treats with these fabulous labels, tags and garlands! Buy the designs online, get the file via email and print at home (or your local print shop) ! Easy peasey.

So inspiring right? Go check out their Etsy shop here and their lovely blog here.

xo,

All images via here.

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Filed under holiday, Home, Shopping