Holiday Hosting

This past Monday night, Dustin and I hosted a small dinner party for a few friends. We wanted to do something small to celebrate the holidays and quite frankly, I had some great dishes I wanted to use! Ha, it's the truth. Last year my mother gave me the Juliska Holiday Plate set from The Plaid Giraffe and they were screaming from my cabinet "use me!"

Since the set only comes with four plates, I mixed in other salad plates that I received last year and adore. Plus, we had 11 people and I only have eight dinner plates, so some of the place settings used a pottery dinner plate (which Dustin assured me the guys would appreciate more anyways).

Honestly, I loved having the different mixing and matching on the table! To avoid people fighting over who to sit by (ok, fighting is dramatic, more like awkwardly deciding), I took an idea from the wonderful Sugar and Cloth for ribbon candy place cards. I didn't have time to hand paint them, but used a brush stroke Sharpie to give them a more relaxed feel. I love ribbon candy, but never know what to do with it, so this was perfect.

The best part about holiday hosting, is that you get to show off the Christmas decorations you work so hard to put up! Plus, your house is already decorated and you don't have to stress about making things besides your table look pretty. This year we went with a live tree and fresh garland - my new favorite. I love the smells and quite frankly, you can find pretty reasonable deals on things if you shop around. We purchased our fresh greenery and tree from Dillons (thank you to our friend, Jake, for picking up the tree with his truck!). For ornaments, I used the Radko ornaments my mother gave me from our childhood, as well as some vintage small ones I found on eBay. Lights, we love to mix and match for a festive effect.  On the greenery, we scored some amazing vintage ornaments from a little shop down the road, The Uncommon Market. Stockings are from my childhood and Santa was scored in my friend Hailey's small town at an adorable drug store, Clark Pharmacy.

In case you are wondering, what we feasted on, here is the menu. Since we were cooking for 11 people, we wanted to keep it simple. I also had help from the guests, which was so very nice of them! Hailey made the salad, Rachel made the sugar cookies, Ashley & Amy both brought the necessity - wine, and Anne made a festive sangria. Best guests ever!

To make you really hungry (and thirsty), here are some pictures...

Overall, it was a great Monday night - who knew Mondays would be so perfect for hosting? Most people are around and you get Sunday to prep. Plus, people love to have something to look forward to on a Monday. I wish we could have hosted a lot more friends, but that's the tricky thing about dinner parties. Luckily, we figured out how to put the extra leaves in the table! Maybe in a future house, we can have a giant dining room with a big table to host twenty...and then maybe I'll be able to afford a caterer :)

Amy, Hailey, Rachel, me, Ashley and Anne - fabulous dinner guests!

Hopefully you enjoyed all of our holiday details rolled up into one large post. Most importantly, I wish you all a very Merry Christmas! Have a wonderful time celebrating wherever you are and do somethings festive and kind!

Shopping details:
Dishes (Annie Glass, Anna Weatherly & Juliska) - The Plaid Giraffe
Striped Napkins - Kate Spade
White Napkins & Napkin Rings - The Plaid Giraffe
MacKenzie Platters - The Plaid Giraffe
Dresser - Pottery Barn Kids

Lots of Love,

Patio Party - Dustin's Graduation Celebration

Time to play catch up on life happenings now that the show is over! First thing I wanted to share was the fun patio party we hosted to celebrate my husband's completion of grad school - such a smarty pants! We were so excited to throw a shindig on the new patio and have a night with our family and a few friends. Decorations were simple and complemented our patio cushions, as well as the sunroom guests entered from. That's right, with the new stairs, people could go outside from the pretty sunroom - finally!

I purchased these colorful paper lanterns from Amazon and then we hung them from our cafe lights. Under $10 and added great pops of color.

Furniture set and outdoor rug from World Market. Each summer they release an affordable patio set and for $130, this works great!

Love our acrylic glassware I scored at TJMaxx. After a few drinks, a couple people dropped their drinks and it's great when you don't have to worry about broken glasses!

Now time for some people pics so I can show off the family we love so much!

How adorable is my grandma! My Aunt Mary was in town and we were happy to have her for a party at our home.

Proud Mama!

Dustin's dad and mentor...you are catching a pretty good sneak peek of the new island! More details to come.

My adorable "niece" (aka cousin's baby) Leni! Can you believe how big she's gotten? She was the life of the party.

Seriously the cutest.

We are so happy that we invested in a big patio for our backyard. It has added a room to our house and we love being able to entertain in our backyard. With the fire pit Dustin put together, we can hopefully have some cozy fall fires out there!

Lots of Love,

Eat, Drink & Be Merry!

Last week I had a very festive, very holiday character filled party with some of my fabulous friends! It was such a great night and the co-hostesses and I had a blast setting it up...that got entertaining! About a month or so ago, we sent out these fun invitations from Paperless Post to make sure people marked their calendars:

Wanted to start the party with a fun note and getting "Elfed Up!" seemed to do the trick. I took a lot of pictures, so I will let them do the sharing of the event:

Snowman cheese ball! We made two cheese balls (one smaller than the other) with 2 packs of cream cheese & a clove of garlic minced. Best to let them sit in the refrigerator overnight. Then day of stack them using a small pick and cover with shredded mozzarella. I  sliced a small piece of carrot for the nose and used chocolate chips for the eyes and buttons - so cute!

For fun marshmallows, dip the ends in food die (add a few drops to a small cup of water)! Perfect for the hot chocolate we served.

Amy Hopper's amazing lemon cookies and Trader Joe's chocolate covered Peppermint Joe Joe's!

Cheese Tree: Cut a cream cheese block diagonally and match up back to back making a triangle shape. Then cut the star and steam from green peppers. I added a yummy raspberry preserves dip on top from The Plaid Giraffe. 

Had to make the new bar cart festive for the party! Check out the original bar cart makeover here. We used the fun paper coffee cups for Hot Chocolate spiked with Peppermint Schnapps!

Wreath Salad: Broccolini, Arugula, Cherry Tomatoes, Mozzarella Balls and spritz with Olive Oil - love how pretty, yet healthy it is!

Obsessed with my new holiday platter from MacKenzie Child's!

Photos via me

Items in the pictures: MacKenzie Child's Black and White and Holiday serving pieces, dish towel, vase & paper napkins, rose hand painted goblets | Juliska salad plates & cereal bowls  | Threshold Gold Flatware | Oh Joy! for Target goblets, green pitcher & tree paper napkins | C Wonder elephant bottle stopper | Annie Glass gold edge serving pieces

It was such a great night and I have such wonderful, beautiful (inside and outside) friends! Love a good night of eating, drinking and being merry...

Amy, Paige, Rachael & Alycia

Ryan, Hailey & Amy

Jenna, Shannyn, Shelby & Aubrey

Special thanks to Amy Johnson, Amy Hopper and Paige Gade for helping host the party and keeping me sane! Such a fun way to ring in the holidays. Hope you all have had some fun celebrating yourself!

Lots of Love,