Friendsgiving 2014

This weekend Miguel and I had about 10 people over for a Friendsgiving dinner. This was Miguel's idea, but I love throwing themed parties and so I was excited to help host! I am fully aware that I go a little cheesy with themes, but I don't care, I embrace it haha.  For example, I cut out Thanksgiving photo props that no one used, but Miguel was kind enough to humor me and take a picture as a pilgrim! 

Once people got to our house I didn't remember to take any photos, but I snapped some pics of the food and decor earlier. 

This was the first time we used our new dining room table! We put one of the leaves in so that we could fit more people, but that also meant that there was very little wiggle room as the table took up pretty much the whole length of the room! 

Poor Madison got stuck in the chair closest to the window! Once she got in, she couldn't get out. Especially once we added a chair to the opposite end, essentially blocking the doorway to the kitchen. 

We also set up another little table so that there would be more room, but in the end we didn't get enough extra chairs so it became an impromptu "sweetheart table". 

Publix commercial salt and pepper shakers my dad gave me years ago =)

We also had candles and a fire going outside, but then, of course, it started to rain... pout.

To make the house smell like fall I had a simmer pot of orange peels, apples, cinnamon, cloves, cardamon, etc going on the stove.

Our guests each brought a Thanksgiving dinner side or two, so I put my energy towards making little finger foods and things to snack on before dinner. 

These cute peanut butter pumpkin balls were my favorite thing! They were so easy to make! I think this would be a fun activity to make with kids too! And, apart from the pretzel stick stem, they are GF and DF!

Next I had a pumpkin pie dip with graham crackers and apples. I just wish the apples didn't brown so quickly.  This was also pretty simple to make, but sadly, it's not DF. I may still have had a bite or two though...

I also made some GF & DF sugar cookies that I made in the shape of fall leaves and pilgrim hats. They tasted really good to me, especially for being GF and DF!

This pic is pretty blurry, but for drinks I made a cranberry champaign cocktail.  It only has 3 ingredients and is so easy to make! Just don't make the same mistake I did and have the spout of the drink dispenser open when you pour in the juice!

But, of course, the biggest hit of the night was Miguel's turkey! Yummmmmmmy! He smoked it in the Big Green Egg and it turned out wonderfully! 

We had a fun night with good friends and are very thankful to have such a great group of people to celebrate with here in Savannah! Now that we are all warmed up  we are definitely looking forward to this upcoming week celebrating with our families!

Quick Visit To Ponte Verda

Last week I traveled down the coast a few hours to Ponte Verda, FL to meet up with a friend from back home in Atlanta. Due to living four hours apart and busy lives, we don't often get to see each other. So when the chance came to hang out for the day we took the opportunity!

Seems far, but is half the distance to Atlanta

Lauren was vacationing at the picturesque, beachside resort and invited me down for the day. I had never been to that part of Florida before. It's amazing how different the beaches are when traveling just a little ways down the coast!  The water was aqua and the sand white and shelly.  

source

The beach wasn't crowded at all. SUCH a contrast from Tybee (where we usually go on the weekends here in Savannah). I loved watching all the teenaged surfers in the waves. Reminded me both of the movie Gidget (which I used to rent from Blockbuster when I was home from school with a cold) and one of my favorite book characters, Todd, from the Christy Miller Series. I feel like they had to have been between 14-15, old enough to be out by themselves but too young to have a summer job.

We ate lunch overlooking the beach at the Lodge & Club. I enjoyed a mango daiquiri (replacing a strawberry mojito which I didn't like and they didn't charge us for) and a yummy Mahi sandwich.

See all the surfers out on the water in the background?

After we filled our bellies we headed back out to the beach to enjoy the sand and sun! I could only stay for a few hours before I had to head back home to Savannah, but I'm really glad I got the chance to see Lauren and hang out for the day! Thanks for the invite and the fun day, Lauren! 

Love Is Brewing: A Bridal Tea

This past Saturday my mom and I threw a Bridal Tea Shower for a childhood friend. I have been so excited about this tea for a long time now and started preparing for it many months ago. I still cannot believe that it has already come and gone! Wow!

Since my parents are in the middle of moving and we knew that their house would be on the market this fall, my mom and I thought it would be best to throw the shower at different location. I imediately thought of having the party at a tea house because that seems very "Bridal" to me. I couldn't believe my luck when I discovered The Roswell Tea house! Besides being quite picturesque, it also offers food services accommodating the many food allergies (gluten, soy, dairy, chicken, vegetarian, etc) of all our guests!  We also thought it'd be fun to have a mother/daughter tea since the guests we were inviting were all high school friends whose mothers were also acquaintances and friends. In the end it was a mix of mothers and daughters though. Scheduling something on a non-UGA football weekend in the fall is hard when everyone else is also taking advantage of the "open" Saturday! We had a lovely turnout though and were so happy and thankful that our guests could make it!

Back in July I started gathering ideas for invitations. I spent hours browsing on-line paper companies and in the end decided to create something on my own. I wish I could take total credit, however I found an invitation for inspiration here and then whipped up the rest in Photoshop. I went through multiple versions, but in the end I decided I wanted something more classy, "Bridal" and something that looked like it would compliment a high tea. I axed out any tea motifs and drew a bridal bouquet instead. I paired the invitations with pink envelopes. I was really please with the end result and loved the sweet feedback I received from the guests!

I clearly love being crafty and couldn't have been more thrilled to have a reason to get creative! I decided to go with a bright colored, floral patterned theme. I also came up with the idea of using the phrase "Love Is Brewing" and incorporated that throughout the shower. We ended up having to provide our own tablecloths and, well, pretty much everything except the china.  Below are two pictures of how everything turned out:

I made this banner to hang, it reads: Love Is Brewing with the Bride's wedding date below 12.22.12. I also lucked out with having Cricut cartridges with the heart mugs! Too perfect and cute! I had to use them! I'm really please with the result, but a little disappointed too. This was the second version I ended up making and time just ran out on me. It was much more detailed in my vision, but like I said, I still think it looks cute and the effect was still created!

I also used my Cricut to make a banner to hang on the back of Sarah's chair. However, since the chair didn't end up having posts on the top, we tied it to the front with some ribbon. This actually turned out okay since we seated her towards the end of the room where the sign wouldn't have been seen by the rest of the guests had it been hanging on the back of the chair.

I also made a banner for the gift table

I also created some little tea-themed favors for all of our guests. I purchased tea infusers and little jars to fill with loose tea. Then on each infuser I made little bottle cap charms that read either "Love Is Brewing 12.22.12" or "cuppa ♥". The Bride's read "Mrs. Giovino 12.22.12" (her future married name). I made them in multiple background colors and added a little heart charm that read "love" on each as well.

I put the tea and the infusers in little brown, paper bags that I adorned with the love-mugs and tied with some ribbon. 

I knew I wanted to use tea tins as vases for the flowers. I found the pink ones at Publix and picked up the green ones at World Market. My mom and I purchased some loose flowers from Whole Foods and arranged them in the tea tins. The tea room staff had advised us to keep the flower arrangements relatively small since table space was needed for the tea service. The colors were perfect for the look I was going for, and again, I was really pleased with the end result. 

We had a florist make a corsage for the bride. The colors and flowers matched perfectly! Yay! 

That's pretty much it as far as decor goes. I couldn't have pulled it all together without the help of my wonderful mother! It was so much fun doing this together and I had a blast (as I always do) spending the weekend with her!

I have nothing but compliments to the Roswell Tea House! The food was delicious! I mean, really, really good! We had two teas, a seasonal maple tea and a wedding tea. I love tea, but I truly believe these teas would turn anyone into a tea person! To begin we had a choice of three soups, a butternut squash (which I got... yum!), a carrot ginger, and a tomato basil. Everyone commented on the wonderful flavors. Like my mom said, she had to stop herself from licking the bowl ;)

 

The tea service continued with tea sandwiches (cucumber, edamame, pimento cheese, curry chicken salad), scones, tea cakes, and loads of goodies... and this was just on our non-allergy end. The guests with the allergies assured us that the other options were just as tasty. Not only was everything yummy, it was also beautiful!

After we finished eating, we moved onto gifts. I didn't get too many pictures of this event, but the bride received many beautiful items to jump start her married life. 

Thank you, Claire, for diligently recording the gifts! 

My mom and I gave Sarah a Mackenzie-Childs tea pot in one of the patterns she registered for. The Bentsens (the Bride's family) collect Mackenzie-Childs pieces and my mom and I couldn't think of a more appropriate Bridal Tea gift!

Haha! Sorry, Sarah! This isn't the best picture, but it is the only one I got of Sarah opening the gift!

We had such a beautiful, warm October day! I'm so happy everything came together so well and we were able to celebrate the Bentsen Family and spend time with friends! Looking forward to December 22nd!

The Bentsen sisters, Amy, Claire, and the Bride, Sarah

Long time friends! The mother of the bride, Elisa, Amy, Claire, the Bride, Sarah, me and my mom, Lisa.

Beach Shenanigans

I love living at the beach.

This is how we get to spend our weekend days. Miguel even tried his hand at surfing.

 Summer, don't go away just yet...!