friendsgiving.

It's officially holiday season people! And with that in mind, we had a great friendsgiving on Saturday with good friends. Great food (as Ben keeps saying "everyone really brought their A game"), good company, and a new baby - can't get better!

Our space is a bit tight for more than 6 - but it ended up working.

And in news, remember last year when I by mistake spray painted a leaf? No? Really? You don't? Yeah, that's ok (in case you care enough and want to remember - click here) - anyway, I decided to spray paint leaves to use as place cards.

Oh yeah, and for the cocktail of the evening, we went with a Bourbon-Cranberry Shrub Cocktail. It was fantastic - highly recommend it. (I actually found it in Martha Stewart Living this month, but I can't find it online - so the full recipe is below).

I also copied this chalkboard design. I didn't have time to do the download and template - so I just free-handed it...turned out fine!

And Ben dominated the turkey scene. It was fantastic.

Not to mention the mashed potatoes, jello mold, and mac n' cheese. Em brough amazing corn pudding and apple pie. Erin/Josh brought this fantastic pureed broccoli side and a chocolate cream pie. Val came in strong with cranberry sauce and these amazing little cinnamon muffins I have been eating every morning since. And Doug/Kate came with sauteed greens, enough Dolcezza for 2015 and of course, baby Charlie!

And after dinner, we played Cards Against Humanity to close out the night!

Recipe: Bourbon-Cranberry Shrub Cocktail

1 cup of fresh or frozen cranberries

1 cup of sugar

1 cup white-wine vinegar

1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons of bourbon

2 tablespoons of seltzer

1. Combine cranberries, sugar and vinegar in a pot. Bring to a boil, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat; let cool completely. Refrigerate up to 3 weeks. 

2. For each cocktail, fill a rocks glass with ice. Stir in bourbon, seltzer, and 2 tablespoons shrub liquid. Add 1 tablespoon shrub cranberries; serve immediatly. 

pinned down.

I love wooden clothes pins. Not that I think about them much but they are old school and I am sure hipsters will bring them back soon! Until that happens, I noticed that Aaron's mom uses them on her napkins so people remember which is theirs. Love this idea! I might just take or adapt it...do a quick spray paint job on them or use them to attach cards to gift bags...

Also love these vintage clothes pins...

I did a quick search online and apparently I am not the only one loving clothes pins...people are using them for drinks...

 And for invitations and menus...

What do you think? Too farmhouse or a nice touch?!

trucked up.

Engagement party + food trucks = a brilliant idea! We went to an engagement party for the Beale/Maguire impending nupitals and the host had hired this food truck to feed the party, amazing right? The truck pulled up into the back alley and we just milled around in the alley eating crepes and enjoying the fresh, humid, swampy DC summer air. It was fantastic and cool!

wedding time.

And we're back! We left last Wednesday for NY and only just got back last night from a fantastic wedding weekend. Ben's best friend, Pete, got married and the wedding was up near New Paltz. The wedding was gorgeous. We didn't want it to end and are only now coming down from the high. It was such a great weekend that I didn't do a very good job of photo documenting everything but I'll give you what I can. Here we go...

We spent Wednesday night in Westchester at Ben's house....it was a very short visit with his Mom. On Thursday, we took the scenic drive up to New Paltz. Ben's dad let us drive his Porsche up north and we lucked out with a beautiful sunny day. We drove through West Point and meandered along the beautiful back roads.

We made a quick stop in High Falls to stop in this great little store we spotted, High Falls Mercantile. We got two great ceramic bowls on sale.

We headed to dinner in New Paltz at A Tavola with Peter and Claire's families. It was intimate and small and lovely. I loved the idea behind this drink with jam in it.

Friday was all about wedding errands. We swung through Kingston to get Pete's ring re-sized. Stopped for lunch at a small deli. On our way to the wedding site, we stopped into a fantastic, hole in the wall, roadside craft beer store.

The wedding was on the Shadow Lawn property in High Falls. The ceremony was planned for outside, cocktails in the red barn, and then the reception under a big tent out on the lawn. Have I mentioned I love barn doors? 

 

Friday night was a big rehearsal dinner/BBQ at the house we were staying in. It was great! Outside in the backyard. Amazing toasts by some of the groomsmen. Just lots of love and celebrating. Also, the florist was amazing and I was loving all of the arrangements in old cans!

And finally, the wedding day was gorgeous. The threat of rain loomed large the whole weekend but miraculously it stopped raining around 3:00 and held off for the rest of the evening. The ceremony ended up in the barn and was simply put, incredible. Intimate and small. At one point, we all sang a folk song from O'Brother Where Art Thou and it filled the whole barn. It was beautiful. The reception flew by. Ben also nailed his toast to Pete and Claire....even the DJ announced it was one of the best toasts he has ever heard!

Pictures do no justice to the weekend. We are still reveling in what a beautiful, wonderful wedding it was. And to top off the night, there was a bonfire late into the evening with smores and drinks.

As you can imagine, we had a hard time coming back yesterday...

it's getting cold in here.

Martha Stewart might have spent some time in prison, but she still has some bright ideas. And by that I mean, edible flowers frozen in ice cubes! I love this and swear to you now, I promise to make these flowered ice cubes in the future. Maybe if you're lucky, you'll be invited to whatever classy cocktail party this is where I am inspired to freeze flowers in water and serve it in your drink. Cheers!