There’s only one more week of January – can you believe that?? We’re almost one month down of 2019. I should probably start working on my resolutions haha! And that also means that Valentine’s Day is just around the corner, and will be here before we know it! Now you guys know me, and you know that I love wine. So I put together a list of some of my favorites that would be perfect for a romantic dinner, girls night, glass after the kids go down and you eat thai takeout – whatever the evening looks like for you, it will look better with a glass of one of these delicious wines in your hand!
Maryhill Winery, 2012 Serendipity
I’ve loved Maryhill’s wines for a long time – we finally joined their wine club about a year ago (we should have joined sooner!) and always look forward to those shipments! They have tasting rooms in Goldendale, Spokane, and are just about to open a new tasting room in Vancouver this April! Definitely pay them a visit if you’re in the area. I really love all of their wines, and the Serendipity is no exception. It’s really smooth, and would pair well with whatever your Valentine’s Day meal looks like! We drank it while eating my White Wine and Parmesan Risotto, and it was soooo delicious! It would also be amazing with a steak or pork. (When you order this wine, also grab a bottle of their rosé! It’s my favorite!!)
Merry Cellars, 2016 Dolce Vita
Merry Cellars is our local winery in town – you probably see me mention them all the time on Instagram stories! We love their wine and hanging out in their tasting room in Pullman. I’m not usually a fan of dessert wines, but I looooove Dolce Vita. It’s made from merlot that’s co-fermented with blackberries, which makes for a really deep, jammy and fruity wine. Dolce Vita is really special, and would be the perfect Valentine’s Day treat!
No Valentine’s Day wine list would be complete without a sparkling wine, am I right? This sparkling wine is so good – I love how bright, fresh and fruity it is! It would be perfect with light appetizers like a cheese plate or these smoked salmon appetizers, and would also be amazing for a brunch! If you’re looking to pair this with your Valentine’s Day dinner, I’d recommend it with my Lemon and Garlic Salmon, or a light chicken. And grab another bottle while you’re at it, because I know you’ll love the Blanc de Blancs as much as I do!
I hope you all find a new wine to love on this list – be sure to let me know if you try one and report back! And if you love wine, check out this recipe for Merlot Chocolate Truffles – they will blow your mind!!
There’s really nothing better than a beautiful tea party! It’s such a fun occasion to put on a cute dress and serve all the tiny bite-sized things! And champagne, of course! Oh and tea.
I’ve seen ideas for Christmas teas for years, and always thought it would be so fun! So this year I decided to begin an annual Christmas tea tradition, and I won’t lie – I already have next year’s all planned out! Today I’m so excited to share pictures and details from this year’s Christmas tea party.
Read on, or scroll to the bottom for my quick tips on hosting your own easy and beautiful tea party!
I had so much fun putting the table together for our Christmas tea. My inspiration started with the beautiful Teleflora floral arrangement. I love how traditional it is with the winter greenery, red roses and even a few pine cones! I always have such a fun time perusing the Teleflora website, knowing that I’ll get exactly what I order.
I also picked up some super fun decorated sugar cookies, and no tea party would be complete without macarons, am I right?? I got an assortment, and we had so much fun trying the different flavors and sharing what our favorites were (for those curious, the winner was the peppermint candy cane)!
I put a small bottle of La Marca champagne at each place setting, for mimosas of course, and tied each of them with a little red ribbon. I loved that guests could pour their own drinks, as much or little as they wanted, or even take them home for later!
For favors, I opted for small boxes of Frans Chocolates salted caramels. If you haven’t tried Fran’s salted caramels, do yourself a favor (ha, get it?) and order them right. now. They are by far the best salted caramels ever, and I loved gifting each of my friends such a fun and delicious favor!
Since I hosted this party around lunch time, I knew we wouldn’t survive off of cookies and champagne alone. So I put together some quick and easy tea sandwiches for us. I made them all open faced, and served them on my favorite tiered stand I’ve had for years. I did traditional egg salad sandwiches topped with sprouts, cream cheese and smoked salmon sandwiches garnished with fresh dill, and little cheese sandwiches that were a slice of parmesan cheese and a small dollop of my favorite peach jalapeno jelly! All really simple, all really easy, and all really delicious!
Tips For An Easy and Beautiful Christmas Tea
1. Decide on the color scheme/inspiration. I got my inspiration from the beautiful Teleflora floral arrangement I found online, and fashioned all the other decor around that.
2. Keep it simple silly! Don’t try to do everything at once – you’ll drive yourself insane. I opted to order the sugar cookies and macarons instead of make them myself, because I wanted to focus on setting the table instead. Especially now that I have a toddler running around I definitely know I can’t do it all, and that’s totally ok!
3. Use what you have! I didn’t buy a single new dish. My tiered serving dish was perfect for sandwiches, I used my favorite cake stand for the macarons, and the cute polka dot Kate Spade dishes I received as a bridal shower gift.
4. Use favors to help decorate the table! I love how adorable the little Fran’s chocolate boxes are, especially wrapped in their beautiful red ribbon. Everyone was so excited to sit down to a little gift at their place. They have so many box and ribbon options on their website, so whatever your color scheme is, you’ll find a favor to match!
5. Serve drinks at the table. The cute mini champagne bottles were a perfect addition to the table decor (see tip #4!), but they also made my job as hostess a lot easier! Instead of getting up to refill everyone’s glasses, I could pour drinks while enjoying the event and my friends’ company, and they were happy to mix their own drinks at the table as well!
6. Have fun! We joked at the tea about the etiquette of tea cup holding and all practiced holding out our pinkies haha! But just remember that you invited your friends over to have a good time, and nobody expects your event to be absolutely perfect. They came for you!
This weekend we hosted our first Friendsgiving at our house, and I had so much fun setting the table for the event! Growing up my mom and aunt would always set beautiful tables for Thanksgiving (we alternated between households), and I love how it makes the dinner feel that much more special. Even though it took a little extra time to take out the china, I was pleasantly surprised at how easy a nice table is to create!
Funny story – you might notice that the flatware is reversed. Forks are supposed to go on the left, and knife on the right. I didn’t realize that I had made an oops until our guests had already left and we were cleaning up! In a past life I would have been horrified, but you know what? We had a wonderful and fun dinner, and that’s all that really matters at the end of the day!
I absolutely love these gold votives, which add so much warmth to the table! I also use them for our advent candles in Christmas, or really any time I want the table to feel a little special! Since my color scheme was gold and burgundy, I also pulled out our gold flatware, and gold chargers to help the lace china really pop (My china is currently on sale!). For this event I used these gold chargers, but oh my gosh I’m majorly obsessing over these gold lace chargers too!
Call me old school, but I love everything about crystal. I love the look of it of course, but I also love the weight of it! For our dinner I used our Waterford wine glasses and vase. We definitely don’t use our china and crystal every day, but it really elevates the table, and transforms a dinner into an event.
I hope everyone has fun planning fun and festive Thanksgivings over the next week!
Autumn picnics are my absolute favorite. The temperatures are cooler, the colors are vibrant, and of course I’m all for cozy blankets and warm drinks!
Picnics are a fun way to make dinner a little more festive and exciting, and today I’m sharing my quick tips on how to make this autumn tradition an easy success.
1. Pull out the Cozy Blankets
Cooler temps mean some of my favorite things: pumpkin spice lattes, blanket scarves, and cuddling up under warm wool blankets! For our picnic, I used one of our plaid blankets as a makeshift tablecloth. I also have my eye set on this perfect picnic blanket from Pendleton – it’s nylon backed to keep picnics dry! Genius!
2. Serve Warm Cider
There is really nothing better than sitting under fall foliage, sipping some hot mulled cider. I kept ours warm in vintage insulated bottles, and served it in moscow mule mugs. These containers would also be perfect for bringing along warm soup!
3. Keep the Menu Simple, Silly!
Don’t over-complicate the menu! Some people shy away from picnics, because they get caught in the logistics of serving an unnecessarily fancy meal. My favorite picnic menu is baguettes, Boursin cheese, lunch meats and cheeses for simple sandwiches everyone can make themselves. Add a veggie and/or fruit platter from the store, and you’re good to go!
4. A Walk in the Leaves
Remember to savor and enjoy the experience. We loved taking some extra time to play with Charlotte in the fallen leaves, enjoying the autumn colors and soaking in the season.
One of my best friends Joleen is expecting her first baby this fall, and I couldn’t be more excited for her! She is going to be such an amazing mother, and I can’t wait to meet her little baby girl!
My friend Ellie and I threw a co-ed baby shower for Joleen and her husband Aaron this past weekend. We threw around a few different ideas, and in the end decided on a book theme, since Joleen is really into literature.
We had originally planned to hold the shower on the outdoor patio at Merry Cellars Winery, but the day ended up being stormy and rainy. When we said shower we didn’t mean literally! So we opted to move it inside to their barrel room which was perfect. And huge thank you to the staff at Merry Cellars for being so accommodating last minute!
Ellie made really cute cupcakes (you may remember her cake from this post), and topped them with these adorable book toppers that she made. If you like this idea but don’t want to make them yourself, I also really love these ones.
I loved the book themed snack table! Joleen is a book worm like me, and is excited to grow their baby’s library. I had so much fun choosing some of my favorite books for her, and coordinating snacks with them!
We picked pink peonies from the local you-pick flower farm, and arranged them in burlap and lace mason jars. The flowers ended up being a perfect pop of color inside the barrel room!
It was so much fun to shower our dear friends with love as they prepare to embark on this big adventure of parenthood!
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