BACK TO THE REAL WORLD!

Well, I have just begun to recover from my vacation haze of sun, sand and dacquiris! Jamaica was too fun for words, so I will share my trip with pictures!

We were greeted in the hotel lobby by some authentic Jamaican musicians. 

There were beautiful ocean views.

We had some fun times in the piano bar. I totally rocked out with my amazing voice. I had to turn down a few record contracts while I was there.

Johnny Rockets found some coconuts.

Double cousin Lauren and I had a nice chat on our SHELL phones. (Dorks!)

We ate some delicious food.

We even managed to celebrate my 28th birthday! 

As if I would let anyone forget about my favorite day of the year. 

 I hung out with Mike Tyson. Not really, but this guy looks exactly like Mike Tyson! Mr. Fo called him "Tike Myson." At the very least, he can balance a bottle of liquor on his head, which is just awesome. 

We rode some huge bikes in the ocean. Not as easy at it looks by the way!

We snorkeled. This was a big deal for Cousin Lauren as she hates fish. See how much fun it is to be forced to do something?! BTW, I think we can all agree that snorkel gear is NOT my best look. 

Double Cousins Forever! If you don't have a double cousin, I suggest you get yourself one.

(Double Cousin = Our mothers are sisters and our fathers are brothers. )

And of course, beach time with Mr. Fo.

I had SO much fun in Jamaica, and it was the perfect way to spend my birthday. And for those of you that were curious, there was no Thanksgiving food, but it was fine with me! I had a great Thanksgiving without it!

Come back this week as I have lots of great posts coming up!

Happy Thanksgiving MON

Have you ever wondered if they serve Thanksgiving dinner in Jamaica? Well I'm about to find out! That's right, I'm spending Turkey Day in the islands mon! We are going with my double cousin Lauren and her boyfriend, the aptly named Johnny Rockets! To add to the amazing-ness of this trip, I will also be celebrating my birthday in Jamaica, on the 28th. In fact, I will be 28 on the 28th! 

Basically, this will be my Thanksgiving, in pictures:

Jamaican sun

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Turkey! (Well hopefully, I don't know if there will be a Thanksgiving dinner, but I would really love to be eating some pumpkin pie on the beach.)

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My golden birthday

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Cousin Lauren

And since I will be flying, the aggressive TSA agent. Nothing says Happy Holidays like getting felt up by a complete stranger:

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Happy Thanksgiving to all, no matter where you are! Tune in next week for my low country bash pictures, which are FINALLY ready!

Born to Blog

Check out this fabulous ornament my mother-in-law sent me! (Hi Sus!)

It's so cute I wish I had my tree up right now so I could hang it! Although let's be honest, the ornament should really say "Born to blog (sporadically)," as I have not been super consistent with my blogging lately.

After Thanksgiving, I will have tons more to blog about and I hope to have my Low Country Bash pictures up before Turkey Day - so check back this week!

Low Country Bash Event - Preview Pics!

Remember when I mentioned ideas for the Low Country Bash I was planning for Charlotte Trolley, Inc.? Well, the event occurred this past weekend and was a great success! I don't have all the pictures yet, but here is just a quick preview of the event!

Banana Pudding by Spicy Sunshine Catering

Photo by Jim Lockman

Hanging flowers

Get your tickets here!

Stay tuned for more this week!

Holiday Party Time!

Well, almost!

It's never too early to plan your holiday soiree.Take a look at these non-traditional holiday themes for inspiration!

USE PINK! It's not just for Valentine's Day:

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TEAL, BLUES AND LIME GREEN provides an unexpected pop of color for holiday events!

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NATURAL TOUCHES such as evergreen sprigs and pine cones give a rustic feel.

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As you can tell, there are plenty of choices besides red, green and peppermint sticks! Use a non-traditional Christmas color or theme; I promise that your guests will be impressed!

I'm off to dream of sugarplums!

Paperless Post

In my opinion, nothing can beat receiving a beautiful paper invitation or handwritten note in the mail. But, the truth is, sometimes there is no time for licking and stamping envelopes and no room in the party budget for invitation costs!

Lucky for all of us who are pressed for time or cash (ahem... ME!), the electronic invite world has grown far past Evite.com. This is not to knock Evite, as it has served me well over the years, but it's definitely got some competition! 

My favorite electronic invite site? 

 

http://www.paperlesspost.com/

  This site is easy to use, has absolutely beautiful invitations and it's economic! You can send correspondence to 25 email addresses for free before having to purchase anything! Wouldn't you want to get one of these invites in your e-mail?

Holiday Party Invites

 Baby Shower Invites

Thank you notes

Change of address notes

Nothing can beat a handwritten thank you note or a beautiful paper invitation; but these notes and invites are so pretty, I bet they can turn even the most traditional person into an electronic invitation convert! 

Happy Wednesday!

Fall Birthday Dinner!

This week, I threw a fall themed birthday dinner for my fabulous sister in law Drew. It turned out really well, and as always, it's so much fun to cook for the people I love! 

 Menu:

Apple and Pecan Baked Brie

Arugula, Proscuitto, Blue Cheese and Pear Salad

Shrimp Scampi

Individual Apple Pies

NOTE: I am fully aware that Shrimp Scampi is NOT a fall dish. But the birthday requested it, and the birthday girl gets what the birthday girl wants. After I got over the fact that it didn't quite go with my fall theme, I realized that it doesn't matter what time of year you serve scampi... it's always DELISH. 

I created menu cards for each place setting.

After researching fall tablescapes for one of my recent blog posts. I knew I wanted beautiful fall flowers for the table. I used several different size and shaped vases clustered together, all tied with brown ribbon and raffia. I think it turned out really well! Plus, the arrangement was low enough, so I could see the person across from me at the table... huge impractical arrangements at a dinner party are my pet peeve.

I used these beautiful two tone amber colored goblets and tied raffia around the stems.

Time for the FOOD.... Apple and Pecan  Baked Brie with a D for Drew - with my plethora of cookie cutters, I really couldn't help myself. Recipe link HERE. This recipe was up to my Brie standards... read more about my Brie obsession HERE.

Oh the salad... if you can swoon over a salad, this is the one. Perfectly ripe pears, blue cheese, proscuitto? Add in a homemade balsamic dressing and your salad experience will be divine. Tons of tart and sweet flavors, plus it looks really pretty!

And for the entree, here is the summertime scampi... (I'm over it, I swear!) I used Barefoot Contessa's recipe as a base, but shrimp scampi is really a basic, easy dish. If you have white wine, lemon, garlic and butter, you are in business.

And finally, for the dessert. I want to thank Drew (and her parents, my wonderful in-laws, Art and Sus) for being born just in time so that I could FINALLY use my Williams Sonoma individual apple pie molds before the fall months passed me by.

It was a little harder than I expected to make these, but well worth it. Roll out your dough and cut into apple shapes using your mold.

Fill your pocket pie! I used Williams Sonoma Apple Pie Filling, which was a good choice since it took a little work to get these cute apple shapes!

You press the 2 apples together in your mold...Freeze for 30 minutes, and bake!

It didn't look as perfect as the Williams Sonoma catalog (seriously, who can be that perfect), but it was still pretty cute! And apples are fitting for Drew since she is a teacher :)

Drew had her cute little helper, my niece Brookie, help her blow out her candles...

Happy Birthday Drewbie! Love you lots :)

I am off to NYC to celebrate the engagement party of good friends Leighton and Quentin with all of my best girlfriends from high school - The Latin Hawks are coming to the big city!! (Wow, that was really dorky...)

Hope you have a GREAT weekend!