Table For Two: Spring Evening By The Pool

Unless you have cooling misters and a plethora of mosquito repellent you most likely won’t find me outside in the summer evenings here in Texas unless I’m neck-deep in the pool. But Spring? Spring is my friend. Those April showers keep the temps down to a bearable warmth and the mosquitos haven’t multiplied by the thousands quite yet (granted if there is even one it will find me). So, since we are a family that enjoys the outdoors, you will find us outside quite a bit this time of year. And that calls for a little date night by the pool!

Easy Corn Napkin Tutorial

It’s corn-on-the-cob season y’all! I always get so excited when I start to see the fresh corn arriving at the grocery stores. Nothing says summer and pool parties quite like a beautifully charred piece of corn right off the grill (of course slathered in butter too). Or, my new favorite, this Mexican Street Corn recipe. The hubs has already requested this twice since I made it the first time a few weeks back – get on it! With all of this corn happening in our lives, these corn napkins are the perfect way to roll your silverware and dress up your table.

Cinco de Mayo Tablescape

Margarita glasses, corn on the cob napkins, tequila place cards? Sounds like a fun Cinco de Mayo table setting to me! 🙂 In all honesty I think I’m just trying to make up for years of missed Cinco de Mayo celebrations. So many margarita filled days flew by without me – not cool. This year I am prepared! With my Mexican Street Corn and this fun table setting it’s bound to be a festive day that includes one heck of a siesta.

Table For Two: Wedding China

Back with another table for two setting and this time it happened at my mom’s house! Remember the pretty Easter Table I did with her china? Well, I came across her wedding china in my china hunting frenzy and couldn’t make it work with the easter brunch table but knew I had to create something with those beautiful pale colors. Adding in a bit of colorful hydrangeas and setting myself up poolside fit the bill perfectly. Enjoy yall 🙂

Easter Brunch Tablescape

We recently went to visit my parents and I learned two things: 1. flying with a toddler during their nap time is both stupid and one of the most stressful things ever (why did we think that would be ok again?) and 2. playing with my mom’s china is my grownup version of dress up. Literally within moments of recovering from the worst plane flight ever, I spotted my mom’s beautiful vintage china and said, “I’ll be doing an Easter brunch table setting. Cool?”

Garden Brunch Tablescape

Brunch is definitely different with a kiddo. Those days of sleeping in until 11am, stumbling to our favorite brunch spot and indulging in bottomless mimosas are long gone. These days it’s more like rise and shine at 6:30, down our coffee, scarf some food down (I suggest Southwestern Breakfast Muffins :)) and then have our friends over to the house to indulge in the second breakfast of the day before putting the little one down for her nap so I can enjoy a couple mimosas. Ya…it’s definitely different but I gotta tell ya…I love my new style of brunching. Partly because I love being able to eat breakfast twice in one day but mostly because it allows me to stick to my 8pm bedtime…I am not ashamed.

Table for Two: Valentine’s Day

If you haven’t been told this already – date nights are a bit more challenging when you have a kiddo. 🙂 I won’t go on about the reasonings as I’m sure they’re pretty obvious (if you’re curious just google it…you’ll be inundated). What I will say is when you become a parent just because date nights are harder to do, DON’T STOP DOING THEM! The hubby and I make it a point to do at least one date night a week. Now, let me clarify, that does not mean finding a babysitter and spending money at a nice restaurant. What it does mean is showering and putting something besides active wear on (the struggle is real here), waiting until after the babe has gone to sleep, not sitting in front of the TV and setting the table – for two. Thus, the Table for Two series. This series will follow me on my date night tablescape journey and what a perfect time of year to start – Valentines!

Kids Christmas Cookie Decorating Party

You know those celebs that sign up to do bikini photo shoots like three months after having a baby as “motivation” to get back in shape? And we all think they’re crazy? I mean they are…let’s all be honest. Well, I kind of had a moment like that when planning a kids Christmas cookie decorating party this year. I had had it in my head for a while and thought, “oh it can’t be that hard!” And then in looking at the dates was like, “ya! Let’s do it super early in December like right after Thanksgiving.” And then it hits me that that means the whole house would also need to be done and decorated before I even started on party prep – mind you we would be gone until the Sunday after Thanksgiving on a two day road trip with a 14 month old and a dog…motivation right? 🙂 But this adorable party was SO WORTH IT! And truly, the party prep was nothing. Especially when you blast Christmas tunes the whole time.

Thanksgiving Tablescape

I’m a sucker for a good tablescape. They are so dang fun to create and there’s so many ways to make them special and unique. And you don’t have to be hosting a dinner party to have one! Creating a tablescape is an easy and inexpensive way to add a festive flair to your home. I love how mine came together this year for our Friendsgiving and am still enjoying those gorgeous colors now!

The Makings of A Great Friendsgiving

“I get by with a little help from my friends.” This has definitely been my theme song this year. I don’t know about you, but for my husband and I, our friends become our family, or “framily.” It’s taken more effort to keep up with them all once our little girl came along but opportunities like Friendsgiving are a perfect way to get everyone together for great food, good wine and some nice hearty belly laughs. Here’s some of the activities that made our first Friendsgiving a success.