Impromptu Pop Up

I love a good pop up party, and a good dinner party in general so I was pumped when my mother in law got me some outdoor chairs for my birthday. Outdoor furniture has been on my mind all summer, but with all our other projects and expenses it was on the back burner. So it was a nice surprise that they went on sale and I got them for my birthday!

TNPLH: Backyard Pop Up Party 1

Our dinner was very last minute, and we don’t officially have a table yet. So I just used a folding table with a white splatter painted table cloth I used for the Valentines Day Brunch Shown Here.

TNPLH: Backyard Pop Up 2

I just love the green chairs! they come in black too, but I love a pop of color and they look so amazing against the green backdrop.

TNPLH: Backyard Pop Up 3

I still just love these buffalo check napkins. And the best part – they are so cheap. They are from a Wholesale Linen Website. Find them here. I think I eventually need them in every color. And they wash beautifully!

TNPLH: Backyard Pop UP 4

The dogs had fun too!

Do you ever do fancy dinner parties outside? I highly recommend them! they are so fun!

Spring Dinner Party

We had a fun dinner party this weekend so I wanted to share the pics.

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Buffalo Check Dinner Party

White and Green Flowers

Buffalo Check Dinner Party

I loved mixing my buffalo check napkins with the floral table runners that I have used for many tables. I have also been loving simple white and green florals! So happy it’s finally getting a little warmer out!

Lavender Valentine’s Brunch

I am so excited to share my Valentine’s Day Brunch today with you all! So my girlfriends and I decided to co-host for all of our friends. Brunch is so fun and the easiest meal to throw! We all made different dishes to pass and I was in charge of the fun table!

So instead of going with the traditional pink and red, I went with Lavender since it would match so nicely with my living room (and that is where we set up the table for 12!).

Lavender Brunch Party 2

In order to jazz up the table a bit I first made some table runners. I love how they ended up. I sewed them extra wide and long so they would just take over the whole table. And since I went with white table cloths (I couldn’t find Lavender to purchase online at a good price) I decided to splatter paint them in silver which I had so much fun with! Can you see the splatter?

Lavender Brunch Party 1

As you can see our house is still a work in progress. The mantle is looking good, which I shared here. But the hallway needs work and there is still all over carpet, which I hope to pull up soon after I find a good (and big area rug)!

Lavender Brunch Party 3

But over all I love the big windows in the house, they add such nice light (I love them even more now that I am done painting them white).

Anyway back to the table. I used my Vera Wang for Waterford water goblets which I love love! And do you see those little ginger jar vases. My husband found those on the side of the road, someone was throwing them away – husband of the year! And I love the little swan salt and pepper shakers. Aren’t they like little figurines! I love them!

Lavender Brunch Party 4

Lavender Brunch Party 5

For the rest of the dinner ware I used my wedding china tea cups, my grandmother’s dinner plates, and some vintage gold flatware I found at a local consignment shop ($20 for the whole set!!)

Lavender Brunch Party 6

Again, you can see all the work that needs to be done in the background – but that is life! It will all get done in time!

Lavender Brunch Party 7

I set up my dinning table with a fun Mimosa Bar and Bloody Mary Bar. ps don’t you love that big copper champagne bucket! so fun!

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Lavender Brunch Party 9

This pic shows a sneak peek of how the dinning table is turning out. Ignore that brown door on the right side, that will get demo’ed with our new kitchen layout! But I am loving the curtains. I have been sewing like mad on each of the sections. And as you can see we used a copper pipe at the time. Soon I will share details of how we put together the rod and all the hardware we used. I still have more to sew!

Lavender Dinner Party 10

So anyway we had a great time, and it was a wonderful excuse to get together with all our amazing friends!

Dinner Parties and Inspiration

It’s been way too long since I’ve posted. But that is life 🙂

Since we moved into our house we have been having many fun dinner parties. A couple weekends ago we had a fun one with some old friends and some new friends.

print mixing dinner party

I mixed my Aureus Villeroy & Boch wedding china with some old Anthropologie dishes.

Now I am trying to drum up inspiration for a Valentine’s Brunch I am hosting with some girlfriends. It will be a sit down for 12 so I am so excited. I am going to stay away from the traditional pink and red and go with Lavender. Since I have been loving lavender and the table will be set up in the living room and that way it will match.

I still need to find a fun fabric to make a table runner. And then I was thinking….splatter painting the table cloth, to make it a little more fun. I will be sure to share pics.

Early Thanksgiving Table

Last week we had the pleasure of hosting some friends for a dinner. We had a great time and I had almost as much fun setting the table. I wanted to do something different. I was inspired by the latest issue of Southern Living Magazine (if you haven’t seen it….what are you waiting for). They showed several floral options that incorporated fruits. Which I thought was so fun.

I decided to give it a whirl. First I used a vintage soup tourine that I got for a wedding shower gift.

TNPLH: Fall Dinner Part 2

I went to a local grocery store and got all kinds of fun greens, flowers, kale, and pears! I started with floral foam in the bottom of the tourine and took pine bows to the edges to start drapping over.

TNPLH: Fall Dinner Party Table 1

Then I just kept adding different textures together and I think it turned out pretty fun!

TNPLH: Fall Dinner Party 4

I also mixed wedding china, grandma china, kate spade dot wine glasses, waterford water goblets, and my fun flea market candelabra set.

TNPLH: Fall Dinner Party 5

TNPLH: Fall Dinner Party 7

I wanted so much variety in the arrangment that I ended up having some extra flowers….

TNPLH: Fall Dinner Party 6

So I made a second arrangement for an end table….For this one I used a cake platter. I like how this one draped too!

30th Birthday Party

 The summer has been so busy I realized I never shared pictures from my 30th birthday party. I thought 30 was a big one so I wanted to throw a big party with all my friends and family. I just love throwing a big party. I think the planning and preparation is just as much fun as the event itself. I really wanted to do it outside under the stars but weather did not cooperate and we ended up having it in the house. As you know we have been working on the house for a while and it isnt’ done yet, which was one reason I wanted to try it outside, but our guests understood and they looked past some of the imperfections of the house.

TNPLH 30th Bday Flowering Branches in Ginger Jar

When I first started planning I contemplated many different color stories. Black and white came to my head first, because it is so chic and classic. But then I thought – I love color – and you only turn 30 once so go big or go home! Orange and pink it was! I have just been loving orange and pink. It is fun and spunky.

TNPLH 30th Bday Flower 3

I love layering a table to give it dimension and fun. I used scarves for a little table topper and love the added layer it provided the table. I have used scarves before (as you can see here and here).

TNPLH 30th Bday Big Balloons

 The big balloons were so fun. We put them on our mailbox so everyone knew where we were. For most of my friends this was the first time they came to the new house!

TNPLH 30th Bday Flowers

I made all the flowers just from picking some out at our local grocery store. My latest obsession has been to create flower arrangements in cake platters. So luckily I am a crazy person and have many cake platters so I had enough to decorate the tables with them. I also loved that we added in the old fashioned lilac flowers from my new bush in the back yard. I think they added really nice texture.

TNPLH 30th Bday Second Table

TNPLH 30th Bday Table Pic

The flowering branches were also a favorite. They added such nice height to the table.

TNPLH 30th Birthday Table

We had 30 guests for dinner, 31 including myself (which seemed fitting for the 30th birthday!). I rented tables and chairs and then based on lack of additional space we used my normal dinning table as well for some of the guests. Think of how pretty it would have been to have a long table in the back yard! Oh well that will have to wait for another party!

TNPLH 30th Bday Long Table

I think my favorite part was the fun colors, flowers, and good friends. It was a night to remember!

TNPLH 30th Bday Close Up Flowers

Forgive me on the below pictures….as always once the food was out the party started and we forgot to take nice pics!

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I made a bunch of appetizers for people to nibble on right away. Cucumber sandwiches, snap pea crostini with Parmesan, shrimp kabobs, prosciutto wrapped asparagus, cheese plate, and two mini per-desserts homemade pistachio macaroons and mini lemon meringue pies.

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For dinner I made baked pesto chicken, wild rice, caprese salad, and lemon vinaigrette greens. Simple and easy!

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The night ended with a lemon cake with raspberry filling made by my dear friend. Wasn’t it beautiful! We had a great time!