A Night of Playing Hostess!

February 4th is my mom's birthday, and this year Feb. 4th fell on a Saturday, which was perfect because we usually celebrate birthdays with our family on the weekends when everyone's off of work. Well, my mom wanted to do something a little different this year. Instead of just celebrating with the family, she thought it would be a fun idea to invite some of her girl friends over for a little get together at my new house. Yes, I said My New House! If you've been following along, then you've read in my previous post that I've had a lot of new things happen in my life over the past year and a half, one of them being purchasing my very first home! I plan on writing a separate post about all of the new happenings in my life soon, but this post is dedicated to playing hostess for the night!

So I was totally on board with her idea because if you know me, I LOVE playing hostess! I'm totally the Monica Gellar of my group of friends. As Monica says: "I'm always the hostess." Only true Friends fans will get that reference. Ever since I've purchased my new house, I've loved having people over to cook for them and cater to them. I've always been that way though now that I think about it. Even before I got my house, I always loved planning parties and having people over for dinners and get-togethers, and decorating and putting out appetizers. The list goes on and on. Now I have a place of my own where I can do all of this in! So, we decided to have her birthday shindig the Friday before her actual birthday, so Feb. 3rd, 2017 from 6pm - 8pm. Nothing major as Fridays are usually hard for everyone because it's the end of the work-week and everyone's exhausted. So we decided to just have a small dinner party at my house. Of course, with me, nothing is small. I go all out. Which means I put out appetizers for people, whether that be various cheeses and gourmet crackers, various fruits, a veggie tray, chips and salsa, chips and guacamole, and those are just the appetizers! If you can't already tell, I like to feed people. It's how I love, by feeding others. The main course consisted of me making my homemade lasagna, a salad with all the fixings, and some French bread. For dessert we had a German chocolate cake with some hot tea and coffee.

Along with being a hostess-type of girl, I'm also a planner. I'm very much a type A personality. So I planned this whole night in advance. From the appetizers, to the main course, to the party decor. Since I was cooking, I of course had to plan enough time to:

1. cook the lasagna the morning of the party; that way all I'd have to do is pop it in the oven about an hour before gusts arrived
2. prep the salad and cut up all the veggies
3. prep all the appetizers
4. prep the French bread
5. shower and get myself ready
6. and of course, decorate....which I did early that morning

Looking back, it was a lot of work, but it's what I love doing. I wanted to make the night special for my mom, and special for all of our friends. When everyone else is having a good time, enjoying the food, and enjoying the company, then I'm a happy camper. 

**Side Note: I should also mention, the Sunday before the party, my water heater decided to explode. And yes, I said explode. My neighbor called me in a panic saying there was water gushing from my garage and my front door. I wasn't home as Sundays are usually spent with family. So I rush home to find my garage flooded, and the entire inside of my house covered in water. Mind you - I just got brand new hard-wood floors, that are NOT supposed to get wet. To make a long story short, we were able to get all the water up, my floors are not ruined (thank God), and I have a warranty on the house which means I got a new water heater that was covered by the warranty. So, all in all, it was not that bad of a situation. Sometimes, we can't help the things that happen to us in life; we can't control those things, we just have to take a step back, evaluate the situation, and figure out a solution to the problem. I always try to stay level-headed with major stuff like that. Panicking and turning into a complete mess doesn't help the situation at all. 

Okay, so back to my mom's birthday shindig! I got up early that Friday morning, I went to the dollar store (Dollar Tree to be exact) to get a birthday card and balloons, and when I stopped in I noticed they had a ton of Valentine's day stuff! Now, I don't know about y'all, but I love the dollar store. Some people may poo-poo it, but I sure don't. You can find some pretty amazing deals there on good quality things. So, don't knock it until you try it. I got so much stuff, y'all. I got about 6 glass mason jars, about 4 glass milk bottles, some burlap string to wrap around the mason jars to jazz them up a bit, and some Valentine's day tchotchkes. I had also bought a bunch of Valentine's day candy the day before to fill the mason jars with along with flowers of course, because who doesn't love fresh flowers sitting in mason jars in their home?!

I took the picture above which shows you the mason jars I got at the dollar store, along with the burlap string I wrapped them in at the top. I filled the jars with candy and added those cute stick hearts to add some flair. I also left some of the mason jars to hold plastic forks and knives, pictured above. Below are some photos I took of the fresh flowers I bought. Flowers are my favorite thing. I just love them. And I always said, if ever I get a place of my own, I will have it filled all the time with fresh flowers. So far, I've kept my word. 

The first picture with the pink flowers is sitting in this cute tray I got at Tuesday Morning, and it's all sitting atop my breakfast table. The second picture with the white flowers and baby's breath is the tablescape I have on my dining room table. I should also mention I have a thing for candles too. Below is a picture I took of this adorable tabletop chalkboard I bought at Hobby Lobby with one of the old school milk bottles I got at the dollar store filled with cute paper straws from TJ Maxx.  

Lastly, here is a picture from that night with all of our beautiful friends. They're wearing some of the fun Valentine's day tchotchkes I bought, like the funky glasses, and mini glitter top hats, and masks. So fun! I love to take pictures, especially when I'm with the people I love dearly so as to capture the moment, and I thought, you can't have a fun photo shoot without some fun props, right?!

All in all, that night was a complete success. Everyone loved the food, they loved getting a tour of my house for the first time, but more importantly they loved being together as one happy "Freimily". That's what we call our "friend family". 

Life is about being surrounded by the people you love, the people who uplift you, the people who know you and accept you for who you are, flaws and all. And these people are it. We had SO much fun that night. I can't wait to do it again!

Until next time, Loves, ciao!

Xoxo