Spring 2014 Wedding Color Trends!

A spring wedding evokes the idea of fresh new love, brightly colored flowers and all the beauty of a spring day. Traditional spring weddings often stick to tried-and-true pastel color schemes. However, while pastels are beautiful, there are many elements to consider when choosing the color scheme for this once-in-a-lifetime event.

If you haven’t picked a specific color scheme yet, check this color palette from Pantone with 2014 spring color trends.

I've added some wedding inspiration boards here which can give you some inspiration. Be bold and creative, but most importantly...BE YOU!

Cheers!
Angee

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Happy Holidays - DIY Greeetings Party

Happy Holiday!  It’s been awhile, and I’ve missed you. Hello to all subscribers; welcome to the party! I know you’re looking for a good excuse to hunker down with your girlfriends, and I ’ve got one–it’s the holidays, after all. We all have too many errands to do this time of year, so why not get one done together? 

This season, throw a Holiday Greetings party for your closest pals. Invite everyone to your place and provide a comfortable space for them to address and sign their Christmas, Hanukkah or Kwanzaa cards. It’s a great way to make a tedious task more fun and catch up with your girlfriends at the same time. You can easily throw this party together and have it this week, leaving you plenty of time to mail those cards out.



Setting and Setup
This is an easy party to set up. You’ll want to make sure everyone has enough tabletop space to comfortably write their cards. Holiday decorations will help put everyone in a festive mood, so try to get that done ahead of time. Holiday music is a must–especially if you can come up with something a little different. Try the Great Women of Christmas CD for some classic holiday cheer by some powerful women. A Very Special Christmas Vol. 1 is classic pop fun, and A Charlie Brown Christmas brings a moody instrumental flair to your party. But since holiday music selections are endless, and run the gamut from celtic to swing to punk, get what you and your friends like. Don’t forget to light a fire in the fireplace, or some candles to add a holiday glow. Simmer a pot of cinnamon sticks on the stove for a decidedly welcoming atmosphere.

Invitations
You’ll want to make sure your invitation gets noticed in the flurry of holiday mail. So instead of a typical holiday invitation, do something a little different. Buy small holiday memo pads at the dollar store, and write the invitation details on the first page. Place the pad in an envelope and mail for a invitation that comes in handy too.  Or, find the girliest pink invitation you can and send that–it will really stand out among the reds, greens, silvers and blues. On the invitation, remind your girlfriends to bring their invitations, address book, stamps, address labels, and a writing instrument. (If you are really last-minute, just call or use Evite.)

Food and Drink
Whatever you serve, make sure you have some warm offerings to match the warm feelings of the season. A simple supper of soup and bread would be divine. Or, ask each girlfriend to bring a warm appetizer. Hot chocolate (spiked with peppermint schnapps, if desired) or apple cider, mulled wine, or coffee drinks are all apropros. This recipe for a warm-cider-based Indian Summer sounds intriguing and easy. You may want ask your girlfriends to keep food and drink off the table you are using to write invites (to prevent staining someone’s holiday greeting), but that’s up to you.

Making Connections
As you work on your cards, you’ll no doubt be catching up on all the latest girlfriend news. But during conversation lulls, try some of these conversation starters having to do with holiday cards and traditions–or make up some of your own. You can even write the questions on cards or slips of paper and take turns drawing them from a hat. You’ll learn some interesting tidbits about your gal pals!

• Who has been on your holiday card list the longest?
• Who lives the farthest away on your list?
• When did you first start sending your own holiday cards?
• How do you display holiday cards?
• What is your favorite holiday song?
• What is your most cherished holiday decoration?
• What is your favorite holiday tradition?
• What do you hate about the holidays?
• What is your most memorable holiday gift?
• Do you re-use gift bags? Wrapping paper?

Party Favors 
The "write" favor for this party would be a special pen. Purchase a nice selection at a party supply or card store, choosing either a holiday theme or a feminine one.  Let your guests pick out one to use at the party (if desired) and take home. 

There-wasn’t that simple? You got your cards done and had fun. What your girlfriends will remember is not how clean your house was, or how sophisticated your appetizers were, but that you gave them a warm welcome and an opportunity to enjoy each other, away from the pressures of the holiday season.

I  hope you have a December full of peace, joy and friendship.

Cheers!
Angee

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Snickerdoodle Hot Cocoa!

Baby it's cold outside! Warm up with some Hot Chocolate! Try this recipe out. 

Snickerdoodle Hot Cocoa

1 cup vanilla chips (I used Guittard Choc-Au-Lait Chips)
1 ½ cups heavy cream
1 ½ cups milk
¼ tsp. cream of tartar (it’s what helps a snickerdoodle have its flavor)
¼ tsp. ground cinnamon
Pinch of freshly ground nutmeg

For the Cup:
¼ cup vanilla chips
¼ cup cinnamon sugar mix
Sprinkle cinnamon sugar mix onto a plate.

On a plate sprinkle the ¼ cup vanilla chips, heat in microwave until they melt (about a minute).

Dip cup rim into melted chips and then into the cinnamon sugar mix. Let set up.
Combine the vanilla chips, cream, and milk in a heavy saucepan. Heat up slowly, not going higher than low-medium.

Cheers!
Angee

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Beaujolais Nouveau Party, Ooh la la!

Photo via Google Image Search

Are you looking for an excuse to get together with your pals this week? Oui, oui! Look no further because Beaujolais Nouveau Day is upon us! Invite the gals over for an inexpensive, wine-themed girl’s night with a little French flair. Ooh la la!

Photo via Georges Duboeuf

The cause of much revelry in France and among Francophiles in other countries, Beaujolais Nouveau wines are traditionally released the third Thursday of November. (This year, November 21. 2013) They are the first wines out of harvest each year and are drunk to celebrate life and hard work. They’re also a perfect accompaniment for a girlfriend get-together—fresh, cheap, fruity and fun to drink. The informal, frivolous spirit surrounding their release around the world is a great excuse to get the girls together and celebrate!

If you’d like more background on Beaujolais Nouveau, there’s a nice little history from the IntoWine website here.

Setting and setup

For Beaujolais Nouveau Day 2013, the timing is a bit last-minute, so clean up the kitchen and the party room and be done with it. Adding twinkle lights or plenty of candles is always a festive touch. You will, of course, need to be outfitted with wine glasses and a corkscrew. Chill the wine beforehand; because Beaujolais Nouveau is served chilled–half an hour in the fridge is perfect according to the Georges DuBeoef website.

Invitations

Evite is the speediest way to create an electronic or mobile-friendly invite.  It has lots of fun wine design and girl’s night out options.  It even lets you search flickr or Google image search for cool photos (I searched “beaujolais nouveau” and came up with many good choices) or insert a photo of your own.  

Photo via Google Image Search

Run out on Thursday and buy some Beaujolais Nouveau, (Bojo Nouveau wines can not be purchased before the 3rd Thursday of November, so you will have to buy them the day of!) and chill it down. Your local wine merchant should be able to help you find some. Georges DuBeouf is a commonly seen brand in the U.S., with a price average of $10.00 per bottle. The company even offers Beaujolais Nouveau party planning tips and a calculator to help you figure out how much wine to buy. There are other brands too, so be adventurous and try a few. Maybe you will even want to have a mini tasting with your gal pals. The Mommessin Beaujolais Nouveau, pictured at right is one of my favorites. I would describe it as light and juicy and perfect for entertaining. It is priced around $12 – $13 per bottle.

Serve a selection of French cheeses to try with your Beaujolais Nouveau. Your wine merchant, local TraderJoes or Whole Foods should be able to help you select some within your budget. If you’d like to explore further, there’s an About.com article about pairing wine and cheese here. Slice up a baguette, arrange on a cheese board or pretty serving tray, and voila!

You could also serve some tapas-style appetizers if you are inclined to spend just a bit more time in the kitchen. 

Connecting Activities

-Toast your girlfriends with this special girlfriend salute:

A Toast to our Girlfriends

Here’s to our girlfriends

They keep us strong

They make us laugh the whole night long

They give us shoulders to cry on

And shoes to try on

They see our true selves

Even when we look like hell

So raise a glass to our female friends

May the fun we share never end!

• It would be fun to share some Wine and/or French trivia, learn some French phrases, or watch some French films during your Bojo Day soiree.
• You can also print this ‘What Kind of Wine areYou?’ quiz for a fun diversion.
• Or, keep the girls occupied making their own beaded wine charms. You’ll find an awesome how-to for “Ridiculously Easy” beaded wine charms on NotMartha.

Favors

If you don’t make your own wine charms at the party, buy some as favors to give your friends. Pretty wine charms are a lovely and useful favor, and you can find them at many discount stores or check out Etsy.com for lots of super cute options.

If nothing else, buy some bottles of Bojo Nouveau this Thursday, Friday or Saturday, and invite some friends over to share a little girlfriend spirit. It’s such an easy excuse for a girlfriend get-together.

Do you have some wine-related girls night ideas to share? I would love to hear them, please leave them below. 

Merci beaucoup!

Angee

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How to Host a Women's Fantasy Football League!!

Photo Source: Angee's Eventions Pinterest

Only a few more days before football season officially begins for all of you fantasy football widows out there! Don’t miss out on the fun: Plan your own fantasy football league with the best of your girlfriends.

Remember the saying “If you can’t beat them, you may as well join them”? Well, why not?  Not only will it give you the perfect excuse to meet up with the girls more often, it may give you something to talk about with your other half besides kids, money, and what’s for dinner.

To start the season off in style, I’ve designed a party plan just for the occasion. A Fantasy Football Draft party can bring together players that are experienced, inexperienced and even clueless for some fun, friendship and laughter.

Setting and setup

There are only a few requirements for a football fantasy draft:  A big-screen TV if you actually plan on watching the games, a laptop for everyone to join the league on, wi-fi, which makes it a whole lot easier for your girlfriends to bring their laptops (the more laptops you have, the quicker the draft will go), a league name, a commissioner (person to be in charge of the league), and a team name. 

When talking to your girlfriends about the draft, you may want to encourage them to think of a league name for your whole group as well a team name for their individual team. It’s not always easy to come up with identity names on the fly.

There are two types of drafts to choose from, depending on your level of skill. For the girlfriends who are football pros, try the CBSSports Fantasy Football. After the commissioner creates the league, each of the teams can draft their picks. For the rookie girlfriends, try the CBS SportsGame Pick’em. In this draft, you decide which teams will win on a particular day. The more teams you pick to win correctly the more you points get in the season.

Invitations

There are many types of paper invitations out there in the shape of a football. For a more hands-on invitation, try a small rubber football from your local dollar store or like the one here from Oriental Trading. On the football you can write something like this in permanent ink:

We’re getting our game on

Thursday, September 9th

Please come join our

Fantasy Football League

7:30pm

RSVP:   Angee

You can easily mail the football in a large manila envelope.

Food and Drink

With all the drafting your hands will most likely be busy, so be sure to keep the food at a minimum. Short and sweet is always best. Start with a couple of fine brews to offer your guests. We suggest Sam Adams Cherry Wheat with a hint of tart cherry or Sierra Nevada Pale Ale with a hint of caramel.  Pair it with a chili bar with all the fixings. Some topping ideas include several different types of cheeses, shredded or cubed (Gruyere, mozzarella, sharp cheddar), cooked pasta (rotini or macaroni), chopped onions, sour cream, and tortilla chips. For the sweet tooth and a nice pairing to the beer and chili, add an assortment of chocolates ranging in dark to light.

Connecting Activities

If the girls are truly interested in watching a football game, start a football pool to add a little excitement and fun. In many places this is considered gambling if you play for money, so as an alternative you could play for scrumptious chocolates or bragging rights.

Football 101 – While the game is going on, have the football pro girlfriend

Photo Source: titansonline.com

explain the calls and what is going on. Don’t let football be a foreign language! Most NFL teams have a Women's Association and host a Football 101 crash course. If you are lucky enough (like I am) to live in a FOOTBALL CITY you and your girlfriends should consider taking this course. Just being knowledgeable about whats going on can make it more interesting. If the girls truly couldn’t care less about watching the game, but just want to hang out and do something fun, here are a few ideas:

Famous Football Movie Charades - Divide into teams and act out the names of these famous football movies, the team with the most points wins. See a complete list of movies here.

Football Word-Sense – On strips of paper, write football words and their definitions.  Each player draws a strip of paper and reads the word along with either the definition on the paper or the player’s made-up definition. Each player decides whether the definition is true or false and points are scored for the most correct. The one with the most points at the end of the game is the winner.  Here is a list of some  football lingo and definitions.

Party Favors

A football draft party truly requires no party favors. However if you must, send the girls home with a printed schedule of games to watch together; be sure to include date, time, and place in case someone else is hosting. You can easily add pictures of your group, laminate; add a magnet to the back. Voila! A picture- perfect favor. If time is of the essence, buy small cloth bags at your local dollar store and throw in some football-shaped chocolates, such as the ones featured here in the Everyday with Rachael Ray Magazine. Every girl needs some chocolate.

I hope you take the time to get together with your friends for some girl time, whether it’s to watch football, start your own fantasy league together or just hang out.

For more fun ideas, football inspired foods and activities check out my Pinterest board "Are You Ready For Some Football!"

If you’ve started your own Fantasy Football League or just have your own team, I would love to hear your thoughts about what makes it fun for you. Kick things off by leaving a comment!

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