My Engagement Party!

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My parents threw us an engagement party this weekend, and it was absolutely wonderful! I woke up on Saturday morning and had a nice run on the treadmill in my parents' basement (we had driven up to their house on Friday night). Naturally, there was some watching of Alias.



Afterward, I had a quick body shower and threw some makeup on.



Then, I went to a salon near my parents' home. I had an appointment for a blow out and a bit of curling.

My hair went from a nasty, post-run mess to va-va-voom in about 45 minutes. My stylist, Nicole, was super sweet and we chatted away about wedding planning the whole time. That topic is an easy bonding opportunity for most strangers. Thumbs up.



When I got back to my parents' home, I pitched in and helped put the finishing touches on the party decor. My aunt and uncle and their family had driven up to help, and my cousin Clara was also in town, so we had all hands on deck.





My sister spent a lot of time this past week buying decorations and props, and and my cousins put them all together. My cousin, Maggie, got fancy with the hot glue and it all came together.





I was thrilled with what my sister put together. I'm not having any wedding "colors," it's all a lot of neutral colors, so we kept things light. White flowers, white candles, and bird cages.

 

My sister picked a variety of white hydrangeas and roses, and my cousin distributed them into about 12 mason jars, which were scattered around the house. We also put out a lot of shiny photo-frames and spread the flowers all around the house.



My sister went all out and hand made these name tags. The girl has seriously wonderful handwriting.



Justin and I were initially name-tag-less, because we figured people knew who we were if they were coming to our engagement party. Then, after about the fifth person who asked me where my name tag was, my sister whipped up some tags for us so that we matched the rest of the guests.



Because my fiance's family is from Michigan, there were a lot of people who didn't know each other yet. So, a big reason behind throwing the Engagement party was to get people to come together and get to know each other. The name tags were part one. 

Part Two? Booze. Obviously. It's like human glue.

Can you tell we're related? #SISTERS

A few hours into the party, the food arrived. My parents catered Mediterranean food and it was delicious. People ate it up and raved with positive "reviews."
 

 

The rest of the night went by in a bit of a blur. It's hard to feel like you spent enough time with each guest when there are so many people you love around you. But, I think that, under the circumstances, we did a pretty good job.

 

Also, I just have to point out... You know how I take a ton of pictures? Well, so does my future MIL, and she's a pro. God bless my fiance, who grew up with a snap happy mom and is now marrying another snap-happy woman. Too. Funny.

And there you have it!

• Have you ever been to an Engagement Party? Did you or someone you know have one?

Dear Engagement Party,
Thank you for being the reason to get so many people I love all in one place. I felt showered with love just because of their presence. 
Love,
Carly

Friday Ten Thangs

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Happy Friday! I'm so glad we made it (that reminds me of a Shania Twain song? Dear God, please make it go away). In lieu of a cocktail recipe, I wanted to share a few things or "THANGS" with you.

1. I was in a competition this week at work and my team ended up winning $500 each. Five hundo. A small part of me things I may have "Secret'ed" myself into getting it. Meaning using the principles from The Secret, I attracted it to me.



2. Speaking of The Secret, "Secret'ed" has now become a staple word in my house. Now like secreted, which is a gross word, but SECRET'ed. As in... "I got a great parking spot at the gym!"  "Oh really? You SECRET'ed that for yourself?" Okay, maybe that was a bad example.

3. St. Patrick's Day is coming up, and Chicago will be wild (and semi-obnoxious, but I'm partly Irish, so who's judging?!) with celebration. Pretty sure I should make these Irish Cream Hot Fudge Cupcakes... the only issue being that I probably won't because I am stingy with time and hate spending too much of it in one place.

4. I bought a Gilt Deal (click here to check out Gilt if you're in Chicago and might buy it) to The Mercury Method. It's basically an insane gym in Bucktown/Wicker Park that teaches super intense classes and keeps the room at 98.6 degrees. I read their Yelp reviews (are you a Yelper? Click here to find me! Let's be friends!) before buying and they have all 5-star reviews of people saying the classes are hellish and hard, but totally worth it. I'm super pumped! But also kind of terrified?



5. My friends at Chobani sent me a whole set of Flip Cup yogurts... along with a Chobani T-Shirt and a wonderfully fancy spoon to eat the yogurt with. I immediately tried the Key-Lime flavor (so. much. goodness.) and then tried the Coconut Almond flavor the next day. Honestly, they are both so good that I can't even decide which one I like more. Okay, fine. The coconut. Twist my arm.



6. A few months ago (like, last summer), I was on a great kick of incorporating Chia seeds into my diet. I would make chia seed pudding and top it with delicious things like peanut butter or PB2, greek yogurt, almonds, fresh fruit, etc, or mix it with oatmeal or muesli. But then... I don't know what happened. I stopped. Now I'm trying to get back into it... we'll see how it goes. The past two days have consisted of a banana, cinnamon, and coconut milk mash with chia seeds and water mixed in and soaked over night. So far, so good. SO FULL.

7. Have you heard of Ellie? I've been eying them for a while - it's a monthly thing where you get a workout top and bottom of your choice for $49 (combined). I'm trying it - just for this month. They're running an all black line ("The Little Black Collection" - love that branding). I picked the Back in Black Tank and the Little Black Legging. We'll see how it goes. I don't generally dig tops with built-in bras, but after longing after LuLuLemon tops like that and how airy they look, I thought I'd give it a try at this price point.



8. What would it be like to be a dog? Why do I keep wondering that? Has anyone, like, had a dream about it and feels like they can testify to an answer? Humph.

9. Y'all (yes, that was necessary), I have a confession to make. I can't peel bananas. You know that fancy thing where you put pressure on the top to pop it open? Can't do it. Have to have a knife to split it open. Embarrassing. Now you know.



10. My parents are throwing my fiance and I an engagement party this weekend! So excited to see what they threw together. Apparently my sister (with the beautiful handwriting) is making name tags. Watch out, people. It's gonna be wild. ;)