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

Wicker Park Picnics, Wine, and Cheesecake In a Jar

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Believe it or not, with all of my creative planning blessing suffocating people around me, I hadn't yet started a creative date night tradition. Shame on me! 

It finally hit me last week when Justin and I realized that, after a week long vacation with my whole family, a work Summit, and a visit from my girlfriend, we hadn't been able to have lovey time focused on each other in weeks. I'm not a fan of this way of life, friends. Where is the love?!

So, I decided to plan a Date Night. A secret one (of course!). I made Justin a picture frame and started a Composition Notebook in which I wrote him a letter about the things I love about him and then explained our date... which started with a VERY heavy Under Armor bag that I needed him to drag to Wicker Park.

Why?! Because it was picnic time, of course! Enter beautiful paper plates from Target, some plastic silverware wrapped in napkins wrapped in leftover tissue paper from my Birchbox arrivals!

And this guy. Look how happy :)

Oh, right. And a bottle of Kendall Jackson Chardonnay that we pre-corked and brought in mason jars. You see, apparently (I should have thought of this but didn't), you can't just haul alcohol into public parks. You have to be sneaky. And since a wine bottle and wine glasses were obviously out of the question, I was still determined to find a classier, more romantic way to guzzle that KJ. A way that didn't involve Red Solo Cups.

And so, in these times we live in, it seems that everything is more romantic with mason jars. Thus, it was the perfect way to go! Sneaky sneaky. Looks like apple juice, doesn't it?

The entertainment, so to speak, consisted of a fairly lively baseball game. Here's how Wicker Park goes: before dark, baseball. After dark, basketball. Despite the fly balls, I'm a fan of the baseball crowd. If you catch my drift. Hipsters sitting on blankets with their shoes off. I'll take it.

I'm also a fan of diagonal pictures. Diagonal pictures of my cute as heck boyfriend with his cute as heck Target plate, his cute as heck mason jar chardonnay, and some to die for picnic dinner.

Quinoa salad. This one is delish. Quinoa, red pepper, corn, black beans, feta, onion, avocado, and a hefty serving of spicy as heck pico de gallo. Mix it up and serve. It's pretty perfect for picnics because it's not too temperature sensitive and can be prepared entirely beforehand.

Plus, it's darn filling.

As was dessert. This delicious cheesecake in a jar. Blueberry cheesecake. Mason jar. Agave toasted granola.

I know, you're drooling all over your keyboard. It's okay, I am too. We're in this together! And don't fret, because I'll hook you up with the recipe tomorrow! I know the girl ;-)

She happens to be a mason jar aficionado (seriously, read the About Me page on her blog. It's on there). She fills them with Kendall Jackson and Blueberries and Cheesecake, Oh My!

She also happens to be semi obsessed with reading. And feels exactly the opposite way about bugs. Which is why she ran all over town the day of the picnic looking for a big tarp to lay down at the park. Because having a blanket between the ground and you just isn't enough. You need a tarp, people, a tarp!

Back to speaking of myself like a normal person would. I also bought us some reading and writing materials. The Composition Book, with Justin's name on it, is now the official Date Night book. We started with the letter from me to him, an explanation of our date and geocaching (which we tried - and I met the hugest rat I've ever seen in an alley), and a challenge to each draw one scene we saw at the park. Hopefully we'll keep the tradition alive and end up with a whole book of letters, dates, and random pen sketches of people and things around us.