With Halloween falling on a Wednesday this year, I didn’t really feel like throwing a festive Halloween party for grownups like I did a few years ago when it fell on a weekend. It’s a lot of work to host and clean up after a party on a worknight! Plus, my friends all have schoolchildren and would need to be ...
Late this summer, on a smoky workday, we rented out the gorgeous Zen Lakes property here in Woodinville, to throw wine parties for our friends. Imagine coming back from a long, relaxing walk around the Zen Lakes ponds and Zen garden, and coming across this festive table set up in a meadow. You might think you’d stumbled onto Alice’s Mad ...
At our summertime wine party and photo shoot, Jen set out bottles of Woodinville white wine from Cave B Estate Winery and Tertulia Cellars in the charming Japanese teahouse on the grounds of Zen Lakes. Guests wandering the spacious grounds at Zen Lakes could help themselves when they came to explore the teahouse. We knew the wine would get poured into ...
At our recent wine party at Zen Lakes, I set up one of my pop-up tents for shade and a cozy place to chill and eat dessert. I knew at some point people would need a respite from the sun, and didn’t want the frosting on our cakes and cupcakes to melt. Guests gathered around to chat and drink more ...
On a late summer weekday, Jen and I hosted several of our friends at a mid-week wine party and photo shoot at the incredibly beautiful Zen Lakes property in Woodinville. We rented the property for the day and set out to create a beautiful, memorable summer party. We invited several ladies to come get their photographs taken (whether for their ...
One Saturday afternoon, I had friends coming over to visit for a while on their way to some adventures in Bothell. I wanted to offer them a glass of wine and a dessert – something nice to tide them over until their dinner hours later. I decided to bake a quick Meyer Lemon cake from a Trader Joe’s box cake ...
One hot summer night recently, my friend Serret and I wanted to invite friends over to relax, drink wine, eat cookies, and enjoy time away from our sweltering air-conditioner-less homes. We thought it would be fun to decorate with my pink tent again and make everything look magical. (Disclosure: Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. This ...
What do you do when you have people stopping by to talk business on a scorching hot workday, and you suspect it’s a bit too early to pull out some wine, even for an avid drinker such as myself? (Disclosure: Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. This means if you click on the link and purchase ...
This weekend, I had a small group of ladies over for a quick glass of wine after lunch. With such short notice before our spontaneous gathering, I didn’t have time to run to the store before my guests arrived. I was grateful I’d happened to pick up some darling ice cream cone shaped cookies from Metropolitan Market in Sammamish! (Disclosure: ...
Sometimes on warm summer evenings, knowing I have a nice backyard and friendly doggies, friends or neighbors will ask to stop by on short notice. That’s probably bad etiquette, but I don’t mind! Backyards were made for sharing! Besides, it only takes me a couple of minutes to get ready. I pull out a table runner for my outdoor bar ...