This year a few friends and I wanted to take it REALLY easy for the Fourth of July. We’d had a couple of large 40-person plus parties the last couple years – fun, but super exhausting for the hostesses. This year, we kept the guest list a lot smaller, and divvied up the work between a few of us. The ...

Tonight, on Wine Wednesday, I had a wonderful opportunity to host guests for a wine tasting in my backyard. It was too hot to be inside my house, but it was cooling off outdoors and becoming quite pleasant. I feel quite fortunate that mosquitos don’t seem to hang around my yard so we can safely enjoy ourselves out there. (Disclosure: ...

After a cloudy, rainy week here in the Pacific Northwest, we were delighted to finally have warm weather and sunshine in my backyard this weekend! I invited a yardless friend to come enjoy sunshine, wine and leisurely book and magazine reading with me. (Disclosure: Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. This means if you click on ...

My friend Serret and I wanted to invite friends over to celebrate National Rosé Day. (It’s held on the second Saturday in June). Serret is super creative and has an eye for detail. We love working together to create fun and fantastic over-the-top parties. We decided to collaborate on a pink-themed Rosé celebration for a group of our mutual lady ...

My friend Angie’s birthday coincided with Memorial Day Weekend this year. She had plans to celebrate with her son on her actual birthday, so I asked if I could take her to dinner to celebrate a couple days early. When she said yes, I immediately thought to take her to a nice weeknight dinner at Tandem Dinner + Wine Bar. ...

Recently I stopped by Goose Ridge’s tasting room here in Woodinville, eager to check out their highly anticipated canned wine. (By the way, this post is not sponsored by them and I paid for my wine myself!) I’ve been holding onto my six pack in case we went to the beach or a picnic, but we haven’t. So instead, I ...

One thing I love about having a social circle with entrepreneur friends, teacher friends and retired friends is that you can invite a couple ladies over for a spontaneous afternoon tea party (or in my case, wine party) on the spur of the moment. Sure, not everybody can accept the invitation on short notice, but sometimes they can. Here’s a ...

I wanted to share my Mother’s Day with friends who live far away from their mothers, or whose mothers passed away already (mine died when I was seventeen), mothers whose children live across the country and couldn’t celebrate with them, or aunties like me who don’t have children of their own but have spent time spoiling and nurturing nieces and ...