Parties & Entertaining

Latest Obssesions: Fashion

| The Bee Life

With a lot of fun events coming up from bridal showers, to bachelorette parties, to weddings, and even engagement pictures at some point, my closet is in a serious need of an overhaul! I’ve always been a person who likes clothes, but never feel like I can pull anything off, well the things I would love to pull off.  Not to mention I pick pieces that’re for a specific event, and not cross-functional (especially my dresses!).  I have to many sleeveless dresses that I can only wear truly in the summer, I hate trying to find the perfect ‘cover-up’ for work  or other events when weather doesn’t permit. So here are some of my must haves for this upcoming event season and after!

Knee Length Skirts – One word. LOVE. Classic, elegant, and can be dressed up or down for any occasion.  They can even go from work to evening with accessories.  Knee Length skirts with high waits don’t work for everyone, but when pulled off correctly can give you a nice waist line and fabulous mood.

Knee Length Skirts - the bee life                                                                              01 | 02 | 03

Multiple-Occasion Dresses: What I love about these dresses is that you can wear them year-round and for different occasions whether it be a formal wedding, a date night, or in the office, you won’t be holding on to these to pull out every other year to avoid repeat photo opps.

Multi-Occasion Dresses - the bee life                                                                         04 | 05 | 06 | 07

Bags on a Budget: Since you’re spending so much on awesome skirts and dresses, save a little on the bag.  Plus if you’re like me, as much as I love the expensive bags I change my mind all the time about the size, shape, and color I want to tote around on any given day, so it just doesn’t make sense to spend a lot on these regularly! That’s why I like these bags on a budget to help in all aspects from traveling, work, even to nights out!

Bags on a Budget - the bee life                                                                             08 | 09 | 10 | 11

I am looking forward to doing some spring shopping and getting ready for all these fun events and parties and looking damn good at them!

Banana Bread – The Recipe

| The Bee Life

One thing I love about having bananas around the house is that if you don’t eat them up in time (which we never do) you can make banana bread!  My mom always made banana bread, and it wasn’t until I lived on my own for awhile, that I had these brown bananas staring at me, I finally took the jump to try mom’s recipe out (not as hard as I thought).

I wanted to share my mom’s banana bread recipe with all of you! It’s nothing special, but it sure as hell tastes good!  I like to add blueberries or chocolate chips  when I have them – it just gives the bread a little added taste, enjoy!

Banana Bread Recipe - the bee life

You can combine the dry ingredients and the wet ingredients in two separate bowls and then ultimately combine to mix together.   You want to mix everything together until it’s well blended, add any extra ingredients like chocolate chips (I normally eyeball the amount) and give it another mix! Evenly pour into your greased bread pan, and then sprinkle your sugar and cinnamon on top (as much as you want!) To make sure the bread is cooked all the way through, after 45 minutes I usually take it out to check and stick tooth picks in to make sure the center isn’t gooey, if it is, I usually put back in for another 15 minutes and then check again.  I noticed that the blue berries required a little over an hour cook time (but I checked every 10-15 minutes to make sure it didn’t get too crispy). Let it cool, before you flip out of your bread pan onto a plate. Your house will smell amazing, and you will have this awesome and tasty treat for breakfast the whole next week!

IMG_0620IMG_0622IMG_0626

Bon appétit!

MOH Duties – Let the Countdown Begin

| The Bee Life

A little over a year ago I was thrilled to be asked by my high school best friend to be her Maid of Honor (MOH)!  I was also a bit worried and nervous that being a few states apart would hinder my MOH game and participation with planning things.  It’s hard enough for me to find my own ME time, that adding in extra planning that’re hours away would be just as hard. Well it’s almost go time, so no more excuses. We are 4-months out from Kates & Travis’ big day, which means there is a whole lot of bachelorette and bridal shower planning to do!

First batter up: The Bridal Shower
The bridal shower is in March, and I am helping her mom with as much as I can (mostly decorations) and hopefully ordering some custom cookies from Snicklefritz Bakeshop. Here are a few of the  decoration ideas I’ve found that I’m going to adapt for Kates’ shower.

Main items needed: Centerpieces | Cute signage for gift table | Signage for desserts, mimosas bar, food | banners | balloons

Of course I am going to adapt and make a lot of these pieces myself – I always love a good DIY.  I’ll also be in charge of wrangling the other bridesmaids to make game prize gift baskets, luckily we will be splitting this up, so it shouldn’t be too painful *famous last words*

Next batter up: The Bachelorette Party
Now I am not one for all of the typical bridal fo-pah stuff, so luckily it’s not me getting married :-)… yet… luckily Kates isn’t really either, so planning a fun weekend getaway for her is more like hosting a party than buying penis straws, cramming into a tight short skirt and going out solely to get drunk.

Originally Kates wanted to keep this SUPER low-key and have a ‘girls night in’ at her own house, I pushed her to explore at least a mini weekend getaway in wine country – it looks like that might be the winner.  Now all we have to figure out is how many people, the house, the limo bus, invitations, the food, the cost, and the rest of the 500 other logistical things I am probably forgetting 🙂   Planning is kind of on hold until I get more deets from my girl, and then it’ll be full swing – this will be in early May so still coming up in the very near future…. as long as winter usually feels, I have a feeling this is going to go by quick!  Until then, I am doing my research and vetting out options along with gaining inspiration to make this a fun and memorable weekend for Kates.

Thank goodness for Pinterest and all the inspiration and great ideas I’ve been getting – it also helps me think of creative, low cost ideas to adapt to make these events super special for Kates!

Let the planning begin!

 

Christmas Hangover.

| The Bee Life

Am I the only one with a Christmas hangover?  Somehow, I don’t think that I am. I hope that everyone had a wonderful Christmas, full of love, laughter, sweet moments… and not too much drama (let’s face it, families are the best at drama).

This Christmas was one of new traditions and changes. I spent Christmas for the first time ever away from “home” – and at our home with B, our first Christmas in five years that we’ve spent together!

The weather has been a bit amazing too – mid to high 50’s in the midwest, is NOT common especially for this time of the year.  Being able to take Moz on a walk on Christmas Eve in yoga pants and a sweatshirt was amazing. In fact we’d joked about a month previous that it’d be cool to do the exact thing.

Our Christmas Eve was nice and busy – we did a lot of prep around the house, I did a lot of baking and Christmas dinner prep, and of course a few last minute gifts with B.  We went to church and then came home snapped a few pictures and made some pizza’s and flipped the TV between It’s a Wonderful Life and Elf!  We also toasted with Manhattan’s in honor of my Grandma’s birthday and to new traditions.

Christmas morning we woke up and opened our stockings and presents – we had a great Christmas and both spoiled each other.  We relaxed a bit and then got ready and headed to B’s grandma Dee’s house for breakfast. We then headed over to his parent’s for presents and a movie for most of the afternoon! We finally headed back up to our place just in time to prep and cook dinner while my parents made it into town!  My aunts came over too – and we had a nice dinner around the table talking and enjoying each-others company.  More presents ensured after dinner from my parents!  It was then almost time to call it a night.

The mayhem continued on Saturday – after relaxing a bit in the morning we headed down the road to my aunts house for Hampel Christmas. Snacking and drinking, playing a new pickle game, laughing, dancing and catching up was the next few hours until dinner.  Pork, sauerkraut, gravy and dumplings are the main dinner items – presents and white elephant followed after dinner and then the games commenced.  We always play Pass the Trash and this year played a few fun games of LRC.

Finally, Sunday was B’s birthday – so we headed to church with our parents and then out to brunch right after.  It wasn’t until almost 3 o’clock we finally had the house back to ourselves and were able to crash for a nice nap!

It was four days of non-stop family, drinking, eating, and a lot of fun.  I’ve enjoyed taking some down time today to continue to relax and recover and get the house back in order.

Merry Christmas!

 

Apple Pie Bites – The Recipe

| The Bee Life

I’ve got another awesome and may I add, EASY dessert for your last minute holiday prep!  Before we get to the good part, let me quickly tell you why I love this recipe. (1) SO easy  (2) Low cost! (3) Delicious! (4) Portable and snack-able for everyone to enjoy.

I adapted the recipe from theblondcook.com and did a lot of no measuring baking this weekend when it came to the seasoning and topping, I just eye-balled a good portion!

Mini apple pies

Directions: 

  • Preheat oven to 375 degrees
  • Will make 24 Apple Pie Bites

Crust:

  • 3 rolls of Pillsbury Crescents (8-crescents per roll)
  • Roll your crescents out flat so that you can add the seasoning

Filling:

  • Cut apples into 8 slivers
  • Mix brown sugar, sugar and cinnamon together so that there are equal portions (I did small bowls at a time for each crescent roll pack)
  • Melted butter (about 1/3 of a stick)

Next Steps:

  • Spoon and flatten the filling seasoning onto the flat crescents across the whole triangle
  • Dip your apple slice into the butter and place at the larger end of the crescent
  • Working from the larger end with the apple slice, roll your crescent up
  • Make sure to grease your baking trays well
  • Brush melted butter on top and add seasoning dusting over top
  • Repeat!
  • Fill your tray up and place in the oven for 10-minutes until the tops are golden brown!

Enjoy and Happy Feasting!

Hosting Thanksgiving

| The Bee Life

Although I won’t be hosting a big thanksgiving dinner… maybe one of these year’s I’ll have the honor – that inner hostess in me can’t help but get excited at all the fun and easy ways to make an impact on your family and friends this upcoming meal.  Here are some easy ways to make this holiday personal and unique.

Name Tags: this is your time to get creative and personal, the more unique you make this, the better chance you have of making a genuine impression on guests.

  • Mini pumpkins are easy, inexpensive and cute as a place setting – paint the person’s first letter or name, they can even take these home as a keep sake.
  • Write each of your guests a person note upon their arrival at the table, tell them a few things you’re thankful for in regards to them and your relationship.
  • Find some free downloadable name tags like the ones here to print out and customize!
http://www.bhg.com/thanksgiving/crafts/thanksgiving-tabletop-crafts/
http://www.eleganceandenchantment.com/free-printable-thanksgiving-place-cards/

Accents: mixing up different napkin patterns and glasses gives the dinner an eclectic look, it will also add a layer of effortlessness to the occasion and not make it feel so stuffy.

http://apartment34.com/2013/11/how-to-set-the-ultimate-holiday-table/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+Apartment34+%28apartment+%2334%29
Rick E. Martin/Mercury News Styled by Vicki Thorne, napkin setting of a traditional Thanksgiving theme, with a vintage linen napking tied in a 1940’s millenery ribbon with miniature indian corn.

Ambiance: candles, lighting and music will also add an element to your entertaining.  My personal picks for music would be of the Peggy Lee and Frank Sinatra era on Pandora.  A scattering of candles around the table and seating areas will add that cozy, welcoming feel.

http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/spiced-wassail
http://fabyoubliss.com/2012/11/08/inspirational-holiday-table-setting-centerpiece-ideas/

With the big day almost a week away, there is still plenty of time to put the finishing touches on the menu and the table!  I can’t wait to host a dinner one of these years and start new traditions while incorporating old.

football & brunch

| The Bee Life

Yesterday was the perfect day for football & brunch so we hosted a “Brown’s Brunch” for the game yesterday – although it was an eclectic group of football fans, we had some Steeler’s and Packer’s fans thrown into the mix, but it was all in good fun. The focal point of the day was the food, amazing weather, and of course the game – that we ended up winning! Yay!!

Main Course
The Bar
Brunch Snacks
Brunch Sweets

Also, since it turned out to be a gorgeous day, we were able to pull some strings and got an outdoor screen and projector so we could watch the game in the garage and enjoy the sunshine! We also borrowed a corn hole board for the occasion  – it was absolutely perfect.

The fan favorite seemed to be the Mini Apple Pies, I will share the recipe on a future post, I used a combination of two recipes, and they came out so adorably perfect! The breakfast souffle and chili seemed to be a hit too, we have so many left overs … except champagne…mimosas were popular; I definitely got my daily dose of Vitamin C yesterday!  With my meal plan. a lot of the prep was done on Saturday; so there was little prep or fuss on Sunday, it was great, because I was able to enjoy the company of our friends and neighbors!

It was definitely a successful Sunday Funday!

House Party

| The Bee Life

Our house was officially broken-in since we hosted our house warming party on Saturday!  I would say the party was a success overall.  The weather of course wasn’t as warm as I had hoped, in fact it was almost chilly, a cool 60-degrees, it would’ve been perfect had it been October. We had plenty of food and plenty of alcohol… we have so many leftovers, but I am not complaining about that! A lot of friends came that we hadn’t seen in awhile, that meant a lot and it was great catching up with them.

It was nice to be able to share our home with some many people who are near and dear to us, the first of many parties, I am sure.  I will hopefully get the food/drink portions down a little better and also try and be a little less stressed pre-party. We could probably have a second party with all the beer and left overs we have!

Summer Party Ideas

| The Bee Life

I love parties. I especially love planning and hosting parties. Although I don’t feel I have all the means to pull off my ideal party, because when it comes to planning I’m All-Out Emily. And as much as I like to make items, and use things in clever ways – money is usually a factor. And, for me it goes down to every little detail, from the napkins to the lighting, from the invitations to the music. But money  usually doesn’t stop me.

We are planning an upcoming house warming party, I know a little late, but I wanted it to be warm! Bad joke? It is also our houses 100th birthday this year, so I am calling it our Centennial Party…because I love a good theme.

To get some inspiration I went to my favorite place and pulled some ideas that I hope to incorporate and adapt.

Hope to share some of my finishing touches and pictures from our upcoming party!

Until then,