What A Weekend!

(Disclaimer: This post took over 2 hours to load all 20-something pictures....I sure hope you enjoy them all!)

Per usual, this weekend was another one for the record books. I was a busy bee (when am I not....) with a Baby Shower and Friendsgiving within 48 hours. Ready, Go!

On Saturday, we showered my dear friend Emily, who is expecting baby James Miller in January! The other Emily (there are a lot of Emily's...) and her mother threw a gorgeous ladies brunch at her mom's house. (Her=non-Mommy to be Emily...phew!)

The dessert table...aka my favorite part.

(Invitations and display cards by Laura) 

Mini Cokes...including Caffeine-Free DCs for the Mommy to be!

Mimosa Punch for all of those not expecting....it was delish and super easy to make!

Emily and Laura....how many Moms-To-Be look this good at 8 months?!?

Grace before brunch.

Shrimp and Grits! All of the food was a-mazing.

All the ladies post-shower. I am so thankful I get to see all of these ladies on a regular basis and we can't wait to welcome Baby Miller into the circle soooo soon!

2 hours after the above pic was taken....we got right back on 95 to prep the house for the 5th Annual Friendsgiving. This year was BY FAR the best we have done....but it didn't come without some stress. Below is Lauren (also referred to as the Turkey Queen...literally nobody except maybe my mother makes a Turkey as good as she does...) cooling down with a relaxing eye mask from the fridge. We may or may not have fought over who gets to wear it first....she labored over the turkey so she won.

Saturday night and Sunday was spent doing really fun things like cleaning baseboards, shaking out rugs, re-arranging the living room and setting up seating for 15 people....no big deal. When I told my mom I vacuumed and cleaned the baseboards her response was " I don't believe you....do you even know what a baseboard is?" Thanks for the vote of confidence mom. FYI: The Pandora 'Carolina Beach Music' station is the perfect station to prep for Thanksgiving...we had it going for approximately 7 hours on Sunday:)

While the turkey was cooking in the oven, we got to decorating.

Fall flowers in Mason Jars.

Wine Bar decorated with the TomKat Studio Thanksgiving Printable Collection. Kim was giving away this printable collection for free a couple weeks back and it went perfectly with our rustic-fall themed tablescape! If you haven't checked out the TomKat Studio yet, you need to! Kim makes the most precious designs and has GREAT party ideas!

No party is complete without some Happy Fall Y'all napkins!

 

Terrace Room is ready for fall! The heart chalkboard is from Urban Outfitters.

 

6 feet of burlap to cover the tables....this was our living room turned formal dining room around 2 pm....every piece of silverware and almost every glass we owned was used so it was all in the wash during this picture. The China is from Anthropologie

Close up of a place setting with my TomKat Studio place cards! I also painted the bottom of wine glasses with chalkboard paint for all the guests--this way nobody lost their wine glass!

This banner was also from the TomKat Studio collection and looked perfect on our mantle. We tied the corners with some burlap bows and placed some candles up top to complete the mantle.

As soon as the guests came--the fire roared. One of the things I absolutely love about our old house is the real fireplace....makes the house so warm. Gas fires just don't smell the same!



It was really hard to get a good shot of the table since it took up the whole room, but here is an above shot of the table-scape. 

Close up of some flowers on the food table.

Close-up of the dining room table-scape. The roomies did a great job collecting mini pumpkins and gords from Whole Foods and Trader Joe's....paired with lots candles,  more flowers in mason jars (there were LOTS of flowers...) and some ribbon..the table was simple and elegant. These pictures simply do not do the table justice.

Turkey Time! Lauren is literally the turkey queen. She used the 'Perfect Turkey Roast' recipe from Martha Stewart's Cooking School  and it simply cannot be beat. The turkey was moist and full of flavor. 

Yours truly is the designated turkey cutter. True story: the first year we did this, nobody knew how to cut a turkey. I remembered watching my Uncle do it sans-electric knife once...so I fired up a YouTube video to refresh and got to cutting....5 years later I am still cutting. Someone's gotta do it.

All of the fixings that were literally devoured. My friends sure know how to cook.

Most of the girls. Unfortunately, some had to leave early. I am so thankful for a wonderful group of friends...and am so thankful for the wonderful tradition we have started. I don't think I can explain how much each and every one of these girls mean to me....and how lucky we are to have this dinner every year.

There was a whole table of pies that I completely forgot to photograph...whoops. 

(aka if you were at dinner and have a picture of them send it to me!)

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Just can't get enough of this banner. I think we should leave it up just to remind us to always give thanks for all of the blessings we have all around us. 

Thanksgiving is still living strong! The tables and chairs are packed up and the living room is back to normal, but we re-purposed the gords and the sign to create this little display in the dining room :) 

I hope you all had a great weekend! I am still exhausted, but chugging along. I CANNOT wait until Thursday--Thanksgiving is my absolute favorite holiday.

Safe travels to all who are traveling today and tomorrow!