Host!

When Travis and I first got married we hosted tons of parties! I always went all out, usually with a dress up theme, and it was so fun! But I eventually got burned out and stopped hosting and hadn't thought about it in a while. Then I was talking to my good friend Marrion about what she wanted to do for her birthday and she said, "All I really want to do is karaoke." So I offered to host a little birthday party for her (since I have kind of an insane karaoke set up for personal use). 

After so many years over achieving in the party department I've learned some things. Like it's ok to buy a cake instead of making it from scratch. I got this vegan cake from Whole Foods with Marrion's personal catchphrase on it. It was delicious! And cute!

 We had a cookout in the backyard. So trays are very important. 

 Helpers.

I also used to buy matching utensils and napkins and things for each party. So this time I just got mismatched stuff out of my stash! I forgot I had this cute rainbow utensil holder!

Travis prepping the corn. He smothered it in Earth Balance, cilantro and a 10 spice blend I made. Then he baked it in the oven. It was amazing!!

 Look at this cute bottle opener!

Travis and I have talked about buying on of those little portable fire pit things, but when we needed something quick Travis looked on Pinterest and saw this idea. It's just a galvanized bucket on some bricks! I was skeptical but it totally worked! That's the birthday girl in the polka dot dress.

Somehow I never got a big group pic, there were about 14 people there! Which is a lot in my teeny tiny house. This is making me want to use that fire pit again!

 Party puppies under our picnic table.

We ended the night with an epic karaoke session. I got two Queen karaoke cds and they have taken things to a higher level! I'm so glad we had this little shindig, it's making me want to plan something else soon! Maybe that Nashville blogger meet up I've been talking about hosting for over a year!