{gold & silver dinner party tablescape}

We recently hosted a little dinner party at our place to thank our friends for house-sitting and dog-sitting for us while are abroad this winter.  BBJ Linen helped us make it extra special by letting me use some of their brand new Aspen linens paired with their gold sea sponge chargers.  A home-made meal with great friends always makes for a fun evening, but it is always nice to make it extra special with a beautiful tablescape.  I am usually a die-hard gold fan so I was surprised by how much I liked the mix of the gold and silver together- especially in the table runners which I used running across the table to establish each place setting.

{diy boho holiday garland}

If you haven't downloaded it already then you must go check out the newest edition of the Glam Style Ipad app- partly because it's full of inspiration for the holidays from fashion to food, but also because I have contributed three articles to this edition!  One of which is this fabulous bohemian inspired DIY holiday garland.  Check out some photos here and then download the app right here to get the full instructions as well as materials needed for this fun project!

{chicago living room}

Since moving into our place in Chicago, I have shared our dining room, office/2nd bedroom and black/gold bathroom.  I wasn't sure that we would ever get to a point where I would want to share our living room since  it just hasn't felt quite finished for months.  After returning from a two and half week vacation, we promptly decided to start moving around all of our living room furniture which included un-mounting and re-mounting both our tv and fauxdenza.    It's clear to me after this re-arrange that previously we were simply not using our space in the best way for our lifestyle.  This new set up gives us more usable space surrounding the living room and lends itself perfectly to what we do most which is entertain guests!

 {our bar set up is now front and center instead of our TV which is now mounted on the 

wall to the right in this photo}

 {coral ottomans, throw pillows & floor lamp from Target, rug from Pottery Barn, sources for other items can be found in our previous home tour right here}

 {vintage table that used to belong to my grandmother topped with fashion books & a terrarium 
from Urban Outfitters}

 {Tom Ford book + faux succulent since real succulents aren't real happy in Illinois}

 {view into the dining room}

{tray from CB2, matchstick holder from Jonathan Adler, Laduree books}

 {custom matchbooks from our wedding now sit on our coffee table}

 {gold rimmed glasses which were the best Salvation Army find in my life}

 {blurb photobooks that live under our TV}

Like I said in the beginning of the post- our fauxdenza has been moved and now lives in our entryway which I promise to share along with photos of our master bedroom just as soon as those rooms are 100% done!

{a new years eve dinner party}

New Years Eve is one of my favorite holidays- probably because it's a holiday that requires getting dressed up and I'll practically take any excuse I can get to throw on some sequins.  If you saw my inspiration board earlier this week, then you know that we decided to throw a little dinner party on new years eve for 11 of our closest friends.  Everyone came dressed in their best, we served light appetizers, sat down for dinner around 9:30 and then rang in the new year followed by a very southern California late night pool sesh!

Originally I had wanted to try to re-create this party for the decor of our NYE dinner, but many of the elements I would have needed to execute this theme well were back in our Chicago place.  After spotting this Monte Carlo NYE boxed set at Moskatel's, I decided the loud color scheme would be perfect for an extra vibrant table setting.  I picked up a few yards of silver sequin fabric to use as a tablecloth and gold chargers to make each place setting really pop.  Details on some of the other smaller table elements are under some of the photos below.

We discussed different menu options for a while, but ended up going with a classic steak frites with filet mignon topped with herbed compound butter served alongside white truffle fries with garlic aoili and sauteed cauliflower with romesco.  We started the meal with our our go to Kale Caesar salad and ended with a trio of mini ice cream sandwiches. There is no better New Year's Eve (or any night for that matter) than one surrounded by great food, champagne and close friends.  Hopefully there is some truth to theory that how you spend your New Year's Eve indicates how the rest of your year will be because if it is then 2013 is looking like it's going to be pretty great... 

 {I threw together this backdrop using 2 packs each of gold metallic and white tissue fringe as well as 1 pack each of silver metallic and purple metallic fringe.  I simply cut pieces of the garland and arranged it in messy strips that I stapled onto on old sheet.  I also couldn't pass up picking up two of these awesome champagne bottle balloons}

 {NYE crowns from the boxed set, gold chargers from Sur La Table & custom menus I created}

{I re-purposed a box of silver Christmas crackers by using them as placecards with each guest's name printed on regular copy paper then adhered around the cracker with some spray adhesive}

 {Cheers coasters from Sugar Paper LA}

 {Raspberries for cocktails and champagne displayed in a vintage martini glass}

 {two batches of make-ahead Manhattans in vintage decanters}

 {one of my new favorite frozen appetizers from Trader Joe's}

 {frozen mini Eggos paired with box of KFC's popcorn chicken and a light drizzle of maple syrup created a mini take on "Chicken & Waffles"}

 {a little herbed compound butter never hurts anything}

 {guest's resolutions that we burned in the fire right before midnight}

 {for dessert we served a trio of mini ice cream sandwiches. from left: Pepperidge Farm Soft Baked Sugar cookies with strawberry ice cream, Oreo Cakester cookies with dirty mint chip ice cream, and Trader Joe's soft baked Chocolate Chip cookies with Ducle de Leche ice cream.  This dessert is so easy to make and is always a crowd pleaser.  You can prepare the sandwiches hours ahead of time, pop them back into the freezer and then remove them 5 minutes before you want to serve.  Always make sure to get soft baked cookies- plus a little sparkler never hurts}

{my girlfriends and I with our favorite prop of the night- a gigantic glass champagne flute that we filled with an entire bottle of champagne!}

{the parties of 2012}

Wow! 2012 was a whirlwind year that seemed to fly by!  Even though it felt like everything was moving at double speed, we got the chance to throw some amazing celebrations this year including one really big one- our wedding!  Here's a little recap of all my favorite parties from 2012 and based on these fabulous events, I cannot even wait to see what 2013 holds for us:

 {the "breakfast for dinner" themed party we threw for our good friend Kay- complete with a pancake stack cake! Definitely one of my favorite party themes since it was super easy to execute and who doesnt love breakfast food in the evening?!?!}

 {a garlic centric dinner party we threw in our new Chicago dining room.  This was first dinner party we had in our new place and I loved creating a menu around one ingredient}

 {a relaxed dinner party menu- one of the only posts where I featured a complete menu 

along with wine pairings!}

 {a colorful and fun engagement party some of my friends and I threw for our newly engaged pals,
Jeff & Katie.  My favorite part of this party was the DIY slider bar!}

 {my bridal shower- I definitely had absolutely nothing to do with the planning and execution of this party. All of the credit for this beautiful event goes to my bridesmaids, mom and mother -in-law.  I just loved this party so much, I had to include it!}

 {our "sequins & bow ties" themed going away party! This theme is hands down the best one I have ever thought of- I wouldnt mind if this was the theme for every single party going forward.}

 {breaking tradition for our birthdays this year, we opted to throw a cocktail party rather than the 20 person sit down dinner we usually choose to host- this was also the very first big party we threw in our new Chicago place, but surely not the last}

{a "champagne & desserts" themed party I threw for my good friend's 26th birthday party- another theme that I wouldn't mind using for many future parties!}

And of course- the best party of this year for us was our wedding in Palm Springs last April: