Thursday Thread #20

I can’t believe we’ve already reached the 20th Thread; time just FLIES! This one is gonna be a doozie though, so get ready 🙂 Lots of randomness comin’ at ya!

 

1. Coming Soon. Okie dokie — prep work for the Photo 101 class is almost finished and early invitations will go out on Friday to those who have already expressed interest in the class via email/Facebook/post comments. If you want on the list {spots are limited and filling up fast!}, let me know before Friday and I will include you in the invites because next week the class will be open to all of you wonderful blog readers and Facebook fans 🙂 Get excited — I AM {eek}! I have been working with some fab vendors on special treats, yummy eats, and giveaway items that will make you {and your camera} very happy. Not to mention the swag bags that are already brimming with goodies.

 

2. Bravo to Bruno. I love listening to Pandora into the wee hours of the morning while I edit and work on this and that. The Adele station is great, as is Ray Lamontagne, Lady Antebellum, and John Mayer. But my newest find: The Bruno Mars station. It is the bomb dot com. F’real! It has the perfect mix of pop and cool tunes and soft rock and all of that good stuff. It actually played Journey and some Ray Charles, right after One Republic and Adele 🙂 swoon…

 

3. Partytime Photos. Like I mentioned last week, we hosted our annual Christmas party on the 10th and had a total blast. The theme was ‘Brown Paper Packages Tied Up with String’ and I tried to touch on that with the tablescape, gifts for the gift exchange, and invitations. I think it came together really cute, if I do say so myself! Hehe. I didn’t get many great photos of the details so I will spare you the crappy iPhone pics. One detail I was really excited about though, was the photo booth. I was going to do a festive backdrop and all, but unfortunately, it got pushed to the backburner in the midst of all the other chaos and it didn’t come to fruition. I know, a photographer who didn’t prioritize the photography, but it’s true. We pulled out the tripod in the last hour or so though, and managed to get some really great shots with some festive props and some spirited guests 🙂 A BIG ol thanks to everyone who came, brought their favorite dishes, and celebrated the season with us. It was never more clear that friends are family too, the ones who are there for you when your loved ones aren’t near. You guys are the spice to my Peppermint Spice Latte, and equally as sweet. I sooo need to high five Troy on our awesome FRamily picking skills 🙂

 

4. A Restaurant Review. Last weekend was Troy’s bday {more on that later} and I decided to take him to a new restaurant to celebrate, just the two of us. And by new, I mean new to us. We are foodies in every sense of the word and love us a good meal. I told Troy a few years ago during restaurant week that I wanted to try Feast, but we ended up going somewhere else and managed to forget about the farm-to-table rustic restaurant…until this year, that is. We arrived a tad bit late {thanks, Houston traffic} but were quickly seated at a quaint little table lit by tealight candle. Our waitress was awesomely chill, giving us the lowdown on that night’s specials and personal recommendations. We got a yummy bottle of Pinot and shared the Scallops St. Jaques to start – DE-lish! After devouring a plate of rustic breads, we ordered our entrees: Crispy Roasted Pork Belly for the birthday boy, and Braised Pork Shoulder for me 🙂 Both were simply devine and left us oh-so-full…until our waitress recommended {with major gusto} the famous Sticky Toffee Pudding. Go ahead, ooh and ahh. It was really THAT good. Like, finish-every-single-last-bite-before-licking-the-plate GOOD. Needless to say, we were thrilled with our feast {See what I did there? I’m so clever!} and will definitely be going back. Check them out if you ever crave a traditional European comfort food kind of a meal. They will knock your woolen socks off.

 

5. Whitney Houston, and Other Singers We Shamed. So my main squeeze turned 27 last week and we celebrated with a joint bday bash {happy bday, Matt!} at Spotlight Karaoke in Midtown. Let me tell you that if you are at all in to that sort of thing, or think you might be, but aren’t sure…do it. It was like therapy in the form of pitchy ballads and off-key pop songs, and I loved it. We reserved a room so we could embarrass ourselves in the exclusive company of our friends instead of the entire bar {best idea ever}, and spent the greater part of 5 hours doing just that, making no apologies and butchering nearly every Top 20 hit since 1975 🙂 It was great, and I am so glad we were able to celebrate by doing something new and completely ridiculous. Adele, Whitney, Leona, Journey, and Mariah, please forgive me.

 

6. Affordable + Elegant + Green + Chic. So I stumbled upon this awesome site the other night and fell in total love. Folks, meet Paperless Post. According to their site, “At Paperless Post, we seek to redefine the tradition of paper stationery so that people can send custom, personalized invitations and announcements with the same thought and care as previous generations, but the way we communicate today: online. Paperless Post stationery is as tasteful as its tangible counterpart, but it also makes life simpler. In minutes, members can send out invitations for any occasion- dinner parties, anniversaries, save the dates – whenever they want to send something more personal than a simple email or awkward PDF. After sending, they can then monitor as guests receive and reply to their invitations.”

 

I love this concept, even though I am a MAJOR fan of traditional paper and post. It is such an elegant, affordable option for your digital paper goods, keeping the ease and convenience of something like Evite, but with the elegance and customization of a personal stationer. They even have gorgeous foil stamping and letterpress detail! And don’t even get me started on the custom envelope liners. I can definitely see myself using Paperless Post for future events, and perhaps a little workshop I have in the works 🙂 Read more about Paperless Post in this great article, or give em a Google. You will love them 🙂

 

7. Monkeying Around. My family has a tradition at Christmas. Scratch that — we have like a dozen. One of them is Christmas morning breakfast. We always eat the exact same thing: pigs in a blanket {the little ones you can pile onto your plate and eat like TicTacs} and cinnamon rolls. I look forward to that simple meal each time we are at my parents’ house for the holidays, but I kinda wanted to throw something new into the mix {um, Pinterest — I blame this all on you}. Don’t fret, I am not changing Christmas morning breakfast, but rather making something new and yummy for Christmas Eve breakfast: this Monkey Bread with Bourbon Creme Anglaise. I am giddy with excitement over this and will definitely let you know how it turns out.

 

Have a great rest of the week and keep yourselves as stress-free as possible as the Christmas clock quickly winds down. Don’t forget to check in tomorrow for a special Christmas message from me to you 🙂