Spring Picnic In The Park.

When the weather starts warming up and the thick yellow pollen disappears, it's the perfect time of the year to get out and have a spring picnic in the park. The weekend was made for family time together at our local park. We styled this shoot with a soft color pallet in mind... pastels and natural wood elements were our key ingredients. The morning of our shoot, we baked a simple boxed white cake and minimally iced it in the "naked" style with icing out of a container. Keeping everything as simple as possible allowed us to remain stress-free.

[the last two pictures in this first set of three were taken by Jenny Wilburn]

If you've been following my blog since we've moved back to South Carolina, you'll know that Trader Joe's is my favorite spot to pick up inexpensive, quality flowers and greenery. Now if only TJ's could open up in Myrtle Beach, my life would no longer have to consist of driving to Wilmington or Charleston to pick up my favorites. It's well worth the drive to purchase affordable cheese and other favorite TJ's products. Thankfully, Aldi is here in Myrtle Beach, and that is another favorite grocery store of ours to purchase affordable fresh fruit, drinks, and crackers. Is there any shoot complete without a trip into Target? We picked up these Cadbury Shimmer Mini Eggs for our picnic photo shoot to keep with the subtle spring/Easter theme.

My family is troopers to support my photo shoot whims. It can sometimes be challenging to get kids excited about sitting still for pictures, but having the food available for them to snack on during this shoot and to eat while we shot pictures kept them preoccupied and in good spirits. It was important to remain flexible for this entire photo shoot as the purpose behind it changed, 30 minutes prior to the shoot the actual location changed, and I seemed to have forgotten so many details in the rush of getting out the door. Like so many times in life, unexpected things come up and it's important to just go with the flow. 

Picnic Rug - {Home Goods} :: Wood Cake Stand - {Home Goods} :: Cake - Julie Ann Events :: Extra Large Acacia Wood Paddle Board - World Market {here} :: Assorted Cheeses - {Trader Joe's} :: Assorted Meats - {Trader Joe's} :: Fresh Flowers and Greenery - {Trader Joe's} :: Crackers and French Baguette - {Aldi} :: Fresh Fruit - {Aldi} :: Lemonade - {Aldi} :: Cadbury Shimmer Mini Eggs - Target {here} :: Styling - Julie Ann Events :: Outfit Details - {Target} {H&M} {Forever21} {Target} Thrifted

Where To Find Quirky Coffee Table Books.

We all love a good coffee table book, and finding the right books that suit your personal style can be difficult. There's your traditional book stores like Barnes & Noble and Books A Million, where you're guaranteed to find something generic and will definitely fill up that blank space on your coffee table. But we personally love books that speak to who we are as individuals. 

Many times finding the perfect book involves searching through bespoke, independently owned shops that don't specialize in books, yet carry unique titles. For example, our Wes Anderson book came from a little furniture shop on a side street in Sag Harbor. We picked it up 4th of July weekend one summer while we were meandering through the area, enjoying the holiday. We purchased a truly unique book featuring art made in North Korea from a pop up shop in Beijing. The images and the content of the book, Made In North Korea: Graphics From Everyday Life In The DPRK are special and not widely available to the public.  

However, it's understandable that a specialty shop in the Hamptons or China may not be accessible to you, and that's where Urban Outfitters comes in. We love picking up unique coffee table books there! This post is not sponsored by them, we just love everything we find when we walk into the store and browse through their home goods section. I've linked their books at the bottom of this post.

Rug - Overstock {here}  ::  Couch - World Market {here}  ::  Coffee Table - World Market {here}  ::  Wood Planter - Target {here}  ::  Lamp - Target {similar}  ::  Wes Anderson Book {here}  ::  Stephen Colbert Book {here}  ::  Made In North Korea: Graphics From Everyday Life In The DPRK {here}  ::  Urban Outfitters Coffee Table Books {here}  ::  Cacti Book - Urban Outfitters {here}  ::  Houseplants Book - Urban Outfitters {similar}  

We Are Moving To Beijing!

My husband's job is taking us to from Hong Kong to mainland China, Beijing. We are excited to experience this new adventure in a new city and to see where it takes us. We loved our two years in Hong Kong, and enjoyed planning parties for our family and friends here. Stay tuned to see what is in store for us for the next two years!!!

Entertaining.

I find that one of the hardest things about entertaining is trying to figure out the menu. But if you can balance flavors against each other, such as spiciness with creaminess, it helps provide you with a well rounded meal. I always try to pick food dishes based off of their color and texture, with big, bold flavors which make them more exciting to consume - I think that's the former nutritionist in me coming out! It's also very important to choose dishes that will last through an entire evening without wilting immediately.

A couple ideas for a dinner party is to host a sit down dinner with the food a little more formal or a more relaxed party with a buffet of dishes so that your guests have a choice of what to eat. I love hosting both and basing if off the group of people I've invited.

I also love brunch. It's a great way to relax with friends and family. Spicy, sweet, or savory, anything goes. It should reflect a relaxed style, nothing too formal. The secret to a great brunch should be fun and casual. Even the champagne brunches that restaurants host here in Hong Kong still have an element of casual to them. 

At the end of every meal, you definitely want to leave your guests on a high note. We love fruit desserts or pastries that have a wow factor.

The Fabric District Of Hong Kong.

I found the party planner paradise here in Hong Kong. A borough called Sham Shui Po. For the seamstress and the crafter in me, it has everything you might need, except the kitchen sink. Actually if you go down the right street you will be able to purchase the kitchen sink.

Shops full of ribbon, lace, and fabric. Buttons galore. My mind goes wild with the possibilities of that I might be able to make.

It's difficult not knowing where to find what you need, here in Hong Kong. There are definitely no stores as convenient as Hobby Lobby, Micheal's, or even Target. Fabric shopping looks completely different here in Hong Kong!  

Christmas Hot Chocolate Two Ways.

It's January but we still have a couple more posts from Christmas to share with you. As a family tradition, we love to spruce up our hot chocolate during the holiday season. In order for the hot chocolate to be quintessential Christmas hot chocolate, it always involves a candy cane stir stick. My preferred way to drink my hot chocolate is with whipped cream, sprinkles, and topped off with a red and white candy cane. My children love to have their hot chocolate with a colored candy cane and miniature marshmallows. Here's to happy drinking and to staying warm!

How The Pineapple Is A Sign Of Hospitality.

I have always loved eating a fresh pineapple. On a trip out to Southland Nursery and Landscaping, here in Myrtle Beach, we were pleasantly surprised to see they had several pineapples growing. Walking around downtown it's common to see statues of pineapples carved out of stone sitting on front porches or on posts at the front of the driveway. This got me thinking about what a friend of mine told me years ago. The story of the pineapple down south...

The pineapple is viewed as a symbolic gesture of welcome. A southern custom, when the hostess would place a pineapple out on the table for her guests, this would send the message to her visitors that she was welcoming them into her home. The pineapple became a social status icon. Now you can find the pineapple interlaced throughout an older home's architectural design.

Happy Cinco De Mayo.

Happy Cinco de Mayo to you! Whether your celebration is big or small, it's always a good time to get together with friends. To eat some chips and salsa. And to drink some tequila! We wanted to share some easy ways to add holiday touches to your party table.

Of course an authentic Mexican sombrero contributes a lot to your party display. Fresh peppers and chiles,  which are iconic ingredients used in salsa recipes are a great alternative to fresh floral arrangements. We used empty salsa and chile cans as vases for our display. These would look great with succulents or cacti planted in each can.

Using bright primary colors add a lot to the fiesta style of your Cinco de Mayo party. Color. Color. Color. We can't seem to stress that enough. To really put you and your guests in the mood, make sure to have your favorite Mariachi music playing in the background.

We Are Moving!

It's official and we can finally let everyone know. Julie Ann Events is moving to Hong Kong. We have enjoyed serving the Myrtle Beach area for the past three years and are excited to see what the future holds for us. This is a huge transition, and we're a little apprehensive but also very excited! This will be a whole new party for us to experience! Follow along with my family's journey as I blog about it here.

My Favorite Color.

It's the month of March, and we're ready for Spring to arrive. Here in South Carolina, we're ready for warmer weather and for more color. Green lawns. Colorful flower beds. Hosting garden parties outside. However, that being said, I wanted to share with you that my favorite color is white. And there are several reasons why white is the perfect color. Particularly when entertaining. It's neutral. Sometimes you don't have a say in the venue location of your event. Using the color white automatically brings a sense of unity to your specific event and ties the venue together. You can chose to embrace the color white by going with a full on white color scheme. This can be accomplished by adding textural layers of white on top of each. A beautiful white pattern embroidered on top of an already white tablecloth. Down here in the south where monograms are very popular, it's beautiful to have a white monogram on a white cloth napkin. With the all white color scheme for your event, white or ivory flowers add another great textural element.

There is something so chic and elegant about the color white. It's also so simple. Clean. The color white can also be used as a blank canvas to let other colors pop. Using white as a base color can allow colorful floral arrangements make an even bigger statement. We love using white serving platters in the design for our dessert tables.  The white platters allows the food on the dessert table become a focal point. For us, white is a color we can utilize in our design concepts year around. It doesn't have to be reserved for one particular season.

Party Prepping.

Coming off of the holiday season which is full of parties and celebration, January always seems like a slow month for us. This January is a colder month here in Myrtle Beach and cold weather makes me want to lay under my warm blankets a little longer while drinking another cup of coffee. But January is a great month to start designing for upcoming events we have on our schedule. And with those events in mind, this past Saturday we visited garage sales, antique stores, thrift stores, and flea markets. As an event stylist, garage sales, antique stores, thrift stores, and flea markets are the way to go. It's at those places that you find your unique details when styling an event. One of a kind pieces. It's also the thrill of the hunt. Not knowing what you'll find. Bargaining. Getting a good deal.

In between visiting antique stores, flea markets, and thrift stores, I also stood in the party aisle of a particular retail chain craft store. And while they've got great party packages available, there's just something about personalized hand crafted party decorations that elevates your party and {if done right} adds another level of sophistication. When planning for your next event, I challenge you to think outside of the box. Get creative. See the potential in something unconventional.    

An Interview With My Mother.

We've talked a lot about entertaining on this blog. The way a person entertains is a result of several factors. The way they were brought up, the influence of friends and family, the culture they live in, and much much more. I thought it would be fun to interview someone in my own life who has played a significant role in the way I entertain today. My mother. I asked her the question of why she entertains. Her response was:

"We recognize hospitality as a gift that we can give to help people feel connected. We like to invite people over for a meal who may be new to the area, recently lost a spouse, young families, empty nesters, and those who are single. We entertain because we want to get to know them better and it also provides our other guests with the opportunity to get to know someone they might not have talked to otherwise as well. People like to talk about themselves, so sometimes we put a penny under everyone's dinner plate. When we take the plates away to bring out the dessert, our guests discover the penny. Then we ask them to look at the date on their penny, and share something about their life during that year. They share things like where they were working, whether or not they were in school at that time, where they were living, etc. As they share, it leads to more questions from other guests around the table. This activity not only lets us get to know our guests a little better, it also helps keep the conversation from being monopolized by one particular person and gives everyone the opportunity to talk."

Summer Love.

The public school system is starting in our area this week, thus signifying the end of summer vacation. We've been experiencing oddly cool temperatures in the 70's for a couple days, which makes it easier to appreciate the changing of the seasons. Our summer has been full of days spent on the beach, swimming in the pool, going on road trips around South Carolina's lowcountry, getting together with friends, eating fresh fruit and veggies, and enjoying being together as a family. This summer we've experienced a lot of impromptu dinner parties. Today was another such impromptu occasion. Grandparents came over for lunch. Have I mentioned I have the best husband? I have the best husband. We work well together as a team. So while he was giving the house a quick clean, I drove to the grocery store to pick up a few items for lunch. One of my go to meals when we're having company over is to throw chicken breast on the grill. I like using a 30 minute Caribbean Jerk marinade when I am short on time, because it packs a lot of flavor on the chicken. Sometimes I like to serve the chicken with a huge garden salad. Other times I'll grab a bag of rolls from the bakery and let our guests make sandwiches out of the chicken breast.

Chili In July.

What?!?!?!  You may be asking the question, why are we hosting a dinner party that consists of a chili bar in July? Especially so close to the Fourth of July holiday. Because here in Myrtle Beach, we are experiencing monsoon weather with heavy rain every single day for the past week. There's something about heavy rain that makes a big pot of chili an easy menu for an intimate dinner party. We gave our guests a few options to dress up their bowls of chili with, sour cream, a nice sharp Wisconsin cheddar cheese (that we shredded right before our guests arrived), green onions, cilantro, and sliced limes.

Creating a dinner bar does not have to be fussy or time consuming. By serving all of the options on a single white platter it provides a simple and clean presentation for your guests to have easy access to all the different condiments. Dinner parties don't have to be fancy or elaborate. A few little touches can elevate your dinner from the every day experience to something with a little more depth. For this dinner party, one small detail we incorporated was adding paper flags to our drinking straws. And as we always say, your dinner party is really about the people around your table and not so much the way the table is dressed.

Betty Crocker's Party Book.

 

It's always a very good thing when friends pick things up for you while they are thrift store shopping because they know you would like it. A friend of mine picked up this wonderful Betty Crocker's Party Book printed in 1960 at our Goodwill here in Myrtle Beach. She knew it would be perfect for me. The book boasts of "more than 500 recipes, menus, and how-to-do-it tips for festive occasions the year round". It's been so much fun browsing the ideas in the book. Some tips are laughable in today's society, but overall it's an enjoyable read. I want to share with you some of their holiday tips. How about celebrating Washington's birthday and incorporating cherries and hatchets (which are apparently symbols of George Washington) into the food? Sound intense? It's more like make a cherry pie with pastry hatchet cut-outs for decoration on top. Or even hatchet shaped biscuits and cookies. 

For the Fourth of July, I could relate to the time line for preparing food that they shared. There was a section on what foods could be prepared ahead of time, and what should be saved till picnic time. For decorations of the festive day, they suggested using blue oilcloth as a tablecloth and red bandanas of varying sizes as napkins. I would love to incorporate their idea of using tin or enamel picnic dishes for the day.

Remember hearing of, or perhaps even tasting your Grandma's jello salads? A recipe from the Thanksgiving menu called the "Harvest Gold Salad" is a jello salad with the suggestion you serve it on lettuce and top with mayonnaise. I do love how the illustrations on the pages lend so much character to the book. Some of the decorating tips in the book for Thanksgiving, are "choosing an interesting small container - a china pitcher, a low cut-glass bowl, even an antique iron mortar (part of the set grandmother used to grind spices). Then arrange shiny fresh fruits and/or vegetables, gourds, or ears of corn in it. Add flowers or leaves, real or artificial. Let your imagination be your guide".    

Simple Summer Entertaining.

 

It's summer time again. A season where fresh fruit is at it's best. A season for harvesting vegetables from your own garden. Warmer weather. And for us in South Carolina that means muggy weather. Longer evenings with more sunlight. This all boils down to a great time for entertaining in the backyard with the pool. Grilling outside. Grilling those garden vegetables and that fresh fruit. By definition, the word "entertaining" when used as an adjective means, "serving to entertain or give pleasure, diverting, amusing". Similar words are "enjoyable, pleasing, funny, charming, and cheering". So here's to several months of summer entertaining. It doesn't have to be fancy. There can be no fuss involved. I always try to keep cheerful paper napkins in stock. Quickly lay down a charming tablecloth on top of your picnic table and you've established the tone for the evening. Keep a caddy handy to separate utensils. A cutting of fresh flowers from your garden beautifully arranged in a vase or jar to put on your picnic table adds the perfect touch. These are just a few ideas for putting together an enjoyable and fun evening with friends.  

10 Year Wedding Anniversary - Our Personal Party Tips

I titled, tagged, and labeled this post with "our personal party tips", because looking back on our past ten years, it truly has been one personal party! My husband and I are like many married couples. Like many of you, we were best friends before we got married. We met in university. We knew each other five years before we tied the knot. We laughed together, we had a lot of fun together, and we shared everything with each other. I knew when I first started dating him, that he was the type of guy you married. It was his integrity and his solid moral character that drew me to him. Ten years of marriage, and a couple definitely has their ups and downs during those years. I'm so happy to say that we are still friends. Best friends with each other. I think about what makes our marriage work well, and I know it's because my husband and I both have a personal relationship with God. Because of our commitment to Him, it strengthens our commitment to each other. For my husband and I, divorce is not an option. And to be quite frank, when you take divorce off the table, you might as well have fun with the person you've chosen to spend the rest of your life with as opposed to living together in misery!

There is no place in the marriage that my husband and I share for pride. That's not to say it hasn't been there. We're both human. But when either of us displays any amount of pride, automatically problems arise. My husband is a sacrificial leader for our family. This is huge. And it's very rare to find in couples. Marriage takes work. We're only ten years in, with many more ahead of us, but we recognize that we both have to make the choice to keep our marriage our number one human relationship. It's a choice to respect each other. It's a choice to work together as a team. And it's a choice for us to remain passionately in love with each other.

(photographs taken by our friend Tyler Geel)

I think back to our wedding day. For some women, their wedding day is their most special day of their whole life. For some women, it's the day when they feel like a princess. For some women it's the day that they have envisioned and dreamed about since they were a little girl. Neither of those were true for me. It was a special day, true, but I had had an extremely stressful week leading up to it. I'd had a stressful six months leading up to it for that matter. For me, my wedding day was a day that signified the start of going to bed and waking up with my best friend. Our wedding day was just a day, and every day since then is truly our celebration. Our marriage has always been more important to us than our wedding day.

The Cake That Didn't Work Out.

I made a pie this past weekend, and I realized I could have written a post about "the pie that didn't work out". I had used a crostata crust recipe and put it in a pie dish. The berries I used were still raw and my pie crust was burnt. This cake that I made today was for a friend who had a husband with a birthday. I knew right after I flipped the cakes over and started icing them, that this cake was not going to turn out. To be honest, I'm not sure what was the cause of the super soft and moist cake. For the first time in baking, I had substituted applesauce for eggs. Did that make the cakes extra soft? Whatever it was, it was just one of those things that I knew I could not send this cake along to the recipient. They wisely opted to pick up a different cake on their way home from work. How many times in decorating and designing an event do things not work out the way I had envisioned them in my mind. Most of the time no one else knows that there is something at the event missing. Usually it's not as glaringly obvious as a saggy cake can be. The past several weeks I've seen several people on Facebook share an article about how your life looks better on the internet than it does in real life. The reality is, everyone's life is a lot like this cake that didn't work out. There are many a day when I wake up and I feel as though the day ahead of me is already ahead. I can see where I fall short. When I'm throwing an event or hosting a dinner party, there are always things that don't quite turn out the way I wished they had. I just didn't seem to have quite enough hours in the day to finish up every single detail. I love what the author of the article (Shauna Niequist of Instagram's Envy Effect) says. "Let's choose community. Let's stop comparing. Let's start connecting." And that's what we try to encourage here on A Reason To Get Together. To choose community and to start connecting with loved ones in our lives. Even when life isn't perfect. It's through our imperfections that we can relate to others. I had a friend call me the night before we threw our dinosaur party to ask me how I was doing. She reminded me not to stress out about things. To just let go of some of what was on my to do list. It was just what I needed. That phone call reminded me to breathe. And so I let a lot of what I had originally envisioned go. I stopped juggling so many balls. It's a balancing act that is sometimes hard to perfect. I tried to focus on the guests that came to the party. And on not getting frustrated at my own kids for making more of a mess while I was trying to clean up before the party.

Design Basics.

I love design. From the way a house is styled, to the way a person is dressed. Design flows through everything. Designing tables or designing a party, the same rules apply throughout. Some of the rules I've learned over the years are as follows.

I love coming up with design ideas. Sometimes they work and sometimes they don't. And that is ok. Great events require an incredible amount of work. They don't just happen on their own. They require meticulous planning.  These same rules apply when styling an outfit to wear. Or when decorating a home. It's interesting to see how design basics apply to all areas of style.

In talking design, you have to decide on a color scheme. Don't be afraid to mix design styles, but you must understand that mixing patterns does take practice. That's something that I am still trying to master myself. Another tip is to not be afraid to use a monochromatic palette as well. Use what works for you. Again, let me remind you... sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. But enjoy playing around with color, pattern, and style. I love looking around me and seeing inspirational design every where.