Why You Should Invite Harry & David to Your Celebration

This post is sponsored by Harry & David but all opinions are my own

If you’ve followed me for any length of time you undoubtedly know my husband does all the cooking. Like seriously. So when he wanted to have a dinner party for his 36th birthday... I was a little freaked out about how I could pull that off. Thankfully, Harry & David Gourmet Foods came to my rescue!

The weather was so iffy (like, rain and temps in the low 40’s!!), so instead of gathering on the deck, we decided to move all the sitting furniture out of the living room and bring our dining room table there to accommodate the extra guests. As soon as the table was situated, the vision started coming together. Fall is great, because bringing in rustic elements like leaves, and live edge cutting boards can really spice up the aesthetic. The table runner was made by my adorably talented niece, lights were borrowed temporarily from another part of our fall décor...In fact, everything we used was already owned, and just moved from their normal spot in our home to complete the tablescape for Asa’s birthday dinner party.

We wanted lots of textures and tones to help fill in the table. But ultimately, once the food was set out, that’s when the party really happened. We love charcuterie boards around here, and these boards from Harry & David were INCREDIBLE. They offered so many options for cheeses and meats that everyone who attended was able to try new things.

The assortment of puff pastry appetizers were so delicious (but yet simple too!) Honestly, the food was delivered to our house a few days before the party, and everything was ready or near ready to eat. Twenty minutes in the oven to finish preparing those apps was literally all it took...umm, hello literal answer to prayer for this non-cooking wife!

Whether it’s a savory side dish, dessert or an entire decadent spread, Harry & David Gourmet has everything for entertaining with elegance and ease, and currently includes more than 200 premium products to serve, share and savor. Our guests had so much fun trying the wide assortment of food this night, and all were blown away that everything had been delivered, and yet was SO fresh! I really can’t say enough about Harry & David coming to my rescue. The party went off without a hitch, and took so little effort from me in the kitchen. Here’s to my husband turning 36, to a lifetime of memories still to be made at this table of ours, here’s to good food and even better, friends! Cheers!

Spruce Your Space with Tuesday Morning

This post is sponsored by Tuesday Morning but all opinions are my own

If you’ve followed me a while, you’ve probably noticed that a lot of my posts are about social gatherings and us hosting our loved ones. ‘Gather’ is the word that was our family’s word before it became popular ;) When we lived downtown in a rougher part of town, we stood by that one word and hosted as often as we could. The neighborhood boys would often be on our porch, swinging with me on our swing. We would help them with homework, pass out ice cream sandwiches, and enjoyed every second of loving the people around us. This is our third spring in our new home (I can’t believe it’s been that long!) and what we love most about THIS house, is the natural light + the back deck. We have had so much fun turning our deck into a regular hosting space, and with the help of Tuesday Morning, I feel as though we’ve made it even better and brighter! Last summer I felt as though I couldn’t find the right pops of color accessory wise, so when we went browsing through our nearest Tuesday Morning, they did not disappoint. All the textures and patterns make me so happy and also make me feel like way less of the boring person I often feel that I am ;) (We’ve talked about my wardrobe struggles, right?)

Whether it is to come outside after the kids are in bed to just breathe in the quiet and coolness of the air, or to have our Sunday lunches with friends and family—the deck has become my sanctuary at home. Something else that we picked up from Tuesday Morning were some new flower pots. Asa loves to garden and does an amazing job. I am the flower lady, and no joke, weekly will get fresh flowers to have around our house. I also love to have potted flowers though, and find a lot of joy in pruning and watering during the spring and summers. These pots are so beautiful, and add to the different textures spread out around our back deck.

I think it can be really easy to forget the spaces that exist in our home, even when we walk by them or through them every day. Tuesday Morning really made revamping our deck possible, and I can’t encourage you, my readers, enough to do the same! The transformation that this deck has seen has been incredible. When we moved in, obviously nothing was out here. Piece by piece we’ve added to it, discovering our personal style and what we really love along the way. For me, it’s cozy blankets and pillows that I can curl up on/under with a good book or while talking to a friend. For my husband, it’s having the space with enough chairs and seating to host as many people as we can. (His love language legit, is hospitality.) We have been really impressed with the savings we received while shopping at Tuesday Morning, as well as the uniqueness in items that we found.

Have you ever been to YOUR local Tuesday Morning?? Click here to find your closest store, and I would hurry, while summer is on the horizon, because availability is limited and you want to make sure you find THE best items that woos YOUR heart and soul. Whether Asa and I sit at that colorful round table drinking coffee on the weekends or are curled up together on that chaise lounge, we are SO impressed with how Tuesday Morning helped us tie everything we’ve purchased together. Revamp your forgotten spaces, Friends. Do something for you, bring your favorite people into your space, and let Tuesday Morning help!

An Eggscellent Easter Spread for Your Sunday Meal!

Cheesiest caption ever—but seriously. As you all know, my husband is the Chef in our family, and he did NOT disappoint with our recent [early] Easter spread. This year we decided we wanted to host some friends and get together, so that’s what we did! My number one request for basically every formal (or informal, who am I kidding) meal my husband makes, is that he makes his amazing Deviled Eggs. I posted a story on Instagram about it and asked if anyone else was as obsessed with them as I am, and did you know that in Australia, no one really eats them!? This sweet gal said, “No, but I’ve also never really had a deviled egg before, they aren’t popular here.” I told her that she desperately needed to change that, OR she should fly to Kentucky so my husband can prepare some for her the right way. Easy, right? ;)

My mother-in-law actually took the kids to a movie for some of the afternoon, and so it was REALLY nice to have a meal in our formal dining room fellowshipping with some of our favorite people, without them interrupting. I love them to death, but let’s face it, sometimes you can’t get much catching up when you have a busy five and six year old present. (They did show up towards the end though, and they were equally as happy to see our friends and eat their Dad’s delicious food.)

While we tend to have too much food no matter the holiday (no complaints there!) we like to keep things pretty simple. For our Friends Easter, we enjoyed a delicious ham, honey glazed carrots, green beans, baguettes, deviled eggs, and another favorite of mine…mashed potatoes! We also indulged in the desserts, and went with a yummy Kroger Carrot Cake, and cute Easter themed sugar cookies. YUM!

If you’re looking for some Easter inspiration, I hope this helps! If you need to pick my husband’s brain for recipe ideas, or any further details, don’t hesitate to e-mail me. He really is an amazing cook and I am SO thankful for him!!

Here are a couple of the items Asa (my husband) whipped up. You’ll have to tell me if you re-created any of these ideas or how this post inspired YOUR Easter planning! Happy Holiday, sweet friends!

Everything found in this blog post was purchased at our local Kroger, but it was not sponsored by them. I just wanted to show you what we did for this meal and thought it may be helpful to know where we got everything, decorations included!