My evening with Chicken, Grass, & Rabbits

Hey friends!

Monday, I told you that Marty and I were invited to a dinner party, with real grown-ups and with real adult conversation.  Marty and I were very excited to be included with a group of our very favorite bloggers/tweeters!

I was SO EXCITED, I actually had my hair cut/colored AND wore MAKE-UP!

It had only been 13 months since my last cut/color. Talk about roots!

Marty and I needed to pick up a few things while we were in the "big city", so we left several hours early. Even though I had made cups for everyone, I still wanted to get a little something extra for Stephanie.

These were thisclose to coming to Stephanie's house with us.

So, after spending about 20 minutes in Fresh Market, failing to find someone who knew something...anything about wine, we settled on these:

Beautiful flowers. I wanted to keep them for myself!

Stephanie and Tadd welcomed us into their gorgeous home, where we all headed straight for the kitchen.

Here are our fabulous hosts, Stephanie and Tadd (who is actually very stunningly tall for his age..he's very, very tall. Steph is just wearing platform shoes)

Within minutes of arriving, Jamie and her friend, Patrick came in.

(And here is where it is most blatantly obvious that I will never, ever be a photographer. I don't have ANY decent photos)

 

You see those incredibly beautiful hydrangeas on the corner of the island? Those were our gifts from Jamie, along with some seriously decadent chocolate.  LOVE!

Then followed by Katherine and her husband Grayson. 

(The only face-on photo I managed to get that night)

Is there anything better than kitchen conversation with friends?

Well, actually there is. Kitchen conversation ALONG WITH some seriously fantastic appetizers!
Steph teased us with her famous crack dip and sausage and cheese tarts. You NEED to go make these appetizers RIGHT NOW! Well, unless you are dieting, then you don't need to make them right now because they will blow any diet you are on right out of the water. Everything was SOOO good. You couldn't just eat one...or ten. Willpower isn't my strong suit.

Just when we didn't think the food situation could get any better, Tadd walked in with these:

Then, as if eight perfectly grilled premium filets weren't enough, Stephanie puts out homemade rolls, delicious green beans...

and a fabulous potato casserole.

Meat, bread, potatoes and a token green vegetable(so we can pretend to be eating healthy)...could it be a more perfect meal??

What does a dinner party with bloggers look like? Photos of everything before they are touched. HAHA!

Here is my plate. I've looked at this photo a hundred times since Saturday night, just praying it would jump though the computer screen so I can eat it again...and again....and again.
It was THAT GOOD PEOPLE!

Oh, but then, as I was sopping up the last of the food with my roll, Stephanie brings out handmade lemon meringue and chocolate cream pies.

Lemon

My slice of chocolate. (I was too amazed to get a photo of it before it was cut.)

As if this fabulous meal wasn't enough, Stephanie packed everyone a doggie bag of leftovers (except for the steak...there was NO steak left in the house), AND a loaf of homemade bread...that was quickly devoured the next afternoon by our resident homemade bread fanatic:

Even though this was one of the best meals of my life, it pales in comparison to the 5 hours of laughter, conversation, laughter, fellowship, and laughter that I was blessed to share with these three beautiful ladies (and their fellas)! We both hope we have MANY MORE nights with these awesome people!

I look like the green giant next to these ladies!

Now, if you would like to see a GREAT blog post with awesome pictures of Saturday night, go to Kat's blog (Grass Stains) and see how a professional does it.

Friendship Gifts

Saturday night, Marty and I were invited to a dinner party...with real grown-ups and with real adult conversation.

Yeah, that never, ever happens.

Marty and I were SO excited to be included with a group of our very favorite bloggers/tweeters. At first, I wasn't nervous at all because I already know most of them, but then I started having this freak-out that this was a "Dinner for Schmucks" kind of thing where each guest invites the biggest loser/freak they know and try to see who's guest is the weirdest. Umm, yeah. I have a problem.

Anyway, I quickly brushed that thought out of my mind, and focused my attention of bringing everyone a little token of friendship. After bouncing a few ideas around, I decided I would vinyl some cups. Simple right? WRONG!

I immediately knew what I wanted to do for Stephanie, the hostess, so I ordered the perfect cups and worked on her designs. But the other two, I had to use my stealth skills to figure out what to make. When I say "stealth skills", I mean Twitter and texting. Thanks to Katherine and Jamie for humoring me...and especially Katherine who answered my texts FROM NEW YORK. Yeah, I have no shame. I'll just come right out and text someone while they are in New York on a business trip. What's next? A FUNERAL?

Anyway, after a few trips and multiple color changes, these are what I managed to come up with:

 Since Stephanie was the hostess, she got two cups.

 I love, love, love Stephanie's blog logo. Her chicken is hysterical! Stephanie likes wine, so I thought these Vino-to-go cups would be awesome!

Back of the cup, with Stephanie's blog name, Plain Chicken.

I didn't love this cup, but hey...It's got Stephanie's name all over it...

 

Literally!  HAHA!

This is Katherine's cup.  Kat said her favorite drink is Diet Coke, so I made her a Tervis-like cup.

Kat's blog is Grass Stains, so I just had to add a little green! Well, that and she likes blue and green.

Jamie said her favorite drink was coffee, so I thought an insulated coffee cup would be perfect. 

Jamie's blog is Jamie's Rabbits, so what else would I have put on her cup?

It's just too bad that Jamie's cup decided to dive out of the car and onto the concrete when we got to Stephanie's house. :/  It survived, but did have a couple extra dings in it.

We all had a fabulous time (I mean, seriously fantastic...like I want to do it every week, kind of fantastic), but I'll have to tell that story a little later in the week!

I hope y'all are doing well and will have an awesome week!