12 Entertaining Essentials

I always love having people over at my house. As long as my calendar is clear and my home is not embarrassingly messy I am always open to a little impromptu entertaining. I cook and bake a lot so my pantry and refrigerator is always stocked well enough that I can whip up a quick dinner or lunch such as an easy pasta dish. However, if all else fails and I have a little last minute entertaining I prepare a quick salad and order pizza. Everyone loves pizza and it is the company that matters the most anyway.

I have a few other entertaining essentials that I always keep one hand and that make entertaining stress free and easy.

Item One // Snacks. My favorite no prep items are cheese, a variety of crackers, olives, pickles, dried fruits, nuts, popcorn, chips, and dips. I also keep brownie and cookie mixes at home for when I don't have time to make a dessert from scratch.

Item Two // Sparkling Water. A great addition for cocktails but even if you are not serving alcohol sparkling water is a fun addition to lemonades and fruit juices for special drinks to offer your guests.

Item Three // Slower Cooker. Slow cookers are great. When having friends over for game or movie nights slower cookers keep food warm for snacking throughout the day. Easy crowd-pleasers are barbecue meatballs and this Beef Enchilada Dip. At our last book club meeting I made homemade hot chocolate that was warm and ready for our guests to sip on all afternoon.

Item Four // White Plate (and paper plates). Food looks best against white so I always love serving food on white dishes. Plus white is easy to use with any other color tablecloth, napkins, etc. However, if it is an absolutely last minute gathering or super causal I am not opposed to paper plates.

Item Five // Candles. I always keep these around in various heights, widths, and colors (but again white is my favorite color to use). There is simply no other way that is easier to make a dinner feel special than lighting a few (or a lot) of candles.

Item Six // Serving and Cutting Boards. You can never have too many cutting boards. They are necessary for prep work and are a great way to present food as well. They are rustic and beautiful. Use them to serve bread, to display cookies, or as a vehicle for a cheese platter.

Item Seven // Neutral Serving Utensils. You need plenty of serving utensils when entertaining and neutral utensils are easiest to incorporate with any other colors and dishes.

Item Eight // Chic Paper Cocktail and Dinner Napkins. Cloth napkins are nice but everyone also loves pretty paper goods. Paper napkins come in so many pretty colors and patterns that makes them fun additions to get-togethers.

Item Nine // Clear Glasses. Best for versatility and great for everyday use.

Item Ten // Serving Bowls. To keep entertaining easy I like serving food family or sometimes buffet style so serving bowls are a must.

Item Eleven // Board games. Board games are a great way to keep guests interacting and talking. It is best to choose games without complicated rules or complex set ups. This game is a new favorite of mine that is easy enough for everyone to play, only takes 10 minutes per game, and will have everyone laughing.

Item Twelve // Toiletries. A well stocked bathroom is an absolute must when entertaining guests. Keep a stash of plenty of toilet paper, a scented candle, clean towels, and pretty soaps that can be brought out before guests arrive.

photo by: Kate Quinn Davies What Katie Ate edited by Sunny Days and Starry Nights

8 Tips For Sticking To Your Budget While Maintaining Your Social Life

We are entering the time of the year were socializing is even more on my radar. As a girl who is making a huge effort to watch my spending socializing can sometimes be hard to do. I have realized that unless I implement some rules and budget tricks into my lifestyle spending time with friends and family can become costly. Although it presents a challenge I am determined to maintain a social life (after all being social is important for a healthy life) but not let it drain my budget.

Here are my tips for balancing a healthy social life with my bank account:

TIP ONE // Include a "fun fund" in your budget. In order to stick to a budget you need to actually have a budget that you have planned out. I like to include a "fun fund" that allows for the occasional splurge like dinner at a really great restaurant or tickets to a concert or play.

TIP TWO // Prioritize what is important to spend on. While I allow for the occasional splurge in tip one, I always to remember to look at the big picture and save for the things that are most important to me. An example would be a great trip.

TIP THREE // Be honest with your friends. Let your friends know that you have a budget and that you have to watch your spending. You will likely be surprised by how many of your friends are in the same position as you.

TIP FOUR // Suggest a less expensive alternative. If your friends are making plans that are out of your budget but you don't want to miss out suggest alternative plans. An example is if your friends are suggesting a pricey restaurant suggest a cheaper alternative or suggest that you meet for coffee instead of dinner.

TIP FIVE // Establish a practice of low cost get-togethers. Find an activity that you and your friends enjoy that is inexpensive to take part in. A few of my favorite suggestions are: take turns hosting potluck dinners, rent movies or have Netflix marathons together, enjoy the outdoors by having a picnic or organizing a sports activity, or take turns hosting game nights which I did during one of my favorite recent weekends. Also, recently me, Jessica and a few friends created a book club that meets monthly and is a fun, low cost way to spend an afternoon with friends.

TIP SIX // Volunteer. You can either do this with a group of friends or solo. You will meet many new fascinating people while keeping busy and helping out.

TIP SEVEN // Pay attention to what is going on in your community. Many cities (even my tiny hometown) have free events going on on a regular basis. This can be a great way to be exposed to new things. Also look for local bargains at places like Restaurant.com, Living Social, and Groupon.

TIP EIGHT // Accept that sometimes you have to opt out. It will sometimes be impossible to fit every get-together or event into your budget and you need to be okay with that.

via: 2005 Dior image photographed by Nick Knight obtained from here original source here

Chit Chat: Are You A Social Butterfly?

Not only is my work schedule busy but lately my social life has also picked up. Looking ahead I have something planned for almost every weekend and many days through the week all the way through New Years. Jessica has joked several times lately that I have become a social butterfly.

I will never consider myself a social butterfly. If anything I am more of an introvert. I value the importance of my time and that includes spending a healthy chunk of it alone. As much fun as I have going out with friends, hosting game nights, and attending events like the ballet or a great concert I enjoy myself just as much at home with a great book, a good movie, and well stocked kitchen that allows me to try out new recipes.

While some aspects of having a busy social calendar do not fit my personality, I find the act of carrying on small talk to be tedious and I need at least a few hours each week to myself in order to recharge, I have realized that I need to put myself out there more. I need to push myself to try new things, to meet new people, and to push the boundaries of my comfort zone. By doing these things I would create lasting memories, take in new experiences, learn more, and maybe even make a few new friends along the way. Right now although they seem a little overwhelming at times I can say enthusiastically that I am looking forward to events that are filling the pages my calendar.

What about you? Do you consider yourself a social butterfly? Do you pack all of your time full of adventures or would you rather spend your time one-on-one with friends or reading a good book?

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Chit Chat: Staying in Touch

Since graduating from college and getting a "real" job, it has been so hard to find the time to see my friends and to spend time with them like we use to. Staying in touch is very important to us because we are so close. I am really close with three girls that I have known for years, one of which I became friends with in middle school. Between the four of us we all work full time jobs with all of us having different schedules. Two of us who may have to work weekends and two of us who don't have to work weekends. And between the four of us we are working in four different cities in Kentucky. Our schedules, hectic lives, and the distance can make it hard to pencil in some best friend time.
I attended the same college as two of my best friends so we were always hanging out and running into each other on campus. I've lived in the same dorm building as them and have even roomed with one. It was a lot of fun being minutes away from going out to grab lunch with my friends or having an impromptu movie night (or tv Marathon in some cases). My other best friend I still saw on most weekends we came home.
Even though we may go a month without seeing each other face to face, we are still great at keeping in touch with one another. We call, we Facebook, we e-mail, and we send letters in the mail. Because of this, even if it has been a month or two, we still see each other and it is like no time has passed. Sometimes it is just great to hear the voice of a best friend coming from the phone and to have them to talk too even if we can't make it a face to face meet. Calling can be hard too, with our various schedules. Facebook is the easiest and fastest way for us to stay in touch. We are constantly messaging with updates, questions, and plans for our next get together. Even though we regularly communicate via the internet, I still love to send the occasional letter through the mail. I adore snail mail. When I come home from a hard day at work finding a letter in the mailbox from a friend instantly brightens my day. Just this past weekend, I sat down and made a few quick notes to my best friends to drop in the mail today. Hopefully, one day this week when they check their mail their day gets brightened by what they find! Just because it is harder to see each other now doesn't mean it's ok to just forget about each other. That is why staying in communication is so important. Are you still in touch with your high school and college best friends?

Chit Chat: Loyalty

I happen to have an amazing group of friends. In fact, they have to be the best friends that a girl could possibly have. One thing that makes them such great friends is that they are very loyal. They really know what it means to stand by a friend and to offer support. Even when you are not around they stand up for you when it is needed. They support you and your decisions because they are your friend and they are loyal. Now, just because they support you doesn't mean they won't give you their honest opinion. If they think you are making a mistake they are going to point this out, but because they are loyal they are going to be right there with you.
I know these girls, my best friends, have my back no matter what. They know me. They know who I am and what kind of person I am because we are such close friends. When someone tried to spread lies about me, they stood up for me and told everyone the truth. Some people are so quick to be friendly to your face but the moment you are out of the room they become your worst enemy. My best friends are quick to step up and say that they do not agree with this person. Loyalty is about being my friend all the time not just when I am around. These girls have definitely displayed this on multiple times.
Being loyal to each other means we stick with one another through thick and thin, through the good times and the bad. Sometimes they are the ones offering me support and standing beside me when I am having a rough time and sometimes I am the one standing with them when they are having a tough time. Being loyal goes both ways. Being loyal friends means we offer support and time when one of us needs it. When a friend if having boy troubles we have the time to listen to them and offer our advice. When a friend is having problems with a family member or with school we are their to offer our help. To me loyalty is one of the most important characteristics that a friend can have, maybe the most important. What do you think?

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Chit Chat: Being Social

I just had a great weekend. It was jammed packed from the moment I left work Friday evening until I got in bed last night. Jessica and I headed out of town for the weekend. We stayed at an amazing hotel, ate delicious meals (including a few too many desserts), caught up with some wonderful friends, and did way too much shopping. On Saturday we saw the touring Broadway production of Beauty and the Beast. Jessica had seen it during a trip to New York years ago but I hadn't. It was wonderful. On Sunday we attended, Don Giovanni, our first opera. It was performed at the Kentucky Opera House which is one of my favorite places in Lexington. We were both unsure what to expect when going into the opera but we both agree that it left us amazed.

I had so much fun this weekend it made me realize how important being social is for our well being and that maintaining friendships is a good investment for our health. All of us have such crazy, hectic lives that being social gets pushed pretty far down on our to-do lists. I know it does for me. In fact, since ringing in the new year I have spent most of my weekends with no fun plans included. It wasn't that I set out with a goal of being antisocial or that I spent these weekends sitting at home doing nothing. Very much the opposite.

My work weeks have never been busier. Lately, I have been viewing weekends solely as a time to catch up on much needed sleep, get work finished that I didn't quite get to during the week, schedule a few blog posts, and do the never ending lists of errands we all have. After that there was no time for being social or penciling in extra activities for fun. After this weekend it is apparent how horribly wrong I have been spending my time.

Having a break and doing something fun is without question really good for us. We can afford to give ourselves a little time off to enjoy life. All of the important things will still get finished and if they don't they likely were not very important to begin with. Something else I realized this weekend is that being around friends and family, trying something new, and taking part in activities we enjoy is great for reducing stress (something I always struggle with see here) by taking our minds off of whatever is stressing us out.

I am headed into this week rejuvenated and ready to tackle whatever might head my way. How was your weekend?

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Chit Chat

Do you have a lot of close friends?

Since graduating law school and moving back to my hometown my group of friends have gotten incredibly small. I had a huge group of friends in high school and in college. In law school my group of friends became smaller but still there was always numerous people to spend time with, to go on adventures with, to share the huge work load that comes with law school, and to meet in library study rooms at 4 a.m. the morning of a final with smuggled in coffee and cinnamon rolls to devour while we tried desperately to cram the last bits of important information into our tired brains. I built strong personal connections with these friends. For three years they were always there. We would listen to each other whine and complain without judging. We would push everything aside to help each other out and we had fun, crazy, laugh until your stomach hurts fun. Now we are scattered across the country working in stressful, time-consuming jobs that leave almost a nonexistent amount of free time.

I miss this group of friends. It is difficult to go from having friends to go out with numerous times a week, people to eat every lunch (and most dinners) with, being greeted warmly and wholeheartedly every morning to almost never seeing some of the most important people in your life. It is somewhat isolating. I am not the best at keeping in touch but I have been trying hard to maintain these friendships. We send numerous texts, we try to catch each other on the phone, and I have a pact with my best friend to leave work at the same time at least once a week and to talk to each other during our entire drives home but in reality it is not the same. I would love to have more friends close by that I could go out to dinner with or whose house I could swing by without much thought (or without driving a minimum of four or five hours).

While some of my high school friends still live in my hometown it is difficult to reignite the close friendships we had in high school because it feels like we are at different places in our lives. Most of my former high school classmates entered the workforce after college whereas I had three additional years of school in front of me, some are married (or even divorced), and some have children. It doesn't help that my schedule is often jammed pack.

Living in a very small town there isn't a lot of opportunities to make friends and I feel like as I get older, perhaps due to busy schedules, being at different places in life, or simply becoming picker about those we allow into our circles making friends gets harder.

So I would love to know how do you make new friends and develop lasting friendships? Are most of your friends those who remain from high school and college? Do you have a large group of friends or just a trusted few? How do you maintain the friendships you make? And do you have any specific tips that might apply to me?

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