Holidays 2017: New Years

Night Before New Years Eve Party
For the last five years my mother and I have hosted a “Night Before” New Years Eve party at our ranch partly inspired by Jeffrey Katzenberg’s “Night Before” the Oscars party. Though his party is all about raising money for The Motion Picture and Television Fund, ours is more about the avoidance of hosting a big New Year’s Eve bash and all that that entails. The night before the big ball drop doesn’t hold quite the same pressure for off the charts merry making and allows for a quieter, more relaxed friends and family vibe. We’re still celebrating the season and ushering in a New Year with joy and laughter just without all the popping champagne bottles, riotous countdowns and forced smooching. I look forward to it every year and start planning menus and decor early November.Continue Reading

Mother’s Day 2017

Just like last year I wanted to do something crafty and meaningful for Mother’s Day and managed to find some fantastic ideas on Pinterest (of course) that I figured would be easy, fun, useful AND meaningful! Perfect! Well…you’ve all heard the Pinterest fail stories right? This craft story has a happy ending, but a pretty rocky beginning! Continue Reading

Heavenly Harvest Dinner

Katherine Heigl holding a fall accent plate
I recently stopped in at Pier 1 and was totally taken with some adorable fall accent plates. So I couldn’t resist buying them for an intimate family dinner I was hosting. The accent plates, though fantastic, really needed to accompany dinner plates, so I had to buy some of those too. Then I realized I needed glassware to go with it all, and of course I needed napkins, placemats, and Oh silverware also…. OK I may have gotten a little carried away but I had so much fun mixing, matching and creating an original and beautiful table setting that I’m tempted to go back to the store and do something totally different for my Christmas dinner table!Continue Reading