a black tie white Christmas party

Oh, last night was so wonderful. I could have talked to each person there for hours and hours. There's never enough time, is there, to be with the people you love as long as you'd like to. Thanks to all who came and made last night so magic. So so grateful to have friends like you.

Trees that Tower and an Album Called Babel

Last night found us wrapped in blankets beneath the big tree, hiding from errant raindrops, listening to Mumford and Sons, smiling like we have secrets, smiling like little kids.

The album is a family and every song afire with a passion all its own. There is no resolve like the kind in "Holland Road," no hope like that in "I Will Wait," and no love like "Not With Haste." They demand and they promise and then leave the believing and the loving and the rallying to you.

These are the songs of the prodigal son. These are the songs of the wandered. These are the songs of the ones who ride triumphant into love with hands open and brave hearts brave and unfailing.

under the boardwalk: a summer party

A  M O N T H - O F - M A Y  P A R T Y 

{the invites}

{the decor}

a carpet of mint bushes under a window

a narrow sidewalk between balconies and townhouses and gables

striped straws

rainbow bunting and white lights

vintage masks

{the snacks}

carnival treats, what else!

caramel popcorn

lemonades

popsicles

{the games}

a ball toss to win a fish

a fortune teller

{the people}

{the music}

pandora's "That Thing You Do" station until sunset

pandora's "Quelqu'un Ma Dit" station once it's dark

...and perhaps a little accordion music at some point from the balcony.

(can't you just hear the music)
**video coming soon.  stay posted**

a london tea party

what with the warm weather and what with it being march (aka: when i started preparing for my summer abroad last year) i've been missing london quite a bit.  i've been meaning to make this video for months now, and finally, during a five hour layover in the denver airport, i had the chance.

one afternoon in london, four of us went to hyde park because we had nothing else pressing to do...wait, that's not true.  we had a play to read by seven o'clock that evening.  none of us had read it yet.  so we went to the park to read...  of course very little of that ended up happening.  hyde park is a place so beautiful it can swallow up whole afternoons.  we passed the hours under a big tree.  

i read maybe two lines of the play that afternoon.  i don't even remember which play it was, but i do still remember the color of the grass and the smell of the dirt when i laid my face down and the rustle of the wind and the birds in the trees.

this video isn't about that afternoon, but it is about kensington gardens.  that park is one of my favorite places in the world.

(a note to preston: sorry the video thumbnail is your face.  i'm not sure if this will bug you or what but it won't let me change it sooo.....deal with it?  as for you patrick, sorry the thumbnail of your face is blurry.  i'm sure if you had it your way, you'd be in all your full, focused glory.)

fancy dinner

(song: "blood" by the middle east)

there's something to be said--something beautiful to be said--about the quiet satisfaction,
the toasty-warm tranquility that comes from a slow evening with a few close friends--
the kind of evening where conversations, sensations, imaginations have room to grow.

our lives revolve at breakneck speeds around a sun of achievement and instant communication--
what "to-do's" can i check off today?
how many phone calls can i return?
the sun of facebook
the sun of email
the sun of 160-character text messages

but there's more than 160 characters inside of me.
character.
since when was such a thing quantifiable?
cramming all this character into that little box has been leaving me harried and thin.

we vaporize the most important parts of our being when we live at such breakneck speeds,
fueling distraction and feeding anxiety
when we could be cultivating togetherness, incubating creativity,
nurturing, nourishing.

and so we call it "fancy dinner":

friday night, five friends, five courses,
each carefully planned and tenderly prepared,
each enjoyed over four beautiful hours of talking, laughing, storytelling.

the food:

caprese & baguette

beets with citrus and fennel

pasta with shrimp

beans with almonds and bacon
balsamic asparagus

english trifle

the sole purpose of the evening was to enjoy the tastes of the table we'd spread,
to enjoy the people whose company we love,

an evening where we could close the whole world outside.
i champion small, heartfelt gatherings.
they remind me about the abundance of this wonderful world without and within each of us.

{magic of the season}: black tie white christmas evening party

And the night shall be filled with music,


And the cares that infest the day


Shall fold their tents like the Arabs


And as silently steal away.


~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

i think i'm a pretty luck girl, to have such great friends who like to dress up and bring hors d'oeuvres and play fancy for an evening.

this is the fourth year we've held this evening party, can you believe it!

every year new friends come and old friends come and everyone gets to meet each other and laugh and remember what good friends we have.

this year we even had a slow dance, courtesy of meredith and alex!

i'm so grateful for all these people who make my life merry & bright.

a haunted dinner party

we like throwing parties around here.

lately i've been toying with the idea of dinner parties--

how they bring people together,

how they are just structured enough that people who are total strangers can come together and talk like they've known each other for years.

(for some excellent literature on this idea, read this)

so we put it to the test:

we invited a hodge-podge of friends from here and there,

very few of whom knew each other,

decorated the house all up,

and called it a haunted dinner party!

on the eve of all hallow's eve.

candles galore,

cobwebs hanging from the chandeliers,

burnt name plates

fancy folded napkins

and an exceptionally scary songlist

all was set for a truly ghastly affair.

(all thanks to some expert party-planners.  read: roommates & mr. mcintosh)

even my sweet little typewriter got spooked.

the guests arrived, terrifying and morbid:

and then we dined:

french onion soup

salad with carolann's amazing almond brown sugar dressing

meatloaf hand

mini stuffed peppers

caramel popcorn balls

and best of all, at the end of the dinner, we told ghost stories.

(please notice all the orbs in these pictures--i guess we were visited by more than just spooky dinner guests!)