2013?

the countdown is on. 2013 is now only days away, and has anyone else had the, it's going to be 2013?! moment yet? i know i have. i honestly do not know how this year has already come and gone. but i am super excited to actually be ringing in the new year with great friends, and some sparkle. one of the parties on my list of Must Throw at some point in my life, is a New Years Eve Party. It won't be happening this year.  However, it still doesn't stop me from dreaming about throwing one. In my head i see sequins, gold, sparkle, champagne, and sparklers. Wait, i think i see that in every party i want to throw right now. But these are all must have elements in a new years party. Here is what i came up with. 

sources on my pinterest! 

anyone else getting excited about new years? i know i am! 

hope you have a simply fantastic thursday! 

home for the holiday's

I hope everyone had a wonderful Holiday! This past weekend i headed home for the holiday's. and thankfully i have a pretty short trip up I-5 to the parentals place but it was still nice to be home for a few days and not have to worry about work or anything else but being with family and friends. It was a super low key Christmas and i think that made it one of the most relaxing. I got to catch up with old friends, spend time with my bestie with our traditional christmas eve celebration and spend some quality time with the fam. it was pretty much fantastic. the only low point is having to be back at work today. i don't think i've ever had to work the day after Christmas and i'm not so sure I like it. but for now i can just relive the past weekend and pretend im not stuck in the office for the next 7 hours. 

presents packed up and ready to head home. 

got to catch up with these lovely ladies. had been way to long. 

how adorable is my new JCrew leather pink clutch! i am obsessed. 

mamma's mantle 

all the animals camped out infront of the tree on Christmas Eve 

mamma and grandma opening presents! 

over all it was a wonderful holiday. im sad to see this amazing season slowly coming to an end but then i remember i have an exciting couple weekends coming up and it's all okay. 

but for now i make a frowny face at offices that are open after christmas.

but at least i have a super cute new scarf to make it better. 

Have a simply wonderful Wednesday! 

Tasty Tuesday: Holiday Entertaining

Can anyone else believe that Christmas is a WEEK away! Thankfully my Christmas shopping is pretty much done but now it's time to think about all the entertaining that will happen in the next week. Holiday entertaining can seem super stressful but i have a really easy appetizer that your guests will love and not have you pulling your hair out because of it's long time consuming process. This is so easy that anyone can do! Yes, anyone! Today I will be sharing how to make Polenta Half Moons with Whipped Goat Cheese. Okay, i know, Goat Cheese scares  a lot of people. i admit that i used to be one of those people. but this recipe really makes the goat cheese a lot tamer and not as intense for your guests who might be a little scared of it. 

The original recipe calls for making your own polenta from scratch. however, if you are in a time crunch and want to skip that step you can just buy some at your local Trader Joe's or grocery store. 

You need: 

Polenta

Grated Parmesan 

8 ounces Garlic and Herb Goat Cheese, at room temperature (trader joes)
6 tablespoons heavy cream, at room temperature
6 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup pine nuts, toasted and chopped 

For the Polenta:

Preheat Broiler. spray a heavy baking sheet with vegetable oil cooking spray. Slice the polenta into 1/8-inch-thick slices. Cut each slice of polenta in half to make half-moon shapes and arrange in a single layer on the prepared baking sheet. Brush with the olive oil and sprinkle with the Parmesan. Broil until the cheese is golden, 6 to 7 minutes. Set aside to cool for 10 minutes. (you can even do this up to any hour before and the polenta will hold up just fine)

For the goat cheese: Beat the goat cheese, cream, basil, salt and pepper in a medium bowl using an electric hand mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy, 1 minute. Stir in the pine nuts. (can be done hours in advance or the night before! just refrigerate and let sit out for an hour or so before serving so it will soften back up)

Assemble: Using two spoons to measure, place 1/2 to 3/4 teaspoon-size dollops of the goat cheese mixture on top of the polenta slices and serve. I like to top with a couple pine nuts.

and thats it! i told you it was easy! now go and eat! 

Hope you have a simply Tasty Tuesday! 

spreading christmas cheer for all to hear

i love christmas. and i love parties. i have been in my current house for the last 4 christmas's and the last 4 christmas's i haven't been able to throw my big lavish dinner parties like i had done for the 3 years prior to this current home...gosh...im getting old. anyways my new home doesn't have the ideal huge space to bring in tables and do a big dinner but i can mange to have a more casual fun Christmas party and thats exactly what i ended up doing this year. i tried to keep things low key but with a twist of Cinta Flair. For this party i threw out the fancy stuff and went with fun, classic, and casual. I had a request of "festive" attire. Meaning anything from your ugly christmas sweater, elf costume, or something a little nicer, and boy did we have a wide range of festiveness. it was great. The big hit of the night was my roommates hand made Buddy the Elf costume that he made all by himself using just a hot glue gun. No sewing at all was used in the making of this fantastic costume. Champagne cocktails, yummy treats, and a classic white elephant gift exchange made for a perfect saturday evening and a great way to celebrate with friends before we all start heading home for the holidays. 

  

how great does our Buddy the elf look?!

the hot white elephant gift of the night! 

our roomie christmas picture

don't you just love the holidays? i know i do. 

Hope you have a simply festive monday! 

perfect saturday's

there are some days that are just ultimate perfection. and i had one of those days this weekend. i took a day to do exactly whatever i wanted to do. and it was amazing. i am such a loner sometimes. as much as i love being around others i am one of those people who needs to take some time to just be alone. 

there seems to always be all of these fun portland events that go on and living a good hour and half away means that i dont always get to attend. However there were two things going on in Portland this weekend that i wanted to attend. The Give Good Gift pop up show, and the Portland Bazaar. And i did exactly that. i headed up to portland and took my time browsing both shows. it was absolute bliss. the only thing that could have made it better would have been having some extra cash to buy some the amazing things i found. i wanted everything! typical...but i was reserved and just enjoyed the experience. i walked into the first show, Give Good Gift, and felt like i had walked into the definition of Portland/ Portlander. The new event space screamed portland and it was filled with booths of Handmade jewelry, giant and tiny little terrariums, pendelton, beer, and everything portland-ish. Complete with food carts outside of both shows. don't worry i absolutely had lunch at one of them. it was absolute perfection. 

i then got to tour West Coast Event Productions. aka...my dream heaven. from the room with specialty linens lining the walls to the huge warehouse full of props, linens, catering supplies, and even a whole row dedicated to candelabras! i was in pure heaven. it was so fun to see one of the companies that i completely admire and look up to. They have one talented and creative team over there! 

I then ended the day with Happy Hour with two of my favorite people. my roomie and my bestie. i had been told to try our Pink Rose in the pearl and it was A-MAZING! like so good that i think we may be returning there for my birthday dinner in January. The food was great and the specialty cocktails were unique and delicious! 

my day officially ended with salt and straw ice cream. i mean, you have to top off a perfect day with ice cream right? sometimes it is nice to have a day where things just all fall into place and you get a day with no timelines, and restrictions but a day to just explore. and thats exactly what i did. and today i feel refreshed. it was kinda a none stop weekend but it was so fun that i dont even miss the fact that i didn't exactly get to sleep in.

Hope everyone has a simply wonderful monday 

funk

the past few weeks i have been in a funk. my normal creative outlets such as this blog, and my business have been bringing me this feeling of i have to do these things instead of wanting to do them. i normally never feel this way especially when it comes to throwing dinner parties, coming up with menus, and occasionally blogging. but i find myself staring at empty menu proposals,  empty blog screens, and so on. the inspiration and motivation just have not been there. at least not on the level it normally is. not really sure what has been going on, but i think im slowly on the up and up. last week I had a small dinner party for 6 to do and for the first time in the last few months i have had that feeling that i am in the right place doing the right thing. sometimes when you have these big things you are trying to accomplish in your life and things don't seem to be going as planned you sometimes loose sight of why you are doing what you are doing. but as i had the dessert baking, and linens going down, and designing menus cards i actually had a moment of appreciation for myself and what i do. i know that sometimes people don't think my life aspirations are anything to pursue and sometimes i wonder if i am even any good at what i want to do but i think i am probably my biggest critic. i always feel like it could have been better, it could have looked better, the food could have been even better, i could have done more. if i only had more time, more money, not a full time job, not a social life, not a life period then it could have been so much better. then i remember that i am juggling all of those things plus some. we all can be so hard on ourselves instead of stepping back and seeing everything we do and the appreciating all the effort we put into things. so hopefully the funk is coming to an end. and hopefully we can all learn to be a little less critical of ourselves sometimes. 

from last weeks holiday inspired dinner

hope you have a simply thoughtful thursday