Happy Friday Friends! It was a busy week in these parts and I am glad to see the weekend...a very good busy...work picked up for me...Eva had soccer camp and Diana continues to love her dance lessons PLUS Daddy is crazy at work and loving it...so woke up with a very grateful heart today....
First things first...Happy Birthday to my amazing Dad Pete- yeah!! He is the original Clark W Griswold and we love him so much! We will be seeing him tonight and celebrating with one of my mom's incredible Italian dinners!
Today my "Friday Favorites" is going to look a little different because I am dedicating it to my Book Club. I hosted our club last night and we reviewed our latest read "28 Summers by Elin Hilderbrand".
Due to the last 6 months being so difficult, I decided to dial it up for the night and went all out. We truly celebrated the love of Mallory and Jake.
I made the meal that they ate every year on Friday night....and then added in a couple of extras....
Brie, Chutney and Water Crackers
Hamburgers (aka Sliders)
and because they ate lobster one year on a Saturday...I added in Lobster Sliders
Tomatoes with Balsamic Drizzle
Corn (aka Corn Salad)
and for dessert? Well fortune cookies of course (the Sunday Night ritual) ;)
and I added another dessert- a surprise for my guests- custom cupcakes made by Love and Flour
We had what they drank too- Chardonnay from Russian River Valley
and hydrangeas on the table of course (these are from our yard- they are growing like wild this year!)
We had some great questions that we discussed
and our obligatory group photos thanks to Robby B
We call this group the "OGs" or "Originals" ....our club has grown but not everyone could make it...our friend Lisa even surprised us and made the treck up from Maryland- she moved there last year- we were shocked and she is so glad she made the journey!
A couple of friends decided to join us too via Zoom..
It was a great night of catching up after way too long...talking about the various school plans (in town, private and colleges) and chatting about 28 Summers and our love for Elin Hilderbrand. Highly recommend this read- it has become our favorite of hers...yup even surpassed The Blue Bistro for Laura and me!
Enjoy :)
Linking up for Friday Favorites HERE
Happy birthday to your dad. What a fun book club night!
ReplyDeleteAhhh why couldn’t I have been there? I loved this post since I am reading the book. So much fun! Those cupcakes!
ReplyDeleteOH MY GOODNESS!! This is amazing! I’m totally recreating this for my friends!! This is the best!! Happy birthday to your dad and have a great weekend!
ReplyDeleteAMAZING book club night!!! Eeks, might be my favorite Hilderbrand novel too ;) You pulled off the perfect party Holly!
ReplyDeleteYou are SO FUN! What a cool idea! You took the book club to a whole new level, and I bet they all loved that. We all need those extra little joys in our life right now.
ReplyDeleteSo FUN! I would love to host a book club!
ReplyDeleteI loved it as well...not quite as much as The Blue Bistro, which is also my favorite of her books, but I would call it a close second! I always look forward to a trip (at least in my mind!) to Nantucket every hear with Elin Hilderbrand!
ReplyDeleteWhat a fun book club dinner! I just read the book so love all these ideas. Now I need to read Blue Bistro.
ReplyDeleteWhat a fun Book Club night! I love how celebratory it was! I am still waiting to get a hold of 28 Summers but I've heard so many good reviews of it that I'm even more excited to get it!
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