Get in your car and drive...

Came across this picture the other day and it brought smiles.  The two of us (Jill & Kari) are at the end (standing next to each other in the fuschia top and the turquoise top).  The other gals are our cousins Heidi and Heather and the middle gal is our sister-in-law, Meagan.  The five of us have had some good times together.  This particular picture was taken during a road trip to Napa.  Fun, fun, fun.  While we had a great time wine-tasting, shopping, and enjoying the great weather, some of our favorite memories (and manic giggles) from this trip came from our time inside a car.  Yep, that's right:  inside a car!  

Road trips rule.  They are relatively cheap when you have a car-full sharing the fuel bill, and there are so many memories to be made!  The United States is a big, beautiful country and you only need a road trip with good friends to remind you of all the great places out there.  Here is a great article on Ten Great American Road Trips.  Of course, there are thousands of roads just begging to be discovered, so you needn't limit yourself to the trips in the article.  You also don't need to do an overnight road trip.  Sometimes, a road trip consists of one day, a picnic basket, an ipod full of travelin' tunes, and a map (or, if you're like our husbands, no map---just "intuition").  

Summer is rapidly approaching...why not plan a road trip for a couple days this summer?  Yes, while we know that spontaneity adds a certain something, the truth is that not everyone can do spur-of-the-moment trips.  Start planning now for a summer road trip---take lots of pictures and be sure to share them with us!

Plot a Picnic

We know the weather is pretty ugly today in parts of the United States.  We hope wherever you live, you are staying dry, safe, and toasty.  Spring is trying its hardest to get here, isn't it?  We are looking forward to picnics as the sun shines a little later into the day, as the grass is needing to be mowed more often, and as being barefoot becomes a necessary part of being outdoors.  Check out Epicurious.com for some great ideas for easy, tasty, healthy picnic food.  

If you are a person who still can't seem to muster up the courage to have a dinner party, try this:

Invite a group of friends for a picnic in the park!  Ask everyone to bring an easy dish to share and blankets to spread out.  Then, claim a picnic table at your local park, set out the food, and enjoy the sunshine.  As the hostess of such an event, bring along some frisbees or a volleyball net and ball.  Or, if you're extra ambitious, plan a fun activity while you're there.  The great thing about a picnic in the park is that there is no worrying about whether you got that last dust bunny out from under your sofa or whether your kitchen is sparkling clean.  Happy planning!

A Beautiful Easter

Martha Stewart has some beautiful Easter egg ideas.  The photo above is gorgeous, and if your up to it, we'd love to see somebody attempt this!  What really makes a beautiful Easter, though, is not the eggs or the bunnies, but the meaning behind Easter.  Easter is coming up very soon...we hope you are thinking now about who you will celebrate with.  Maybe this is the year that you offer to open your home up for Easter, inviting family, friends, and acquaintances who might not otherwise have a place to celebrate.  

Host an Easter Brunch

You've heard us chat about the very fabulous entertaining site, Hostess With The Mostess.  True, this site is a great resource for party ideas...but one thing we've grown to love the most about Hostess With The Mostess is the Recipe Box!  The recipes on this site are perfect for parties because they are yummy, eye-pleasing, and actually relatively simple!  Which means you won't have to scour Whole Foods for some crazy, obscure ingredient just to prepare these dishes.  We've picked a few below that we think would be quite delightful for an Easter brunch.
Mini Blueberry Turnovers

Vegetable Torta With Fresh Basil

Scallop Salad & Sweet Vanilla Chili Dressing

Pots of Gold Brie with Salad

Mojito (perfectly fresh for spring!)

Cocktail, anyone?

Oh, that Martha! 

This photo is from Martha Stewart Weddings, but we think it's a clever and festive way to dress a table for your next cocktail party!  Think about it:  at cocktail parties, the men are usually excited about a robust drink and good conversation about the stock market, sports, or current events while the ladies are excited about the fact that they are attending a party.  Make it a memorable event for the gals by dressing up your cocktail buffet with a strong color and florals!  This table uses bright yellow and orange orchids and sets them off with succulents and bunches of grapes.  Very pretty.  And very EASY.  Now, send out those invitations, choose a signature cocktail, and bottoms up!  (But remember:  all things in moderation, dear!)

Your Easiest Party Ever...

Spontaneity rocks.  Being spontaneous enables you to enjoy something without over thinking, over planning, or over discussing it to death.  Let's apply that same thing to parties...be spontaneous.

Your easiest party ever will be the one that is relaxed, spur-of-the-moment, and casual.  Consider this:  it's Monday today.  What if you decide tonight to throw an after work happy hour on Friday to celebrate the end of the work week?  Tonight, email your friends---a big group of 'em---and tell them that Happy Hour is at your place on Friday.  Tell 'em to come over anytime after 5:30 or so---or, tell them just to drop by whenever they get off work.  On Thursday, head to the grocery store and get a few blocks of cheese, some olives, crackers, some fresh fruit----all easy stuff.  (If you are ambitious or can enlist a willing husband, you might pick up some sausages to grill quickly, slice up, and serve with mustard).  Then, on Friday, put it all out on a table for people to graze on.  Choose only things that don't need to be kept hot or refilled.  Put it on the table and walk away...let your guests munch at their convenience.  Your only responsibility is to put a cold drink in the hands of new guests and point them toward the food.  Since you called it a "Happy Hour," you can figure folks won't stay too long and the atmosphere will be a casual open house-type event.  Easy to throw together, but it serves the important purpose of getting friends together and starting the weekend off on the right foot.  :)

Genius!

Okay, gals...this one's a goodie.  This very smart blog is called 12 Too Many.  The "photos" above explain how it works and we think it's genius!  Often, after big parties (especially weddings), you are left with a bulk amount of stuff to get rid of.  Or, you are planning a party and don't want to pay full retail for something new.  This website allows you to sell your leftovers OR sort through other people's party stuff!  What a great idea!  

{pure joy}

Rebecca Thuss = genius.  These pictures are beautiful and inspire us...we wish we had a shower to throw for somebody!  (Seriously...anyone want a shower thrown?  We need someone to get married or have a baby or something.  We need a party!)  We could plan a cozy, intimate party with 7 people or a shin-dig with 400 folks just based on these photos alone.  What a great starting point for inspiration.  It's her color combinations (we love these colors) and her obsession with paper (did we mention we, too,  are very much obsessed with paper?) that get our minds working...

A few of you have emailed us to tell us that our little ole' blog here is inspiring you to be creative and a couple of you have asked us to give more wedding tips.  We aren't a wedding blog persay, but since weddings happen to fall under Babs' repertoire (the real Babs has quite the wedding planning/helping/rescuing resume!), we will oblige you.  Look for some fun wedding ideas, tips, and overall inspiration to come in the next few months (sprinkled in, of course, with other entertaining goodies and overall smile-worthy subjects).  Maybe, maybe, maybe...we'll even share some details from the three special "Veneman family" weddings that took place in Babs' yard...)

Until then, please check out Rebecca Thuss' website for some inspirational gems.  :)  Her site is truly a feast for the eyes!

In Need of Inspiration Today...

These photos are oldies but goodies from Martha Stewart Weddings.  Not that we are planning a wedding around here at the Babs Blog (oh, but we'd love to have another wedding to plan!  The flowers!  The dress!  The par-tay!), but we think perusing the photo archives of weddings and parties in general can be a great way to kick-start inspiration.  And, boy, do we need some of that.  Both of us have our plates full with school/work/housework/being charming wives/folding the hubbies' underoos---and all other laundry/and basic day-to-day shtuff.  These old Martha Stewart Weddings photos make us smile...and we hope they make you smile, too.  Oh, and wouldn't picture #1 and #2 be great starting off points for a Valentine's soiree?

A Hostess with the Mostess party...

These beautiful pictures/party ideas can be found on another entertaining blog, Hostess With the Mostess.  May we recommend that you bookmark Hostess With the Mostess and check in regularly for party ideas?  You will be so glad you did!

Dinner Club

A few posts back, we told you about Kari's friend Linda, and her great idea to start a Dinner Club for a group of ladies. Well, last night was Kari's turn to host Dinner Club. First of all, you must know that Kari is very comfortable with setting a pretty table, whipping up an eye-pleasing, yummy appetizer spread, or even coordinating an involved, formal event for 400 people. What she is NOT comfortable with is making dinner with courses for guests. See, formal dinner parties rely on timing so that the courses line up right, the food is neither undercooked or overdone, etc. Kari would rather make the table look pretty than worry about the timing of the courses. Yet, she would be a bad Babs Blogger if she shunned an opportunity to be a hostess! So, Kari had Dinner Club at her house. And you know what? The food was fine. No, it's not likely that Kari will be asked to cater for the upcoming presidential inauguration, but everything turned out okay. And you know what else? Kari was reminded yet again that entertaining is never really about the food or a pretty table. It's about the people! Kari's guests were gracious and kind and the ladies had a lovely time laughing together and forging some new friendships. Here at the Babs Blog, we do hope that you won't let a little insecurity about timing dinner courses or messing up dessert keep you from having people in your home. Seriously, there is something so beautiful about having a group of people over in your home for hospitality and laughter. It can't be duplicated at a restaurant. It's amazing to sit, share a meal (or just cocktails and appetizers!), and share your life with other people. If you haven't done this in a long time or, perhaps, ever, it's time to find out what you've been missing out on. Building relationships is something we all need more of!

A big thank you to Michelle, Tammi, and Linda for being so very gracious as Kari bumbled along, getting the food on the table. :) Here are some details from the evening:


First of all, a simple table was set. The color scheme was inspired by the fact that Whole Foods had these beautiful pink tulips for sale. In these dreary winter months, who can resist pink tulips?


Pink accent napkins were chosen to match the tulips. Everything else was kept simple: cream and black accents.

Mini gratins in miniature Le Creuset casseroles---because everything looks yummy when it's in miniature! :)


Vanilla bean icecream and raspberries in chocolate cups. (The chocolate cups were purchased at Sur la table)

Okay, ladies...who will you invite over? When will you start your Dinner Club? Time to set a date for a dinner party and invite some women who you know you need to know better!

More Cooking Class info:

If you live anywhere near Visalia, California, you simply must give Tre Bien Fine Foods a visit! A few posts ago, we told you about our favorite place to take a cooking class in San Francisco. But, alas, Kari had to move to Visalia because she fell in love with a guy who has a job based in the Central Valley. (Really, it's not such a sob story...but she does miss Nordstrom!) In Visalia, there is a really great secret: Tre Bien Fine Foods. Elaine from Tre Bien has an exquisite menu that would fit even the most sophisticated palate. As a matter of fact, Los Angeles has been trying to steal Elaine from Visalia as she has done several private parties for Hollywood producers and actors in the last year. Tre Bien is a great place to meet the girls for lunch, as there is plenty of parking (as opposed to Visalia's downtown area). And (the real purpose of this post), Elaine does private cooking classes! Imagine how fun it would be to host the next bachelorette party or bridal shower that comes your way...and do a cooking class! Check out Tre Bien's website for more info. And if you don't live near Visalia, California----we're sorry. :( But start searching your local area for a hidden gem like Tre Bien!

P.S. If you DO live in Visalia and are looking for a special way to suprise your sweetie for Valentine's Day, you must check out Tre Bien's Valentine's Dinner, which will be offered February 13 and 14. The menu is decadent and the atmosphere is elegant and intimate. Details are on the website.

Little Traditions...

Sometimes, it is the little things that are really the most fun. In our family, we have many small traditions that make spending time together even more enjoyable. For example, on girls' weekend every year, we exchange "home-made" CD's. Every woman makes enough copies of a fun, mixed CD to hand out, and everyone goes home with lots of new music to enjoy.

When we were younger, our zany mother would create elaborate scavenger hunts for everyone to play together at family gatherings. Whoever wanted to play would split into teams and have a lot of fun trying to find Barbie, (who was usually tied to a tree in the back of the orchard.)

This New Year, spend some time thinking of some of your family's favorite little things to do together, and consider adding some new ones! These small traditions are the things that create lasting memories. We here at the Babs Blog wish you a very memorable 2009!

Those Who Cant Do, Learn

We at the Babs Blog firmly believe that entertaining can be stress-free. So if your past cooking foibles are holding you back from hosting a dinner party, consider taking some classes. We recently told you about our girls' weekend experience at First Class Cooking in San Francisco. We had a great time, and learned lots! Cooking classes are available in many large towns, and are offered through community colleges as well. If you cant find any in your area, don't underestimate the value of a good cookbook, a knowledgeable friend or even cooking shows on TV. And if all else fails..... fake it! One of us once threw a dinner party comprised entirely of take-out, (served on lovely dishes, of course!) The guests all had a great time, and that really is what matters most!

Host an Accessory Exchange!

Okay, dreary weather. Time to combat you with something fun and girlie...something totally not depressing and bleak...

For those of you who haven't been convinced to hold some kind of happy gathering during the month of January, here's another idea we're throwing your way. This one is fun and it will appeal to most of the females in your life...
Hold an Accessory Exchange! Choose a night to have your little party, print up cute invitations, send them to the stylish gals in your life, and prepare to have a good time! Have everyone bring an accessory (bracelet, necklace, ring, whatever) and set a price limit. (Times are tough...so tell everyone to keep it under $10.00 or make it clear that they can bring a gently used item that is still in good condition). Have your guests wrap the accessory in a fun way (seeing how women wrap their gifts is sometimes half the fun!). Then, on the evening of your shindig, when everyone has arrived and has a fabulous girlie drink in hand (think something pink---like 3/4 champagne and 1/4 sparkling pomegranate juice in a champagne flute), pick numbers out of a hat and let your guests select a gift from the pile. You can do this however you like---you can make it okay to "steal" the accessories once they've been opened, or you can purely pick numbers and call it good. Make it clear that trading is fine once the game is over---that way people with different tastes have a shot at trading for something they like better.

The jewelry is a fun excuse to get together, but really, the point of the evening is to get the girls together for a giggle and a night out. If you are concerned about people having to go out and buy something for under $10, you can decide to make it a rule that the accessory has to be something used from each person's jewelry box. Also, you'll want to make it clear that this is a costume jewelry exchange...so leave the Tiffany boxes at home. :)

Target is a great place to buy a piece of jewelry for under $10. Or, check out Ebay for something vintage! OR...check out Etsy, for something handmade and utterly fabulous...

In honor of the "accessory exchange" idea, check out one our favorite artists on Etsy.com.
Luxe Deluxe has so many beautiful, vintage-styled pieces...you'll be drooling in no time! Here's a sampling (for more, go to Luxe Deluxe's site!):

January Picnics

(In the top photo, from the left: Our fabulous sister-in-law Meagan, Jill, Jill's hubby Adam, our brother Matt, Kari, and Kari's hubby Robert).

Okay, we admit it...living in California has perks. The weather allows us to do fun things outside all year. Here's a couple photos from a winter picnic we went on. With Dad and Mom in Liberia this year, we needed to break tradition and do something new for our holiday celebration. So, the six of us packed into a rented minivan (none of us owns a car big enough for six people!) and headed to the Paso Robles wine region here in California, on the Central Coast. We had a fabulous day winetasting and enjoying crisp, clear winter weather. Perhaps our favorite part, though, was our impromptu lunch picnic at one of our favorite wineries, Halter Ranch. The kind ladies in the tasting room encouraged us to use the spacious porch of the beautiful Victorian farmhouse that graces the property. So we sat, spread out all of our goodies, and enjoyed a perfect lunch together.

You can see from our spread that we had more than enough. And it was all easy stuff: A variety of hard and soft cheeses, some sliced salami, proscuitto, crackers, fresh bread, hummus, mediterranean olives, pepper jelly, cut raw veggies, and a bottle of local wine. All of this was thrown into an icechest for the day, and when we were ready for lunch, it was ready in about five minutes. Easy---and delicious!

You may not live near a fantastic wine region like we do (yes, we are spoiled by wine country, fantastic mountains, the ocean---anything we want is within an hour or two. Spoiled, spoiled, spoiled!) and you may not have very nice weather right now---going outside might not be an option! But, if you are intimidated by the idea of hosting people because you're not a gourmet cook, consider bringing our wine country picnic inside your home! You need only browse a Whole Foods Market, Trader Joe's, or your local supermarket to find sliced meats and cheeses, gourmet crackers, fresh-baked breads, exotic spreads, and yummy wine. Take it all home, throw it on some cutting boards or platters, and let your guests help themselves. It's the easiest thing ever!

If you are in an area where you can enjoy the scenery this January, consider packing a picnic and getting out of the house! Our family is very adept at the picnic thing----we love it! We've sat on tailgates in the snow and shared hot chocolate and Mom's famous ham buns. We've sat on tree stumps in Dad's almond orchard and have wolfed down peanut butter and jelly. We've sat on blankets on the beach and enjoyed local deli sandwiches. Picnics are fun because they offer a change of scenery. Even, sometimes, in January!

Thank you, Linda...

Sometimes, we get so busy, we forget how important friendships with other women are. If you are a busy student, employee, business owner, mom, wife, homeowner, bill-payer, house cleaner---or any of the other million roles that women take on---you are likely to sometimes scoot your friendships to the backburner. It happens, unfortunately, because we convince ourselves that all the other stuff in our schedule is so important. It is, but so is having great women in your life to support you, encourage you, laugh with you, hold you accountable, and offer you a much needed respite from doing dishes, paying bills, and making deadlines.

Kari's friend, Linda, came up with a lovely idea: A Dinner Club for women. Linda found a group of ladies and these women take turns every month hosting a dinner in their home. The Dinner Club is a beautiful idea and Kari is very grateful to Linda for following through on the idea. Fellowship with other women is important and Linda knows that. What makes Linda even more special is that she is relatively new to the area where she lives, yet that did not stop her from inviting women she had made acquaintance with into the Dinner Club, in the hope that solid friendships might be formed.

January can be a lonely month for a lot of people. Holidays are over, the weather can be dreary, and many people experience "down in the dumps feelings" as they clean up the pine needles from the abandoned Christmas tree and wonder what to look forward to. That is why January is the perfect reason for all of you to think about establishing a Dinner Club! Or, at the very least, having one dinner where you invite some special ladies you've met to share a bite and cultivate a friendship. Consider sending out a fun invitation, so that the members on your guest list have something fun to look forward to in this very dreary month. If the idea of hosting a full-on dinner scares you, just put out a hearty appetizer spread. Or invite the gals over for dessert and giggles. Or fun cocktails. The point is, get the girls together. And try inviting someone new---someone who might be new to the area or who might need to meet a new group of friends. If you always try to include a new person on your invite list, your gatherings will never be stale and your friendships will become richer as a result. By holding your own Dinner Club this January, you'll be bringing smiles to a group of ladies who otherwise might not be having a very cheery month.

Now get started on that guest list! And don't forget to email us here at The Babs Blog to tell us how your Dinner Clubs went. If you sent us a photo of your get-together, we'll be sure to post it on the blog and let people know how you went about celebrating friendship with other women. :)

Party Tunes

When throwing a party, it can be difficult to pull all the little details together in the last minute. One of those details is music. We recommend keeping your playlists up-to-date so that when you throw a last minute gathering, you have the right music to put on. It can really be an effortless thing, but you must have your music "organized." Owning an ipod helps, for sure. And, using itunes means that you don't have to buy entire albums but can customized the playlists you keep for different parties.

If you are throwing a Christmas party for adults this year, we recommend Frank Sinatra's "Christmas Collection." You can find it on itunes and it's quintessential holiday cocktail music.

If you are throwing a laid-back dinner party, here's a playlist we can recommend. All these songs are easy on the ears...and we actually can recommend anything from these artists below. They are talented and a mix of any songs from their albums would make up a pleasant playlist that isn't full of overplayed pop music.

Dinner Party Playlist:
"1952 Vincent Black Lightning" Beth Wood
"Your Winter" Sister Hazel
"Your Song" Kate Walsh
"You'll Remember" Patty Griffin
"You Take the Wheel" Beth Wood
"You Have Been Loved" Sia
"You Are the One" (Live from the Hotel Café) Matt Hires
"Wurlitzer Prize (I Don't Want to Get Over You)" Norah Jones
"When She Loves You" Emerson Hart
"What Is the Difference" Aslyn
"What Am I to You" Norah Jones
"Weightless" Katie Herzig
"The Water Is Wide" Beth Wood
"Wally" Aslyn
"Vegas" (Live) Sara Bareilles
"Up to the Mountain" (MLK Song) Patty Griffin
"Until You Try" Katie Herzig
"Unsteady Ground" (New Version) Catherine Feeny
"Turn Me On" Norah Jones
"Trolley Wood" Eisley
"Triggering Back" Benoît Pioulard
"Trapeze" Patty Griffin
"Touch Back Down" Catherine Feeny
"Tomorrow Night" Patty Griffin
"Those Sweet Words" Norah Jones
"Thinking About You" Norah Jones
"Telescope Eyes" Eisley
"Tangled Web" (Live from the Hotel Café) Matt Hires
"Sweeter Than This" Katie Herzig
"Sunrise" Norah Jones

By the way, if you have an amazing playlist that you like to pull out for parties, please email it to us so we can share it with other Babs Blog readers. Thank you! :)

Election Madness...

Whether you vote through absentee ballot or at a poll, remember to vote! Some states are allowing early voting or, if you're like some of us, you've already sent in your mail ballot. Regardless, it's an important election and you forfeit the right to voice your opinion about the state of affairs if you don't vote!



Speaking of voting, you might want to consider an Election Day Party to celebrate the end of the campaigning! You can gather the fun party items above for your Election Day Party from Plumparty.com. It's up to you how you want to handle the Election Day festivities. You might only invite those that are from your party or you might decide to mix Democrats, Republicans, and Independents alike. The most important thing for an Election Day Party is to have the TV on with election coverage and provide plenty of drinks and food. That way, even if the voting doesn't seem to be going your guests' way, you can still send people home full and somewhat happy.

Halloween Party Idea

Alas, sometimes the best-laid plans just don't materialize. The above invitation was created for a potential Halloween cocktail party that one of us was planning on throwing (with lots of help from the husband!) We were anticipating the end of our lengthy home remodel and we were going to celebrate with a little seasonal revelry. However, our renovations won't be completed in time and some other commitments came up, making the party a non-event. So...we thought we'd at least post our invitation idea so maybe some of you who are thinking of throwing a last-minute Halloween bash will be inspired! Ours was to be a theme party, but you could easily just do "Cocktails and Costumes" without any specifications. If any of you throw a great party, we want to hear about what made it a success! Happy Halloween!
P.S. You can click on either invitation picture to see it enlarged.