Planning for Friendsgiving



I tend to get ahead of myself when it comes to planning parties. I create lists for all of the imaginary parties I plan to host. I tear out ideas from magazines about centerpieces and place cards that I think would work well for said imaginary parties. I make mailing lists for all of the people who I'd love to see sitting around a table together. I tell you, there is a lot of planning that goes into these imaginary parties that will most likely never happen.

Most of these dinner gatherings end up just morphing into a regular evening of hanging out. People are invited (but not by fun mailed-out invitations), drinks are made (but not in fancy wine glasses), and food is consumed (but not in a three course meal sort of way). Laughter is always involved, so it's never a bad deal.
But Friendsgiving? Friendsgiving has always been the most elusive dinner gathering for me.

I've tried to plan one the past couple of years, but due to all the normal life things that come up between November and December, it has never come to fruition. Has this happened to anyone else? Am I the only one who has failed multiple times to provide a Friendsgiving?

This year Friendsgiving is planned for this Saturday, and I am pretty much super duper excited about it. I feel like I'm jinxing it by talking about it. Food has been planned and discussed and the prepping has begun. My place is tiny, so it will be a cozy (read: packed) evening, but I'm thoroughly excited.

Yay for food! Yay for holidays! Yay for friends!

Wish List

I pretty much always have a wish list going on. The lists consist of all items, but I tend to add way too many books, clothes, and kitchen items.
During the fall and winter months, the clothing side of the lists grows quite heavy. I lovelovelove buying layer-able clothing. Who doesn't? (OK, probably many people)

Just give me all the tights and all the scarves. All of them.

I recently added these items to the list (and I'm trying to tell myself that I actually don't like them):
                  

Why do I like those boots so much? I've never purchased a pair of Anthropologie shoes. Have any of you had good luck with them?

Boots and Tights: Anthropologie. Scarf: J. Crew

Travel Dreaming: Africa

My goal in life is to just continually travel the globe, so if anyone has any amazing ideas on how to make that a possibility, let me know.

Until then, I'll just keep compiling "dream lists" so that I know where to go when a ton of money falls into my lap.

I've been obsessed with Egypt since I was a small child. I would pour over my mom's old National Geographic magazines and look for anything Egypt related. It's also a dream of mine to come face to face with a lion in the wild. And since it's a dream, the lion would curl up at my feet and pur while I pet its mane.

Look at his face. He wouldn't hurt anyone.

Without further ado, here are the places that I would most like to visit in Africa:

The Pyramids at Giza

Tombs, tunnels, ancient everything. Sign me up.

Victoria Falls

Gorgeous, right? However, I will neverevereverever swim in the pool area on top of the falls. Who was the first person that was like, "hey, let's see if there's a spot on top of this gigantic waterfall where we don't plunge to our death?" How much trouble shooting went into that? "Well, that obviously wasn't the spot..."

Mount Kilimanjaro

Stunning. And how awesome would it be at a mountain that has giraffes around it?

Morocco

The colors. The markets. The architecture.

I just want to spend a month there and soak in everything.

Cape Town

I'd be lying if I said that one of the main reasons I want to visit this city is so that I can go on a Great White shark tour.

Oh, and it's gorgeous.

I'm sure there are countless places in Africa that are incredible and breathtaking, so that is why you should tell me what places I need to add to my list. Have any of you visited Africa?

Travel Dreaming: Europe

I am currently craving a trip to Europe.

Let me rephrase that. I am always craving a trip to Europe.

It has been 5 years since my last trip over there, and while my fear of flying across the Atlantic is OK with me staying in the US, my constant day dreaming about adventure is not.

Until I win the lottery, discover that I have an aunt who is a Vanderbilt (which would make Anderson Cooper a cousin, which would just make all my dreams come true), and/or I inherit loads of money, I will just have to keep daydreaming.

Here are the places to which my mind wanders the most:

Moscow / St. Petersburg

OK. I'm a little obsessed with Russia. Those Russians are just crazy geniuses. Am I right? If you're ever like, "Hey, I am dying to chat about the ups and downs, the highs and the lows, the music lineage, and/or the insane dictators and religious men of Russia," call me. I'm saving a bottle of Stolichnaya for such an occasion.

Salzburg

Yeah. I've already talked about my desire to visit Salzburg at one point on this blog. I now want to visit Salzburg if for no other reason than to get Igor back for dashing my dreams into the Austrian ground.

Berlin

Basically, I want to move to Germany so I can spend time in all areas of the country. I also want to become fluent in German. Wer mochte mit mer lernen?

Paris

It might be a cliche, and if the stories I've heard are correct, the people might be the rudest, but I don't care. I want to walk along the Avenue des Champs-Elysees, and take typical pictures of the Eiffel tower, and stroll across the many bridges, and sit at a cafe and feel smarter than I really am. I can't help it. While I've been in dream-love with Paris since I was a child, I blame the 1995 version of Sabrina for making me long to snap candid photos along the Seine.

London

OK, another cliche place, but honestly, I don't care. I want to go there. And, yeah. I'll probably be one of the stupid American tourists who has to take a picture at platform 9 and 3/4. Again, I don't care. The locals can make fun of me all they want.

Rome

I've heard it's a dirty and smelly city with skeezy dudes that prowl around. I will just have to try my hardest not to focus on any of those things. I'll clutch my street map and walk with purpose. That works, right?

Prague

I'm always surprised that more people don't visit Prague. Maybe they do, and they just aren't impressed with it enough to talk about it. Who has been before? Is it worth it?

What are your favorite places to visit in Europe? What European location are you just dying to visit? Let's start planning a trip.

Who's in?

Dreaming of Fall-ish Things

It never fails. It’s always around this time of year that I start craving the beginning of school and all that comes with it.

Summer is grand, it’s true. But the beginning of the school year / entrance to autumn is just, in my opinion, the best time of year.

School supplies, schedules, books, football, tights (!), boots (!!), scarves (!!!), baking (the exclamation points are endless). The list goes on.

Granted, the weather won’t start cooling down until November, but I’ll take what I can get.

Let's all dream about keeping sipping coffee with the windows open.

Also, I'm a huge sucker for elbow pads.

If it was acceptable to have them on every sweater, I would.

And, this is totally on my fall "to-bake" list. Snickerdoodle cake.

What is your favorite part of fall? Or, what isn't your favorite part of fall?

My Internal War Between The States

I am a very conflicted person.

I never know whether I should grow my hair out or keep it short.

I never know what to eat for lunch.

I never know if I should eat Ben and Jerry’s while watching a dumb movie.

OK, scratch that last one. The answer is alwaysalways yes.

Obvious ice cream questions aside, one of my major conflictions has always been trying to decide in what part of the country I would rather live.

It’s quite the inner struggle.

I grew up in northern states.

I love snow, crisp weather, and all the wonderful items that accompany those things. The excitement that comes from dashing from your car to a building while trying not to take a breath for fear that your lungs will freeze over. That cozy shiver that follows a warm sip of coffee after you’ve been out in the cold. Summer evenings where you still need a sweater after the sun goes down.

I also didn’t realize how much I took gentle breezes for granted until I moved to the land of “impossible-to-not-look-ridiculous-while-wearing-a-dress-outside.”

That’s on the Oklahoma state seal somewhere.

I’m sure of it.

But then there’s the south.

Front porches. Kudzu covered trees. Iconic food traditions. Windless days and nights. Classic colloquialisms spoken with that regional drawl.

I’m not a tea drinker, but I’m sure sipping iced coffee on a front porch would be just as delightful.

It is almost certain that I have an overly romanticized view of the south. I blame it on my overactive imagination mixed with the fact that I’ve been obsessed with Flannery O’Connor since age 14. My subscription to Southern Living doesn’t help things, either. Not to mention that I recreated Gone With the Wind with my Barbies at age 7. (Side note: pipe cleaners are an excellent substitute for whale bones when fashioning Barbie hoop skirts)

For now I’ll keep on longing for the best of both worlds here in the wind-stripped plains.

We do have the Thunder.

At least there’s that.

Travel Dreaming: USA

Usually around this time of year I start compiling all of the places that I'll visit during the upcoming summer months. Since the farthest place I'll probably travel this summer is Stillwater, OK, I figured I'd compile my dream vacation list.

In no particular order:

Savannah, GA

I mean. How could you not want to go there? The South. History. Food. Spanish moss. I dream of leisurely walking along Oak-lined streets and sipping sweet tea on a rickety front porch.

The Grand Canyon

Some of you may ask why someone who is deathly afraid of heights would want to visit the grand canyon. To them I would say, I'll look from a safe distance.

Seattle, WA

A super chill city where everyone is addicted to coffee? Yeah, I'll visit that place. I'd also like to thank "Sleepless in Seattle" for making me want to visit this city long before I truly understood why I wanted to visit this city.

Denali National Park - Alaska

I want to see all of Alaska. All of it. But since that is probably not going to be an option any time soon (or ever) I will settle for Denali National Park. Mountains, lakes, and hopefully grizzly bears. You heard me.

New Orleans, LA

This is the only location on this list that I have previously visited. I want to eat more beignets while overlooking the Mississippi. Next time I go, I will be taking a swamp tour on one of those crazy boats. I can only hope that my tour guide's name will be Jimmy Bob and that he will only have two teeth.

Yellowstone National Park

I can only hope that I would see a grizzly bear attack something

(hopefully not me or another human (unless they were a bad guy))

San Francisco, CA

Duh. I mean, duh.

I've been to San Diego and L.A., but never San Fran, and that needs to be remedied. And, yes. I will sing the Full House theme song while driving over the Golden Gate bridge.

Las Vegas, NV

Cliche? Probably. Trashy? Most definitely. Necessary? I think so.

Bryce Canyon National Park

So gorgeous. Rumor has it that there are horseback rides you can take through the park. Ummm. Yep. Going to do that.

Everglades National Park

Any place that has a road called Alligator Alley is definitely on my "to visit" list.

There you have it. My current dream US destinations. Have you all been to any of these places? Where should I go next? Who's going with me?!

Europe On My Mind

I've been missing Europe quite a bit lately.

Not that I was there for an extended period of time, but I have been there twice in real life (and millions of times in my head).


Whenever people tell me that they are planning a trip to Europe or that they just got back from one, I'll always smile and be excited for them, but there is always a twinge of jealousy in me.
I just love Europe. A lot.


I mean, how could you not? Have you seen what it looks like over there?

On the first trip, we had a driver named Igor. He was supposed to take us to Salzburg. We reminded him we wanted to go there every 5 minutes. And we would make comments like, "I can't wait to see Salzburg!" And then we'd ask what our E.T.A was to Salzburg. I think it was pretty clear we all wanted to visit Salzburg.

And then Igor told us that we passed Salzburg about 30 minutes ago.


And then my heart broke into a million pieces.

But then we stopped and ate a huge piece of lasagna, so there's that.

One day I will make it to Salzburg, and I'll say, "Take that, Igor!"

I'm being serious.

Also, I want to see this sign on the way to work.

Let's all go to Europe, OK?