little things i love

I’ve been busy around here finishing up the invites for our next birthday party: a luau for Sophie’s 8th. The invitations are my favorite part of putting together a party, and this invite idea began with me trying to make mini leis using baker’s twine and some paper flowers. They were pretty, but I couldn’t quite pull the look together so I ended up stringing the flowers across the top with the twine and secured a couple more with jeweled brads at the bottom. Beautiful coordinating papers I found from the Ambrosia line by Bo Bunny tied in perfectly with the party’s Hawaiian colors.

As usual for her parties, Sophie had a definite opinion on the invitation’s design and especially the wording. After several tries, together we came up with our sweet little poem, and now she can’t stop reciting it. We are getting excited for our little sister’s big day. I’m having fun planning for the delicious food, perfect party favors and even a hula lesson. And as for the decorations, I’ve got a great idea for a new banner and a some cool arrangements with paper flowers and lanterns that I’ve seen on Pinterest – I can’t wait to see how it all comes together. The anticipation is so much fun!

Born and raised in the heart of Florida, I’m a true southern girl and, as such, I love southern cooking. We had some friends over for dinner last night, and I was excited to make one of my favorite sides: cheese grits. In the South, grits are not simply for breakfast and, in fact, a number of our favorite upscale restaurants in Atlanta serve grits as a side item to chicken, fish, steak or pork. I served this delicious cheese grits casserole once to my supper club and laughed when our very Parisian-chic member said to me, “Carrie, what is this grit?” in her strong French accent. For those not familiar with grits, I often compare them to polenta. At our dinner party last night, we threw some flank steak on the grill, and I served it up with a mixed green salad and grits. The results were perfect. Our friends’ kiddos were a little skeptical at the start, but with the first taste I had them – they gobbled it up! This is a great recipe to add a little southern flare to your meal.