It’s Not Too Late for a Rosé Tasting Party

Entertaining

The summer entertaining season is winding down, but that doesn’t mean you can’t squeeze a few more fetes onto your social calendar. I’m the first to make an excuse to get girlfriends together for much needed mama time. You know it’s going to get sparse as we get deep into fall. So I recently gathered some of my blogger besties for a little rosé tasting party! It combined all of my loves – designing a gorgeous table, trading blogger (and mama!) tips and sipping on lots of yummy wine of course.

To set a stunning scene, I turned to Shutterfly. Long known as the go-to site for personalized cards and photos, did you know you can also flex your creative muscle personalizing your home decor too? I had a ball creating a lovely tabletop for my wine tasting soirée.

I started with all the glassware. I decided to create wine glasses marked with ROSÉ. Too cute right? I also thought personalizing a lovely wine decanter for pouring would be fun too. To keep with my french theme, Salut seemed only fitting. I loved playing with all the fonts and styles on Shutterfly until I found the one that was picture perfect.

I’m also rather obsessed with Shutterfly’s adorable packaging!

But it’s not a proper wine party without lots of little nibbles. Shutterfly also offers gorgeous marble cheese boards and wood cutting boards so I scooped up a variety and marked them in different of ways – from noting whether a board was for fromage or charcuterie to simply designing one board with the words bon appêtit. I also couldn’t resist creating a bespoke APT34 breadboard too!

But I really had fun creating place settings and wine tasting notebooks for my ladies. I chose a palette of black, gray, navy and gold. It kept the table from feeling overly feminine but these pieces also melted my heart – because they feature watercolor art my toddler painted! Turning my son’s art into plates and notebooks on Shutterfly was so easy. All I had to do was upload a scan of his artwork and voila! I had lovely glass dishes and cute notebooks for each guest.

For the party, I decided to set the event up as a blind wine tasting. That means you don’t know anything about what you’re drinking. Being a long-time wine geek, I love the process of tasting wine, having to describe what you’re having, comparing one wine to another and really thinking about what you like or don’t like. It’s a really fun exercise and quite educational if you’re a wine novice. While rosé is often referred to as the pink water of summer, there are actually very good rosés out there. You just have to know what you’re looking for.

shop the post: glass plates / notebooks / wine glasses / marble cheese boards / wood cutting boards / glass wine decanter / table throw

Throughout lunch, we sipped on each wine, talking about the flavor profile (fruity or earthy?) how heavy or light it felt, how it paired with the food, which one we thought was the cheapest or the most expensive. Conversation may have also frequently wandered to toddler tantrums and what the heck is up with Instagram these days, but we tried to stay focused on the task at hand! Upon the final reveal, we discovered everyone actually liked the mid-tier, $16 bottle of rosé from California best.

All in all, the party was a total success. Thanks to Shutterfly, I was able to design a unique, personally meaningful way to bring friends together. The pieces I designed on Shutterfly made what could have been any old lunch feel a little more extraordinary. But in the end, the afternoon wasn’t really about the wine. It was about the company, the conversation – the bringing together of friends that we’ll all remember.

I highly recommend checking out Shutterfly to help make your next gathering a little more special.

original photography for apartment 34 by stephanie russo, florals by lambert studio

This post is in partnership with Shutterfly. All thoughts and opinions are 100% my own. Thanks for supporting posts that have kept apartment 34’s doors open.

Tasty Tuesday: A Friendsgiving to Remember

Entertaining

‘Tis the most wonderful time of the year! No, not that holiday with all the presents. Sure that one is fun and all. But Thanksgiving has long been my favorite annual gathering because it’s a food lovers holiday. Thanksgiving offers the chance to indulge in all my favorite things; time with the people I love and care about, amazing food, delicious drinks and gorgeous tables. I don’t know about you, but I feel particularly ready to pause and take stock of what I’m thankful for this year. I recently had the chance to celebrate Friendsgiving (because when you can do Thanksgiving more than once you should!) and am so thrilled to get to share it with you today.

This Friendsgiving gathered some of my favorite San Francisco bloggers including Caitlin, Jeanne, Erica, Todd, Amanda, Nichole and Therese. We all came together in this beautiful setting, everyone contributing something to the scene. With this many talented people in one room, I was confident every detail was going to be on point. The day certainly lived up to expectations.

Caitlin was in charge of setting the table. I love how her rustic chic tablescape came together. Vintage brass, simple florals and touches of green in apothecary bottles made the table feel light and airy, but still festive. Mismatched antique silver and a collection of vintage glassware kept things from feeling stuffy. The layers, the textures, the colors. Everything was spot on. Erica added a personal touch with lovely placecards. She created a little bouquet wrapped with twine and a personalized tag written in calligraphy to sit atop each napkin – such an elegant touch is perfect for a holiday. When the food was added, the wine poured and the candles lit, the table came alive with color and warmth.

Of course it wouldn’t be a proper holiday without a celebratory outfit. We all partnered with Banana Republic, Gap and Old Navy to find the perfect looks. The best part of a Friendsgiving is the come-as-you-are vibe. There’s no pretense with friends. No one you need impress. You can simply be you. My look – a classic pair of dark jeans, a cashmere sweater, a brocade jacket and a statement making heel – made me feel like a million bucks. Exactly what this mama needed! You can create a similar look right now because you can save 40% off everything at Banana Republic and Gap and Old Navy (well through TODAY so shop fast!). Just be sure to use the code FRIENDS at checkout. You can get all the details about my outfit here and everything I’m wearing (along with a few extra faves) are at the bottom of the post.

I was asked to contribute the cheese plates for the day’s festivities. I have a bit of a proclivity for them (as this post and this post attest!) There is no real secret to creating a good cheese plate. I love to offer a lot of variety, a lot of color, texture and something unexpected. For these cheese plates I found fresh Moroccan dates – those bright yellow things – that were indeed edible and certainly unique. A mix of crusty bread and herbed crackers allow guests to mix and match flavors to their hearts’ content. Some beautiful concord grapes, figs and olives offer a nice mix of salty and sweet.

Of course it is fun to set a beautiful scene and feel ready to celebrate, but I really love the sentiment of the Cesar Chavez quote that Caitlin had made into a wall hanging:

“If you really want to make a friend, go to someone’s house and eat with him…the people who give you their food give you their heart“

Rather than get caught up in the rush this season, I want to make a point to sit down and break bread with my friends, my family – any and everyone I care about. Because ultimately it is those connections, that friendship and that love between people that matter most – no matter the time of year.

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours.

SHOP THE POST

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For more Thanksgiving table inspiration CLICK HERE

For my favorite Thanksgiving recipes CLICK HERE

For seasonal cocktail ideas CLICK HERE

set design by caitlin flemming / photography by delbarr moradi / food by jessica robertson / props from elsie green

this post is in partnership with Old Navy. all thoughts and opinions are 100% my own. thanks for supporting collaborations we’re excited about and that have kept apartment 34’s doors open.

Our Top 10 Posts

Business of blogging

While I was trying to stay offline as much as possible during these waning days of 2015, I couldn’t help but look back at the past year and take a little stock. It’s been quite a momentous 365 days – major {never-ending}home renovations, fantastic travels, and oh yeah, I had a baby! And I’d like to think there was a decent post or two in there as well.

In all seriousness, scrolling back through our work this year it’s pretty amazing to think about where this little space has become in the course of its existence. Nearly nine years and counting. There are certainly a lot of blogger babes {and a guy or two of course} who do all of this much better than I, but I so love our little corner of the internet and the privilege of getting to create with an awesome team. Here are some of the highlights.

2015 started on a high note with this beautiful floral garland balloon DIY that we dreamed up with one of our favorite florists, Natasha Kolenko. It wasn’t easy transporting the giant 3-foot balloons to our shoot location. In fact, with torrential downpour and insanely high winds, Bianca almost blew away. But perseverance makes perfection and we were floating on cloud nine when we saw the results of our efforts!

We kept the sweet life going with this mouth watering ice cream cookie sandwich recipe. Things got messy as we raced against the clock to get the shots we needed – working with melting objects definitely ain’t easy. Not to mention, we “had” to sacrifice our figures {ok, I was 39 weeks pregnant at the time} for some taste testing, but the final images from photographer Aubrie Pick are some of our favorites from the entire year!

Just before I popped out the kid, the team put in as many jetsetting miles as possible. But nothing beat the beautiful oasis of the Four Seasons Biltmore Santa Barbara where I babymooned my butt off. The trip was a magical retreat filled with scrumptious meals, hours of relaxation {by the hotel’s insanely gorgeous pool and beach!} and of course, a heavenly spa day.

With little time to go, the loft revealed another one of its many tricks: reinventing itself. We were able to transform the space yet again to make way for baby. The team office sadly had to go, but look what came out of its farewell – a calming yet striking black and white master bedroom-nursery that everyone quickly fell in love with!

Oh and speaking of falling in love, Carter Joseph was born, making his debut into the world at 22 inches and 8.2 lbs on April 9. He is by far the best of moment of 2015!!

With baby Carter came lots of changes, including yes, reimagining our living room for the… tenth time?? Out went the small choking hazards and in came cozy textures, lots of layers and big statement pieces, like theEmily Jeffords art piece from Minted above the mantel. The baby proof living room is serene and sophisticated – exactly the environment one craves with a newborn at home. When it looks like this. Which is a bit rare these days.

Of course, we came across some epic blogs this year as well. They always inspire to up my game. Our top 3? A clean-eating food blog that’ll blow your mind: Tasty Plan. A lifestyle blog, No Home Without You, that is so cute and full of inspiration you’ll never want to leave the site. And a design blog, Milo and Mitzy, that’ll fulfill any decor lover’s obsession forever.

Middle of the night feedings and no sleep also meant there was a lot of hours spent on Instagram. It’s an addiction and we’re ok with that. We discovered a ton of new Instagram accounts to obsess over this year. If you haven’t followed them yet, here are our top six must-follows: @juleytl @joshuaraymund @trishates @frostyphoto @housetweaking @murlifestyle, but you can see our running list here.

And since cold weather was late this year, we took advantage of the Bay Area Indian Summer and toasted to good times with girlfriends with this giant cheese board and some Aperol spritzes. It was a simple idea with a dramatic impact that we will most certainly do again and again. Because we’ll never say no to sitting outdoors with friends and catching up over cheese and cocktails!

And then there’s our house. We’ve been remodeling the 150 year old beaut for so long now I’m sure it feels redundant at this point, but this fall we started to see some real progress. We’ve finalized a lot of our design decisions – paint colors, lighting, tile. And finally the finish work is underway. That means it’s starting to look like a livable house. Woot!

You can expect progress posts to be a lot more frequent in the new year. And we might even move in pretty dang soon. I’m not going to say a date so I don’t jinx it but if the construction gods are on our side, it should be sooner rather than later. Then a whole new world of decisions are going to open up as I start step two – actually furnishing the whole dang place! I cannot WAIT to start that design process – and to share it with all of you of course.

I never intended 2015 to be quite so jam-packed, but it’s hard to complain when so many positive things come your way in one year. 2015 was also a big year of transition and change – personally – professionally. But with change comes opportunity; opportunity to try new things. To change direction. To uncover possibilities that you may never have otherwise considered. To have options is a gift in itself.

So while I don’t know exactly what 2016 is going to look like for me, or for this blog if I’m going to be perfectly honest with you, I’m excited to start 2016 fresh. Clear eyes, full hearts, can’t lose. That’s the saying right?!

In fact, you might see a VERY fresh start here very soon.

Happy New Year!

image 1 by emily scott // 2, 4, 6 by aubrie pick // 3 by arna bee photography // 7 via No Home Without You // 10 by ashley batz

Summer’s Signature Drink – the Aperol Spritz

Entertaining

Well friends, it’s official. The first day of Fall is here! But it has me feeling a little torn. Now I luv summer as much as the next girl. Long days, warm temps, dreamy afternoons spent on a beach {or at least dreaming of one}. But I also love when the seasons change. It always feels like a breath of fresh air. A new beginning if you will. And just because summer is saying see ya, doesn’t mean entertaining season is ending. Oh contraire! We’ve actually been enjoying a seriously gorgeous Indian Summer in San Francisco right now. So I say set aside a little time to gather friends and enjoy that waning evening light while we still can! In fact, we did exactly that last weekend and the results were equal parts yummy and lovely – if I do say so myself!

Our mission was simple. Gather some of our favorite ladies for an impromptu happy hour. The ingredients for a successful happy hour aren’t complicated either. Copious amounts of easy to snack on food, a killer outdoor patio and a fabulous drink of course. But remember, just because something’s impromptu doesn’t mean it can’t be pretty! Today we’re revealing our tricks to creating a stunning little feté in no time flat {seriously!}.

Step 1: Set the scene. An outdoor patio decked with a farm table and bench seating is easy and relaxed. We were lucky enough that our table happened to be marble-topped but any wood table would be just as pretty. A string or two of cafe lights are extra nice touch. You can leave them up pretty much all year ’round. A few simple flower arrangements plucked straight from the garden are also a thoughtful detail.

Step 2: Don’t skimp on your place settings. When you want to up the ante for your gathering, paper and plastic just won’t do. But again, you don’t need to slave away. We relied on the services of Mrs. Peasy Party Box Rentals who provides gorgeous plates, flatware and glasses for rent! She’s got pre-designed boxes featuring gorgeous items like Heath Ceramics dishware and vintage cutlery. Or you can do what we did and simply mix and match your own set up. The best part? You can drop it all off dirty so your end of party clean up is pretty much done before you even start. It’s genius.

Step 3: Create a humble feast. For our happy hour we decided to create the charcuterie board of champions. But again the task required little else than a power shopping trip at Trader Joe’s and an epic 3-foot long wood board. Cured meats, crackers, cheese, olives, pickles, fresh berries & figs, dried fruit, nuts and our little trade secret – fresh flowers created a truly stunning display. Piling everything high makes your board so pretty you almost don’t want to dig in and mess it all up. Almost.

Step 4: Serve a signature drink! The true star of our party was our cocktail – the Aperol Spritz! Now this drink is near and dear to my heart. A traditional Italian apertif, Chris and I enjoyed a Spritz (or 5 or 6!) in Venice – the drink’s actual birthplace – during our honeymoon and I’ve loved them ever since. They’re totally refreshing – a true before dinner sipper. And the best part? They’re super easy to make. No professional mixologist skills needed here. You’re not concocting homemade syrups or adding tinkshers with eye droppers. The recipe is so simple every party guest can whip up one for themselves – yet another way to take some pressure off of you! Don’t worry – we’ve got the recipe for you at the bottom of this post!

But first we have to give you the final step in our happy hour master plan.

Step 5: Sit back, relax and have a grand old time!! There’s nothing better than some quality catch up time with girl friends. Even with today’s overly packed schedules, offering a chance to enjoy a refreshing drink, a bite to eat and some great conversation is pretty irresistible. We’re quite confident your girls will show up for a gathering like this #squadgoals.

Recipe: The Aperol Spritz

3 parts prosecco
2 parts aperol
1 splash of seltzer

Add a few ice cubes to a wine glass. We actually used oversized square cubes in our drinks. Pour in your prosecco. Then add your Aperol. Top with a generous splash of seltzer. Give your drink a swirl, garnish with orange slices & an orange peel twist if you like. Betcha can’t enjoy just one!!

FOR MORE OF OUR FAVORITE COCKTAIL RECIPES, CLICK HERE

FOR MORE ENTERTAINING IDEAS, CLICK HERE

original photography for apartment 34 by ashley batz // florals by natalie bowen designs // dishware by mrs. peasy // styling by apartment34

This post is in partnership with Aperol. All thoughts and opinions expressed are 100% our own. Thanks for supporting partnerships that help keep Apartment 34’s doors open!

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