Last week, I helped plan and facilitate our state-wide assessment meeting at work (I feel like I sound so old when I say that). It involved lots of planning, crunching of numbers, making PowerPoint slides, and then my job specifically was to plan a celebration dinner where we honored all of our divisions with various awards.
Since we're a non-profit, and it's still a bit tough economically, the goal was to have the dinner cost as little as possible. I love a good bargain, and I love to plan a party, so this was right up my alley. I enlisted my mom to help on the day of our dinner.
{Mom and me last September in Boston. I love this pic. It reminds me of cooler days ahead!}
We had Zuzu's Mexican Restaurant cater fajitas, and my mom came to help me transform our small ballroom at the hotel into a Mexican Fiesta. She is a machine. Seriously, having her there with me to set up was such a huge help! We borrowed table decorations from her business partner and friend, Kathy, and then used some pots and other stuff from around our house as well. I'm still a novice when it comes to flowers, so Mom did those for me on Monday morning, and they added such a pop of color! It was perfect.
My favorite part was the cloth napkins we used that were all different. It just added a classy feel to the evening, instead of paper. It was totally worth ironing all 60 napkins we used that night. Fortunately, when I washed them all, I pulled them out of the dryer very quickly, so they wouldn't have time to wrinkle!
Don't these desserts look heavenly? My good friend from high school, Sarah, just got back from cooking school in London, and she's heading back soon to complete her pastry degree. She made these awesome cupcakes with dulce de leche icing. Oh. My. Word. So good. She makes all sorts of wonderful food. I'm so grateful for her generosity, her friendship and her mad chef skillz!
{With Miss Sarah at a wedding earlier this summer. Friends since 9th grade!}
{Amanda and I at our first work event together after a long day of meetings!}
And one of the definite perks of working where I do is getting to see Amanda at these meetings, on occasion. She came in Sunday afternoon and was also such a huge help, putting certificates in frames and helping me get organized for the next couple of days. She said it well: "Shay, you were kind of a basket case." I was. Which is why it pays to have such great friends to keep you from going crazy. Amanda stayed with me two nights, and we got to catch up so much and even made a Sonic run during our lunch break the first day. It was such a treat to have her here. (Even if we had to work!) She even made my bed and sent me out the door with toast every morning. Such a sweet friend!
I'm so blessed to have such great friends that are so sweet and helpful. Life would be so boring (and I would go crazy) without them!
So fun to see Sarah!
ReplyDeleteI have been trying soooo hard to find cloth napkins here and can't!! Where did you get yours?