Offbeat Parties

I don’t usually post about work parties, but they really are some of my favorites! It’s one of the best things about being a boss. This time, the occasion was celebrating the 2-year anniversaries of the first two people we hired on the marketing team. My co-director came up with the idea of a lightning…

On Tuesday, Nicole, Elizabeth and I got tickets to one of Yelp’s Holiday Hangover parties! This is the second year Yelp held fun free events for five nights. Our night had a 1950’s theme, with a lot of people dressed to the nines. The venue was a cool antiques warehouse (so many places to rest…

So much for a little between-holiday downtime. We seem to be racing toward 2012 at the speed of light. Lots of friends have been in town visiting – so there have been big crab dinners, rock concerts and late nights drinking champagne. On Friday, I helped put together a birthday breakfast for a member of…

This is such an easy annual party. Even when sick, it’s a breeze to put together a menu for 20+ guests. Even cute, tiny guests in velvet party dresses: The menu this year consisted of our favorite local ham roasted in the oven for 5 hours, and served with truffle mustard, a giant smoked salmon…

My word, yesterday rocked a whole lot. From opening breakfast presents to an all-out Japanese extravaganza from my team at work to a super fun party in the evening – it was a perfect birthday. We carved pumpkins and drank cocktails all evening. During carving, I roasted sheets of pumpkin seeds with different seasonings for…

For my birthday this week, Rob has planned a fun “cocktails, carving, curry and cake” party at the apartment. Here are the details he has lined up so far: Cocktails – Using the juicer to whip up some “bloody” beet or watermelon juice and make a cocktail along the lines of this recipe. Carving- We…

Margaret and I planned to throw a casual graduation party this weekend. And yesterday – it turned into an engagement party as well! So excited: Jackie is the last of our group to finish school – with her Ph.D. after years of studying Dengue Fever. Her new fiancé, Pierre, is graduating with a Ph.D. in…

Thank you Rebecca for the lovely photos and write-up of the earthquake memorial party in April. We look quite cozy all packed around the candlelit table!

If I didn’t already have so many annual parties this time of year – I would add a Burns supper to the rotation in a heartbeat. We really outdid ourselves with this event! Decorations: A plaid scarf as a runner on a white tablecloth, potted ferns, artichokes, red candles, thistle stamped napkins. Guests decked out…

Only one more day until guests start to arrive for our grand Scottish weekend. There’s a lot to do still, but I’ve completed a fun project: hand-printed napkins! I carved the thistle design over the weekend with Shane’s initials in the middle and finished the napkins last night. I think they’ll be fun customization with…