Gal-entine's Day

I'm a lucky girl--I have a lot of lovely gal pals. They are amazing. Seriously. They have welcomed me when I literally knew NO ONE in the city, except for the people I brought with me (Grace and Steve, duh.) They have made me laugh, inspired me, pushed me to be better, comforted me, and uplifted me. They have babysat for my children (or held/comforted them at church when I run out of hands). Some of them have taught Gracie in preschool. Lots of them brought us meals after Charlie was born--and, even better!!!--some of them sneaked into our house when I was at the hospital having Charlie and CLEANED MY WHOLE HOUSE. I cried when I walked in the door the day we brought him home. Seriously. It was beautiful.

So to say thank you, and I love you, to these incredible and special women, I threw us a Gal-entine's shindig with a little idea I found on Pinterest: a Favorite Things party! As you can imagine, it was FRAMAZING. (Freaking+amazing=Framazing. Duh.)

Everyone was instructed to bring their favorite appetizer or dessert for the snack table. Mouth watering. I went back for seconds, and maybe thirds. Its a bit of a blur.

Suzi brought her famous oreo cake cookies--good luck eating just one of those, and Robyn kept us healthy with some carrots and hummus. I did not, because this (below) was mine. Ghiradelli brownies. (You can buy a 6-pack at Costco, but be careful--you will never ever go back to Duncan Hines.) And of course strawberries, because chocolate + tart = heavenly.

So everyone hung around and chatted...

Or bent down to be my height in pictures...

And snacked off of pink Gal-entines plates.

Eating the things you saw above as well as things like apples and marshmallow fruit dip by Melissa. Surprisingly addicting. And in the background you'll notice a bowl of m&ms (okay, that one was also mine, I just don't feel its a party without them) and some fancy oreo-style cookies from Jessica.

Cheesy bread from Panera brought by Rachel (who also happened to dine there that evening--way to treat yourself, Rachel!)

Fruit salsa with home made cinnamon chips--YUM. Thanks Erin!

And Elise brought these very Valentine's appropriate Red Velvet bars with cream cheese frosting.

How could we not be happy standing around a table like that?!

And if they weren't snacking they were snuggling on my couch...

Or just being adorable.

OR snacking AND snuggling in one picture! Magical!

With the snacking still ensuing we all took turns presenting our favorite things! It was super fun to listen to the whys behind the random and wonderful things we brought, and to see what everyone agreed was spectacular (a surprising number of us are addicted to lip balm and three people brought Bath & Body Works hand sanitizer...) among other things like...

Canteloupe, fancy hot chocolate, Nutella, peanut butter M&Ms, a Twizzler/Red Vines combo pack (because isn't that the endless debate? I'm Red Vines, Steve is Twizzlers, but somehow we make our marriage work...), orange flavored 5 gum, Flipz (those chocolate covered pretzels), Pepsi, a mix CD (you'll have to ask Suzi what's on it--I was so curious), lotions and hand sanitizers from Bath & Body Works--several people brought these independently of one another, White Cheddar Cheez-Its, Aveeno lotion, hairpins and dry shampoo, this awesome stuff that makes your fire change colors in your fireplace (you can get it in the camping section at Wal*Mart according to Rachel), a book of talks and devotionals by church leaders (we all kind of wanted to win that one), books like The Help, The Happiness Project, and The House at Riverton, Dove Cucumber deodorant, Reese's cups, Ziploc bento-style (compartmentalized) lunch containers, a handmade flower and ribbon belt (another one everybody wanted), Jolly Ranchers, bubble bath, and homemade freezer jam.

We just presented and then drew names out of a bowl and presented our favorites to each other. Everybody went home with the same number of things they arrived with--and of course two happy girls won the swag bags of extras (more of favorite-things). And everybody swapped goodies from the snack table as well.

And I sent them all home with one of my super extra favorite things for party favors--s'mores.

A lovely night. You should do this, too. It is the best. :)