Essentially {Summer Soiree}

It's that time of year again! Time to bust out the charcoal and bug spray because summer soirees and outdoor entertaining are here again. It has to be one of my favorite times to entertain. Yes, the weather may be ridiculously hot but the sun shines a little brighter and it makes me smile just a bit bigger. While you may sweat just a bit, all the Vitamin D you are absorbing just puts you in a better mood. At least it does me! While the official start to summer isn't for another couple weeks, I've got summer fever and I'm more than ready to share my summer soiree essentials with you. Here you go!

1. Watermelon: The signature fruit of hot summer days. Light, refreshing, and full of flavor, watermelon reminds me of backyard cookouts and seed spitting contests as a kid. Embrace the fruit while it's fresh and incorporate it into recipes like watermelon salads, spritzers, and cupcakes! 

2. Fresh Flowers: They certainly do brighten up any table! Not only that, when fresh picked from your front yard, they add a personal touch that most parties lack.

3. Patterned Plates: Like these melamine ones from Target, patterned plates add vibrancy to every meal.  Melamine is perfect for outdoor entertaining as well because of it's inability to break. Drop it, step on it, or have guests throw them at one another, there is nothing this plate can't handle!

4. Homemade Lemonade: Just like Mom used to make. Lemonade is one of my all time favorite refreshing beverages on a hot summer day. I'm dying to try a blueberry lemonade! 

5. Beach Umbrellas: You don't have to be on a beach to get into the umbrella action. Try staking one in the back yard and laying under it pretending you are on a tropical island somewhere. This striped yellow one is sure to brighten up any backyard grill out and provided some much needed shade for your guests! 

6. Grill: Of course I saved the best for last. No summer soiree is complete without a grill. Grill cooking is some of the easiest, fun cooking I've ever done. Nothing beats coming home from a long day on the beach, firing up the grill, and cooking every aspect of the meal atop charcoal (or gas if you prefer). Some of my favorite gilled recipes include salads, kabobs, and peaches for dessert! 

All Wrapped Up

Saturday morning I woke up, had an energizing cup of coffee, made a list, and headed out on one big adventure to get all of my Christmas shopping done. I was determined this year not to be one of those people in hitting the mall on Christmas Eve as I was last year. Minus a couple gifts I have to wait to get when I head home next week, it all got done! But, after all the shopping, those gifts weren't going to wrap themselves. So I embarked on my next journey...wrapping. I've always liked to use the same wrapping, but this year I took it to the next level, mixing patterns and matching the paper to my tree. I loved the idea of finding all the same color paper and mixing two patterns to add a little visual interest. I topped each gift off with a wrapping of silver cord as opposed to the traditional bow to tie in the silver on my tree. 

My absolute favorite part though is how my wrapping and tree match! Thank you Target for providing such fun wrapping and then having ornaments that match two aisles over. That makes this girl very happy! 

How are you wrapping this year? My mom is going with kraft paper and rubber stamps. Another one of my favorites!