A couple of times a year now we host a casual backyard dinner party for my husband and his work teams. It has become a fun tradition where work and outside of work life collide. We love having people in our home and getting to know the people my husband works with everyday is an extra bonus.
We conveniently live just down the street from my husband's work which is out in the middle of nowhere. So people are able to pop by after work and stay for as short or long as they would like. It is low commitment on their part but provides a great opportunity for team bonding.
After two years of living here, I finally pulled out my hot drink carafes! It was so nice to dust these beauties off and put them back to work. It ended up being the most perfect fall day to accompany some warm drinks.
A friend of mine (another co-worker's wife) helps with the majority of the food. She always does an amazing job with the most delicious food. Her desserts are always a major highlight! And it frees me to focus on getting the house ready - especially this time around with my six month pregnant self!
Look at this Oreo cake! She makes everything from scratch! So impressive!
Now that we have hosted this gathering a few times, it has been fun to reconfigure the set up each time to better accommodate the festivities. Since it was such a nice crisp fall evening, I decided to keep the tables close to the fire pit. I put out blankets on the chairs around the fire and I separated the food from the desserts so people could wander around to different stations. It felt good to pull out all my old entertaining strategies!
I used some of my leftover fall decor for the centerpieces. I wanted them to be simple yet pretty. I love the ritual of walking out into the wooded area of our backyard to pick out a few stems to put in vases. And bonus - I didn't even bother to fill the vases with water! One less mess to deal with!
We even dug out our old tiki torches that we used to keep out at our home back in Sacramento. The more we entertain, the more some of our old standbys start coming out.
We continue to be in such a different season than to before we moved here. But being able to have people in our home, the creative practice of setting up for a party, and seeing these pictures keep the moment alive just a little longer - are all reminders that it is just a matter of time before we find our place. Being patient and allowing it to happen naturally has been such a gift.
