NYE Recap – A Taste for Wine & Murder

January 6, 2016
by Emily

This NYE was ridiculously fun.  I was so excited to spend it with old friends (sorority sisters) and new (my trivia team).  Honestly we had such a great time.  We did a murder mystery dinner party, A Taste for Wine & Murder, which was so much fun.

the murder mystery

We had such a fun time with our murder mystery.  Everyone in the group was really invested in their characters (think very thick Russian accents and actual Italian all night long) and in the story.  How could you not be when the setting is a winery?

Rating: 9/10

I loved the game and we had a great time, probably one of the best boxed murder games I’ve ever done.  The only downside was that the “nonessential” characters were so nonessential we had to really stretch it.  Luckily my girlfriends were good sports about that!

Food

We had such an amazing dinner.  Financially it was a great decision to stay home as we ended up doing it potluck and everyone saved a boatload of money even though we had a more lush meal.  We started with appetizers – crackers & a variety of cheese from Trader Joe’s, as well as veggies and dip.  We moved onto a really great salad and then had filet mignon, crabcakes, mashed potatoes and roasted Brussels sprouts for our main course.  We rounded out the evening with a platter of peppermint brownies and raspberry brownies.

Rating: 10/10

Surf and turf is such a staple to me as a NYE dinner, but it’s so expensive when you go out.  Great decision to opt for staying in.

Drinks

We drank wine, of course!  Since the mystery setting was a Napa winery, we had to imbibe on amazing reds and whites.  My favorite of the night was the Apothic White blend.  We also had a great Malbec and a Pinot Grigio.  Obviously at midnight we rounded it out with champagne.  My favorite place to buy alcohol is Costco.  Seriously the prices are amazing, especially on the Kirkland brand, which usually is manufactured and bottled at wineries/distilleries more well known.  Since they are essentially the same and 1/2 to 2/3 of the cost, it’s a no-brainer!

Rating: 8/10

Our drink selection was great and I loved everything I had, but it definitely would have been great to have our own bartender for the night!

Bachelor Premiere Party Plans

December 14, 2015
by Emily

One of my favorite events with my girlfriends is getting together to watch The Bachelor and The Bachelorette.  It’s so fun to get together for the premieres and finales and watch (okay, mock) the show together.  Everyone brings a snack or drink to share and a few of us provide the additional entertainment.

Last season, we watched as Kaitlyn and Shawn got engaged at my recap party and in just three weeks, we’ll watch as Ben Higgins looks for love with a new group of women.

I absolutely love the Evites I sent out.  they’re so pretty and perfectly fit the rose theme.  I opted for this hot pink petals theme from Evite.com.

invitation blurred

On top of my cute evites, I put together an official bracket so everyone can enter “Bachelor Madness” and a lookbook so all the ladies can make notes or just have pictures and background info to refer back to.  PDFs can be downloaded here and here.

Bracket

Bens Ladies

One of the best things about these events are that they’re really good for introducing people from different parts of your life.  Of course, I invite my girlfriends, but I also have my cousins and aunts and some of the girls from work!

Clay Tile Class at the Brandywine River Museum

September 29, 2015
by Emily

Since I’ve been on yet another hiatus from Dela Darling, I thought I’d come back with a really fun post.  Allllllll the way back in July I took a clay tile class at a local museum with two of my girlfriends.  I had seen the event on the museum website and with a pricetag of $20 for the class with my own tile to take home I couldn’t say no!  (It doesn’t hurt that it was BYOB.  I’ll pretty much attend any event that’s BYOB!)

When we arrived the tables were all set with the materials we would need and there was a separate table with all of the snacks.  I couldn’t resist at least one sweet treat while I was there!

The program started with a look at the tiles on display and some background on the style and artist.  Since I have close to no artistic abilities I’m always so impressed by collections like this.

The tiles were a collection done by Henry Chapman Mercer (Moravian Pottery and Tile Works in Doylestown, PA) and were originally created for installation in a single home.  This series, Moravian Tiles of the New World, originally consisted of 29 tiles, but Mercer eventually created over 70.  We were able to see 25 of the original 29 and I snapped some pictures (above) of the ones that really stood out to me.

After being given directions by our teacher, we were left to start creating.  Essentially we just carved the pieces that would “pop out” and then overlaid them on our original tile block, gluing them together.  I even created my tile from scratch.  That’s right: no stencil or ghost artist!

I just loved how my little Alphie turned out and can’t wait to figure out how to display him!