The number one thing that gets me through winter (and let’s be honest, the very wintry spring we had this year!) is thinking about how gloriously wonderful summer will feel when it finally arrives. I start making a mental bucket list of all of the things I want to do when warm-weather hits, and at the top of my list is usually entertaining outdoors. My friends at Better Homes & Gardens have been getting me extra excited for some al fresco celebrations this summer with their annual Summer Entertaining Guide! It’s chock full of great entertaining tips, cocktail recipes and outdoor decor ideas (oh, and a giveaway for a $250 Crate and Barrel gift card!). Flipping through this inspiring guide got me thinking about a few of my own favorite summer entertaining tips:
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Please note: This post was created in partnership with Christmas Tree Shops® andThat!. All opinions and content are my own. Thank you for supporting brands that support this site!
The weather seems to be inching farther and farther away from a never-ending winter, and closer each day to the promise of summer parties and al fresco dining! Eating dinner outdoors has to be the number one warm-weather activity I look forward to as the seasons change. Living so close to the ocean, combined with my affinity for all things nautical and preppy, I more often than not like to give my outdoor table a festive sea-inspired spin when I’m hosting guests.
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Just a few more days until Easter, so I’m rounding up some of my past favorite ideas for this springtime holiday. Dessert and brunch recipes, easy DIY projects, hostess gift ideas, and inspiration for your Easter dinner table below — hope you get the creative juices flowing and bring some spring to your celebrations! 
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I always look forward to Easter celebrations, because it usually means that spring is finally in the air. The flurries outside of our window today are telling a different story though — spring seems to have missed the memo this year! In fact, I’m hunting right now for tights and wool sweaters and boots for Jane to wear with her Easter dress. Brrrr! With the weather refusing to cooperate, I’m gathering all of the spring inspiration I can indoors and translating it into a spring tablescape that feels like warm weather is on the horizon.
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I am compensated by Keurig Green Mountain® for sharing my view; all opinions, images, and content are my own.
I’m a total Valentine’s Day nerd, I love the pink hearts and the sentimental cards, and I really love the excuse to indulge a little bit with some sweet treats! It seems that over the past few years, the idea of a “Galentine’s Day” party, to celebrate with your best girlfriends, has become almost more popular than the actual Valentine’s Day occasion. I get it, my girlfriends are way more into flowers and cute cards and heart sunglasses than our husbands likely are. Why not celebrate with them? I have some sweet ideas to get you inspired to throw your own Valentine’s Day coffee and cookies party with your best buds or your own sweetheart!
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This post was created in partnership with Angie’s BOOMCHICKAPOP; all opinions, images and ideas are my own. Thank you for supporting brands that support this site!
My brain has been colliding with lots of conflicting new recipe ideas for the New Year. On one hand, I know that everyone wants healthy ideas this time of year, with resolutions fresh on our mind. On the other hand, we have been snowbound the past few weekends, camped out on the couch watching football and movies and needing some delicious snacks to fuel our coziness. I’ve been thinking, is it even possible to think of snacks and entertaining ideas that cross these two categories? And then my friends at Angie’s BOOMCHICKAPOP sent me some of their classic popcorn flavors in the mail and the light bulb went off. My Sunday afternoons have been missing a football-viewing popcorn bar.
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When I was still pregnant with Jane, my family was joking around and asking me if I had a theme for her first birthday party yet. Oh, they joked, but I honestly already had been thinking about how fun it would be to get to throw birthday parties for her. Over the last year, I tossed around idea after idea, and finally settled on a theme fit for our sassy, funny, little daughter who loved to say RAWR: dinosaurs. Jane loves books about dinosaurs, the toy dinosaurs at our local library are the first thing she crawls to when we visit, and she believes that all animals, no matter how big or small, say “roar” just like the dinosaurs. 
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This post was created in partnership with Keurig Green Mountain®; all opinions, images, and content are my own.
The days have gotten shorter, the wreaths and lights are going up around the neighborhood, and this week I finally broke down and pulled out our basket of hats and mittens for the cold weather; it feels like winter! In the summer we have tons of friends and family visit us — living by the beach lures them in! When we have friends and family stay for the weekend this time of year though, I find that we spend a lot more time cozied up inside our house enjoying slow mornings full of brunch and pajamas and lounging on the couch. Given that we spend a bit more time at home during these chilly holiday weekends, I’ve been brainstorming fun ways to make our mornings with houseguests a bit more special.
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When it comes to holiday decorating, I work my way through the house and add touches of festive details wherever I can. The mantle and staircase get garlands, the dining room gets updated linens for the season, and the front porch gets adorned with wreaths and greens. My favorite place to add festive touches is a high-traffic spot during the busy holiday entertaining months: my bar cart. I thought I’d share a few of my favorite styling tricks for decking out your bar in the most festive ways for the holidays:
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You’ve cleaned the house, you’ve ordered your groceries, the apron is on and all that is left to do is prep the holiday meal. Of course there’s one other item on the list that you forgot to tackle: putting together a Pinterest-worthy tablescape for your beautiful meal and gracious guests. I can sense the eye-rolls as you read this, because with everything else going on with holiday preparations, who has time for that?! That’s why I have four easy DIY ideas to dress up your place settings for the holidays that should take under 5 minutes to make and use simple household supplies:
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I'm Kate, and I like to
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