How to Throw a You've Got Mail Themed Party

I’ve seen You’ve Got Mail approximately 101 times, but it wasn’t until a few weeks ago while watching it for the 102nd time that the idea popped into my head to use the movie as the theme for a party. It was late at night, but I started rattling off notes in my phone so I wouldn’t forget my ideas the next morning. I called on my friend Mary who shares the same love for NY152 like I do, and we started planning. Her dog pictured above is named Brinkley if that tells you anything.

Up first, the invitation. We knew it had to be an email. It wouldn’t be a You’ve Got Mail party without an email in our guest’s inbox signifying they had mail. We had initially planned to host it at my apartment, but 1. it’s tiny and 2. in the midst of planning Mary had moved into the coziest new rent house that become the perfect space for our fall party.

Next, the food. We went the heavy hors d’oeuvres route with chips, dips, meats, cheeses, and New York’s signature, the black and white cookie. The only thing I made were the bacon wrapped dates. Just take a pitted date and stuff with goat cheese, wrap with 1/2 a piece of bacon and toothpick it closed. Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes or until bacon is cooked to your liking.

The theme played out in these few items: “at least it wasn’t the fish” goldfish and “that caviar is a garnish,” cowboy caviar and chips. Caviar taste on a Trader Joe’s budget was the name of the game. To end the night we served the black and white cookies with a “tall decaf cappuccino” aka decaf coffee with frothed milk. I picked up tall size cups from Starbucks to make it really feel like the movie, and then brewed a pot of decaf coffee and used my milk frother to froth up some nut milk.

For decor, we had to have a bouquet of sharpened pencils and daisies of course. Kathleen’s favorite flower. “Don’t you think daisies are the happiest flower?” I bought a few packs of these pre-sharpened pencils on Amazon, because do they even make pencil sharpeners anymore? The daisies and fall mums were from Trader Joe’s.

The mix of truffle potato chips, gold fish, and bacon-wrapped dates left me thinking “uhhh, where are my tic tacs??” A pack for each guest (that we forgot to pass out oops!) made for perfect party favors.

It turned out to be such a fun night with a really great mix of new and old friends. We had the movie and soundtrack playing through the night, encouraged everyone to come in their best Kathleen Kelly get up, and did trivia to test everyone’s knowledge. A link to my trivia and themed menu cards are linked below for you to download.

Do you recognize our outfits from specific scenes in the movie? A classic Kathleen turtleneck while ragging on Joe Fox about the caviar at the cocktail party was me, and pj’s with a trench coat full of tissues while sick in her apartment was Mary.

I hope this inspires you to host your own You’ve Got Mail party! If you do, be sure to tag me on Instagram in your party pics.

Annie

Samoa Popcorn

Girl Scout cookies, you can’t, not, love them. My top three are Samoas, Thin Mints and Trefoils. Yours?

With it being peak Girl Scout cookie season, I wanted to repurpose the coveted cookies. I’m taking the flavors of Samoas, and actual Samoa pieces and turning it into a decorated popcorn recipe. With the Oscars this Sunday, it will be the perfect snack at my watch party!

My sister, Kathleen and our two best friends Jillian and Taylor get together for almost all award shows (and pageants), especially the Oscars. I never do as well as I set out to, when it comes to actually seeing Oscar nominated movies, but you can bet I’ll be in front of the TV Sunday evening filling out my ballot and snacking on all the appropriate snacks. Exhibit A, this Samoa Popcorn.

Are you watching the Oscars this Sunday? Hit up your local scout before the big show, so you too, can make this popcorn for your viewing and tastebud pleasure!

Samoa Popcorn
yields 6-8 cups

Ingredients:
6-8 cups air popped popcorn (I used 1/2 cup kernels and 1 tbsp. coconut oil, prepared in my Lekue popcorn maker)
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup butterscotch chips*
2 tsps. coconut oil
1/2 cup sweetened coconut
5 Samoas, roughly chopped

Directions:
Line a rimmed cookie sheet with foil. Pop your popcorn and evenly distribute on your prepared cookie sheet.

In a microwave safe bowl, melt your semi-sweet chocolate chips with 1 tsp. of coconut oil in 30 second intervals. Stirring well between each interval to keep the chips from burning. Once melted, set aside. I did 30 seconds, another 30 seconds and then about 10 seconds at the end. In another microwave safe bowl, do the same with the butterscotch chips and 1 tsp. of coconut oil, then set aside.

Toast your coconut in a small sauté pan, over medium heat. Stirring often, until light brown. Don’t take your eyes off of it, this happens fast. Once light brown, take off the heat and set aside.

Now it’s time to put it all together. Using a small spatula or spoon, drizzle the melted chocolate over the top of the popcorn. Repeat with the melted butterscotch. Sprinkle the toasted coconut over the popcorn. Finish by evenly distributing the Samoa cookie pieces. Let sit until the chocolate is hardened, about an hour. Break up the big chunks of popcorn and serve!

*you can use melted caramel instead of butterscotch chips, but I just really love butterscotch and prefer the way it hardens on the popcorn.

Annie

My Oscar Ballot is from Studio DIY!

My Top 5

The go-to conversation starter in my inner circle as of late is what are your top 5. Top 5 movies first, which then leads into TV Shows. But, I also love to find out peoples generic top 5 things in life.  Here are mine.

image via

Movies: 
1.  Father of the Bride Part II (The part 2 part is very important. I love the first one but the second one reigns supreme)
2.  It’s Complicated
3.  You’ve Got Mail
4.  That Thing You Do
5.  Remember the Titans

10 important life lessons from laguna beach and the hills

TV Shows:
1.  Gilmore Girls
2.  Barefoot Contessa
3.  The Hills/Laguna Beach
4.  Parenthood
5.  Friday Night Lights

In General: 
1.  Mornings (I sleep with my blinds open because I love being woken up by the sun. I’ve been an early riser my whole life. I used to get annoyed I couldn’t sleep in and now I love it. I love mornings so much I even wrote whole posts on them you can read here and here.
2.  Washington D.C.  My love for this city will never die. 
3.  Watching Food Network (especially on Saturday mornings in bed with a cup of coffee or tea)
4.  Cooking/Baking (duh)
5.  That feeling when you slip between the covers and lay your head on your pillow after a long day. 

Your turn. Let me here it in the comments below! 

Annie

Bites of My Life

My favorite part of early fall is when the afternoon stays warm, but the mornings and evenings are slightly chilly. Perfect early morning walking weather, preferably with a cup of coffee in hand. A walk a day keeps the doctor away!

Last week/weekend was spent snuggling with my niece, embracing football games and food ;), unapologetically getting my first pumpkin spice latte (almond milk + 1 pump PS), seeing Home Again (HIGHLY recommend) and then followed by a Miss America watch party. 

-Officially Pumpkin Green Smoothie time! One of my favorite smoothie recipes ever. 
-A version of my go to "loaded salad." Apple, rotisserie chicken, roasted sweet potato, red onion, mix of lettuce and homemade balsamic dressing. 
-Still working on my spaghetti squash 4-ways post. This week was shrimp scampi spaghetti squash!
-One with the weights and a new personal record!
-Gabe and I still aren't besties but we are pretty good at taking pictures together!
-Mom and dad's equals unlimited homemade lattes with their Nespresso and my new favorite Milkadamia nut milk. 
-A Mexican spread for the OU vs. Ohio State game. Made a big batch of my Crock-Pot Carnitas with all the fixings and tons of chips and dips. 
-Sister Sunday at Midtown's Commonplace Books. 
-A throw whatever is in the fridge into a bowl kind of lunch. Results = leftover cold spaghetti squash, cherry tomatoes, roasted red pepper, parsley, red onion, capers and a drizzle of olive oil, salt and pepper!

Annie

p.s. don't miss last week's recipe post for my Double Chocolate Pumpkin Seed Cookies! 

What I'm Listening To...

Have you seen La La Land yet? It was just released in theaters nationwide on Christmas, but I urge you to get out and see it asap. It's already won arwards, predicted to win more and got 94% on rotten tomatoes, so that can help sway you too.

It's different from a typical movie, but it works. The story follows to California dreamers Mia and Sebastian as they strive to live out their goals, falling in love in the mean time. Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling (heart eyes) are amazing. There is a lot of singing and dancing, but if you aren't into that don't let it scare you. If you are into that, run to the nearest theater. Since seeing it I can't get the songs and tunes out of my head. Especially John Legend's Start A Fire. On. Re. Peat.

Annie