Birthday Weekend: Crafts Galore and Winesgiving 2018

Call me Priyanka Chopra because I was basically super busy globe-trotting (or...Virginia-trotting) for all of November and life ain't slowing down one bit. I had a truly wonderful birthday full of friends and laughter this year and thought I'd share a few pics of our celebrations!

Amber's Favorite Things Birthday

One of my lifelong icons is Oprah, and I love the audacity of her Favorite Things. Jokingly, I said I wanted to have an Oprah-themed birthday inspired by Amber's Favorite Things and thus, my birthday party theme was born. When I thought about it, my favorite things are: breakfast pastries, crafting, mimosas and girl time. So, I invited my girlfriends over for a crafternoon brunch!

The dress code was "luxurious loungewear" and I ordered beautiful pastries from May's Parlor in Virginia Beach. The only food I had to "make" were the straight-from-Pinterest baguette cups filled with hummus and bell peppers.

My handmade mug collection ready for duty.

My sweet friend Kate brought her espresso machine over and made lattes to order for everyone (what a rockstar!).

Once the living room was set up for crafting, it basically looked like I'm running an at-home preschool art program. I was truly shocked to find out I had more art supplies to share than I could put out on one table — I have a hobby problem.

I even took a cue from Oprah and hid a few of my "favorite things" as party favors around the room. We had an impromptu scavenger hunt and people got to take home some of my iconic faves: Dr. Pepper Lip Smackers, orange Tic Tacs, Sour Patch Kids, and more.

For my craft, I ultimately just practiced my watercolor brush lettering and added some words to a friend's moon and stars paintings.

A couple friends made wreaths, like Ashleigh's winter showstopper here...

And Kate even taught herself some origami from YouTube!

It was such a fun day of just gabbing and crafting, and I honestly might want to do that quarterly.

Winesgiving 2018

The very next day, Wine Club convened for what is arguably our favorite "wine club" day of the year: Winesgiving! We introduced Winesgiving maybe five years ago and it is basically the Thanksgiving of my dreams. We all pile into cars and convene at The Cheese Shop in Williamsburg, where we collectively spend approximately $200 on gourmet sandwiches, cheeses, jams, crackers, cookies, chocolate and whatever random foods we can't resist. We stock up on our favorite snack: Torres black truffle potato chips. And then we set out for a winery to partake in wine, cheese and fellowship!

This year we ventured again to Gauthier Vineyard in New Kent County, which has a beautiful lake view and fantastic fire pit!

Stacie surprised us with matching wine tumblers that all said "#winesgiving" and we were arguably the most obnoxious clique to ever take over a winery.

It was a fantastic cap to an excellent birthday and I couldn't be more grateful for the friendship and fellowship that enriches my life. As I've aged, I've realized how rare it is to forge deep connections to form and maintain adult friendships, but I've been exceptionally lucky to have found so many members of my tribe.