It’s been a crazy month! My birthday party, going to New York, traveling to LA for work… I haven’t been home all that much lately! I finally got a chance to go through my photos from my birthday party, which we threw on Saturday, November 6th. My actual birthday was on the 13th, but we were away for New York so we moved the party one week earlier. Hard to believe I’m already 26! It was a blast!

This year’s party was quite different than last year’s party. The theme this year was “Champagne and Tequila”… so we didn’t have to spend too much time mixing drinks. It was a delicious and dangerous combination

I made a triple batch of my favourite chocolate chip cookies recipe for the party.

This year, I decided to have the party catered by Smoke and Bones BBQ Catering. They are based here in Vancouver and do AMAZING BBQ catering. They bring this super cool smoker truck along to their events! All smoking and cooking is done at the event.

I ordered their amazing award-winning BBQ baby back ribs, smoked chicken wings and drums, and award-winning baked beans (with secret ingredients!), cornbread, and coleslaw. It was a delicious spread.

I can’t recommend them enough. They are very professional, prompt, reasonably priced and the flavours of their food is incredible. I will definitely be booking again with them next year.

We also had a keg of GIB Gastown Amber Ale!

The rest of the party was a lot of fun. I drank a little more than I normally do at my own parties, so I probably look quite silly in these photos. Apologies

Quite a few people attended — we had about 150 people over the course of the night.

Oh yes, the snake wine that a friend brought. This was horrible… pretty much the worst thing I have ever had to drink. Never again!

There was a lot more space this year since we had both the outside, inside, bedroom, and sports room open. The tent on the patio really helped keep everything warm, dry, and toasty!

I wore a floor-length dress from BCBG Max Azaria and coral pink Ferragamo shoes. Needless to say I tripped over myself a couple times

We had a great time!

The cookies were all consumed.

And so was a lot of champagne and tequila! All in all, a very fun night. Thanks to all my friends who came out — it was the best birthday present ever to see you!

This past August, Allan and I threw an engagement party for our friends and family at my parents’ house here in Vancouver. It was a blast to see all our family and friends together in one place! Here is a photo of Allan and I with my parents who were hosting the party.

It was so nice to share this special day with close friends.

My parents completely transformed their backyard… it tooks months of cleaning and clearing to get all the junk and vegetable/fruit plots out of the garden and make it suitable for a garden party. We also put up a tent and put a bunch of patio furniture out for the party.

I love this photo of all my girl friends from high school (and Allan)

We were blessed to have a few of them fly in from out of town! We’re still friends after all these years, and some of them I am even friends with from elementary school!

I created a drink list for the party. My favourite was the strawberry rhubarb gin fizz which I made with a fresh fruit puree.

Mmmm mojitos…

I also served my signature drink, which is an iced watermelon mojito.

We had a champagne toast!

It was so hot that day there was almost no ice!

My dad and Allan BBQed up some delicious ribs with my dad’s secret recipe.

My mom and dad and cousin made all the food for the party from scratch! I really couldn’t believe what an amazing spread they put out.

From calzones and other appies…

… to chicken satays and hamburgers…

… to all sorts of other dishes!

It was a hot day but we tried to keep cool with a keg, some shade and iced drinks!

Yay for awesome friends!

Enjoying the food…

Hanging out…

A planter on the patio…

My dad was making cappuchinos, espresso and coffee!

My mom served homemade gelato with homemade waffle cones!

Not to mention a lot of other dessert like her tiramisu…

… chocolate macarons…

… and a fruit parfait!

It was a wonderful day to spend with our friends. Thanks to my parents for hosting and all our amazing friends for coming! We had a blast!