Sunday, January 15, 2012

Blogger Meet-up

It's been a good weekend.  Not the most productive one, but hey, I have Monday off (from nannying).

While I was home over the holidays, I felt a need to connect with more people in the blogging community.  Sure, we read posts and write comments, but these days, it's too easy to replace face-to-face time with online communication.  I shot an email to a few girlspeople I knew from the blog world and "real life"and suggested a blogger meet-up.  Those girls invited some others, and soon enough, we had a nice little group assembled... so on Saturday afternoon, Jillian of Cornflake Dreams hosted a bunch of us Chicago blogger ladies. 

Everyone brought an appetizer or wine, so we sipped, sampled, and got to know each other better.  It was a really nice afternoon... I was happy to broaden my little blog network... and the food was sooo yummy!  We chatted about the stuff of life: engagement rings, wedding planning, apartment searches, babies, dogs, the best restaurants in the city, recipes, bikes, and big-screen TVs.  You have to check out the apps everyone brought to share!








I brought Spinach Roll-ups from the Taste of Home Summer Appetizers cookbook (my go-to for easy, delicious party apps).

Ingredients:
1 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup sour cream
3 ounces cream cheese, softened
6 green onions, chopped
1/3 cup crumbled cooked bacon (I left this out)
1 envelope ranch salad dressing mix
2 packages (10 ounces each) frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
6 flour tortillas (8 inch), warmed


1) In a large bowl, combine mayonnaise, sour cream, cream cheese, green onions, bacon, and salad dressing mix.  Stir in spinach until well blended.  Spread over tortillas; roll up tightly jelly-roll style.  Wrap in plastic wrap.  Refrigerate for at least 5 hours (I only did for one, but a longer time would probably help while cutting).



2) With a serrated knife, cut into 1/2 inch slices.  Refrigerate leftovers.  Yields 12-14 servings.


Thank you to all the ladies who attended.  I had a great time catching up and getting to know each of you!

Jillian of Cornflake Dreams 
Cathy of Fiscally Chic 
Lesley of Six Twelve Place 
Zoe of Style Foodie 


A little tip for you party-planners out there... I used Paperless Post to send out an electronic invitation for the blogger meet-up, my first time using the website, and it was awesome.  The designs are adorable, the process is easy, and the tracking is super organized.
I started with this template and changed up the fonts to make it a bit more casual.
When you sign up for an account with Paperless Post, you start with 25 "stamps" and 25 "coins" (each stamp sends one email to one recipient; coins are used for premium content and features).  From there, you can purchase more stamps or coins for a matter of cents or earn more by referring friends or liking Paperless Post on facebook.  The invite designs look like ones you would send via snail mail (cute fonts, layouts, etc), and the tracking of RSVPs is really clean and streamlined.  Love it.  Recommend it.

And the rest of the weekend... Scott and I enjoyed low-key evenings on both Friday and Saturday.  On Friday, we watched the movie Moneyball (good stuff), and on Saturday, we made a frozen pizza, had a couple of drinks, and I read Sense and Sensibility for one of my classes while Scott watched football.  Juuuuust right after a long, busy week.


Sunday was a lot of fun... I went bridesmaid dress shopping for a college friend's wedding.  A whole group of us made stops at Bella Bridesmaid and Macy's with a little lunch at Feast in between.  Great news: we found our dresses!  And I love mine!  (A few hints: dark blue, chiffon, a ruffle.)  I can't wait to support the lovely bride & her groom and then dance the night away on K's big day in October.

Now, back to that whole productivity thing... it had better kick in tomorrow morning!

42 comments:

  1. i had so much fun this weekend and it was fantastic meeting you!! thanks again for sending out the invites, they were adorable! xoxo jillian:: cornflake dreams

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  2. Hey Melissa! Thanks again for organizing everything! And I'm so glad you included a list of everybody. Enjoy your day off!

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  3. Sounds so fun! I've heard good things about Paperless Post; glad to hear you had a good experience too. I'll have to try it for my next event!

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  4. I had so much fun ~ thanks to you and Jillian for organizing!

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  5. Oh my gosh this made me so hungry! Seems like everyone had so much fun..everything looks so pinterest-able :)

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  6. Thanks again for setting this up! It was great meeting you. Also, just wanted to let you know I'd love to reply to your comments on my blog but it shows up as not having an email address attached. :(

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  7. This is so fun! If you ever have another blogger meet up I would love to join!

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  8. aww the blogger meet up sounds like so much fun! im dying to do one of those! and my gosh all that food looks amazing!

    thanks for checking out my blog today! :D come back soon! :)

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  9. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  10. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  11. ขอบคุณสำหรับการแบ่งปัน
    Goldenslot
    Gclub
    Holiday Palace

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  12. เดิมพันที่สามารถเล่นได้ตลอด 24 ชั่วโมง ซึ่งเป็นการแทงบอลออนไลน์ที่สามารถลงเดิมพันได้ทั้งในรูปแบบของบอลชุด บอลเดี่ยว บอลสเต็ป นอกจากนี้สมัครแทงบอลออนไลน์ยังมีเกมการเดิมพันอีกมากมายที่คุณสามารถร่วมลงเดิมพันได้ตลอดการเข้าใช้บริการ

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