I had been eyeing this past weekend on the calendar for months. It was my first full weekend off since early August AND Branden only had to work in the mornings. I can probably count on one hand the number of times a year that Branden and I are both off on a weekend and this was one of them! So we filled it with all of our favorite things! Friends, food and Busch Gardens! 

When we first bought this house, the thing I was most excited for was the ability to host! The first few things we did to the house had that in mind- building a big deck and building a big dining room table! So when I saw this open weekend on the calendar, I immediately texted my friends saying let’s have a fall dinner party!! So on Saturday we welcomed 4 other couples into our home for a dinner party that made all my adulting dreams come true! A home cooked meal around the dining room table, an excuse to play with florals, late night conversations on the deck over mugs of warm apple cider and Cards Against Humanity, of course! If only we could do this every night! 

The fun then continued on Sunday with a trip to Busch Gardens Howloscream with those same friends! Branden and I both grew up going to Busch Gardens all the time and we still love it! We usually only get to go once a year now so we try to make it during Howloscream!! Another one of our favorite Williamsburg spots is Colonial Williamsburg, so we’ve almost made it a tradition where whenever we go to Busch, we leave early and make a quick stop in Colonial Williamsburg to walk around! And the crisp fall weather was just the cherry on top to this perfect weekend! 

As always, thoughts and happenings from the weekend!

• Back in August I attended my sweet and talented friend’s (Courtney!) floral workshop where she taught us how to make a stunning compote centerpiece! Ever since then, I’ve been looking for excuse to make another arrangement, so this weekend’s dinner party was the perfect occasion! And as luck would have it, Courtney was actually doing a wedding in Norfolk this weekend and was able to bring me some dahlias for the arrangement!! Yesss!!! I’m doing my best to keep them alive so I can stare at the all week! 
• Another nice thing about having a wedding-free weekend is that I’m not spending this week editing a wedding! Which means I can spend this week catching up on alllll the things that slip through the cracks during wedding season. Wish me luck! 
• This it totally random, but now that the weather is getting a chillier at night, we busted out the patio heater to keep us warm on the deck. I just have to comment on how amazing this thing is and how comfortable and cozy it keeps us on the deck even into the colder season! I’d definitely recommend getting one if you’re looking to extend the usability of your outdoor spaces into the fall and winter! And they’re not as expensive as you might think! Here’s the one we have!

Hope you all had an amazing weekend!! I’m getting right back into the swing of things next weekend with a double header!