welcome to: always better with company
Hello, my darling!
Welcome back to Avalon Avenue! Today, I am so excited to share with you something I have long been anticipating sharing with you all: the official name of my monthly event series!
I have been hosting monthly get-togethers more or less for the past year (with the exception of 2 months due to travelling). Moving to Madrid, Spain, a year and a half ago with two of my dear friends, I was on the lookout for even more friends to allow us to feel at home here in an entirely new country. From coworkers, to classmates, to friends I met through social media (see people, social media can actually be a good thing!), I have managed to gather a lovely group of ten or so friends to get together every month and enjoy some lovely food and good times together.
Each month has had its own theme. My latest, back in June, was my 24th birthday party called “Avalon’s 24th Bloom,” which consisted of a six-course dinner I made and was blooming with flowers. In May, I hosted an at-home café that was a bit bigger than my usual get-togethers, embracing the café theme by keeping it more of an open-door style event. Another notable one was a Board & (Wine) Bottle themed night, inspired by one of my favorite restaurants back in the States, Postino, where they have a “board and bottle” happy hour. The end result of that evening was practically an at-home wine bar. So, if you can’t tell yet, each month to come will definitely have its own theme!
That being said, I felt it was time to create a name for this monthly gathering (since I am officially committed to this role as the ultimate hostess friend). So, without further ado, (& from what you can already read in the title), I welcome you to “Always Better with Company,” because it truly is always better with company, no? In this series, I will be taking you along with me from the planning to the cooking and the gathering itself. I am beyond excited to start this journey up & take you to see it with me!
a little on why I love hosting
I have always adored hosting and find it to be extremely second nature to me. My mom has hosted parties and little get-togethers with her friends my entire life, and I have always loved attending them and seeing them from the outside. She would host purse exchanges, 50+ ladies Christmas parties (that have now even extended into a 150+ extravaganza—oops!), bunco brunches, scrapbooking parties, and just about everything in between.
She, of course, hosted gatherings for my sister and I, too. Whether it was Valentine’s Day, our pool party birthdays, an Easter egg hunt, and, again, everything in between. So, yes, I was basically bound to catch this gene from her, especially since I love cooking and feeding those around me as well.
kicking fff the series: breakfast & bouquets
To start the first month off just right, I bring to you this month’s theme: Breakfast & Bouquets. While it is indeed planned for breakfast, we do live in Spain here which means breakfast is more like a late brunch. However, it is still a bit hot here in Madrid, so an early-ish brunch is ideal so we don’t all burn up! Hence, the reasoning behind breakfast & bouquets and not brunch and bouquets.
Each friend attending is also graciously bringing a flower bunch or two, so we can build our little bouquets to take home. This is my first truly interactive, craft-oriented event, and I am quite looking forward to it! There’s much more to come in my monthly event recap after the gathering this Saturday, so that’s all I’ll share for now…
With all of that said and shared, I am beyond excited to get this series going and to bring you along the journey with me!
Until next time, my darling!
xoxo,
avalon