Weekend Basics

It was a weekend of celebrations and celebrate we did! The three main events of our weekend included hosting a party at the house in honor of Stephanie's recent graduation from JMU, heading over to Richmond's Broad Appétit event where I had the opportunity to serve as one of the 8 event judges and perhaps one of the biggest celebrations of all — yesterday marked Mary and my's first wedding anniversary.

Last week we talked about crossing off different projects around the house in prep for Stephanie's party. Saturday we opened the doors and had close to 30 people in and out throughout the late afternoon and evening in celebration of Stephanie:

We went off the basic theme of "Purple & Gold," JMU's signature school colors and decorated with a slew of color coordinated party supplies courtesy of Party Pail, which added such a festive touch. Look out for a full party recap and hefty giveaway from Party Pail here on the blog next Tuesday.

After all was said and done, Mary and I agreed it was one of the best gatherings at the house we've pulled off to date. Everything was accounted for in advanced, set up for grab and go stations which made things simple and easy —  allowing the two of us to sit back and enjoy the company too!

Sunday we slept in, enjoying the slow morning and reminiscing over all the busy events of getting ready for our wedding this time last year. All throughout the day it was fun to think back to what we were doing at different points, realizing both how time flies and just how far we've come in a year's time.

Another main event of the day was heading over to Richmond's Broad Appétit festival. It's one of our very favorite (since it's all about good local food benefitting a great cause), one we've written about here on the blog before and one we missed out on (for good reason) last year since we were honeymooning near Hatteras.

We've particularly been looking forward to this year's event since I was asked to be one of 8 judges to the sample dishes offered. Dream job? Yes!

John Haddad, Brittany Mullins, Rebecca Parker-Payne and Me!

I was asked to judge in the category of main dishes and ended up sampling over 68 of the most delicious, creative and intelligent culinary dishes from chefs all over the city — it was an honor to say the least. For anyone wondering, yes — I'm still full today.

I had a chance to chat with some new and old faces while at it too — Brittany Mullins who you might already know from the blog Eating Bird Food, John Haddad, a board member of Slow Food RVA, Ingrid Schatz, senior bakery manager at Ellwood Thompson's, Juana Straus, pastry chef at VMFA's Amuse Restaurant, Christopher Blain, the new Executive Mansion chef, and Rebecca Parker Payne, co-author of The Kinfolk Table cookbook who we met and have kept in touch with socially since this book signing back in January.

John Haddad, Brittany Mullins, Myself, Christopher Blain, Ingrid Schatz, Juana Straus, and Rebecca Parker-Payne.

While I was secluded and judging, Mary made a few rounds herself! Every so often I'd get a picture text like the following:

She ended up with a big plate of her favorite pimento cheese and Ritz crackers from Pasture. They had a photo-booth setup where you could take and share shots from the day. Pasture always knows how to keep things entertaining — we loved the southern sashes for "Queen of Corn," "Pickle Princess," and "Miss Pimento:"

Other eats from Mary's POV included the ribs with mac n'cheese and the peanut butter chocolate trifle with bacon from Toast:

And for the first time, the Richmond Food Co-op was set up at the event:

All in all, there was so much to choose from and we just love living in a city with so many great food offerings. Broad Appétit is such a fun way to get out and try new places while enjoying old favorites — we're already looking forward to next year!

After some much needed down time after these big events of the weekend, we enjoyed a quiet homemade dinner with a little champagne and wedding cake out on our back patio late yesterday evening:

It was the perfect way to toast another great weekend that's made up an incredible year. We'll be back with a fuller anniversary recap, and appreciate all the well wishes you sent us over Instagram and Facebook yesterday — it made our day.

P.S. There's still time to enter for a chance to win one of two 5-piece bundles of Mrs. Meyer's cleaning supplies in our latest giveaway. Find all the details and how to enter here.