The annual besties' Secret Santa & White Elephant dinner party is always the year end finale I look forward to. This year, I suggested that we do an intimate dinner, pot luck style, at one of our houses and by "one of our houses", I meant Linh's. Hahaha. But only because her house is baby-free and big enough to contain the drunken mischief that was sure to ensue. I thought it would be fun to bring our own dishes and wear comfortable clothes, but of course in classic Linh-form, she hired a personal chef instead. So then obviously, comfortable attire totally not appropriate which worked out well for all of us 'cause I know we all love a reason to get fancy shmancy.
***Note to Linh: Linny, I didn't mean to impose by suggesting your place, but if you keep being this good to your friends, I don't mind imposing more often, just saying ; ) Lol! Thank you for hosting the most exquisite dinner party!
Anyway, the food was crazy amazing! Just take a look at the menu below. Did someone say "truffle"… two times?! The Mong Chong was cooked to perfection and there's nothing like pop rocks on lychee sorbet to top it off. As usual, we do a theme and this year was anything animal (furs, feathers, prints, etc) and since I already wore my leopard fur coat the
other night, I decided to literally go as an animal, a bunny to be exact. I brought a tuxedo clad Vinny aka "Jiggy, so he could play with Linh's Yorkies, but she had Roger take them to her parents. Poor Vin, all dressed up and no one to harass. After dinner, we exchanged presents and had knots-in-your-stomach laughter over the white elephant gifts. Pics of such fun will be posted in facebook only. One of the best presents though, was from Shauna. A book she made of the 6 of us since the beginning. Tear.
The "venue"
color blocking
seriously? i ate like a dozen of those
animal
jiggy
louboutin + balenciaga
us, missing neysa : (
the beautiful host
devoured
dress (style stalker via bsky) leopard clutch (shop.bamboosky.com) shoes (balenciaga, xmas gift from mommy!)
I rang in the New Year with a few of the besties at Shauna's house, where Keoni again, out did himself and cooked up the most scrumptious Hawaiian food evar!!!! You can see some of the dishes from last year
here. I didn't take too many pictures because I brought Willow to play with Rhyder. As usual though, when one was awake, the other was sleeping. Then I ended up leaving for a bit to put Willow down at my parents and came back just in time to welcome 2012. No matter, I love these special moments with my bestest friends.
Also, while I was somewhat appreciative that they cracked down on fire works for Willow's sake (I was nervous, how she would sleep through the night), I have to say, NYE in Hawaii really sucks without the illegal fireworks. Like, really sucks. It's just not the same.
tank (brandy melville) cardigan & shorts (bamboo sky) shoes (JC Elegant)
So after such an adventurous 2011, it's hard to say good bye to it. But, hello twenty twelve! I know we'll make this year even better.
