My First Ladies Night-In!

     So last weekend I planned a last minute Ladies Night at my home. I invited two ladies that I'm just starting to get to know and another lady who I've never met but heard about. It was time to put myself out there.

      Back story-I moved away from all my friends and family several months ago. When I decided to move, I wasn't too worried about making new friends. However, I miss my friends a lot. So after several months of being friendless, I became even more homesick. Blogging has helped and I'm grateful for it. At the moment I don't work, instead I'm working on my Masters degree at home.-End of back story. 

      So I've never hosted anything like this but I felt like a natural. I made two lists, and I just kept adding more and more stuff as my excitement increased. Food and games were my must have.

       I picked up some flowers and a pumpkin for added decor. I picked up a fruit tray and made a honey-yogurt dip to go with it. I added carrots just in case people hated fruits. I bought crescent rolls and Lil' Smokers and decided to roll up some pigs in a blanket with the help of my partner (he helped a lot). I decided to have the ladies wear red and black tops, I wanted black and orange but do you own an orange top? I had red and black plates and sauce bowls to go with my theme.

    

  At the grocery store I couldn't decide between pumpkin muffin mix or pumpkin cookies mix. Cookies! With cream cheese frosting and red sprinkles. Lemonade Spritzer (lemonade and club soda) and Apple Cider Sangria for my wine lovers.

    
      So food and drinks were set. Now what would I do when the ladies stopped eating? Icebreaker games! After we got to know one another, I had Jenga, Boggle, CatchPhrase, and 2 deck of cards. We didn't use any of them. We did a lot of getting to know one another over food. We ended up playing a two games of Famous Face (not sure the real name of the game, so many variations).

          Now believe it or not, there are people in the world who have not watched Grease. I KNOW I KNOW CRAZY?! Two of the ladies had never gotten around to watch this classic. I did plan for a movie at the end of the night and we all agreed on Grease. I had to constrain myself from singing and dancing to all the music. It wasn't easy.

       My all time favorite blogger is Rachel Wilkerson. She has written many posts about making new friends. The amount of attention that today's culture spends on how to find a boyfriend or a husband is pretty crazy to me. Not too much material how how to find friends and make the relationship work. A friendship, just like a romantic relationship takes effort. I am no relationship expert, this is just common sense. What I love most about Rachel's posts are her readers and the comments they leave about moving to a new city alone or making (or not making) new friends.

        Even my friends I left back home, staying connected to them requires effort. We all have our own lives and we all get busy. I try to text or call people who haven't seen me in months. I know when I visit, it'll be great times.

        

        I've never had trouble finding friends, I think that it is mostly due to the fact I love being my own best friend. I do a lot of things solo even before I moved away. But really there is nothing like ladies night. You and a bunch of other ladies who have some common interests. The conversations are fun and you learn so much about yourself and others. The ladies had a great time and we all look forward to doing it again. Next time I will ask for their help instead of running the show.  

So I say all this to say cherish the good 

friends you have and don't be

 afraid of making new ones!

pEACE&lOVE