...to host a St. Patrick's Day gathering

...with a 'green' theme for several ladies in the Brigade.

I enjoy the prospect of entertaining.  I love planning the menu, including some small details, and prepping my home for visitors.

While the menu was pretty simple, hosting this gathering with two other ladies really takes the pressure off of having to do everything myself.  Jolene and Jen provided beautiful trays of food that were absolutely delicious!

AND it would be unjust if I didn't mention all of the work on the small details that I had envisioned if I didn't credit our new nanny, Katherine (and her sister who spent time with her here at our home while she was working).  These two ladies did a great job helping me to check item after item off of my list.  They tied ribbons, folded food tags, prepped lime ice-cubes, sliced vegetables, and helped keep my little ones at bay throughout the entirety of the event.

Here are a few photos...

I wanted to take the time to take some better pictures.  Maybe ext time.

Green was obviously the theme.

Pretty green fruits:

kiwi, grapes, honeydew, and limes as garnish.

Crunchy green vegetables:

celery, snap peas, cucumbers, and broccoli 

A better picture of the buffet:

key-limes cupcakes sans lime curd

A close-up of the key lime cupcakes:

As I mentioned earlier, Katherine's sister came to 'work' with her these past few days (she is visiting from Texas).  She decorated these cupcakes and I loved the details she added.  Especially the twisted lime slices.

Thank you, Jasmine.

The drinks:

citrus mint cooler, water with lime ice cubes 

The potato bar:

Appropriate for our Irish theme!  The toppings included: slices of butter, sea salt, chili, cheddar cheese, chives, green onion, and bacon.  The potatoes were prepped and coated with Crisco and sea salt.  They were then wrapped in foil and baked for a really long time.  As you can imagine the reviews were excellent.

A few other festive green photos:

drink tags

the 'green' mantle 

the icebox

Not pictured:  No Irish gathering is such without a few libations.  I forgot to take a picture of the 'extras' area.  I set out bottles of water, white and red wine, and of course a bottle of Bailey's.