Most people like to have people plan parties on their behalf. I like to plan parties for myself. I love all the work that goes into it... picking a menu, deciding on a color theme, creating invitations, etc. It all makes me feel really "grown-up" since parties for me now tend to be more than chips and dip with a game of musical chairs. However, my abode during grad school has been small and not conducive to multiple people hanging out. My good friends Shanwich (holla!) recently allowed me to use their house and backyard as the location of my graduation picnic. Here is an overview of the menu:

Greek Burgers (a specialty of my friend and house owner so I don't have the secret recipe)
Grilled Corn w/ compound butter
Gazpacho Shooters
Couscous Salad
Pasta Salad
Chips and Dip (it's a classic!)
Mojito Cupcakes
PB & J Cupcakes
Glittery Lemon Cookies

Also using the ONE concept I think Sandra Lee gets right we had a signature cocktail- the Laura Palmer. The Laura Palmer is like an Arnold Palmer but there's booze in it. Now, I know a lot of people are all about the sweet tea flavored vodka but I don't drink vodka. This drink allowed me to have that same concept with an alcohol that doesn't bring back bad memories of "jungle juice." To make this tasty beverage you steep 4 bags of black tea in a fifth of gin (your brand of choice) for 3 days. Then you mix the tea flavored gin 1 to 1 with lemonade. I made the lemonade from scratch b/c I love my friends that much but you can also use lemon juice reconstituted.

Lastly, there were also goodie bags b/c I like to be that involved in party planing. Using a tutorial I picked up online I was able to transform these things:

Into these:


Here are some other pictures from said picnic!






There are other pictures from the festivities but as I did not ask people to sign a waiver upon entering I feel it is unlawful to use them without a legal contract saying it's okay to show their faces. Until next time folks!