Hosting Tips

This Pumpkin Spice Smoothie Is Your Fall Breakfast Solution

It’s easy to make fun of the omnipresence of pumpkin spice everything at this time of year; sometimes it feels like it’s hard to step outside without getting a whiff of those familiar fall flavors, much less sit in a coffee shop. But if we’re being honest, can we just all agree that it’s a cliché […]

Your Guide to an Easy Fall Picnic

With the temps finally cooling down a bit here in Austin, I’m embracing every possible chance to get outside and soak up the sunshine and cool breezes. And now that I’m working downtown, Adam and I have been trying to squeeze in a few lunch dates — our offices are only a few blocks from […]

11 Steps To Hosting The Best Bachelorette Party Ever

Don’t get me wrong, I love matching one-pieces that say “SQUAD” as much as the next girl. But when the time came to plan my BFF’s bachelorette party earlier this year, my co-hosts and I knew there had to be more. After countless brainstorming e-mails and texts back and forth, the three of us had […]

How to Throw a Back-to-School Shower

As much as I love summer, there’s something about those back-to-school vibes that still give me a chill (in a good way) and make me want to swap out my sandals for cable-knit tights. Growing up, there were two annual events that always softened the blow of summer’s end: the annual fall shopping trip I […]

This Israeli Menu is Perfect For Your End-of-Summer Party

There’s nothing I love more than hanging by the pool at my apartment complex. This time of year, we’ll often set up shop out there early in the afternoon and camp out until long after dinner time, enjoying wine, beer, and freshly grilled food for hours. The only issue? Our building, like all public pools, has […]

Pool Party & Pig Roast at Camille’s House

There are few things I love more in life than spending a weekend in the swimming pool with friends, and come summer months we try to squeeze in as many of those days as possible. But for this year’s Fourth of July fête, we decided to go whole hog with the menu, pun intended. I’d long […]

A Fourth of July Picnic with Target

Last week, Phoebe and I headed to Houston to celebrate Fourth of July early with our friends at Target, along with a fun group of blogger and editors – and their kids! We decked out this rooftop spot as the ultimate summer picnic: think bright colors and patterns, food fresh off the grill, and a do-it-yourself snow […]

A Very Texan Fourth of July

When we teamed up with Stubb’s BBQ to create a Fourth of July gathering that’s all about the best Texas-style brisket, I knew just who to call: Jeff Trucksess is known as the grill master among our friends, and I’ve been pestering him for ages about spilling his secrets on the blog. A few of us […]

A Skewer Soirée for Fourth of July

Last week, Phoebe announced that moving forward, she wanted to eat all her food skewered on a stick. And can you blame her? There’s something inherently more fun about veggies when they’re in kebab form, and as summertime grilling reaches its peak, I’ve been experimenting with skewering just about everything, from corn to brussels sprouts […]

Inside My Summertime Backyard BBQ (Video!)

It’s officially time for summer entertaining! To kick off the festivities, I recently hosted a backyard BBQ with Target complete with fajitas and veggies on the grill, the cutest tabletop decor, and spiked rainbow snowcones. You can check out all the details from the party right over here, and watch the video above to get tips on how […]

Hello, Summer! Our Backyard BBQ with Target

I’ve always been a total summer girl, and my favorite moments of the season are backyard barbecues with friends and family: burgers on the grill, lemonade in hand, and everyone’s moods as sunny as the Austin weather forecast. With Father’s Day around the corner and an entire season devoted to outdoor entertaining ahead, our latest […]

Inside Our Second Annual Get Healthy Get Together

Sunshine and Saturdays are two of our favorite things. So when you put those together and add in hundreds of our Austin readers, well, we’d call that a pretty great day. This past weekend we all met up at The Long Center for a morning barre class with MOD Fitness, a relaxing meditation led by Kate […]

6 Mother’s Day DIYs That Are So Easy, You Have No Excuse

With Mother’s Day falling right at the beginning of Summer, I’ll be the first to admit that in the past I’ve been guilty of letting the warm weather distract me from doing right by mama. Thinking up the perfect gift and planning a memorable day can be daunting, so this year our advice is: Don’t overthink it! Getting together […]

The Best Woven Bags of Summer 2017

The idea of toting a straw bag to the beach is nothing new. This year, however, we’re seeing woven bags venture out of the sand and into, well, just about everywhere. From dressier clutches to casual cross-bodies, it seems all our favorite bag shapes have been given beachy make-unders that make them perfect for summer […]

This Hidden Hacienda Was Begging For a Cinco de Mayo Party

Why wait for Memorial Day? Here at the CS office, we say summer starts on May 5, and Cinco de Mayo may be our all-time favorite holiday. We’ll do anything for a mouth-watering margarita on a warm spring day, and can’t get enough of Mexican-inspired ruffled tops and embroidered blouses. After hearing about Jenn’s recent vacation to Hotel […]