This week’s wrap up is going to be short and sweet…we’re hosting a dinner party for 35 at our house tonight so I’ve gotta get moving… not sure where the day’s gone already! So I leave you with a fabulous Carmel Cake recipe from Smitten Kitchen (that looks so good I wanna grab it right out of the screen!) and a few quick highlights from the week…along with promises of lots more to come next week when the full-fledged holiday madness kicks in!

• Drink of the Week: Hot Apple Pie
• Win it: $100 Shopping Spree from betsywhite (enter by Sunday!)
• Baby Shower Inspiration: check out photos from Alison Sweeney’s Momma Bird Baby Shower
• New Holiday Drinks in the Recipe Box: Vanilla Pumpkin Pie Martini, Cran-Apple Cobbler, Spicy Cranberry Punch (mocktail), and more!
• Non-traditional Thanksgiving: Try a Blue & Gold Color Palette {via Tastefully Entertaining}
• Modern Thanksgiving: Check out this fabulous modern mood board from Tangarang!

Have a great weekend, everyone… see you soon!

Can you believe we’re already mid-November?! Thanksgiving and Christmas are only weeks away! We’re working on a bunch of holiday content at HWTM right now… new Christmas/Holiday and New Year’s party themes, recipes, and gift guides are in the works… stay tuned!

One thing I’m especially excited about is an extensive new Holiday Drink Guide that will launch on our website next week… complete with photos for every recipe! Sonny {a.k.a. husband} has been busy playing bartender in our kitchen, and my simple role as official taste-tester has been oh-so-fine with me! One of the cocktails is pictured above… a rich & creamy Caramel Apple Martini. {full recipe after the jump}

And now on to a recap of what’s been happening here and around the web this week:

• Thanksgiving Inspiration: Festive Florals & Colorful Details
• Win it: $100 Shopping Spree at Charming Cards!
• Smart Thinking: Entertaining on a Budget – Part 2… over at Simply Stated
• Holiday Decorating: fun & modern Ribbon-inspired Decor
• Real Party Feature: Retro-Chic Bridal Shower
• New from InStyle Weddings: first edition of What’s Hot in Weddings on the Web
• Gift Guide: Cool Gift Ideas for The Wine Lover {by Kim Vallee}
• Shout-out: Congrats to Jane of This Week for Dinner on her first guest post over at RealSimple.com: 5 Steps to Planning Thanksgiving Dinner
• Save the Date(s): Dates for the Boston and L.A. Hip Hostess events are tentatively set: January 15 for Boston and February 5th for L.A. (Boston was originally planned for December, but everything just got too hectic! We have something cool planned for January though!)

Coming up next week: New Real Party Features – (including one that should appeal to High School Musical fans!), fabulous (and long overdue!) guest posts by Project Nursery, Houses, Couches & Babies, and Joy by Mel Lim, the Holiday Drink Guide, Thanksgiving recipes, and more. Stay tuned!

{Get the Caramel Apple Recipe after the jump…!}

***

Caramel Apple Martini

Ingredients:
1 ounce green apple-flavored vodka
1/2 ounce apple schnapps
1 ounce butterscotch liqueur
2 ounces half and half

Garnish:
Caramel sauce for the glass
Apple slice

Directions:
Combine vodka, apple schnapps, butterscotch liqueur and half and half in a shaker with ice. Shake well. Strain into a martini glass rimmed with caramel sauce, and garnish with an apple slice. Enjoy!

***

Since it is Friday and all, thought I’d send you off in to the weekend with some pretty cocktails to enjoy… even if it’s just visually! Want to take the next step and actually try some of these out? It’s your lucky day – here are the recipe links:
Triple Shot Espresso Martini, Long-stemmed Rose, orange-flavored Bronx Cocktail, and Saketini with super-cool cucumber garnish!

And now for some highlights from here at HWTM and beyond…

• Baby Shower Inspiration: Check out a sneak peek of the decor and diaper cake from Alison Sweeney’s baby shower last weekend!
• Win it: $100 worth of fabulous personalized stationery from PosePrints!
• Guest Blog: Rebecca’s gorgeous Lilac & Gray Inspiration Board is party-perfect!
• Event Recap: Part 2 of our Dining by Design Recap features a table so pretty it deserved a post all to itself!
• Everyone Loves a Deal: lots of great discounts happening over at decor8!
• Little Black Dress: This time the wardrobe must-have is inspiring super-chic wedding themes over at Style Me Pretty!
• Modern Thanksgiving Inspiration: Host a stylish fall fete this year with ideas from our latest Real Party feature!

Have a great weekend, everyone… see you Monday!

Halloween Decorations: creative pumpkin decorating ideas from Good Housekeeping
Halloween Cocktail: Ghoul-Aid with delightfully disturbing Eyeball Garnish
Halloween Craft: super-cute Mummy Candy Holder
Win It: Shopping Spree at Paper Shouts! (holiday cards, invitations & more!)
New Facebook Photo Galleries: check out pics from our Modern Parisian Soirée in NY
Table Chic: new collections from French Bull
CRAZY STORY: Woman Finds Shrunken Moose Head in Frozen Green Beans (Good conversation starter for your Halloween party tonight, right?!)
Style Spy: Dining by Design – Part 1 (Part 2 coming soon!)
Kids Halloween: great halloween ideas for little ones at Peppers and Pollywogs
Fabulous Recipe: In the kitchen with design*sponge: Chocolate Swirl Gingerbread

Have a great weekend & a very HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

This week was a bit of a whirlwind – in a good way – but we just got back to San Diego and are little exhausted, so T.G.I.F.! I’d like to give a big shout-out to everyone that attended our Hip Hostess Halloween event in Dallas last night – you guys were so much FUN! Everyone from the party guests to the staff at The Apartment was so welcoming and gracious… so thanks for making our very first trip to the Lone Star State such a great experience! I’ll be posting some of Tim’s Halloween cocktail recipes here soon…and you can actually already find the Vampire Kiss Martini recipe over at Real Simple!

There was a lot going on this week between traveling & the event prep, so I didn’t get quite as much posted to the blog as originally planned… which means that next week is going to be extra jam-packed with lots of fun things to share! In the meantime, here are some highlights this week from HWTM & beyond…

• Win It: custom stationery from 1st Comes Love (hurry…ends tonight!)
• Currently Craving: Rachael Ray’s Pumpkin Whoopie Pies
• Halloween Dinner Party: Set a Ghoulish Glam Table
• Sweet Tooth: find inspiration for a fabulous Halloween Candy Buffet
• Halloween Party “Guests”: snag ultra-cool life-size skeletons for for only $39 (half-off!)
• Sweet & Spooky: check out Martha’s creative ideas for creepy treats
• Extra-Fabulous NEW Glossy: Food Network Magazine
• Speaking of Food Network: Be their next STAR! (apply by Oct 31st!)

Have a great weekend… see you soon!

I feel like I great advice from people all the time – but I wish I was better at implementing it!

A while back, blogging guru Grace Bonney from design*sponge (just a wee little blog… perhaps you’ve heard of it? *wink*) suggested that I start doing a “weekly wrap-up” post on Fridays so that readers can better see that the blog covers a wider variety of topics than what happens to be on the index page at the time (i.e. “Halloween”).

Well, cut to several months later, and I’ve discovered that it can be just as hard to adopt new habits as it is to break old ones…sigh. But, as they say, there’s no time like the present, right?!

So, without further adieu, here is the first of what I hope is many “Weekly Round-Up” posts here at HWTM…which will be recaps of posts & ideas both here and ’round the web… please feel free to hold me accountable to this new habit if you find me slipping!

• Exciting News: CosmoGirl feature! (November issue) See it here.
• Creative Celebration: Portrait Party by Kati Driscoll
• Upcoming Events: Hip Hostess Halloween Party – Next Thursday, Oct 23rd!
• Party Girl Guide: Halloween Cocktails
• Have a Good Laugh: Anne Taintor Products
• Fall-tastic Giveaway: Indie Fixx Autumn Cornocopia Giveaway
• Baby Shower Idea (Multiples): Sweet Peas
• Pick Your Flavor: McCain or Obama
• Food for Thought: Modern Apple Harvest Party by Kim Vallee, Apple-flavored Cocktails, Delicious Apple Desserts

And Coming Up Next Week…
New HWTM Giveaway, fun guest blogs, Halloween craft projects & DIY party decorations, NEW Real-Life Parties, Dine by Design recap, and more! See you soon!