As promised here are the photos from the cocktail party I threw for some of my favorite bloggers in Los Angeles.  Since it was such a beautiful warm Summer evening, I hosted it in my backyard.  As the ladies entered I had them write name tags for themselves (since some of us had not met yet) and put their names in a bowl for the raffle

We had plenty of sips and nibbles.  Sips provided by Veev Vodka and CalNaturale wines   I chose to serve 2 cocktails, red wine, white wine, lemonade and water.  The cocktails were Veev acai mojitos and super yummy sangria made with the Veev vodka and CalNaturale's cabernet sauvignon.  The sangria was my personal favorite

I made some nibbles for the ladies to snack on.  I made a big cheese board with cotswold cheese, stilton with dried apricots, white cheddar, double cream brie and swiss cheese.  In the background are grilled zucchini roll-ups with goat cheese.

I made two kinds of tarts.  (recipes coming this week!)  Mushroom and leek with thyme:

And I wanted to make one more, so I reached in the garden and picked an eggplant, some tomatoes, and basil and made another one

I did a few sweets too.  My secret rum cake, chocolate cupcakes, and salted chocolate chip cookies.

Some of the ladies exchanging cards.

Check out Autumn and Jenny sampling some of the treats in the gift bag:

Briana and I with the gorgeous Namaste bag she won!

So much fun  Check out my sister with my adorable nephew Jack!

   
As you saw in the earlier post, I went with purple and yellow flowers.  I tied all the vases with some purple ribbon I scored at costco on a shopping trip with my Mom.  Who knew they had fabulous deals on ribbon?!  I guess they have fabulous deals on everything.

I set out one table with all of the items that were in the gift bags so the ladies could check out the items.  And I raffled off those beautiful Namaste bags and a gift bag from Scotch Naturals.

Speaking of gift bags, look how pretty the bags look!

Thank you again to all of our fabulous sponsors!!  Thank you Planet Salon, Namaste, CalNaturale Wines, Veev Vodka, Svelte, Clearly Fresh Bags, Popsalot Popcorn, Bakluvit Baklava, Best Friends, Gluten Free Goddess, Volcanica Candles, and Metromint Water.  And I have to thank the incredibly talented Adam Hendershott for photographing the party!  You can see more of his work here on his website.

It was a great party! I hope everyone had as much fun as I did!  Have you had a blogger meet-up in your town?  I'd love to hear about it!