Friendsgiving 2017 + Giving Tuesday!

Have you recovered from the weekend yet?? I know I haven't.  We hosted our 2nd Friendsgiving last Thursday & it was lovely...but damn, was it a lot of work!  J & I used to travel to one of our homes for Thanksgiving & then again at the holidays, but it just became too much.  So we've started a new tradition of taking in Thanksgiving orphans & creating our own family. Thanks to crazy high temps, we were able to enjoy the meal al fresco...something we'd never be able to do in the midwest!

Before I finalized the menu, I had to figure out our table. You know, the important things. Coming up with tablescapes has become a fun hobby of mine & since we were hosting a few new friends this year,  I didn't want to disappoint. Over the last two years I've been collecting vintage glassware & this was the perfect time to use them. Most of the glassware I have is quite colorful, so I took those jewel tones & ran with it.

To say I loved how our table looked would be an understatement. It was a lot of work & a lot of scavenging through multiple home goods stores (sounds rough, right?) but it came together perfectly.  The pumpkin gourds were a last minute addition after fearing that our table didn't feel "Fall" enough, & I'm so happy I decided to add them!   A full list of the products & sources I used can be found at the bottom of the post.  In an attempt to not go bankrupt, a lot of items did come from Homegoods which I can't link to.

Taking pictures was a bit of a struggle as I was trying to focus on the whole cooking thing & not screwing that up, plus the sun setting & when to light the candles...it was all a bit rushed & taken at various points in the afternoon/early evening.  But I did take a few pics before lighting the candles as well.

Obligatory food photo! The recipes I used will be coming a bit later this week!

Since this post is coming to you on Giving Tuesday, I also wanted to share some of my personal favorite smaller organizations (you'll quickly see a common theme) that are always desperately in need in funds in case you're looking to do a little good today. 

Detroit Dog Rescue is focused on raising awareness for the plight of the forgotten, homeless & stray dogs of Detroit. There are more than 50,000 homeless & stray dogs running loose on the streets of Detroit. With only twenty-three City of Detroit Animal Control Officers to perform rescue operations, nearly 90% of dogs picked up by the city are euthanized. With limited resources & funding allocations to humane animal rescue operations, Detroit Dog Rescue is a small group of highly committed individuals dedicated to help make a difference in the city, one dog at a time. Detroit Dog Rescue focuses on raising awareness of the mounting homeless and stray dog problem in Detroit, along with advocating for humane rescue alternatives such as no-kill sheltering, foster care & adoptions, pet identification & healthy pet population control through spay & neutering. They also respond to calls to assist the Detroit Police Department, Highland Park Police Department, Hamtramck Police Department, Fire Departments, the City Administration, as well as hundreds of residents who have asked for our help.

Leave No Paws Behind is an all breed, all foster based rescue, specializing in seniors, terminal & end of life animals, and pets with special needs. When possible we step up, most times in the “11th” hour when all hope is gone, to help save the lives of those that are in most danger of being left behind to die on a cold shelter floor. LNPB provides hospice care, comfort, love and a safe haven for the terminally ill and the hard core cases & LNPB will never board a rescued animal. 

100+ Abandoned Dogs of Everglades Florida Rescue. Right now, hundreds of abandoned dogs are roaming the in the Everglades area of Florida (Florida City, Homestead and Redlands) & the surrounding areas of SE Florida. They are hungry, thirsty, injured, sick, pregnant & more. They have been dumped there by their previous owners, often after being neglected & abused for years. Their mission is to rescue them, bring them back to health, & show them that not all humans are bad, & that love and a warm bed are just around the corner. They work to raise awareness about this brutal reality happening right in our community, with the hope that our message will result in alternative solutions & more responsible and humane decisions by pet owners.

Soi Dog Foundation. Soi Dog Foundation was established in Phuket, Thailand, to help the street dogs & cats who had no-one else to care for them. Over 50,000 strays roamed the island, with the numbers growing alarmingly due to a lack of sterilization (spay/neuter) programes to control the population. Soi Dog was created to provide a humane & sustainable solution to managing the stray population and to address their medical needs. Funding then, as it is now, came entirely from individuals who shared, & continue to share, the vision of our founders. Soi Dog Foundation is fighting the Asian dog meat trade & thanks to overwhelming support from people around the world, the trade has been almost completely wiped out in Thailand. They continue to campaign for an end to the trade in South Korean, Vietnam, & other south-east Asian countries where it is prevalent. Their work as a member of the Asia Canine Protection Alliance (ACPA) is designed to eliminate rabies from Cambodia, Laos, Thailand & Vietnam by 2020, through working with the governments of those countries to outlaw the sale and consumption of dog and cat meat, & to reduce demand for, & supply of, dog meat in South Korea. 

On a larger scale, these two organizations need to stay funded to continue the necessary work they do during these exhausting times.

Planned Parent Hood. I don't think they really need an explanation as to who they are.  

Human Rights Campaign. As the largest civil rights organization working to achieve equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender & queer Americans, the Human Rights Campaign represents a force of more than 3 million members & supporters nationwide — all committed to making HRC's vision a reality. HRC envisions a world where lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people are embraced as full members of society at home, at work and in every community.

Sources from Friendsgiving:
Table Runner (on sale!)
Table Cloth (similar)
Cloth Napkins
Glass Gold Chargers (on sale!)
Plates (mix & match from this selection)
Gold Flatware (on sale!)
Purple Tea Light Votives 
Metallic Pillar Candles
Mercury Votives
String Lights
Brass Lanters (all from Homegoods. Similar ones here)
Colorblock Candle Holders (Homegoods)
Glassware - all vintage finds (search eBay for LG Wright,  Colony, Imperial Cape Cod, Smith Glass)