Treat Yo Self!

Happy Galentine's, ladies!

Galentine's, for the uninitiated, is a made-up holiday by a woman after my own heart, Leslie Knope from "Parks and Recreation." Basically, you get all your best girls together for a day of "ladies celebrating ladies." According to Knope, "It's like Lilith Fair without the angst. Plus fritattas." (And waffles.)

Although it's supposed to be celebrated on February 13, I threw mine over the weekend so everyone could make it. I thought I'd share the fun with you.

For the theme, I was going for a Moulin Rouge-meets-a-brunch-y-tea-party-at-Tiffany. (Just go with it.) I decorated my "bar area" with some fresh-cut flowers, a heart balloon and a homemade "Treat Yo Self" sign. For the sign, I used some thick yarn and Zots Dots so it would stick to the wall. I put out some Tiffany blue jewelry boxes to hold our DIY friendship bracelets.

No party of mine is complete without plenty of snacks and a bowl of punch. This time around, I channeled the fabulous Lady Vanderpump and went with a rosé punch. It was super simple and according to Jeremy, who crashed the party for a minute, "It tastes like something girls would drink." Perfect.

I did a few different types of tea sandwiches for everyone to nosh on. There were sandwiches with Chioggia beets and goat cheese, gingered peas and ricotta, blue cheese and pear (I drizzled some honey on top), and my old standby, radishes on chive butter.

In honor of Leslie's undying love for waffles, I whipped up some of these Liège beauties. A word to the ambitious: these take a long time. Like, your job is basically to make these waffles. You cannot really leave your house. They're needy. The yeast is temperamental. BUT, they're to die for.

If you've ever had a Golden Waffle or Waffle Mania waffle, you know the sugary, doughy goodness I'm talking about. You can recreate it at home, but honestly, just track down the truck. (Besides, you get the added bonus of spilling powdered sugar all over yourself as you devour it on the street.)

After everyone was fat and happy, we got down to business: friendship bracelets. I liked the idea of doing a grown up camp activity. Also, diamonds. Before the party, Jacqueline, Summer and I made a trip over to Baubles and Beads in Berkeley (say that three times fast) to pick up some cord and charms. We decided to try our hand at bracelet-making and, no joke, it took us a good hour to complete ONE.

I felt apprehensive about forcing this on everyone, but luckily we made all the mistakes ahead of time so no one else had to, and the bling-creating went smoothly. I have some talented girlfriends! I stuck to simple sliding knot bracelets, a couple people classed it up and did rhinestone sliding knot bracelets, and then there were a few gold tube bracelets made. The most popular style, by far, were these macrame bracelets.

Totally cute, right?

After seeing how successful temporary tattoos were at the NYE party, I thought I'd get a few for the girls. Tattly, started by the super talented Swissmiss, sells awesome, beautifully designed fake tats.

I stocked up on some gems, diamonds, besties hearts and friendship bracelets, just in case anyone had trouble with the real thing.

These suckers are pretty high quality and stay on perfectly for a couple of days, so I would highly recommend them for all of your faux ink needs.

Post tattooing, eating, drinking and bracelet making, the afternoon evolved into a dance party to the "Girls" soundtrack and we all lived happily ever after.

Anyway, I hope you use today as a perfectly wonderful excuse to grab your favorite women and appreciate each other's company and friendship!

(All photos by the lovely and talented Jacqueline McCawley)