Summer's End Shoe (And Meet-My-Baby) Party

Friday afternoon, I invited over a few girlfriends (all of whom have three-year-olds who are some of my son’s best friends…as well as infants who I suspect are destined to be some of my daughter’s best friends) to meet Goldie, drink some rose sangria (you need this recipe; it’s coming up later this week), and eat cupcakes.

Because one of the benefits of being friends with a style writer is that there are generally fun products laying around to test out (drawbacks of said friendship include the fact that there is a decent chance that your feet will end up getting photographed), all the kids got to take home some new shoes to help them get outfitted for the school year. (Because moms deserve new shoes, too, my friends also went home with pairs; these were the most popular pick.)

That tray pictured above, by the way, is one of the single most useful items I own – here it’s being used to serve snacks for the kids, but I also use it to carry food from the kitchen out to the dining room, to keep plates steady when we want to eat dinner on the couch or in bed, or as an extra tabletop during parties (set atop an ottoman, it’s a surprisingly stable surface and can even be used for things like wine glasses).